Dear Friends,

On this very special day, I reach out to warmly wish you Happy Holidays and thank you for your continued dedication to Les Clefs d’Or Canada.  Looking back on 2016, I believe we shared a magnificent year and one that truly allowed us to focus on our past, our present and our future.   

We proudly featured our past by celebrating our 40th Anniversary from coast to coast, and relished in the series of great blog posts by Alain, who ensured his research taught us something notable about each and every year of our journey.

We celebrated our present and unquestionable Canadian spirit when Chanel and her team asked “Voulez Vous?” and hosted an incredibly successful 19th PanAmerican congress in Montreal. The program and the warmth with which our Montreal friends received us will never be forgotten; they certainly made Canada shine golden!

And our future? Well, thanks to our hard-working Executive Board, we successfully further grounded our Association by legally affirming our not for profit status; legally aligned our treasury; set clear guidelines for future Affiliate relations; forged key relations with sponsors and educational institutions and set strong roots for the future of our Brand initiatives, a focus which will continue in 2017.

Someone very dear to me once taught me to “Always give credit where credit is due”, therefore…

In addition to our Executives… Kudos and a HUGE warm Thank You to the Regional Directors and their oh-so-very-important Regional Boards, for their time and continued efforts to ensure seven successful Regions.  Also, thank you and congratulations to the new oncoming Regional Boards, please never forget how much we appreciate you! At our Board meeting in November, I was so very happy to hear from our respected Sage, Geoff Argue, that although we still have work to do, Canada has never been stronger and largely due to the unity in spirit of the 13 members of the 2016 National Board (seven Directors and six Executives).  We are seven Regions and together we make one very strong and proud Canada.

Which brings me to where the most important credit is truly due… YOU, our dear Members and Affiliates.  Each and every set of Golden Keys worn across our country link us to each other’s passion and to the work and knowledge of 4000 other global members.  Thank you for your love of our profession and of our Association. Together we ARE Les Clefs d’Or … the best there is in Service, linked by Friendship and simply put… Your Key to Everything!

On behalf of the National Board… I wish you and yours an incredibly prosperous New Year and look forward to seeing some of you in Berlin or celebrating the hard work of Korey, Jamie and the entire Niagara team as we gather in Niagara Falls next May for our 11th National Congress.

Vive Les Clefs d’Or – In Service Through Friendship – always.

Carolina Avaria
Proud member and President of Les Clefs d’Or Canada

#YourKeyToEverything