Submitted by Will Arscott 

 

 

This was the third virtual meeting of the Rotary Club of Saskatoon. Once again Paul Gauthier did a bang-up job of getting us the code to the ZOOM meeting and everything went pretty well. It seems to go with the territory that the person you want to hear from has the sketchiest connection. We had twenty-five members participate. It was particularly good to see Don Somers back at a meeting. 

 

The duty roster is evolving as we see what is required for these type of meetings. President Vic Dubois presided over the meeting. ‘O Canada’ was truly a disaster. It was led by Wayne McGillivray with the rest of us singing along, unfortunately there were gaps in the sound and places where Wayne cut-out.   It was agreed that, for the next meeting, all of us would be muted but Wayne. We will watch lips to see that everyone participates in the anthem.

 

A short and appropriate grace was said by Steve Wilson. He reminded us that we all must do our part in the COVID-19 crisis and look for opportunities to serve others.

 

Our other guest was our guest speaker Bob Gauthier the new fire chief at Camp Dundurn. It took a bit of effort to bring him into the meeting but once on he had a good connection throughout. He was introduced later in the meeting.

 

Donna Gauthier was present at the meeting along with Sobeys gift cards. It appears that several hundred dollars’ worth of cards were spoken for. Let’s keep that going at future meetings.

 

We have a new member in Mark Cheriyan. Mark is with the Salvation Army. We welcome Mark and look forward to a vocational talk in the near future. President Vic indicated he was going to sit on Mark’s certificate and pin until they can be presented at an in-person meeting. It was suggested that sitting on the pin could be painful.

 

As Paul Gauthier was indisposed trying to get our guest speaker online, President Vic spoke briefly about the District Conference that took place in a one day virtual format. Despite the format, it seems to have been a successful conference. Some of the highlights:

 

The motto for the 2020- 2021 Rotary year will be “Rotary Opens Opportunities.”

Everyone is doing ZOOM meetings and they seem to be going well. Many clubs are asking why this format was not used prior to the pandemic. The virtual format saves time, reduces costs and seems to work well. At the District Conference the virtual meeting was seen as a way to bring Rotary to members and potential new members. Looking at it strategically, many members and potential members are not willing to come to Rotary and want Rotary to come to them. The new strategy is changing our model so that we bring Rotary to where people are rather than requiring people to come to where Rotary is.

The COVID pandemic is not just impacting our meeting format, it is effecting the ability of Rotary to carry out its regular work. We will tackle this next week in our budget for next year. Not having our fund raisers such as the Badge Shield and Star Dinner and the Master’s golf pool will reduce our club’s ability to do the things we have done in recent years. There are similar impacts at the other levels of Rotary.

The Rotary Foundation will be short of funds to do its regular work. The World Fund has contributed $17 million worldwide to support communities in addressing the coronavirus threat and impact. This has significantly reduced the funding available. Please consider making a contribution to the Rotary Foundation in order to rebuild our financial capability.

The Polio Plus vaccination program has paused due to home isolation advisories. If this were to continue for a long period there could be dangers of additional epidemics.

It was reported that RI was considering direct membership in Rotary. The model has always been that, to be a member of Rotary International, one had to be a member of a chartered club. Some thought is being given to allow individuals to be direct members of Rotary International without being a member of a chartered club.

 

Club Budget for the 2020-2021 Rotary Year: A proposed budget was distributed prior to the meeting. However before the meeting it was determined that discussion of this budget would be tabled until the meeting of June 8^th. The June 8^th meeting will be a roundtable discussion.

 

 

 

Paul Gauthier had two happy dollars: The first was because he was getting a haircut this week.The second editor can agree with this after having finally gotten his hair cut after the meeting on Monday.  

 Wayne McGillivray put in a happy dollar for already playing seven or eight golf games. He also put in a happy dollar for a great day of fishing with Barry Slitroth who is a friend of the fishermen in the club.

 Jim Weber put in a happy and a sad dollar. The happy was for receiving an agenda for this meeting. The sad was that the agenda was not followed at the meeting particularly the budget discussion. President Vic explained that this budget was put off to the next roundtable meeting and said he should have made this clear at the beginning of the meeting. So, hold your questions Jim, you can let fire at the next meeting.

Gary Rusu put in two happy dollars. One was for our new member. The other was for being able to participate in the District Conference which Gary found worthwhile.

