to this week's meeting ofThe Rotary E-Club of Canada One
For the week beginning November 9, 2026
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Complete the form for a make-up!
Please leave a donation to assist our club to do Rotary's good works!
to this week's meeting of
The Rotary E-Club of Canada One
For the week beginning
November 9, 2026
Scroll down to enjoy the content!
Complete the form for a make-up!
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Greeter this week
Club President, Patrick
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Inspirational moment
A truly heart-breaking and heart-warming story.
Canadiana
The Night Toronto Burned
On the evening of April 19, 1904, fire broke out in a warehouse on Wellington Street West in downtown Toronto. Fanned by strong winds and aided by buildings filled with wood, cloth, paper, and other flammable materials, the flames quickly became an inferno.
By 9 p.m., every firefighter in Toronto was at the scene. Reinforcements arrived from surrounding communities and, by special train, from Hamilton and Buffalo, New York.
By the time the fire was brought under control at about 4:30 the next morning, more than 100 buildings had been destroyed and over 125 businesses had been burned out. The estimated loss was an astonishing $10 million in 1904 dollars.
Remarkably, no one died in the fire itself.
More than a century later, the Great Toronto Fire found its way into the Canadian television series Murdoch Mysteries. In the two-part episode “Great Balls of Fire,” history and fiction are cleverly intertwined. Poor Constable Henry Higgins becomes convinced that a discarded cigar of his started the enormous blaze — and is devastated by the thought that he may have burned down part of Toronto.
Higgins, of course, is fictional. But the mystery behind his predicament is quite real: the actual cause of the Great Toronto Fire was never determined.
And there is one more remarkable Canadian connection. The fire was captured on motion-picture film by George Scott and his assistant as buildings burned on Front Street. Their footage became one of Canada's earliest major filmed news events and was shown throughout Canada and the United States.
Sometimes a fictional story sends us looking backward — and we discover that the real Canadian story is even more extraordinary.
Scott and his assistant actually set up their camera amid the fire and filmed the burning buildings on Front Street. Library and Archives Canada describes it as one of Canada's earliest major film news scoops; the resulting film was subsequently shown in both Canada and the United States.
This video turns the story from an interesting historical anecdote into something quite extraordinary: we can actually watch Toronto burning 122 years ago.
And then the Murdoch Mysteries connection becomes even more fun — Higgins may be fictional, but the fire behind him isn't.
This video turns the story from an interesting historical anecdote into something quite extraordinary: we can actually watch Toronto burning 122 years ago.
And then the Murdoch Mysteries connection becomes even more fun — Higgins may be fictional, but the fire behind him isn't.
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OUR SOCIAL CORNER -
Input from our guests and members
Send us your news - what's happening that's important in your corner of the world?
- What has Rotary contributed to your life?
- What have YOU contributed to Rotary recently to make your community a better place?
- Is there a Rotary project or experience you'd like to share?
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An inspirational look back
A Rotary Look Back — It Started with Four
On February 23, 1905, four men gathered in a small office in Chicago.
There was no Rotary Foundation. No global network. No international service projects. No campaign to eradicate a disease from the world.
History: The first four Rotarians
On 23 February 1905, Paul P. Harris, Gustavus Loehr,
Silvester Schiele, and Hiram E. Shorey gathered in Loehr’s office for what
would become known as the first Rotary club meeting.
That first little group began to grow.
And then something important happened. Rotary discovered that fellowship could become service.
Within a few years, Rotarians were tackling needs in their communities. Eventually, that small gathering of four people became an international organization capable of taking on challenges its founders could scarcely have imagined — including the audacious goal of helping to eradicate polio.
There is something wonderfully encouraging in that history.
Great things do not always begin as great things. Sometimes they begin with four people in a room who simply decide to do something together.
And 121 years later, Rotarians are still doing exactly that.
