As President of PAFSO, it was a great pleasure to chair our 59th Annual General Meeting on October 21. In addition to welcoming Ashely Durec, Trish Chang, Marc-André Desmarais, and Zach Campbell to our Executive Committee, we also adopted our second-ever strategic plan. The new plan will guide us through the celebration of our 60th anniversary and into the next phase of our growth and development. It reflects our commitment to protecting and representing our members, advocating for the value of the professional Foreign Service, and ensuring that PAFSO remains strong, united, and well-governed.
The key elements of the 2025–28 plan are:
1. Protect and Represent
Our first priority is to continue protecting and representing you, our members. As we look ahead to negotiating our next collective bargaining agreement in 2026, we remain focused on ensuring your needs are met in every aspect of labour relations. We will also work tirelessly to safeguard your health and safety and seek beneficial conditions of service for both you and your families. The existing Foreign Service Directives provide a strong foundation, but we are also exploring other mechanisms that could enhance support – both within and beyond current frameworks.
2. Advocate and Engage
In addition to protecting members, PAFSO is committed to ensuring our profession’s contributions are widely recognized and valued. We will continue to advocate for the professional Foreign Service and the broad Foreign Service community in targeted, strategic ways – engaging with the public, media, and key decision-makers on key issues such as health insurance abroad (which I discuss elsewhere in this issue). As we prepare to celebrate PAFSO60, we have a unique opportunity to highlight our role outside our traditional circles, building broad public support and awareness for the work we do on behalf of Canada and Canadians.
3. Govern and Operate
Lastly, we are committed to maintaining excellence in governance, operations, and financial management. We will continue to follow best practices in these areas, ensuring that PAFSO speaks with a unified voice that reflects the diversity of our membership. We will also ensure that our internal operations evolve with the needs of our members, providing you with the best possible support.
We are excited to embark on this journey together, and we look forward to working with our members, including by telling your stories here in bout de papier, to celebrate our past and build an even stronger future for PAFSO and the professional Foreign Service for the next 60 years.
