Imagine Monet Immersive Exhibit
December 15 & 16, 2021,ĚýArsenal Contemporary Art
Fifty MURA members enjoyed being immersed in Claude Monet’s magnificent paintings at the Arsenal yesterday. Displays moved to classical music creating an enchanting ambience of contemplation. A festive luncheon concluded the event at the Lord William Pub. View photos
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Concert presenting the MURA-MSS Social Club
Monday, December 6, 2021, 7:30 p.m.
L'Église St-Andrew & St-Paul Church, 3415 rue Redpath, Montréal
In celebration of the return of public concerts, in cooperation with the Ď㽶ĘÓƵ Retiree Association (MURA), the ensemble presented the MURA and Medical Students Society (MSS) Social Club, a group fostering social and professional interactions between retired medical as well as other professionals and medical students at Ď㽶ĘÓƵ. The audience enjoyed a special performance by , under the baton of Guest Conductor Maestro Adam Johnson with the inspiring Russell Iceberg as soloist
Travel Insurance Information Session
Tuesday, December 7, 2021Ěý
Fifty-three members attended Kathy Mayhew’s comprehensive presentation on McGill’s Manulife policy coverage for travel during the COVID pandemic. She also provided valuable information about testing and crossing borders. Members who did not attend or those who wish to verify some of the information given can either view the presentation on YouTube or consult the slides on the MURA website.Ěýand clickĚýhere for a pdf of the slides.
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Virtual Fall Lecture
Managing your Digital Assets: Yesterday, today & tomorrow
Thursday, October 28, 2021
Maitre Nancy Cleman, Advocatus Emeritus, Partner, Lapointe Rosenstein Marchand Melançon presented a very enlightening session onĚýhow to manage and deal with digital assets such as email, social media, and related matters. This was an extremely popular lecture as 205 participants from CanadianĚýuniversity retiree associations attended this virtual event.ĚýWe live more and more of our lives on-line and rely on our cellphones to hold a plethora of information (photos, contact lists, passwords, etc.). There are issues of privacy and legacy that need to be addressed as many of the websites are controlled by third parties. The purpose of the talk wasĚýto educate the audience on this topic and make everyone aware of risks and rewards. It is important to plan and manage your digital assets, especially in cases of incapacity and estate matters. A video of this talk .
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10th Anniversary of Salle Bourgie Virtual Concert October 3 – 17, 2021
Members have enjoyed so many wonderful concerts at Salle Bourgie. MURA provided tickets to view a webcast of a concert that celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Bourgie Hall. This is a rich musical gift to remind us of the importance of this magnificent concert hall with its unique character, which over the years has become a major music venue in Quebec. The concert featured OSM musicians, under the direction of their new conductor Rafael Payare, as well as Les Violons du Roy and their new conductor Jonathan Cohen.
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Fall Walking Tours
September 16 & October 7&8, 2021
Inspired by Montréal’s “River to Mountain Walkway,” MURA offered provided its members the opportunity to explore and learn more about their hometown with a guided tour.
Part 1 - the tour went from the McGill campus to Square Victoria On a glorious day, the amazing guide, Justin, took us from the Mountain to the River pathway from McGill’s Arts Building to Victoria Square. The geological formation and stories behind the buildings, their evolution over the centuries, the lives of the early settlers and fur traders, so many fascinating tales to discover. View photos
Part 2 - Justin, our savvy tour guide took us from Victoria square to Place d’Youville through six centuries of First Nations us and customs, French settlements and seigneurial lands, reformist parliament, archeological digs revealing the height and width of the old fortress and contribution of James McGill to the development of Ville Marie. An amazing journey! View photos
Two Factor Authorization (2FA) Training SessionĚý
September 30, 2021
IT Services recently sent a message to all active McGill account holders, to inform us that we must enroll in two-factor authentication (2FA) before October 13, 2021.ĚýTo help answer 2FA-related questions and concerns, MURA asked IT Services to provide an online information session via Zoom.Ěý
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Annual General Meeting (AGM)
June 2, 2021
Seventy members attended this 2nd virtual AGM. There was a discussion about the annual report, approval of the financial review for 2020-21 and budget for 2021-2022. New members of the Board were acclaimed - including the new President, Ante L. Padjen. View the AGM Meeting slides (pdf). During this event, MURA launched its . Vice-principal Yves Beauchamp made a presentation “Transforming the Campus” on new developments, the restauration of part of the RVH, the Redpath Library, and ideas for re-imagining the workspace. The talk was followed by a discussion with the members. The meeting concluded with a toast marking the passing of the torch from the inaugural President, Ginette Lamontagne to the new President, Ante L. Padjen, honoring the four departing founding Board members, and celebrating MURA’s 6th anniversary.
