hadley.eduhadley.edu/SeminarTranscript/2016-04-27-So-You-Think-… · Web viewWelcome to Seminars@Hadley. My name is Larry Muffett. I’m a member of Hadley’s seminars team and

Geography: Talking Travel

So You Think You Know Canada, Eh

Seminars@Hadley

Geography: Talking TravelSo You Think You Know Canada, Eh

Presented byKathy CulhaneTracy Garbutt

Moderated byLarry Muffett

April 27, 2016

Larry MuffettWelcome to Seminars@Hadley. My name is Larry Muffett. I’m a member of Hadley’s seminars team and I also work in curricular affairs. Today’s seminar topic is under Geography: Talking Travel: So You Think You Know Canada, Eh. It is our great fortune here at Hadley to work closely with CNIB, both the staff and serving as ambassadors, and it’s a great relationship. CNIB specialists work with people of all ages in their homes, communities or local CNIB offices providing the personalized rehabilitation support they need to see beyond vision loss, to build their independence, and to lead the lives they want. Each year Canadians who are blind or partially sighted receive almost one million hours

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of vital support from CNIB helping them build their independence and fully participate in life. Today we welcome CNIB ILS specialists Kathy Culhane from Calgary, Alberta, and Tracy Garbutt from Winnipeg, Manitoba, for an enlightening look at all things Canadian. Without any further ado let me welcome Kathy and Tracy and we’ll get under way. Welcome.

Kathy CulhaneThank you, Larry. This is Kathy Culhane talking. I am an Independent Living Skills Specialist out of the Calgary, Alberta CNIB office. I have worked with CNIB for 10 ½ years. I was born visually impaired. I have retinitis pigmentosa, so I do have a good understanding of what our clients have to deal with on a daily basis. It’s been a wonderful job. It’s a very rewarding job and it gives me the opportunity to meet many different people from many different walks of life. I have been a Hadley/Canadian ambassador for about 9 years. I am the Senior Hadley Ambassador for Canada. There’s about six of us that are part of that team. I love working with Hadley. It’s a fantastic opportunity. So it’s a great privilege to be talking to you today.

Tracy GarbuttGood morning, everybody, it’s Tracy Garbutt from Winnipeg, Manitoba, the CNIB office here. I have been here for 19 years. It’s been an amazing road. It’s been




really interesting getting to work, exactly kind of what Kathy said, so many different people and cultures. You learn a lot when you’re out there working with the clients. I’ve been with Hadley for about 4 or 5 years and, again, I’ve really enjoyed working with Hadley. They have lots to offer and look forward to talking more about Canada.

Kathy CulhaneOkay, I’m just going to start off with welcoming all of you. Thank you for taking the time out to listen to us today. Hopefully, you’ll understand our accents. I’m just joking, by the way. Hopefully, you’ll learn a lot about your neighbors, especially our American friends; hopefully, you’ll learn a lot about your neighbors above you. Just so that you are aware, I’m just gonna talk about our government, I’m going to talk a little bit about our money that we have here. And, just so you know, I’m not the most intelligent person when it comes to our government, so if I don’t answer all your questions, hopefully you can Google it and find some more information. But, here I go.

First of all, the capital of Canada is Ottawa, Ontario. Canada is composed of – we have 10 provinces, which are British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador. We also have 3 territories, which are the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut. Canada has about approximately 35 million people living




here. We also are governed by what we call the federal government. It is the Liberals that are in power currently, so our Prime Minister is Justin Trudeau. Canada actually has three levels of government and each level of government has different responsibilities. The federal government, which is the government of Canada, is responsible for things that affect the whole country; citizenship, immigration, national defense, trade, and other countries. Provincial and territory governments, for example the province of Alberta, would be responsible for such things as education, healthcare, highways. The municipal government, which is the local government, cities, towns, and villages, they’re responsible for firefighting, city streets, and other local matters.

The federal government has three parts to that. Queen Elizabeth II is the actual formal Head of State. The Governor General, whose name I just could not remember actually right at this time, he takes over the duties and the responsibilities for the Queen when she is not here. Then there’s the House of Commons, which makes Canada’s laws. The Canadians elect representatives to the House of Commons. These representatives are called Members of Parliament, or MPs, and usually belong to a political party. The political party that has the largest number of MPs forms the government and its leaders become prime minister. The Prime Minister is the head of the government of Canada. He chooses MPs to serve as




ministers in the Cabinet. There are ministers for citizenship and immigration, justice, and other subjects. The Senate reviews laws that are proposed by the House of Commons and senators come from across Canada. The Prime Minister also chooses these senators.

The provincial government, we have a lieutenant governor, which represents the Queen; the legislative assembly makes laws and are called Members of Provincial Parliament, like I mentioned the MPs; and the premier leads the government and chooses MPPs to serve as ministers in the Cabinet. Currently in Alberta, for instance, the Premier of Alberta, her name is Rachel Notley. She actually represents the governing party called the NDP, which is the New Democratic Party.

