Calling All Alumnae of Program Branch

Last updated July 17, 2023

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Our friends that are no longer with us Last Entries: Donata Zimny, Rolfe Cooke, Elizabeth Greene

NEW: Some History and historical documents and photos

Feb 25, 2013 - Sorry about that fake e-mail. Yahoo has been getting hacked frequently so I will be moving the e-list to my own domain soon. The new e-mail address will be "progbranch AT pierrekerr.ca"

Brigita Gravitis is retiring. I guess there's a new policy of under 50's can now retire.

DATE CHANGE

A departure event is planned for March 1, 2013 at the Gloucester Mess (that seemed to be the right place given my TBS years and more recent involvement in aviation policy).

If there is interest to participate, please contact Brigita's assistant, Josee Cadieux-Bruneau at:

josee.cadieux-bruneau AT tc.gc.ca

Beautiful poster here

June 5, 2012
Jo-Anne Munro is finally retiring. Sorry to hear she has left us. Obituary here

The Traditional WANG Clock

More photos here

Jo-Anne Munro’s Retirement Party

Prime 360,
407 Laurier Avenue West

March 21, 2011
Nancy Bresolin's travel BLOG is here.

"We have started to make travel arrangements – going to Siem Reap/ Angkor Wat on the 17th for 4 days. We will also be going to Luang Probang, Singapore, Myanmar, Saigon/Mekong, Hue etc, and I have asked the travel agent to see what I can do for 5-6 days in India. Travel is not cheap – well the flights are very expensive but the rest is not."

Susan Bowen

As the contact person for our Branch, please let me know by June 4th if you are interested in attending Ms. Susan Bowen's retirement reception on June 29th.

Doors open at 3:30, reception 4-6. $20 please.

Further details can be found in the attached invitation. Once I have tickets, I will come see you to make the exchange. Please feel free to distribute to others within your directorate who would also like to join.

Thank you,

Louis-Philippe Madore
Administrative Coordinator | Coordonnateur administratif
Assistant Commissioner's Office | Bureau du sous-commissaire
Assessment and Benefit Services Branch | Direction générale des services de cotisation et de prestations
Telephone | Téléphone 613-954-5890

Richard Charron

Richard Charron is retiring in March after many years in the public service.

Please join us at Mother Teresa’s on March 5th to celebrate his achievements and in wishing him a happy retirement.

Please RSVP by Monday, February 22st to the Program Branch address "progbranch AT yahoo.ca" if you will be attending. Should you know other colleagues of Richard’s who would like to attend, please let them know.

Donations are welcomed and will be used to cover the cost of refreshments and a gift. Please drop off any contributions you may want to make and / or drop by to sign the cards at the 4th floor of 400 Cooper in Jonathan Andrews office.

When:   Friday, March 5th
        12:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Where: Mother Teresa’s
        300 Somerset St. West
        Ottawa, Ontario

Thomas Scott, Esquire Printable Poster Version

Photos of the party can be seen here.

Be it known by all those in receipt that Thomas Scott, Esquire, special advisor within Her Majesty’s Public Service will soon be retiring from said post.

A reception in his honour will be held on Tuesday, the 16 th of June, in the year of our Lord 2009, commencing at 3:00 PM. Said event will be held in the Astra Lounge Tower of the Officers’ Mess of the Royal Canadian Air Force, located at 158 Gloucester Street, Ottawa Ontario Canada.

The presence of friends and former colleagues of Thomas Scott, Esquire is requested on this auspicious occasion. Tom on duty

God Bless Canada

Administrative details

A contribution of $15 towards the event would be appreciated. Please provide your contribution to either Connie Vitello (613-960-0039) on the 7th floor of the East Tower at L’Esplanade Laurier, or Aline Goodfellow (613-952-1530) on the 8th floor of the West Tower. For those outside who would prefer, you can also contact Jim Quinn at 613-852-4900 or by e-mail quinn.hyak@sympatico.ca.

A memory book is being assembled for Tom, coordinated by Aline Goodfellow.

James Quinn
Sergeant Major
Her Majesty’s, 1st TBS irregulars

Irene Wolanskyj has retired!

Farewell Reception for Irene Wolanskyj

Irene Wolanskyj, Principal Analyst in the Real Property and Materiel Policy Division, will be leaving the public service at the end of December 2008. As many of you know, Irene has more than 30 years experience working for the federal government in many capacities, including as a librarian, management consultant, and program sector analyst at the Treasury Board Secretariat. Since 2002, Irene has been the TBS force behind the development and implementation of the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan. She was also instrumental in the design and delivery of the March 2006 and April 2008 Federal Contaminated Sites National Workshops in support of the professional development of the federal contaminated sites community.

