Duties and tasks performed by Association volunteers as well as the Board of Directors, Treasurer, and Chief Administrative Officer, all in the National interest:
- Monthly and unscheduled Board of Directors Meetings
- Deputy Minister, Veterans Affairs, monthly meeting to discuss issues, benefits, etc;
- Ombudsman, Veterans Affairs, monthly meeting;
- RCMP Director General, Compensation Services, monthly meeting to discuss compensation issues;
- Corps Sgt Major ongoing meetings;
- Committee on the inclusion of a police component on the National Peace Keeping Monument;
- RCMP Chief Human Resources Officer, Meetings as required, typically twice per year;
- Access to Information, Contaminated Training Facilities and severe illnesses being suffered by former SERT and ERT personnel, including ongoing research;
- Veterans Affairs Canada and Federal Political Parties on Marriage over 60 issue, Ongoing;
- Interaction with RCMP Liaison to Veterans Affairs, Pension compensation issues, Ongoing;
- Responses to requests from Association members relating to VAC claims, Frequent;
- Mount Sinai Hospital Research Committee PTSD Study
- Liaison with Blumberg (legal) on various legal issues, Frequent and ongoing;
- RCMP Benefit Trust Fund Committee Meetings; as required and at least quarterly;
- Administration of the RCMP Benefit Trust Fund with recipients, Ongoing;
- Strategic Planning meetings,
- MailChimp Messaging – software management, message composition, image management, translation;
- Membership Management System Direction and Liaison with Signal Flare;
- RCMPVA.org website. Content updates, Direction and liaison with Signal Flare development of new concept for the site;
- Membership – coordinated development of advertising opportunities to attract new members;
- Distribution of 1733 forms to Divisions to contact prospective members;
- Sponsorship: Working with Al Treddenick and Signalflare in the development of potential rewards offers for forthcoming Membership Cards as well as sponsors;
- Vision 150: – development of plan for Association involvement in the RCMP Vision 150 project;
- Management of Microsoft Office 365 – email, Sharepoint, Teams;
- Preparation of messages for rcmpva.org website – design & install;
- Maintenance of Youtube account;
- Handling of general queries – lost id cards, membership information corrections, technical questions.
Key Government and RCMP Committees·
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- The Minister’s Pension Advisory Committee;
- The RCMP Pension Finance Oversite Committee;
- The RCMP Pension Risk Evaluation Committee;
- The RCMP Insurance Committee;
- The RCMP Benefits Committee;
- The National Police Federation liaison committee;
Other important functions
- Fielding of questions from our membership on a regular basis in relation to Pension, Benefits and VAC issues. Often answering the question or putting the concerned individual in touch with someone who can help answer the question;
- Interaction with the RCMP Liaison member to Veterans Affairs on behalf of veterans who have not received proper assistance
- Interactiion with the RCMP Director General, Compensation Services related to veterans who are not receiving deserved benefits
- Direct interaction with the Commissioner, RCMP as and when required
- Office of Public Engagement, and frequent responses to unfair criticisms against the RCMP;
- Strategic Engagement and the seeking of sponsorships for financial support;
- Treasurer’s ongoing accounting, projections, and advise
- Gathering annual financial statements from all Divisions and preparing them for audit and ultimately, submission to Revenue Canada as per the requirements of the Canada Taxation Regulations and the Canadian Not for Profit Corporations Act
Secretariat roles
CAO and Executive Assistant duties are too many to mention since they involve all Administration duties, plus the overseeing of all Secretariat tasks, including:
- Ongoing interaction with Corporations Canada related to the Canada Not for Profit Corporations Act issues;
- In conjunction with SignalFlare, Registration of all members of the Association within the Member Management program;
- Banking of all dues from cheques received, often in the hundreds per day;
- All records keeping and office maintenance;
- Directing the works of numerous committees;
- Reporting and liaison with the CSM on a variety of topics;
Hours by BOD members as well as the Secretariat, including the hours by the CAO and Executive Assistant in Association related tasks:
Approximately 625 to 650 hours are spent per month. Some months leading up to and including the Strategic Planning sessions and preparation for the AGM require a considerable amount of time, and those hours are not included within the 625-650 mentioned earlier.
Benefit Trust Fund Management
Although listed previously, the title alone does not adequately impress the essential nature of this program. Background: A number of years ago, the RCMP established the Benefit Trust Fund (BTF) to financially assist former members and spouses who have found themselves in dire financial straits due to uncontrollable circumstances. An example is the situation for those more senior members who were not a part of our current pension plan. The problem with the plan they had, meant that when a pensioner passed away, his pension died with him, often leaving his spouse without any reasonable amount of financial support. NOTE: I use the male term because at that time there were no female serving members. Many of those spouses are still with us and some have found themselves in severe financial distress.
In 1988, the RCMP Veterans Association entered into an agreement with the Commissioner to coordinate this program for the RCMP. In essence, when a situation is identified where a former member or spouse/partner finds themselves in a dire financial circumstance with severely limited savings and no reasonable means of providing for themselves, members of the local Division in which the client resides will interview the client and determine he/she has such limited resources that basic needs cannot be met, then the investigation results with recommendations are sent along to our Association Secretariat who will then present the plan of action to the RCMP BTF Committee for approval to provide funds to the client from an advance amount provided by RCMP Headquarters and held in our reserves. The host Division issues the funds and ensures the client is living in a safe and healthy manner. Regular check-ins occur and the case is re-investigated each year.
There are many other duties performed on your behalf, some that occur frequently and some as one-time events. Examples include the work done by our Honours and Recognition Coordinator and well as the gathering and recording of historical data for our web page. This past year a considerable amount of work was done by volunteers in developing our uniform standards, including the inclusion of a formal woman’s clothing. A kilted version was also added, taking a considerable amount of time and effort.
A.P. (Sandy) Glenn,
National President RCMP Veterans Association
Members Helping Members and Their Families |
September 10, 2021 
