UPCOMING MEETING OCTOBER 18, 2022
Ardath Paxton Mann & Danison Buan Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, A Discussion
At Rotary, we're committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect, allowing everyone's voice to be heard, and providing equitable opportunities for fellowship, service, and leadership. Our members want and expect Rotary to be a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization. We're committed to creating supportive environments that foster open communication and shared learning. Rotary understands that cultivating a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture is essential to realizing our vision of a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change. We value diversity and celebrate the contributions of people of all backgrounds with differences in ideas, thoughts, values and beliefs.
Rotary International has adopted a development strategy around Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI). While Rotary overall is a model of DEI, many of our 35,000 clubs are not. An international Task Force has been conducting research within Rotary and, as of January 2022, has started presenting its findings and recommendations.
In 2021 Rotary District 5040 formed a DEI Committee to work with our 48 clubs on ways they can choose to reflect the communities they serve, develop and become more relevant by engaging with them, and become more sustainable through their own strategies related to DEI. We commit to advancing equity in all aspects of Rotary, including in our community
partnerships so that each person has the necessary access to resources, opportunities,
networks and support to thrive. We strive to create an inclusive culture where each person feels they are valued and belong. In line with our value of integrity, we are committed to being honest and transparent about where we are in our DEI journey as an organization, and to CONTINUING TO LEARN AND DO BETTER.
Ardath joined the Rotary Club of West Vancouver Sunrise in 2009 and has served as Youth
Chair, Secretary and Club President twice. She is currently completing her third year as
Assistant Governor, Bowen Island and the North Shore, and is the District Chair of DEI and the District Chair of the Peace Committee.
Danison is the current District 5040 Membership Chair. He has been actively involved in
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Youth Alumni, Retention and Extension Membership Pilot,
Committee Development, Innovative Clubs, Leaders Connect, Leads Committee, Speaker Series, Public Relations/Public Image, Facilitated Peace Conversations, Learning and Development, Hoop-a-Thon Committee, Strategic Planning and the RI President’s 2022 Vancouver Tour.
UPCOMING MEETING OCTOBER 25, 2022
Dr. Simon Sutcliffe, President, and
Ms. Leslie Sundby, Lead - Nepal Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration
As you probably know, our Club has made a major commitment to St. Paul’s Hospital in support of the new Vancouver Rotary Hearing Centre in the new St. Paul’s Hospital. Our $6 million pledge coupled with a matching $6 million from the St. Paul’s Foundation will fund the most innovative Hearing Centre in Canada if not in North America. This project has been a vision of our Club for the past 37 years and we are about to see it come to fruition.
You are invited to be a part of this exciting project by volunteering to serve on the Steering Committee. Our next meeting of the Steering Committee will be held at the Terminal City Club on October 18th right after our weekly Lunch meeting. If you would like to serve on this committee, you are invited to attend on Oct 18th , at 1:30 p.m, learn more and sign up if your are interested in joining the team.
Participate in the END POLIO NOW walk. Two routes:
City Hall to Science World route is 2.7 km, and
Creekside Community Centre to Science World route is 0.4 km.
Both groups will meet at Science World at sunset (approximately 6:00 pm) for photos as the lights of Science World and City Hall glow red. Wear your red END POLIO NOW shirts (or just wear red). Red glow sticks will be provided.
Can't join the walk? You can still help by donating to the Rotary Foundation EndPolio Fund, CLICK HERE
* come in person to celebrate with Purdy's chocolates!!
Last Meeting October 11, 2022
Kendall Jessiman, President, chaired the meeting and gave the invocation.
Nadja Gehriger, acting Secretary, hosted the Zoom portion of the meeting
Peter Clarke, Sergeant at Arms, introduced guests
Miya Otake played O Canada on her harp via video
President’s Announcements:
Thank you to all of you who came to enjoy the companionship of your fellow club Rotarians.
