President Doug began the meeting by acknowledging the Indigenous Peoples of all the lands that we are on today, and that we were meeting in Treaty 1 territory (the traditional territory of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene Peoples) and on the homeland of the Métis Nation. He ended by acknowledging the ancestral and unceded territory of all the Inuit, Métis, and First Nations people that call Canada home. This was followed by O Canada being sung in Spanish by Rosario Arce and accompanied by images of Canada and Canadians.

Since this is World Immunization Week President Doug provided the following Thought for the Week from Jeffry Kluger, author or co-author of 12 books including Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio, and editor-at-large for Time magazine: “Vaccines save lives; fear endangers them. It’s a simple message parents need to keep hearing”.

ROTARY MOMENTS

1. The 1000 Survival Gardens project support is ongoing. PDG Nancy and Dave will match club member donations up to a total of $1,000 for supplying these garden kits in South Africa. PDG Doug went on to explain for the benefit of our guests (and forgetful members) that the kits include a “hippo water roller” (for easy transportation of water using a 90 liter cylindrical rolling container) plus basic tools to grow a garden, including a shovel, rake, hoe, watering can, seedlings, compost, and fertilizer – as well as a sanitizer, face mask and a guide on growing a garden. To date, there have been 213 kits (worth ~ $53,000) delivered to 8 communities. There are plans to deliver 140 more kits in the near future. Members are encouraged to use the ‘Donate to Club’ button on the club’s website , identifying ‘1000 Survival Gardens’ as the donation recipient.
2. Lobster Fest, May 29th - Everyone should have their lobster and chicken tickets for sales direct sales. People can also purchase their tickets using credit cards by using the club website https://portal.clubrunner.ca/1000. Please continue to drop off donated items for the lobster fest ‘door prizes’ at Morris Insurance (or a cash donation instead would be appreciated), in order to offer great door prizes.
3. The next Director Dialogue is scheduled for Wednesday April 28th, @ 6:00 PM CDT. The topic is titled “Public Image the Musical". Attendees will learn important skills such as video marketing, Facebook analytics, Instagram engagement, and making the most of our Rotary database. Registration for this Director Dialogue, which is limited to 500 participants, is available here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xSdcxUUGQhWHj1YAtwkxow This Zoom event features members of Rotary Public Image Coordinators (RPICs) and Assistant RPICs sharing success strategies for growing one’s club, raising more money and getting attention for Rotary.
4. Another Webinar - Building Strong Intergenerational Relationships Thursday, 29 April, at 11:00 (CDT) is a webinar in Rotary International’s Accountability and Inclusion series. Generational diversity is one of Rotary’s competitive advantages. Few organizations span generations and build personal connections the way Rotary does. Empower young leaders to act on issues they are passionate about. Build awareness of the biases that create tension between the generations. Recognize that everyone, no matter how old or young, has something to teach and something to learn, Register here: https://rotaryorg.zoom.us/webinar/register/3116173805938/WN_6E8NPoY2Q32FO7wJydd6TQ
5. Charleswood Rotary has received a ‘Club Literacy Award’ for 2020/2021. Congratulations to the club and especially to Nancy Hansen, Glenn and Iain.
6. There has been a major change in the District Executive Organization chart. Jean-Marc Nadeau has had to resign his position as DG Nominee due to work pressures. Filling this position required finding a candidate that had district experience. Past DG Fred Wright, from the RC of Kenora, volunteered to fill the DG Nominee position for the remainder of this year, become DG Elect in 2021-2022, then DG in 2022-2023. Sonja Susut from the RC of Moose Jaw (Wakamow) will be the DG Nominee for 2021/2022.

Before we had our feature presentation, visitor Jagdish Khatter asked if all the members would introduce themselves – “with just one word”. Jagdish began by providing a brief introduction of himself and President Doug asked each participant to do so as well. Not surprisingly, and very fortunately, every participant (including Jagdish) used considerably more than “one word”:

Jagdish: retired pharmacology and medicine (cardiology) professor from University of Manitoba; left India in 1965, moved to Ghana to develop secondary schools there with the help of UNICEF; was a member of Rotary in India for a year.

President Doug: retired dentist who used to work in Gimli, was a Rotarian there for about 10 years, joined this club in 2014.

