Association President’s Communique – AGM 2019 – Summary Report

June 27, 2019

RCMP VETERANS’ ASSOCIATION

Association President’s Communique

AGM 2019
A Summary Report

As you all know, we held our Annual General Meeting in Whitehorse, Yukon on June 1. On May 31, the day prior, we were extremely fortunate to be joined by Commissioner Brenda Lucki who – in the midst of a northern tour – devoted an entire day of her schedule to meet with our Veterans.

The Commissioner convened a 2 hour ‘town hall’ attended by an estimated 60 Vets, and provided us all with a detailed brief on a range of national RCMP priorities that she is managing including

(i) Vision 150 – the 5 year modernization plan for the Force;

(ii) the establishment of the civilian Interim Management Advisory Board for the RCMP;

(iii) the pending establishment of a collective bargaining agent / union for RCMP members;

(iv) deeming of Civilian Members;

(v) changes to the RCMP Uniform and Dress Manual, including beards, ball caps and dropping gender from the equation;

(vi) mental health;

(vii) class action lawsuits;

(viii) the importance of a robust relationship with the RCMP Veterans’ Association.

It was a tour de force of a presentation, and warmly acknowledged and appreciated by the delegates present.

Our AGM program – which has been posted on our website – rcmpva.org – since before the AGM – focused upon our continuing evolution to an organizational culture that values and champions ourselves as “One Association”.

We acknowledged the significant transformation of our Association since our 2014 incorporation under the Canada Not-For-Profit Corporations Act; a transformation that obligates us to comply with specific fiduciary and corporate reporting responsibilities in order to maintain our status as ‘not-for-profit.

We discussed our four-themed strategic directions that we are following to strengthen our Association in a way that will help us achieve membership growth to 10,000 by 2024, and that will ensure that we remain relevant to our members, to the serving RCMP members and employees who will be our Veterans of tomorrow.

We invited Division Presidents and delegates to dedicate themselves now and for the next four years in committing to actively work on the four strategic directions;

– Membership Growth
– Advocacy and Member Services
– Leadership
– One Voice

We were afforded with presentations by Ottawa Division President Michel Pelletier on the RCMP National Memorial Cemetery at Beechwood and by Regina Division Executive Advisor Bill Greenslade on “Pillars of the Force”; a legacy project in support of the RCMP Heritage Centre in Regina. We held our first election of national Directors.

It has been three weeks since the AGM and I expect that in most cases, you have already met within your Divisions and had the chance to hear from those Presidents who attended, or those delegates who attended and participated on your behalf. You will likely have benefitted from their personal account of the discussions they participated in. I want to compliment the information already shared with a written summary of the AGM produced by our newest Director, James Forrest, who has accepted the post of Director of Communications.

I am attaching James’ detailed and highly-readable summary here for your benefit. It is challenging to capture two days of animated discussion in a seven page summary, but I expect you’ll agree that James is an intrepid chronicler, and he has done justice to the affairs of the day.

I welcome and encourage your comments as you read this report, and ask that you please send them directly to me at association.president@rcmpva.org In the days ahead, I will do my utmost best to respond to questions and suggestions, and will ensure that what you communicate is shared with your Board of Directors.

A few final words from me, before I let you loose on James’ gospel. I want to thank Yukon President Helmer Helmanson for outstanding effort on his part, and upon his stalwart members in Yukon Division. They did an outstanding job once again in hosting our AGM (the fourth in Whitehorse in the past 20 years). Truly and deeply, Thank you!

I want to thank the candidates who let their names stand for election for the Board of Directors, and in doing so, signified their willingness to take on responsibilities for all of us, in managing the business of our Association on our behalf.

We’re all volunteers here. We live full lives and have compelling commitments of a personal nature – be it work, elderly parents to support, volunteer work within our communities, bucket list challenges and life goals we remain engaged in pursuing. Devoting hours to the Association over and above this is an honourable task, but not one without challenges or personal cost. To say otherwise would be unfair to those who will consider coming forward in the future.

There are many reasons we choose to members of the Association. But central to all of this is our desire to remain connected to a calling we each had to serve our country as members and employees of the RCMP. The Association can be the ‘gift that keeps on giving’. It is an outstanding organization with great people, that does great work, and that has the capacity and potential to do much more.

It takes – and will continue to take – sweat equity, vision and commitment to move our Association forward, to build our membership and enhance our ability to support our Veterans and our families in ways consistent with our Association’s purposes and objectives.

I thank you all for your commitment this past year. I encourage you to embrace these strategic objectives, to make them your own, and to help us adopt this culture of “One Association”. I believe that it is central to our success and it needs all of your support.

Finally, as we welcome James Forrest upon the Board, we thank Bob McKee for his service these past years as Director. His leadership in the area of e-commerce and communications has paid dividends and will continue to significantly in the years ahead. Sincere thanks, Bob, and wishing you all the very best.

Click here to read the AGM summary report by James Forrest – Director of Communications.

Steve Walker
President