1950 to 1959
- Norman J. Leach was appointed the first general manager in the history of CJA in 1951.
- In 1951, CJA announced a new group insurance plan for members with Federated Mutual Insurance Company in co-operation with Great West Life. This was the second attempt to provide the association with a benefit. By 1954, 1313 lives were protected under this plan.
- Membership hit an all-time high of 1896 between 1952 and 1954, with the CJA office sending more than 112,000 mailings—almost 30,000 of which had to do with CJI.
- By 1954, CJA had formed a Gem Standards Committee to make recommendations to the government for gems, similar to what is in place for precious metals.
- From 1952 to 1954, 257 students enrolled in the Retail Jewellers Training Course, the forerunner to the present-day Jewellery Educational Training System (JETS) program.
- The Vigilance Committee contacted a number of advertisers between 1952 and 1954, asking them to stop using objectionable words like “flawless” and “blue-white” in their diamond ads, except where the terms used could be supported by the merchandise.
- The annual convention was reduced from three days to one in 1955 at the request of the membership, who claimed they could not afford to spend three days away from their businesses. It was replaced with 12 regional meetings and attended by more than 1300 members and guests.
- In 1956, CJI published an all-Canadian textbook for the Retail Jewellers Training Course.
- From November 18 to 23, 1957, CJA sponsored a National Jewellery Week. One of the initiatives involved a Star Weekly supplement, for which $65,000 was spent. Across the country, more than 100,000 lines were purchased by retail members in local papers. An editorial kit was also produced and sent to 365 newspapers.
- In March 1957, a program was developed to make consumers more jewellery-conscious through a series of press releases, and tours of manufacturing plants were organized for fashion editors to see goods actually being produced.
- Throughout 1957, 11 conventions were organized with more than 2600 attendees.
- During most of the 1950s, primary issues were the damage that discount catalogues were doing to retail jewellers and the question of allowing manufacturers control of their pricing. Since price maintenance was outlawed, the jewellery manufacturing sector continued to lobby the federal government to rescind the laws and allow them to control the pricing of their products.
- In 1959, CJA members addressed the growing problem of ‘fly-by-night’ auction sales and their misleading jewellery practices through local bylaws at the municipal level. Led by the example of Winnipeg’s bylaws, a number of communities across Canada were able to enact similar changes.
1960 to 1969
- In the final meeting of 1960, the board of directors moved “all applications for membership in the CJA from firms outside of Canada shall be considered on the merits of each case, whether or not the firm has an establishment in Canada.”
- A 1960 survey indicated only six per cent of men and eight per cent of women bought gifts from jewellers. During the annual meeting, it was noted every effort should be made by CJA to find ways to improve the prestige of the jeweller in the public mind and get consumers back into jewellery stores for their gift buying.
- At CJA’s 1961 annual meeting, plans were announced for a new gemmological course written by two experts from the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). The recent entry of discount department stores and duty-free shops into Canada was also noted.
- During its 1964 annual meeting, CJA announced the plans for a November consumer contest draw named ‘Holiday in Europe,’ where the person to draw the winning ballot would receive a trip to Switzerland. There were 100 sets of luggage as runner-up prizes. A total of 660 retail stores participated, representing 159 municipalities.
- The excise tax was removed in the United States in 1965.
1970 to present
- Throughout the 1970s, CJA presidents such as Vernon Gale and Marvin Gerstein helped the association improve its internal effectiveness, particularly in the areas of education, trade relations, ethics, and government advocacy.
- In the early 1980s, Canada fell victim to troubled economic times. CJA membership was declining such that the national convention only drew 278 attendees, despite having respected guest speakers such as environmentalist David Suzuki and famed economist John Crispo.
- In the 1985 to 1986 fiscal year, CJA purchased Jewellery World Magazine. With the magazine came the return of John Theo to the role of general manager, following his first stint from 1975 to 1977. During Theo’s tenure, CJA modernized by purchasing its first computer, grew membership (with 106 joining in a single year), and further significantly increased profitability (with a $250,000 profit increase from 1986 to 1987). It also formed JVC in 1987.
- In 2006, the jewellery excise tax (JET) was finally repealed in Canada.
- In 2017, JVC combined with CJA.
