Dear members,
Well, it’s been a busy past two weeks, and I have quite a lot to catch you up on. So let me just dive in immediately.
PAFSO’s 59th Annual General Meeting
Two weeks ago, PAFSO held its 59th Annual General Meeting. Once again, the meeting was held virtually to encourage participation from members outside the NCR. And once again, we were pleasantly surprised by how many of you attended the meeting. By our count, we had 55 members participating from around the world. You can watch a recording of the proceedings here on our YouTube channel.
I had the pleasure of welcoming four new members to the Executive Committee: Ashley Durec, Marc-André Desmarais, Zachary Campbell and Trish Chang, who was nominated from the floor. They will be joining returning members, Liam Kirkpatrick, Tam Ames, John Gosal, Gabriel Bastien, Meagan Dalby, William Dunlop, Logann McNamara, Alison Poff, André Marquis and Michael Creighton. I want to thank Kristin Jansen, Naomi Gilker, Anaïs Desjardins-Charbonneau and Sarah Tayyem who will not be returning to the committee.
2024 was another busy year for our association. It saw the ramping up of our advocacy efforts with the launch of our first-ever public opinion survey and the establishment of the Canadian Diplomatic Familys Network. It was also a significant year for membership engagement, as we held our triennial survey as well as other surveys and questionnaires to help inform our decisions for the coming years. 2024 also saw the development of our second ever strategic plan. Building on the previous plan, it sets the course for the next three years and focuses on shifting our organizational culture from a rights-based service model to one based on interests and focused on advocacy. And as you know, much of our efforts this year revolved around the ongoing cyclical review of the FSDs and the fallout from the Public Service Health Care Plan’s transition to Canada Life and MSH International.
Next year will be a big year for PAFSO as it will be 60 years since our founding as a professional association. I am pleased to announce that we will be marking this milestone year with a special event: PAFSO 60. On 4 June 2025, we will be holding a special reception at the National Gallery to celebrate the past, present and future of our organization and our profession. It will feature a special PAFSO 60 Award to a deserving colleague, as well as the launch of a special commemorative book looking back on our 60-year history. So, make sure to save the date for this very special event.
The Randy Orr Memorial Award
I am pleased to announce that Meagan Dalby is the recipient of the 2024 Randy Orr Memorial Award. As many of you know, Meagan played a central role in the establishment of the Canadian Diplomatic Family Network (CDFN). A new non-profit organization, the CDFN is composed of partners, spouses and dependents of Canada-based staff or foreign service officers and has as its mission to connect the families of Government of Canada representatives at diplomatic missions around the word. You can read more about Meagan’s work supporting of Canadian diplomatic families in this press release.
Please join me in congratulating Meagan and offering her a huge thanks for all of her selfless dedication to her colleagues and the wider Foreign Service Community.
PAFSO’s mandamus order to compel the Government to provide functional health coverage
Things are moving forward with our mandamus order to compel the Employer to act on its legal duty and provide our members with a functional health care service. In fact, on Tuesday last week, a Notice of Application for our mandamus proceedings was filed in federal court. As with everything involving courts, this will be a long and drawn-out affair, but I’ve said it before, this is not a fight we are going to give up. This is a symptomatic of a larger problem with Government offloading services to contractors, and then washing its hands of any responsibility when things go wrong. As always, I’ll be sure to keep you up to date every step of the way of this process.
Advocacy Task Force on healthcare abroad
Apart from legal advocacy and labour relations support, PAFSO hopes to underline this issue through public outreach. We were very grateful to two of our members who contributed comments for this excellent article in the National Post, but we would like to get more of your stories out there. If you are interested in contributing to these efforts, which may involve efforts to engage the public through social media, written submissions, and traditional media, please contact Daniel Pollak, our Advocacy and Stakeholder Relations Officer.
PAFSO 60: Call for volunteers
As you know, a big event like the one we’re planning for next year takes a lot of work. That’s why we are hoping that a few of you might have the time and bandwidth to help us with some of the logistics involved in putting an event like this together. If you are interested in helping out, or if you’d like to know more about what’s involved before signing up, please email Marty Johnston.
AmbCanada Authors’ Luncheon and Webinar: Wednesday, November 13, 11:30–14:00, EST
Our good friends at AmbCanada have asked me to extend to you an invitation to their upcoming Author’s Luncheon and Webinar on Wednesday, November 13 at 11:30. The event will feature several great authors, including two past PAFSO members: Bodil Jensen and Rhonda Gossen. Those who wish to attend the in-person lunch at the Royal Ottawa Golf Club, doors will open at 11:30, with lunch served at 12:15 and speakers taking the stage at 13:00. You can register by sending an email to info@ambcanafa.ca, please make sure to include any dietary restrictions you may have. Tickets are $47 and must be purchased in advance via e-transfer through finance@ambcanada.ca. Registration for the event closes on Thursday, November 7. For those who wish to join the webinar, registration is still required, after which you will be sent the Zoom link.
PAFSO Breakfast on the Future of the FS Group at GAC
Last week, I had the pleasure of hosting our latest PAFSO Virtual Breakfast about the future of the Foreign Service group at GAC. I was joined by Anne Flanagan Whelan, Director General for Assignments, Performance and Talent Management, and JP Lemieux, Executive Advisor, Rotational Workforce Initiatives, who shared the plans for the future of the FS group at Global Affairs Canada. It was an enlightening discussion that covered a wide range of topics: work on the Family Support Unit, the long-term vision for career management, strengthening governance for pools and the upcoming classification review. I know this will be a very interesting topic for many of you, so if you were unable to join us, we have a recording of the session available to view on our YouTube channel.
Sumita Dixit Scholarship for Diverse Voices
Our PAFSO community suffered a sad loss last year with the passing of Sumita Dixit, a truly bright light who advocated for the inclusion of women’s voices in humanitarian and diplomatic arenas. I was very pleased to learn that her family has set up a scholarship in her name to continue her valuable work. If you would like to contribute to her important legacy, please visit this link.
Public Service Dental Plan Transition
Today is the day the Public Service Dental Care Plan transitions to Canada Life. The Employer has asked us to remind members that, as with the Health Care transition, the new contract requires positive enrolment. As of last week, Canada Life had completed positive enrolment for 99% of plan members.
If you have received a positive enrolment confirmation notice from Canada Life, your enrolment has been completed for you. However, it is still important to validate the information they have on file, and to update it if required. If you have not yet validated your information, Canada Life will send a reminder directly to you in the coming weeks.
If Canada Life has not contacted you, this means that positive enrolment has not been completed and you must complete it yourself. This will mostly apply to new employees who recently joined the federal public service. However, please first check your junk mail to see if Canada Life sent you a positive enrolment confirmation notice email. If you did not receive a notice by email or by mail, you can complete your positive enrolment online or call the Canada Life PSDCP Member Contact Centre.
I sincerely hope that Canada Life has learned from last year’s fiasco, and that this transition will be smooth and seamless.
Like I said, these last two weeks were very busy for us at PAFSO. But now, you’re up to date. And, as always, if anything you have concerns at work, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Are you having issues with your pay? Do you feel harassed or discriminated against? Do you have a grievance or a staffing complaint? Or do you just want some clarifications on our collective agreement or the FSDs? Whatever the case, PAFSO is here for you. Just send us an email with your name, department and a detailed description of your concerns. For anything and everything else, please send us an email at info@pafso.com and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other.
All the best,
Pam Isfeld
President
@PafsoPresApase