There’s lots of information on the Canadian government. That’s just a brief overview of what we have here. As you know, it is part of England, the United Kingdom. When we go to England, we are considered the Commonwealth, part of the Commonwealth, so hence why Queen Elizabeth II is technically the Head of State here in Canada.

The other thing I was going to mention is that Canada actually has four of the Great Lakes. There are five Great Lakes, which are Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Superior, and Lake Michigan, which is in the United




States. We also actually share Niagara Falls. For those of you who’ve never heard of Niagara Falls, it’s actually a beautiful area. It’s in Ontario. It is just a beautiful part. The Americans have the Buffalo, New York area; we have the Niagara Falls Ontario, Canada area, and it’s really, really beautiful and pretty.

Canada is the second largest country in the world. For us to actually talk about every single province, every single territory, it would take forever, so, again, I’m just gonna give you a brief description of what Canada is like. We do not live in igloos. We do not ride around in Ski-doos. It is not always cold here 24/7. We have very similar climate to our neighbors, to our American neighbors. If I was to go from east to west, the furthest east is the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. They are bordered onto the Atlantic Ocean. They are very rocky, very much a bunch of different islands. And then if you were to head west form Newfoundland, then you’re heading into the Maritimes, which is Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island. Then it’s the central part of Canada, which is Ontario, which is probably our largest province, and Quebec would be south of Ontario in our map. Quebec has Montreal, which is the common city that a lot of people have heard of. They also have a beautiful city called Quebec City. And then there, obviously, is Ontario, which is the largest province. Then it’s Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, which are considered the Prairies, and British Columbia.




British Columbia’s the farthest west province. It borders onto the Pacific Ocean. There’s Vancouver, which actually held our 2010 Winter Olympics. There are many different islands as well through BC; Victoria, many other different islands, too, that people habitat on. We are fishing, there’s a lot of fishing, a lot of lumber in BC. Canada relies a lot on oil. Alberta is going through a bit of an economy slump right now due to oil, but we are heavy in that industry as well.

Just as a preview, Tracy will be talking a lot about his province of Manitoba. I, of course, will be talking a lot about the province of Alberta, just because we both are familiar with that since we both live in those provinces.

The Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut, never been, but it is the northernmost area of Canada. Lots of timber, that’s where there’s a lot of ice, polar bears, a lot of our Inuit people live up there. I heard it’s very, very beautiful up there despite it being very cold. The Yukon is actually right across from Alaska, so, if you’ve ever been to Alaska, it’s probably quite similar to that. When I say the Prairies, by the way, that means that there’s a lot of flat farm land, not a lot of hills. There are quite a few lakes, but it is pretty much flat.

Hopefully, I’ve given you a descriptive idea of what Canada is like. As I said, it is the second largest country.




Our temperatures vary between provinces. We can have beautiful weather. During the winter months, we do have longer winter months, sometimes, compared to other countries it seems. We’ve actually had a fortunate winter this year. Alberta has really lucked out this year. We hardly had any snow. Vancouver, BC, the British Columbia area, is usually quite rainy. Alberta and the Prairies are usually – during the winter months, we do get quite a bit of snow. Same with Ontario, Quebec, and the rest of Canada. During the summer and spring, we actually do see the sun. We do actually have a lot of green spaces and we do have, like I said, many, many lakes. Depending on what type of year you’re coming, sorry, what type of season you’re gonna be coming in, that will just determine on what you’re gonna wear that day. You do not need battery operated socks or anything like that in the winter time. Hopefully, that gave you a good description of what Canada is like.

Tracy GarbuttGood description, very informative, Kathy. I’m gonna start off and then Kathy and I both are gonna talk a little bit about traveling within Canada being blind or partially sighted. I know for myself in Manitoba here, things have really started to come a long way. Buses with GPS so that you know when you’re gonna get off your stop. And a lot of things that are happening now, too, there’s a website that’s really good, it’s called clearingourpath.ca, and,




basically, it’s really trying to focus on the standards and how to better prepare businesses and traveling within our provinces to make it standard. If anybody has ever crossed certain streets, and I know in the states you guys have your truncated domes, and that’s to align yourselves to cross the streets. It’s really amazing how much that can help your travel, your straight line of travel. With some of these things going on within Canada, it’s really making it easier for people to travel more independently. I know in Ontario, Toronto, some of the bigger cities, it’s having the announcements on the subways. Things are really starting to come along and it makes it much easier.

The only thing, I think, within Canada, and a lot of the states too, is winter time can be definitely a harder time to travel as a blind person. I’m a guide dog user and he really makes my life a lot simpler within the winter months because I don’t have to guess where I am. And I can use my GPS on my phone and everything else, but there’s always times where technology doesn’t work and it’s nice to have my dog to really fine-tune my traveling within the winter.

