May bulletin
Rotary Club of Charlottetown
Meeting Notes for April 15, 2013
Chairperson Dale Turner called the meeting to order with the Island Hymn, Rotary grace and toast to the Queen. As Sergeant of Arms Dale Turner collected Happy Dollars.
Secretary report:
There were 38 members present with no scooters and 6 make ups and two guests of Rotary, our exchange student Serena and our guest speaker George O’Connor. 50/50 was won by Kingsley Lewis for $18.00; the jackpot was not won and stands at $250.00
President report:
President James brought to the members attention that the four way banner beings used was different form our normal one. The old 4-Way Test banner that was used at the Delta was owned jointly with Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty and when the banner was purchased there was no formal agreement between the clubs. Since the Royalty club did not have a banner we decided to leave it at the Delta. Jonathan Ross of the Hillsborough Club kindly offered the use of their banner for our meetings at the Confederation Center.
A Paul Harris Fellowship was presented to Peter Norton along with a certificate presented to all first time recipients.
There will be no increase in district dues based on the District Budget circulated last week.
An action plan is being prepared to look at obtaining sponsorship for each club meeting for the future.
Rotary Dinner Auction is scheduled for May 31 this year and Dale Turner will give an update at the next meeting.
Dale Turner introduced George O’Conner as the president of the Irish Society of PEI.
George spoke about Phase I & II renovations to the society hall. Phase I was to get rid of the green color in the hall the contractor was aware of this decision to change the colour but when George dropped in to see how the painting was coming along, the painter informed him that he already had the second coat of paint on the walls. when George went in it found that it had been painted the same color green, George could not say anything because the painter seemed so please which the job he had done so now George is hoping that the next renovation will see a different color paint used.
Phase II will be to change the color.
George indicated that if anyone wants to know anything about the Irish on PEI they should refer to Dr. O’Grady’s book about the Irish Settlers on PEI. There were over 10,000 Irish who left Ireland and came to PEI in the 18th and 19th Century. In 1780 the first of two governors of PEI was Irish and they named the colony New Ireland. Later this name was rescinded in London as they did not want the island called New Ireland.
The Irish came in 3 waves to PEI. In 1798 15% of the 10,000 arrived on the island. Between 1800 – 1830 immigration was mainly from the south eastern part of Ireland. Between 1830 - 1850 4000 irish immigrants came from the county of Monaghan in Ireland. Very few Irish came to the island after 1850 indicating that to the Potato Famine in Ireland did not result in increased immigration to the PEI. The Irish that immigrated were very successful people and they did not hate the crown. Immigrants came from all 32 counties of Ireland. The communities of Kinkora, Emerald, Fort Augustus and Donagh were formed by these Irish immigrants. Fourty percent of Charlottetown was Irish at that time.
The Benevolent Irish Society (BIS) was formed in 1825 and incorporated in 1882 by an act of the legislature. 90% of the immigrants were Roman Catholic, and there were 5 bishops from these immigrants. Even a father of Confederation came from these immigrants. Owen Connolly who is well known through the Connolly Estate gives a scholarship to UPEI students annually. The BIS will be 188 years old on April 28, 2013. It was established to preserve the Irish customs and language, carry out donations and maintain the friendship with the Irish population. Thirty percent of the population today on PEI is Irish. The BIS made a presentation to the heritage review committee on the Irish as there was very little mention of them in the document. In 2001 they establish the monument on the waterfront for the Irish Settlers.
From May to October each year they have Ceilidh to showcase traditional Irish Music. There have Irish step dancing every Wednesday night at the hall. They give presentations to the Provincial government when they feel their message should be heard. They have lobbied to put some Irish and Scottish history in PEI schools to help people learn why the Irish came to PEI. They plan to make the BIS hall into a cultural center to serve all the people of PEI and specifically the Irish.
George said there currently they are working on four issues:
- Including the history of the gallic people in the school curriculum since 70% to 75% of the population is Gallic,
- Getting an acknowledgement of the Irish people in the Provincial Government policy statements,
- Getting support from the Provincial Government for the Irish,
- And finding out why Canada and PEI are not seeking immigrants from Ireland and Scotland as they would easily assimilate into our culture because of the current population already on PEI.
George mentioned that every year there is a delegation from the county of Monaghan in Ireland that visit PEI and they would like to meet with business people. If anyone is interested in meeting with them they should contact George who would be pleased to make the arrange a meeting.
Philip Floyd thanked out guest speaker.
Dale Turner closed the meeting with the singing of O'Canada.