I would like to take this opportunity to invite friends and colleagues to join us in extending our best wishes to Irene as she embarks on this
next chapter of her life. A reception will be held on Thursday, January 15th 2009 beginning at 3:00 p.m. at TBS, 140 O’Connor Street, Ottawa, Boardroom 7B. For planning purposes, an RSVP to Anick Plouffe would be appreciated.

Contributions toward refreshments and a gift for Irene would be gratefully accepted by Andrea Peters (TBS), Anick Plouffe (TBS), or Lisa Keller (Environment Canada).

If you are unable to attend the reception, but would like to include a message in a book of good wishes that we will be preparing for Irene, please email your message to Andrea Peters by January 12th, 2009.

For more information about this reception, please contact:
Anick Plouffe 613-946-4798
Andrea Peters 613-952-5374

We look forward to seeing you on January 15th!!

Jotu is in Tanzania again

Joanne Allgoewer is once again doing her good deeds in Tanzania. We have dedicated a new page just for her.

Mary Jane Jackson

I would like to announce that Ms. Mary Jane Jackson, Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Finance and Administration Branch, will be retiring from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) on September 12, 2008, after 26 years in the public service.

In 1982, Ms. Jackson began her career in the Public Service of Canada in Supply and Services Canada and then moved on to Industry Canada. In 1988, Ms. Jackson joined the Treasury Board Secretariat where she worked in a variety of senior positions within the Expenditure Management Sector. Mary Jane joined the CRA in October 2004 as Director General, Resource Management Directorate, Finance and Administration Branch, and has been Deputy Assistant Commissioner and Agency Comptroller since August 2006.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Mary Jane for her contribution to the Agency and in particular to the Finance and Administration Branch. Please join me in extending our best wishes for her continued success as she embarks upon this new phase of her life.

James Ralston

Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Commissioner, Finance and Administration

Andy Lieff is retiring! April 21, 2008

Andy in 1977 - Stewart St. Halloween Party

Yikes. This is hard to believe. Can you picture Andy sitting in a rocking chair on the front steps?

See some photos of the party here

(Andy 1977)

Farewell to John Keay

After 32 years of distinguished service, John Keay is retiring from the Public Service. Over the past three decades (!), John has worked with many of you, starting out at the National Capital Commission, and finding a permanent home at the Treasury Board Secretariat, first in the Program Branch as a program analyst, and finally as a Senior Director in the Expenditure Policy Division in the Expenditure Management Sector. We will all miss John’s famous dissertations on literature, history, language, and any other subject you can name, and we are currently in final negotiations to have John replaced by the Encyclopaedia Britannica (and vice-versa!).

I hope that you can join us at a reception in John’s honour on Thursday, May 24, 2007 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Boardroom 8E of the East Tower, L’Esplanade Laurier. A contribution of $10 towards refreshments and some tokens of our esteem would be appreciated. Please provide your contribution to either Marie-Claude Kirouac on the 7^th floor of the East Tower at L’Esplanade Laurier, or Tom Scott on the 4^th floor of 400 Cooper. For those who would prefer, you can also contact Jim Quinn at 613-852-4900, who will be happy to collect your contribution.

A memory book will be assembled for John, so please drop by Marie-Claude Kirouac’s office (across from John Keay’s) on the 7^th floor and include your best wishes.

David Moloney

Gerry Derouin Gerry D. (Thanks for the photo Thérèse)

Please find attached an invitation for Gerry Derouin's Farewell Party, to be held on Wednesday May 23, 2007 at the RCAF Officers' Mess, 158 Gloucester Street, Ottawa. Although we will be contacting some of Gerry's former colleagues, retired or working outside CBSA, please feel free to pass along this invitation to other who know Gerry. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to call.

Carole Pratte
Executive Assistant to the Vice-President /
Adjointe exécutive au Vice-Président
Comptrollership Branch / Direction générale du contrôle
Canada Border Services Agency / Agence des services frontaliers du Canada
Tel: (613) 948-3187

Thank you

Stephen O’Connor’s Farewell Reception
Steve O'Connor

Thursday, March 22nd (4:00 to 6:30 p.m.)
Le jeudi 22 mars (16h00 à 18h30)
Hôtel Crowne Plaza Hotel
101 Rue Lyon Street
Ottawa, Ontario
Salle Panarama Room

For your information. Please contact Manon at 957-9235 if you are interested in attending and feel free to pass this message along to others that may be interested. You should know, however, that Stephen is feeling a little bit shy about this -- believe or not -- and does not want a full blown Program Branch-type reunion. For those of you who plan to attend, we are trying to track numbers for financial planning purposes so I would ask yoiu to respond to both Manon and myself.

