The Canadian Club of Victoria, members and guests will have an opportunity to be treated to a potpourri of vignettes in song and dance by the young Sidney based troop called, Mountain Dream Productions.

Come and enjoy our Annual Spring Arts & Culture evening at the Uplands Golf Club while savoring a delicious dinner and being entertained by Mountain Dream Productions. We guarantee you will be entertained by this heart warming, talented, youthful troop.

Wednesday, April 19th

Uplands Golf course

Retired Colonel Jamie Hammond

Afghanistan 20 years on: What does it mean for Canadians?

Tuesday February 22, 11:45 am

Grand Pacific Hotel, Victoria.

The presentation will bring the audience up to date on the developments since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 and reflect on the nature of Canadian involvement in conflict zones around the world. Was the sacrifice in Afghanistan worthwhile? What do we do now? And more importantly, what lessons should engaged Canadians take from the experience in Afghanistan?

Club member and retired Colonel Jamie Hammond will provide a thoughtful and engaging presentation based on his 28-year military career including multiple tours in Afghanistan at the start and end of Canada's combat operations as well as academic study through his current PhD work at the University of Victoria.

Guest Speaker: Lisa Helps

Join Club members and friends for lunch at the Hotel Grand Pacific and a talk by City of Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps on Wednesday, June 22. Mayor Helps was elected as a Councillor in 2011 and has served as Mayor since 2014. In her talk, ‘Looking Back and Looking Ahead – Eight Years in Review’, she will reflect on this period and her role in helping to shape it.

In her blog post about her 2014 election platform, she says “enhancing our community’s individual and collective health and well-being is at the heart of what we need to do together over the next four years. And we also need to get ready for the future, future-proofing the city in terms of affordability, climate change readiness and the ability to work together across difference to rise to all the challenges that face us.

We also need to take a more global perspective and draw on solutions from cities around the world. To this end, part of the inspiration for the next four years comes from the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in particular, Goal #11 Sustainable Cities and Communities. A key principle of the United Nations’ SDGs is that they’re inclusive of everyone – no one is left behind.”

Guest Speaker: Dr. Val Napoleon

Possibilities and Hopes for Indigenous Law

Tuesday March 15, 11:45 am at the

Grand Pacific Hotel, Victoria.

What are the possibilities in the future for Indigenous law in the world – as law? Dr. Val Napoleon, Acting Dean and Professor, and Law Foundation Chair in Indigenous Justice and Governance, will speak on how the new field of Indigenous law in Canada and elsewhere in the world has been one of constant change and growth, of innovation and challenge. Through the futuristic looking glass, various catalysts and forces have contributed to the building of a strong foundation for a multijuridical Canada. While we can look back to the contributing factors for Indigenous law in Canada today, can we turn to the future to imagine Indigenous law in the world – as law?

Guest Speaker: Cathleen Converse

Tuesday May 24, 11:45 am at the

Grand Pacific Hotel, Victoria.

The presentation by Cathleen Converse a #1 best-selling and award-winning author, will describe the fascinating and remarkable life of the renowned Agnes Deans Cameron—a trailblazer in the early days of educational standards in British Columbia, a bold and undaunted traveller, and one of the most well-known writers of her time. Now, over a hundred years later, her life and accomplishments have been brought to light in this comprehensive biography of an outstanding woman presented by guest speaker Cathleen Converse.

Bob McDonald,

“A Green Guide to the Future”

Grand Pacific Hotel

Tuesday September 21 at 11:45 am.

The Canadian Club of Victoria is launching its luncheon speaker series of 2021-22 featuring guest speaker Bob McDonald, celebrated Canadian science correspondent and host of Quirks & Quarks, the award-winning science program that is heard by 500,000 people each week. He has written and hosted numerous television documentaries and more than 100 educational videos in Canada and the United States, authored five bestselling science books, and contributed to numerous textbooks magazines, and newspapers including the Globe and Mail. His latest book, a Canadian Bestseller, is An Earthling’s Guide to Space: Everything you wanted to know about black holes, dwarf stars, aliens and much more. Recipient of multiple awards and recognition including the Order of Canada and the Queen’s Jubilee Medal among others.

