Vol. 101 No. 10
Brian Street, President
Joan Posivy, Secretary
Next meeting: Tuesday September 11, 2018 David Hobbs, Co-Founder & VP Operations &
Vinson Li, VP of Engineering, Two Tall Totems Software Inc. Face the Future: Two Tall Totems bringing facial recognition to every home with Telus
Two Tall Totems is an award winning custom software design and development agency based out of Vancouver, Canada experiencing rapid growth. With experience across 20+ different industries, their extensive technical capabilities include mobile development, AR & VR, IoT, AI, cloud computing, and enterprise solutions. They’ve delivered solutions for the likes of FortisBC, The Mortgage Alliance Company of Canada, Sengled, Harbour Air, and Teekay Shipping. Having continued to double in size annually since 2015, their partnership with TELUS solidifies Two Tall Totems’ footing as a major player in software development within Canada.
DAVID HOBBS
David has over 20 years of tech experience both as a developer and an entrepreneur. As the VP of Operations at Two Tall Totems, he possesses the perfect balance of technical knowledge and business acumen. He is responsible for managing the delivery of all of Two Tall Totems’ client's projects. David's desire to inspire the people around him and his ability to energize and empower others is the key to his leadership success.
VINSON LI
As Vice President of Engineering at Two Tall Totems, Vinson leads the company's long-term technology vision and is responsible for solution architecting as well as product development. Prior to TTT, Vinson co-founded FaceCo Labs, a tech startup that developed a service to turn face images into animatable 3D models. Vinson holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of British Columbia, where he researched face modelling and published multiple top international papers in this field.
Upcoming meeting: Tuesday September 18, 2018 Lori Mathison LLB, FCPA, FCGA, President & CEO
Chartered Professional Accountant of British Columbia The State of the BC Economy and Looking Ahead
Lori Mathison, FCPA, FCGA, LLB, is President and CEO of the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia. She also serves as Chair of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade and Chair of the CPA Western School of Business. Previously, Lori was the managing Partner of the Vancouver office of Dentons Canada LLP, where she was a Partner in Dentons’ Tax Law Group. She has been recognized by her peers as one of Canada’s
leading lawyers in the area of Tax Law by the Best Lawyers in Canada publication, and has served as a Governor of the Canadian Tax Foundation. Lori also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Committee at the UBC Centre for Business Law and on the Faculty Advisory Board for the Sauder School of Business at UBC.
Lori will outline some of the key economic statistics from the past year, as well as projected trends for the coming year. She will also discuss survey findings related to economic confidence, economic growth and challenges facing businesses in BC. Some key initiatives being taken by the CPA profession to address the changing environment, including digital transformation, will also be shared.
Upcoming meeting: Tuesday September 25, 2018 Aaron Chapman, Vancouver Historian Commodore Ballroom Historic Review
RED CARPET BALL
ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE LIVE AUCTION ITEM
Courtesy of Don Evans, we are excited to let you know about one of the Ultimate Experience Live Auction Items that will be available to bid on at the Red Carpet Ball on October 27th.
THE ULTIMATE POLAR EXPRESS EXPERIENCE VALUE: $1,800
Welcome to a very special day on Saturday December 1, 12:00 noon at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park in Squamish. Your party of 15 people departs aboard the private VIP lounge car on the Polar Express train ride.
You will be entertained by the characters from the movie - the hobo, the conductor punching your golden tickets, the kids including obnoxious boy, the chefs and more - while also enjoying food and beverage (hot chocolate, warm cookies and more) in your special accommodations. This is the Polar Express Movie live and you will be a part of it?
At the North Pole, your VIP experience continues as your group comes backstage and gets to ride into the North Pole Workshop with Santa on the miniature train. After visiting with Santa and participating in the North Pole activities, you can go home with beautiful china mugs as souvenirs of this special day.
This event is for all ages - from children to grandparents. You can really play the part by coming in your pyjamas and housecoats.
President Brian Street chaired the meeting and gave the invocation.
Don Evans accompanied us on the piano for the singing of O Canada.
Joe Lopushinsky, Sergeant-at-Arms, introduced visitors and guests.