Kathy CulhaneI’m actually a cane user. As Tracy mentioned, in Canada it is fairly easy to travel depending, again, on what your means of travel are. It does take a while to get across our country, so, for instance, if you are traveling from




Newfoundland to Alberta, that is an 8 hour plane ride. We do have trains, planes, and automobiles here in Canada. And, yes, most of those are accessible. I use the Calgary transit system every day. They do announce stops. On the platforms they have what’s called raised braille. It’s a yellow pebbled strip that they put at the edge of the platforms so that you know when to not fall over into the train area by using your cane or your dog. If there are certain places that you want to go to in Canada, most of them accessible. You do have to probably go to their website just to find out how accessible they really are. Most of the museums and things like that within Canada, you can get hands-on. You just have to ask. We do have the Blind Persons Act here in Canada as well, and with Tracy and his guide dog, again, they do have a Guide Dog Act as well, so service dogs are allowed and permitted in every single area of Canada. So do keep that in mind. Have I missed anything there Tracy?

Tracy GarbuttNo, that sounds really good. Yeah, definitely, when Kathy mentioned the guide dog laws as well, they really, really are working on that because there are just a lot of issues with people that have, so to speak, service animals, but they really aren’t. It’s really trying to protect the guide dog users and any kind of service animal, police and rescue and all that kind of stuff, because when people are interfering with any kind of animal, it does make it hard to




travel and it can be frustrating. Here in Manitoba, your first offense interfering with a guide dog is $5,000 and your second is $10,000. For people that don’t really understand the whole idea about guide dogs, you can get yourself into hot water pretty quick.

Kathy CulhaneI also wanted to mention that we do have braille on most of our signage. Again, it’s asking, requesting, if they do have any braille in any museum or anywhere that you plan on going. Just so you know as well – I just lost my train of thought talking about braille. We in Canada, actually the second language that we speak here is French, so that is our predominant – it’s English and then French, so a lot of our signage and a lot of our products and everything are in French as well. Just so that you are aware of that.

Tracy GarbuttThanks, Kathy. I’m gonna talk a little bit about sports and food in Canada. It’ll be very broad range. For sports and that we have our nine CFL teams, our seven NHL teams – yes, and I know, none of them made it to the playoffs this year; we’re all going through a little withdrawal, a little sad. Also, I know within Manitoba and other parts of Canada, blind sports have really launched themselves into another dimension. It’s really picked up over the last even 5 to 6 years. There’s more involvement, more things starting up. Everything, I know, in Manitoba, from the blind golfers,




rowing, the running clubs, and ski teams, all that kind of stuff is really taking off. Even in Ontario, which is really cool for the partially sighted, they’re actually is a low vision hockey team. They also have the Skihawks for downhill skiing; it’s kind of awesome. It’s really making it more interesting and getting more blind people out. Over the years blind people just haven’t had the opportunity to participate in a lot of different sports, and now it’s really come a long way. Even noticing with Paralympics and things like that, it’s amazing how many more athletes we’re really seeing out there making our mark in the sporting world. It’s been pretty exciting watching that grow over the years.

Predominately, in Manitoba, we’re very diverse in our culture, so the food in Manitoba is kind of interesting. Anything from our Ukrainian population, which is fairly large – the pierogies, I love those – and our Aboriginal community. One of their things is bannock, and, I don’t know, it’s hard to describe bannock. It’s kind of in between a pastry and a bread, if that’d be a good way of describing it. Out in Alberta way, they’re big into beef. I would just say beef, really. Again, it’s just really diverse in what kind of things we eat out here, but I think it’s pretty similar to you guys as well. I know Quebec and all them, the poutine is where that was launched with the fries and cheese and gravy. I’ve actually never had it, so it’s kind of




strange hearing that from a Canadian. What do you think Kathy?

Larry MuffettYou can go ahead, Kathy. We had some people trying to jump in there in front of you and I took care of that, so you can go ahead. As soon as I sign off, go ahead and jump in, Kathy.

Kathy CulhaneThanks, Larry. Sorry, I don’t know if you heard me answer or not, but I was just saying that there’s a lot of fish as well on our east coast/west coast, lobster, that kind of thing. As Tracy mentioned, in Alberta we are a beef province. We do eat a lot of beef. But, again, as he mentioned, we are a melting pot in Canada. We have many, many different cultures, so there’s lots to choose from when you come here. There’s Indian food and Asian food and fusion food and, again, as he mentioned in Manitoba, Ukrainian food, everything. You will not be disappointed when coming to Canada. You can pretty much eat whatever you want. In Montreal, Quebec, they also have what’s called smoked meat, smoked beef, that’s very, very good as well. There’s not really one thing that’s just Canadian; maple syrup maybe, which comes from trees in Quebec. If you have a sweet tooth, then maple syrup is definitely the way to go.




