Next General Meeting – Feb. 21, 2019 – Guest Speaker: Leslie Gaudette (NAFR)

To All Vancouver Division Members:

The first General Meeting for 2019 is being held on Thursday, February 21, 2019 at Hazelmere Golf and Country Club, 18150 8 Avenue, Surrey B.C..  Doors open at 11:30 AM with lunch being served at 12 noon.  Cost for lunch is $30.00. 

Leslie Gaudette, Advocacy Program Officer for BC, National Association of Federal Retirees, will be in attendance.  Leslie will be presenting an overview of the NAFR, explaining benefits and how both of our Associations work together.  It will be an informative presentation and one that should not be missed.  Leslie’s BIO is included below. 

Please advise Social Director, Dorothy Martinson by Monday, February 18 if you are planning on attending – demartinson@shaw.ca or by phone: 604-261-4630.     

Donna Morse, Past President

Leslie Gaudette graduated from Simon Fraser University with an Honours Bachelor Degree in Biochemistry.  She started her career as a laboratory technologist at the University of Alberta, which evolved into working with the Cross Cancer Institute on cancer control research.   After moving to Ottawa in 1980, she joined the public service of Canada working in various positions at Statistics Canada, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, where she managed statistical programs, particularly the Canadian Cancer Registry, and conducted research related to disease registries and chronic disease control.

Following her retirement in 2005, she moved back to her roots in Langley BC and became active in a number of local community organizations including what is now the National Association of Federal Retirees.  She has served on the Fraser Valley West Branch Board since 2009 first as Health Benefits Officer and then as a representative to the Council of Senior Citizens Organizations of BC, where she discovered a passion for advocating for the myriad of health and pension issues that affect our lives as seniors.  She is also completing a four-year term on the Council of Advisors to the BC Seniors Advocate.  Last Fall, she was pleased to be appointed as the Advocacy Program Officer for BC for the Federal Retirees, where she co-ordinates advocacy issues among the fifteen Branches across BC.  

Leslie is very familiar with the RCMP as her late husband, Barry Gaudette, was a civilian member in the Forensic Labs, first in Hair and Fibres in Edmonton and later as Chief Scientist Biology in Ottawa, where he was responsible for implementing DNA analysis in Canada.   In recent years, she has enjoyed reconnecting with the RCMP world through the RCMP Ladies’ Auxiliary.