News

Member Bill Black advises that there will be a short ceremony at 09:30 on Monday 2 October at the Monument to Canadian Fallen on Mackenzie Bridge / Elgin and Slater St to honour naval personnel who died during the Korean War.

This is a significant event since it was on this very day 65 years ago, the afternoon of the second of October, that HMCS Iroquois'  forward gun was hit by a shell from the communist  shore battery killing three and wounding ten. 

The MacK Lynch library has added forty additional books over the summer thanks to contributions from the estate of the late Paul Roquet and the Friends of the War Museum bookstore.  Come in and have a look around and borrow a book or two.

Would the person who contributed a box and two bags of books at the Mess Managers office please let Gord Forbes know so you can be given credit?

 

The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) has announced that the Joint Support Ships (JSS), its future Auxiliary, Oiler and Replenishment (AOR) vessels, will be known as Protecteur-class ships. 

The renaming of the JSS to Protecteur and Preserver by the RCN recognizes the distinguished and remarkable service provided by its past Protecteur-class ships that have carried these names. The renaming perpetuates the Battle Honours awarded to the forbearers of these ships and allows the future ships to add their own Battle Honours to the Preserver and Protecteur legacy.

In October 2013, the Government of Canada announced that the JSS ships would be named the Queenston-class. Since that announcement, the original purpose-built AORs, the former Protecteur and Preserver, were paid off and are no longer part of the RCN’s fleet. 

This fact presented the RCN, through its Ships Naming Committee, an opportunity to consider reusing the names of the original AORs, an option that was not available when the JSS were originally named in 2013.

Read the entire news release at:

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2017/09/joint_support_shipstoberenamedprotecteurandpreserver.html

The Fifth Annual Canadian Intelligence Conference (CANIC), sponsored by the Canadian Military Intelligence Association (CMIA) will be held in Ottawa on November 7th, 2017. This year’s theme will be: “Hybrid Warfare and the implications for Intelligence.”

Since 2013, CANIC has been the premier Canadian intelligence conference. Previous CANIC programs have included high-level keynote speakers such as the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, the Deputy Minister of National Defence, the Chief of the Defence Staff, the Commander of Joint Operations Command and the Commander of Intelligence Command. A very popular event, each Conference to date has been highly successful. This year, CMIA is honoured to host a roster of speakers well qualified to provide unique and enlightening perspectives on an extremely important theme.

Don’t miss out on this professional opportunity to share information, network, broaden your professional knowledge and engage on challenging issues impacting the Canadian and Allied Intelligence Communities. For more information or to register or sponsor go to CMIA-ACRM.ca. 

Over the past few years, your Board of Directors has been managing our membership database, our conferences, our monthly meetings  and the annual Battle of Atlantic Gala dinner through several different tools.  For example the Membership Director keeps the membership list (almost 500 strong) up to date on an Excel spreadsheet .  This is a daily activity that is almost handraulic, taking several hours a week to maintain.  It's just missing the steam fitting.  We have been searching for a smarter way to do the business of running the Ottawa Branch for over a year and believe that we have found a tool that will be less onerous, smarter, simpler and more capable.

Commencing 1 September, your Board will start the transition to a software management tool called Wild Apricot.   It will allow members to self-service in order to update their information, membership renewals, register for events, and make the email & contact list readily available to all.  It will integrate with online payments, automated invoices and tax receipts.  It will do this securely and enable only members to view content and membership directories.  Members will be able to view their membership status, event registrations, donations made, and much more using a quick search capability.  If you want further information on this new tool, go to:  https://www.wildapricot.com/

The transition will start by 1st September by taking the current information in the Membership Database and uploading it to the new tool.  There should be no work required on the part of the members, including those not on-line.  It may surprise you, but there are only 16 members who do not have an email address.  Their correspondence will continue via the traditional mails and telephone.  The new system will be fully in place for your individual access by 1st October.  The 2018 membership renewal, which commences 1st November, will use this system.  

Stay tuned.  We will keep you informed as to transition progress in the next President's message.

