Federal Retirees marks two anniversaries and looks ahead to the AMM in June.
Now that the festive season is behind us, the Association’s Annual Meeting of Members (AMM), the spring district meetings and branch AMMs are on the horizon. At your branch AMM, your board executive will present updates on activities, accomplishments and plans for 2023. If you are interested in helping your branch achieve its core functions in support of Association goals, please speak to your president about standing for election.
The election of five new directors at the Association’s AMM will complete a renewal process that commenced with the election of four new directors and a president at AMM 2022 and the vice-president in September 2022. Although a lot of experience will be lost, the new directors should bring a wealth of knowledge and ideas to the board. If you have the desire to volunteer and the qualifications we’re looking for, email the nominations committee at elections@federalretirees.ca before March 22, 2023. Also at AMM 2023, participants will receive a report on branch financial needs and discuss recommendations being written by seven current and former branch presidents.
Along with lots of accolades about the renewed Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP), we have also received several complaints from vulnerable members with disabilities and pre-existing chronic conditions who will be adversely impacted by the physiotherapy limit. Consequently, we sent a “relief” request to the president of the Treasury Board for adversely affected pensioners. Our request was supported by all members of the PSHCP Partners Committee. We will keep you posted about any developments on this file.
In the fall of 2022, the Association joined the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People (GAROP), and we were present at the official launch of the newly formed Canadian Coalition Against Ageism in Toronto in late November. Ageism will most likely be a plank in our evolving strategic plan.
This year, we are marking two anniversaries. Federal Retirees as an organization is celebrating its 60th anniversary and the RCMP is marking its 150th. Among our members, we have 13,000 RCMP veterans.
Speaking of members, I’d like to thank those of you who referred new members throughout the year and during our Mega-Recruitment Drive as this has driven six consecutive months of net growth and allowed us to grow our membership by 1.1 per cent in 2022. We welcomed a total of 11,547 new members in 2022, which was our best recruitment performance in more than a decade. Let’s keep that momentum going as we mark our 60th year.