President's announcements:
Reminder that Gordon Thom's Celebration of Life is on Thursday, SEtember 6th, 1:30 p.m. at the Arbutus Club
We wish Katherine Copeland well as she goes off to the NoPolio! Motorcycle Rally on September 8-9th raising funds to end polio. Anyone who would like to be a last minute sponsor, please contact Katherine. Safe riding!
Red Carpet Ball update:
Immediate Past DG Don Evans has offered a fantastic train ride for our Ultimate Experiences live auction. See above for more information.
Still looking for sponsors. Please check your contact lists to see if there is anyone you know we can approach. Contact Brian.
Joan Posivy, our Secretary, is back!! Welcome home Joan. The secretary's announcements:
reminders of upcoming events/meetings (see above); note that the Membership Committee meeting for August has been cancelled
birthdays:Wayne Fraser Sep04, Jim Evans Sep06, Mark Startup Sep06, Richard Landahl Sep07
member anniversaries:Robert Dueck 36 years
wedding anniversaries:Stu & Susan Bird 42 years Sep04, Terry & Judy Gunderson 41 years Sep04, Phil & Miriam Webber 49 years Sep07
Special announcements and members' moments:
Brady Carpenter who was welcomed into our Club a couple of weeks ago, received his 4-Way test plaque.
Katherine Copeland thanked those who have generously supported her on her first big motorcycle ride for NoPolio! She is to take her driving test just prior to leaving. No doubt all will go well.
Program:
Peter Clarke introduced speaker Dr. Bruce McLellan, a recently (very recently) retired Wildlife Research Ecologist with the BC Forest Service.
The IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, is the world's largest conservation group. The Bear Specialist Group (BSG) is one of more than 140 Specialist Groups established by the Species Survival Commission (SSC), within the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The goal of the BSG is to promote the conservation of bears and their natural habitats across their distribution worldwide. Dr. McLellan is a Red List Authority for the organization.
There are seven species of bears: brown bear (grizzly), sun bear, sloth bear, black bear, polar bear, panda bear, spectacled bear. Bears are found most everywhere in the world. All are facing challenges.
Conservationists are concentrating on the small populations, of which there are lots. A lot is learned from collecting hair. It works well to count populations and determine movements. Grizzly bears in the southern Coast Range of British Columbia occur in a few small, largely isolated populations. This situation is particularly true of the endangered Stein-Nahatlatch (SN) population that has been persisting as a small and isolated group of individuals for many years. Bears are large carnivores and in many areas have no predators except other bears and people. So why would a population go down?
Interactions with people are the greatest threat to their survival with 80-85% of 2 year old bears being killed by people.
Shortage of food - huckleberries (on the West Coast) is a major source of nutrition and can be found in burned areas. One of the silver linings to the great fires we've experienced recently is that the huckleberries will become more abundant to the benefit of the bear population.
People encroaching and disturbing bear environments. For example, Joffre Lakes was, not that long ago, an isolated location with lots of bears. Now it is a popular tourist destination with thousands of people visiting it annually.
Dispersal issues. Females tend to stick close to Mom. Males will travel further. There are blockages to the free movement: railways, highways, rivers, human settlement.
In order to recover bear populations immigration of females is needed. Moving bears into smaller populations.
Some interesting links:
CBC article, Is Social Media Ruining Hiking in BC, CLICK HERE
Vancouver Courier, Popular B.C. parks, including Joffre Lakes, are in danger of being 'loved to death', CLICK HERE
Bruce McLellan: Grizzly Matters - Part 1 - "Hunting" Grizzly Bear!, YouTube video, CLICK HERE
Bruce McLellan: Grizzly Matters - Part 2 - Charged by a Grizzly, YouTube video, CLICK HERE
Bruce McLellan: Grizzly Matters - Part 3 - Out-foxed by a Grizzly, YouTube video, CLICK HERE
Protecting the world's brown bears: An interview with Dr. Bruce McLellan, CLICK HERE
Dr. Bruce McLellan has spent his life with bears. His love of the animals and the environment has been passed through his genes to his children. His daughter, Michelle is also a renowned bear expert and has followed in her Dad's footsteps making the study and conservation of them her life's work.
To view a pdf copy of Dr. Bruce McLellan's presentation, CLICK HERE
Meeting adjourned with a toast to conserving our natural environment.
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