Rotary Club of Charlottetown
Meeting Notes of April 22, 2013
Chairperson Dale Turner called the meeting to order with the Island Hymn, Rotary grace and toast to the Queen. As Sergeant of Arms Dale Turner collected Happy Dollars.
Secretary report:
There 24 members present with 2 scooters and 14 make ups to be credited. There was one visiting Rotarian Wayne Thompson from the Summerside club who is also the assistant Governor, no guest of Rotarians and guests of Rotary was our exchange student Serena and our guest speaker could mot make the meeting. The 50/50 draw for $15.00 was won by Richard Gallant, he did not win the jackpot which remains at $250.00
President report:
President James brought to the attention of the club that it was Earth Day. It was March 21, 1970 that this day was proclaimed as “Earth day” by Senator Nelson for worldwide environmental protection.
President James mentioned that Darren Ings was in Halifax for a heart procedure and expects to be back next week. He expressed our best wishes for a speedy recovery to Darren.
President James reported on his attendance at the youth exchange Dinner on Saturday night at Camp Gencheff. The dinner was pot luck with all the exchange students both inbounders and outbounders with parents.
A Paul Harris +1 was presented to our own John Cameron who has done great work for years on the World Change Boxes.The
Dinner Auction will be on May 31 this year and recommended Rotarians to get their tickets now and to bring in the donations for the auction.
Dale Turner called on Serena to tell us about her Easter Seals Ambassador Tour. Serena spoke about her tour of PEI and meeting Paxton who she said was a very special person. She went all the way to Tignish and covered the western part of PEI. The exchange student from the Summerside club was also on the tour. Where ever they stopped there were always a lot of questions for Paxton. Serena mentioned that she has a part in the Peter Pan play being presented at the Confederation Center on May 10 & 11 and she is really happy to be involved in the play and meet people.
Serena passed her French class presentation today in school. On May 21st the Lieutenant Governor is inviting all the exchange students on PEI to Government House for a formal dinner and a tour of Government House. Serena will be touring the Vet College this Friday as she has no school.
Dale Turner mentioned that one of his favorite questions when he meets a new customer is “Tell me your story”. He then called on Nelson Hagerman to tell his story on how he came to be on PEI.
Nelson said he was raised in the back woods of New Brunswick and there was no money to go to university so he joined the Arm Forces as a radar technician. One of his first posting was Summerside and one of his instructors said that Cavendish was a great place. He was taking the train to Summerside and while on the ferry another soldier said he was hitchhiking to Summerside. Nelson wondered why he was not taking the train. Well he found out why when he landed in Borden at 6:00 PM, went to Emerald where he has to wait for the Tignish Flyer train and he finally arrived in Summerside at 9:00 pm so it took him 3 hours to go 20 miles.
The Island was a lot different than today and he praised Alex Campbell for taking PEI into the 20th Century with lots of infrastructure spending on roads and schools. He met his wife through her brother who he was in the forces with and had been on a date or two with her, but when he finally arrived here on PEI they started dating more seriously. He would have to hitchhike to where she attended university for them to be together. They got married on June 5th 1965 and decided they did not want to live anywhere else other than PEI. When Barbara became the Lieutenant Governor she checked into her ancestors and found out that her great grandfather was actually from Alberton, PEI.
Presently Nelson is working on having 5 acres of land along with the 3 planes on display in Summerside entrance to Selmon Park made into a memorial to the base that was in Summerside but Peter MacKay has not made any commitment yet. Another aspect that is missing acknowledgement is the Royal Air Force from England that had a training base on PEI as well at Mount Pleasant.
Dale then called on Michelle Larazatos to tell her story.
Michelle said most people would know her parents who are from Montague PEI. Her grandmother went back to university to get her degree at a later age and they were both in university at the same time.
Michelle came back to PEI because her parents lived on PEI and her mother taught school in Charlottetown and probably taught many Rotarians. Michelle went to Cornel Grey high school, and did her Master’s in Business at Dalhousie, and then went to work with Air Canada for 10 years. She went to work in Montreal and arrived just 2 days before the great ice storm and had to go without electricity and heat for several days. She met her husband there and brought him back to PEI and they have lived here ever since.
Her grandfather and father were both Rotarians and at the exchange student dinner her 4 year old Emma was already soliciting to be a future exchange student. Michelle was an exchange student and is currently District chair of the exchange student program.
She now works for NRC and she gets to travel all over PEI to visit and see what these small businesses are doing.
Dale Turner mentioned that Danny Coberya who works for Frank Russell Company one of the world’s largest money management companies will be coming to speak to our club about his story on how he was able to come from the Congo to Montreal.
Dale Turner closed the meeting with the singing of O Canada.