Tracy GarbuttOut Manitoba way, kind of our culture here, we do have one of the largest indigenous, or aboriginal, communities. Again, it’s very diverse and it makes it interesting because we do have such a broad range of travel time within Manitoba to get places. We also have Churchill, which a lot of people will travel up to see the polar bears and stuff like that. It’s quite the haul if you’re trying to get up there. Before fly-ins were available, it could take you up to 34 hours. You’d have to drive a certain amount of distance and then take a train in the rest of the way. It was very interesting for many years to get there. Now it’s finally getting the proper airports up there; it’s made it a lot better for people to try to travel up there.

Kathy CulhaneI must apologize. I noticed that Alison, you had mentioned that I forgot to mention New Brunswick, and you’re correct on that. New Brunswick is also on the eastern side of Canada near Newfoundland. I do apologize. I don’t know why I totally forgot New Brunswick. Again, they are part of our lovely country and there are wonderful people from New Brunswick. Actually, I have really good friends that live there. I apologize for not mentioning that earlier.

Tracy, are you finished with talking about the food and sports, or did you want to move on to the tourism now?




Tracy GarbuttYeah, we’ll start with some tourism. Manitoba has some of the best beaches in Canada. We all want to say that about our province or whatever, but, I know in some research and that, I’ve seen Canada, I mean Manitoba, being in that top 10 to 15 beaches in the world. It’s pretty amazing and it’s called Grand Beach. It’s about an hour and a half drive out of our city. It’s one of those typical beaches that go on and on forever, the white fine sand. It’s pretty amazing that we have something like that here.

Out in Manitoba, we actually have the first Canadian Museum for Human Rights here. It’s also the first accessible museum in the world. Right now we have an exhibit here, it’s called Sight Unseen, and there’s up to 11, 12 different artists from around the world, actually, that have different things and pictures displayed. The photos were taken and then they were done in a 3D art, and it also comes with audio as well. As you’re checking out the 3D image, you can press one of the buttons and it describes a photo so you know what you’re actually feeling in front of you. It’s been pretty amazing and I think it’s gonna really put us on the map and, hopefully, more museums around the world can be accessible as well. I know a lot of people are coming and checking out that museum here in Manitoba.




Again, we have a lot of beaches and we’re the Prairies, so predominately, the whole farming industry is really huge out here. I know the big joke out here is that if you lose your dog on the farm, you just gotta look out your window because you’ll probably see him running away about a mile away. There’s not a lot out in the Prairies. Like Kathy said, it’s very flat and it’s one of our biggest industries here that keeps Manitoba going.

Kathy CulhaneIn regards to Alberta, the province of Alberta is actually very close to the Canadian Rockies, which is also in BC. We are a little more mountainous than Tracy’s province of Manitoba. Calgary, Alberta is most famous for the Calgary Stampede. I don’t know if any of you have ever heard of it, but it is the largest outdoor show on Earth. It is a rodeo as well as a midway. It runs usually the first Friday of July and it runs for 10 days here in Calgary. This year I believe it starts July 8th and – sorry, I’m just gonna double check so I don’t give you wrong information so you can all go book your flights – it is from July 8th to July 17th. That’s when the Calgary Stampede begins. The Friday is usually a downtown parade. We have floats and bands from all over the world that do participate in that. We also have free stampede breakfasts every morning throughout the city. Those usually comprise of pancakes and sausage and bacon and all that yummy stuff. Again, that’s for 10 days.




Calgary is also famous for the 1988 Winter Olympics. There was a movie talked about it called Cool Runnings. That was with John Candy in it. That mentioned Calgary and it was during the Olympics. We are a pretty famous city, actually, and we also are home to the hockey team called the Calgary Flames, and the CFL team called the Calgary Stampeders. Calgary is quite large. There’s over a million people that live here. It is a big city.

We also have Edmonton, Alberta, which is the capital of Alberta, and it is three hours north of Calgary. They are home, actually, to the West Edmonton Mall, which is the largest mall, I believe, in the world. It has hotels, it has swimming pools, it has ice rinks; it has everything. It is a huge mall, so it’s definitely worth the visit. We also have Jasper National Park, which is north of Edmonton. We have Banff National Park, which is west of Calgary. We also have Canmore, which is just before Banff. Canmore actually held the Canmore Nordic Centre for the Winter Olympics, so all the cross country skiing, all of that that took place, that was in Canmore. It is a beautiful province, and, yes, I’m being biased. But we are very close to everything. We’re actually not too far from the American border as well. From Calgary to the American border south is about a 5 hour drive and we head into Montana. Yes, in relevance to those of our American friends that are online, the province of Alberta is above the state of Montana and I believe Manitoba – actually I have no idea




where you are Tracy. I can’t remember what state is below you. But just to give you a reference to where we are in relation to our American friends, I know there’s more than just the Americans listening to us today, so that’s fantastic. I see that we have somebody from Europe joined us, so that’s awesome.

