District 7070 - 1; Covid - 0
 
District  Governor Ron Dick and the Oshawa Rotary Club hosted  the 2021-2022 District  Conference at the Oshawa Marriott Courtyard this past weekend.  With about 200 respectfully distanced Rotarians, Partners and Guests  in attendance, and excellent conference speakers,  a vibrant program focused on the theme  Be a Driver for Change was delivered to the first D7070  in person audience in two years.
 
Incoming RI President Jennifer Jones  delivered closing remarks on a video and introduced her  Imagine Rotary Canada Tour.   Incoming DG Iosif Ciosa invited everyone to participate in Toronto area projects when she will be in Toronto, July 5th.  
 
Hats off to DG Ron Dick for an excellent conference.    All were invited by DGE Iosef to register for this year's conference, We Have A Dream, to be held at the Nottawasaga Inn in Aliston on October 14,15 & 16, with 'early bird' pricing available. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The festivities got underway on Friday evening with a warm, welcoming reception and an introduction to Marriott's culinary fare . In fact, the food was excellent throughout the weekend.  Friday evening also marked the reopening of the official hospitality suites, four in all. It certainly wasn't difficult to decide the success of the suites as they were still packed late in the evening.  Oshawa reportedly experienced a pizza shortage as the hospitality suites had preordered the evenings production.  DG -elect Iosif Ciosa mixed a refreshing 'pink punch' at theToronto club's suite.

Saturday started bright and early with the promise of a stellar array of keynote speakers.  Speakers  included Dr.  Peter Juni,  Swiss Epidemiologist and currently Head of the Ontario Science Table , on Covid,  Jennifer Wright,  GM Director, on going all electric by 2035,  and a special Award Presentation to Dr. Bob Scott, who also brought us up to date on End Polio Now , and the work still remaining.

Following a buffet lunch and discussion on the Durham College Rotary Global Classroom's Ukraine field medic program, there were breakout sessions covering various aspects Water and Sanitation, led by WASRAG's Ron Denham, and other sessions on Sustainability and  Fraud.  Something for everyone, Rotarians and Guests.
 
Saturday evening,  following an excellent dinner with local wines,  PDG Beth Selby led a 'Fireside Chat" by our Outbound Exchange Students to France, Sweden and Denmark (delivered in the language of their host country with subtitles and photos that made it even more personal).   The evenings entertainment had everyone talking, and guessing - The Sentimentalists, a mind-reading duo, had everyone's attention.   Speculation was rife on "how do they do that'.   Late evening entertainment was by The Duo - Don Owen and Friends - music for everyone.
 
Sunday was serious - Following a continental breakfast,  Dr. Dawn Lavell-Harvard, Phd,  now at Trent University, gave an intense discussion of her role in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and girls and the history behind today's revelations.   She was followed Journalist in Residence at Carleton, Farida Nekzad, who fled the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan only a few months ago.  Since 2003 she had trained some 2,000 journalists and students, male and female, in Afghanistan and that put her on the top of the Taliban hit list.
After a break, Todd Simkover, MA in Critical Disability Studies at York University, led a discussion of  In Praise of Neurodiversity,  informed by his own lived experiences on the autism spectrum.
 
Incoming RI President Jennifer Jones  delivered closing remarks on a video and introduced her  Imagine Rotary Canada Tour.   Incoming DG Iosif Ciosa invited everyone to participate in Toronto area projects when she will be in Toronto, July 5th.  
 
Hats off to DG Ron Dick for an excellent conference.    All were invited by DGE Iosef to register for this year's conference, We Have A Dream, to be held at the Nottawasaga Inn in Aliston on October 14,15 & 16, with 'early bird' pricing available.
 
The conference closed with a delicious buffet lunch and was followed by the 2022 District Assembly, now part of PETS, for the incoming 2022-2023 club presidents.