Home

 Meetings

 Speakers

 Lunches

 Outings

 Euchre

 Newsletter

 Management Committee

 Photos

 Links

 Contact Information



Our Speaker Program

Tuesday 11 June

What happened to Emelia Earhart?

Dr. Ian Mackay

Waller

   Many of us know of Amelia Earhart only as a flyer who disappeared sometime in the first half of the 20th century, and that her fate is a great, enduring mystery. There are also a sizable number of conspiracy theories explaining that mystery, ranging from a popular one based on the plot of the 1943 movie starring Rosalind Russell and Fred MacMurray to the usual suspects: aliens and foreigners.
   The truth is more straightforward. Today, there is an enormous weight of individual but interlocking pieces of evidence that precisely outline her fate. What is more shocking is that quite a number of influential people had strong suspicions within days of her disappearance as to where she ended up – and they were right – in plenty of time to have rescued her and saved her from a truly miserable fate. But incompetence, prejudice, lack of communication, and the hierarchical nature of command let her down. This story is a classic case of the truism “Never attribute to conspiracy what can be explained by ego, stupidity, incompetence and bad luck.”   The evidence that pointed to her location in 1937 still points there but is supplemented by a great deal of evidence discovered in 1940, plus a wealth of evidence assembled in the past 30 years. Join us for a story full of twists and turns and many surprises.
   Ian is retired from a 40-year career as a professor in the Department of Linguistics, University of Ottawa, where he taught in both official languages. Much of his research involved the acquisition of pronunciation when learning a second language at various starting ages. He also taught a graduate seminar on the origins of human language.
   For more than a decade Ian has been closely following developments in the search for answers to Amelia Earhart’s fate, While textbook writing is no tutorial for novel writing, he is attempting to write a historical novel based on the famous venture during which Earhart disappeared. While a novel demands at least some fiction, Ian’s talk on Earhart sticks to the facts as best they can be determined.


Suggestions for future speakers are welcome. Please email speakers@probuswesternottawa.ca

Previous Speakers

Where a speaker's name and topic is underlined, this is a link to additional information.

2023-24

September

October

November

December

January

Gary Smith -- Ice War Diplomat

Elliana Kleiner -- Living Well on Retirement Income

Johanna Lemke -- Enemy Under Our Roof

Karen McMorine, Rick Johnston, Brynn Brieda -- Refugees in Canada

Dr. Irvin Waller -- Reducing Crime

February

March

April

May

June

Peter Rohe -- My Experiences in Israel

Peggy Blair -- Experiernces in writing a book

Dr. Tim Pychyl -- Solving the procrastination puzzle

Dr. Ted Yeap -- Climate Conscious Farming

*-*

2022-23

September

October

November

December

January

Malaya Zehr --         Inuit Culture and Larga Bafin

Paul Allen --                    When Tobacco Was King

Nick McCarthy --           The Governor General's Foot Guards

Martha Baltron -- Hospice Care Ottawa

Janet Mason --            The Living Classroom of the Carp River

February

March

April

May

June

Ian MacKay -- How the Vikings changed the English language  

Jill Heinert -- The Art and Science of Cave Diving

Shelagh Stevens -- Women's role in UN Peacekeeping

Helen Peacock --      The Dream of World Peace   

Sandra Hawkins -- an artists perspective on climate change

2021-22

September

October

November

December

January

Tim Moses --      Preparing for the End of Life

James Powell --         The Assassination of D’Arcy McGee

Nick McCarthy: Beechwood -- Canada's
National Military Cemetery

James Jordan -- Celebrating over 100 years of The War Amps

Michele Vinet --      Writing Behind Bars

February

March

April

May

June

Benoit Bazinet --         The Bees of Beechwood

Jacqueline Gori --  Filling the Gap with Furry Feet

Dawn Doyle --          Discovering the Azores

*Michael Boole --- Money Laundering, Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation

John and Jan Milnes  British Home Children

2020-21

September

October

November

December

January

COVID-19 Pandemic There was No Meeting

COVID-19 Pandemic There was No Meeting

COVID-19 Pandemic There was No Meeting

COVID-19 Pandemic There was No Meeting

John Boyko
Sir John's Echo

February

March

April

May

June

Tim Burrows - Should Your Next Car Be Electric?

Jacqueline Gori - Partners with Paws

Jaqueline Gori --         Life Changing Experiences with her Service Dog

Roman Talkowski --      Climate Change

    John Boyko--               How Canada fought in the Vietnam War

2019-20

September

October

November

December

January

Maggie McDougall
Understanding Medical Cannabis

Tony Atherton
The Decline and Fall of the Daily Newspaper

Col. Claude Desgagne
The UN mission to Haiti

Brian Hull
Ending world hunger
from the bottom up

Mags Gaulden
The Power of DNA

February

March

April

May

June

Dr. Judith Rygiel

Sue Williams

COVID-19 Pandemic There was No Meeting

COVID-19 Pandemic There was No Meeting

COVID-19 Pandemic There was No Meeting

2018-19

September

October

November

December

January

Gary Sealey --
LRT Discussion.

