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Governance, Pay and Benefits Update

To enhance the Military Family Services Program (MFSP), Director Military Family Services (DMFS) is considering ways to improve both its individual programs and the foundational structures that keep those programs running. As a part of this inclusive approach, DMFS is evaluating governance, pay and benefits policies to determine what improvements could be made to make it easier for Canadian/Military Family Resource Centres (C/MFRCs) to provide services to families.
DMFS began talks on enhancing the Governance Model in early 2008. Field Operations Managers (FOMs) held initial consultations by phone with C/MFRC Executive Directors, Board of Directors Chairs and Representatives, as well as Canadian Forces (CF) Commanding Officers and Environmental Chiefs of Staff.

“The major questions we asked were: is the current Governance Model working? What are the challenges faced by those working with the Model? And where are the gaps in service?” said Alla Ivask, DMFS Senior Field Operations Manager.

The CF Family Services Summit held in May 2008 marked the next stage of consultations. The Summit provided an opportunity for discussion and collaboration among military and community leaders, service providers and CF family members. Summit participants made recommendations for the MFSP service areas they would like to see improved and identified the secondary elements of service delivery that would also need to change to enable their recommendations.

National and local governance (the ‘voice of family’) and pay, benefits and pensions of C/MFRC staff and were among the “enabler” themes raised during these discussions. These topics are now being considered by the Senior Manager of Field Operations, FOMs from throughout the country and representatives from the DMFS Policy and Program Development team.

The DMFS team has conducted a thorough review of the initial consultations completed by FOMs at the beginning of the year. A preliminary summary of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges related to governance, pay and benefits has been compiled. In addition, notes from the discussions on these two topics at the Summit were reviewed. Research has also been conducted on pay and benefits options for C/MFRC employees.

In order to validate the research conducted to date, C/MFRC Board Members, Executive Directors and Commanding Officers will be invited to participate in an online review of key questions related to these topics.