Christmas Tea at the Empress

A Yuletide Celebration

Monday, December 6, at 2:00 pm
The Ball Room of the Fairmont Empress Hotel

Our 108^th ‘Christmas Tea at the Empress’ takes place on Monday, December 6, at 2:00 pm in the Ball Room of the Fairmont Empress Hotel. We can proudly boast this event as most probably the longest continuously running social event in the history of the City of Victoria!

Join us and bring your friends to Deck the Halls and launch the season’s spirit. Let’s celebrate this century old tradition by savouring all the delicate tastes of the food, the choristers singing, the prizes to be won, and an opportunity to contribute to our Irene McDonald Memorial Bursary Fund at Camosun College. Good cheer will be guaranteed in abundance.

All Covid protocols will be in place for your health concerns.

Transforming the lives of women and girls

Tuesday October 19, 11:45 am at the Grand Pacific Hotel, Victoria.

Join us at our next Canadian Club of Victoria luncheon with Nurjehan Mawani, our guest speaker and champion of justice, gender equity, and diversity. She will share her deep insights on how the lives of women and girls can be transformed through inclusive and equitable development.

Nurjehan has spent the last 15 years in Central Asia and Afghanistan where she served as the AKDN Diplomatic Representative to the Kyrgyz Republic and subsequently to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. She worked tirelessly with stakeholders to ensure that women and girls' experiences and voices from both urban and rural areas were included in policy development and programme implementation.

Prior to her diplomatic role, Nurjehan has had a long and distinguished career with the Canadian Public Service. She served as Chairperson of the Immigration and Refugee Board where in 1994 she issued the ground breaking report Guidelines on Gender-Related Persecution. This took into account the unique ways in which women experience violence and conflict. She also served as Commissioner of the Public Service Commission and Senior Advisor on Diversity to the Canada School of Public Service and the Clerk of the Privy Council.

Nurjehan has received numerous awards for her contribution to public service and advancing gender equity including the YWCA Vancouver Woman of Distinction award, the UNIFEM Canada award for innovative leadership in refugee determination, and the Outstanding Achievement Award of the Public Service of Canada. She is a member of the Order of Canada and has received honorary doctorates from the University of Ottawa and the American University of Afghanistan. Simon Fraser University will award her an honorary doctorate at its convocation in October.

Science, Hope and Clinical Reality: How close are we to a cure for diabetes?

Tuesday November 16, 11:45 am at the Grand Pacific Hotel, Victoria.

We are excited to announce our November speaker, Lisa Hepner. Lisa is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who will speak to us about the search for a cure for diabetes.

This year marks the 100^th anniversary of the discovery of insulin by Canadian doctor Frederick Banting. Her presentation, “Science, Hope and Clinical Reality: How close are we to a cure for diabetes?” will describe what it takes to push medical innovation forward.

Each year, more than 4 million people die from diabetes, waiting for that cure. Lisa spent a decade making a film about this quest to end this invisible yet life-threatening disease. This work gave her a window into the passion and sacrifice poured into breakthrough research, she says

Lisa and her cinematographer husband, Guy Mossman, started following a small biotech company in San Diego in 2014. They were given real-time access to the bio-tech firm’s ground-breaking stem cell trial – only the sixth ever in the world. The resulting documentary, ‘THE HUMAN TRIAL’, is an intimate journey with the scientists and patients who are putting their lives on the line to be first. Lisa – whose own Type 1 diabetes fuels the search for a cure – becomes the bridge between these two worlds, painting an emotional portrait of the power of science to transform patient hope into reality.

Lisa and Guy run LA-based Vox Pop Films, a production company specializing in non-fiction content and commercials. Over the last 25 years, Lisa has produced a variety of films and programs for Sony Pictures Classics, HBO, A&E, PBS, CBC and others. In 2003, she co-directed the feature documentary, ‘WOMEN ON THE FRONTLINES’. Shot in Afghanistan, Argentina, Burundi, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the US, the documentary profiles the unheralded work of women peacebuilders. The film premiered at the UN in 2003 and aired on PBS in 2004. Lisa has lived with type 1 diabetes for 30 years and vividly remembers her esteemed professor at the University of Toronto, Michael Bliss, explaining the complicated story behind the discovery of insulin

2020

Pearson College
United World College

Luncheon Tyrone (Ty) Pile, Interim President & Head of College
Tuesday February 18

Tyrone Pyle and Susan Haddon

Lester B. Pearson

Thomas Williams and Tyrone Pyle

For a rare international “good news” story to brighten your February, we learnt how a small college in Metchosin is making a huge difference to the world. Founded in 1974, Pearson is a United World College, where some 200 students from 90 countries live, study and grow together in a transformational environment.

