Speakers

Bashir El-Khalafawi, Bio

 

Bashir joined Rotary in 1986, he is the Charter President of the Rotary Club of Parksville AM and past President Rotary Club of Parksville.

 

Bashir has served as District Vocational Service Chair, District Foundation Annual Fund Chair and, as Assistant Governor he is currently the District Paul Harris Society Chair, Vancouver Island. Bashir’s career was in Hotel Management as well as several Hotel management positions in Canada and the US over 40 years.  He and wife Judie have been married for 47 years and have two grown children and one grandson who lives in Czech Republic.

 

Bashir is here today to tell us why the Paul Harris Society is important to the Rotary and how you can support support the Rotary Foundation

Cheque Presentations:

Dawn Ringrose:  Merville Association Playground

Mary Donner:  Royston-Cumberland Lions Special Golf Program 

Alan Fletcher, a resident of the Comox Valley, and president of AFC Construction is in the process of constructing a school in Nepal.  

Upon completing university, Byron Horner and Ian McAllister, long- standing best friends, chose career paths that went off in completely different directions:  Byron to become a corporate lawyer and businessman; Ian an environmentalist, photographer and film maker.  Many years later fate re-connected them for the making of IMAX film: The Great Bear Rainforest when Byron, as President of Spirit Bear Entertainment Inc., took on his company’s challenge to become Executive Producer of a film about this remote and unique ecosystem north of Vancouver Island.  Shot exclusively for the giant screen, the film will offer a remarkable journey into one of the planet’s most spectacular wildernesses – a land of wolves, grizzly bears, humpback whales, sea lions, sea otters and others – as it explores the secret world of the Spirit Bear. Using First Nations people as guides, the film follows the herring run in March through to the salmon run in September.

On May 4th, Byron spoke at our PROBUS meeting about the making of this film which, he said,  is “not Hollywood” and not expected to become a big money maker;  instead he defined it as one of his company’s “passion projects”.   With no roads going to any of the areas, which are only accessible by boat or plane, it was not an easy project to tackle.  This enormous conservancy/reserve  still has one of the lowest populations per square mile on earth. The area itself is in the hands of the First Nations people from whom they  had to get permission to make the film.  Byron defined First Nations people as “critical to the area” and whom the film company used extensively during its production as guides and advisors.

Great Bear Rainforest features one of the rarest animals on Earth – the fabled all-white Spirit Bear. These remarkable creatures, a rare subspecies of the American black bear, are the result of tens of thousands of years of evolution. They live in the lush temperate rainforests of British Columbia, where they hold almost mythic status among the region’s indigenous people. To read more about Spirit Bears, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermode_bear

The Vancouver Island Trail will soon be continuous trail from Victoria in the south to Cape Scott at the northern tip of the Island. The Trail follows an inland route in the south and becomes a coastal route north of Port McNeill.   It follows several First Nations and historic routes, and links up many existing trails.

 

Approximately 770 km long, the Trail is an adventure opportunity that will provide a recreational route for residents and tourists through the beautiful back-country of Vancouver Island.  Although primarily a hiking trail, some sections of the Trail are suitable for other non-motorized uses, e.g. mountain bikes, horses, and skis.  The route passes through a wide range of forest types, alongside streams, rivers and lakes and across a number of mountain ridges.  It is similar to other successful long-distance routes in North America such as the Pacific Crest Trail, the Bruce Trail and the Appalachian Trail.

The Trail will support local economies through increased tourism, cultural tourism opportunities, provision of services to trail users and trail building and maintenance. Local First Nations, hiking clubs and other outdoor clubs are encouraged to monitor and report trail conditions. First Nations and businesses will have an expanded opportunity to provide services to travelers in their region.

Talking about the playground that received a donation from us.

Reporting on project that received funding from us.  The camp ended on May 3rd.

Information on program that received funds from our club.