It is with great sadness that we learned the news of the passing of Edward (Ed) Evashuk. Ed was a longtime member of the AFS Southern Alberta Subgroup, and staunch Union activist. Ed started his activism in 2002 as a Member-at-large for his Subgroup, and from there took on ever increasing roles of responsibility. He was the Subgroup Vice President in 2005 and President in 2006. His activism career culminated in 2007 when he was elected as the Prairie Regional Representative for the AFS Executive, where he also was a member of the bargaining team till 2011.

With the recent election of Shawn Gillis as our AFS Vice-President, the position of Ontario Region AFS Representative becomes vacant on July 1, 2024.

Consistent with AFS by-law 6.9.2, the AFS Executive selected Ward Cluff to serve as Ontario Region AFS Representative from July 1, 2024 until June 30, 2025.

Ward has extensive experience as our Hamilton AFS President and has a strong record as an activist and leader.

We welcome Ward and look forward to working with him as part of our team.

In solidarity

Dear colleagues,

On June 8, 2024, our AFS Group held its Annual General Meeting (AGM). The AGM is the supreme governing body of our AFS Group and our AGM delegates represent over 17,000 AFS members working at the CRA from coast to coast.

CRA’s Commissioner made the decision to increase the requirement for onsite office presence despite survey results showing that a vast majority of CRA employees had lower job satisfaction and higher stress levels since the two-day return to office mandate.

Work to develop and implement a proactive Pay Equity Plan at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has been ongoing, and committee members have been spending multiple days per week with UTE, PSAC, Unrepresented, and employer representatives to complete a Pay Equity Plan. Unfortunately, the Employer will not meet the legislated deadline of September 2024, due in part to the size of the organization and challenges imposed by the employer with respect to collaboration in the early stages of the committee.

We have verified the results for the elections to positions on the AFS Group Executive. The following candidates were successful:

President 

Doug Mason - acclaimed

Vice-President

Shawn Gillis - 818 - elected

Peter Gilkinson - 542

Frank Wong - 500

Manjit Singh - 165

Their 3 years term of office starts on 1 July 2024

The results were announced at the AFS group AGM on 8 June 2024

The AFS Group Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday, June 8, 2024, at the Delta Ottawa City Centre (virtual and in-person).  The AFS Group By-Laws provide for ninety-three (93) delegates including the eleven (11) members of the AFS Group Executive. The remaining eighty-two (82) official delegates are allocated on the basis of population by region and chosen by the Regional Representatives.

There are two (2) vacancies on the AFS Group executive, for President and Vice-President. The successful candidate will take Office on July 1, 2024.

Following the close of nominations on May 1, 2024, the following members expressed their willingness to serve as Vice-President on the AFS Group Executive. The President position has been acclaimed by Doug Mason. Congratulations Doug!

I met with CRA Commissioner Bob Hamilton on May 2nd, along with UTE President Marc Brière. While I can’t say that I was surprised by the outcome, it is still disappointing.

In spite of all the formal and informal feedback and even official survey results that indicate the negative impacts on our members, our CRA Commissioner chose for the Agency to worsen the work life balance and stress levels and productivity of our AFS members.

At the request of the AFS Group Elections Committee as per PIPSC By-Law 17.3.2.1, the PIPSC National Elections committee is conducting the 2024 AFS Group elections to the National AFS Group Executive.

According to AFS Group By-Law 7.5.1, in 2024, being a year before a year divisible by three, elections will be held for AFS Group President and Vice-President for a three (3) years term.

As per AFS Group By-Law 7.4.10: Successful candidates will take Office on July 1.