Directors: David Klatt, Brian Pasmore, Ben Van Heeswijk and Bob Wilson
Attendance:
Members: 14
Spouses and Guests: Eric, Lynn and Jason Van Maanen
Birthdays: Henny Boeters and Terry Youlton, June 6th
Anniversaries: None
Meeting Date: May 29, 2023 at the Anglican Hall.
President Kees opened the meeting at 6:30 pm. After the national anthem, grace and dinner, plus thanking the ACW for the dinner, Kees started the meeting.
Program: Paul introduced Eric Van Maanen to talk about his Adventure in Citizenship experience
Eric used an excellent slide presentation to go through the 5 days of his trip
He left Windsor on Saturday, May 13th with Porter Air, seated next to a girl from Essex who was also going to AIC
A 3.5 hour layover in Toronto, and then a 40 minutes flight to Ottawa
Met by a member of the Ottawa Rotary club and taken to the U. of Ottawa’s dorm
Got into the dorms rooms at 4:00, where he met his roommate Josh
After supper, he, Josh and some other new friends explored around the U of O campus
After breakfast on Day 1, they were welcomed by Andre Bourdon, Chair of AIC and Campbell Osler
There were 155 students at AIC, 37% bilingual and 73% only speaking English, from 10 provinces plus territories except the North West Territories
They then heard three speakers
John Herbert, Exec. Dir. of Operation Come Home, which works with homeless kids and young adults, Camille Bruggeman, from Belgium, on her journey as a Rotary Scholar and Tibor Egervari, a Holocaust Survivor, a Jewish person from Hungary
After good box lunches, they went to the War Museum, which was very interesting
They saw one of Hitler’s limousines and John McCrea’s (Of Flanders Fields) pistol
Supper was across the Ottawa River in Gatineau for a traditional French Canadian meal with dancing and music
Day 2 started early with a walk to Parliament Hill
Most of their time was spent in the House of Commons, where they met the Speaker of the House, who explained how Parliament operates; Eric sat in Dave Epp’s seat for this
Back to the U of O campus and lunch, before 3 more excellent speakers
MP Ivan Baker, on Canada’s response to the war in Ukraine, Nabil Oudeh on a 5 step plan for Conflict management and Salma Ataullahjan on her journey from Pakistan and becoming a Senator
After an excellent dinner, there was a talent night, which impressed Eric with the quality of the participants and performances
Day 3, off to the Canadian Museum of History
That evening, they had a dance where they got to meet many more of the other AIC group
Day 4, they got to watch a Citizenship Ceremony, where 45 people became new Canadian citizens
A closing lunch and time to get email addresses, social media and phone numbers etc from their new friends etc. Eric had a big map of Canada and got at least one student from all 12 provinces/territories to sign on where they lived
As well, one student from each province/territory explained what AIC meant to them
Left Ottawa with Porter Air in the afternoon and back home
Paul thanked Eric for a terrific presentation.
Correspondence :
Paul None
Committees:
1. Kees: Peace Pole
IODE will permit Rotary to place the Peace Pole at the Cenotaph
The members of the IODE would like to have Dutch language on the pole
The club is all in favour of having English, French, Lunaapee and Dutch on the 4 sides of the pole
Henny is ordering some Dutch red and white tulips, to go around the pole
2. Ron: 2023 Car show: Sunday, July 9th
Ron will make up a list of to do the various tasks requesting volunteers
Paul and Reinout are looking into getting the two door prizes
Bob has the licenses for the event, 50-50 etc
Cleanup is on Saturday, July 8th in the morning: volunteers needed
New Business:
1. Kees: Day of Service celebration District 6380 June 8, 9 and 10 in Troy Michigan
Includes a dinner with guest speakers and those attending working on three Rotary projects in the area
Past RI President Jennifer Jones, from Windsor will be attending
2. Warren
He and Linda have a conditional offer on their house and if sold, will are moving back to Burlington/Oakville (It is sold!)
They will leave by June 29th
Storage boxes from Hugh McVittie with the history from Rotary and Ridgetown are to be placed in the medical equipment room
Warren will certainly be missed
President Kees asked if there was “Anything for the good of Rotary?”
Kees closed the meeting at 8:15 pm
The next meeting is on June 12, 2023, with Murray Scoyne’s speaker
l-r: Rotarian Paul Brown, Eric Van Maanen, President Kees Boeters
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