Detective Sergeant Martin Charbonneau and Detective Constable Devan Aris were pleased to share up-to-date information and awareness to the Rotary Club of Belleville on latest fraud trends and scams and how best to avoid becoming a victim of fraud.  Both are members of the Belleville Police Service, assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division, responsible for major crimes from homicides to complex frauds.

 

Latest fraud trends include home repair scams, grandparent/emergency scams, gift card scams, identity theft, romance scams, crypto investment scams and bank investigator scams.  Always recommended is to ask for identification and verify the company before allowing anyone to do home repair work such as roofing or paving of your driveway.  Get multiple quotes and consult trusted friends and family.  Avoid paying money upfront and don't rush to make a decision, always do your homework and never leave unknown workers alone in your home.  Grandparent scams come across as emergent in nature and scammers impersonate a grandchild, loved one, lawyer or police officer and claim urgent bail or fine payments are required to get the person out of hot water so to speak.  The scammers may request cash via courier or mailing.  Please note that Canada does not use a cash-bail system and the goal of the scammer is to create panic and urgency.  Don't be fooled. Have a code name that only trusted family members would use to identify themselves.  Gift card scams involve asking victims to pay using gift cards and once they have photos of the cards, they drain the balance instantly.  Never pay or accept payment via gift cards.  Identity theft occurs when personal information is stolen and used to impersonate victims for financial gain.  Protect your sensitive information by shredding personal documents.  Victims can contact Equifax or TransUnion for credit protection services.   Fraudsters are professionals convincing people to cash counterfeit cheques or money orders, they may even compromise a person's familiar social-media contacts.  If something feels off, trust your instincts.  Romance scams may sound attractive to start off, but a person should be wary of people they meet on the internet.  Do not send money to someone you have met online, thinking you have made a positive, emotional connection,  If you receive a telephone call from someone posing as a bank employee or investigator, claiming your account is compromised, always hang up and call the number on the back of your bank card to verify if a fraud has occurred.

 

If you find yourself a victim of fraud, report the incident to your local police service and to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center.  Notify your bank immediately and contact Equifax or TransUnion to place alerts or protection on your credit.

 

Rotarian Graham Whitehead, a retired police officer, thanked Martin and Devan for their very informative presentation.  No doubt about it, police investigations into frauds has changed significantly over the past few years.  We must all be smart and alert.

Rotarian Seth Nagendran has yet to celebrate his first anniversary as a member of the Rotary Club of Belleville, but he has well earned his spot as the Chair of the Kids Against Hunger Committee.  Kids Against Hunger has a powerful history.  In 1999, a businessman named Richard Proudfit officially founded Kids Against Hunger with a mission that still drives the organization today -- to significantly reduce the number of hungry children in the U.S. and around the world.  Twenty-five years earlier, Richard had seen hunger and poverty when he travelled to Honduras and that changed his life forever, dedicating his life and resources to solving world hunger.  Since then, KAH has delivered over 162 million meals to children and families in need across 65 countries.  That's the power of one person's commitment, multiplied by thousands of volunteers like Rotarians.

 

The KAH meal is a special formulated rice-soy casserole packed with nutrients.  Each package contains rice, fortified vegetable protein, dehydrated vegetables and a carefully balanced blend of 21 vitamins and minerals.  One single meal pack can feed up to six people.  Efficient and impactful!  About one-third of the meals packaged stay in Canada, supporting food banks, shelters, reserves and community programs.  The rest are sent globally wherever the need is greatest.  In Canada, 1 in 8 households is food insecure.  That's over 4 million Canadian who don't know where their next meal is coming from.  1 in 6 Canadian children under the age of 18 is dealing with food insecurity as we speak.  That's why Kids Against Hunger exists.  That's why we do what we do.

 

Seth acknowledges he couldn't have done this packaging event without the support of many in the community.  A special thank you to Loyalist College for hosting the event and providing a team of volunteers who worked alongside everyone else.  Other community groups included the Quinte Skyhawks, Belleville Soccer, Holiday Inn Express, Belleville Spirit Football League, who put together their own teams of volunteers.  Sponsors included Rotarian Jared Bellemare, People Minded Business (Rotarians Paul Fleming and Janeen Halliwell), the Rotary Clubs of Wellington and Campbellford, Rotarian Kelly McKinney and Rotarian and Past Chair of KAH, Jennifer Savini.  On top of that, 100 volunteers who came and in one hour and thirty minutes, packaged 16,200 meals.

 

Past President Tracy Bray was pleased to introduce the speaker today, His Worship Mayor Neil Ellis, the 77th Mayor of the City of Belleville, Ontario.  Mayor Ellis is a proud lifelong resident of Belleville, deeply rooted in our community.  He entered public office in 2006, first serving as Mayor.  In 2015 to 2021, Mayor Ellis served as a Member of Parliament for the Bay of Quinte until 2021, chairing the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs and serving as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.  He returned to municipal service in 2022 with a renewed focus on addressing the challenges facing Belleville, including healthcare recruitment, affordable housing and long-term economic and infrastructure planning, always with a strong emphasis on collaboration and community engagement.  Mayor Ellis holds a Bachelor of Arts in Law and Psychology from Carleton University and professional designations through McMaster University's Directors College.  A dedicated civic leader who believes that the work of municipal government matters most in the daily lives of people who live and work in the community.

