Hello everyone,

September has come around and I hope everyone is doing well now that back to school is behind us and we are in the normal swing of things for the fall. The golf tournament was a great success and we were glad to see everyone that was able to come. Although the day started a bit cold, we had beautiful weather and the rain held off until we were all done and inside for dinner. Thank you to all who attended and especially to our sponsors for all of their support.

The Executive had a meeting with the Executive team at CSS and is happy to share a summary of the meeting with you below. Thank you to everyone who answered our CSS survey. This was information that we wanted to have in hand for that meeting. They are hearing our concerns and are interested in moving the program forward in a way that makes the process easier for us, them, and of course, the families we serve. If you have any questions about CSS, please reach out to me and I would be happy to discuss it with you. If there are any concerns about the CSS process, please be sure to let us know so we can bring it to their attention. We can also let you know where to send the concerns if you wish to work with them directly. We appreciate the guidance that Alberta Counsel gives us as we continue to work on the political side of making some changes to the financial amount of the Funeral Benefit and hope to have some news in the near future.

We were working with Minister Jeremy Nixon and Deputy Minister Cynthia Farmer prior to the election on possible updates to the funeral benefit amount or additional funding for specific services. We followed up with the new Minister, Minister Jason Nixon, following the election and are expecting to hear back from them very soon. As we have not heard from them, we did have a meeting with MLA Jackie Lovely to discuss these concerns and how she could help us. She offered her help to bring this all up with the Minister to help us move it forward.

Our government relations team is working to complete some communication regarding concerns with the OCME Rural Transportation work. We hope to have the communication finalized and out to their office in the next month. We will circulate it to everyone so you are aware of the communication with their office and what we are working with them on. 

The governance committee is still working on the Bylaws updates we promised regarding the vacant Vice President position in the executive. Summer definitely presented some scheduling conflicts. They want to be sure the updates are made in the best interest of the Association and so they are being very thorough with the work they are doing. 

We were excited to announce our Fall CE session “Troubleshooting Embalming Challenges” with Jack Adams. You have likely read some of Jack’s articles in the Dodge Magazine over the years and we are so excited to have him facilitate our fall seminars this year. They are only open to AFSA Members and are again free of charge. See the details of the seminars later in the newsletter and be sure to register early.

Have a great September and I look forward to seeing all those that attend the fall sessions.

Thanks,

David Root

AFSA President

AFSA is excited to once again offer the Fall Education Sessions free of charge to all member firms, their employees, and current students.

This year we will be providing an Embalming session presented by Jack Adams!

CALGARY

Date: Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Time: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Location: Deerfoot Inn & Casino

EDMONTON

Date: Thursday, October 19, 2023

Time: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Location: River Cree Resort & Casino

Registration is required by October 11th to secure your spot.

Thank you to all who took part in the

2023 Harald Gunderson Memorial Golf Tournament! 

Another golf tournament is in the books.

Thank you to all who participated by golfing, sponsoring, cheering, providing prizes, and purchasing 60/40 tickets.

We were privileged to hold this year's event at the River Bend Golf Course in Red Deer. Unfortunately, we will be on a different course next year as River Bend will be completing some renovations. If anyone has a great suggestion for a location, please contact the office.

Congratulations to our top 3 teams!

The AFSA has partnered with the Canada Bereavement Registry to provide support to families.

Canada Bereavement Registry is a free aftercare service for the bereaved. We have two important services: stopping unwanted direct mail and phone calls addressed to the deceased, and life insurance and pension checks. Everyone receives mail from companies and not-for-profits marketing their services and organizations. Unless they are notified of a person’s death, they will continue to call and send mail addressed to the deceased. This is a very upsetting experience for the bereaved, as it constantly reminds them of their loss. It is also very hard on the environment with millions of pieces of unwanted mail being generated, delivered, and discarded every year. Canada Bereavement Registry works with these companies and organizations to help keep their databases free of the deceased. We also work with the life insurance and pension industry to find unknown policies and survivor pensions, and payouts may be expedited if a company is first informed of someone’s death by our registry instead of by the bereaved which in some cases takes time.

Registration is easy and requires no sensitive information regarding the deceased or bereaved. Simply go to AFSA’s unique URL at https://www.canada-bereavement-registry.ca/afsa and populate the form. Please note that the “afsa” in the URL is case-sensitive. You will receive a confirmation email once the registration has been completed. Please remember to save and use this unique URL each time you register to ensure AFSA receives its benefits.