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District
7010
Early History 1955 -
1985
District 7010 was formed in
1955 when District 247, which contained 60 clubs in an area
extending from Belleville to Toronto and north as far as La Sarre,
Quebec, was divided into Districts 701 (7010) and 707 (7070).
District 7010 contained the 28 clubs from Barrie north. It is an
all-Canadian district, now occupying central and northern Ontario
and northwestern Quebec, as far north as James Bay. The district’s
four clubs in Quebec conduct their business entirely in the French
language. Classifications of members in the early years reflected
the diverse geography of this huge district. Mining and lumbering
predominated in the north, and manufacturing, agriculture, and
railroading in the south. Ross L. Dobbin of Peterborough became the
first district governor. Chartered in 1921, the Peterborough club is
the district’s oldest. No new clubs were formed until 1961, when
Wawa and Matheson received charters on Friday and Saturday of the
same week. (Wawa was subsequently transferred to District 6290.)
In
a District history prepared for Rotary in Canada 1910 – 1985,
PDG Bruce Laing wrote:
The
District grew rather rapidly at the start … too much so in the
opinion of many old-timers … many of the small clubs were too
weak to take the program to full scope. They struggled to
survive and were not able to function as a community service as
originally intended. Now the thrust is placed on vs
strengthening the small clubs and building up their resources.
Laing points out
a chronic problem: how to organize and maintain a Rotary club in a
one-industry resource town, of which the district has several. The
clubs in Malartic, New Sudbury, and Stirling fell victim to this
obstacle and lost their charters, but through perseverance and
dedicated leadership the other small clubs survived and flourished.
Nine clubs were chartered after 1961, so that by 1985 the district
had 35. (Campbellford’s transferred to District 7070 in 1991.)
Community
service was the main activity in the early years. In addition to
launching many fine parks, recreation areas, and projects for
handicapped persons clubs developed services to the aged, to the
lonely, and to the mentally retarded. Several clubs used federal
grants for Canada’s centennial celebrations in 1967 to restore old
homesteads, build pioneer villages, and set up museum displays.
The Rotary
Foundation’s educational and humanitarian programs were in their
infancy during the 1950s and 1960s, but district Rotarians began to
participate very early. For example, just seven years after the
first Ambassadorial Scholars were sent out in 1948, District 7010 –
in the year of its inauguration - sent out its first scholar.
Joseph Charette from Vandreuil, Quebec, studied at the University
of Lausanne in Switzerland. The district chose a scholar every year
thereafter until 1999, when it decided to use its District
Designated Fund for other projects.
In 1968, just
three years after the Rotary Foundation launched the Group Study
Exchange program, District Governor Ken Curtis arranged this
district’s first exchange. In February 1970, Art Bishop of North Bay
took the team to District 9700 in Australia, and in September the
Australian team visited this district. Such exchanges took place
every second year until 1986, when they became annual.
In 1972,
District Governor Mike Lipiski arranged the first Youth Exchange
by telephone for a student sponsored by the district’s La Sarre
club and a student from a club in Oregon. The program grew quickly.
A District Youth Exchange committee was formed, and within a few
years 25 to 30 students were participating annually.
From 1955 on,
clubs made annual contributions to the Rotary Foundation in order to
qualify for its programs, but, like many Canadian Rotarians, those
in this district were reluctant to make personal contributions for a
Paul Harris Fellow, believing mistakenly that the recognition was an
award to be granted. PDG Ken Curtis donated the necessary U.S.
$1,000 and became the district’s first Paul Harris Fellow in 1973,
and his wife became the first woman Paul Harris Fellow.
Recent History 1986-2005
Organization, Communication, and Leadership
The 1990s brought major
changes in the district’s organization, communications, and
leadership. The Membership and Extension committees were active
throughout the period, and 10 new clubs were chartered, six of them
breakfast clubs, starting with the Peterborough - Kawartha Club in
1989.
Following the
admission of women into Rotary in 1989, women soon joined clubs.
Women began to fill club presidencies, and in 2002-03 Susan Cook of
the Penetanguishene Club became the district’s first female
governor.
The district
created a website on the internet in 1997. Computer guru Carl
Dickson was the first webmaster. About half of the clubs now have
websites, and nearly all Rotarians have personal e-mail addresses.
Almost all of the communication in the district takes place
electronically.