Eighteen United World Colleges around the world share a mission to “make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.” For nearly five decades, thousands of Pearson graduates have carried this message from Metchosin to every corner of the globe, inspiring change in their communities.

A History of Victoria’s Chinatown Wednesday January 22

Luncheon with guest speaker Charlayne Thornton-Joe

What better way to launch a new decade than delving into the history of Canada’s oldest Chinatown? Victoria councillor Charlayne Thornton-Joe brought personal insight into a review of the fascinating historical development of Victoria’s Chinatown. A third-generation Victorian who has a “passion for serving people,” Thornton-Joe has earned many awards for her service to community.

Hope Matters
"How changing the way we think is critical to solving environmental crisis"

Tuesday November 17

Zoom meeting with Elin Kelsey
View the slides from Elin's presentation here

Childhood Art from Residential Schools

Tuesday November 19, 2019

In 2008, Andrea Walsh, visual anthropologist and one of UVic’s Engaged Scholars, set out on a journey to repatriate residential school artwork. This journey extended across Canada and led to the creation of an exhibit now featured at the Museum of Vancouver. At the luncheon, Dr. Walsh will describe her journey, then on November 26 will lead a special day trip to the Museum of Vancouver to view the exhibit.

Survival by Design

Tuesday October 15

Pamela Madoff

As Victoria experiences growth and modernization, how will the city's heritage buildings survive?
Special guest speaker Pam Madoff is eminently qualified to answer this question. A former Victoria city councilor, she is chair of the Victoria Heritage Advisory Committee, a member of the Civic Trust and the Heritage Foundation and was recently awarded a Heritage BC Life Achievement

Crisis and Opportunity in Sino-Canadian Relations

Tuesday September 17

We’re thrilled to get our fall season off to an international start! Jonathan Manthorpe, highly acclaimed foreign correspondent, will present his insights on the escalating diplomatic tensions between Canada and China, and the opportunities this crisis may create.

Vignettes of Canadian Club History
by
Tricia Horne

Tuesday June 18, 2019

Award. The Byline: Charla Huber
Indigenous Engagement through Storytelling

Tuesday May 21, 2019

Charla Huber, Director of Communications and Indigenous Relations at
M'akola Housing Society

Charla Huber is well known for her weekly columns in the Times Colonist. This accomplished journalist and professional communicator is also highly regarded for her work in the field of Indigenous Relations.

Her presentation “Indigenous Relations through Storytelling” illustrated how to engage with First Nations in a respectful, appropriate and meaningful way. Huber, who has Chipewyan and Inuit ancestry, incorporated creative storytelling to demonstrate protocols and cultural elements that can assist when building relationships and strengthening communities.
Huber has connected with more than 125 Indigenous Communities in Western Canada and is presently Director of Communications and Indigenous Relations at M’akola Housing Society, the largest Indigenous affordable housing provider in the province.

Uplands Golf Club Dinner and Cultural Evening

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Speakers, Anita and Michael Hadley, author and editor of "Spindrift, a Canadian book of the sea"

Club member, Peter Haddon, with guest speakers, Michael and Anita Hadley, editors of 'Spindrift, a Canadian Book of the Sea'

Ellen Stensholt, Past President, with Dr. Ken Leffek, Club member

Club members, Christine Smith and Barbara Hutchison, with Treasure Lynn Larsen and guest Heather greeting guests on arrival

Club Secretary, Marilyn Schick, with husband Craig

Club past Treasurer and Executive member, Pam Shemilt, with Camosun College's Jody Kitts and Camosun's new Alumni officer. The Club has an endowed bursary fund at the College that provides financial support for five or six students annually.

Transforming Victoria into a Smart City

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Luncheon with special guest speaker Bruce Williams, Director of Engagement
and Interim CEO of the South Island Prosperity Project

After a successful career in local media, Bruce Williams is part of a dynamic team that is making headlines across the country – the South Island Prosperity Project (SIPP). Last year SIPP saw Greater Victoria awarded $250,000 as one of only 20 finalists in Canada’s first-ever Smart City Challenge led by Infrastructure Canada. This summer, the winner of the $10 million prize for “Bold and ambitious ideas to improve the lives of residents” will be announced. Williams brought guests the latest word on the Smart City Challenge, and shared insights on how SIPP is preparing our region for a different and exciting future.

