http://www.rotary-montreal-lakeshore.org/Bulletin.htm

ROTARY CLUB OF MONTREAL-LAKESHORE

(Chartered February 27, 1961)

Tuesday, August 31^st, 2010

CLUB OFFICERS 2010-2011

President: Steve Moors

VP & President-elect: Maureen Cantrill

Secretary: Bob Habib

Treasurer: Brahm Gallay

DIRECTORS, 2010-2011

Club Service: Wayne Belvedere

Vocational Service: Andy Csisztu

Community Service: Maureen Cantrill

International Service: Lawrence Cantrill

Service to Youth: Joe Zemanovich

(except Interact/Rotaract: Fran Hepworth)

This week’s program…

Forget what I told you last week. President Steve is still going to host a DVD video presentation, but the subject has changed. Instead of Greg Mortenson’s speech at the Montreal 2010 convention, we will see a short video entitled 100 Years of Rotary in Canada, celebrating Rotary’s first foray beyond the borders of the United States.

Just in case the video does not give the whole story about the unusual beginnings of the Winnipeg Rotary club, I have compiled a short history for our readers.

In fact, the creation of the first Canadian Rotary club took Rotary by surprise, according to David Forward’s quintessential history of Rotary, entitled A Century of Service. In November 1910, Arthur Sheldon, a member of the Rotary Club of Chicago, returned from a trip to Winnipeg and reported to Chesley Perry, General Secretary of the National Association of Rotary Clubs, that he had been told by a Winnipeg friend named “Pac” McIntyre, that a Rotary club had been created in that city. Ches Perry wrote to Mr McIntyre, inviting the Winnipeg club to join the National Association, but they declined. The ‘courting’ process continued with an invitation that the Winnipeg club send a delegation to the 1911 Rotary convention but they declined. That prompted Rotary President Paul Harris to write to them, “I am sorry that you cannot have one representative present at the convention. Many of your difficulties would vanish in the enthusiasm and exchange of ideas.”

The bottom line is that the Winnipeg club became affiliated with the NARC in December of 1911 but their charter was not signed by Paul Harris until April 1912.

Here are the ‘facts of the matter,’ according to an account in the historically reliable www.rotaryfirst100.org:

P.A.C. McIntyre was employed by Berry Brothers, varnish manufacturers in Winnipeg. In the summer of 1910, while returning from a varnish manufacturers’ conference in Detroit, McIntyre stopped in Chicago, to visit his cousin Will Lander, who was with the U.S. Postal Service and a member of the Chicago Rotary Club. Lander explained Rotary to McIntyre and arranged for him to have lunch with Paul Harris and Chesley Perry, Secretary of the National Association of Rotary Clubs, who inspired him with the Rotary story.  After lunch, Paul Harris took McIntyre back to his office and gave him some literature about Rotary. It was said that McIntyre returned to Winnipeg  “just filled with Rotary.”

Because McIntyre was not well acquainted in Winnipeg, he felt that a Rotary Club  would be an excellent means of enlarging his circle of business friends there. He was impressed with the Objects of Rotary, particularly the notion of bringing men from different businesses and professions together for the purpose of doing business with each other (a principal object in 1910). McIntyre discussed the possibility of forming a Rotary Club in Winnipeg with his friend and lawyer A. W.  Morley. Morley was enthusiastic about the idea, so they began corresponding with Chesley Perry. The historical records of the formation of the Club including the first meeting were later donated to the Province of Manitoba Archives for safe keeping. They form the basis of the following account.

In the fall of 1910, McIntyre spoke to a number of friends regarding the formation of a Rotary Club. A great deal of discussion took place prior to calling the first meeting, during which time someone contacted the Rotary Club of Boston and obtained a copy of its bylaws. Also, numerous communications – nicknamed Harris’s bombardments – took place with the Chicago Rotary Club.

On 3 November 1910, the first meeting of the Winnipeg Rotary Club took place in the YMCA building. The following attended: P. A. C.  McIntyre, William N. Brown, W. T.  Pearce, R. Kershaw, A. W.  Morley. At the meeting, it was agreed that a Rotary Club should be formed. The minutes of the meeting read as follows: “It was moved by A. W.  Morley, seconded by W. N. Brown that the club be organized and be called the Winnipeg Rotary Club. Carried.” Thus the Rotary Club of Winnipeg became the seventeenth Rotary Club in the world and the first Rotary Club outside of the United States. The newly formed Club did not, at that time, seek formal recognition or a charter from the recently organized National Association of Rotary Clubs.

The November meeting was adjourned for four days to permit the initial five attendees to seek out other members. The membership drive was successful, as ten men attended the next Rotary meeting on 7 November at A. W.  Morley’s office in the McArthur Building in Winnipeg.  McIntyre told the group about his meeting with Harris and Perry. He reiterated the objects of the Rotary Clubs, drawing special attention to “the binding together of men in different trades and professions for the purpose of doing business with each other.” A second motion creating a Winnipeg Rotary Club was passed, and a slate of officers elected. The first president was George A. Kobold.

