CANADIAN FRATERNAL ASSOCIATION

SERVICE STANDARDS

Background
The Executive of the day in 2002 identified the need to prepare a statement on the Vision of the Future for the Canadian Fraternal Association. A committee was subsequently formed and at the Annual General Meeting in Halifax in 2003, a report was delivered to the membership.

The report dealt with the objective of the Association and ways in which the Board of Directors should deliver services in keeping with it's objective. The report was delivered to the members and was adopted as an operating guideline for the Board while establishing expectations of the membership.

"The object of the Association is to promote the general welfare of the fraternal benefit system by uniting fraternal benefit societies in Canada, licensed to do business in Canada, in all matters of mutual and public interest."

The Responsibility of the Association
The report identified 5 key responsibilities of the Board. They are:

• Raise public awareness and promote the concept of fraternalism
  This would benefit all our members by making the public aware of what fraternal benefit societies are and how they differ from traditional insurance providers in the marketplace and where they can be found across Canada.
• Represent Fraternals to government regarding legislative and regulatory issues
  This would give fraternal societies a voice with the regulators for matters affecting the operations of our business in Canada, and perhaps improve the stature of fraternal societies in the regulators eyes.
• Be a resource facilitator
  Act as an information centre for fraternals in Canada by providing connections to professional advisors in various insurance related fields, and information on the regulatory environment through various opinions or discussion papers.
• Provide a forum for healthy discussion regarding fraternal-specific business through shared concepts and experiences
  This is already provided at the Annual General Meeting but could be expanded to encompass a wider range of topics or types of events.
• Provide fellowship and networking opportunities for fellow CFA members
  Any time that fraternalists gather there is an obvious opportunity for networking or experiencing the fellowship that we all work so diligently to foster.

Performance Standards

The goal in establishing performance standards is to provide our membership with reasonable expectation of exactly what the Association will provide and what is a reasonable time line for the expectation to be implemented.

Raise public awareness and promote the concept of fraternalism
The Canadian Fraternal Association is in a positioned to address and promote the general distribution of information on the benefits of belonging to a Fraternal Benefit Society. Through the CFA website, we are able to address key issues that affect our members while providing information of interest to their members.
The responsibility of the CFA is to keep the website current with relevant information. The CFA Board of Directors is committed to this responsibility and will appoint one of its Directors annually to monitor and keep current the information on the site.

Represent Fraternals to government regarding legislative and regulatory issues
The CFA has a Government Affairs committee that is charged with the responsibility of monitoring regulatory change as it affects fraternals in Canada. On occasion, members of the Board have attended various hearings and presented the position of the Canadian Fraternal Industry.
This will continue to be a priority to the CFA and all issues of importance will be communicated to the membership in a timely manner and will be partnered with timely responses to the issues.

Be a resource facilitator
The fraternal nature of our industry is what makes us unique and apart from the general insurance industry. Members of the CFA are committed to the success of all members in the Association and the practice of sharing information, resources and best practices is a key operating rule for all members. The CFA is committed to encouraging the sharing of resources to the betterment of all.

Provide a forum for healthy discussion regarding fraternal-specific business through shared concepts and experiences
Through workshops and the Annual General Meeting and Training Conference, the CFA is committed to the advancement of the fraternal principles through regular communication and training sessions.

Provide fellowship and networking opportunities for fellow CFA members
Through the sharing of resources and general training and educational sessions, the CFA promotes and encourages networking opportunities among all of our members and with the insurance industry at large.