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ROTARIAN CODE OF CONDUCT
As a Rotarian, I will:
***1. Act with integrity and high ethical standards in my personal and professional life
2. Deal fairly with others and treat them and their occupations with respect
3. Use my professional skills through Rotary to mentor young people, help those with special needs, and improve people’s quality of life in my community and in the world
4. Avoid behaviour that reflects adversely on Rotary or other Rotarians
5. Help maintain a harassment-free environment in Rotary meetings, events, and activities; report any suspected harassment; and help ensure non-retaliation to those individuals that report harassment
Rotary’s Code of Conduct provides a simple but powerful guide for ethical behaviour, emphasizing honesty, accountability, and respect for others. Along with the Four-Way Test, it encourages thoughtful reflection on how we live and interact, helping us become better citizens and better human beings.
Material Suggestions and Greeter Messages Always Needed!
Please feel free to forward an approx. 150 - 200 word message or any material suggestions in an e-mail, or in a Word document, along with a JPeg picture or two, to E-Club Administration Chair, Kitty Bucsko.
We'd love to hear from you!
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Message for November 2026
More members, more impact
Rotary International President, 2026-27
I saw a Rotarian on television. I was a teenager with my thoughts elsewhere, when suddenly my full attention was on this man. I did not know it then, but that moment would change my life.
That is the thing about impact. We often imagine it as something we create out there, in a community we visit or in a project we fund. But that impact is brought about through the change within us as well.
Increasing our impact is the first priority of Rotary’s Action Plan, and it asks us not only to do good but to do good that lasts and can be measured. It means choosing sustainable, needs-based projects over comfortable ones and asking honestly whether a project will still be serving people five years from now without us in the room.
When I say we must Create Lasting Impact, I do not mean the kind of impact that changes the person doing the work as surely as it changes the person benefiting from it. Rotary changes all of us. It changed a teenager watching a television broadcast. It has changed millions of Rotarians and Rotaractors since 1905. And it will keep changing people, long after this Rotary year, if we do the work now to make sure it can.
That work starts with membership. Impact scales with people. Every hand we add is another hand that can dig a well, teach a child to read, deliver a vaccine, or simply show up for a neighbour in need. As we approach our 125th anniversary in 2030, our goal is to reach 1.25 million Rotarians and 125,000 Rotaractors worldwide. That is not a number for a banner. It is a measure of how much better we can do together, and how many more lives, including our own, Rotary still has a chance to change.
That is the thing about impact. We often imagine it as something we create out there, in a community we visit or in a project we fund. But that impact is brought about through the change within us as well.
Increasing our impact is the first priority of Rotary’s Action Plan, and it asks us not only to do good but to do good that lasts and can be measured. It means choosing sustainable, needs-based projects over comfortable ones and asking honestly whether a project will still be serving people five years from now without us in the room.
When I say we must Create Lasting Impact, I do not mean the kind of impact that changes the person doing the work as surely as it changes the person benefiting from it. Rotary changes all of us. It changed a teenager watching a television broadcast. It has changed millions of Rotarians and Rotaractors since 1905. And it will keep changing people, long after this Rotary year, if we do the work now to make sure it can.
That work starts with membership. Impact scales with people. Every hand we add is another hand that can dig a well, teach a child to read, deliver a vaccine, or simply show up for a neighbour in need. As we approach our 125th anniversary in 2030, our goal is to reach 1.25 million Rotarians and 125,000 Rotaractors worldwide. That is not a number for a banner. It is a measure of how much better we can do together, and how many more lives, including our own, Rotary still has a chance to change.
I have often challenged you to do better than your best. Growing our membership is where that challenge lives most urgently. Invite the colleague who keeps asking what Rotary is about. Welcome back the member who drifted away. Partner with the Rotaract club down the street. Every one of those conversations is a small act with lasting consequences.
We have 125 years behind us and a great deal of work still ahead. Let us build the kind of Rotary that keeps changing people the way it changed me, one member, one project, one act of service at a time. Together, let us Create Lasting Impact.
YINKA
Olayinka “Yinka” Hakeem Babalola
President, Rotary International (2026-27)
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Just so you're aware -
Our Club's Ongoing Projects -
We provide ongoing support for the following projects:
Click the links below to find out more about each project!
And we're doing great!
Ask for more information if you'd like to be involved!
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Real-time meetings
Once a month - Fellowship Assembly. Each 3rd Thursday of the month is our Fellowship Assembly, and we often invite interesting speakers or Rotary Leaders for this entertaining, educational fun event. Plan to join us.