A third meeting of the new Club took place on 15 November 1910 at which Morley showed the Club the set of Rotary bylaws that had been obtained from the Rotary Club of Boston. Using a pen, Morley changed the Boston by-laws into by-laws for the Winnipeg Rotary Club and the Club adopted them. At a meeting on 7 December 1910, a letter from Ches Perry was read which stated: “It is evident that this will now have to be the International Association.”

At a meeting on 11 October 1911, the Club collected one dollar per person as the fee for the National Association of Rotary Clubs. The Club secretary sent the money to the National Association with a request for a formal charter. On 13 April 1912, Paul Harris signed the charter of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg. At that time the Winnipeg Club was recognized as Club Number thirty-five. Five members applied for letters patent under the authority of the Joint Stock Companies Act of Manitoba and the Winnipeg Rotary Club Ltd. came into existence on 14 September 1912.

Birthdays and Anniversaries…

Happy Anniversary, Jennifer and Brad…Thursday, September 2^nd!

Future Programs…

Sep 7: Wayne and Fran will give us our marching orders for our golf tournament.

Sep 14: Official Visit of District Governor Katie Burke.

Sep 21: T.B.A.

Coming Events…

Sep 13: Our 9^th Annual Golf Classic, Club de Golf Valleyfield.

Nov 5: Our Annual Oyster Party, 300 Surrey Dr., Baie d’Urfé

Last week’s meeting…

Eighteen members, one visiting Rotarian, a former Rotarian who has moved to Montreal and is looking for a new club to join, and one guest were on hand to hear Montreal Police Commander Éric La Penna present the SPVM’s answer to accusations of racial profiling.

We were pleased to welcome visiting Rotarian Haagen Kierulf from the Westmount club, Brenda Libby, formerly from a Rotary club in south Maine, and Helmi de Vries, guest of PDG Coos. We missed the fellowship of Wayne (who joined us briefly but had to leave before lunch), Abe, Diana, Jules, Sanjay, Bob, Jesper, Youssef, Anne, Peter, François, George Saad, Art, Amiel and Magued.

Among the announcements…

· Wayne (before he left) and Fran both urged us to sell ads for the booklet that will reach a broad audience including not only the Golf Tournament but also our Oyster Party.

· Knud told us the shipment of uniforms, textbooks and school supplies destined for Swaziland was packed into a container that morning, thanks to the efforts of Lawrence, Maureen, Jesper and Art. We had been waiting for a container, which were in short supply due to the low water level in the Seaway.

Following a nice haul of happy dollars by Sergeant George, Graham introduced our guest speaker. Éric La Penna joined the Montreal police force in 1990, after earning both his Bachelor’s degrees in criminology from the Université de Montréal. He went on to achieve his Master’s as well, winning an award fo9r best thesis, in 1998. He has since won many awards in his chosen field. He has risen to the rank of Commander, in charge of Station 7 in Saint-Laurent.

Commander La Penna told us the SPVM (Montreal Police Service) has been developing criminal profiles for many years. It is often confused with racial profiling but there is a very fundamental difference. Racial profiling is defined as action taken by those in authority for reasons of security or public protection, based largely on factors such as race, ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, age, sex, sexual orientation or political conviction, with no real motive or reasonable suspicion..

Criminal profiling is acceptable because it is based on objective evidence of misdemeanours, not on presumption based on stereotypes.

Years ago, he observed, racial profiling was commonplace and even legal. The Canadian and Quebec charters of human rights and freedoms changed all that.

But at the same time it must be recognized that we all practise racial profiling to a certain extent. Anyone who does not look like you or who speaks a language that you do not understand is likely to be suspect, at least in your mind. Television crime drama and gangster movies have helped propagate the development of stereotypes, because the writers and casting directors know that viewers are expecting to see someone who looks like that committing a crime. “Gangsta fashion” is another example, and even partly to blame, even though there is nothing criminal about it.

The idea that criminals are more likely to be black or Hispanic is a fallacy. In fact, for example, the majority of homicides are committed by white people.

Let’s take another example, he suggested. We’re at a campground in Virginia Beach. It’s June 24^th and the local authorities are targeting sites where the vehicles have Quebec license plates because they know that Quebeckers are likely to be celebrating their national holiday on that date. So, if 50 people were arrested and 48 of them were Quebeckers, what does that tell us? That Quebeckers are drunks? It should not, because on June 24^th probably 90% of the campers at that Virginia Beach campground were from Quebec.

We also have to look at motivation for criminal acts, Éric said. Some groups have more limited alternatives than others.

All Montreal police officers receive a full-day course on racial profiling, he assured us.

Commander La Penna was thanked by Stan.