Welcome to the Concordia University Pensioners Association's Web Site.
 |
CUPA/ARUC serves to bring together retirees of Concordia University, both for social gatherings and to promote our interests as Concordia retirees, pensioners and golden-agers in general.
Latest News
(Note: You need Adobe reader to access many of the reports shown on this site. Download it free by clicking here. )
Opportunity to Attend Virtual Events
As mentioned in a communiqué sent out to CUPARUC members last November, it was agreed at the College and University Retirees Associations of Canada (CURAC) Annual General Meeting held virtually on September 30, 2020 that member Associations hosting virtual events would allow, when possible, other CURAC members to attend their events.
Active CUPARUC members are eligible to register to attend the events listed below offered by Senior College of the University of Toronto and the McGill University Retiree Association. I hope some of you will be able to take advantage of this and future similar opportunities.
[Download the List of Activities (Pdf)]
Garry Milton
President, CUPARUCCUPARUC now has a Facebook Page
We are excited to welcome you to the new CUPA /ARUC Facebook group! The new group is a one-stop tool for information dissemination, queries/discussions regarding CUPA as well as a resource of offerings for its members. But, most importantly, it is a means to (re)unite all Concordia retirees in a medium that offers social connectivity (rekindling of Con U friendships as well as creating new ones); offers helpful everyday info (where to get a Flu shot; discounts for seniors, etc); provides a place to respectfully discuss and share views, recipes, stories, crafts - to name but a few.
CUPA plays an important role in our retirement livelihood and it also has a role to play in ensuring that all Concordia retirees are 'taken care of' on a social level, too.
Join us by clicking on https://www.facebook.com/groups/646479872619655
If you do not have a Facebook page, simply Google how to set up a Facebook account. There are many sites that can direct you through the process but here is an easy one: https://www.wikihow.com/Set-up-a-Facebook-AccountNew Newsletter
The October, 2020 issue of the Newsletter (vol 30, no 1 - full version) is now available online. This newsletter is our first since November of last year and contains much timely information on many topics of interest to Concordia retirees.
A Message from the President
Dear members,
It is time to renew your membership in the Concordia University Pensioners’ Association for the 2020-2021 year. The dues renewal forms are included below.
Normally you would have received the membership renewal information last April. However, with the onset of the pandemic and the closing of the University to in-person activities, the Executive Committee decided to delay sending out the membership renewal information until we had a better idea about what might be possible as to when normal Association activities could resume. Unfortunately, it might still be a while before that will occur.
Meanwhile, the CUPARUC Executive continues to meet, albeit by Zoom videoconference, and work on matters of importance to retirees. In early November we will be launching a CUPARUC Facebook page and sending out our Newsletter, which will provide details on many of the activities that have been ongoing over the last several months.
We are also exploring relationships with other institutions and associations that will allow you to take advantage of virtual opportunities such as viewing or participating in lectures and performances. As mentioned in one of our earlier communiqués, the CU at Home site connects you to programming designed to keep you engaged, active and in touch with your community (https://www.concordia.ca/next-gen/engagement/cuathome.html) and is well worth checking out. By now you should have received by regular post your annual pension plan package, which includes the 2019 Annual Report and information about the Annual Pension Plan Information Meeting. The meeting is scheduled for October 29 at 3:15 p.m. and will be held online by Zoom. We encourage you to either attend the meeting or view the recording afterwards. If you wish to attend the meeting you must register online at https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bMqsvjNXRXGv-nLjnnnR8Q.
For many of you that have not been active members for some time, please consider renewing your memberships. Among our activities, CUPARUC represents retirees on the University Pension and University Benefits Committees, oversees a robust scholarship and bursary programme for Concordia graduate and undergraduate students and provides a milieu for the maintenance and enhancement of social contact between members. Our goal is to provide an active, ongoing and supportive link amongst members and to the University.
On behalf of the CUPARUC Executive Committee, I wish you all the best. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email us at cuparuc@concordia.ca or by leaving a message on our voicemail (438-772-9119).
Warmest regards,
Garry Milton
President, CUPARUCFor your convenience, membership and renewal forms are linked below (They can also be permanently found un Join CUPA/Renew Membership on the left-hand menu):
Join:
CUPA Membership Form
Formulaire d'adhésion ARUC
Renew:
Annual Dues
Souscription annuelleTeam Concordia Pensioners needs your Shuffle support
The official start of Shuffle 31 is today, Friday, September 18, 2020 and the Shuffle continues for a week until Friday, September 25, 2020. Once again retirees have formed a team of shufflers to raise funds for graduate and undergraduate student awards.
The Team goal this year is a modest $1200. To date, we have raised almost 50% of that total but we absolutely need your help. If you are able to Shuffle, that is fantastic. Because Shuffle31 is virtual, you can choose when during the week you wish to Shuffle and to where. If you are unable to Shuffle, please consider sponsoring one of our registered team Shufflers or the team itself.