 

NATIONAL CONFERENCE AND AGM

The National Conference will be a one-day event hosted by the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University on Friday, 20 October. The Conference Theme is “The North Atlantic: Past and Present”. Further details will be posted on the NAC Website.  The AGM will be held on Saturday, 21 October at HMCS Cabot. If there is sufficient interest, a partner program will be available on Friday and Saturday mornings which will include a city tour and lunch at the Provincial Archives.

75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CROW’S NEST OFFICERS’ CLUB

2017 marks the 75th Anniversary of the establishment in 1942 of the Sea-Going Officers’ Club near the St. John’s waterfront. It is now a National Historic Site. As part of the anniversary celebrations, there will be several special events including a naval mess dinner at CFS St. John’s on Saturday, 21 October.

ACCOMMODATIONS

At the 1 May monthly meeting, we enjoyed a strong turnout from the membership for a very interesting presentation from Assistant Commissioner Julie Gascon, of the Central and Arctic Region of the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG). Julie adeptly fielded questions and comments on the topic areas and shared her personal perspective on many of the Arctic challenges. We truly thank her for taking the time to travel up from Montréal to speak to NAC-Ottawa. Additionally, we were pleased to welcome new member Jeffery Hutchison who has recently been appointed by the Prime Minister as the new Commissioner of the CCG. Jeff helped in fielding some of the policy-related questions and provided his insight on the current state of the CCG. For those who were unable to attend, Julie’s presentation has been posted  in English and French and provides a compelling perspective on the role of the CCG. This marks the final segment in our Speaker’s Program until we recommence in the Fall.

By request, NAC-Ottawa wants to bring the following to your attention:

Hi. My name is Tim Kerr. I am a retired Naval Officer and stroke survivor.

On May 27th/28th, I am participating in the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend while raising funds for a local charity that is important to me through the Scotiabank Charity Challenge. My charity is the Bruyere Foundation, which supports the Elizabeth Bruyère Hospital Stroke Rehabilitation Unit.

In 2012, I was Commanding Officer of a Royal Canadian Navy destroyer at sea in the Pacific Ocean. One night while at sea about 150 Nautical Miles off the California coast, I suffered a severe brain hemorrhage and hemorrhagic stroke. My crew made the critical initial decisions that saved my life, got me to the ICU at San Diego Naval Hospital, and eventually enabled me to reach the stroke rehabilitation unit at Bruyère. I owe my life to my crew and the efforts they made on my behalf.

With the stroke I had lost the use of my left side and couldn’t even sit up straight. I was a patient on the 4th floor of Elizabeth Bruyère Hospital for over three months. It was very hard, and there were some very low times. But I wasn’t alone. I had the support of many people – my family and friends, who pushed me, motivated me, wouldn’t let me give up, and reminded me of why it was so important for me to recover. And of course, I owe so much to Bruyère: the nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, the volunteers, and so many more – all of whom worked with me and for me to enable me to get to where I am today. They changed my life, They gave me my life back to me.

And so I am completing this half-marathon to raise money for this critical health care facility in our community. I was 43 years old when I had my stroke! I was fit, I had never been a smoker, I ate well. I had no risk factors for stroke. And yet, it happened, unexpectedly, and out of the blue! What I have learned about life is that no matter how hard you try you can never completely control whether something like a stroke is going to happen to you. But, what we can control is what happens after we experience an event such as a stroke, by ensuring that we have the best possible chance to recover and return to our families, our jobs, our community. Bruyère provides us this this chance. By supporting Bruyère, by helping to make sure that this facility and community of dedicated professionals are able to continue to offer first-rate, innovative and life-changing care and research, we are ensuring such support is available when we, our children and future generations may need it.

Please help me reach my fundraising goal. Here is the link to my story in Saturday’s Ottawa Citizen:

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ottawa-race-weekend-former-naval-officer-and-stroke-victim-back-on-his-feet-and-raising-money-for-hospital

And here is the link to my fundraising page:

https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?registrationID=3759361&langPref=en-CA#&panel1-1

Thanks for your support!

Regards,

Tim Kerr, Capt(N) (Retired)
Email: ta.kerr@hotmail.com
Mobile: 613-979-9326