You may have heard the rumours...and it's finally true.  Membership in the CMPA is now better than ever!  

As our Canada Day gift to you, we've made massive changes to your CMPA membership that will significantly benefit you now and for years to come.

These changes to the CMPA Membership, Departure Gift, and Retired Credentials bylaws will make it easier to become and remain a member in good standing of the CMPA and be eligible for departure gifts and retired MP credentials.  

BLUF:  

1. Any regular member who has paid dues for at least five (5) consecutive years will automatically become a Lifetime member.  You must apply for your Lifetime membership prior to 31 Dec 19. After this date, you will be required to apply as a new member.
2. Any regular member who has previously received a CMPA departure gift or Retired MP credentials will become a Lifetime member upon application at no further cost.
3. Any regular member who has either missed annual payments or paid their dues sporadically, is considered to be a member NOT in good standing. In order to be a member in good standing, you have until 31 Dec 19 to pay a one-time payment of $125. and will then become a Lifetime membe​r.

Anyone who wishes to join the CMPA for the first time can pay a one-time fee of $250 and become a lifetime CMPA member.  Anyone who is on a MP QL3 or MPOC course will receive a discount of $50.  

​All members of the CMPA are entitled to a once in a lifetime departure gift, at no cost, when leaving the MP Branch.  Credentialled MP may receive their MP Badge mounted in a shadow box with an appropriately engraved name plate.  Non-credentialled MP and other CMPA members will receive a gift approved by the CMPA Executive.  

Any member of the CMPA who was a credentialled MP and is fully retired or released (including medical release) from the CAF may purchase either Retired or Veteran MP Credentials from the CMPA Kit Shop, some restrictions apply.  

You can read a detailed description about the changes and the process by clicking on this link, or by visiting our website's homepage.

​We’ve learned the hard way that having a serving member function as the CMPA Gift Coordinator simply doesn’t work.  Operational tempo, TD & deployments, and daily workload are simply incompatible with keeping on top of the massive amount of requests for Departure Gifts that arrive weekly.  As a result, we continually find ourselves with a huge backlog of unfulfilled orders.  This hurts our members and is unacceptable.

​However, we've now found a solution.

​Effective immediately, the CMPA Kit Shop has assumed full responsibility for members requesting Departure Gifts.  A retired MP has stepped forward and volunteered his service as our new Gift Coordinator and will be working with the Kit Shop to ensure the backlog of orders is filled as quickly as possible, and that all new orders are processed in a timely fashion.  This new process should address the current situation with the backlog of outstanding gifts.  

All requests for or queries about Departure Gifts should be sent to cmpadeparturegift@gmail.com

​It is important to stress that this is for departure gifts only and that we are still trying to find someone to coordinate Retirement Credentials.  If you are interested in helping out with this function, please contact the kit shop at this email address.

In the coming weeks we hope to be able to update the website with the new bylaw on Departure Gifts and an updated order form.

​Yesterday, CWO Crystal Krammer had the pleasure of presenting a scholarship cheque on behalf of the CMPA to Miss Geneviève Langlois, who was accompanied by her Mother Mrs France Bélanger, and father WO Frédérick Langois.

In addition to a solid academic performance, Genevieve demonstrated a strong community and school involvement with multiple organizations.  She has also dedicated much of her teenage years with the Army Cadets and achieved many distinctions to recognize top performance and dedication.  Genevieve will be taking a 2-year program with Georgian College in Pre-Health Sciences or Massage Therapy

Congratulations Geneviève, your scholarship is certainly well deserved!   

On 13 Sep 17, Maj Steeve Gregoire (CMPA Secretary) had the honor to present Alexis Raymond with his scholarship cheque for $1000. 
 
​Alexis has been accepted into a “Baccalauréat en science commerciales spécialisé en comptabilité (coop)” at Ottawa University. 
 
Good luck in your studies, Alexis!

The CMPA’s Scholarship Fund reflects one of our main purposes:  to support and benefit its members. 

Each year, the CMPA awards two $1,000 scholarship to members in good standing whose family members (spouse or children) are pursuing their first year of full or part time post-secondary education.  One scholarship will be presented for entry into a university program, and one for entry into a college program. 

The attached documents provide full details regarding the rules and application process.  Deadline for submission is 30 July 2017.  No extensions will be granted.
 
Email your submission packages to cmpa.apmc@gmail.com 
 
Good luck to all future applicants!

Not a day goes by that we don't get a question about "retirement badges".  There's a lot of confusion out there, some of it of our own making due to confusing policies and mixed messages over the years.  To be clear, the CMPA offers two seperate gifts to CMPA members that are releasing or retiring:  the CMPA Departure Gift and the MP Retirement Credentials. 

We’ve received a lot of feedback from members about the current retirement credentials program...concerns that the application process was overly complex, that it was excessively expensive for retired members…and some excellent suggestions were put forward to us for consideration.