Rotary Club of Charlottetown
Meeting Notes of April 29, 2013
Chairperson Dale Turner called the meeting to order with the Island Hymn, Rotary grace and toast to the Queen. As Sergeant of Arms: Dale Turner collected Happy Dollars.
Secretary report:
There were 26 members present with 2 scooters and 10 make ups to be credited. There was no visiting Rotarian, no guest of Rotarians and two guests of Rotary, our exchange student Serena and our guest speaker Craig MacKie. 50/50 was won by Edna Reid for $13.00 and there was no winner of the jack pot so it remains at $250.00
President report:
President James reminded the club of the Dinner auction on May 31, 2013. The committee will be collecting items in the next couple of weeks. The 2017 centennial committee meeting was scheduled for Wednesday May 1st at Century 21 offices on St. Peter’s Road hosted by Bob Moffatt. World Service collection boxes were placed on each table for donations.
President James mentioned the following member Birthdays: Peter Boswall April 04; Austin Bowman Apr 08; David Faulkner April 11; Elizabeth Ghiz Fay April 04; Darren Ings April 28; David Keenlyside April 02; Kingsley Lewis April 07; Regan Lewis April 15; Millie Mackenzie April 28; and Lloyd MacLeod April 27.
Anniversaries: Deb Calviello and Elaine 13 years Apr 15; Ian Macleod and Dorothy 53 years April 30. Service Anniversaries: Elizabeth Ghiz Fay, 8 years on April 25; Andrew Humphrey, 43 years on April 01; Darren Ings, 21 years on April 13, George MacDonald, 12 years on April 23; Sandra MacKay, 17 years on April 01; Maurice Rodgerson, 23 years on April 01; Dale Turner, 11 years April 22; Carl Willis, 22 years on April 08.
Dale Turner introduced Craig MacKie who is on the Executive of the New Comers Association of PEI. He has held many jobs and positions with different companies and associations with 35 years in media with CBC and worked all over Canada. He competes on a competitive level with Tai Chi and is one of the original organizers of CARP (Canadian Association of Retired Persons).
Craig MacKie asked the assembled group to go on an imaginary journey where you have left a county which is a dictatorship and police state to live in a new county which is a democracy with lots of personal freedoms. You have decided to move your whole family and leave behind basically everything to go to this new country. It is a long journey to move to your new home and you need to learn a new language and culture. You want to work but your credentials are not recognized and although the people in the new place are friendly they do not make you feel welcome. You now start to doubt you decision to move and want to go back home. These are the typical experiences of the 5,000 new comers from 60 different countries who have come to PEI.
The New Comers Association is dedicated to the settlement of the new comers to PEI. They are funded by the Provincial and Federal governments to work for the new comers. They help new immigrant with documentation to acquire a driver’s license and health card and arrange for them to go to a clinic or doctor. PEI accepts 60 new people per year and helps with various aspects like housing, how to locate the hospital and where to get groceries. The New Comers Association assists with getting employment and integration into the PEI community. They help the children to get familiar with their schools and assist if they are experiencing bullying. The Association does not only support new immigrants from other countries but also helps people moving to PEI from other parts of Canada to make PEI their home.
In addition to support services they also have other activities such as introducing new immigrants to camping in Canada with the assistance from Parks Canada. They also have activities aimed at seniors as they are especially vulnerable because of the lack of contact with people other than their family members. The Senior Association on PEI helps these older people meet people on PEI. The New Comers Association also works with Sports PEI to have immigrants become involved in sports as this is a great way to meet people. One of their most successful activities was the multi-cultural festival in Charlottetown last year which drew 6,000 people interested in learning about other cultures and the people that have come to PEI.
When asked, new immigrants say that they like PEI because they feel safe here, it is a good place to raise kids and they can trust the police but they do not feel wanted or welcomed and they sometimes feel discriminated against. Craig indicated that new comers choose to stay if they can learn the language, find employment or become self-employed, and if they obtain social inclusion which means that even if their kids are included they will stay.
The New Comers Association is willing to meet with any group to help immigrants settle in PEI. Craig indicated that they were looking for people who could volunteer an hour here or there to help out or even to help teach English. Craig asked Rotarians to pay special attention to help immigrants feel welcome and to stand up for immigrants if you see someone putting them down. Immigrants helped PEI get through the recession in 2008 & 2009 and their contribution to our society has helped PEI become a better place to live.
Philip Floyd thanked out speaker.
Dale Turner announced that he hoped to have the Mayor of Charlottetown as our speaker next week.
Dale Turner closed the meeting with the singing of O Canada.