8 minute read
ACER-CART AGM Report
Respectfully submitted by JoAnne Hoyak. ACER-CART Director and RTAM Vice President, 2019 - 2020
June 5, 2020, via ZOOM attended by JoAnne Hoyak: Director; Peggy Prendergast, Observer.
1. The executive for 2020 - 2021: President: Gerry
Tiede, BCRTA; V.P.: Martin Higgs, RTO/ERO;
Regional Representatives: Eastern: Margaret
Urquhart, NBSRT; ON: Martha Foster, RTO/ERO;
Western: Marilyn Bossert, ARTA; Past President:
Bill Berryman, RTO NSTU.
2. Priorities for the upcoming year are Pharmacare and long-term care facility reforms, as well as strong defence of defined benefit pension plans.
3. Marilyn Bossert is spear heading the ACER-
CART web page reform which is reaching completion and will be available soon. It is a
HUGE improvement and will do us proud.
4. For those for whom this is an issue: the financial situation has our national organization operating with a surplus. This indicates two things: We owe a debt of gratitude to the CTF which provides a working space for Roger, as well as accessibility to office staff time as the minutes etc are done by them. Secondly, an increase in support dues doesn’t seem to be desired or needed.
5. As far as the AGM ZOOM format is concerned: not the same as an in-the-flesh meeting, that’s for sure. BUT, the preparation and organizational pre-work done by Roger and Bill allowed us to accomplish in four hours what is usually a two-day affair. They deserve huge commendation for that. Having said that, the vote was taken to abrogate all the established policies and bylaws to allow for this. All motions had been previously moved and seconded, no nominations from the floor for Board positions were allowed and there was no election process.
A very strict three minute time limit per report was adhered to. This format was a welldisciplined meeting process and is certainly a lesson for us. On a personal observation, the miracle of modern technology allowed directors and observers, from Newfoundland to BC, to visually meet together from our homes. I wondered what my parents would think of it all.
6. Finally, my appreciation of our national organization and the connections it allows us to make with other stakeholder groups continues to deepen. It is invaluable to retired teachers specifically and all seniors generally.
In closing, I have included a message from newly elected ACER-CART President, Gerry Tiede, that elucidates succinctly the characteristics of our National Organization.
Greetings to all thirteen Provincial and Territorial Associations and their membership that currently totals a growing number of over 160,000!
June 5, 2020, marked a first for ACER-CART – our first Annual General Meeting via Zoom. While we missed the social interactions, the exchange of ideas and camaraderie of being together in Ottawa, our meeting moved efficiently through our business.
COVID-19 generated a disturbing effect around the world, but it has brought those of us who are retired teachers closer together in a common purpose. The pandemic has exposed issues that illustrate the overwhelming vulnerability of seniors. This directed us to adopt an ambitious agenda for this coming year in support of our members and other retired seniors across Canada. • We will advocate for the development and implementation of a National Seniors’ Strategy that includes a universal pharmacare plan with a national formulary. We will monitor the bilateral health funding agreements and advocate for a Continued on page 38 →
last July as Member Services Director but left us in November for a new career. Dianne Cesar was hired to replace her. Denise Bellisea, has been part of the office team since last April, so all of the staff was new at the beginning of May when I arrived from AGM. However, our list of accomplishments are many: revitalized website thanks to Ralph Cibula and his committee and Blue Ink Media, the postcard you received during the summer just before the provincial and federal elections thanks to John Sushelnitsky and the Political Advocacy Committee and Daryl Harvey, the acting Executive Director, Gayl Punzalan and Blue Ink Media and the office staff, the three wellness events, especially the Photography Workshop, thanks to Gayl and Blue Ink Media again, and Linda Blair, chair of the Wellness and Student Award Committee, the preretirement workshop in Winnipeg thanks to Linda Scott and the Membership and Chapter Committee, and the ZOOM pre-retirement workshop done in Brandon with the help of Brian Paterson and Pat Bowslaugh; the addition of Trip Merchant thanks to Brian Paterson and the Benefits Committee; and the amazing amount of work done on a draft Governance Manual done by the By Laws and Policy committee and particularly Joan Dawson and Beth Smith with the help of High Achievement, a consulting firm, and Gordon Fardoe. I visited five chapters and conversed with a couple of out of province chapters where it was impossible to visit this year. The work is varied from Chapter to Chapter but now, especially with Covid 19, it is more evident than ever that activities to combat social isolation are more necessary than ever. Thank you for the work you do in your many communities throughout the province and how those of you “Keep In Touch” with Manitoba colleagues even though you live elsewhere. I have taken the RTAM message to the Manitoba Seniors Coalition for the past five years so the older adult world knows about RTAM, you as individuals who work in many not for profit organizations and belong to many Senior Centres but also because of RTAM’s outreach activities that have combined with the Manitoba Association of Senior Centres (MASC). I also attended the ACER-CART Western Regional Conference in Edmonton in November to join forces with other retired teacher organizations in western Canada. There is much to share and learn from other ACER-CART associations.
Since 1955 when I began teaching it has been a face to face, person to person world in which I have lived as have many of you. Now with Covid 19 we are faced with social isolation. The warmth of a handshake or hug is missing. The eye-to-eye contact and closeness of being in proximity to one another is not there. We now have to learn to express ourselves through the printed word, the spoken word through some kind of technological media that we choose, and, as in the past, again through the art we produce and teach and the music we make. Our passion somehow needs to be seen, heard and felt so the world will recognize our legacy. I hope our legacy is recognized by you, as retired teachers, in the Student Awards Program that will grow in size and number with the RTAM Endowment Fund at the Winnipeg Foundation; FOR GOOD, FOREVER. RTAM has also donated a $1,000 bursary each year for the past two years to an indigenous student attending the University of the North.
In six years the Endowment awards have grown and the amount has doubled in size from 4 awards of $500 each to 4 awards of $1000 each. You, as members, can sponsor your young relatives graduating from Grade 12 and encourage them to become all they are meant to be. We are all, as retired educators, ambassadors of knowledge and know the value of education. We can pass that knowledge on to those we love the most, our children, grandchildren, and for those of us lucky enough to live a long life, our great grandchildren. Donations to the RTAM Endowment Fund are always welcome especially when you remember a loved one or have something or someone to mention in your will. It is much appreciated and adds to the magical power of compounding interest.
Thank you to those of you who gave me support, good luck to those who didn’t and God Bless RTAM.
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