PDG Ken Robinson
adopted Rotary International’s District Leadership Plan in
1999. Area representatives became Assistant Governors, relieving
governors of many routine administrative tasks.
Youth Activities
The Youth Exchange
program continued, and some new ones have been introduced since
1986. Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), adopted by Rotary in
1971 has become very popular with high school students. Every April
or May, 40 to 50 students, selected by the clubs, meet in a rural
setting for an extended weekend of leadership training. The first
RYLA camp took place in North Bay in 1987 under the leadership of Al
Randall. Interact, launched in 1962 as a service club for young
people of secondary school age (approximately 14–18), started in
1983 with a club in Kapuskasing. In 2003 there were seven Interact
clubs operating at various levels of efficiency. The district has
chartered four Rotaract clubs. The first was chartered in the
early 1990s in Sudbury in association with Laurentian University;
the second in Peterborough, in conjunction with Trent University;
the third in 1997 in Barrie, affiliated with Georgian College; the
fourth in 2001 in North Bay, in conjunction with Nipissing
University. In 2003, only Barrie’s club was still operating.
Citizenship Reaffirmation Ceremonies
Initiated by Rotarian
Marlene Dopkins of the Lagoon City Rotary Club, the district now
organizes Citizenship Reaffirmation Ceremonies for students
and teachers in grades 4 to 12. An immigrant from the United States,
Marlene was inducted as a Canadian citizen in a ceremony in Barrie
in August 1995. Impressed by the ritual, Marlene thought that
native-born Canadians, especially youths, might benefit from
participating in such an event. In February 1996, she and the Lagoon
City club organized a ceremony in a school in Brechin, Ontario,
presided over by the judge - then retired – who had inducted
Marlene. The district adopted the program, and ceremonies now take
place in schools and other institutions throughout the province.
A typical
ceremony lasts about 40 minutes. It includes a colour party from the
local branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, a piper, an RCMP officer,
the citizenship judge, the clerk of the court, and a local
dignitary, such as the mayor, with Marlene as co-ordinator. At the
conclusion, each student and teacher receives a memento certificate.
Teachers prepare
students in advance for the ceremony. The gymnasium or auditorium is
usually draped in flags, students dress in red and white, and some
paint maple leaves on their faces. The purpose of the ceremony is to
instil the meaning and value of Canadian citizenship. Students also
learn a good deal of Canadian history from the remarks made by the
presiding judge and from the history of the legion’s flags delivered
by the colour Sergeant. To date over 18,000 students, teachers, and
others have experienced the ceremony.
Activities for Seniors
In 1985 Rotary International
encouraged clubs to initiate projects geared to seniors over 60.
Some Canadian clubs borrowed a program from New Zealand and
Australia and began sponsoring Probus (Professional Business) clubs.
The first club in North America was launched by the Galt Rotary Club
of Cambridge, Ontario, on 7 March 1987. On 22 October 1987, the
Collingwood club sponsored the district’s first. Today, of the
approximately 130 Probus clubs in Canada, 20 are in this district.
The 1,600 members in the Collinwood region’s eight clubs make up 10
per cent of the Canadian total.
Community Service
Small community service
projects have continued to be the main emphasis of the district’s
clubs, but several have undertaken large projects. Two examples, in
North Bay and Peterborough, illustrate this development.
North Bay’s Therapeutic Pool Project
In 1984, North Bay Club
President Ed Graham asked member Dr Peter Legate to conduct a “needs
study” for handicapped youths in the area. The study revealed a
therapeutic pool to be the number-one requirement, and so in
1985 President Al Wharram asked the Special Projects Committee,
chaired by Past President Marc Lafrance, to raise $150,000 towards
the cost of a pool for a proposed new hospital.
The
fund-raising committee, under Lachlan McLachlan, requested
assistance from the Nipissing Association for Disabled Youth, and it
pledged $30,000, which inspired a multi-year fund-raising endeavour
that involved a monthly travel raffle and several other projects. In
September 2001, Ontatio’s Premier Mike Harris and other dignitaries
were on hand to participate in the club’s contribution of $700,000
for the pool. The following year, the club raised the final $50,000
of the $750,000 total cost of the pool. The pool was eventually
installed in the North Bay Aquatic Centre - a more attractive and
relaxing setting than a hospital.
