Simon Coakeley had the perfect combination of passion and experience to lead Federal Retirees. Now he’s moving on to the Canadian Bar Association. Simon Coakeley, it seems, is not very good at retiring. After leaving a 30-year federal public…
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Bernice and John Klassen moved from the suburbs to a townhome-style condo in downtown Ottawa. They say if they didn’t have a cottage, they could easily live without a car. Back in his suburban homeowner days, John Klassen had…
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The Canadian narrative of the COVID-19 pandemic has quickly become focused on the country’s failure to protect its older adult population. With an overwhelming 81 per cent of COVID-19-related deaths occurring in long-term care homes (LTCH) during the first…
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New Brunswick, British Columbia and Saskatchewan all had provincial elections this autumn. Here’s how they protected their voters and their democracies. A snap election, over the shortest possible period, during a global pandemic. It sounds like a recipe for…
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Veterans Affairs Canada must make sure all veterans are accounted for in its research. The genesis and evolution of government policies and programs is shrouded in mystery for most Canadians. Policies and programs can be implemented for political reasons,…
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How does the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic affect pension indexation and what impacts can we expect to see in the long term? Every year, indexation is applied to members’ and survivors’ pensions. The indexation amount is calculated by using the…
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From virtual volunteer recruitment to Zoom meetings with MPs, the year of COVID-19 has been an advocacy year like no other. Federal Retirees’ advocacy priorities are always important, and that’s perhaps even more true with the COVID-19 pandemic impacting…
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Joanne Morrissey, the top recruiter from last year’s Mega Recruitment Drive, suggests asking prospective members if they know any other eligible members while you have them on the phone. There are 6,000 federal retirees in Newfoundland and Joanne Morrissey…
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Isobel Mackenzie has worked with seniors for the past 20 years and now, as British Columbia’s seniors advocate, she is calling for better home-care services for seniors. Credit: Adrian Lam Isobel Mackenzie has worked with and for seniors for…
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At this point, we are all too familiar with the devastating impact of COVID-19 on long-term care residents. At the time of writing, more than 100,000 Canadians have been infected and 8,700 have died, with deaths in long-term care accounting…
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After spending a good decade researching her family history and tracing her genealogical roots, Julia Creet then turned her attention to some of the newer options ushered in through increasingly accessible technology: commercial DNA analysis. Her discoveries led the York…
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A group of volunteers from Canada and the U.S. work together to build a classroom in Leon, Nicaragua, in February 2020 as part of SchoolBOX’s voluntourism program. Credit: SchoolBOX Over the phone from her home in New Brunswick, Dorma…
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