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FarAfield NEWS FOR THE CANADIAN CHAPTER Good Morning Musandam (Oman) Vol.3, No. 1 Summer 2011 The Explorers Club – Canadian Chapter 1 www.explorersclub.ca Message from the Chapter Chair – Simon Donato FI’06 Dear Members, Although our "La Nina" year seems to have delayed the onset of summer, we are getting some hopeful glimpses of better days ahead. I trust that you will all make time to take advantage of this weather to get outdoors and challenge yourself with an exploration goal this summer. Please check with your regional director to see what summer events and expeditions may be occurring in your area that you could get involved in. In addition, if you find yourself exploring with non-members of our great club, we are always looking for more high calibre members. If you have any questions about nominating a member, please contact our acting membership chair Murray Larson for guidance. For those of you who might find themselves with some free time, I welcome you to contact me, as we have several volunteer opportunities for members who wish to become more active within the Canadian Chapter. As always, I wish you a summer of safe travels and memorable exploration. Best Regards, Simon Issue Month Deadline Winter December November 15 Summer June May 15 The Explorers Club – Canadian Chapter 2 www.explorersclub.ca Communications Director – Jason Schoonoer FI’86 Newer members may well wonder why I’ve nicked the name of Glorious Leader (GL for short) on Joe Frey. It’s because BJ (Before Joe) this chapter was one in name only, a cardboard box, like so many, especially in the US. And I’ve been a member since 1986. In fairness, it was extremely difficult to coordinate—pre-email—a chapter with the breadth geographically of ours. The internet revolution is a revolution in communications and information—and this created the potential for the chapter to blossom. And that’s what happened when a few minds got together. In 2003 Glorious Leader Joe took our chapter in a Great Leap Forward and created the Taj Mahal it is today. He organized it by regions, created our executive and our directorship and spawned a Club and chapter culture. Due to his efforts we won the Best Chapter Award at ECAD in 2004. It hasn’t been awarded since. He created one of the most vibrant chapters of the some 32 in the world. Thus, he is justly due the nomenclature of Glorious Leader and I expect you to bow and humble yourself in His presence. Today, GL’s on our Club Board of Directors as Vice President of Chapters—a position he’s supremely qualified for and in which he is making major positive changes to many of our lagging associations. GL is a supremely talented organizer. Likewise, our current chair – Simon Donato – has been designed OPO by Prairie-NWT Director Murray (Lil’ Mur) Larson. OPO meaning Oh Perfect One. When you meet Simon, you’ll see why. He’s young, tall, handsome, an athlete and recently nailed his Ph.D. He’s the future of The Explorers Club and it’s in good hands. What follows is a history of our chapter, written by GL Joe: History of the Canadian Chapter 1979 - 2010 The Early Years 1979 - January 7, 2003 The Canadian Chapter was co-founded in Toronto during 1979 by Norman Elder, FI 79 and Colonel Peter Lewin, OMM, CD, MD, FI 79. Norm Elder, FI 79 was the Canadian Chapter Chairman for approximately a decade. Under his leadership an annual Canadian Chapter dinner was held at the Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto's chic Yorkville district. Traditionally the dinner featured a speaker who had returned from a major expedition. The Explorers Club – Canadian Chapter 3 www.explorersclub.ca Norm was a graduate of Upper Canada College, the University of Western Ontario and the University of Toronto. He was the Curator of the Norman Elder Museum, which included unusual artefacts that he collected from his many travels around the world. He undertook expeditions to Papua New Guinea, the Amazon, the Congo, the Arctic and most recently Madagascar. He represented Canada at the 1959 Pan-American Games where he won the Gold and Bronze medals in the Equestrian events. He also represented our country at the 1960 and 1968 Olympic Games. Norm died on Wednesday October 15th, 2003 in Toronto and was buried in Muskoka, Ontario. www.explorersclub.ca/_memoriam.htm Colonel Peter Lewin, MD, FI 79, was an explorer, paediatrician, medical archaeologist, soldier and humanitarian. Having grown-up in Egypt during the Second World War Peter developed a fascination in Egyptology and he developed the concept of performing autopsies on Egyptian mummies to see the types of diseases that were common in ancient Egypt. Peter's picture hangs on the wall of the Egyptology Department of the Royal Ontario Museum. Peter joined the British Army through whom he received his medical degree. Upon immigrating to Canada he joined the Canadian