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[MUSIC PLAYING]
WOMAN: Welcome to the conference.
This is AMI Inside.
DEVON WILKINS: Morning, everybody.
I'm Devon Wilkins, your MC.
And a hearty welcome to the 18th Annual General
Meeting and Conference--
[APPLAUSE]
--of Guide Dog Users of Canada.
MELISSA KEITH: Welcome to the 2017 Guide Dog Users
of Canada Annual AGM and Conference,
which was held this year at the Best Western Branford Hotel
and Conference Center in Branford, Ontario.
In this episode, we're going to the dogs.
Guide dogs belong to a legally recognized group
known as service dogs.
And they certainly live up to their title.
These dogs receive prolonged, intensive training specifically
designed to teach them to lead or guide
people who are blind, deaf/blind,
or partially sighted.
Guide Dog Users of Canada, or GDUC,
provides an outlet for those wishing to give or receive
peer support, educates the public
about the abilities of guide dogs,
and communicates the rights of those
partnered with guide dogs.
The organization promotes high standards and integrity
of guide dog training across Canada.
Greg Thompson, president of the GDUC,
walks us through the events of day one.
GREG THOMPSON: It's really the event
we work very hard every year.
It's a chance for our members and friends
to come together, to see each other socially, where they've
communicated by email, face to face, all year.
So, peer support, networking, things like that.
In the afternoon, we tried for the first time
what we're calling a vendor exhibition.
So in the conference room, we had representatives from people
like Paulmac's Pets.
We had Humanware, who are a big adaptive technology company.
We had a small company out of Hamilton
who sells adaptive equipment.
They're called HT Consulting.
We had the Ontario SPCA.
We had a photographer, a company called Blue Iris Art,
who was there to take portraits of people and their dogs.
We had a person that was selling Scentsy products.
These are your aromatic waxes, and soaps, and room sprays,
and like that-- very scent-based.
Very good for blind people.
So it's the first time we did it.
And we are hearing that the vendors
want to come back next year.
We don't know where we'll be.
But it really worked out good.
It gave our people a chance to kind of connect with them
on a conversational basis and really learn a little bit more
about what these guys have to offer
in terms of what they sell and support and things like that.
Guys, it's Greg Thompson.
It's my pleasure to have everybody here.
The event this afternoon went really well.
And now it's time to do one of my favorite things-- eat.
[APPLAUSE]
And then we had an evening meal and a nice big cake
in the blue and white GDUC colors.
And then we went into an auction.
And we had things like gift cards from The Keg.
We had a hand-knitted afghan.
I donated, myself, a couple of hours of technical training.
All kinds of really, really good stuff.
Cookies, lots of gift cards and things like that.
And the interim number is that we raised over
$900 for the organization with just this auction alone.
So, a huge success.
We tried it the first year in London last year.
And people liked it so much we decided to bring it back.
WOMAN: I have a very beautiful hand-made afghan.
[JEANNINE:] I'll do $40.
WOMAN: $40 from Jeannine $40 going once.
WOMAN: $45.
WOMAN: $45.
Awesome.
[CHEERING]
Do I hear $50?
Do I hear $50?
WOMAN: Well, you're onna get one anyway.
WOMAN: I think you should let it go.
WOMAN: $45, going once.
$45, going twice.
Sold to Myra for $45.
[CHEERING]
MELISSA KEITH: Before we go to break,
let's meet one of these incredible dogs
and his handler.
PATTI ELLIS: Hi.
I'm Patti Ellis.
I'm from Beeton, Ontario--
really, actually from the countryside between everything.
And my dog is a golden retriever.
He's a princess.
And his name is Quincy.
And he lives with a bunch of female labs.
[LAUGHTER]
This is Quincy.
Quincy is a two-year-old male golden retriever
from Leader Dog.
Actually, he's going to be three in December.
But he acts like a puppy.
Goldens tend to do that until they're about five.
I decided that I needed to do more in the guide dog world
to help educate people about guide dogs and their importance
and what they need to know about dealing with a guide dog.
And also to advocate for the rights
of guide dogs, which have been in some ways, in my eyes,
deteriorating, as many people think
that it's OK to bring their little dog into a store
or whatever.
Online, they'll buy a fake service dog vest, or whatever.
