Newsletter - April 2026
CSRA APRS NEWSLETTER APRIL 2026
NEW PENSION SERVICE PROVIDER NORTHERN TRUST
We met with the CUPE Employees Pension Plan (CEPP) Administrator in person on November 20, 2025 and again (virtually) on March 26, 2026. The agenda for both meetings consisted primarily of issues arising from the transition of service providers from RBC to Northern Trust. RBC had been the service provider for more than 20 years with no formal assessment of the service provided. The Joint Board of Trustees undertook to explore other options for a custodian of the pension plan funds and landed on Northern Trust.
As might have been expected, issues arose when transferring from a long time service provider. For us as CEPP pension recipients, two issues arose:
a) Difficulties in signing into the Northern Trust portal, and
b) Payment being delayed to the next business day on a public holiday or Sunday (January 1, 2026 and February 1, 2026)
The initial difficulties in signing onto the Northern Trust portal have, for the most part, been resolved. While there were numerous complaints early in the process, these have tapered off. Northern Trust provided assistance with this process by clarifying their instructions for signing in from different platforms as their instructions were not initially clear. Paper copies of deposit slips will continue to be provided for those who wish to receive them.
An investigation of the January and February pension deposits was undertaken. The names and amounts were approved by the CEPP and the money left the custodian’s accounts on January 1 and February 1 as required. Some financial institutions did not provide some individual pensioners with accurate information. It does not appear to be a CEPP or Northern Trust issue. The CEPP Pension administrator will be monitoring the pension payment to be made on July 1, 2026 date to ensure this problem has been rectified.
The CEPP will be conducting a “postmortem” of the Northern Trust launch for the June Joint Board of Trustees meeting. The results of the survey (paper and on-line) conducted of retirees between December 9 and 23, 2025 will also be provided at this meeting. The CEPP Pension Administrator will provide our Association Executive with high level results of this survey when these are available. We will share these results with you in subsequent newsletters.
The Joint Board of Trustees launched a second survey in mid-April with a response time deadline of May 1, 2026 to assess the possibility of on-line voting for the Retiree Representative to the Joint Board of Trustees.
CSRA DUES DEDUCTION METHOD CHANGES
With the transition to Northern Trust, the CEPP Administrator discovered the cost of making the annual CSRA dues deduction was being paid by the pension plan funds. The CEPP Pension Administrator advised the out-going and incoming Association Executive this was not a proper expense to be borne by the pension plan.
Your Executive rightly offered to cover this expense out of Association funds and you will see this charge on subsequent financial reports. It will have no effect on your annual Association dues of $25. When we met with the CEPP Pension Administrator in November, the charge for administering the dues deduction was approximated to be in the range of $2500. However, Northern Trust now estimates our cost will be about $1100 annually.
New Association Membership packages for 2027 will be offered electronically to existing employees this Fall as part of an overall change to the retirement and application for the CEPP pension process.
PRIVACY LEGISLATION CHANGES & ASSOCIATION BYLAW AMENDMENT
The CEPP has to comply with new privacy legislation in Quebec and the Federal jurisdiction and is not in a position to share your membership information with the Association in the way it did in the past. In recognition of this, the Executive proposed an amendment to the Association Bylaws which was unanimously approved by the Chapter Representatives in the Association Executive Board meeting on Monday March 30, 2026.
What this means in practice is that one person, namely the CSRA Recording Secretary, will be the Association’s private information custodian and will now be responsible for the security of the contact information of the CSRA/APRS membership as provided by the CEPP Pension Administrator.
All communications with the membership will now originate from the CSRA/APRS Recording Secretary email address and each of you will be “blind copied” for privacy. This will include all information from your Chapter Representatives.
CHAPTER REPRESENTATIVES - Executive Board
The Table Officers (Executive Committee) meet with your Chapter Representatives by Zoom on Monday March 30 2026 for our first quarterly meeting.
Your President, Humberto Da Silva reported on the CEPP Pension Plan, the Joint EAP Committee and a proposed letter regarding solidarity with CUBA.
Your Treasurer, Leanne MacMillan, provided the 2025 final budget, which is found on the Association Webpage: https://cuperetirees.ca/financials/. The proposed 2026 budget was unanimously adopted by the Executive Board and includes the additional minor expense of the membership data collection by the CEPP.
Leanne also introduced a bylaw amendment which eliminates the requirement for all cheques to be signed by two Association members in favour of a comprehensive Expense Policy which sets out clear financial accountability processes and recognizes the increased use of e-transfers and the geographic difficulty of obtaining two physical signatures. This Bylaw was passed unanimously by the Executive Board.
Chapter representatives asked about how and where our investments operate. We have confirmation from “YOUR CREDIT UNION” in Ottawa where the Association funds are located. The funds are not invested on the stock market or with external investors. The funds stay within the Credit Union for use in its loans and overall portfolio. We have 4 term certificates which expire on a rotating basis which renew in February with a competitive interest rate. You can reach Leanne at CSRA.ASRCTreasurer@gmail.com.
Your Vice President Andrew Huculak addressed difficulties with updating the webpage and his role as Administrator of the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/417137408489152 . You can reach Andrew at csra.aprs.vp@gmail.com.