Peterborough’s Greenway Trail
Started in 1993 and
completed in 2000 at a cost of $380,000, the 20-km Rotary Greenway
Trail is an ongoing community project of the Peterborough
Rotary Club, in co-operation with the city of Peterborough, the
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the Peterborough Historical
Society, and the Trent-Severn Waterway. Volunteers did much of the
work, but the club hired a contractor to lay the trail bed. The 9-km
urban section is paved and wheel-chair accessible; the 11-km rural
section is surfaced with granular limestone. The trail’s logo
clearly marks numerous access points.
The trail passes
through a variety of natural and human-made phenomena. It offers a
glimpse of local history, dams, wetlands, the geology of the
Otonabee River valley, and the Trent-Severn Waterway and some of its
manually operated locks. Flora and fauna abound, and bird watchers
find unique viewing locations.
A
walk along the trail is a safe and satisfying experience for
individuals and families. Starting on Ashburnham Drive at Ecology
Park, the trail winds through a camping area with a couple of
beaches, crosses the Tollington bridge (one of six), and passes the
headquarters of the Trent-Severn Waterway. It crosses the canal at
Ashburnham Lock No.20 and skirts Little Lake through Rogers’ Cove.
This section is part of the Trans Canada Trail. The trail runs north
through Ashburnham to Auburn Mills, where a section branches west
across the Otonabee. The main trail continues north across the Trent
University campus, through Douro township, past locks, wetlands, and
dams, to Lakefield, where it connects with that village’s trail
system.
Encouraged by
the success of the Rotary Greenway Trail, the Rotary Club plans to
extend it. The club has started discussions with the Lindsay Rotary
Club about forming a partnership to develop an abandoned rail bed as
a 30-km extension of the trail to Lindsay and part of the
Trans-Canada Trail.
The Rotary Foundation
During the last 15 years,
the district has strengthened its commitment to the Rotary
Foundation. Orillia Rotarian Gordon Sarjeant became the district’s
first Foundation Benefactor (1987); PDG Bruce Laing was the first in
the district to attain the maximum Multiple Paul Harris Fellow
recognition (1992), and PDG Carl Dickson and his wife, Shirley,
became the district’s first Major Donors (1996). Each year
the district’s contribution to the foundation increases, and some
individuals have invented unique ways to raise funds, including HOPE
bears, the Rotary licence plates, and Jack Lockhart’s painting..
The HOPE Bear Campaign
 At the
Rotary International Convention in Barcelona, Spain, in 2002,
teddy-bear artist Diane Chantler, president of the new
Bracebridge-Muskoka Lakes Rotary Club, wondered how to combine her
passion for bears with Rotary’s commitment to the world-wide
eradication of polio. What emerged was the HOPE Bear Campaign. GANZ,
the Toronto-based, internationally renowned gift-manufacturing
company, threw its full support behind Diane’s vision. It provided
sample bears for the project, including one named “HOPE,” an acronym
for “Helping Others – Polio Eradication.”
The
Bracebridge-Muskoka Lakes club started with 100 HOPE teddy bears.
The bears retailed for $25, with all proceeds going to the polio
eradication campaign. Mindful of Rotary’s dedication to him as a
young boy with polio, Bruce Turner, the club’s polio chairperson,
joined the project, and web-wizard John De Koning masterminded the
website, which sold bears on-line.
By September
2002, five other clubs had joined the drive, and 500 bears were sold
that month. By October, another 15 clubs had joined, and over 3,000
bears had been sold. Even Rotary International Headquarters placed
an order. Thanks once again to GANZ, by the end of December 2002, a
family of eleven more bears with exotic names such as Chandler,
Cherish, Corey, Cuddles, and Sebastian had joined the campaign,
which was featured in several Rotary publications – Rotary
International’s website, the Rotarian (January 2003), and Zone 22’s
Polio Newsletter. Six U.S. clubs and one club outside North America
joined the project. Bears have found new homes in hospitals, women’s
shelters, children’s bedrooms, and, via Christmas hampers, homes of
the underprivileged.
By January 2003,
5,000 bears had been sold, and $75,000 raised for the Polio
Eradication Program. The HOPE Bear Campaign illustrates what can
happen when inspiration, commitment, and hard work come together.
