Rotary International

Rotary Districts were first established in 1915 at which time the Calgary Downtown club was the only one in our area. In 1957, the present District was established as District 536 without change to the geographic boundaries of the original District. Since there were only 30 clubs in the District at the time, Governor Glen Peacock of Calgary initiated an extension drive which resulted in 8 new clubs receiving their charters, setting a District record.

The Northwest Territories were added to the District in 1969 to accommodate Yellowknife, and in 1972 Northeast B.C. was added, increasing the area of the District to 893,065 square miles. In 1991, the year that the number of the District was changed from 536 to 5360, Spruce Grove became the 37th addition to the 30 original District 536 clubs.

In 1998, the district was split up into two. Clubs currently north of Ponoka belong the new district 5370 and all clubs south of Ponoka (including Ponoka) remain in District 5360. At this time there are four communities with more than one club: Calgary has 13, whilst Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Red Deer have 3 each. Click here for details of the clubs in District 5360.

In 1972, the clubs in the United States, Canada and Bermuda were organized into Zones for the purpose of electing directors to the Board of Rotary International. Zone 22, comprised of Alaskan, Eastern Russia and all Canadian clubs, cuts across the 22 Districts to which these clubs belong. Only 6 of these districts, including District 5360, have only Canadian clubs, the remaining are international in scope.

The names of two District 5360 Rotarians stand out from all others because of their contributions to international extension. Jim Davidson and Doug Howland of the Rotary Club of Calgary, with the assistance of Layton Ralston of Halifax, successfully organized clubs in Melbourne and Sydney in Australia and in Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand in 1921. Jim made a second trip to the Orient and Asia and in 1929, in a period of 32 months, started clubs in no fewer than 23 countries and assisted in others. In 1931, he returned from this trip in poor health and died in 1933. His great work was continued by Doug Howland who set up many clubs in the 14 countries he visited.

Five Rotarians from District 5360 have been elected to the Board of Rotary International, the most recent being G. B. William Gant, PDG, of the Rotary Club of Calgary serving as Rl Director 1999-2002.

One of the most important projects in District 5360 is the joint sponsorship with District 5390 (Montana) of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. The first such park in the world was established by the Governments of Canada and the United States and dedicated with impressive ceremonies at Glacier Park, Montana on June 18,1932. Two thousand people witnessed the program, which linked Glacier Park in the south with Waterton Park in the north in recognition of the peace and goodwill between these two great nations. This remarkable and significant event is commemorated each summer by Rotarians from both Districts meeting together in one of the Parks.

During the tenure of DG Bill Young (1977-78) the geographic dimensions of District 5360 prompted the first consideration of "redistricting". It was not until the early 1990s, however that a committee of past District Governors began to study the matter seriously, under successive chairmen PDG Frank Totino and PDG Alan MacLean, respectively. After careful consideration of twelve different "redistricting scenarios", the committee recommended splitting District 5360 along an east-west line of demarcation across the existing District (being the 52nd degree, 45 minute parallel of latitude, north of Ponoka, Alberta). This recommendation was adopted by a vote of the clubs attending the 1995 District Conference in Lethbridge and, following a subsequent vote of approval by the Rl Board of Directors, the clubs north of the line across the old District became members of District 5370, effective July 1,1998; those clubs south of the line remained members of District 5360. The equitable division of assets of the former District between the two new Districts was agreed by votes of the clubs concerned at the 1997 District Conference in Banff.