 

Mayor Ellis was pleased to pause today to review and reflect on the past and future of the City of Belleville.  The municipality provides 65% of all services available and offered in the City.  Services that would be noticeable immediately.  The City budget will be released in the next week and he feels there will be much discussion around outside agencies and their presented budgets, user fees, garbage bag tags, social services being provided to the unhoused.  These are some areas where the City is subsidizing the services available, certainly all priorities.  Doctor recruitment is another major area that will be discussed.  Since 2006 the City of Belleville has recruited 60 doctors and the population has grown by 6,000.  It is felt that an additional 35 doctors should resolve the shortage.  Mayor Ellis spoke about the hard work and commitment by Karen Poste who is responsible for doctor recruitment.  She recruited 11 doctors in 2024 and 14 in 2025, 12 family doctors and 2 specialists.  The City is looking at a retention program similar to what Prince Edward County has in place where doctors receive $300 to $400 for every new patient they take on.  Another area of attention is industrial land available for new businesses.  It takes three years to prepare land for sale and with industry looking at Belleville, it is crucial to be positioned in the market.  Council will have to make decisions of expanding industrial land, probably to the north and west.  There is new building underway and a reduced budget with respect to the new Fairgounds and it is anticipated that the work should be done for the next fair.

 

Mayor Ellis mentioned the municipal election to take place in October.  He is committed to run for Mayor and to encourage members of the public to get involved and consider joining Council.  Thanked by Dave Allen for explaining some of the challenges of funding services and overseeing City budgets.  And for all Mayor Ellis does for the community.

ADG Sandi Hibbard-Ramsay attended the December 4th lunch meeting to offer congratulations on District 7070 being a recipient of a district grant for a project called A Ray of Hope, overall a $25,000 effort with ten other Rotary Clubs, spearheaded by Dr. Ruth Mathieson on behalf of the Rotary Club of Belleville.  This new project is associated with the original Amarok Society that was established 27 years ago with Gem and Tanyss Munro, Christian missionaries who moved with their family into the slums of Bangladesh to teach 25 mothers how to read and write.  This teaching was done for 2 hours a day from Monday to Friday for 5 years, the  mothers having achieved fluency and literacy.  Their job then was to go home and teach 5 children how to read and write.  The result of this original project was that 90% of the children could go to secondary school in the area because of their accelerated learning.  With this new district grant, a second Amarok school will be started in India and the grant monies will support that endeavour and also keep the current school in Bangladesh going.  The mothers, with the education and learning acquired, were able to advocate for sewing machines and a bridge in their community to provide infrastructure for five outlets of fresh water.  Many congratulations to the Rotary Club of Belleville, Dr. Ruth Mathieson and all involved. 

Rotarian Jennifer Savini, Chair of Mayors of the Week, advised that the program has been running since 1969, providing local high school students an opportunity to meet with various City staff and departments and get a first-hand look at how their municipal government operates.  This program gives students a preview of career opportunities they might not otherwise have been aware of.  This year there were four students who participated from Albert College, Eastside Secondary School, Nicholson and St. Theresa's.  The schools select students who show civic leadership and an interest in helping their communities.  Thank you to the Rotarian chaperones -- Karen Baker, Tracy Bray, Shannon Neely, Tracey Vandervoort and Tim McKinney.  Following is a recap of their experiences as Mayors of the Week.

 

Lexya Momo is a Grade 11 student at Albert College where she has been a student for 5 years.  She was surprised to see how much work is required to keep the City running and the responsibilities of the Mayor.  They visited the construction site at Memorial Arena and learned about the history of this arena, now being renovated to provide community space and opportunity.  Lexya enjoyed the visit to the police department and fire department and saw first hand how much was involved in protecting the City overall.  Everything she saw made her look at her own future with respect to career paths she has not considered.  The saying "no two days are the same" is a popular one when it comes to being the Mayor.  Thank you to the Rotary Club of Belleville for the experience.

 

Lila Healey attends Nicholson Catholic College and was very grateful for the opportunity to participate in the program and meet so many people.  As she met the heads of different City departments, she saw first hand the commitment of everyone involved and also noted that women were represented in all the work environments.  This gave her the confidence to realize she can chase her goals.  The City Council meeting proved to be informative following a passionate discussion on the topic of free parking downtown.  Lila learned many lessons during the week and found everything and everyone to be welcoming and inclusive. 

 

Juliana Sourati is in Grade 12 at Eastside Secondary.  Juliana enthusiastically shared some history on Mayor Ellis' career starting with Doug's Bicycle.  She found the Belleville Police Service fascinating and was excited to see the inside of a police cruiser and the technology attached to it such as breathalyzer equipment and automated licence place recognition systems.  Due to her love of reading, Juliana enjoyed the tour of the library.  She didn't say having lunch with the Mayor was her favourite part, but was very thankful for the opportunity to understand how the City has flourished and continues to grow.

 

Lauren Smith from St. Theresa Catholic College was unable to attend the meeting due to illness, but Tracy Bray shared Lauren's thoughts.  Seeing how each department works together helped Lauren appreciate how much teamwork and planning is involved in running the City.  Her favourite part was visiting the police station and seeing the technology used and how they work to keep the city safe.  The experience overall taught Lauren so much about leadership, service and the importance of community and thanked the Rotary Club of Belleville for the opportunity.

 

Rotarian Tim McKinney thanked the students for sharing their experiences.