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Speakers
Feb 25, 2020 11:45 AM
Liz Duerholt (Crystal Ballroom)
Founder and Executive Director, Redefin'd
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Russell Hampton
ClubRunner
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February 18, 2020 Vol. 73 - No. 28
 
The Rotary Club of Calgary Downtown is professionals and community leaders brought together in fellowship to create a better future.
Birthdays:
Jeremy Mroch February 21
Michael Broadhurst February 22
 
 
Meeting Attendance:
94, including visitors and guests.
 
Highlights of the February 18, 2020 Meeting
Sergeant at Arms David Bromwich opened this week’s meeting by reflecting on the Rotary motto of “Service Above Self” and our code of conduct, while President Rick Erven called the meeting to order.
 
Michael Pierson and Manon Mitchell led the singing of O Canada, while Charles Pratt delivered the invocation.
 
President Rick thanked volunteers Deana Haley, Catherine Scheers and Bruce Millar.
 
Jennifer Lavier Jankovic welcomed this week’s visitors and guests. She also acknowledged the two club members who celebrated birthdays this week.
 
Did you know that Sunday, February 23rd is World Peace and Understanding Day, which coincides with the anniversary of Rotary’s founding? In 1905 four men met in a downtown Chicago office building to bring together a group of professionals with humanitarian values. They decided to call their club Rotary because their meetings rotated between offices.
 
Paul Harris recognized the connection between understanding and peace. In a 1921 address to Rotary International, he said, “Rotary believes that the better the people of one nation understand the people of other nations, the less likelihood of friction, and Rotary will encourage acquaintance and friendship between individuals of different nations.”
 
Rotary and its members have a long history of promoting peace and working to address the underlying causes of conflict in communities around the world. Through service projects, peace fellowships, and scholarships, our members are taking action to address the underlying causes of conflict, including poverty, inequality, ethnic tension, lack of access to education, and unequal distribution of resources.
 
 
Stay in School Program Update
With the changes that are afoot in the Stay in School (SIS) programs, it is time to provide club members with updates on two critical fronts.
 
First, our SIS Program Coordinator, Ellice Wirsta, has left us. We are sad to see her go, but the HR Committee has been hard at work to recruit a replacement. We look forward to announcing soon. In the interim, Ellice is providing “emergency back-up” to SIS Chair Sean Baylis and Youth Director Bob Taylor.
 
Second, after ten years of visionary and dedicated leadership, Rotary Tom Jackson Stay-in-School founders and Co-chairs Catherine Brownlee and Steve Allen had decided it is time to “pass the torch.” At the same time, we are searching for an outside agency to host RTJSIS.
 
This is not an abandonment of RCCD’s support for the program nor our commitment to Reconciliation. Instead, changing circumstances emphasize the importance of finding an organization with indigenous leadership that is well-tuned to the needs of today’s urban indigenous youth, and will better be able to recruit indigenous mentors to continue to support students in the program. And recruiting more mentors is foundational to continued growth in student numbers beyond our current 24 students and helping reach a much larger student population.
 
As we make this transition, we urgently need a Club member or two to step up and help lead the program through this transition. If you are interested in volunteering or learning more, contact Youth Director Bob Taylor.
 
Final note: The “original” SIS program will continue in its current format, but also requires additional mentors to take on new students. If you have an interest in learning more about this, contact Chair Sean Baylis sean.baylis@rbc.com or attend the upcoming Mentor Training event on March 7.
 
 
Lake Louise Ski and Stroll Day

 

Bring your family and friends to our annual Ski and Stroll on March 14th. The $30.00 price for bus transportation includes hot chocolate and treats, but does not include lift tickets. Our 7:15 am departure will be from the Canadian Tire store at Richmond Road and Sarcee Trail, and the bus will return by 7:00 pm.
 
 
Our Speaker, Mayor Naheed Nenshi
 
Our Speaker
Mayor Naheed Nenshi
 
 
 
Jeremy Mroch
Thanking Our Speaker
 
 
Madeleine King introduced the Mayor of the City of Calgary, Naheed Nenshi, who delivered his annual address to the club. Departing from his State of the City format, the Mayor described his recent attendance at the Big City Mayors' Caucus, recently held in Ottawa. This caucus, organized by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, works with the federal government to strengthen Canadian cities.
 
Madeleine and the Mayor announced the city's donation of a firetruck to Guatemala. This donation further strengthens the partnership between our club and the City of Calgary built through our shared participation in projects such as the Rotary Mattamy Greenway and the Community Hubs initiative.
 
The Mayor began by noting that people have been living here, near water, for a long time. Located at the confluence of the Elbow River with the Bow, Mohkinstsis (Calgary) has long been a place where people come together to live and prosper. He also described how the approaching tenth anniversary of his first run for the mayorship had led him to reflect on how the optimism of those days has given way to the toxic polarization of today's political discourse. Ten years ago, the framing for political discussion revolved around how Calgary could transform itself from a large small city to become a world city. The emphasis at that time was on how Calgary could become a great city for all or its residents.
 
The Mayor is profoundly disappointed in the devolution of public discourse, and how people will say things online that they would not repeat in person. Voices of divisiveness, anger and mean-spiritedness dominate today's dialogue where we no longer speak to each other. As a nation, we no longer understand each other's needs and desires, and the resulting bitterness has led to a genuine crisis of national unity.
 
The Mayor stated there is a great misunderstanding about what is currently going on in the country. He described how he explains Alberta and Albertans to Canadians from other parts of the country. Mayor Nenshi noted that Albertans are proud of our prosperity and proud of how Alberta's wealth has contributed to the wealth of the country as a whole. He has also told Canadians how Albertans are experiencing profound feelings of dislocation, having transitioned from the lowest to the highest unemployment rates in the country in just 18 months. Mayor Nenshi has come to understand that politicians from all parties have entirely missed the significance of this.
 
The stakes are high, and everyone must find ways to move forward together. We must leave personal attacks behind. The Mayor remarked on how the most recent provincial and federal elections were two of the ugliest in recent memory, and his 2017 re-election campaign was just as harmful. When we view our political challengers as "enemies," we are saying that the contest of ideas does not matter. When we say that political campaigns are about releasing our base instincts, we feed cynicism within the population towards the entire political process. Additionally, strong symbolism now imbues every political discussion. The Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion and Teck Frontier mine projects drive debate through the lenses of climate crisis or disrespect towards Alberta and its residents.
 
Fatigued by these unproductive discussions, the Mayor resolved to live 2020 in gratitude. We still live in a fantastic place, but our position is delicate. Today's public discourse bears a strong resemblance to the discussions in Quebec leading up to the sovereignty referenda in 1982 and 1995. We must think about the things we can do as individuals to make our community better.
 
After an informative question and answer session, Jeremy Mroch thanked Mayor Nenshi for his presentation.
 
COG Staff - February 18th, 2020
 
Editor Craig Henderson
Photography Ralph Lundberg
Rotary Club of Calgary - Chartered April 1914 as Club #949
Suite 305, 105-12 Avenue SE, Calgary, Alberta, T2G 1A1
Tel: (403) 398-9969 - Fax:  (403) 264-2392
www.rotaryclubofcalgary.org - admin@rotaryclubofcalgary.ca
President: Rick Erven - Vice-President: Manon Mitchell
RI President: Mark Maloney - District Governor: Christine Rendell