Carl Dickson’s Licence Plates
PDG Carl Dickson was aware
that the Ontario Ministry of Transportation sells personalized
vehicle licence plates, which may feature logos of professional
sports teams and other organizations. In 1999, when he went to the
licence bureau in Orillia and asked for a plate with a Rotary wheel
on it, he found that none existed. Obtaining ministry approval took
him three years and required, among other things, the consent of all
the district governors in Ontario, a detailed description of Rotary,
and a full disclosure of how any royalties would be used.
Finally in
October 2002, the ministry agreed, provided that Carl would either
pre-sell or purchase outright 100 plates at $52.10 each. The plate
contains a Rotary wheel, 2 digits, the letters RI, and two
additional digits. Carl earmarked a royalty of $2.50 per plate for
PolioPlus. The governors in the other five Ontario districts
supported the effort both financially and by pre-selling 100 plates.
In February 2003, the first $1,000 in royalties was sent to the
Rotary Foundation.
PDG Jack Lockhart’s Painting
PDG Jack Lockhart is an
internationally acclaimed artist. During his year as governor
(1997-98), he used his talent to raise funds for the Rotary
Foundation with a painting “Footprints in Time,” and 250
signed limited edition prints - 16" x 20." The prints were given to
the district’s Rotary Foundation Committee for sale through the
clubs. Un-framed prints sold for $100 and framed prints – 24" x 30"
– for $250. Club sales produced well over $40,000. An additional
$6,000 was raised, when the original painting was raffled at the
District Conference, bringing the total to $50,000. Other funds
raised by the clubs brought the district’s contribution to the
foundation that year to $159,900, which PDG Jack Lockhart presented
to Rotary International Vice-President Bob Scott and Rotary
Foundation Trustee Wilf Wilkinson at a Rotary Foundation dinner at
Barrie in May 1998.
World Community Service (WCS)
The period since 1985 has
seen expansion of World Community Service Projects
carried out by district clubs and made possible by the creation of
the SHARE program and the District Designated Fund (DDF),
Discovery Grants, and the Canadian Rotary Committee for
International Development (CRCID). The DDF and CRCID match, in
sequence, the money put up by a club, and then TRF does the same; a
$1,000 investment by a club can grow to $8,000. Projects worth
$20,000 to $25,000 are now common. Several teams of Rotarians have
taken advantage of Carl P. Miller Discovery Grants to travel to such
places as Haiti, Mexico, Russia, and Swaziland to investigate
possible WCS projects.
3-H Community Development/Low-Cost Shelter
Project
The district’s largest
international project has been a 3-H Community Development project.
Under the leadership of PDG Tom Ewen, the Rotary Clubs of Barrie,
Barrie-Huronia, Gravenhurst, Lindsay, Midland, Orillia, and Sudbury
teamed up with the Rotary Club of Narendrapur in District 3290 in
India and applied for and received a U.S. $500,000 Health Hunger and
Humanities (3-H) Grant. The co-sponsoring clubs in District 7010
contributed in total U.S. $15,605; the district’s DDF matched that
with a further U.S. $15,605; the Narendrapur Club gave U.S. $7,000;
and its district contributed U.S.$10,000 from its DDF, for a total
of U.S. $548,210. An Indian non-governmental organization
contributed U.S. $165,000 for construction of some buildings. This
holistic project addresses water and sanitation, health care,
elementary education, vocational training, and agriculture. When
completed in 2005, the project will include:
·
300 low-cost shelters (LCSs)
housing 2,000 people
·
two tube wells sunk to a depth of
750 feet, holding tanks, and a grid of water lines leading to water
taps outside each LCS
·
a UNICEF-approved leak-seal latrine
system for each duplex
·
an eight-room primary school
·
a vocational training centre for
such trades and crafts as brick making, carpentry, cattle-raising,
bee-keeping, dairy farming
·
a 30-bed medical clinic, featuring
a mother-and-child clinic
·
a recreation field
·
a combination community
centre/shopping mall
·
four stocked fish ponds
·
fruit trees
The perimeter of each fish pond will be lined with fruit trees to
prevent erosion and for produce to sell. A brick-making facility
will provide bricks for the LCSs, as well as for sale. Fish, milk,
honey, and fruit will be marketed through a co-operative. The
proposed shopping mall will rent space to vendors, while the
community centre will serve as a meeting place. The LCSs will occupy
10 per cent of the land allocated for the unit. Beneficiary families
will be encouraged to plant gardens and fruit trees. A Rotary
Community Corps will assist families and collaborate with the local
government. In time the community will be self-sustaining. |