Susan Haddon and Bruce Williams

Jamie Hammond speaking to Bruce Williams

SIPP's Five areas of priority focus

Microplastics in the Marine Environment
Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Rhiannon More, Researcher Ocean Wise Plastics Laboratory

Rhiannon More

Rhiannon More and Susan Haddon

Rhiannon More and Brian McMullen, Club Archivist

Transforming Lives: Our Place Therapeutic Recovery Community
Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Special guest speaker Don Evans, Executive Director, Our Place Society

Luncheon guests enjoyed a look “behind the scenes” at the new Our Place therapeutic recovery community in View Royal. The facility provides a stable supportive home environment and life skills training for men overcoming homelessness, addiction or incarceration.

Susan Haddon and Don Evans, Executive Director of Our Place

Brian McMullen, Board Member

Ryan L'Hirondelle and Don Evans, Our Place Therapeutic Recovery Community

Tom Williams Canadian Club of Victoria, Vice President
Elizabeth May and fiancé John Kidder
Sharon Apsey, Club Membership Director

2018

HeroWork: A Shining Example of Community Spirit
Tuesday November 20

We had a luncheon with special guest speaker Peter Smither of HeroWork.
HeroWork harnesses the power of community to transform lives. The organization inspires volunteers from all walks of life to donate their time and resources to charitable agencies that are often operating in dilapidated old buildings.
Peter Smither talked about the intricate planning that lies behind the success of events HeroWork calls Radical Renovations - think of modern-day barn raising – where dozens of companies and hundreds of volunteers come together in synchronized teams. In a matter of hours and days, HeroWork completes projects that would normally take weeks or months. From building trades to the Royal Canadian Navy, from retired professionals to local company teams, people across Victoria are stepping in, picking up hammers and paintbrushes, and making a huge difference to the charities that are helping the most vulnerable citizens in Victoria.

In just a few years, close to $3 million worth of non-profit renovations have transformed spaces for local charities such as the Mustard Seed Food Bank, Anawim House homeless shelter, Threshold housing for youth, and Casa Maria housing for refugees.

HeroWork provides a shining example of how much can be done, when people work together with common vision and good planning.

Remembrance Day Ceremony
Sunday, November 10, 2018

Club Executive member, Tom Williams, and his wife Eva Swenson laid a wreath on behalf of the Club

Inspiring Canadians
Tue, 16 October 2018

“Counting What Counts: The Genuine Progress Indicator”

Our luncheon special guest speaker was Mike Pennock
For decades, economists have used GDP (or Gross Domestic Product) as a general indicator of national development. Today, many believe GDP alone fails to tell the whole story of a nation’s well-being
Mike Pennock described a number of new approaches to holistic measures of national progress, with a focus on the GPI (or Genuine Progress Indicator).
Mike Pennock retired in October 2016 from his position as the Provincial Epidemiologist in the BC Ministry of Health. During his forty-year career, Mike worked as the Population Health Epidemiologist at VIHA, was Research Director of the Population Health Research Unit at Dalhousie University and was Executive Director of the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton-Wentworth.
He became involved in the issue of the measurement of progress in 2006 when he and his wife, Martha, were recruited to spend three months in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan to lead the development of a survey measure for the Bhutanese concept of Gross National Happiness. They remained involved in the topic through their participation in a number of international conferences over the years.

Inspiring Canadians
Thursday September 20

Daniel Lapp

The Canadian Club of Victoria’s 2018/2019 luncheon series got off to an uplifting start with special guest speaker Daniel Lapp. A world-renowned musician, Daniel Lapp is beloved in Victoria for his trademark energy and warmth. As a fiddler, jazz trumpeter and singer/songwriter, he has played on over 100 albums and has performed across Canada and around the world.

A legendary force in Canada’s fiddle scene, in 2014 he was appointed as the inaugural Artistic Director of the Victoria Conservatory of Music’s new Chwyl Family School of Contemporary Music.

Victoria World Partnership Walk 2018
Sunday May 27

Victoria World Partnership Walk 2018, led by President Susan Haddon

The upcoming Columbia River Treaty negotiations: What do they mean for Canada and the U.S.
Tuesday May 15

Hon. Katrine Conroy, Minister of Children and Family Development and Minister responsible for the Columbia Basin Trust, Columbia Power Corporation and Columbia River Treaty

The Art and Heart of Documentary Film making
Wednesday April 18

Suzanne Chisholm and Michael Parfit

“Living in the Anthropocene – How do we get to a One Planet Region?”