The time is 9:00 a.m. (Mountain Time) in lieu of the weekly Coffee Chat except for July and August when there are no FA’s. Here is the zoom link:
Everyone is welcome to attend and we encourage your participation.
Please click our Event Calendar for details and access Link.
For further inquiries or suggestions please contact: info@rotaryeclubcanada.ca
All our videos can be viewed on our YouTube channel.
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How do you support our club?
- The Paypal button on our ClubRunner Home Page
- The donation button on the attendance form, or
- Make an Interac transfer to rotaryeclubcanada1@gmail.com
- Send a cheque to:
The Rotary E-Club of Canada One
14008 101 Avenue NW
Edmonton, AB
Canada T5N 0K3
(780) 267 4547
Environment
After spending 178 days aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Ron Garan returned to Earth carrying something far heavier than space equipment or mission data. He returned with a transformed understanding of humanity itself.
From orbit, Earth doesn’t look like a collection of countries, borders, or competing interests. It appears as a single, radiant blue sphere suspended in darkness. No lines divide continents. No flags mark territory. From 250 miles above the surface, every human conflict suddenly looks small — and every human connection looks unavoidable.
From orbit, Earth doesn’t look like a collection of countries, borders, or competing interests. It appears as a single, radiant blue sphere suspended in darkness. No lines divide continents. No flags mark territory. From 250 miles above the surface, every human conflict suddenly looks small — and every human connection looks unavoidable.
That view triggered what astronauts call the “overview effect” — a profound cognitive shift reported by many who see Earth from space. It’s the sudden realization that humanity shares a single, closed system. No backups. No escape route. No second home.
Garan began questioning humanity’s priorities. On Earth, economic growth is often treated as the ultimate goal. From space, that hierarchy collapses. He argues that the correct order should be planet first, society second, economy last — because without a healthy planet, neither society nor economy can exist.
He often compares Earth to a spacecraft. A ship carrying billions of crew members, all dependent on the same life-support systems. And yet, many behave as passengers rather than caretakers, assuming someone else is responsible for keeping things running.
From orbit, pollution has no nationality. Climate systems ignore borders. Environmental damage in one region ripples across the entire globe. The divisions we defend so fiercely on the ground simply don’t exist from above.
Garan’s message isn’t abstract or idealistic. It’s practical. If humanity continues to treat Earth as an unlimited resource rather than a shared system, the consequences will be universal.
Seeing Earth from space didn’t make him feel small. It made him feel accountable.
Because when you truly understand that we’re all riding the same fragile spacecraft through the universe, the idea of “us versus them” quietly disappears — replaced by a single, unavoidable truth:
There is only us.
neil degrasse tyson -
· IntelliVerse ·September 8 at 8:50 AM ·
Carl Sagan famously described Earth in his 1994 book Pale Blue Dot as a "mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam".
Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of Earth taken on February 14, 1990, by the Voyager 1 space probe from an unprecedented distance of over 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles, 40.5 AU.
In the photograph, Earth's apparent size is less than a pixel; the planet appears as a tiny dot against the vastness of space, among bands of sunlight reflected by the camera "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.
"Look again at that dot, thats here that's home. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there—on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."
Humour
“No. I’m fine,” I said, touched by her concern.
“Oh, good,” she continued. “So will you be vacating your parking spot?”
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Frustrated at always being corrected by her husband, my aunt decided the next time it happened she would have a comeback.
That moment finally arrived, and she was ready. “You know,” she challenged, “even a broken clock is right once a day.”
My uncle looked at her and replied, “Twice.”
When I was in the sixth grade, I lost the sight in my right eye during a playground mishap. Fortunately, the accident had little effect on my life. When I reached my 40s, however, I needed to get glasses.
At the optometrist’s office, the doctor’s young assistant pointed to an eye chart. “Cover your right eye and read line three,” she said.
“I’m blind in my right eye,” I told her. “It’s a glass eye.”
“Okay,” she responded. “In that case, cover your left eye.”