And they think there's no harm in taking their little dog
into a restaurant or a store.
But quite often, we have dogs, little dogs,
who bark and upset a guide dog.
Or sometimes, they're a dog that is out of control.
And they may attack a guide dog, who's not really
taught to defend itself.
MELISSA KEITH: We'll return right after this break.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
WOMAN: AMI Inside will return.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
WOMAN: This is AMI Inside.
GREG THOMPSON: --to call for nominations for secretary--
MELISSA KEITH: Welcome back to the 2017 Guide Dog Users
of Canada Annual AGM and Conference.
GDUC president Greg Thompson tells us
about the keynote speakers that engaged and enlightened
this year's audience.
GREG THOMPSON: In addition to our regular Guide Dog Users
of Canada organizational business-- resolutions,
motions, things like that--
we try every year to get one or two really good keynote
speakers.
This year, we had Lukas Franck from The Seeing Eye,
who gave us a really in-depth look at some of the work
and exploration he's been doing into traffic
and how it affects those of us that
choose to partner with guide dogs to travel independently.
LUKAS FRANCK: If the intersection timing was
changing, and if it was fluid and responsive to traffic
volumes, and you didn't know when the light would change,
that was actually a fairly simple fix.
Because if there was a walk/don't walk sign,
then the question was, could you make that accessible to people
who were blind?
Because nobody knew when the light was going to change.
It wasn't just people who are blind.
The observation was not all that easy.
So they started to put in walk/don't walk lights.
Well, that's good for people who can see.
But it's also a relatively simple fix.
You make that walk/don't walk light accessible to people who
are blind or visually impaired, and as they would say
in England, Bob's your uncle.
Since the 1970s and continuing to today,
you have intersections that are essentially intelligent
and can allow priority when it's demanded,
which means that the predictability of crossing
times for people who are blind or visually impaired
becomes much more difficult. And that has been,
to a great extent, equalized by the advent of accessible
pedestrian signals that essentially
make noise or vibrate and let a blind or deaf and blind person,
even, know when the light is in their favor
and they can cross the street.
The other thing that's coming at increasing speed
is the advent of roundabout-type intersections,
which are free-flowing.
And so they don't have a pattern that's
easily detectable like an intersection with a traffic
light.
And as a result, a blind person has
to make a decision about when to cross the street based
upon looking for a gap in traffic or waiting for a yield.
And sometimes, those things are difficult to detect.
And so between that and figuring out
where the crossing point is, they
pose a challenge to people who are blind or visually impaired.
If you're going northbound and you get to a down curb,
you may not be aware that you're at a roundabout.
It sounds funny, but intersections sometimes
sound funny.
So, I had one guy in Missouri with a dog.
He was a great guy.
Good traveler.
Super traveler.
And they put in a roundabout on a route
that he was familiar with.
He didn't know there was a roundabout there.
So he crossed.
He ended up on the central island in the middle,
with traffic whirling around him all over the place, going,
what the hell just happened to me?
WOMAN: Oh, no.
LUKAS FRANCK: And eventually somebody
came and rescued him, got him off of there,
explained it to him.
When I saw him, he was perfectly fine.
He would just get to the corner, cross, go around the bend,
and off he'd go.
He was terrific.
The first time, it was a bit of a shock.
But it brings up an issue, which is,
how do you help blind people wayfind at roundabouts?
Of course, the other thing that's
coming down the pike that is going to pose us some problems
is the ultra-quiet electric and hybrid cars.
And the ability of blind people to cross streets
is largely determined by their ability to hear vehicles.
And if you can't hear the vehicles,
it makes it much more challenging.
If you can't hear some vehicles, then it
makes it a little intimidating.
Because you're not sure what you're hearing
and what you're not.
GREG THOMPSON: We always welcome our guide dog school reps.
This year, we had an exciting opportunity.
Because this is the year that CNIB
launched their guide dog program.
So we were very pleased to give Andrew and Karen Hanlon, who
are the two kind of movers and shakers in that program,
to talk to our members about it, to explain
the new direction for CNIB, and kind of just
tell people what they have in store for us
over the next few years as they get into becoming a guide dog
provider.
KAREN HANLON: A lot of members of the public--
I'm sure everybody here already knew this.