Sue Bowan

JOANNE LYNN is floating around Antarctica. She's on the cruise ship MV Discovery. With her permission, here are a few of her trip logs. Sorry, no BLOG or photos yet.

"February 3, 2007. We did not go to Paradise Harbour as planned, due to a hurricane on the Drake Passage that was mucking things up there. Instead, we went to Hope Bay and visited a Polish research station on King George's Island. On debarking, we looked up on a rock and saw two fledgling Chinstrap penguins. At just above eye level, was a fledgling Gentoo penguin. They can't swim until they've moulted all of their feathers.

"We walked down a stony beach and saw an adult Adelie penguin (pronounced a - Delhi). She was beautiful, hopping over the rocks. Further down the beach, we saw two Antarctic Fur Seals and further still, a herd of about ten bull elephant seals. They slept on the beach and made very rude noises.

"When we returned to the zodiac, an adult Chinstrap was hopping over the rocks on the protected beach. When returning to the ship, two Humpback whales breached quite close to our zodiac. It was really nice. I got some good footage of them on board ship and hopped into the hot tub to take in the wonderful view."

Joanne Allgoewer

April 4 - She's back in Tanzania. Check her BLOG

She's home!

Check her BLOG for very interesting updates and photos

My debut as a Maasai dancer... I’m retiring again on September 8^th. Perhaps more aptly put, I’m morphing into my next phase. Preparations are on for my departure November 2^nd heading off to work in the Longido village area of north-eastern Tanzania (approximately 100 kms from Mount Kilimanjaro and close to the Kenyan border). I’ll initially be spending 3 months living among the Maasai, serving as an on-site representative for a Westboro based charity called TEMBO www.projectembo.org (Tanzania Education & Micro-Business Opportunity). There’s no real job-description but it sounds like I’ll be multitasking like crazy (once again PB training will be put to good use!!).

In October, I’m taking a course in Calgary, offered by CAWST (Centre for Affordable Water & Sanitation Technologies) www.cawst.org learning to build low-tech/high-performance home water filtration systems. My hope is to teach a group of Maasai women to build these units and create a small business opportunity by selling them to the local people and neighbouring villages.

Update Nov 24: This from her BLOG, since Jo is working with another Jo, our Jo will go by the name of Jotu. Englsih to Swahili translation available here:

Pierre Kerr

This one is written in the first person.

I will be retiring on April 21, 2006 after 33 years with Treasury Board. Yes, every one of them with this department.
Like some of my old shoes, they're just difficult to throw away. But, the time has come.

Some of the names that I will remember from my years with the board are Wylbur, WatFor, Cobol, PL/1, I. P. Sharpe, APL, SDL, SPSS, HP 125; Huey, Dewey and Louie; WANG, Speed II, Xponent and last but not least gnaw.

These were all computers or computer languages that came into my life.

Of course, there were numerous human names too. Many of you I saw recently at the PB Re-union and hope to see you again at the next one, tentitavley April 15, 2008.

Continuing to maintain this website will be one of my post-retirement jobs. As well as playing the banjo, fiddle and other instruments with One Big Smyle. Check out our YouTube videos on our website http://onebigsmyle.webs.com/

See photos of the party here

We had another Program Branch Reunion!

Click here for a larger view.

Program Branch Re-union 2006

More photos Here

Please look at the Guest List to see who planned on coming, who didn't and who's missing

Tuesday, March 28,2006

Air Force Mess, 158 Gloucester Street

Jay Morrison (Updated news article here)
March 27, 2006 Jay

To fulfill a long-held personal dream, and in support of CPAWS' work to conserve Canada's great Boreal wilderness forests and rivers, in April 2006 Jay Morrison will begin his attempt to become the first person to paddle solo across Canada from the Atlantic to the Arctic Ocean in a single year. He'll be paddling and carrying his canoe and gear every step of the historic trade routes established by the Aboriginal peoples and later used by European explorers and fur traders.

Jay's amazing expedition will cover a distance of more than 8,000 kilometres starting in the ocean tides of the Gulf of St. Lawrence at Les Escoumins, Quebec, following the vast Boreal forest that stretches across much of northern Canada, and finishing where the Mackenzie River flows into the Beaufort Sea near Inuvik in the Northwest Territories.

Follow each step of Jay's adventure here at CPAWS.org, where you can read Jay's journal and follow along on our map.

On to page 2

You can send us an e-mail at progbranch AT yahoo.ca or a comment using the form below