Update from the President of PAFSO for October 18, 2024

Dear members,

I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the Thanksgiving long weekend. Here in the NCR, the temperature is dropping, but the colours are out in full splendor.

I’ll keep this message quite brief as our big focus at the moment is of course Monday’s Annual General Meeting.

59th Annual General Meeting
Don’t forget that our Annual General Meeting will be held virtually this Monday, October 21, at 4pm, Ottawa time. If you would like to know more about your association, the AGM is the perfect opportunity. Not only will you have the chance to hear reports from the President, the General Manager and the various committees on their activities over the past year, but you will also hear about what we have planned for 2025 and beyond – including a special announcement about how we intend to mark PAFSO’s upcoming 60th anniversary.

As well, we will be looking to fill two vacancies on the Executive Committee: one from the Trade Stream, and the other from the FSIA stream. We will be taking nominations for those positions from the floor. If you are interested in putting your name forward, you can learn more about what’s involved in being on the Executive Committee by consulting this webinar from last year.

To participate in Monday’s meeting, please send us an email with your name and department before 3pm Ottawa time, on Monday October 21. You will be added to the invitee list and receive all the necessary login information for the Teams session. Ahead of the meeting, we have put together a collection of relevant documents including audited financial statements, the 2025 budget and various committee reports. You can access it here on our website.

Also, directly following the AGM, we will be announcing the winner of the 2024 annual Randy Orr Memorial Award for volunteer service to the FS community. Please plan to stay with us for a bit to hear about the inspiring work of our community members. The target start time for the informal ceremony is 1745.

2025 is shaping up to be a big year, I hope you can join us on Monday to hear all about it.

PAFSO Breakfast on the Future of the FS Group at GAC on October 22 at 0900 EDT
The day after the AGM, we will be holding a virtual PAFSO Breakfast with Anne Flanagan Whelan, Director General for Assignments, Performance and Talent Management, and JP Lemieux, Executive Advisor, Rotational Workforce Initiatives, to discuss the plans for the future of the FS group at Global Affairs Canada. Topics will include work on the Family Support Unit, the long-term vision for career management, strengthening governance for pools and the upcoming classification review.

Please register for the webinar by clicking here.

If you have any questions you would like me to raise during the discussion, you are welcome to send them to info@pafso.com before noon on Monday, October 21.

That’s it for this week. As always, if anything is causing you concern at work, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our office. 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.

I hope to see many of you at the AGM on Monday. My next message to you will be in early November. Until then, take care of yourselves and each other.

All the best,

Pam Isfeld
President
@PafsoPresApase