It is hard to believe that it has already been almost a month since our conference and convention. What an amazing time we had together. The sessions, socializing, and networking were all great! It was so good to see all that were able to attend. The Board has started some initial work since the conference. We are hard at work getting our Governance and Finance Committees going. The Governance Committee has been tasked with preparing the updates to our Bylaws that were presented in our AGM. As soon as we have the work done, we will be sure to get the meeting notice and bylaw changes out to membership so we can get this cleared up before the summer break. We are also working on getting the other committees organized and to work as soon as possible. We hope to announce very soon the details of our Golf Tournament and the fall sessions. Stay tuned!

Although the government work is on a bit of a hiatus because of the election, we are hoping to get the government relations committee together and move our part of the work forward. That way we can hit the ground running when the new cabinet is in place. We are also planning to get to work with Alberta Council, our lobbyist so that they too are poised and ready to get to work. Finalizing the CSS updates and changes is our first goal to complete and then we want to get the work moving forward on the changes for the ME contract amounts.

As I write this from Calgary under a serious haze of smoke, I can’t help but think of the wildfires that have been going on in Northern Alberta. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected as they deal with evacuations and all other challenges this situation causes. Hopefully, we can get some reprieve with some moisture in the near future. If you are affected by the fires, please reach out to let us know how we can help.

I look forward to the year ahead as President and hope to leave a lasting mark on the work we as an association are doing. Thank you for your support and I look forward to seeing you in our special meeting next month.

By now hopefully, everyone has recovered from an amazing AFSA AGM and Conference in Edmonton.

On top of all the networking, socializing, and celebrating we welcomed several excellent speakers. Thank you go out to keynote speaker Codi Shewan for his extremely informative and interactive session as well as long-time AFSA favourite Dominick Astorino. We also welcomed speakers Anita Slomp and Jason Papirny. The AFSA Executive with Alberta Counsel James Johnson presented a panel on where we are with all of our government contracts and where we are going since engaging Alberta Counsel last year.

We were able to celebrate and honour 18 Long Term Service Award recipients! A list of award winners with their photos is now available on the AFSA website.

The Robert Snodgrass Memorial Award was presented to Tyler Weber for his tireless work during the pandemic as president, his continued support on the Government Relations committee, and everything he does for his community.

The Jerry Smolyk Honorary Life Membership was presented for the first time this year to Dean Ross. Dean embodies the spirit, passion, and dedication to the profession that this award encompasses. 

The AFSA Board was very excited to present the first annual AFSA Student Awards. The AFSA Student Award is presented to two (2) deserving candidates; one (1) each from Mount Royal University and Canadian College of Funeral Service. The inaugural recipients are Megan Yelland-Staff and Evangeline Lutz.

Eden Tourangeau was welcomed to the Past President's Club or 'Black Lanyard Club' by fellow Past Presidents Sheila Bartsch, Dean Ross, Stuart Murray, Tyler Weber, and Chris Jong.

We welcomed 23 exhibitors who are listed below. We could not hold this conference without the support and participation of our sponsors, exhibitors, speakers, and attendees. We invite all attendees to complete the survey below.

We have put together a video recap of the Awards Gala below. The office has received all of the photos taken at the banquet and in the photo booth so feel free to request your favourites.

President: David Root

Vice President: Tracy McFee

Past President: Eden Tourangeau

Alex Van Geest

Candice Anderson

Joelle Valliere

Scott Green

Dale Wright

Bryce Laveck (Associate)