Journey to Serve Program

Journey to Serve is a unique marketing campaign launched in 2021 by the Funeral Service Foundation and the ICCFA Educational Foundation, with support from the Funeral Service Association of Canada. This collaborative effort between organizations aims to engage, recruit and hire more military veterans to careers in the funeral service profession – including meaningful work in funeral homes, cemeteries, crematories, funeral vendors, finance companies, insurance partners, and all levels of support roles. When asked to name their top business challenges, owners of funeral profession businesses rank finding strong employees at the top of the list.



This campaign is an especially urgent call to action during times of crisis, such as a pandemic, when the ‘service’ part of the funeral profession really shines. Caring, competent, mission-driven employees are needed now more than ever.

Residential Schools' Letter to PM & Ministers

Our entire membership grieves with our fellow Canadians, as the world awakes to residential school traumas and unmarked burial sites. We recognize the difficult and culturally sensitive work of identifying the dead and commemorating lives lost will be community-led and communities must decide what would be the right way forward in grieving those lives lost and honouring the remains.

The roots of our national association go back to 1921 and our objective of public service is one the hallmarks of our organization. In 2013, FSAC was awarded the Canadian Society of Association Executives the “Make a Better Canada” award. One of the most important aspects of the funeral services profession is caring for the deceased in a dignified manner and guiding the bereaved through the process with sensitivity to religious and cultural beliefs. 

Today, the Funeral Service Association of Canada stands united in coordinating resources for those communities and survivors who are suffering from the generational trauma and loss, and begin to work through the process of remembering lives lost. You may view the complete letters sent to our PM and Ministers below.

COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts

There has been a lot of progress made federally as it relates to where our profession stands today, during the COVID-19 pandemic. For FSAC, it began back in April of 2020 where we gathered with the provincial associations, requesting essential service designation. After several emails from FSAC to Government agencies requesting this status, funeral professionals were officially deemed 'Federally Essential'. We quickly set our sights on vaccination priority with this status and after working with the Public Health Agency of Canada, and sending letters to the National Advisory Committee on Immunization and others, FSAC received acknowledgement that the bereavement sector should be considered in the second round of vaccines. Following this, FSAC created a package with all federal communication to support the provincial associations in securing priority vaccination, something we are actively working on today. You can see the complete timeline of events below:

COVID-19 Resource Hub

When the COVID-19 pandemic first began, FSAC quickly began working on a number of projects for our members, and on behalf of our profession. The Government was making changes weekly, FSAC was asked to participate in media interviews several times a week, and many professionals both inside of funeral service and outside looked to us for resources.

We developed a webpage right on the FSAC website to keep funeral professionals and other stakeholders aware of announcements, happenings and progress. We continue to update this webpage regularly as we participate in events or when resources are sent to us:

Increase CPP Death Benefit & Eligible Funeral Arrangements Amount

FSAC is on a mission to make a change for Canadian funeral professionals and Canadian families. We've had several discussions with Members of Parliament pertaining to current issues with the CPP Death Benefit and the Eligible Funeral Arrangements. You can learn more about our stance here.

To date, we have met with:

• Sean Casey: MP for Charlottetown, PEI, Liberal, Chair of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities.
• Rosemarie Falk: MP for Battlefords-Lloydminster, SK, Member of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities.
• Scott Duvall: the NDP Critic for Seniors, MP for Hamilton Mountain
• And More!

We have written a letter to the Minister of National Revenue pertaining to an increase to the eligible funeral arrangements amount. >>View Letter

FuneralAdvisor:
Educate & Inspire Consumers

In November of 2019, FSAC unveiled it's first Public Awareness initiative: a public-facing, direct-to-consumer website. This website is designed as the first step of FSAC connecting with consumers on behalf of our members and our profession. FuneralAdvisor by FSAC allows Canadians everywhere to:

• Find the funeral-related answers they're looking for
• Get inspired by member-driven funeral stories of what's possible
• Connect with trusted service providers who can help them (FSAC members)
  

FSAC Academy:
Offer 24/7 Education & CEUs

​Meet FSAC Academy. The newly launched FSAC Academy website​ gives Canadian funeral professionals a place to​ enroll in and complete online courses for license credits or simply to learn new skills, anytime day​

or night. This new continuing education​ platform empowers funeral professionals to​ browse courses, enroll using a credit card,​ complete the course and save or print a​ certificate from any device.

Choose from a growing list of courses, including topics like:

• Ethics
• Grief & Guidance
• Legislation
• Restorative Art
• And More!