Oh, yes, Larry just mentioned don’t forget Bret “The Hitman” Hart from Calgary. He was one of our famous wrestlers to come from Calgary. We also have Jann Arden, for those of you who are into music. Jann Arden is from Calgary. The band – oh my gosh, the band just went right out of my head. It was a heavy metal band from Hanna, Alberta, and I can’t think of who it is. If anyone can think of that name let me know.

Anyway, we’re a great province. Like I said, it’s very accessible. There is a train that – I think it’s called the Rocky Mountaineer train – that takes you through the Rocky Mountains. It’s very expensive, but it gives you a really great idea of what the provinces of Alberta and BC is like. BC is also a very beautiful province with lots of mountains and lakes. Again, Vancouver is home of the 2010 Winter Olympics. They have lots and lots of sites there as well. Millions of people live in Vancouver as well. It’s quite expensive to live here, just as an FYI. But we do have lots to offer and we also have museums.




We also have in Drumheller, Alberta, which is east of Calgary – it’s about an hours’ drive east of Calgary – they have a museum there called the Royal Tyrrell Museum, which is all about dinosaurs. Drumheller is famous for dinosaurs and you can actually go on an excavation site and I believe you can actually feel some of the bones and see and hear – there’s audio information as well that is presented in that museum.

Hopefully, I’ve enticed you to come to Calgary. It is a fantastic city, especially during the Calgary Stampede. It is a very awesome, awesome time. Again, lots of people from all over the world come visit. Hopefully, we’ll see you there. Oh, and just as an FYI, during the Stampede, a lot of people dress in cowboy hats, jeans, that kind of thing. That is not how we dress all year round. I think people from different countries assume that’s how we dress, and we do not dress like that all the time. It is just during the Stampede that we just pull out our cowboy and cowgirl outfits and we yahoo all the way for 10 days. It is a great time.

Tracy GarbuttThat is for sure; it is quite the party out there. We definitely have some unique stuff. I left out, yes, we’re about a million strong in Manitoba, home to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers CFL team, Winnipeg Jets, who have been back in the league for about 5 years. Yeah, we’re back on




the map again and I hope you guys got a lot out of this. I’ve learned some stuff again, too, just doing some research. I guess, probably, we’re gonna take some questions right away.

QuestionHi, this is Allen from Kissimmee, Florida. I had the opportunity to visit Quebec City back in February 2006 for Carnaval and it was a lot of fun. That was before I lost my vision in December. But what I’m interested in is about the money. I understand you have braille on your money and apparently you don’t have a penny anymore. How does that work?

Tracy GarbuttYeah, we do have braille on our money and our money is – I’m trying to think – it’s almost like plastic in a way now, so the braille lasts a lot longer. So for a $5 you’re gonna have a full braille cell, for a $10 two full braille cells, $20 is three, and it’s much easier to tell your denominations. Getting rid of the penny is nice. They just round up now when you’re purchasing stuff. We also don’t have a dollar bill. We have what we call the loonie, and it’s a fair-sized coin. We also have the toonie for our $2, so we don’t have a $2 bill anymore as well. It has really made it much easier to organize, get things in and out of your wallet – well, I guess you get weighed down a little bit over time if




you have a lot of toonies and loonies in your pockets – but it does make our money very accessible.

Kathy CulhaneThank you for reminding me about that too, Allen. Yes, and as Tracy said, with the braille on the money, our money is also different colors, which is a great accessibility. So the $5 is blue, the $10 is purple, the $20 is green, the $50 is like a reddish-orange color, and the $100 bill is brown. All our money is the same size, but we do have large print numbers on the corner and, as Tracy explained about, the braille. The money is a poly something and you can actually put it in the wash and it won’t disintegrate or anything like that and it helps with the braille so the braille does not wear down as easy as well. We do have a nickel, a quarter, a dime, and then, as Tracy just mentioned, the loonie and the toonie. The toonie and the loonie are quite easy to feel. The loonie is quite smooth, it’s almost like a coppery color, and then the toonie is silver in the middle and then copper on the outside, and, again, very accessible to feel so you know the difference.

Larry MuffettWe’ve got some questions in the text box I’m gonna pass along. I’m gonna throw this first one to Kathy. Alice says, “Are Alex Trebek and the television program Jeopardy




popular in Canada and from which province is Alex Trebek?”

Kathy CulhaneYes, Jeopardy is just about as popular here as it is probably anywhere else. Alex Trebek is from Quebec I believe. Montreal – I don’t know specifically if it’s Montreal, but, yes, he is from the province of Quebec.

