SUPPORTING STAEMENT: Since 2020, when annual shareholders’ meetings began to be held in virtual format because of COVID-19 health restrictions, we have voiced numerous criticisms of the way these meetings are organized10. OECD Principles of Corporate Governance state that: “[…] due care is required to ensure that remote meetings do not decrease the possibility for shareholders to engage with and ask questions to boards and management in comparison to physical meetings. Some jurisdictions have issued guidance to facilitate the conduct of remote meetings, including for handling shareholder questions, responses and their disclosure, with the objective of ensuring transparent consideration of questions by boards and management, including how questions are collected, combined, answered and disclosed. Such guidance may also address how to deal with technological disruptions that may impede virtual access to meetings.11” Virtual meetings provide benefits that we readily acknowledge, but they should not be an excuse for not holding face-to-face meetings. Like Teachers’12, we believe that annual shareholders’ meetings should be held in person, with virtual meetings being held in addition to (in hybrid fashion, as all banks did in 2023), but not in replacement of, face-to-face meetings. We all agree that all shareholders should enjoy the same rights, whether they participate in person or remotely. This position is supported by many organizations, including the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (CCGG)13 and a number of major institutional investors.