Secretary's announcements:
reminders of upcoming events/meetings (see above)
birthdays, member club anniversaries, wedding anniversaries (see above)
Special announcements and Members' Moments:
Wayne Fraser – reminder of the date for the Vancouver Walk for Polio, October 24th, see above for details
John Hayto – recently attended his family reunion in Italy. His son’s recovery from biking accident has been remarkable; he graduated from Oxford last spring. John himself will be undergoing ankle surgery in the coming days.
Rene Abi-Rached – commented on hearing about important issues covered in the civic elections. We are doing great stuff as a club – all the projects CSC supports align as very important social issues. Thank you to committee members for all of their hard work.
Navid Morawej – provided us with information about the situation for women in Iran. His presentation, “Women Life Freedom”, was extremely moving (and disturbing). We can all help by spreading the word via social media, building global support for change, pressuring our government for sanctions.
CLICK HERE to read a Global News article, Canada sanctions 17 more Iranian officials amid unrest over Mahsa Amini death, October 13, 2022, author Dylan Robertson
CLICK HERE to view a TikTok video about Hadis Najafi, a 21 year old
CLICK HERE to view a BBC news report about Nika Shakarami’s death, a 16 year old
CLICK HERE to read Fortune article, An Iranian protest song is dominating a new Grammy nominations category because of a wildly successful TikTok campaign, October 10, 2022, author Ella Ceron and Bloomberg
CLICK HERE to view and listen to the poignant song written by Shervin Hajipour, sung by Rana Mansour
Program:
DG John Berry was introduced by President, Kendall Jessiman.
John brings greetings from D 5040. He is keen on celebrating our club’s successes – really fantastic. We are a leader in the District on all fronts.
We are used to making choices all through our lives. It is important to recognize we have to make choices as part of Rotary as well. There is such a wide range of services that Rotary offers it can be overwhelming. We cannot do everything. We need to feel good about our choices. Making choices that allow us to do what we do well rather than stretching ourselves too thin resulting in dissatisfaction and burn out.
From a personal perspective, John is a club guy. He has been a member for 35 years in same club in New West. His spouse, Pat, and he have been involved with the District youth exchange program before moving on to the DG role. John is delighted to be DG.
District needs club members to step up into District roles. He firmly believes that the roots of Rotary must be in the clubs as the heart of Rotary. Of course the organization does need structure, but it should be kept as simple as possible, allowing clubs to have autonomy.
We are proud to have Jennifer Jones as the first Canadian woman to take on the role of RI President. Her theme logo, Imagine Rotary, represents people and connections. The logo has deeper meaning:
The artwork includes a circle that in aboriginal culture symbolizes connections to one another. The dots surrounding the circle represent the people coming together. The number of dots, seven, represent the seven areas of focus. The complete image represents a guiding star. The line underneath represents a digging stick that is used to do the hard work Rotarians do in achieving their objectives.
The colors of green, purple, and white do have some significance as well, including being the colors of the women’s movement the Suffragette. Overall, it is meant to represent diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Some of the District’s priorities are DEI, empowering girls & women, connecting Rotary & Rotaract. We need to be sure we provide opportunities for meaningful involvement for all of our members. Reach out to them, invite them to get involved, versus waiting for them to come out.
An area of need at District level is someone to head up Public Image/PR. The past chair, Andrea Johnson, unfortunately passed away earlier this year leaving quite a hole to fill. Peter Roaf has stepped up temporarily until someone comes forward to fill the role.
The 2023 District Conference is in downtown Vancouver. In our own backyard as it was scheduled to be back in 2020, until COVID interrupted the plans and canceled the event. Our club is key in helping organize the event. Contact Wayne Fraser or Franco Gallo if interested in helping.
It was noted that District needs to put more energy in promoting Vocational service and Business networking services to help younger professionals.
Also noted that the term Inclusivity in DEI includes tolerance. Tolerance for others’ points of view regardless of whether one agrees or not. We need to be open to diverse opinions – the underpinning of the fabric of democracy.
Next week, district representatives will be speaking to our club about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Meeting adjourned with a toast to a better world and equality for all.