QuestionHello, this is Linda, and I noticed you’ve been saying CFL when you talk about sports and I’m not sure what CFL stands for. Maybe I missed something at the beginning. I was a bit late getting in.

Tracy GarbuttThe CFL is the Canadian Football League. You guys have the NFL, the National Football League. It’s just our name for our league, and we’ve been around a long time.

Larry MuffettSpeaking of the CFL, Darren has a question. I’m gonna throw this one to Tracy. Darren says, “I want to go to the Stampede or a CFL game in Calgary. I’m traveling from Idaho by car. Do I need a passport?”




Tracy GarbuttYes, you definitely need a passport traveling anywhere into Canada. It makes your life a lot easier. I would definitely make sure you have a passport.

Larry MuffettOther questions for our presenters today?

QuestionIt’s Linda again. The football you’re talking about, is that the same as American football, or is it more like British football?

Tracy GarbuttIt is very similar to the NFL. We just have a lot of different rules. The NFL, you guys have 4 downs, we only have 3 downs. Our football field is 10 yards wider, 10 yards longer. Your goalposts are at the back of the end zone, ours is at the front. There’s just a lot of different changes. Everybody always says our balls are bigger, and it is true. Our football is a lot bigger than the NFL football. It’s a different game. I would say it’s faster because of the field being bigger, and we don’t necessarily have the size of players that the NFL does.

QuestionHi, this Anna. I just want to make mention I’m from Alberta, Canada. I want to make mention of the Alberta




Sports and Recreation for the Blind and we’re very excited about goalball and excited about dragon boating up here. Beautiful things to do in the summer.

Larry MuffettTisha has a question. She says, “What is the healthcare system like in Canada?”

Kathy CulhaneI believe the healthcare system is better than the American healthcare system, but we do have our wait lists here as well. It varies by province as well. In the province of Alberta we have Alberta Health Care, which covers some medical problems, and then some people have insurance from work or the Blue Cross, which is another place they can get some assistance with. But it does vary by province as to how fast you’re getting into the healthcare system or not.

I also just wanted to make it clear, too, that when Anna had mentioned about the Alberta Sports and Recreation Association for the Blind, which is ASRAB, they are an awesome, awesome facility here. They’re a great organization, and goalball, for those of you who don’t know what goalball is, it is a ball that has a bell in it. I believe there are three people per team, and you can correct me, Anna, if I’m wrong, and it’s pretty much like dodgeball. It is a sport that you have to be – you don’t




have to be blind or visually impaired, but you do have to have a blindfold on to participate. It is a huge sport. Dragon boating is awesome. I actually did dragon boating a couple years ago for the summer and that is a lot of fun. You don’t need sight at all for that. It is an awesome opportunity as well. Thank you for bringing that up.

QuestionHi, this Sharon. I have two questions. I came in late. Could you talk about the climate up there and, also, there is a lot of talk in the states now about immigration. What is immigration like up there?

Kathy CulhaneGreat question. Tracy can answer too. The climate here, like I had mentioned earlier, it just varies as to what season you’re coming in. Obviously, January to about April is – or sorry, I guess December till about April is winter, April to May, June, is spring, all that. Again, we do have warm weather here, again, varied to province. But we get up to – we go by Celsius here in Canada, we don’t go by Fahrenheit – but we can reach up to, like where Tracy’s from, can reach up to the high 30s, early 40s – sorry, low 40s – for Celsius. I don’t know what that conversion is, but that can be in the summer. It just depends when you’re coming. So, for instance, in July for the Calgary Stampede it’s usually quite warm here. Again, it could vary between 25º to 30º, but we also can get rain,




so very similar to probably Montana temperature, similar to that in the summertime.

And immigration, very good question. Recently we’ve just let in I believe it was over 20 – correct me if I’m wrong, Tracy – but I think it was like 25,000 refugees recently. Canada is – we are a great nation. We have gun control here. Our crime rate is a little lower than the states. It differs. It depends on what you’re looking for. Our justice system is very different than the states as well. Sometimes I think Canada can be a little too lenient and maybe we can be a little too friendly, but we – Justin Trudeau was on the news yesterday, our Prime Minister, stating that, unfortunately, with things that are happening across the world, we are like the states, in effect, with terrorism and all of that as well. We’re not tolerating a lot of that as well. But immigration, that’s a very good question. I totally can’t answer that accurately, but I just know that we seem to – as I said, we’re a melting pot, so we have very many different cultures here. Tracy, I don’t know if you want to expand.

QuestionHi, this is Allen again. I understand, from what I was told, that Quebec has a requirement for how much French you speak if you want to get a work permit there. Is that true, or was I misled?




