Rotary Circle at work
I attended the Rotary HIP (Honoring Indigenous People) at Six Nations on September 9th. It was a day of learning and discussion. HIP amended their Mission Statement to read: “HIP envisions a Canada where every Indigenous Person has the same educational opportunities as other Canadians, every Rotarian is involved in advancing the understanding of Indigenous knowledge systems and challenges and every Canadian is engaged in building positive Indigenous relationships.”
I will be hosting a booth at the District Conference at Living Arts Centre, Mississauga, this coming Saturday, September 23.
Rotary will have a booth at Akweni Ki, on Saturday and Sunday, Sep 23 and 24 The event include an artist showcase (Sat) and Powwow (Sun). Because of the District Conference, we are unable to man the booth on Saturday, but will have good representation on Sunday to present Rotary activities to the community.On November 4, 7080 CIRCLE and Brampton Rotary CIRCLE will be hosting a conference at the Unitarian Church of Mississauga, 84 South Service Rd.E. The event will be called Mno Bimaadziwin, Mno Miikan – Good Life, Good Road. It will be a full day (9 to 5) of Indigenous and Non Indigenous speakers leading discussion on Reconciliation. We will have interactive workshops, including the Keiros Blanket Exercise. Also, we will have indigenous music, art and food. Admission will be $50 per person, proceeds to Oneida Circle and HIP.
Stephanie Beaumier has introduced me to her brother, Michael who is Senior Counsel at Siemens Canada. They have a program to replace laptops for their employees, which generates about 150 laptops per year. I told him about various Rotary Indigenous programs that could benefit, including One lap top per child (an international organization connected to HIP that provides laptops to indigenous children), the hockey equipment drive organized by the Rotary Clubs of Palgrave and Etobicoke and the Dokis Nation project the Jerome Dawson is heading. In each case, there is a need to reprogram the computers into Cree or Ojibwa. There seems to be good synergies for this to happen. Timeframe late November to January.