Forces and was posted to Germany for 15 years, upon returning to Canada he joined the Canadian Forces Medical Reserves and became a paediatrician at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children and also taught medicine at the University of Toronto. His last major expedition was to Spitzbergen Island which was led by Dr. Kirsty Duncan, FI' 05 to find viral evidence of the 1918 Spanish Flu. During 2002 Peter sponsored Joseph Frey, FI' 02, the Canadian Chapter's third Chair into the Club. Peter died of cancer on June 7, 2005 in Toronto and was buried at Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery on June 10th. www.explorersclub.ca/_memoriam.htm The second Canadian Chapter Chair was Duane Robertson, MI’ 88, who served for approximately a decade until January 7, 2003. During the pre-internet period it was a real challenge to organize a Chapter that is 5,000 km wide (3,000 miles), has six time zones and has two official languages. So when Duane had the Chair of the Canadian Chapter suddenly passed on to him, he found that the Chapter was really Toronto-centric and the far-flung membership of the Canadian Chapter referred to it as the Toronto Chapter. Duane gallantly held the Canadian Chapter together. The Canadian Chapter between January 8, 2003 - December 31, 2009 During December 2002 Peter Lewin approached Joseph Frey and Billy Jamieson, MI’ 97 with a suggestion that the Canadian Chapter be rebuilt. The meeting took place on January 8, 2003 in attendance where Peter Lewin, Norm Elder, Billy Jamieson and Joseph Frey. That evening an Interim Executive was set up that consisted of Joseph Frey, Chairman, Peter Lewin and Billy Jamieson as Deputy Co-Chairmen. The Interim Executive evolved, new members were recruited into the Interim Executive that ran the Canadian Chapter until December 31, 2004. During the rebuilding process Joseph decided to divide the Chapter into six regions (four regions as of 2005) and to draft a new charter that ensures no one person or region can dominate the Canadian Chapter. The Charter also contains safeguards to prevent the Canadian Chapter from breaking up. An arrangement was negotiated between HQ, the Chapter and Outpost magazine for free subscription for Canadian Chapter members. Likewise, Peter Lewin and Joseph Frey worked out a reciprocal club arrangement between HQ and the Royal Canadian Military Institute in Toronto (we also have a reciprocal agreement with the St. James The Explorers Club – Canadian Chapter 4 www.explorersclub.ca Club, Montreal). Billy Jamieson financed the development of the Canadian Chapter’s website www.explorersclub.ca as well as hosting the first Canadian Chapter National Annual Event, which he continues to do. With an outdated, mistake-laden Canadian Chapter membership list provided to Joseph Frey by the Club it took six months to sort out who the active members of our Chapter were. Eventually the list was narrowed down to 54 members. During this process Joseph came across individuals such as Anthony Dalton, FI' 85 of Vancouver who volunteered several months of his time to help Joseph follow up with members in British Columbia. Joe also got in touch with Nat Rutter, FI'78. Nat quickly volunteered to set up the Prairie-NWT Region and his annual three-day field events are amazing, especially the 2005 palaeontology field event. Eduard Reinhardt, FI' 04 and John Geiger, FI' 04 assisted with the running of the Ontario-Nunavut Region. John went on and spent a great deal of time on developing the Stefansson Medal. George Burden, MI' 03, stepped up to the plate to oversee the Atlantic-Quebec Region. Joseph first met Rosemarie, FI' 02 and Pat Keough, FI' 02, during the 2004 ECAD. Rosemarie serving from 2004 – 2009 went on to become the British Columbia – Yukon Region Chair. Rosemarie has done a marvellous job running the BC-Yukon Region whose membership proportionately grew the fastest within the Canadian Chapter. Together Rosemarie and Pat developed the best Explorers Club event outside of ECAD. Their organizing and hosting of the annual 3-day Salt Spring Symposium is brilliant and has attracted participants from across North America, Europe and Australia. Rosemarie also organized an annual top-notch spring event on Vancouver Island which Barry Glickman, FI’ 05 has been assisting with. Jason Schoonover, FI' 86 volunteered to become the Canadian Chapter’s Communications Director during 2004 and holds that position to this day. In addition to his regular internal communications with the Chapter, he also co-ordinates our Chapter’s contribution to The Explorers Log (one of the few chapters to have a 100% contribution rate to the publication), and he wrote the book “Adventurous Dreams, Adventurous Lives” which outlines the lives of 120 contemporary explorers and field scientists most of whom are members of the Club.

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