Moncton Branch Report 76th Atlantic Regional Council
May 24 - 25, 2019
Annual General Meeting
The 2018 Moncton Branch AGM was held on October 23, 2018, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Moncton. 28 members and 1 guest attended. The Branch attributes the lower than usual number of attendees to some Sub-Groups’ AGM’s not being held at the same time as our AGM, as had been the practice in previous years. Kimberley Skanes our Atlantic Regional Director could not attend. Manny Costain, Vice-President, attended in her stead.
Elections were held for the President (2 years), Vice-President (1 year), Treasurer (2 years), 3 Members at Large (2 years) and 1 Member at Large (1 year) positions. Jean Eugène Trahan was acclaimed President, Ginette LeBlanc acclaimed Vice-President and Francis Poirier acclaimed Treasurer.Gerry Saunders, Thane Reeves and Fernand Hébert were acclaimed as Members-at-large for 2 year terms and Megan Wilkins was acclaimed for a 1 year term. 1 Member-at-Large (2 year) position was left vacant and Isabelle Chabot was appointed as the last Member-at-Large by the Branch Executive in January 2019, to hold office until the next Branch AGM.
At its first meeting following the AGM, the Branch Executive decided to hold the 2019 AGM in early Spring to see if we could muster more interest and greater attendance from members. The Branch Executive suspects a Fall AGM is too close to other constituent body meetings and the Seasonal Social for members to attend constituent body AGMs, the Branch AGN and the Seasonal Social within weeks of each other.
The 2019 AGM will be held after the submission of this report on April 8th, 2019, and National Vice-President Norma Domey and Atlantic Regional Director Kimberly Skanes will attend as guest speakers.
New Membership
We welcomed 68 new members to the Moncton Branch from the now-dissolved Dorchester Branch. We also welcomed new CS members when the RCMP joined PIPSC this fall.
Lunch and Learn
On May 24, 2018, the Moncton Branch held an information session on the new Employee Wellness Support Program for approximately 35 members. An evening information session was also offered in August 2018 and 30 members attended.
Social Events
The Branch held its first Family Skate at the new Avenir Centre in downtown Moncton on December 2, 2018. 30 brave souls attended and were rewarded with hot chocolate courtesy of the Moncton CS Sub-group.
The Branch Seasonal Social was held on December 5, 2018, at Dooley’s in Riverview. We had a record 96 attendees: 67 members and 29 guests and all shared in a festive buffet and unlimited pool and darts. Feedback from this event was very positive, although we were victims of our own success and temporarily ran out of food! No matter, with the help of our ever so eager secretary Kelly MacKinnon, we were able to serve all members and guests with Superstore BBQ chicken and a festive time was had by all. Door prizes were also drawn.
The Branch held a second Family Skate at Avenir Centre on March 17, 2019, and numbers increased to 33 brave souls who joined in the fun. Once more the Moncton CS Sub-group graciously offered hot beverages to attendees. The Branch is considering making the Family Skate an annual if not a semi-annual event.
The Branch is considering diversifying family social events in the future with a Family Bowl in late May or early June this year and a Sugar Shack outing next spring. The Branch expects the social events will foster networking and socializing opportunities for members and give the Branch opportunities to mobilize members for its AGM and to educate members about PIPSC and how we truly are “Better Together”.
Executive Meetings
Executive Meetings were held almost monthly: September 19, 2018, October 16, 2018, November 27, 2018, January 14, 2019, February 2, 2019, March 11, 2019 and April 2, 2019. Email discussions were held in between meeting to make short notice decisions.
Areas of Concern
A concern was raised by members of the Branch about receiving notice of events and the AGM too much in advance and suggested a reminder email be sent the week before the event/AGM.
Our concern was discussed with Catherine Pinks and we are satisfied with the options suggested by the Regional Office. At our next Branch Executive meeting in May we will discuss and choose one of the proposed options and adopt it as our communication policy.
At the time of submission of this report, there are no outstanding areas of concern.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the Moncton Branch Executive on April 3, 2019.
JET
Jean Eugène Trahan (NB-LA)
Moncton Branch President