Inaugural Letter from Association President Sandy Glenn

RCMP VETERANS’ ASSOCIATION

Our Association Working Together

Greetings:

This message is going out to our full membership. By now most of you have learned I have had the honour of being elected as President of the RCMP Veterans Association and indeed, it is an honour.

I want to reach out to all of you with this message and I promise there will be more to come. My history with the Association includes a term of Secretary, 1^st. Vice President, President and Immediate Past President of the Nova Scotia Division, where we have in excess of 800 members.

I must confess I had little knowledge of the National office structure until about two weeks ago but in the very short time I’ve been involved I learned there are many positive actions being undertaken on behalf of the overall Association.

It is my intention to apprise our respective Division Presidents of the efforts we are taking on your behalf. I also intend to introduce important topics that impact all of us in hopes of finding and implementing solutions to ensure the Association is there to serve you.

My experience as President of an 800+ Division clearly showed the importance of good governance and especially transparency and responsiveness. I intend to continue using those sound principles.

Unfortunately, the Covid-19 situation has caused this year’s National AGM to be postponed. This is especially disappointing for our Regina Division who no doubt put endless hours of hard work organizing the event that would have seen the highest attendance in many years. We are working with the appropriate government department with respect to the AGM postponement since we do fall within the legal parameters of the Canada Not for Profit Corporations Act. You will be apprised of further developments as they occur, either directly or through your respective Presidents.

I had hoped I would have had the opportunity to meet many of you in person and to listen to your concerns and suggestions face to face. Instead, this will have to be done using available technology, an unfortunate sign of the times.

In the interim, I assure you I, along with all our Board of Directors will be working hard on your behalf. I also look forward to meeting with every Division President either by Zoom, Google Meet, or some other electronic means in the near future. Because of the relatively large number of Presidents, I am guessing I will have to approach this in a Geographical Region approach.

On a final note, the accumulation of so many high stress events and situations has no doubt caused a great deal of anxiety with all of us. Like you, I feel stress every time I turn on the TV news only to hear about complaints and ridicules remarks and suggestions relating to claims of police brutality. I’m reminded of the criticism and hostility many of our older Veterans faced during the late sixties and early seventies. One very good suggestion coming out from the current Nova Scotia Division President is to simply press the “Mute” button on your remote. I now do that and it works. We know the truth about our own actions and those we worked with so the noise coming from an extremely bias press does not have to be listened to.

A thought came to mind and I have seen this many times, especially as of late. The excellent work done by Divisions to help their local communities proudly show the good things the Association can do and this reflects positively on the RCMP. The NS Region of the Annapolis Valley Associate members were part of a group that produced many thousands of Covid-19 protective face masks recently. That same Region has produced many hundreds of receiving blankets, fidget vests for those suffering from Alzheimer’s, bibs for seniors and numerous other helpful items resulting in positive recognition of the RCMP and the Veterans Associations. Another great example is the highly successful Food Bank challenge that originated with John Keddy of Georgian Bay Division and quickly caught fire across our Association, and the wonderful efforts to assist women’s shelters within a number of Divisions’ areas. What a great way to shine a positive light on the RCMP. I’m sure everyone feels good when they hear about these wonderful contributions and they certainly give our morale a needed boost. With this in mind, please share your positive messages with me and through the talents of our Director of Communications, James Forrest, the news will be spread all across the Association. We need this.

Until then, best wishes to all and stay safe and well.

Sincerely

A.P. (Sandy) Glenn, President
RCMP Veterans’ Association
Veterans Helping Veterans and their Families

Copyright © 2018
RCMP Veterans’ Association
Association des vétérans de la GRC
All rights reserved / Tous droits réservés


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