But a lot of members of the public
thought that CNIB always trained guide dogs.
And they never trained guide dogs.
So it's an entirely new venture for CNIB.
So in many ways, we are starting from scratch.
We're starting right at the ground floor
and building our way up, which has
been really, really exciting and interesting for us.
The nice thing for us is that we're
able to take all our own experiences,
and the good and the bad, and learn from them, and as Andrew
said, learn from the people who are the guide dog users, who
are actually the people who this service is for,
and take everything that we've learned
and put it together into a new, hopefully
a wonderful, new program.
CNIB was made aware of the fact that there
are a lot of people who are waiting a very long time to get
a guide dog in Canada.
So we asked people about this.
And it was definitely the case where
people were waiting two, three, sometimes
even longer to get a guide dog, if they
wanted to train in Canada.
The other thing is that many Canadians--
probably about 70% of Canadians who get a guide dog--
train in the United States.
In the early '80s and before, there
wasn't any guide dog school in Canada.
So people started going to the United States
to get their dogs.
And they got quality service.
So they continued to go there.
CNIB is just hoping that in time,
once the program is up and running fully,
that we will be able to provide more options and more dogs
for people who want to train with them in Canada.
ANDREW HANLON: We've got 10 puppies in Toronto.
I think at the end of this month or early next year, we'll
have at least six puppies in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
And we'll have six in Winnipeg.
That's the plan.
It was supposed to be by the end of the year.
But the puppy breeding--
the females didn't quite play the way we wanted them to.
So it's going to be early next year.
That's the situation that we're in.
MELISSA KEITH: When we return, we
will meet some more wonderful dogs and their handlers.
And we'll find out the results of the election.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
WOMAN: AMI Inside will return.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
WOMAN: This is AMI Inside.
MELISSA KEITH: Welcome back.
Meet Teresa Eaton and her dog, Eskie.
Teresa has been a member of the GDUC for the past six years,
and has been a handler for many years.
As Eskie is her seventh guide dog,
Teresa has had to go through doggie retirement many times.
TERESA EATON: This is dog number seven.
So I've been through retirement and career change a few times.
I've had a few dogs that have been ill.
And between each dog, it seems to get progressively longer,
a longer period of time between the dog retiring and going back
to dog school for another dog.
I think the longest I've been without a dog is six months.
And I use it as an opportunity to strengthen
my mobility skills.
And so I go back to a long cane.
Even though I prefer to work with a dog
and I take my dog everywhere, I still own a long cane.
And I still use it in certain circumstances.
So my skills never really fall apart.
And it allows me to keep up my skills
so that when my dog retires, I will be confident enough
to spend some time by myself, reacquainting myself
with my ability to travel without a dog.
And so that when I get another dog,
I will be able to accept readily the difference in dogs.
Because there will be a difference.
There are no two dogs that are the same.
MELISSA KEITH: Bob Brown, who is the chair of the fund
development committee for the GDUC,
introduces us to his German Shepherd.
BOB BROWN: His name is Laser.
And he is a 4-and-1/2-year-old German Shepherd from Leader Dog
in Michigan.
He is my fourth.
So, my first one, he worked for almost 10 years.
My second one was a German Shepherd.
And she unfortunately got killed when we were hit by a car.
So she worked for about three years.
Then I had a yellow Labrador.
And he worked for almost eight years,
until he developed eye problems.
And now I've had Laser for three years.
You know, for some people, they prefer
to use a cane because they're more comfortable with it.
Some people may feel a dog will give them more freedom or more
independence.
But the one thing that I would advise anybody
who is thinking of getting a dog for the first time
is, if they know graduates of schools,
to talk to the graduates.
Definitely check out their websites.
And talk to the schools so they can
make the most informed decision on where they believe
is the best place for them.
MELISSA KEITH: Of course, one of the main reasons for the AGM
is the voting process, to elect the board of directors.
GDUC president, Greg Thompson, takes us through the process
and announces the elected members of the board.
GREG THOMPSON: One thing we did a couple of years ago--
we were having trouble with the traditional proxy vote,
where a member might bring somebody else's vote
and vote on that person's behalf.
We decided a couple of years ago to be
one of the early adopters of something
called electronic voting.
