Burlington Mundialization Committee Meeting

Minutes

Meeting #:
Date:
Time:
-
Location:
Room 247, Level 2, City Hall

1.
Members Present:

Ed Dorr (Chair), Rob Lyng, Peter Bridger, Bill Swybrous, Rory Nisan, Hassan Raza, Miles Ross, Eric Lim, Kristin Demeny, Siddhim Gupta and Karla Veites

2.
Others Present:

Jo-Anne Rudy (Clerk)

3.
Regrets:

Johanna Haan, Sabrina Yott, John Coyle, Anne Koopman, Manuela Rotar and Councillor Blair Lancaster

4.
Declarations of Interest:

None

5.
Approval of Minutes:

6.
Delegation(s):

6.1
Poem presentation by Dan Murray

Dan Murray presented the poem he wrote about Burlington's twin relationship with Apeldoorn.  The citizen delegation will present a framed version of the poem to Mayor Berends and show a video of Dan reciting the poem.  
Action - Jo-Anne to discuss video options with Communications staff.

7.
Regular Items:

7.1
Apeldoorn subcommittee update

Miles provided the following update:

  • Citizen exchange (Apr 30 - May 10) has 20 confirmed participants including Arnold and Charles. They will meet on April 16 with DH Tours to receive tickets, final itinerary and receive a crash course in Dutch by Johanna.
  • There are three schools interested in the art exchange (Pineland, Ryerson and Trinity Christian School).  Suggested deadline for artwork is April 16 - Charles will take to Apeldoorn.
  • Unfortunately the HDSB is not supporting school exchanges involving the billeting of students so the secondary exchange program will have to be revamped independent of the school board by using a private tour company. For the time being, the student exchange has been deferred.
  • Plans for Canada Netherlands Friendship Day on May 5 are going well - still looking for a choir.  The new Consul General and her family will attend as well as Elizabeth Witmer and Jim Warford (veteran).  Dan Murray will present his poem and hoping to have several former high school students talk about the long term importance of their participation in the high school exchange.  Asked for committee volunteers to assist with food and directing people from approximately 10:30 a.m. to after 12 noon.
    Motion: Approve a budget of $2,400 to cover expenses for Canada Netherlands Friendship Day.
  • Other possible initiatives include a movie night - "Tulipanie: Love Honour and a Bicycle" (a Dutch, Canadian and Italian production romance-comedy) and replacing the Dutch Games Night with a Rijstafel.

7.2
Itabashi subcommittee update

Rob provided the following update:

  • Planning for 30th anniversary in 2019 and asked for clarity around dates. Due to election in Japan, delegation from Itabashi would likely be the end of June into the beginning of July which would allow for participation in Canada Day festivities. Delegation to Itabashi would likely be October 2019. There is interest from the guilds at the AGB to participate in a bid process for official gift, similar to what was done in 2014.
  • Letter was sent from Mayor Goldring to Mayor Sakamoto regarding input for the Itabashi Garden. Contact has been established and a feedback has been requested by the end of March.
  • Cheque presentation to the Reach Out Centre for Kids (ROCK) on behalf of Mr. Enomoto took place on March 5. A thank you gift from ROCK and a letter from Mayor Goldring will be sent to Mr. Enomoto.
  • Reviewed the program for the Sakura Festival scheduled for May 5 at the AGB from 1 to 3 p.m. Performers have been confirmed and posters will be distributed throughout the community.
    Action - Jo-Anne to distribute poster to city facilities
  • Letters from M.M. Robinson are ready to be picked up on Friday and Chuck will be sending them electronically to Itabashi.  Will be meeting with teacher at M.M. Robinson to review the program and discuss expanding to other schools.
  • The art from Itabashi and Sir Ernest MacMillan school will be mounted at the AGB before the Sakura Festival with the formal opening of the "Celebration of Art" being held on May 9 at 7 p.m.
  • Some upcoming events include:
    • Haiku workshop - Central Library  - April 10 at 7 p.m.
    • "Mitsuko Delivers" Japanese movie - Central Library - May 2 at 6:30 p.m.
  • Suggestion was made to have Roxanne begin a list of folks who are interested in participating in a citizen exchange to Itabashi in 2019.

7.3
United Nations subcommittee update

Rory provided the following update:

  • Next meeting date is March 21 and asked for a couple more members to consider participating on this subcommittee.
  • Working on securing a speaker for UN Day - two possibilities - Stephen Lewis and Nancy Doubleday.  A letter was drafted for Steven Lewis by the subcommittee, reviewed by Jo-Anne and Ed and a final version on letterhead sent to Sabrina for her to send out.
  • Will participate in a couple of events in the Spring/Summer that are already taking place in the city - possibilities could be Lowville Festival, Appleby Street Fest, Canada Day or One Burlington.  Idea is to have booths at these events to provide information about Model UN.

8.
Other Business:

  • Discussion took place regarding opportunities for Burlington citizens to volunteer in Apeldoorn and/or Itabashi and how the committee could possibly facilitate this.  Ed suggested that some brainstorming be done on this.
  • Ed advised that the committee's annual report will be going to the Committee of the Whole on May 7. This will include subcommittee reports and an executive summary which Hassan has agreed to write.
  • Rory brought the topic up of changing the committee's name and suggested that it is hurting the the brand as it requires an explanation.  Brief discussion took place and Ed suggested that some members meet to discuss possible alternatives.

9.
Adjournment: 8:50 p.m.

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