PDG Jim: retired air force member, past district governor, member of this club since 1986.

Jack: worked at Manitoba Hydro, retired, a member of the club since 2000.

Iain: previous owner of a sign company, now a realtor, member of the Rotary club for 2 years

Lorraine: partner of PDG Jim and a member of Rotary since 2001, happily enjoying the family of Rotary.

Lyle: formerly from Thompson (39 years, Rotarian there for ~10 years), originally from Dauphin, in Winnipeg since 2012, retired very happily from the moving and storage business.

PDG Elaine: retired consulting research chemist, a past district governor and currently the club’s scribe.

Dave: Charter member of Charleswood Rotary Club (1985), owns Morris Insurance Brokers in Charleswood.

PDG Ed: had the Investia Financial Planning Centre in Charleswood (taken over by daughter and her husband0 and called Investia) and still has an interest in a little farm that he rents out, a Rotarian since 1993 and a past district governor.

Darvin: a retired retiree, a past builder, past baker, past president of the club.

PDG Nancy: Dave’s wife, a member since 1998, hosted 18 exchange students, a past district governor.

Chuck: a member since about 1990, retired from the building materials business.

Sarge Mike: a former Manitoba Hydro engineer and manager, club’s Sargent-at-Arms, enjoying being part of Rotary

Glenn: was a Rotarian in Ottawa for 19 years, executive director of the Canadian Association of Optometrists, retired, moved to Winnipeg and joined this club about three years ago.

Rod: is not re-tired, just tired, a member since 1996.

Bob: retired soil scientist with Agriculture and AgriFood Canada, University of Manitoba, joined Rotary around 2006 (or maybe 2008?).

Catherine: hematologist at St Boniface Hospital in Cancer Care Manitoba, a Rotarian since 2016

Paul Brault: retired Environment Health and Safety professional, and a Red Seal electrician, part of Rotary for about the past 5 years

Mandy: Rotarian for four years, past president for last 2 years prior to Doug, works for Manulife Bank as a manager of mortgage sales support for a team of about 20 individuals across the country.

Ruth Kristjanson: retired from Manitoba Hydro, huge fan of Jack and Mike

Ben Akoh: not retired, not a member, pleased to “gate-crash’ our meetings occasionally; made presentation to our club two weeks ago.

Laura Sinclair: executive assistant to Whalen Sutherland for the Treaty One Development Corporation, originally from Brokenhead Ojibway Nation.

Since Tim Daniels was unable to attend, PDG Nancy introduced Whelan Sutherland who was our guest speaker in Tim’s place. Whelan is the Chief Executive Officer of Treaty One Development Corporation and a member of Peguis First Nation. He has played a lead role in a wide variety of Indigenous business ventures over the past 15 years, as a CEO, manager and entrepreneur. Since leaving the Chief Peguis Investment Corporation in 2012, he’s been involved in the business end of the Treaty 1 organization and management. He is a graduate of the Asper School of Business in Winnipeg.

Whalen explained that he lived in Peguis First Nation until he was 25, when he moved to Winnipeg – for two reasons dealing with economics – one was to further his education and the other was to help his community by getting the needed knowledge and experience by living away from the community. And he landed in Treaty 1 Development Corporation – 98% of the staff of which are from the Treaty 1 territory. His presentation, titled Unlocking Economic Opportunity, builds upon work that started about 15 years ago to recognize the First Nations peoples’ rights to their land – which included the area occupied by the Kapyong lands. The development of that 160-acre area that is located on prime urban real estate in a mixed use community and well integrated into the surrounding neighbourhood of Tuxedo and River Heights is a billion dollar project whose intent is to generate prosperity and cultivate partnerships, build a welcoming and inclusive community, celebrate First Nations identity and culture as well as showcase innovation in design and urban development.

The plan is to take 15 years to build the project, providing 15 years of jobs and training, while respecting the wise counsel of Knowledge Keepers and helping Treaty 1 Nations (T1N) become an economic powerhouse. The master plan is the shared vision of both Treaty One Nations and Canada Land Company (the government of Canada’s land developer) as well as local community members – the goal being the reclamation of Treaty One lands. About 50 acres of the Kapyong Barracks site land (32%) is owned by Canada Land Company, the rest by Treaty One Nations.

