Dear FSCA members,
On behalf of the FSCA executive, I want to wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and best wishes for 2005.
2004 has been a year of significant growth and tremendous change at the FSCA. Our executive team was completely changed due to posting orders and the hiring of a new coordinator. It was tough in the beginning, but we proudly delivered excellent events like the Wine and Cheese and the Annual FSCA Christmas Gala. We’ve seen a significant increase in our membership and are working to improve and develop our centralized members database.
For your dedication and commitment to our collective success in 2004, please accept my warm thanks. There is a positive feeling that the FSCA is now strongly positioned to take full advantage of the job opportunities existing in the department for our spouses and we hope more will follow after the departmental division (FAC /ITCAN) is complete. Many of our spouses have already found short/long term contract jobs through the Canadian Agora job website and we expect this to continue. This is very good news, and it couldn’t have been done without our members’ hard work and dedication to this endeavor.
With regard to other important issues like Employment Insurance and Pensions, we’re putting together a task force in 2005 to continue FSCA's efforts to resolve these issues with the help of the Department and Treasury Board. We cannot promise miracles but rest assured that we are committed to doing our best to fight for your rights.
Member support is the backbone of the FSCA, and I would like to thank everyone who came out to attend our Christmas Gala event on December 9th at the NAC. We were also were delighted to welcome the Hon. James Scott Peterson, Minister of Trade, Ms. Marie-Lucie Morin, Associate Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Gisele Samson-Verreault, Assistant Deputy Minister of Human Resources, and Mr. Ken Sunquist, Assistant Deputy Minister International Business and Chief Trade Commissioner, and their partners come out to show their support for the FSCA.
To the members who were unable to attend, we look forward to seeing you at our future events; there is no better way to get to meet colleagues and make new friends than these excellent socializing and networking opportunities.
Looking forward to 2005, we will continue to strengthen the FSCA by increasing our membership base and seeking to increase the department's grant. I am confident that we will make some progress in advancing our rights in 2005.
This is the time of year to enjoy family, friends and hopefully recharge your batteries for the New Year. Again, I wish all of you the very best for a healthy, happy and safe holiday season and a wonderful 2005. We hope to see and hear from you in the New Year.
Warmest Regards,
Vivek Sharma
President
FSCA ACSE