Regional Reports - Jan '13

BC

Prairie

Ontario

As I was not able to attend or provide a report to the November meeting, some of these comments relate to that period.

We conducted a very successful display at the Ontario History & Social Sciences Teachers’ conference in late November, our display being run by Linda Guglick, Jackie LeDrew and Sandra Strom (all daughters of Augustin Cyr – RRC).

A planned event in November for teachers in Toronto was postponed due to the labour issues between teachers and the provincial government. It has now been rescheduled to February, and we will be present.

Pat Turcotte has sent 450 emails to educators across the country publicizing this year’s Cross-Canada Writing Contest. The deadline for entries is May 24, 2013.

An Ontario playwright, Charles Hayter, is writing a play about the Kamloops Kid. We’ve referred him to Graeme Stacey and Lee Naylor for background information.

Veteran Ken Pifher, who you all know travelled to Hong Kong for the Remembrance Day ceremony there, presented a gift to Prime Minister Harper of a card from PM Mackenzie King. This item turns out to be a real rarity, according to the War Museum, where the card now forms part of its collection.

I attended two events in the same week in December pertaining to our Chinese-Canadian community. The first was a celebration of the 15^th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China, sponsored by the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office. The second was a retirement celebration for Senator Vivienne Poy. Both were excellent opportunities to foster relationships with this large Toronto-area community. And, of course, Senator Poy has been a true friend to our cause.

Respectfully submitted,

Mike Babin
 

Quebec

Atlantic