Beneva Mutual

The members of the mutual are:

• Group insurance plan members as well as natural persons who have professional liability insurance under the group plan of the professional order of which they are a member; they are the Group Members.

• Natural persons who own individual P&C, life and health insurance or annuity contracts; they are the Individual Members. 

  
   

As a member, you may attend and speak at a Beneva Mutual meetings. To be allowed in a meeting, simply show your insurance certificate or contract number that proves you are a member. Please note that only delegates and directors are entitled to vote at meetings.

Delegates play a vital role in the Mutual’s democracy.

For example, delegates receive copies of the Board of Directors’ report and the company’s financial statements, and vote to elect directors in their category, when there are vacant positions.

Serving as a delegate means having a voice and contributing to the life and orientations of the mutual!

The by-law of Beneva Mutual provides for a delegate designation process. There are 3 member categories.

Category 1: plan members of groups with 700 or more members

Category 2: plan members of groups with fewer than 700 members

Category 3: individual members

The attendees at the annual meeting must be representative of the members of the mutual. The number of Category 1 Group Members is calculated once a year. The number of delegates that can be designated by each Category 1 Group is based on the number of plan members, according to the scale below.

The number of Category 2 Group Members is calculated once a year in order to determine the number of delegates that may be designated, according to the scale below.

Category 1 and 2 plan sponsors (e.g. employers, unions) are sent a notice by email to submit the names of their delegates.*

As for Category 3 Individual Members, they are asked to nominate themselves for the role of delegate using this form. The number of Category 3 delegates is equal to the number of Category 1 and 2 delegates.

Delegate Designation Process Example

All nominations must be received by December 31.

If more nominations than the number of vacant positions are received, a random draw is used to determine who will serve as delegates for Categories 2 and 3.

A notice of meeting is sent to Category 1 delegates and the selected candidates from Categories 2 and 3, as long as they are still eligible, at least 30 days prior to the meeting.

Here is the illustrated Beneva Mutual delegate designation process:

Scale: 

Information concerning Beneva Mutual’s annual meetings as well as those concerning the make-up of the Board of Directors and the director selection process will be posted on the Beneva Mutual website on January 1, 2024.

All Beneva group plan members are members of the mutual, even if the contract is managed by a third-party administrator (TPA).

However, according to the mutual’s by-law, the plan sponsor is the only one who participates in the delegate designation process. The plan sponsors of TPA group plans can have their plan members added to the Mutual’s member register, by emailing [email protected].

The plan sponsors whose members are in the register may designate one or several candidates as delegates to vote at the annual meetings of Beneva Mutual, the largest mutual in Canada!

*To designate a delegate or nominate a candidate, the plan sponsor must send to Beneva Mutual, as per standard procedure and by the prescribed deadline, the name and contact information of the member(s) they are designating/nominating.