​As a result, we’re making a lot of fundamental changes to the Retirement Badge program.

​First, the application process is going to be significantly streamlined to eliminate a lot of the bureaucracy, including the elimination of the role of the chain of command.  There will still be a review conducted to ensure the applicant meets all eligibility requirements, but the initial request no longer needs to be staffed through your chain of command when you retire.  You’ll have enough to do without a lot of extra paperwork.

You no longer have to purchase a 5-year membership to obtain the retirement credentials.  So long as you have an existing CMPA membership that’s in good standing and meet the other basic requirements (not have your MP credentials under suspension, not be dishonorably released, etc.), the retirement credentials will now essentially be a “kit shop purchase” and all you’ll be required to pay is a one-time fee for the badge, ID card, and wallet.

You will no longer have to maintain a continuous CMPA membership after you retire in order to keep the retirement credentials.  This was a particularly big bone of contention, and it’s now been eliminated.  If you are in possession of retirement credentials that are expired or about to expire, you don’t have to “renew” them.  We are reworking the design of the ID card to eliminate the expiry date.  If you want to replace your ID card if its been damaged or you want to update the photo, you’ll only have to pay a modest fee to cover production and shipping

While we are making some changes to better serve our retired members, one thing that won’t be changing is the fundamental criteria for qualification:  you must be retired (or in the process of retiring) to obtain the retirement credentials.  In other words, you’ve must have completed your Terms of Service and be receiving a pension for that service.  If you’ve been medically released as a result of an injury sustained on duty and are receiving a medical pension for that injury you also qualify for retirement credentials.  However, personnel who release from the CAF without receiving a pension will not be considered to be “retired” and will not be eligible for retirement credentials.

However, every member of the CMPA who releases or retires will still be entitled to the CMPA Departure Gift (formerly called the “retirement gift”…which created a great deal of confusion as you might imagine).  ​The Departure Gift is your actual MP badge that you carried on duty, encased in a shadow box.  We’re also making a few minor changes to Bylaw #5, which governs the CMPA Departure Gift program, and we’ll be announcing those changes soon.

In the days and weeks to come, we’ll be publishing an updated Bylaw #6 that governs the retirement credentials, as well as a new application process.  Speaking of paperwork on retirement, we are going to be producing a CMPA aide-memoire for inclusion in the DWD handbook to ensure that Departure gifts and retirement credentials every MP who releases or retires.

​If you recall from our post on our Facebook page last week, we have received numerous complaints about the significant delays in obtaining retirement gifts (the shadow boxes). As you know, the CMPA does not produce these shadow boxes ourselves, they are outsourced from a 3rd party. Unfortunately, we had significant supply chain problems throughout 2016, which forced us to take some drastic actions behind the scenes to make it right.

A shipment was received from our new supplier a week before the Christmas block leave period started. However, despite good intentions to get these shipped out, the "real world" intervened and shipments were unavoidably delayed. I'm sure all of you understand what happens when unexpected military priorities throw a monkey wrench into the works.

Those of you that have been patiently waiting for these shadow boxes can rest assured that they should be in the mail this week.

Along with a new and more reliable 3rd party vendor, we are also convening a Special Executive meeting on 23 Jan 17 in order to refine our retirement gift process to better serve our members.

​The CMPA Scholarship reflects one of our main purposes:  to support and benefit its members. The scholarship provides financial assistance to members of the CMPA whose family members are pursuing their first year of full or part-time post-secondary education.  ​Each year, one $1,000 scholarship will be presented for entry into a university program and one $1,000 scholarship will be presented for entry into a community college program.  To eligible, candidates must have been accepted at a post-secondary institution (university or college), and must submit:

​The 2016 Scholarship competition was announced on 24 Mar 16, and closed on 31 Jul 16.  A committee of three members, representing a cross section of the Association, was convened to review and grade the applications in order to determine the winners.  Among the criteria that were considered in assessing points are academic performance and potential; community involvement; financial need; and quality of the essay.  This year, the applications were reviewed by CWO Crystal Krammer (MP Branch Chief), Maj Todd Barnes (CMPA Treasurer), and Maj Tim Utton (CMPA Vice President & Director of Communications).

​The winner of the University Scholarship was Jared Hudson, son of CPO2 Roger Hudson.  Jared had extremely strong application.  The committee was impressed with his interest in pursuing a career in business, and the deliberate manner in which he’s set the conditions for his own future success by finding work that in a firm that allows him to gain experience in areas such as accounting and human resources.  ​In his essay, he described how attending the international school in Belgium while his father was employed at SHAPE HQ helped him to develop his interest, and it was clear to us that that this experience was key to him developing the right attributes to succeed.  He has been accepted into a Bachelor of Commerce program at Dalhousie University.  Jared was presented with a cheque for $1000 by Maj Melanie Rheaume, CO MPU Halifax, and WO(Ret'd) Frank Leblanc, CMPA Atlantic Region Director. 

