Submitted by The Men’s Breakfast
The Men’s Breakfast was active this Spring with presentations in May and June. On May 13th, approximately 50 attended a presentation by Constable Nick Wilson of the Ontario Provincial Police on “Frauds and Scams” focusing on current activities on the Peninsula. On June 10th, approximately 40 attendees welcomed first-term MNBP Councillor Aman Sohrab’s presentation on “Politics, Politics, Politics…and Stuff”.
Constable Wilson began by noting that, although anyone is a potential victim of fraud, 9 out of 10 times it is the elderly that are targeted. Often the aim of the fraudster is to steal someone’s identity by assuming their name, date of birth, address, credit card number, and, especially their Social Insurance Number. If this happens to you, make a log of dates and people you spoke with; file a report with police immediately; report the theft to the appropriate agency(ies); contact all your creditors; cancel your credit card; close your bank account(s); and contact credit bureaus (Equifax and Trans Union).
Other common scams are telephone scams threatening you with fines/arrest; phishing and email scams that sound legitimate – do NOT click on links; cheque overpayment schemes – do NOT send anyone you are not familiar with a cheque; romance schemes and “I’m your grandchild…” schemes.
A recent fraud that occurred in Bruce County was the “I’ve run out of gas” scheme involving a person stopped on the side of the road asking for cash to purchase gas – call them a tow truck or just leave.
To report a potential scam contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center at 1-888-495-8501; the Canadian Council of Better Business Bureaus at www.ccbbb.ca; the Canadian Revenue Agency-Charities Directorate at www.cra-arc.gc.ca / 1-800-267-2384; or the OPP non-emergency line at 1-888-310-1122.
Councillor Sohrab was welcomed as a ‘fresh, young’ member of council, long overdue. He is very active as besides being on Council, he is a Registered Nurse at the Lion’s Head Hospital, a volunteer fireman, and is in training to be a Nurse Practitioner! As a new councillor, Aman described a significant learning curve involving much reading of previous agendas, bylaws, etc. He quickly observed the need to recognize bias and “reading between the lines”.
Council’s priorities were listed as building new playgrounds; finishing the Lion’s Head Community Center upgrades; re-surfacing pickle ball and basketball courts; upgrading MNBP’s website; planning the Chi-Cheemaun Festival (Aman is the Chair); preparing the Water and Wastewater Municipal Services Plan; sustainable tourism; and installing a signal at the Hay Bay Rd/Highway 6 intersection.
Aman’s personal goals involve upgrading the Tobermory Community Center; affordable housing; recreational infrastructure including a skating rink; working on the Climate Action Plan, particularly the need for forest fire response and control; the Emergency Management Plan; and engaging youth in the municipal process.
Anyone can engage directly through an on-line site: https//letstalknbp.ca. He welcomes direct contact through his email address not via phone (he has long shifts at the hospital): councillorsohrab@northernbruce.ca.
The next Men’s Breakfast will be held on July 15th at the Tobermory Community Center (as always!) with guest speaker Esme Batten, Program Director, Midwestern Region, Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). Esme was recently a featured speaker at the April Sources of Knowledge Forum on Biodiversity. Her talk will be on “Conserving the Saugeen Bruce Peninsula”. Coffee will be ready by 8:00 AM, breakfast at 9:00, and the presentation will follow the breakfast around 10 AM…see you there!
If you wish to join us, it will be helpful if you let us know that you plan to attend, by contacting Martin at hogarth@auracom.com.
