Author Archives: Michael K. Barbour

Unknown's avatar

About Michael K. Barbour

Michael K. Barbour is the Director of Faculty Development and a Professor of Instructional Design for the College of Education and Health Sciences at Touro University California. He has been involved with K-12 online learning in a variety of countries for well over a decade as a researcher, teacher, course designer and administrator. Michael's research focuses on the effective design, delivery and support of K-12 online learning, particularly for students located in rural jurisdictions.

Canadian Thanksgiving 2024

Earlier today Branch 25 was present for this Digital Moose Lounge and Berkeley Canadian Studies Program tradition – a beautifully curated Thanksgiving Dinner at the UC Berkeley Canadian Studies Alumni House.  Members celebrated the special occasion with their Bay Area “family” with fallen leaves and fresh fall air on the patio in beautiful Berkeley.

The menu included:

  • Classic Thanksgiving turkey dinner
  • Sides – mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and root vegetables
  • Dessert – Nanaimo bars, pumpkin & apple pies
  • Gluten-free and vegan/vegetarian options available
  • Enjoy our selection of great Canadian wines and Canadian beer

The “extras”: 

Poppies! From the SF Bay Area Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, Michael Barbour and Trevor Page, were be there with the beautiful red poppies folks remembered from back home!

Raffle Prizes! Including a pair of Air Canada tickets, signed San Jose Sharks jerseys and more were presented to lucky attendees!

Finally, this Thanksgiving Dinner Has 22 Questions…  Canada’s longest-running comedy, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, is producing a prime-time TV special about this year’s U.S. election, which will air on CBC on Nov 4th. Correspondent Dan Dillabough and crew joined us for dinner and tried to solve the burning question “what’s it like to be a Canadian living in the Bay Area?”. Those who were interested had the opportunity to join the casual and relaxed conversation and answer some fun, light-hearted questions.

The formal presentations began with the national anthem, and here are the crowd singing along with the French version.

Pictures from the event are below.

Blessing of the Fleet Interfaith Service at the Presidio Chapel

Note this event related to the San Francisco Fleet Week that is upcoming.  As a reminder, the Royal Canadian Navy will be represented at San Francisco Fleet Week.

The Consulate General of Canada is pleased to support the Royal Canadian Navy’s participation in San Francisco Fleet Week 2024. Public tours of the HMCS Regina will be offered at San Francisco Pier 15/17 on Saturday, October 12 and Sunday, October 13, from 10:00 am – 3:30 pm on both days. All tours are free of charge, available on a first-come, first-served basis. More details, including the ship tour guidelines and code of conduct, are available via the San Francisco Fleet Week website and app at  https://fleetweeksf.org/events/ship-tours/


Interfaith Center

at the Presidio

Unleashing the Power of

Interreligious Cooperation

The service will be livestreamed at this link

P.O. Box 29055, San Francisco, CA 94129

(415) 561-3930 (office) * (415) 686-2639 (cell)

www.interfaithpresidio.org * mailto: presidiointerfaith@gmail.com

Stolen Churchill portrait coming home

An item from the Legion Magazine.


Front Lines
Front Lines

Yousuf Karsh’s Churchill portrait was shot in two minutes in an antechamber off the House of Commons on Dec. 31, 1941. [Yousuf Karsh]

Stolen Churchill portrait coming home

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

An original print of one of the world’s most famous photographs, stolen during the COVID pandemic, is on its way back to the Ottawa hotel that photographer Yousuf Karsh called home for 19 years.

Pinched from the reading lounge of the Fairmont Château Laurier some time between Christmas Day 2021 and Jan. 6, 2022, and replaced with a fake, the portrait of Britain’s wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill, was found in a private collection in Italy in September 2024.

A 43-year-old man from Powassan, Ont., was arrested in April 2024 and charged with multiple offences associated with the picture’s disappearance, including theft, forgery and trafficking in stolen property. His name is under a publication ban.

READ MORE

Vintage warbirds posters
News
Military Milestones

ATTENTION CANADIAN MILITARY FAMILIES : Did you or a family member receive VAC disability benefits between 2003 and 2023?

On 17 January 2024 the Federal Court approved a settlement in a class action involving alleged underpayment of certain disability pension benefits administered by Veterans Affairs Canada (“VAC”) payable to members or former members of the Canadian Armed Forces (“CAF”) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (“RCMP”) and their spouses, commonlaw partners, survivors, other related individuals, and estates (the “Settlement”).

If you received any of the disability-related benefits listed below at any time between 2003 and 2023, you may be entitled to compensation under the Settlement. As the executor, estate trustee, administrator, or family member of a deceased class member who collected VAC-administered disability benefits, you may also be able to claim on behalf of the estate.

READ MORE

Military Milestones
Military Milestones

Zeppelin L.31 readies for launch. [Wikimedia]

Night of the Tempest: A British-Canadian pilot versus German Zeppelin L.31

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

Shortly before midnight on Oct. 1, 1916, Second Lieutenant Wulstan Tempest, soaring through English skies in a B.E.2c biplane, spotted his looming target.

At more than 14,000 feet (4,267 metres), the German Zeppelin Luftschiff 31—or L.31—looked like it rained death from the heavens, however hellish that prospect seemed. But now, of course, it was the 25-year-old pilot’s turn to wreak havoc upon the airship, crewed by 19 and, with its onboard machine guns, far from defenceless.

Tempest remained undeterred. He would be the oncoming storm.

READ MORE

Member Benefit Partner

Medipac Travel Insurance

[REMINDER] Royal Canadian Navy at San Francisco Fleet Week

The Consulate General of Canada is pleased to support the Royal Canadian Navy’s participation in San Francisco Fleet Week 2024. Public tours of the HMCS Regina will be offered at San Francisco Pier 15/17 on Saturday, October 12 and Sunday, October 13, from 10:00 am – 3:30 pm on both days. All tours are free of charge, available on a first-come, first-served basis. More details, including the ship tour guidelines and code of conduct, are available via the San Francisco Fleet Week website and app at https://fleetweeksf.org/events/ship-tours/