​The winner of the College Scholarship was Eric Meilleur, son of Sgt Frank Meilleur.  The committee was extremely impressed with Eric's interest in pursuing a career in politics, demonstrated by his active participation in his school’s model UN.  In his essay, he described how attending school in both Turkey and Russia while his father was employed at different MPSS units helped him to develop his interest, and it was clear to us that that this experience was key to him developing the right attributes to succeed.  He will begin his post-secondary education with a 2-year University Studies program at North Island College, followed by a 2-year program at University of Victoria.  On behalf of the CMPA, Eric was presented with a cheque for $1000 by Lt Evan Foster, OC of 12 MP Flight Comox, BC.

​On behalf of the CMPA President, LCol (Ret’d) Sylvie Beaudry, we offer both Jared and Eric our most sincere congratulations and best wishes for his education and future endeavours.

Just a reminder that 30 July 2016 is the deadline for submitting applications for this year's CMPA Scholarship competition.  Mark that date in your calendars, because no extensions will be granted

The CMPA’s Scholarship Fund reflects one of our main purposes:  to support and benefit its members.
 
Each year, the CMPA awards two $1,000 scholarship to members in good standing whose family members (spouse or children) are pursuing their first year of full or part time post-secondary education. 

​One scholarship will be presented for entry into a university program, and one for entry into a college program.

The attached documents provide full details regarding the rules and application process. 

Submissions can be emailed to cmpa.apmc@gmail.com. 

You may not be aware of this, but the TD Insurance - Meloche Monnex is an affinity partner with the CMPA. 

​Through TD, you can get extremely competitive rates on home and auto insurance, just for being a member of the CMPA!

Visit TD Insurance today to request a quote, or click here to learn more about the intricacies of car insurance in Canada and how TD can help you out.

​Remember, you need to be a member of the CMPA to take advantage of this special offer.  If you've not yet joined, or need to renew, visit our Membership page. 

​The CMPA’s Scholarship Fund reflects one of our main purposes:  to support and benefit its members.
 
Each year, the CMPA awards two $1,000 scholarship to members in good standing whose family members (spouse or children) are pursuing their first year of full or part time post-secondary education. 

​One scholarship will be presented for entry into a university program, and one for entry into a college program.

The attached documents provide full details regarding the rules and application process.  Deadline for submission is 30 July 2016.  No extensions will be granted.
 
Email your submission packages to cmpa.apmc@gmail.com
 
Good luck to all future applicants!

​​It’s a common practice for police services across Canada to issue special “retirement credentials” to their retired members.  For years, members of the MP Branch sought this same privilege as a means of recognizing their unique qualifications and contribution to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Canadian policing fraternity. 

​This demand was recognized by the CMPA, and since 2010 retired MP and MPO who have met specific criteria have been eligible to receive this symbolic memento in recognition of their service to Canada, the CAF, and the MP Branch.

​​The MP Retirement Credentials should not be confused with the traditional CMPA Retirement Gift, which is your actual service badge encased in a shadow box.

​To be eligible obtain Retirement Credentials, you must:

If you were dishonourably released from the CAF, released prior to the resolution of an ongoing MP Professional Standards investigation or Conduct complaint, or if your CMPA dues are not in good standing, you may not be eligible to receive MP Retirement Credentials.  

​If you have never been a member of the CMPA, you are not eligible to receive Retirement Credentials.

​If you’re in the process of retiring, complete the attached form and forward it through your chain of command to the Senior MP advisor in your unit.  Your chain of command will certify that you meet all eligibility requirements and forward the package to the CMPA Retirement Gift Coordinator, who advise you of the final cost for your Retirement Credentials (calculation of any CMPA dues that may be in arrears plus the 5-year membership).  On receipt of payment, the Retirement Credentials will be processed.

​If you’re already retired, complete the form and forward it and your photos electronically to cmpa.apmc@gmail.com.  You can also mail them to:
 
            Canadian Military Police Association
            PO Box 41190
            1910 St Laurent Blvd
            Ottawa, ON  K1G 1A0
            Attention:  Retirement Gift Coordinator

​Once your eligibility has been confirmed, you will be contacted and advised of the cost of the credentials, and on receipt of payment, your application will be finalized.

​It’s important to note that once issues, the MP Retirement Credentials remain the property of the CMPA...and they have a five year expiry date. 

​In order to retain these credentials, you must remain a member in good standing.  This means you must renew your membership after five years; if you don’t, you will have to return the retirement credentials to the CMPA. 

​In addition to non-payment of dues, the credentials may also be subject to revocation in the event of their misuse or misconduct by the holder that brings discredit to the MP Branch or CMPA.