Dear Members,
On March 9, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Just a few days later, the Federal government issued its work-from-home orders as part of Canada’s COVID-19 response. Over the past two years, our work, our lives, and indeed the world have irrevocably changed. But this week, rather than spend time looking back at the last two years, I’d much rather look at what lies ahead. What will the next few weeks, months and years mean to our group, to our profession, and to our association?
Let me begin by saying that I’m very pleased to have the honour to carry on with my work as the first regular full-time President of PAFSO until August 2025. Principally, what this means is that I will be able to address some of the longer-term goals we have set for our association.
My past three years as President under the pilot project were focused on positioning the association for future challenges facing our community. In that time, I worked to establish a clear, transparent guiding vision for PAFSO via a comprehensive strategic review and the establishment of a strategic plan. Even as we worked to deal with the crisis of the pandemic, we managed to improve governance, to extend ExCom’s remote participation, and to modernize our core financial practices. We also strengthened the association’s communications efforts through these bi-weekly messages, our virtual PAFSO Breakfasts and the establishment of Tradecraft week last fall.
Now, as we head into our next round of negotiations as well as another cyclical review of the FSDs, our priorities will be to build on the lessons learned from these past two years of pandemic. Your concerns about economic well-being and the erosion of support for members abroad will be my focus in our upcoming bargaining. And, as has come through loud and clear in your responses to the Triennial Survey, the FSDs are due for a comprehensive rethink in light of what we have just lived through.
And, although great progress has been made in improving our communications and advocacy work, we will be commissioning a thorough review of the programs and practices currently in place to identify where we can put our limited resources in order to gain maximum benefits. In fact, we have just issued a request for proposals to review of our these programs. If you know of anyone in your networks who might be suitable for this kind of work, please feel free to share the link to the RFP with them.
On COVID-19, GAC has announced that it is entering the next phase of the implementation of its Policy on COVID-19 vaccination and its related complementary policy for the mission network. They have begun to conduct verifications of vaccination attestations. For Canada-based staff, this means that in the coming weeks a team within HCM will contact randomly selected employees by email asking them to submit their Proof of Vaccination Credentials (PVC) for validation. A similar process will be undertaken for locally engaged staff. Samples of attestations from LES from across the network of missions will be verified. We are told that additional details will be made available in the messages from the verification team. For now, if you need more information on the verification process, please contact the Vaccination Attestation Verification Hub. And, as always, if you believe that a request is being handled in a discriminatory manner, please reach out to our office for assistance.
Since my last message, I have heard from many members who continue to be horrified by the war in Ukraine, and who are very concerned about the situation facing the locally engaged staff from the Embassy of Canada in Kyiv. In order to help these important members of the foreign service community who have been forced to flee with their families, pets, and whatever they could carry with them, one of our members has started a fundraiser. Since it was launched a little over a week ago, the response from PAFSO and friends of the foreign service has been extraordinary, but the needs are great. If you would still like to contribute to this good cause, please do so here before midnight Ottawa time on 23 March.
And on the topic of Ukraine, at last week’s PAFSO Breakfast we had the chance to host Roman Waschuk, former ambassador to Ukraine, who offered his perspective on the current situation there. If you weren’t able to join us, you can view the video of our very interesting and very timely discussion here on our YouTube channel.
Our next virtual Breakfast will take place on Tuesday, 12 April at 0900, Ottawa Time, when I will provide everyone with an update on issues including next items in the strategic plan, the preparations for collective bargaining, a follow up on the results of the Triennial Survey, and the details of our advocacy plans. You can register for the session here.
Sometime in the last few weeks you should have received your copy of the latest issue of bout de papier. I’d like to congratulate Lillian Thomsen on an excellent first issue under her leadership as Editor in Chief. If you haven’t received your copy yet, please contact info@pafso.com to make sure we have your correct mailing address. And you can always check out a few selected articles at boutdepapier.ca. Our magazine is always looking for great article ideas, so if you want to contribute or help out in other ways, please contact bout’s managing editor, Eric Schallenberg. Your participation will be greatly appreciated
If there are any issues or concerns about your circumstance at work, do not hesitate to contact Executive Director Kim Coles. Send her an email with your name, department and a short message describing your situation and she will put you in touch with our labour relations team. For everything else, send an email to info@pafso.com and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.
For me, as for many of you, the two years since March 16, 2020, have not flown by, and the last couple of months have felt longer than anything else. These are difficult and demanding times, requiring all of us to show even more resilience than usual as we adapt to ever-changing circumstances. And while there is certainly a lot we can look back on and feel proud of, for me – for now – it is more important to look forward towards what lies ahead for our organization and for our profession.
I’ll be talking to you again in the first week of April. Until then, take care of yourselves, and each other.
All the best,
Pam Isfeld
President