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Canadian Women’s Club of Chicago Newsletter
March 2010

PRESIDENTS LETTER

February sure was a great month with the excitement of the Olympics.  It was a great event especially with Canada winning the most gold medals.  The final hockey game was a memorable one.  Sidney Crosby who scored the winning goal is from Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia.  It is a small town outside of my hometown of Dartmouth.  The opening and closing ceremonies were beautifully done.  It gave the rest of the world the chance to see all the beauty of the Canadian West.  The story of the 167 planes that were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland on 9/11 was a moving story of the kindness and generosity of the people there to the 7000 passengers in their great time of need.                                     

March is another month of celebration with St. Patrick's Day.  Everyone enjoys the parade along the "green river".  It is Shamrocks for Kids Day which benefits the Mercy Home.  I work at the event at the Hilton Hotel where they serve great Irish food and music. 

See you at our meeting on March 17th.                                          
- Bev Paonessa
 

NEWSLETTER DEADLINE

The deadline for submitting articles to be included in the April newsletter is March 31st, 2010. All articles should be submitted to Jan Dengis. Please put CWC on the subject line. Any questions, please call Jan.


MEMBER NEWS

Birthday wishes for March go to Helen Hughes on March 14th, Anne Rizzolo on March 16th, Jackie Brennan on March 18th, Sheila Chin on March 19th, (withheld) on March 23rd, Vicki Fraser on March 27th, Elaine Lamberts on March 28th, Suzy Campbell on the 29th, and Ann Davies and Barbara Wayne on the 30th.

Congratulations to Joan and Joe Ridyard on the recent celebration of their 25th Wedding Anniversary.


MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Canadian Event Calendar
 

	Friday, March 5, 7:30pm, Vancouver Canucks vs. Chicago Blackhawks, United Center
	Friday, March 12, 7:30pm, Toronto Marlies vs. Chicago Wolves, Allstate Arena, Rosemont
	Friday & Saturday, March 19 & 20, 7:00pm, Great Big Sea, House of Blues, 329 North Dearborn, Chicago
	Wednesday, March 24, 6:00pm, Film screening: Maman est chez le coiffeur (Mommy is at the Hairdresser’s), Festival de la Francophonie: Canada/Quebec Night, Alliance Francaise of Chicago, 810 North Dearborn, Chicago
	Thursday, March 25, 7:00pm, Justin Bieber, a Canadian R&B, pop and dance musician, Rosemont Theater, Rosemont
	Friday, March 26, 8:00pm, Tegan & Sara, Aragon Ballroom, 1106 West Lawrence, Chicago
	Saturday, March 27, 8:00pm, Michael Buble, Crazy Love US Tour, Allstate Arena, Rosemont

If you are interested in any of these events, more details can be found at the following websites:
www.cwcchicago.com and www.canadianclubofchicago.org


CLUB NEWS
 

Book Club
If you have read the book or not, come for a discussion of the novel, “THE BOOK OF NEGROES” by Canadian author Lawrence Hill. The meeting is on March 10th, at 11:00 at the home of Jan Dengis. Please RSVP to Jan. After the discussion we will have lunch. There is some street parking.

Looking Ahead
On April 21st, the meeting will be held at the home of (withheld). The programme will be “The Amazing Monarch (butterfly, that is!)” by Diane Hunter.

New Date -The May meeting at the Consul General’s residence has been changed from May 19th to May 12th.

On June 16, the Grand Finale – “50 Wonderful Years!”

50th Anniversary Party
Save the date! Saturday, May 22nd is the date for our 50th Anniversary Party. Details to follow.
 

A PEEK AT OUR PAST...

By Michelle Gillis
 

For a club to thrive for fifty years, it must have a core of committed women to run it. Each year a Board has been elected to take on those responsibilities, and our current membership includes many who held various Board positions and were actively involved in making the club what it has become. I think our 50th anniversary year is a good time to acknowledge the time and energy of these ladies:

	Ruth Johnston, besides being our only fifty-year member, served seventeen years on the board at various times in our history, including two stints as President.
	Other former Presidents include Marie Claire Alves, (withheld), Vicki Fraser (still a member although she moved to South Carolina), (withheld), Barbara Dickie, (withheld), Shay Burgess, Gail Robinson Thompson, Sue Willis (who has since moved back to Kelowna but is still a member), (withheld), (withheld), (withheld), Jan Dengis, Susanna Doolin, Norah Johnson, Carol Taylor and Michelle Gillis. Some are still active on the Board, and each of them also served in other positions.
	In addition to those currently on our Board, these ladies have been Board members at some time: (withheld) (who served six years as Treasurer!), Joyce Enxing, Ann Davies (now living in Great Britain), Barb Miller, (withheld), Ellie Atman, and Vivi Martens. (Please let me know if I’ve missed anyone, so I can correct the archives).
	In the past couple of years, we lost three other former Board members: Jean Hastings, Patti Willian, and Bridget Gillen. And there were many others who are no longer club members but made significant contributions during their years with the club.

Many ladies have made significant contributions to the Club without being on the formal Board roster, including the many hostesses who opened up their homes to our luncheon meetings.

We should all be very grateful for the commitment of these women who shaped the club over half a century. It has grown and evolved, survived some challenging times, but continues to be a great opportunity for Canadian women (and some who wish they were!) to celebrate their connection to Canada, and have a great time doing it.

If you want the club to continue for another 50 years, please think about how you can get involved!  There will be several Board positions open next year, and lots of other ways to make a contribution to your club.
 

How Well Do You Know “O Canada”?
by Michelle Gillis

It’s been such a thrill to hear our national anthem played on the podium at the Vancouver Winter Olympics an amazing FOURTEEN times! And I noticed that two phrases, “With glowing hearts" and "Des plus brillants exploits" were used as slogans at the Olympics. It made me ask some questions about this song all Canadians (and hockey fans) know so well: why do some of us sing it differently? How did it come to be our national anthem? What do the French lyrics mean? So I set out to find some answers. Thanks to Wikipedia and other reference sources, including an old Canadian songbook, here are some facts that may surprise you.

The French version came first - commissioned by the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony. The music was written by Calixa Lavallée, a well-known composer, and the lyrics are a patriotic poem composed by poet and judge, Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. These French lyrics never changed:
 

In 1906 the song was translated to English, and two years later original English lyrics were written by Mr. Justice Robert Stanley Wier. It became increasingly popular throughout the 20th century, but faced competition from two other “unofficial national anthems” in English Canada: "God Save the Queen" and "The Maple Leaf Forever". It wasn’t until July 1, 1980 that it became was signed into law as the official national anthem, as part of that year's Dominion Day celebrations. (it’s been called Canada Day since 1982).

You may be surprised to find out that the English lyrics were changed slightly at that time, based on recommendations by a Special Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Commons in 1968. The National Anthem Act of 1980 added a religious reference and replaced some of the somewhat tedious repetitions of the phrase "We stand on guard." This change was controversial, and for several years afterwards it was not uncommon to hear people (some by choice, some by memory reflex) still singing the old lyrics at public events.
 

When I was in school is Saskatchewan in the 1970’s, we learned a bilingual version that alternated between English and French. And I just found out that there is now a third official version, in the Inuktitut language. Whichever way we sing it, we can all be proud to be Canadians!

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Email: mail@cwcchicago.com