Monday October 6^th

Pictures taken, Banff meetings, Mayor, meeting teens

At 8:11 Crag called and got me out for a quick photo shoot down by the river. When he arrived I was telling my story to two beautiful Japanese girls in the front lobby. We did a short interview on the video and Crag took a few beginning photos. Then down to the water for a few shots. Crag took me over to the Elementary school and I did a quick offer to the Principal who may or may not want to get involved - then over to the Secondary School and left message for Principal to call if they would like me to come and either tell a story / or present at whatever level they may like. Left my number at the Brewster Mountain Lodge at all these locales.

Over to the Tourist Bureau and found that Greg McKnight may not be in until tomorrow. Message left. On the way there, I met John Franchi an emigrant from Toronto (10 years) and he is now happily entrenched in Banff as Home.

Met Andy Thomas and Susan Fleck who are Chartered Accountants from Kitchener, Ont. They came here three or four years ago and their business is growing. They are happy to be here and Banff is now their home. On the way out of the building I ran into a girl who is moving back to Toronto having worked for Banff Tourism for a number of years. The first person I met that is leaving, and she did not want to talk too much in depth as this was an emotional moment for her as she was leaving her friends and Banff. I gave her my card and suggested we talk in TO.

I went over o the Mayors office and talked with Debra Hornsby the Public Information Manager of the Town of Banff and also got hold of the Banff Community Plan that had been presented to Sheila Copps. I thought this plan would be good to review before my meeting with the Mayor. Debra and I had an excellent meeting and she recommended that I speak with one or two other people whom she would ask to call me. I then left to spend some time analyzing the Plan. The plan is basically good, but there are some glaring openings that our programs could help fill. One is the World Heritage aspect and the second is the educational component. Unfortunately when people hear the word education, they think of the institution of education, and not the content. This observation is something that teachers would do well to look at and it may help them understand governments lack of understanding. Government remember has been educated by the system that exists, and to bring new level of thinking one has to stand outside the system to see it. On the news to-day I heard Klein ask the teachers to help in the change that is necessary and all that is shown on TV is the confrontational aspect of the issue. I am reminded of Robert Mullers story when he first developed the concept of the World Core Curriculum. He was in BC in 1972 and had heard the Minister of Education from BC talk about the "Canadian" education problems. I remember well his hitting himself on the forehead with an ahaa like sigh! "We have the same problem in the world!". This revelation caused him to define the idea of World Core Curriculum constructs, and is the very basis for all the work being put on www.homeplanet.org. I t is uncomfortable knowing the answers are so simple when the problem is perceived as being so large.

This brings to mind a thought as to what countries are doing in watching the UN Reform movement. Robert Mueller used to say that it would be a good idea for countries to establish their infrastructures on a similar structure (from a content point of view) on the UN agencies. This would save each country the problem of having to search around for the right area to obtain information. Most countries in the third world have done this, but we in Canada cannot even organize our own country in this regard notwithstanding the Council of Ministers of Education. that pretend to be paying attention to World Core Curriculum concepts.

Prior to my meeting with the Mayor, I went over to Bryons Internet service and he again was most helpful. I bought him lunch this day in appreciation for his help. I went on down the street to meet with the Editor of the Crag and Canyon (Sherri) but again she was too busy in production to spend much time with me.

Finally my meeting with Ted Hart. He was most receptive and is quite happy with the state of affairs in his town notwithstanding the number of areas of confrontation with Parks Canada and Sheila Copps. He heard the Coin idea, but felt it was outside of his jurisdiction. He looked at the work that I am doing very positively, albeit from his acknowledged perspective of Mayor of the Town. He did say he will explore our website and consider how Banff may choose to be involved in the future. He will not champion any initiative towards Sheila Copps as it is not within his specific mandate. While it was not unexpected attitude, I feel that Ted Hart will look more deeply at what we are doing than will his counterpart back in Toronto - Barbara Hall.

After the meeting I went down to have some quiet time by the river. After a short relax for about an hour, I noticed a group of about ten teenagers hanging out in the nearby park. I went over to open up a discussion on issues of importance. After a short time of introductory sparring two of the group came over to have a discussion on the possibilities of using the web to democratize the world - Marise an eighteen year old from Montreal traveling the world and Nagar an Ethiopian traveling the world. Nagars family is involved in the United Nation agencies and had several strong bits of information that indicates that our strategy for funding makes sense given the underlying political agendas of the agencies. It was a great meeting and they offered to take me for a coffee but I had another meeting to attend to.

Quick meeting - off to dinner and off to bed. Made a call to Lewis Levin to confirm my arrival in Calgary.