Your Secretary, Bev Norman introduced a bylaw amendment regarding privacy and assistance to Chapter Representatives, which was discussed above. This was also passed unanimously. You can reach Bev at csra.aprs.Secretary@gmail.com.
We will publish the bylaw amendments on the Association webpage rather than sending them individually by email. If you do wish to review a copy of the bylaw amendments, please send an email to Bev Norman, Secretary at csra.aprs.Secretary@gmail.com.
The names and and email addresses of your Chapter Representatives are:
Newfoundland and Labrador
Lionel Clarke lionelgclarke@outlook.com
Nova Scotia
Larry Power powerl@hotmail.ca
Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick
Maureen Michaud maureen-michaud@hotmail.com
Quebec
Ronald Cloutier cloutier.ronald@gmail.com
Ontario
Shalom Schachter csra@gilbertschachter.com
Manitoba
Carmelle Chartier carmellechartier@hotmail.com
Saskatchewan - vacant
Alberta
Judy Barry daleandjudybarry@gmail.com
British Columbia
Susan Zander susanzander12@gmail.com
You may communicate directly with your Executive and Chapter representatives, and they in turn can respond directly to you. By doing this you are providing implied consent for such communications.
If there is anything with which you or a surviving spouse requires assistance with please contact your Chapter Rep directly. They will then work with the Executive and our counterparts at CUPE, CEPP, Greenshield, or CUPE EAP to ensure you receive the assistance required.
GREENSHIELD TRAVEL INSURANCE
Due to the attack on Iran, many flights to the Middle East and Asia will be cancelled or re-routed. There are also likely to be major fuel charges by air carriers based in countries affected by fuel shortages caused by the restriction of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Remember that your travel insurance through Greenshield will not cover any repatriation costs caused by war, as this is a ‘force majeure’ event under the benefits contract. Please communicate directly with Greenshield about your coverage prior to travelling.
MANDATE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSOCIATION
Article 3 of our Bylaws set out our objectives as follows:
To achieve its mandate, the Association shall:
a) Act as the “voice” of retirees with CUPE and the staff unions.
b) Respect the roles and responsibilities of the CUPE staff unions and work with them to promote the needs and interests of CUPE retirees and surviving partners.
c) Maintain active retiree representatives on the Joint Board of Trustees of the CUPE Employee Pension Plan and the Employee Assistance Plan Committee.
d) Implement active communication tools and networks, ensuring all member communications are issued in both official languages.
e) Develop a dependable financial base and comprehensive administrative protocols to enable the Association to function as a cost efficient agent, using virtual and electronic tools wherever possible.
f) Facilitate cooperative engagement and information sharing among the members.
g) Encourage all eligible retirees and surviving spouses to join and support the Association.
We will also monitor and advocate for the economic interests of our members in three very specific areas:
a) The CEPP with a view to maximizing the indexing of our pensions
b) The Greenshield benefits plan (and negotiations concerning this plan)
c) The CUPE EAP (which not only provides essential services, but sometimes supplements shortfalls in benefits provided by Greenshield.
In order to fulfill this mandate, the CSRA is currently monitoring CUPE-CSU negotiations which commenced in mid-April. The CSU proposals contain substantial increases to our benefits and absolutely no provisions to limit the benefits of retirees.
Further, the CSRA has corresponded with CUPE HR and the EAP Administrator to get clarity on issues concerning the JEAP Committee, specifically the duration of terms and conflicts of interest that may arise from a JEAP committee member also being a referral agent. We want to maximize our influence on the JEAP to prevent any dilution of its scope or benefit to our retiree members.
Upon receipt of a reply, the Table Officers and the Chapter Representativees will undertake Association by-law changes as required for future appointments of CSRA representation on the JEAP Committee, and to ensure adequate referral agents are available to the CSRA membership.
PRESIDENTIAL MANDATE
During my term of office I would like to guide the CSRA toward recognizing the endeavours and accomplishments of our own members (eg. featuring greatest career hits and/or post retirement accomplishments).
Further, I would like to see the organization exercise a greater political involvement in national provincial municipal and global issues. We have a membership of over 700 retired union activists. We need to enter the conversation.
For example, we provided a $500 dollar donation to “Containers to Cuba” which shipped a container of medical supplies to Cuba on April 7, 2026. Please consider making an individual donation. Send an e-transfer to the niagarawarehouseofhope@gmail.com or by cheque to The Niagara Warehouse of Hope at 46 Broadway Ave. St. Catharines ON L2M 1M4. In both cases, please indicate your contribution is in care of “Containers 4 Cuba”
I have written to Mark Carney on the subject of the American blockade of CUBA and the paltry amount of Canadian aid to Cuba. We received a reply on April 22, 2026. A copy of our letter is attached to this email.
If there are political, human rights, or other issues where you think the CSRA should take a position, make a contribution, correspond or petition a political leader or body, or organize any other type of action, please direct your proposal to your CSRA Chapter Rep or Executive. It will be considered for action by the Executive.
Solidarity,
Humberto (He/Him/Comrade)
President CSRA/APRS
csra.aprs.president@proton.me WEBSITE: https://cuperetirees.ca/