To do so, please visit https://concordia.akaraisin.com/ui/shuffle31 or if you have questions or comments, please email me at joanne.locke@concordia.ca.
I can assure you that the over 200 students who have received Concordia University Retired Faculty and Staff Scholarships and Awards are truly grateful. In fact, many of these students are also Shufflers themselves.
Joanne Locke
Team Captain – Concordia Pensioners’ Shuffle Team- An Update from the Executive of your Association
- An Important Update - July 2, 2020
CUPARUC HAS A NEW TELEPHONE NUMBER
To better serve our members, CUPARUC has implemented a new telephone number and voicemail service.
Our new number is: 438-772-9119.
The new system will allow you to leave messages of up to two minutes in length and automatically prompts the Association when messages are received, which will enable us to respond to your questions and concerns in a more timely manner.
In addition to contacting us by telephone, you can also reach the Association by email at cuparuc@concordia.ca.
We have received many enquiries since the last message we sent out in early May regarding membership renewals and other topics. The CUPARUC Executive will be meeting shortly to discuss how we move forward in the current environment and will be sending out a communiqué later this month.
Until then, we wish everyone the best and hope you are all doing well and staying safe.
Garry Milton,
President, CUPARUC - A Message From Our President - April 30
Dear Members,
Following the message we sent out earlier this month regarding the postponement of the Spring Annual General Meeting and other matters, we received several responses, including about the general state of our pension plan. With respect to the latter and considering the impact on the economy of the Covid-19 pandemic, we felt a brief update concerning our pension plan would be appreciated.
A University Pension Committee meeting was held on April 22. Our Executive Committee members Bryan Campbell and Hal Proppe report that the pandemic impact on the Concordia pension portfolio has been pronounced, with a decrease in its hedged value of 10.75%. But this drop should be seen in the context of overall market impact, which has been considerably higher (albeit with some reversals in the last two weeks).
Comfort should be taken in the reality that the Plan has held up well under extreme circumstances. Moreover, we do not have (and are not close to having) a liquidity problem, which would force the sale of plan assets to meet liabilities. It should be emphasized that the number just quoted above reflects the performance of the Plan's publicly traded assets as of March 31. The results for the private equity components won't be known for another month or two. In the current climate it is best not to speculate about their direction.
Finally, until these results are known, the Plan’s Pension Committee has delayed the usual announcement on whether there will be indexation this year. No date has been set for the announcement.
We wish everyone the best and hope you are all doing well and staying safe.
Warmest regards,
Garry Milton - A Message From Our President - April 5
Dear members,
In this difficult time, we hope that you, your family members and friends are well and staying safe.
Normally at this time of year we would be preparing for our Spring Annual General Meeting and finalizing the Spring Newsletter package for mailing, which includes the membership renewal forms.
Considering the current state of affairs, however, the Spring Annual General Meeting will be postponed until later in the year and our regular activities have been put on hold for the time being.
The Executive Committee has been discussing Association matters, both amongst us and with various University offices, through email and by telephone. We will be in contact with you over the coming months with respect to the resumption of regular Association activities and any other information related to the CUPARUC community.
On a reassuring note, Bryan Campbell and Hal Proppe, our two representatives on the University's Pension Committee, report that the losses of the publicly traded assets in the Plan's portfolio (i.e., some three quarters) amounted to 10% over the first three months of the year, which compares more than favourably with market declines of around 30% during this period. As well, the Plan's liquidity profile remains more than adequate to meet the Plan's obligations.
On behalf of all the members of the Executive Committee, I want you to know that we are thinking of you and hope that all will be well for you, your family and friends.
Warmest regards,
Garry Milton, President, CUPARUC
April 2, 2020 Fall General Meeting + Holiday Luncheon
Our Annual Fall General Meeting and Holiday Luncheon held on Wednesday, December 18, 2019 was a great success! We had a larger turnout than ever before!. The minutes of the meeting will be available in draft form soon. (They are not official until accepted at the next meeting.New! Electronic Payment of Dues (Via Interac)
The Join/Renew link at the left has been completely updated! You may now download and send in the memberhip form in order to join, while sending in your dues electronically. To simply renew your membership and/or update your information, download the renewal form and follow the instructions. It is as simple as doing and Interac payment through your bank!
