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The Rotary Club of Oshawa hosted the annual Night of a Thousand Dinners fundraiser for Canadian Landmines Foundation at the Ontario Regiment Officers Mess in downtown Oshawa on January 18, 2024. Guest Speaker for the evening was the Honourable Lloyd Axworthy, Canada's former Minister of External Affairs, who is the Honorary President of the Foundation and author of The Ottawa Treaty. The Canadian Landmine Foundation is a registered charity with a mission to raise awareness and funds to end human and economic suffering caused by landmines. They support demining, victim assistance, and educational programming in countries plagued by landmines.
Thank you to all those who attended from Rotary Clubs of Oshawa, Oshawa-Parkwood, Bowmanville, Markham-Unionville, Trenton, Toronto, Campbellford, and beyond. Thank you to Oshawa Rotarian Gordon Dowsley and his team of organizers. Also thank you to Rotary Club of Oshawa Past President Peter Hernandez (guest speaker Thanker) for sharing his photos. (The photos will be on the District 7070 website for all to see). To learn more about the Canadian Landmines Foundation please go to https://canadianlandmine.org . The Ottawa Treaty that brought 161 countries around the world together banning anti-personnel landmines by entrenching the norm.
It is time for Rotary District 7070 clubs and clubs throughout the country to re-energize " A Night of A Thousand Dinners" and host one of these Rotary Club sponsored evenings, this year and every year to promote peace in the world and tell the world it is time to ban landmines everywhere.
Here is a video on the Ottawa Treaty , 20 years later. https://vimeo.com/190510668
A Night of A Thousand Dinners event hosted by The Rotary Club of Oshawa on January 18, 2024
In December 1997 the Ottawa Treaty banning the use of Landmines was signed by 122 countries on Parliament Hill. Since then, a further 40 countries have signed up making the current total 162 independent nations worldwide.
Following the signing of the treaty The Canadian Landmine Foundation was formed and Rotary became an unofficial sponsor as a few board chairs are reserved for Rotarians. Its role is to raise money to remove the mines and to educate children in dangerous areas as to what mines look like, to report them to adults and to never touch them.
Many Rotary clubs contribute directly to the Canadian Landmines Foundation from funds on hand. Others raise funds through a Night of A Thousand Dinners evenings and send these funds to the foundation. Rotarians from all around the District joined our hosts, The Rotary Club of Oshawa, for this year's dinner on January 18, 2024 in the Officer's Mess, The Colonel R, S. Mclaughlin Armoury of The Ontario Regiment, Simcoe Street, Oshawa.
This year's distinguished keynote speaker was Lloyd Axworthy (Canada's former Federal Minister of External Affairs, a Companion of the Order of Canada, Chair of the World Refugee & Migration Foundation, Nobel peace Nominee, a proud Rotarian, and Leader of the Ottawa Process which led to The Ottawa Treaty, the outlawing of landmines in international law).
A Night of a Thousand Dinners (N1KD) is an event that helps to raise awareness of the global landmine crisis and to raise funds for mine action. N1KD began as a global campaign in 2001 and the tradition continues to this day among Rotary Clubs in Canada. Night of a Thousand Dinners is a wonderful opportunity for everyone to make a positive difference in the lives of those living in mine-affected communities, while at the same time sharing a meal with friends and family. Every contribution, no matter how small, will affect change on a global scale.
How are the funds raised for N1KD used?
Net proceeds from Night of a Thousand Dinners will be used to fund mine action programs in Cambodia. Our unSAFE campaign supports Cambodian Self Help Demining (CSHD), an organization that operates Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams which help rural Cambodians who come across mines and explosive remnants of war in their day-to-day lives. You can read about the unSAFE campaign HERE (see: canadianlandmine.org/the-projects/unsafe) .
In addition to demining, CSHD’s Risk Education Team travels from village to village teaching people how to identify an explosive and what to do if they find one.
The Canadian Landmine Foundation is a registered charity with a mission to raise awareness and funds to end human and economic suffering caused by landmines. We partner with other charitable organizations that meet our standards and help relieve the global and continued suffering of countries plagued with landmines and their victims.
The Canadian Landmine Foundation (CLMF) aims to realize the vision and goals of the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel landmines by entrenching the norm, now established by 161 governments around the world, and also to meet the challenge of clearing mine-infested lands and to offer hope and practical support to mine victims in the world’s most mine-affected
countries/communities. Additionally, we aim to continue raising awareness about the consequences of landmines on the landscape, communities and families of countries around the world. We continue to support organizations that achieve these goals.
Since 1999 the Canadian Landmine Foundation and Canadians across the country have funded $3.7 million in mine action projects around the world, from victim assistance to the clearance of nearly 2 million square metres of land!
Here is a recent letter from Wilf Wilkinson, Past President, Rotary International:
Dear Rotarians,
When was the last time you stepped on a landmine? Probably never – aren’t we fortunate. If you live in Cambodia, Iraq or Syria, to name a few, you may have not been so lucky.
Rotarians have committed time and money to eliminate many ills that plague our world, including longstanding support of mine action. We at the Canadian Landmine Foundation (CLMF) are asking Rotarians to renew their commitment to eliminating these terrible weapons.
Rotarians and Rotary Clubs have been some of the largest financial contributors to the Canadian Landmine Foundation. 122 Clubs in 18 Districts coast to coast have contributed more than $260,000 to Canadian Landmine Foundation programs over the years. These funds went to projects that cleared mines and assisted survivors in places like Bosnia, Mozambique, Afghanistan and Cambodia.
CSHD personnel teach a mine risk education class at a village school.
Today the Canadian Landmine Foundation works to raise awareness at home and support mine action in Cambodia through partnerships with local organizations. Cambodian Self Help Demining (CSHD) operates demining and explosive ordnance disposal teams in rural Cambodia. When villagers find mines and other explosive remnants of war, one of five Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams are dispatched to neutralize the explosives and conduct mine risk education. The Canadian Landmine Foundation is proud to sponsor one of those EOD Teams.
To date, CSHD teams have cleared 3 million square metres of land. CSHD was founded in 2008 by an ex-child soldier named Aki Ra – who has personally cleared more than 50,000 landmines – with support from former Rotarian Bill Morse (Palm Springs).
It is now time for Rotarians to revisit their commitment to this worthwhile humanitarian cause. In keeping with this year’s Rotary theme, it is time once again for Rotarians “To Make a Difference.”
On behalf of the Foundation’s Rotary engagement committee, I thank you for taking time to consider supporting the Canadian Landmine Foundation. I believe it typifies the work of Canadian Rotarians during the 150 anniversary of our country.
Sincerely,
Wilf Wilkinson, CM, FCPA
President of Rotary International 2007/08
Chair of The Rotary Foundation 2012/13
Here are a few photos:
