Probus Ottawa in the Rideau Valley holds monthly meetings on the first Wednesday of each month. Each meeting starts at 9:15 with a 45 minute coffee gathering, followed by a presentation on a diverse and interesting set of topics. Find out more by reading about some of our past presentations.
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February 2025
David Pollock
Can a Grain of Sand Hold Back the Tide
David Pollock, one of our members, spoke to us at the February meeting about his concern with climate change and the efforts he has taken to deal with this change.
“Can a Grain of Sand Hold Back the Tide?” – his personal journey spending summers in Georgian Bay led to his moral imperative to live sustainably, concerned about the state of the earth and what can be done about it. David learned much through social justice experiences with the Canadian Council of Churches, CUSO and the Pemberton Institute.
Following an overview of the story and details of climate change, we learned that people generally fall into three self-defining teams:
– Ostrich,
– Doom, and
– Earth
noting that we are indeed in a crisis now!
David’s hope is that we all will join the Earth team, truly appreciating the beauty of nature and the need for social transformation as motivation to develop our own personal project. Ask yourself three questions:
– What needs to be done?
– What am I good at?
– What brings me joy?
then put your carefully thought-out answers together to create your own personal plan to make peace with our world. Through your actions by teaching your children, families and friends we CAN be “grains of sand” that can hold back the tide.
In reference to inquiries following his talk on climate change and interest in carbon offsets David wrote the following.
To offset one’s carbon footprint for flights, cruises or special events, I suggest the easiest site to use is called climate hero, found at: Calculate – Climate Hero. It is a Swedish site, and I wrote to their auditor to confirm their reliability. Once having calculated one’s creation of CO2, the most interesting and reliable site to invest in an offset project that is well-monitored is to use the Projects – Gold Standard Marketplace site as the most highly respected and a site where you can find very interesting international projects to support which are well verified and monitored.
I had also suggested a Probus Climate Action Group and if any are interested they can find me at davidpollockj1@gmail.com
Suggestion from Sheila King, member of both Probus and Manotick Horticultural Society: Encourage, teach and help friends and family to garden with food plants as well as pretty flowers, e.g. plant hanging herbs in your planters, tomatoes in a bag on the patio or fence.
January 2025
Joy Bennett
The Right, The Means, The Will – A Brief Look at Canadian Labour History
Our speaker in January was Joy Bennett. Although she is well known to most Probus members as a Past President and long-time member of the Management Team, she had a former life as a librarian and labour negotiator. Joy began her career as a professional librarian at Concordia University. She became President of the Concordia University Faculty Association and represented the faculty and librarians in bargaining their first collective agreement. Later she joined the ranks of the senior administration of the University and led the collective bargaining process on behalf of the administration. Uniquely, she has bargained on both sides of the table. In her presentation, “The Right, the Means and the Will”, she explored the reasons why some employees decide to unionize and bargain legally and collectively with their employers. She touched on some of the critical moments in Canadian labour history and explained the negotiation process talking about how it works and sometimes doesn’t work and what happens when it doesn’t. Joy holds a Ph.D. in labour relations from Concordia University in Montreal.
December 2024
Laurence Wall
Twentieth Century Canada Through the Magic of Radio
The speaker at our December 12 luncheon, a celebration of our 30th Anniversary as a Club, and a holiday celebration, was Laurence Wall. Laurence Wall, a recently retired CBC announcer, presented the weekday news on CBC Radio One in Ottawa, and was the voice of the National Research Council’s official time signal every day at 1 p.m. In his presentation, Laurence explored some well-known chapters from the 20th century along with some now-forgotten moments, including the 1927 Dominion Day broadcast, the Moose River Mine Disaster and Canada’s Voice of Doom in the Second World War. He used audio clips to take us back to the days when Radio brought the entire country together as never before.
November 2024
Whit Fraser
Reporter, Story Teller, and Husband of the Governor General
Whit Fraser has been a reporter since 1967 when he first set foot in Iqaluit (Frobisher Bay) and realized that he had stumbled upon the best unfolding story in Canada. His work for the CBC took him into every community in Canada’s three northern Territories and much of the circumpolar world. He believes that good luck put him in the first row for historic events that shaped todays north and Canada itself. He was present when Inuit made their initial demand for their own Territory and Homeland and when Nunavut became a reality. He feels strongly that it is important that others know more about Canada’s North and its impact for the country as a whole. He was the founder of the Canadian Polar Commission, serving as its chair from 1991 to 1997, working with the board of directors to develop a series of recommendations and actions to strengthen polar science policies and improve the health and social conditions of northern populations.
From 2001 to 2006, he was Executive Director of the national Inuit organization, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, where he coordinated the Inuit program presented to the Prime Ministers’ Meeting on Aboriginal Issues held in Kelowna in 2005.
Mr. Fraser enjoys interacting with people and is an avid outdoorsman, fishing and walking the family dog, Neva. Mr. Fraser is the Viceregal Consort to Her Excellency, Governor General Mary Simon.
October 2024
Brett Martensen
AI: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
In October, Brett Martensen educated us on the “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” of Artificial Intelligence (AI). He spoke of many ways that AI can be useful and indeed helpful in our daily lives. He also warned of some the dangers of AI and noted how it can be used to distort photos and create images that look authentic but are fakes.
September 2024
Gary Bennett
Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice
Our speaker in September was Gary Bennett. Gary gave his usual entertaining and informative presentation, this time on the spice trade. His topic was “Sugar and spice and everything nice” and focused on the importance of spices in our lives since the Medieval Age. He spoke about the quest for Europeans to find the best route to the Orient where spices originated and how that quest opened up continents and new worlds.
August 2024
Craig Greenwood
Working With Polar Bears
Craig is currently our Probus District Director but before coming to PROBUS he had had a long career as a biologist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. His work took him to Northern Ontario where he worked with Moose, Black Bear, Caribou and especially Polar Bears. Craig’s enthusiasm for his work and his very clear affection for the massive animals was evident as he shared stories of his life and work among the Polar Bears of the southern part of Hudson’s Bay. After Craig’s presentation many of us had lunch together.
July 2024
Johanna Lemke
Enemy Under Our Roof
At our July meeting Johanna Lemke spoke to us about her incredible experiences as a young child in the Netherlands as the Nazis occupied her country and even her own home. She spoke movingly of her mother’s bravery in confronting the Nazi soldier who insisted on billeting with her family and the solution they implemented to make a bad situation barely tolerable. Her parents were determined to make life as normal as possible for their children. The Canadian connection and happy ending came when the British liberated their village and Canadian soldiers arrived to secure the peace. Once again, soldiers billeted with her family but this time they were Canadian soldiers who became close friends of the family and later encouraged Johanna and her family to start a new life in Canada. To learn more about Johanna’s story read her book, “Enemy Under Our Roof: A childhood memoir from the Nazi Occupied Netherlands, 1940-45.” This book is available from various sources including the Ottawa Public Library.