 Mark Gryba is probably happy because he has been not been working as his son took over his practice. Mark reported briefly on the problems this pandemic is creating for dentists. Until last week dentists were only available on an emergency basis. Starting last week they could be open. It is still difficult to operate as it is difficult to find the protective supplies that are needed to make it safe. Many dental operations such as drilling teeth create aerosol and high-grade masks and gowns are required for it to be safe.

Graham Pearson put in five happy dollars for everyone being healthy and happy. He reported that his daughter’s boyfriend Leonardo got a job with EA sports working on their electronic soccer game. It is a dream come true because Leonardo is from Brazil and is a soccer fanatic.

Mark Cheriyan put in two happy dollars. The first is for becoming a member of our club. The second is because the shelters the Salvation Army operate in the city have come this far in the pandemic without an outbreak. [This is very good]. Shelters by their nature tend to manage people in close quarters. It is likely many of those people have underlying health concerns. We all hope the success continues.

 President Vic was happy for being able to meet virtually with his mother. They have not been able to see each other in some time.

 

 

 

 Bob was introduced by Gary Rusu. He is now the fire chief at the Dundurn detachment of CFB Moose Jaw. In this position he oversees a department of 23 members with four to eight being added shortly. It is not well known but the largest ammunition dump in Canada is at Camp Dundurn which serves a secondary role as a militia training center. His main responsibility is to protect the ammunition but also to protect the base itself. Some of the season grass fires are a concern both those that occur naturally and those that may result from military exercises. This time of year, when it is so dry, troops are not using the base. Recently Bob completed an agreement for mutual assistance between his department and the town department in Dundurn. The Detachment Fire Department is responsible for fire inspections in armories in Northern Saskatchewan (including the three in Saskatoon) and on the base at Dundurn.   Inspections include equipment and alarms.

 

Most of the talk was about Bob’s background as a firefighter in the military. Bob joined the forces in 1985 after completing a summer reserve program. He retired as a Master Warrant Officer in 2006 having spent his entire career as a firefighter. After a brief stint in Fort MacMurray he came to the Dundurn detachment as assistant chief and then chief. [I don’t suppose they ever get any decent sized fires in Fort Mac]

 

Bob talked about what firefighters do in the military. Generally the bases are protected by civilian fire departments as is the case in Dundurn. Firefighters in the military support the air force and until recently the navy. Training for military firefighters is concentrated at Camp Borden in Ontario.

 

Most of Bob’s career was spent with the air force component. Take-offs and landings are always covered by fire crews. The first responsibility is to save the pilot if that is possible. Extracting a pilot is more difficult that might be imagined due to the pressurized cockpits. Another area that needs to be covered is when a ‘hot’ fueling takes place. This involves fueling a jet when it is still running. It is inherently more dangerous than a regular fueling. In some situations F18s may be landing on a short runway using a tail hook cable to decelerate. In such cases the fire crew is in charge of the cable and must re-set it for each landing.

 

Special experience in the air force involved landing a large Russian transport plane on a runway that was too short. Bob served one tour as an air force firefighter in Afghanistan. The heat was oppressive and cooling vests were worn under the fire gear. It also meant having his rifle with him at all times in case he came under fire.

 

Bob also served in the Navy doing two tours aboard ships. One tour took him to the Persian Gulf., this was particularly demanding with little regular sleep. The fire crew on the ship do regular inspections.   They also are involved when helicopters are landing. Bob worked with the Sea King which had to land on a moving ship. The new helicopters use a cable that is caught by a ‘bear-trap’ on the ship and then the helicopter is winched to the deck. Bob was involved in a near accident situation onboard the Sea King as the age of the Sea King helicopters began to make them unreliable. In recent years the navy has taken back firefighting and put it under the bosun on each ship. This is the traditional way but reduces the need for professional firefighters in the regular military.

 

Following his talk Bob answered several questions. Firefighting in the military is not something most people even know about. It makes you feel confident knowing that, with all that ammunition, out at Dundurn we have someone as competent as Bob protecting it.

 

Bob was thanked and the regular donation will be made to Bethany Homes.

 

Next Meeting                                                                    

 

Virtual meeting on June 8^th (Phase III opening day in Saskatchewan). It will be a roundtable discussion to consider the budget for the 2020-2021 Rotary Year. Watch for the email with the meeting link a couple of days before the meeting.