So what we do is in the morning, in one of our AGM sessions,
we have our resolutions.
We talk about who is up for what position.
We then take nominations from the floor.
We then put that out for electronic votings.
For those that can't be with us in person,
that they can basically go online to vote.
And in terms of the AGM election,
we get a tremendous amount of help
from our sighted volunteers.
So what we'll typically do is say, OK.
These are the people that are up for secretary.
Please put your hand up.
Who wants to vote for this person?
We get a count.
We do that again.
And then at the end of the day, we
mix those results with what we've
got from electronic voting.
And we are able to give our results to our membership
almost instantaneously, within 15 or 20 minutes after the fact
of the actual elections.
So let's do all hands up for Lynn Raloff for GDUC
secretary 2017, expiring 2019.
Hands up for Lynn Raloff, please.
And leave them up until we get a count.
Thank you.
OK, ladies and gentlemen.
I have an announcement to make.
So I will announce your entire new board.
You're stuck with me for another year.
[APPLAUSE]
You're also equally burdened with Chris Trudell
for another year as treasurer.
WOMAN: Sorry.
WOMAN: We want applause at the end.
Applause at the end.
GREG THOMPSON: Welcome, Lynn, as our new secretary.
[APPLAUSE]
Congratulations first to Bob Brown, to Matt Deerkins,
Patti Ellis, Jen Richards, Sue Nevu...
WOMAN: Oh, yay.
Leann Helm--
[CHEERING]
--and the last but certainly not least goes
to Jennifer Herrington.
[CHEERING]
MELISSA KEITH: If you are viewing this program
and would like to learn more about guide dogs
or are interested in becoming a member of the Guide Dog
Users of Canada, Greg explains how easy it is.
GREG THOMPSON: One way is to go to our website, gduc.ca.
And you can then click on the membership link.
You can also email us at guidedogs@gduc.ca.
Or you can leave a message on our toll-free line,
which is 1-877-285-9805.
And we can talk to people, tell them what we're about,
what we offer in terms of membership benefits,
and, of course, we will encourage them to join.
But the choice comes down to you as an individual,
whether you wish to support us with a membership.
But membership is restricted to people who are eligible,
who may not yet have a guide dog but are potentially eligible,
people that have one currently, or people that have worked
with guide dogs in the past.
MELISSA KEITH: Before we wrap, we
asked Greg what was so special about dogs.
He seemed almost surprised by the question.
GREG THOMPSON: What's so special about dogs?
Well, I think the fact that they are animals,
they have their own unique doggie personalities,
but I think what it is for me is that they basically
give their lives to us.
They accept this training to learn how to guide us.
And when we get partnered with them
when we graduate from our guide dog schools,
we know that for the next, oh, maybe five to ten years,
we've kind of got that life partner.
Not just for guiding us around, but for companionship,
for well-being.
You know, I'm sure you've all heard many times
how therapeutic pets--
and we kind of take our guys up kind
of one level from that pet relationship,
and put it in-- you know, the whole guiding,
it becomes a very, very special, almost an iron
bond between the handler and the dog.
And I went on to start university with a guide dog.
They've taken me on different trips all through the US.
They helped me get to work 16 years when I
was with one of the big banks.
It's a partnership for--
that dog is a part of your life, 100%,
for between 5 and 10 years.
Try cuddling up with your cane on the couch.
You know?
It doesn't work.
We will now adjourn this meeting, effective at 5:00 PM.
[APPLAUSE]
MELISSA KEITH: As the attendees and their dogs
gather around to have a group photo taken,
the time has come to say goodbye to each other and this year's
conference.
We hope you have enjoyed this episode.
And stay tuned for more AMI Inside.
Thanks for watching.
MAN: Here we go.
3, 2, 1.
[WHISTLING]
MAN: Producer, Arthur Pressick.
Narrator, Melissa Keith.
Videographers, Arthur Pressick, Rylan Vallee.
Integrated described video specialist, Emily Harding.
Editors, Maryam Bakhtiar, Arthur Pressick.
Audio post, Bruce Baklarian.
Director, production, Cara Nye.
Director, programming, AMI-tv, Brian Perdue.
Vice president, programming and production, John Melville.
President and CEO, David Errington.
Copyright 2017, Accessible Media Incorporated.