Tracy GarbuttActually, I’m not really sure about that one. Maybe you know Kathy. I’m not sure. But, yeah, as Kathy was saying, we are a melting pot. And just a quick add in there about the temperature and stuff. Manitoba, we can go either from minus 30 to plus 30 and it can be pretty brutally cold. Kathy always points that out to me when they’re in the plus 20s in February and we’re minus 30 here, so there can be a really diverse temperature difference.

Kathy CulhaneIn answer to the question for the French, again, you’d almost have to actually go onto – I believe Debbie has a bunch of resource lists that she’s going to have there for your guys to access – but you probably might want to go onto the Quebec website just to find out. Not everyone has to speak French that moves to Quebec. Quebec City I’ve been to; some people do speak English. It’s good to have a little bit of understanding of French, but, again, I’m from Alberta and we actually don’t speak French in this province. For me to go to Quebec City I did have to know – I mean I know some words because, as I said, a lot of our products are written in French and English. But, yeah, you probably have to have a decent understanding of French, but it’s not a necessity.




Larry MuffettI’m glad that you brought that up, Kathy. Debbie Worman from our staff here has prepared a resource list that goes along with today’s presentation. It’s got some links to a bunch of different things that I think people would be interested in. That will be posted along with the recording of this particular seminar. Usually we have the recordings up within 24 hours, no later than 48 hours, we’ll have the recording of this seminar posted in our archives page, and along with that will be this resource page, which you can download. Further questions?

QuestionThis is Linda again. I don’t know if you guys are braille readers, but are there any magazines that people who are interested in Canada and Canadian life can subscribe to, either by paying for them or getting them through the CNIB library?

Kathy CulhaneI was gonna let Tracy answer that, but then I think I got in before him. I believe the CLA websites, which is our library system here in Canada – it’s technically the CNIB library – they probably would have some braille magazines that talk about Canada and our geography, definitely. And Tracy, if you want to weigh in. I guess Tracy may be having technical difficulties. Again, the resource list is great, but that’s a great question, Linda. I am a braille




reader. I still can read some print as well. It’s always good to check the CNIB library.

QuestionThis is Sharon again. What happens if a person immigrates to Canada or wants to move there and wants to work? What do people have to do to do that?

Kathy CulhaneFantastic question. I actually can’t really answer that. I have no idea. I’m assuming that you would have to have a sponsor here, somebody to make sure that you’re not just gonna live off the dole here. I assume that you would probably have to have somebody supporting you and sponsoring you in this country. I’m going to assume you might need to actually maybe have a job lined up or, at least, a place of residence so that they know that you are here in this country. But, again, if you were to go on the Canada immigration website, they’ll be able to answer those questions more accurately.

Tracy GarbuttYeah, I would have to agree. Sorry. I was trying to respond there, but I think I lost connection for a minute there. Sorry about that.

Larry MuffettOther questions for our presenters?




QuestionThis isn’t a question, this is Anna again. I just want to mention about the wonderful sports fishing we have in the coast of BC for salmon and halibut and shrimp and crab, that sort of thing. I’m sure it’s really good out on the east coast too. I haven’t been there and I sure plan to get there someday.

Kathy CulhaneAnna, thank you again for bringing up that, because also in BC you can actually go whale watching, and all of that as well, and I’m going to assume as well on the east coast. I, too, have not been to the east coast either. It is a very – like I said, Canada is large. It’s very expensive to actually travel from one end of this country to the other, especially if you are flying. Sometimes you can get good deals. I would love to go to the Maritimes and to Newfoundland and New Brunswick, but it is quite expensive. I know that people say that it’s definitely worth it. As I said, we are a beautiful country. It is definitely worth visiting.

Larry MuffettI know the fishing is quite outstanding in northern Ontario, too, with some of those fly-in fishing camps and vast numbers of lakes there. Some of those lakes it’s like the first time fish ever see a hook when somebody goes to fish




there. Some amazing fishing in that part of the country too.

Kathy CulhaneAnd just a fun fact. Our national animal here is actually the beaver. It is on our nickel, and if you ever see anything with Canada, you’ll notice that the beaver is highly represented. People might think it’s the polar bear, but it is not. Also, lacrosse is actually Canada’s number one sport. Lacrosse is very similar to hockey. A lot of people think it’s hockey, but it’s actually lacrosse. Am I correct Tracy? Tracy’s obviously still having technical difficulties. Any other questions? If there’s stereotypes that you’re wanting to know or make sure that they’re not stereotypes and that are actually true, bring them on.

QuestionThis is Anna. Lacrosse is like hockey, yes, in the basics of the game, but it’s played on a flat court and you wear running shoes and you run around as opposed to wearing skates in hockey.

Kathy CulhaneThank you, Anna. Clarification, thank you for that.

Larry MuffettThere’s a question for our presenters or we will start the wrap up procedure. I’m gonna turn loose the microphone




and if you have any additional questions or comments, please jump in, otherwise we will start wrapping up.

