Annual report 2024-2025

Hello everyone, 

Welcome to this 35th meeting of the General Assembly of the Association des Familles Demers Inc.

It is with great pleasure that I submit to you the report of our activities for the year 2024-2025 as well as the projects and / or changes that we wish to put forward for the year 2025-2026.

I would like to thank all the people who give generously of their time. Our directors are volunteers. They constitute a rejuvenated and dynamic team and contribute with their generosity and determination in making our Association a unique organization.

So, here’s what we’ve accomplished during the past year:

GOVERNANCE

• Four meetings of the Board of Directors were held:
  • April 14, 2024 (video conference)
  • September 21, 2024 (face-to-face)
  • November 10, 2024 (video conference)
  • February 16, 2025 (video conference)

• Executive Board meetings:
• April 2, 2024
• September 3, 2024

• We also had very many exchanges via the internet or the telephone.

At our Annual General meeting in June 2024, a new director, Élaine Demers, was elected, having previously served on the board. This is a much appreciated return! A director, Hélène Demers, also resigned at the very end of the fiscal year. We thank her for her time with us and hope to see her again in the coming years!

It seems increasingly important to recruit new administrators in order to pass on the knowledge of the ‘elders’ and thus ensure the continuity of our association. If you or someone you know would like to join our Board of Directors, please contact us at info@famillesdemers.org.

NEWSLETTER COMMITEE

In charge: Andrée Demers in collaboration with the other members of the Board of Directors

As usual, we produced two Arbre du Mai bulletins. For the December 2024 publication, we had a print run of 117 copies, of which 22 copies were mailed to the United States. A total of 22 members receives the newsletter by e-mail. With the Canada Post strike last November and December, we decided to email the newsletter to all our members whose email addresses we had on file.

Our series of historical capsules about André’s descendants who settled in the Outaouais region concluded with the May newsletter. Thank you, Maurice, for this interesting information about your family and your descendants! Our colleague Suzanne gave us a wonderful summary of our June gathering. Johanne informed us about the beginnings of Victoriaville, and Maurice presented us a beautiful tribute to Suzon Demers.

In November, the board of directors renewed the purchase of Microsoft 365 software, allowing administrators who produce articles in our newsletter to work with the same version of software, which makes it easier to work with when we have file shares to do. The newsletter is now produced with Publisher software, which is more suitable for editing multi-page documents.

I would like to thank all those who collaborate closely or remotely in the realization of our newsletter.

Do you want to publish an article, a slice of life about you or your ancestors, old or recent photos of an event? Share with us those events in order to bring diversity to our newsletter! info@famillesdemers.org

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE

In charge: Alain Demers

Marketing / Promotional Products: We currently have an interesting inventory of items bearing the image of our coat of arms. Our crest mugs were very popular at the last two gatherings. We had to reorder just before the Montebello gathering. We also sold out of our French placemats. A new order will be placed for this summer’s gathering.

All of our promotional items, as well as a revised interactive order form, are available on our website in the section Boutique. These items are all very reasonably priced and you could use them as gifts for your family members. All these items are also available on site during our annual gatherings.

Communications: Alain is in charge of publishing articles highlighting exploits or other interesting facts about Demers on our Facebook page.We try to vary the topics in these publications. We have 622 subscribers, and Alain frequently exchanges with descendants of Demers from across North America. 

Facebook is a way to reach you quickly. If you would like to be notified when a new post is made, go to our Facebook page and click on “ like ” at the bottom of the board member photo, then select the “ Favorites ” option and Save. So you will see each new post on your Facebook news feed.

If you are aware of an event of interest highlighting a Demers let us know at: info@famillesdemers.org

Our new website is regularly updated by Maurice. There is a lot of information on our past activities and in preparation (gathering), on Demers of yesterday and today, as well as several photos of plaques and commemorative sites involving the Demers. Also, a section is devoted to the first five generations of our ancestors. Maurice has built a user-friendly and easy to read website (large print!). Whether you are francophone or anglophone, I invite you to visit it:   www.famillesdemers.org

 MEETINGS AND GATHERINGS COMMITTEE

In charge: Hélène Demers assisted by all members of the Board of Directors

The gathering in Montebello was a success, and the weather was great for the day. A total of 80 people attended the gathering. Our gathering place, the church, was a good size, but we had some microphone issues. We took very interesting guided tours of the Papineau Manor and the fabulous Château Montebello. In the afternoon, our speakers informed us about the Canadian horse and the Demers descendants in the Petite-Nation region. We also honored our third Hall of Fame inductee, Mrs. Sylvie Demers, who participated with her beautiful family! She was very touched to receive her award!

We also held our Annual General meeting at that meeting. The Executive Council was also re-elected.

GENEALOGY AND HISTORY COMMITTEE

In charge: Johanne Demers

Currently, our genealogy database contains the names of 86,500 persons. An increase of more than 2,000 names compared to the same period last year! 82.4% of the people are from Canada (mainly Quebec and Ontario) and 17.3% from the United States (mainly New Hampshire and Massachusetts). We also have a second database of Demers for whom we were unable to trace the ancestry back to one of the three brothers. It contains more than 20,000 people, 56.1% of whom are from the United States and 43% from Canada.

In 2024, we received the new 2025 version of Heredis for free. Several changes were made in the new version, including the ability to add « labels » (e.g., twins, accidental death, etc.), add multiple first/last names to an individual (e.g., Demers-Demars), and add documents after death (notarial deed, inheritance, etc.).

On our Ancestry account, Johanne and Alain have modified the layout of the main page, which is now titled Association des Familles Demers – Alain Demers (and no longer just Alain Demers). The Association’s logo has also been added, and we still have three family trees representing our three descendants (André, Étienne, and Jean).

The genealogical information bank continues to grow, containing over 19,000 digital documents. Johanne continues to answer genealogical questions (when possible) and helps with research into historical events. Suzanne often writes historical capsules.

Members interested in publishing their family history can contact info@famillesdemers.org .

Johanne can receive your genealogical requests via the Association’s website or at info@famillesdemers.org.

TREASURY

In charge: Luc Gingras

During the General Annual Meeting of June 15, 2024, Luc presented his current financial statement as well as forecast for the coming year with the analysis report completed by the analysts mandated to accomplish this task, Marie-Paule Demers and Jacques Fortier. Thank you both for your work.

We are now able to receive various payments by Interac wire for our Canadian members (membership fees, purchase of promotional materials, etc.), but this is not currently possible for our US members. We hope that this will eventually be possible.

Luc has prepared the statement of revenues and disbursements for the period from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025, as well as the estimates for 2025-2026, which you can consult on the following pages.

After many years with us, Luc would like to retire from the treasury. We are looking for someone who would like to take up this position on the Board of Directors.

 SECRETARIAT

In charge: Johanne Demers

Since June 2022, Johanne has assumed the secretarial position. She works on the preparation of agendas and the drafting of minutes. For their part, Rosy, Suzanne, Johanne and Andrée reread various texts. Rosy and Jocelyne Demers-Owoka (281) also translate some texts. I thank them for this work.

Johanne continues in the very special task of tracking membership cards. Since April 1, 2024, 7 new members have joined the Association, for a total of 130 active members.

I must mention that at the beginning of the year, the renewals of annual and five-year membership cards are going very well. This leads us to believe that our members appreciate our work and what is presented to them.

Thank you for your interest,

Andrée Demers, President

 

Translation: Jocelyne Demers-Owoka, Certified Translator FR-ANG, Ideal Translation

jdo_idealtranslation@yahoo.com