Virtual Gourmet Cooking Class
Wednesday, May 19, 2021
Twenty-nine members attended this class presented by via Zoom. Recipes and the ingredients to purchase were sent two weeks in advance to the participants. They were treated to an online demonstration by the very charming and talented Chef Antoine who showed them how to prepare the two recipes, Cream of Asparagus soup and Eggplant parmesan, with tricks of the trade to create and enjoy two gourmet-style dishes.
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Celebrating Spring with Sarah
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
MURA's April Quarantini featured a performance by Sarah Rossy who got us into the holiday spirit last December. She returned to delight over 30 members with her repertoire of oldie swing jazz songs Ă la Ella Fitzgerald, Joni Mitchell and feel-good springtime music.
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CURAC 2021 Virtual Assembly
Thursday, April 12, 2021
The Ď㽶ĘÓƵ Retiree Association (MURA) was the host of this year's annual conference of the (CURAC) as part of the McGill Bicentennial (1821-2021) celebration. Due to the COVID Pandemic, it was held as a Virtual Assembly. Principal Suzanne Fortier reflected on the recent developments in McGill’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, particularly in response to COVID-19.
Attendees were treated to a fascinating and thought-provoking presentation by keynote speaker Dr. Moshe Szyf, who is renowned in the field of epigenetics. His talk entitled Nature and Nurture: How early life experience changes our DNA narrative, explored the age-old question of the impact of nature and nurture on animals’ responses to stress, and ultimately, outcomes in life. This was followed by a lively Q&A session.
A video of the CURAC Awards Ceremony highlighted the contribution of eight exceptional volunteers across Canada. We are pleased to report that Kate Maguire, MURA's VP Internal, was presented with a well-deserved Tribute Award. Click on this link for more information.Ěý
You can of this event on YouTube. There is also a with Dr. Szyf.
We wish to thank the CURAC corporate sponsors for their generous support of this event.You can click on their links to view the myriad of services they offer to members: | (home/auto/) | | (extended health benefits) |
MURA Spring Dialogue
Wednesday, March 24, 2021, 5 p.m.
Professor Henry Mintzberg & Susan Mintzberg
Looking Down – Reaching Out: The University in the 21st Century…further reflections
By popular demand, Henry and Susan Mintzberg of McGill, presented further reflections, after their dialogue last fall, to over 40 MURA members and CURAC colleagues across Canada. From two fields (management and social work), two roles (faculty and doctoral candidate), and two generations (father and daughter). They presented their perspectives of the contemporary university: looking down from the Ivory Tower and reaching out like an octopus. Four aspects were considered: educating, researching, disseminating, organizing. Discussion centered on how universities in the 21st Century can blend these perspectives to find a balance and what impact the pandemic has had on striking this balance. Henry and Susan have been developing these ideas over several years which they first presented at UQAT’s 35th anniversary in Rouyn-Noranda, then at McGill’s annual joint board-senate meeting, and the MURA Fall Dialogue in November 2020.
Kent Nagano Virtual Tribute Concert SeriesĚý
March 9th to April 13th, 2021
To celebrate Kent Nagano’s career as Music Director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) for 16 years, the OSM presented a series of three webcast concerts under the direction of Kent Nagano with works by Beethoven, Mozart, Stravinsky, and Poulenc, broadcasted from March 9th to April 13th. Thirty members enjoyed the concert of their choice offered by MURA. Everyone said it was a wonderful way to get into the spirit of spring, and how much they enjoyed attending an excellent OSM concert in the comfort of their own homes.
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WhatsApp Information Session
Monday, March 8, 2021
MURA member Gregg Blachford presented an information session via Zoom on WhatsApp (the world’s most popular and most secure messaging service) and how it works. A small group of interested members were very pleased to learn how to use WhatsApp to send text and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content via their cellphones using wifi or data.
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Sun Life McGill Pension Information Session
Thursday, February 4, 2021
Fifty members attended this virtual session about the pension move to Sun Life Financial (SLF) from Morneau Shepell. It also provided information for members who have deferred their McGill pension settlement after their retirement leaving their money in MUPP (Ď㽶ĘÓƵ Pension Plan), chosen the McGill LIF, or transferred money from other LIRA, RRSP or RRIF plans to Morneau Shepell.
Presenter: Sylvie Gamache, Sun Life, Senior Education Consultant
Moderators: MURA Board Members, Katherine Gray-Donald and Kathy Mayhew
View a pdf of the presentation.
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Virtual Winter Lecture
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Out of the Forest! A Holocaust Story of Escape, Defiance, and Resilience
We were honoured to host this virtual presentation that was attended by 82 MURA and CURAC members. MURA member Sylvia Sklar and her daughter Dr. Alissa Sklar, and grand-daughter Maya Hillcoat told the story of their family’s incredible tunnel escape from Novogrodek Ghetto in Belarus - 100 km outside of Minsk - and the Bielski Partisan Brigade. The Bielski partisans were the subject of the 2008 movie, , starting Liev Schreiber and Daniel Craig. .
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