QuestionKathy, this is Linda again. You were talking about goalball, and then you mentioned another sport that I thought it sounded like you said the word boat on the end, and I was not familiar with that term that you used.

Kathy CulhaneIt was called dragon boating. Actually, Anna, if you’re still on, if you want to talk a little bit about it for me. When I participated, it is an actual – it’s a low boat. I believe there are about 22 people that can fit in the boat. You sit side by side and you paddle. You use a paddle system and there’s a drum. I’m gonna let Anna maybe go into a little bit more. She seems to know a little bit more with the ASRAB part.

AnnaYeah, you’ve got it, Kathy, pretty much. It’s a big sport, the dragon boating. A group of us from Edmonton went to the World Dragon Boat Crew Club Championship in 2014 and it was in Italy. We were so excited. We trained like mad for two years, we qualified, we went over there and raced with, oh gosh, I think there were 5,000 other athletes in Italy for dragon boat at that time. The sort of exciting part was there were only two vision impaired




teams and we were both from Canada, so we raced each other, and we each took a gold and, unfortunately, in Edmonton we took the silver. But anyway, had lots of fun. And that’s correct, there’s about 20 people side by side, you paddle, not row, there’s a steers person at the back of the boat and the drummer at the front. And that’s right; you don’t really need a lot of vision to do this. It takes a little longer to learn the technique, but very exciting for vision impaired people.

Larry MuffettAny other questions or comments?

QuestionHi, this is Allen again. Just one comment since I live real close to Disney World and Epcot. In the countries they have Canada, and they have a 360 vision of Canada narrated by Martin Short, who’s also a native of Canada, and it’s actually quite beautiful and it explains a lot of what we just talked about. If you have any kind of vision at all, you’re able to see some of it because it’s a very large round screen.

Kathy CulhaneGreat, that’s awesome. I’m glad to hear that because, as you say, for a 360 visual, that would be very cool. Sorry. I remembered it was Nickelback that was from Hanna, Alberta, so, for those of you who are any Nickelback fans,




that’s the band I was trying to think of. We do have many celebrities that are from Canada. I’m sure a lot of you already know them. As you mentioned, Martin Short, Ryan Reynolds is also from here, Rachel – or, sorry, I can’t think of her name now. There’s another famous actress, but anyway, we do have lots of famous people – Justin Bieber, of course, is from here. Yeah, please come visit Canada. We are very happy people, we’re very friendly. And our flag, by the way, is also in the resource that Debbie has put out. Our flag is red and white. It is, on both sides of the flag, it’s two red columns and then it’s white in the middle with a red maple leaf in the center.

Larry MuffettGot time for one more question if somebody wants to jump in, then we’re gonna start wrapping up.

QuestionI understand that the tips of the maple leaf represent either a province or a territory?

Kathy CulhaneThat is correct, Allen. There are 13 points to represent the 10 provinces and 3 territories.

Larry MuffettThis was fantastic and I want to let everyone know that this seminar, like all of our seminars, will be archived on




our website and available for your use anytime around the clock. Also, each Hadley seminar is now made available as a podcast, which you can download to your computer or mobile device. If today’s seminar has you interested in this or related geographic topics, please check out the seminar archives. Our presenters thank you for your participation. Your questions were outstanding and greatly contributed to the value of this seminar.

Hadley values your feedback. Please let us know what you thought about today’s seminar, and please give us suggestions for future topics. One way you can do that is by dropping us an email to [email protected], that’s [email protected]. I’m gonna turn the microphone over one last time to either or both of our presenters and see if they’d like to make any closing comments.

Kathy CulhaneThank you, Larry. I just want to, again, reiterate that I appreciate all your questions and your comments and I really hope that you enjoyed today’s seminar. Hopefully, you can check out that resource list and hopefully we will see you in Canada one day, eh.

Tracy GarbuttI have to agree, eh. Thanks Kathy. I’m sorry guys. I kept cutting out there for a while. I’m not sure what happened


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



on my end, but I couldn’t hear some of the questions and that. But, it was a lot of fun and I’m glad you guys joined us. A lot of great questions and, again, we are an amazing country and hope you can come out and enjoy the sights and sounds of Canada.

Larry MuffettI definitely want to thank both of you for taking time out of your day to present this seminar for us today. It was outstanding, really enjoyed it. I want to personally thank all the audience members for taking time to make this a part of their day and for the great questions. Again, thanks everyone for being a part of this today, and I want to thank you and goodbye for now.

[End of audio 0:55:05]


Documents

hadley.eduhadley.edu/SeminarTranscript/2016-04-27-So-You-Think-… · Web viewWelcome to Seminars@Hadley. My name is Larry Muffett. I’m a member of Hadley’s seminars team and