The strategy is to build the largest urban economic reserve in Canada, create the biggest, private sector mixed use development in modern Winnipeg, reshape the future of seven Treaty One Nations, deliver major economic contribution to both T1N and Winnipeg, and restore T1N to its historic position of strength as a sovereign nation. The land will have a mixed-use village (to promote higher density housing), a commercial mixed-use area (with a wide range of retail, service, office and cultural facilities) a medium density residential area, a lower density residential area along the western edge, sports and recreation facilities, a cultural campus and community spaces (a network of publicly accessible parks and open spaces). Since 2021 marks 150 years since the signing of Treaty One, a time capsule is also being prepared – it’s not to be opened until another 150 years have passed.

It is expected that demolitions taking place currently at Kapyong will be completed during the summer of 2021. T1N is working to finalize the Land Designation Process including a co-management agreement with Canada and a municipal development and services agreement with the City of Winnipeg. The expectation is that the project will be ready for shovels by late 2021. One can follow what’s happening with this project on LinkedIn (treaty1.ca), Facebook (treatyno1), Twitter (treaty1corp) and Instagram (treaty1corp).

Following the presentation, we learned the following from questions and answers:

• The Indigenous name of the area under development is Naawioodenah, which means “Centre of the heart”. The suggestion was made that it could be a major centre for tourists to learn about the unique culture of each of the seven Treaty One Nations.
• Sargent Tommy Prince was stationed at Kapyong and the war museum that is planned for the site will have a tribute to him.
• Canada Lands properties will be developed (primarily residential) and sold.
• The eventual widening of Route 90 is being taken into account in the plans of Naawioodenah.
• Department of National Defence (DND) housing located south of the site will mostly remain, although some will be de-commissioned and destroyed.
• Treaty One Development Corporation is open to working with researchers (Indigenous or others) dealing with the intersection of First Nations culture with technology and education
• Individuals will not be able to purchase property on the site – only lease it.

Glenn thanked both Whelan and Laura (who showed Whelan’s slides), predicted that the Treaty One development at Naawioodenah will be the pride of Winnipeg and the pride of Canada, and expressed the hope that both Whelan and Laura will be able to join us and give us an update weekly. PDG Nancy offered to provide both Whelan and Laura with information about joining Rotary.

Sarge Mike welcomed tonight’s guests – Jagdish Khatter, Roehit Goenka, Whelan Sutherland, Ruth Kristjanson, Laura Sinclair and Ben Akol.

HAPPY BUCKS

When Sarge asked for Happy Bucks… this is what we heard:

President Doug was pleased to learn that his son, who is in the military, will be posted back to Winnipeg in about a month’s time - after being seven years away.

Dave was happy because member Darvin very kindly “took all the beer bottles away for me”

Jagdish flashed the latest issue of the publication “Neighbours of Charleswood” whose feature story “Keeping up with the Khatters” features a picture of Jagdish and his wife on the front cover. He encouraged members to get the magazine and “learn more about us”

Iain had several reasons to be happy - 1) It’s going to be 19 degrees and sunny tomorrow. 2) Caroline got her vaccination downtown today. 3) Daughter Hannah wrote her last exam on Friday, and she will be making her way to Winnipeg via a 3-day stay in a Toronto hotel.

Roehit was happy to learn that there is going to be a lobster dinner this year and that there will be instructions on how to eat the lobster. Sarge’s suggestion about having PDG Jim crack the lobster for Roe using a big knife was going to be “an added bonus”.

BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES

Sarge Mike’s ask for any birthdays or anniversaries produced one of each from the same member - we learned from PDG Nancy that her husband Dave’s birthday is on April 27th, which will also be the day of their 58th wedding anniversary. Congratulations Dave and Nancy!

NEXT MEETING – May 3, 2021

On May 3rd, we will be educated by a representative from the Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre, who will bring along a “wise” creature.

MEETING REMINDERS

1. Assiniboine Forest Committee meeting: Wednesday April 28th @ 8:45am.
2. Lobster Fest Event meeting: Thursday, April 29th @4:00pm
3. Next District ‘Talk Show’ : May 6th – Topic : Youth Services.
4. District Conference: May 13 to 15th. Register online at District 5550 website - https://www.rotary5550.org