In 2010, the Rotary Club of Anguilla partnered with the Rotary Club of Vero Beach Sunrise, Florida, through a Rotary Matching Grant to support W.I.S.E. (Workshop Initiative for Support in Education), an alternative educational programme for students who faced difficulties in the traditional school environment.
Three Rotarians travelled from Florida to Anguilla, bringing equipment purchased through the grant. They spent a week working at the Old Cottage Hospital, cleaning, making improvements, and helping transform the building into a more welcoming and functional learning environment for students and staff.
The project was an example of international Rotary cooperation in action: two clubs working together, with visiting Rotarians contributing not only financial resources but also their time and labour.
The legacy continues. W.I.S.E. remains active in Anguilla in 2026, providing educational and vocational opportunities for young people.
This video documents the Rotary Matching Grant project completed in 2010.
My uncle looked at her and replied, “Twice.”
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When I was in the sixth grade, I lost the sight in my right eye during a playground mishap. Fortunately, the accident had little effect on my life. When I reached my 40s, however, I needed to get glasses.
At the optometrist’s office, the doctor’s young assistant pointed to an eye chart. “Cover your right eye and read line three,” she said.
“I’m blind in my right eye,” I told her. “It’s a glass eye.”
“Okay,” she responded. “In that case, cover your left eye.”
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Rotary minute
Rotary in Action: The W.I.S.E. Project, Anguilla, 2010
In 2010, the Rotary Club of Anguilla partnered with the Rotary Club of Vero Beach Sunrise, Florida, through a Rotary Matching Grant to support W.I.S.E. (Workshop Initiative for Support in Education), an alternative educational programme for students who faced difficulties in the traditional school environment.
Three Rotarians travelled from Florida to Anguilla, bringing equipment purchased through the grant. They spent a week working at the Old Cottage Hospital, cleaning, making improvements, and helping transform the building into a more welcoming and functional learning environment for students and staff.
The project was an example of international Rotary cooperation in action: two clubs working together, with visiting Rotarians contributing not only financial resources but also their time and labour.
The legacy continues. W.I.S.E. remains active in Anguilla in 2026, providing educational and vocational opportunities for young people.
This video documents the Rotary Matching Grant project completed in 2010.
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Rotary Members' Inspiration
Click here to view Leah's Story - Leah is a Rotary Global Grant Scholar, hosted by Rotary Club of D6330 Passport over the past year.
This is the Power of Rotary - helping to change our lives.
Major (ret’d) Paul Hale’s military career spanned almost 42 years with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.
He deployed overseas eight times including Cyprus, Angola, South Africa, the Balkans and Afghanistan. In his video, Paul discusses the comrades he remembers on November 11th, and what Canadians need to acknowledge on Remembrance Day.
Rotary Jukebox
For a small donation, your favorite musician will be featured on one of our next e-meetings for everyone to enjoy.
Click Here to send your request.
THIS WEEK - Rembrance Sunday 2017 Nimrod
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The Four-way Test
To close the meeting, Rotarian Jim recites the Four-Way Test of the things that Rotarians think, say, or do.
Please Click Here to leave us a comment or send a message..
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Our Facebook page. Please remember to check out our posts on the Rotary E-Club’s Facebook page. We work hard to post something every second day, sometimes more often.
Invite friends to Like our page and enjoy our posts. Also, please take the time to Share our posts on your Facebook Page.
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Archived Meetings
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Attendance Links
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Donate For the Meeting You Have Attended.
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to help us help those in need.
As you have not had to buy lunch or travel to attend this program, please consider a donation of a minimum of $10.00 in appreciation for the experience you have enjoyed.
We thank you very much!
Program Donations
Our E-Club is a dynamic club comprised of ordinary working and retired people who acknowledge that Rotarians are people who are generous with their time and their resources.
Our club and the program you have just enjoyed, either as a member or a visitor, is funded only by donations.
We are developing ideas for fundraising with our members who are scattered across Canada, USA, Central America, and Europe, but we do need your help.
As you have not had to buy lunch or travel to attend this program, please make a donation of a minimum of $10.00, considering you're saving in time and cost in appreciation for the experience you have enjoyed.
Interested in providing Rotary Service? Unable to attend terra club meetings?
Contact our membership chair for information or
or HERE to learn about Associate Membership
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