RCO Meeting November 2, 2020 (Nov 02, 2020)

Mike Henry thanked those members who had contributed wine or money for the Rotary Auction and those who had contacted retailers and others to donate goods to be auctioned. He stated that the proceeds would be about $5,000 for each club and that there are still goods worth $120,000 looking for a purchaser.
Judy Warrington reported that the Speaker Series have abandoned the idea of using 5 Drive in as a venue. Instead the committee is considering a Podcast or Webinar approach as was suggested by Gary Comerford at our last club meeting. Gary and George Vincent will be leading the exploration of this approach for the Speaker Series.
Mike Henry commented that there are still some “End Polio Now” car flags for Rotary members to display on their car for as long as they wish.
Ralf Soeder reported that the nominating committee has most of the slots filled for the 2021-2022 Rotary Board duties but they still need to attract at least one Director and a Club Secretary.
Judy Warrington commented on the success of the Halloween hands-on service project at Stewart Street and Normandy place emphasizing how much the residents had appreciated the effort.

Happy Bucks & Fines (Riona Naidu):

Nipun Madan orchestrated the extraction of happy bucks from many Rotarians.

Presentation topic: Susan Aglukark & Arctic Rose Foundation

Rod Craig introduced our guest speaker Susan Aglukark.

Susan was born in Churchill and grew up in Arviat, Nunavut. After graduating from high school, she worked in Ottawa as a linguist with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs and then returned to Nunavut to work as an executive assistant with the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada. While working with the Inuit Tapirisat, she began to perform as a singer, and quickly became a popular performer in Inuit communities. She soon attracted the attention of the CBC who included her in a compilation of Arctic performers. In 1992, she released an independent album, Arctic Rose. The following year, she signed to a major record label, releasing an album of Christmas music that year.

Susan told us that her father was a musician, a songwriter. She told us that her mother’s people are from an area that Farley Mowat wrote about.

She told us that she became very excited about Truth and Reconciliation and was very fortunate to have the opportunity to become an artist and songwriter.

She established the Arctic Rose Foundation in 2012, which was officially designated as a not for profit organization in October 2016. She told us that the goals of the Foundation are to work towards basic mental health, bodily health and high school education for children in the north. The youth in these communities are among the most vulnerable in Canada, but they have little to no access to programs, supports or safe spaces. The Arctic Rose Foundation seeks to help address these challenges. She then commented that she had grown up in a 3 room house, five children with no private space and they did not know they were poor.

Then, for our pleasure she sang one of her songs for us.

She then welcomed questions the first of which was from Ralf Soeder who asked what can we do. Her response was to understand the Inuit and then figure it out. Joanne McNair asked “How can we help?” Susan’s answer was that we can write letters to our MPs.

Judy Warrington thanked our speaker and advised her that the club would be making a donation on her behalf to The Rotary Foundation to assist in the elimination of Polio from the face of the world.

Mike Henry asked if there was any other business for the good of Rotary. As there was none, he adjourned the meeting with the traditional toast to Friends and Rotarians around the world.

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