Membership
UVRA members and friends visit Maarten Schaddelee's studio (Sandy Kirk photo).
Heather (a CRD expert and UVic grad) explains the topography of Sooke Lake dam to UVRA watershed tour participants.
JOIN US
UVRA is a non-profit organization registered under the BC Societies Act who enlisted its first member in 1992. Since then, the membership has grown to nearly 800 members. With the support provided by the size of its membership, UVRA has been able to secure several attractive benefits, and opportunities, for our members. These are some of them:
▪ Extended Health Insurance: In addition to the Blue Cross package offered to you by UVic at retirement, UVRA members have two additional options to choose from: Entente Education Canada (formerly RTO), and belairdirect (formerly Johnson), with the latter requiring UVRA membership to join.
▪ Travel insurance: belairdirect (formerly Medoc) offers a variety of ways that you can be covered. See https://www.belairdirect.com/en/group-insurance/group-travel-insurance.html for more information.
▪ Vehicle & Home Insurance: belairdirect partnered with the College ad University Retiree Associations of Canada (CURAC) to offer enhanced home coverage for both owners and tenants), and added options for vehicle insurance. UVRA is a member of CURAC, so each UVRA member is also a CURAC member.
▪ LifeWorks (formerly Telus Health Package) available while employed at UVic, is retained in retirement only if the retiree is a UVRA member. LifeWorks is a confidential service that helps with nutrition, health, retirement consulting, legal, investment services, and more.
▪ University Club: UVRA members enjoy reduced monthly dues. For the current information of what the Club offer, go to: https://club.uvic.ca/membership-information-2/
▪ Events: UVRA offers educational, social, cultural, and recreational programs and activities that make it possible for members to enjoy a sense of community and camaraderie, connecting with fellow retirees who share similar interests and experiences.
▪ Quarterly newsletter: This document is not being produced recently due to this volunteer position being presently open. Past publications are available by going to: https://www.uvic.ca/retirees/newsletters/index.php
▪ Parking: UVRA members can purchase discounted tickets for parking at UVic. (The yearly parking pass is no longer available.)
▪ Discounts: UVRA members, being also CURAC members, makes it possible for them to take advantage of the discounts available to CURAC members through their affinity partners. These include, but are not limited to, eyeglasses at Specsavers; hearing aids at Hearing Life; and trip packages with Collette and Trip Merchant. The full list is available at: https://curac.ca/en/member-benefits/annual-memberships.
▪ Weekly Events Information emails: There are numerous (usually) free events offered by educations of higher learning in Canada and the United States. UVRA’s office manager gathers them along with other offerings such as free online help for devices (laptops, smart phones, etc.) in the weekly email being sent to the membership.
▪ Volunteering: UVRA is run by volunteer members. This provides the membership with numerous opportunities to be of help while enjoying the medical and social advantages of volunteering. It can be working a few hours to set-up an event of interest to you (the implementation being done by the office); working on various committees or chairing them; joining the UVRA Board of Directors and being involved in the decision-making of the association; hosting speakers; submitting a document (story, personal happening, the publication of your book, favorite recipes, collections of things, etc.), to UVRA’s editor for insertion in the newsletter; and/or being in charge of recurring activities such a walking group, book club, and get-together of like-minded retirees.
UVRA’s annual membership is just $30.00/year – that’s less than 13 cent/day so, we hope you will consider joining UVRA. The application form for membership is below.
For more information, or if you have any question, please email: uvra@uvic.ca
The UVRA office is usually staffed Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from 10:00am to 2:00pm, from September to June. If you want to visit us, please email us beforehand to arrange a mutually convenient time to meet.
Membership Report for fiscal year 2025-2026 (April 1 - March 31): Membership Report
UVRA MEMBERSHIP FEES
Membership can be annual or lifetime. As announced at the 2023 AGM, the annual membership fee has been raised from $20 to $30 effective April 01, 2024 - also offering an option of multiple years of membership for those who do not want to be a lifetime member. A two-year membership fee is $55.00, and a three-year membership fee is $80.00. A lifetime membership fee is $160.00.
The membership form (see below) can be completed online and emailed back to UVRA. You can pay sending us a cheque (via email or Canada Post-Our address is on the form) or by Interac e-transfer. If the latter, the receiver's name is "UVRA" and the email address is uvra@uvic.ca. UVRA has automatic deposit, so you do not have to set up a security question and answer.
Please note that your membership comes into effect only when UVRA received both your application and payment.
Employees of the University of Victoria who have officially retired from the institution and present employees who are planning to retire from the University of Victoria in the near future and have reached pensionable age (55) are eligible to apply to become Full Members of the Association. On acceptance by the Associations Membership Committee and on payment of the required Membership dues, an eligible person becomes a Full Member in good standing of the Association.
Employees of other universities and of University of Victoria affiliated institutions, organizations and entities who have reached pensionable age (55+) and who are officially retired or are planning to retire in the near future from that institution are eligible to apply to become Associate Members of the Association. On acceptance by the Associations Membership Committee and on payment of the required Associate Membership dues, an eligible person becomes an Associate Member in good standing of the Association. The number of Associate Members shall not exceed fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of Members entitled to vote.
The partner of a member, associate member, or honorary member who has reached pensionable age is upon reaching pensionable age (55+) the spouse of a Full Member in good standing, Associate Member in good standing or Honorary Member is eligible to apply to become a Spousal Member of the Association. On application to the Associations Membership Committee that person becomes a Spousal Member in good standing of the UVic Retirees Association. Spousal Members are not required to pay dues, are not entitled to vote and do not have direct access to any other benefits. If a spouse wishes to be entitled to vote, he or she may apply to become an Associate Member or Full Member, if eligible. Spouses of deceased Full, Honorary or Associate Members who have reached pensionable age (55+) are eligible to apply to become Associate Members with the same membership category (may assume Lifetime membership or assume Annual membership with related membership dues) as the deceased member.
MEMBERSHIP FORM AND ANNUAL/CONVERSION FORM
Membership form starting April 1, 2026
Renewal/conversion form starting April 1, 2026
If you would like a form emailed or posted to you, or more information please email uvra@uvic.ca.