Allan Symons --
Two Centuries of Canadian Clocks

Brian Tackaberry -
Thw lost generatio: Eastern Ontario during WW1

Valerie Knowles -
Well Known Ottawa Personalities from the Past

Dean Verger and Ruth Stewart-Verger - Connecting Through Story

February

March

April

May

June

Jennifer DeBruin - In Search of Home

Beth Sweetnam for Tony Atherton - Embarrassing Moments

Beth Porter - Accidental Friends - Stories from My Life in Community

Pam Thompson -
Art in Canada

Terry Colfer -
The Middle East

2017-18

September

October

November

December

January

Bruce Di Labio -- Birds in the Ottawa region

David Smith --  Einstein: his life and works

Greg Matte  --  From Helmets to Hardhats

 Charlotte Gray --              The Promise of Canada

Peter  Hamer -- EMR -- Electronic Medical records

February

March

April

May

June

Sue Garvey -- Cornerstone Housing for Women

 Kate MacNeil  -- The Ottawa Carleton Wildlife Centre

 Dr. John Hardie --         A dental murder mystery

Rachel Boere -- Arctic experience with Students on Ice

Judith Cox -- Purple Carrts, Honey Bees and Magic

2016-17

September

October

November

December

January

Howard Clifford -- The Wild Child, involving youth with nature

Frank Hitchens --         Are we alone in the universe?

Richard Brisson -- The Enigma Machine

Service Clubs -- Dwight Brown, Rotary, Linda Leinan, Lions

 Barrie Kirk -- Automated vehicles are here to stay

February

March

April

May

June

Dawn and Peter Doyle: Our cruise to Iceland

 Rick Baker  --  CARP

 Caroline Midgley and  Jeannie Mathews --  Home care options

Randy Boswell -- Digital databases help re-discover our past

Brock Godfrey -- Mass marketing fraud awareness

2015-16

September

October

November

December

January

Cheryl Cooper: Tall Ships and the War of 1812

Jonathan Moore: The Franklin Expedition ship Erebus discovery

Kanina Dawson: My Afghan war experience

Ian Smillie: Blood diamonds in Africa

Jane Madigan: Service dogs and anxiety disorder

February

March

April

May

June

Michele Leboldus: Our heritage and the next generation

Robert Hannaberry: "Sooner or Later" housing/ care needs

Gerda Kraft: Making refugees feel welcome

Jim Holmes: Kanata Theatre and the community

Dr. Andrew Frank: Memory loss and Alzheimer's

2014-15

September

October

November

December

January

Joyce Trafford --           The Carp Fair

Joy Forbes --                 The One-Room Schoolhouse

Miriam Rawson -- Matthew House and the Ottawa Furniture Bank

Don Wiles -- Uranium in my Bones

Matt Craig  -- The Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority

February

March

April

May

June

Norm Christie  -- Canadian war graves -- Our Sacred Places

George Laidlaw -- The joys of Canadian history

Roddy Bolivar -- The Carp Road Corridor BIA

Brian Hartley -- Bridging the  Chasm

Nelson McDougall-- The NAC Orchestra

2013-14

September

October

November

December

January

Mac Evans --             Canada's Space Program

Bob Slack - the Canadian Snowbirds

Dr. Andew Burtch
The Korean War

Doug Harvey-Smith
DesignAbility

Dr. Tim Pychyl -- Procrastination

February

March

April

May

June

Nadine Fowler and Cristina Myers -- The Queensway Carleton Hospital

Barry Risk -- Canada Customs    "The Thinner Blue Line"

Dave Brown -- After 10,000 columns

Guy Thatcher -- Walking the Camino de Saint-Jacques

Terry Currie --              The great Fire of 1870

2012-13

September

October

November

December

January

Dr. Kent MacDonald -- President Algonquin College

Karen Bell -- Seniors Nutrition

Ronald Cohen -- Sir Winston Churchill Society of Ottawa

Dr.Janet Biggar and Jim Jamer -- Empowering youth in Africa

Dr. Aisha Sherazi -- Women in Islam

February

March

April

May

June

Ian Farthing -- St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival

Matt Warin -- US Embassy         Trafficking in persons

Peter van Boeschoten -- Ottawa Older Adult Plan

Helen Forsey -- Eugene Forsey and the Senate

J.F. Sauriol -- 
Computer Security for Seniors

2011-12

September

October

November

December

January

Max Keeping -- Community Ambassador

Mayor Jim Watson

Guy Parent -- Veterans Ombudsman

Jamie Lunn -- The War Amps of Canada

Allison Knight -- Office of the Information Commissioner

February

March

April

May

June

Barbara Carriere -- Kilimanjaro grannies

Grete Hale --     Baker's daughter

Hon. Bill Rompkey -- Senate reform

Hon.Peter Milliken -- longest serving Speaker of the House of Commons

Rotary Club and Ottawa Police -- The ABC's of Fraud


Home    Meetings    Speakers    Lunches    Outings    Euchre    Newsletter    Management Cmtee    Photos     Links    Contact Info


This Page - Last Revised: 1Jun 2024