history

The predecessor of the CRA Generations Club (CGC), the Quarter Century Club (QCC) was created in 1968 at the insistence of Mr. Harry H. Milburn who joined the Department of National Revenue in 1942 to introduce tax deductions at source. Throughout his career as a public servant, Mr. Milburn was always a strong promoter and supporter of staff activities. He felt strongly that the friendly associations developed among long-serving taxation staff should continue in some form after their retirement. As a result, Mr. Milburn asked one of his senior advisors to set up an organization to help preserve the links amongst retirees and those still in the workforce - resulting in the creation of the QCC.

The main objectives of the QCC were to provide opportunities for long-service employees to meet occasionally with retired work associates for the purposes of fellowship and contact retention; and to provide a variety of services for retired employees.

In the 1970s, the creation of the Data Centre led to many staff transfers from across the country. This, coupled with an increase in the number of employee transfers between district offices and Head Office, led the QCC to extend its membership to those who had 25 years of service as long as they had worked in Head Office for a period of time in the 1970s. This was later changed in the 1980s to include all employees in the National Capital Region with 25 years of service.

In the fall of 1986, at the 19th Annual General Meeting, the QCC constitution was amended to be more inclusive, allowing for the annual election of directors from a candidate pool that included both retirees and employees, as opposed to a previous majority of retirees. At the same meeting, the QCC became known as the Capital Region QCC instead of the Head Office QCC, and membership was redefined to include employees from both the Ottawa Taxation Centre and the Ottawa District Office. The purpose and objective of the Capital Region QCC became more general and the provision of a variety of services to retired employees was eliminated.

Since 1979, and over the course of the years that followed, the Canada Revenue Agency agreed to provide the QCC with assistance in the areas of accommodation, limited phone use, and informing new retirees of the club objective and functions. In 2006, the Agency agreed to create and host the QCC web site and provide access to both internal and external users.

Since its inaugural gathering in 1968, the QCC has succeeded in keeping up with its mission and has maintained their network of staff and retirees through numerous social events including curling bonspiels, golf tournaments, Christmas luncheons, and Annual General Meetings.

The workforce has evolved significantly since 1968. Fewer employees now achieve 25 years of service with the same employer. The club modified its requirement to allow any CRA employee or retiree with 25 years of cumulative service in any workforce to join the club. This attempt to become more inclusive was met with limited success. 

Other developments such as the creation of Shared Services have forced the club to move its website outside of the CRA. This has provided more freedom to the club but also translated into less visibility and additional costs. COVID-19 also meant that any social club had to stop organizing social activities until the situation stabilized.

While the club’s activities continue to be attended by a variety of working and retired members, it is becoming obvious that the club needs to become more visible within CRA to recruit more members and to avoid becoming a retiree club or having to fold altogether. Past efforts through the long service awards program to recruit members have been met with very limited success. A visibility campaign was conducted and all branches were visited to raise awareness of the Club’s existence but COVID-19 occurred and the efforts were again met with limited success.

The Club is launching in 2024 its renewal exercise, the first step being a rebranding of the organization, the new name will be the CRA Generations Club (CGC). The objective of the club will remain very much the same. The CGC imposes no dues or fees. Employees and former employees of the Agency and its predecessor departmental organizations residing in the Outaouais / National Capital Region achieve membership status automatically upon registration.