President-Elect: John Fortney Vice-President: Prince Kumar
Treasurer: Rick Goldsmith
Executive Director: Carol Hutchinson
RI President
Mark Maloney, Decatur, Alabama
District Governor
Beth Selby, RC of Cobourg
Editor of the week: Don Bell
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NATIONAL INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S DAY,
June 19, 2020 - 12 noon
Guest Speaker: Alain Bartleman
First Nation's Governments and Individuals Lawyer
Topic: Power, Pipelines and Peoples: the Three Levels of Government in Canada.”
Host: The Rotary Club of Toronto's Indigenous Service Committee, Bill Empey Chair
Alain Bartleman is a member of Rama First Nation, a lawyer and is comfortable assisting clients in French and English. He is the son of Former Lt-Gov. James Bartleman who spoke to our club several times.
The event will honour the traditions and the struggles of Canada’s First Nations. If you are confused and want to know about the history, relationship and jurisdiction of Indigenous chiefs, elected and hereditary and the provincial and federal governments you will want to tune into the virtual talk by Alain Bartleman.
We also welcome very special guests,
Chief R. Stacey Laforme – Chief and Council of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and
Her Honour, the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
COVID-19 Relief Committee and Foundation COVID Committee
Indigenous Service Committee Grants
Our very first grant request, submitted by our Indigenous Service Committee, was for Anishnawbe Health Foundation. We granted $10,000, designated for their online mental health support for their “counseling and other Anishnawbe Health Foundation technical support needs (which was Zoom Pro and internet access for 100 at risk youth)”.
The Second Grant Request from our Indigenous Service Committee
for the Toronto Aboriginal Social Services Council. We granted $10,000 for the seniors living at Wigwamen Terrace, Amik and Church Street Nishnawbe Homes sites and for the Indigenous Elders And Seniors’ Meals Program.
Foundation Matching Continues
Please consider making a donation to our Foundation in support of the Club's
COVID -19 efforts and take advantage of the matching grant that will be made by the Foundation.
Welcome President-Elect John Fortney to your first hosting of our lunches, now all virtual. Lorna Johnson provided the musical interlude from her new home in Victoria BC. Pat Neuman asked members to look at and join the many activities of the Fellowship and Entertainment Committee.
John was delighted to announce two more donations approved by our COVID-19 Relief Committee. The first was $5,000 to PACT Urban Peace, a request from the Environment Service Committee. The second was $2,500 to Homeless/COVID-19 relief program in the amount of $2,500. The Community Service Committee's Food and Hygiene Relief Program is conducted in partnership with Robin Hood Army Canada.
Program Committee member Sylvia Geist had the honour of introducing our guest speaker, Dr. Michael Verbona. He didn’t disappoint. With cannabis legalized in Canada just over 18 months ago his talk was timely. He is a recognized expert on cannabis and its uses. There are over 400,000 Canadians registered for medical cannabis and this list grows daily. More doctors need to study the results of all the tests occurring. There are over 4,000 overdose deaths a year from opiods and other drugs, with over 80% of addictions starting from prescriptions. There have been zero deaths attributed to cannabis products.
The uses are for five major reasons; 1) Mental Health, 2) Oncology, 3) Other/General - mainly pain relief, 4) Immunology and 5) Neurology. The phytocannabinoids of THC and CBD work with the body’s own endocannabinoids within the body systems with CBD having the more medical applications and TCH helping with medical plus more calming effects.
He recommended vaporizing, not smoking. It is more like using a puffer. Both CBD and TCH can be taken orally as a spray, capsules or oil. Personally, as a 25-year arthritic, I have been delighted with the improvement in quality of life with 8 months of CBD oil oral use. Michael was able to answer several questions and was not fazed at all when his young daughter took a stroll through his office area!
Takako Ito won the ‘Guess the Number’ this week for being closest to 240. Her prize is waiting for her. John’s final words – Be safe out there.
It is well worth your while to see all the slides, available in Full meeting video
The Rotary LGBT Fellowship Group was approved at our Rotary International Convention here in Toronto in June 2018. The Fellowship had their first AGM (virtually) on June 9, 2020.
Our club was proud to march with our friends in the Toronto Gay Pride Parade last year. With no parade this year due to COVID-19 it is time to pull out our Pride t-shirts and wear them as much as possible this month.