New Online Tools Coming Soon
The Cuparuc Executive have been exploring ways to share individual, personal information with members. The first project will be a tool whereby members can see whether their annual dues are up to date. We will also add a secure documents page where we can share with members documents that we could not put out on the open Internet. These projects will require a “sign-in” section of the website, where members will have to put in their username and password. We plan on creating initial passwords for most members by using a combination of information we have on file for them. Members will be invited (with instructions on the site) to change their password to something more personal and secure as soon as they first gain access. Those for whom we cannot automatically create a password will be advised of their username and password individually. If anyone does not wish to participate in this project and does not wish to have a personal account on our website, please inform your webmaster, Roger Kenner, of this desire at roger@rogerkenner.ca Once members are comfortable with password-controlled section of the website, we hope to roll out other projects, such as on-line payment of dues and an online forum or bulletin board. More information will follow.NEW WEBSITE ADDRESS
New security measures adopted by the University in January of 2016 made it impossible for us to continue to maintain our pensioners website on a Concordia server. The decision has been made to move our website to another server. Please note NEW ADDRESS below:http://CuparucConcordia.ca
Please change all your links and shortcuts. The address is very much like the old one, except there is no period between cuparuc and concordia. Please note that there are two 'c' s together, in the middle of this address. The capital letters are optional and are provided only for clarity.
Please note that, until we can place a re-direct page at the old address, you will continue to see a Cuparuc web page there, but it no longer be updated. (If you are unsure which you are looking at, check the date at the bottom of the opening page: It should read Feburary 19, 2016 or later.
- CUPARUC Scholarsips and Awards: A photo of some of this year's award recipients has been placed on the page at the left. There is no longer a specific box to check off to contribute to our award; you must check off "other" and then write in the name of our award in full: Concordia Retired Faculty and Staff Awards Endowment Fund.
Scholarships and Awards
Did you know your Association funds numerous graduate and undergraduate awards? Check out the new Awards page at the left for more information.Did you know that the Newsletter and Annual Minutes pages at the left include the entire collection, from the very first meeting? (There may remain a few gaps, as we cannot be sure of the number of newsletters published each year. Please help us if you have any of the missing material.
Have we got your latest email address? Check the colour of your name on the Membership List to see if we have an email address on file for you. If you fear that we may not have your most up-to-date email address, send a note to Roger@RogerKenner.ca with your latest email address.
Dear members,
Wherever you are, whether it be in the Montreal region, elsewhere in Canada or internationally, we are thinking of you and hope that all is well with you, your family and friends. The pandemic has impacted all of our lives and balancing the demands of these uncertain times is a challenge we have all encountered in various ways. We sincerely hope that amongst your friends, family and others you have been able to find the support you need.
For those of you that have been checking the Concordia website, it is obvious that the Fall term will be far from anything close to normal. The great majority of coursework and teaching will happen online with only a very limited number of activities happening on campus. For most staff, it seems like working from home will continue throughout the Fall term.
For the CUPARUC Executive, we continue to navigate our way through this difficult period of uncertainty. Although at this point it does not seem very likely that any in-person activities will be happening before the December Holiday period, we continue to be active.
Our representatives on the University Benefits and University Pension Committees have been working regularly within those portfolios and as key members of the Benefits Plan Working Committee and Investment Sub-Committee. Work is ongoing to ensure our scholarships and bursaries programs for undergraduate and graduate students are stable. In addition to recently reaching out to 57 new retirees encouraging them to join the Association, we are continuing to plan for the resumption of CUPARUC activities and affairs.
Speaking of our scholarship and bursary program, the annual Concordia Shuffle has gone virtual for 2020. The difference is that you can choose to shuffle where you want and when you want, within a seven-day period from Friday, September 18 to Friday, September 25. As in past years, CUPARUC will be forming a team for Shuffle 31, and all funds raised by our team will go directly to our scholarships and bursaries to support graduate and undergraduate students. Be on the lookout for information about how to join our team. We will be in-touch soon.
As part of our goal to provide a link to Concordia and support a milieu for the maintenance and development of social contact between members, especially during this time, we are considering various ways to improve communications and provide information to members. One of our first initiatives will be to begin sending regular mid-monthly communiqués to keep you informed of information related to Association business and activities as well as Concordia information of interest to our members. The monthly communiqués will augment our regular semi-annual Newsletter and information posted on our website.
We encourage you to check regularly the Concordia website to learn more about what is happening at the University regarding the Covid-19 situation. Two links that you might find particularly interesting are the CU at Home and Covid-19 Updates webpages
.The CU at Home site connects you to programming designed to keep you engaged, active and in touch with your community (https://www.concordia.ca/next-gen/engagement/cuathome.html). Concordia’s Coronavirus (Covid-19) Updates webpage provides the latest updates about the University’s Covid-19 response efforts (https://www.concordia.ca/coronavirus/updates.html).
Most of you will be receiving this message by email. For those members who do not have an email address on file, you are receiving it by regular post. In the upcoming months, however, all communications will be done electronically unless we are notified otherwise. If you wish to receive communications by regular mail, including the Newsletter, notices of general meetings, etc., please leave a voicemail message on the CUPARUC telephone line (438-772-9119) indicating that you would like to receive all communications by mail.
We wish you all the best and we will be in contact with you in September to update you regarding CUPARUC business and other matters of interest to our members. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email us at cuparuc@concordia.ca or by leaving a message on our voicemail (438-772-9119).
Warmest regards,
The CUPARUC Executive Committee