Autumn 2020
Greetings to all
This message is going out to all Association members
It’s been a few weeks since I last communicated to everyone so I thought it might be a good time to bring everyone in the Association up to date with what is going on and also to address some of the many concerns and recommendations I have been receiving after asking Division Presidents to send me their ideas.
Firstly, a few weeks ago I asked for Presidents to consider becoming a part of an advisory group to assist me and the Board of Directors in ensuring our Association is doing it’s best to serve everyone. I had hoped to have ten or so volunteer and I am pleased to announce there are, in fact ten current Presidents who have positively responded. Division Presidents have a closer ear to the ground and their counsel will be greatly appreciated. This advisory group will also assist in the formulation of this forthcoming year’s Strategic Plan and a virtual meeting is being planned for mid to late November to get this developed. The reason for the delay in preparing the Strategic Plan is we are just completing the search to fill the position of Chief Administration Officer. We did find a suitable candidate and I anticipate a contract will be signed within the next couple of weeks. Many thanks to our Immediate Past President, Steve Walker who has done an amazing job in coordinating the search and viewed over 180 CV’s. Note also the original position carried the title of Chief Executive Officer but we felt it more appropriate to change that to “Chief Administration Officer”. Steve advertised the position in various media outlets including the RCMP Veterans Association, RCMP Mates, Linkedin and others, with a terrific number of responses resulting.
WEB SITE: You have recently been advised our new Website provider has been contracted to replace our previous supplier, Gambit. Gambit was no longer interested in performing this role so we examined a fairly extensive group of Website designer/managers to see just what was out there that could potentially meet our needs. After an extensive search, including reference checks, it was determined the company, SignalFlare was by far the best qualified. As a matter of interest, SignalFlare is the Website provider for the Ontario-based Police Pensioners’ Association of Ontario (PPAO), and members of these veterans police associations spoke highly of their performance. In actual fact, the cost difference between what we were paying Gambit and now, SignalFlare, is minimal and we will be receiving far more benefits.
BOD MODIFICATIONS: I now want to provide a brief description of modifications we are implementing to the current Board of Director structure. As most of you are aware, a traditional Not for Profit BOD mandate is to implement policy and procedures, provide direction to the CAO, and generally oversee operations. Over the years, because of clear operational requirements, members of the BOD had to take on roles that should normally be performed by employees who would normally fall within the direction of the Chief Executive or Administration Officer. Larger Not for Profit organizations most of us are familiar with such as CAA, NFRA, Corps of Commissionaires, etc. have adequate finances to hire salaried staff to perform an extensive list of functions. We simply do not have the funds to do this so our Board members, all of whom are non salaried volunteers, through necessity have taken on these support roles. This hybrid version we adopted many years ago often found itself being directly involved in duties that normally would have fallen under the purview of the CAO. On one hand, these board members would have reported to the CAO, yet the CAO reports to the Board. The true and ideal role of the BOD would ideally not involve direct operational duties, thus the need for change.
SECRETARIAT: As of this week, we decided to form a Secretariat, operating outside the Board and consisting of Directors with specific functions, reporting to the CAO. We have already taken the first step to formally establish two distinct Director positions with measurable functions, they being the “Director, Support Development” and the “Director of Strategic Engagement”
The Support Development function’s primary goal is to assist Divisions in formally establishing a comprehensive program designed to assist all former RCMP members and employees with a wide variety of support mechanisms. This would include such aspects as knowledgeable assistance with VAC claims, establishing general counselling assets including a network of traditional medical, psychological, and legal professionals.
We often hear the question “what’s in it for me” and one proven benefit is the provision of the very needed resources to assist us in a time of need. Forgive me for again using the Nova Scotia model, but this province is one of the smallest in Canada with less than 800 H Division serving members, yet membership in the Association has now surpassed 900. The Support Team often responds yearly to over 400 calls for assistance and this year, due to the mass murder and other unfortunate situations, that number will increase. The word has quickly spread showing the Association is out there to help and as a result, applications continue to come in, even though there is little opportunity to hold social gatherings. The Support team has established trained Association member counsellors located in all regions (NS Division is divided into 8 geographical Regions) and counsellor training and updating is provided at least twice per year. Full one-day support workshops for all interested former and serving RCMP members, employees, and spouses are held twice per year in Regions, usually on a rotation or as needed basis. This to me is a true benefit.
James Brown will be the new Support Development Director and will be reaching out to you with the goal of assisting in developing, or in the case of those Divisions who already have a program, extending the Support benefits and expertise.
The Strategic Engagement Function is one that has been sorely needed for years. Al Treddenick is the new Director and although the role is still expanding, he is responsible for interactions with other Not for Profit organizations, likely to include the Royal Canadian Legion and numerous Canadian police veterans’ organizations, Canadian Corps of Commissionaires as well as others. Al will also be actively seeking financial support from key organizations in the form of advertisements on our new web page and major events such as the AGM. He is full of great ideas and has already started to connect. He will also be available to assist individual Divisions in their interactions with other Associations and in particular, those hosting future AGMs.
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November 4, 2020 