Tuesday, March 20 2018

Dr. Trevor Hancock, professor and senior scholar at the University of Victoria’s school of public health and social policy

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights:
“A STORY AND A BUILDING"
Tuesday,February 20 2018

Speaker Brian Head, volunteer at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights

Murray Rankin, Victoria MP and member of the CCV, thanking speaker Brian Head

Housing First
Mayor Lisa Helps and Our Place Director Don Evans
Tuesday, January, 16, 2018

CCV President Susan Haddon and Don Evans

Lisa Helps and CCV President Susan Haddon

2017

Christmas Tea at the Empress
Monday, December 5, 2017

Canadian Club Bursary winner Amanda Zutz with Russ Lazaruk, Chair of the Camosun Foundation Board.

Canadian Club Bursary winner Jackie Sadler with Russ Lazaruk, Chair of the Camosun Foundation Board

"A Garden of Mariposie" Stories by and about Stephen Leacock
Leslie Robbins-Conway and Paul Conway of Voyageur Storytelling
Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Public Policy Issues facing the West: Then and Now
Martha Hall Findlay, President and CEO, Canada West Foundation
Tuesday October 17, 2017

Bravo!
Maestro Timothy Vernon, OC
Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Brexit, Trump and Populism:
Where will it all end? ~ David Stocks
Tuesday, June 20, 2017

View a video of the presentation

World Partnership Walk Against Poverty

Sunday, May 28, 2017

The Victoria Hand Project: Making a World of Difference ~Nick Dechev, Ph.D.
Tuesday, 16 May, 2017

Uplands Golf Club Dinner and Cultural Evening with the “Oliphant” Quintet
Wednesday, 19 April, 2017

The Trump Era: Barking Up the Wrong Tree ~ A Lecture by Gwynne Dyer
Tuesday, March 21,2017
Dr Gwynne Dyer, celebrated journalist and author

Canada and the United Nations
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Nigel Fisher, O.C, O.Ont, M.S.C., M.A., LL.D.
Adjunct Assistant Professor,
University of Victoria

Earthquake Preparedness:
Learning from Christchurch, NZ
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Rajpreet Sall and Tanya Patterson
Emergency Management, City of Victoria

2016

Christmas Tea
Fairmont Empress Hotel
Monday, December 5, 2016
Special Guest: Her Honour Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon, OBC
Seasonal Entertainment - Oak Bay High School Choir

Electoral Reform
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Murray Rankin, MP Victoria

Wellness Matters: a Dialogue on Connection, Belonging and the Power of Well-Being
Victoria Conference Centre
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, and Khalil Shariff, CEO, Aga Khan Foundation, Canada

Understanding the US Election: Making Sense of the Electoral College and Process
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Dr. Janni Aragon - Adjunct Assistant Professor Political Science and Technology and Society Program, University of Victoria

Making a Difference: A Canadian in Malawi
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Christie Johnson, Lester Pearson College / Activist
Annual General Meeting

Ocean Networks Canada
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Bob Crosby
University of Victoria

Uplands Golf Club Dinner and Cultural Evening
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Author Anny Scoones and Artist Robert Amos, collaborators on
Hometown: Out and About in Victoria's Neighbourhoods

Assisted Suicide: Impact On Medical Professionals
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Dr. Chris Pengally
Retired Family Physician

The Truth and Reconciliation Report: What Now?
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Ms. Louise Mandell, QC LLD (hon)
Chancellor Vancouver Island University

Canada's Role in Combating Global Corruption
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
The Hon. Roy Cullen, PC CA
Author and Former Federal MP

2015

Christmas Tea
Fairmont Empress Hotel
Monday, December 7, 2015
Special Guest: Her Honour Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon
Entertainment: Sooke String Quartet

Microcredit: An Agent for Change?
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Jo Jamieson and Vu Ndlovu

Impact Of Middle-Eastern Politics on Canada
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Dr. Andrew Wender
Professor, University of Victoria History Department

Harperism
Donald Gutstein
Adjunct Professor, Simon Fraser School of Communication
Author of the book Harperism
Tuesday, September 15, 2015