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Community Service Committee
The Rotary Club of Toronto's Phil Fund Covid-19 Review Committee has approved the amount of $2,500 for our Club’s Community Service Committee - Food and Hygiene for the Homeless, Robin Hood Army campaign. This with $1,600 from the Community Services Committee’s Club philanthropic budget and $4,288 from private donors means the committee raised $9,388.
In addition they received donation in kind of $13,799.26 from Presidential Gourmet, Spicy Mango, Myiesh Inc., GNSB, Burrito Masters, King Edward Hotel, Robins and Rotarians.
The committee team have been able to deliver food and hygiene items to the following shelters in Toronto:
Homes First – Savards Women’s Shelter, Women’s Interim Program, and Strachan House
Sistering – A Woman’s Place
Fred Victor
Thank you all.
Lori Brazier, Chair
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Virtual Cooking Class
Week eleven! We welcomed Sylvia Geist again. This time she had actually cooked. Now she wants all the recipes. Wendy Steenburgh said that she got a new stove for cooking this. Way to go Bert!
Marcy Berg and Brigitte Bogar made their own gluten free tacos. We think these may be available in some stores. Lorna Johnson used half corn tacos and baked it in a spring pan. Very neat!
Harold Weir (Pat's friend) recommends sour cream. Steve Smith did arrive just in time for his comments. Amazing how busy we can be in COVID time!
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Virtual Book Club
Our group meets every other Thursday afternoon from 2 to 3 pm. Our reports have been very thrilling as we hear about some heinous crimes of murder, funny stories that will keep you laughing long after the meeting or great moments in history.
The following books have been reported on:
The Beast of the Barbaresco by Tony Aspler
Red Notice By Bill Browder
Remembering The Don by Charles Sauriol
Tales of the Don by Charles Sauriol
The Rosie Project' by Graeme Simsion
The Mirror & The Light by Hilary Mantel
'The Dutch House' by Ann Patchett
The Seventh Scroll' by Wilbur Smith
Upcoming books will be:
"Son of a Trickster" by Canadian author Eden Robinson
Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
Murder on the Ottawa – Frank Dale
So please join us if you just want to hear some great stories by some of the members who are great storytellers.
Jackie Davies - Educated by Tara Westover
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For The Love of Gardening
We have had John Currie give us a presentation on how the Community Garden Challenge leverages a shared passion for restoring traditional plants and growing healthy food as a vehicle for bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth together to build relationships and better community well-being.
Master Gardener Gail Pawha has made herself available to answer any of our questions. Our members have been sharing pictures of flowers, vegetables, fruit trees and berries from their balconies and gardens. Please join us at our next meeting Tuesday, June 30th, at 4:00 p.m.
Jackie Davies
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Virtual Euchre - alternate Tuesdays
They say you don’t know someone unless you have played Euchre with them. (I’m sure I heard that somewhere)
Between the counting cards, aggressive playing, calling for your partner, and the fun banter between each other, we learned a lot about each other at another level.
These games are intense. 8-8. 8-9. 9-9. And it usually goes down to the last trick to determine the game winner.
We share drinks ideas like Mango Wheat Beer and how we marinade beef tenderloin for 36 hours.
And how some families share the cooking 50/50 and some 80/20.
If we took a picture of a game it would look like the beginning of a joke because of our diversity in age, gender, religion, and classification. Look a little closer you will see fun, fellowship, and friendship.
The Rotary way. Jay Llave
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Even More F&E Activities
We are here for the long term so please join in. All events are listed on our Google Calendar accessible through your @rotarytoronto.com account or find the emails sent out in advance. Contact Maureen Bird if you need to set up your access. 416-804-3726.
Saturday nights - Virtual Cooking Class - contact Neil Phillips for invitation
COVID-19 Talking Helps, Tuesday June 23, 7 pm
Book Club, Thursday June 25, 2 pm
For The Love of Gardening, Tuesday June 30, 4 pm
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RI and District Happenings
Rotary International Convention is Virtual this year! With travel restricted and dangerous the entire convention will be online from June 20 to June 26. This will be a unique opportunity for members around the world to participate. We expect far more will be able to join in than the 25,000+ who actually attend conventions in person.
You must register to receive the invitations to the events.
