Q: Where can you spend your evenings off being yelled at by a CBC Producer to hurry up?

If you answered “At my show, jackass!” you’re wrong. (Well, maybe you’re right, but that’s another story.)

Vancouver’s Dragon Boat team, the “Wave Catchers,” are on the hunt for seven new members. The team competes in at least two of the big festivals: the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival in mid-June and the Kelowna Dragon Boat Festival in September.

Practice is Sunday mornings at 11:00 a.m. and lasts for two hours. Practices are run by a coach with many years of experience as a competitive paddler.

It all starts March 30th on Sundays, then it moves to weekday evenings after June. The boat season ends just in time for your next show’s season in September. There is a registration fee of $150 to cover Festival fees, a CBC jersey, coaching, and dock fees.

Even if you aren’t able to join the team, you can cheer them on on their Facebook group.

If you’d like to join, contact Monia at 6218 in Vancouver (centrex 181).

Does your region have any recreational teams?
Tell me about them!

Little Mosque on the Prairie creator Zarqa Nawaz will participate in a Toronto forum tomorrow, offering insight into the show’s premise and message, and will comment on the show’s popularity.

Executive Producers Mary Darling and Michael Snook will also participate, along with the two of the series’ lead actors Sheila McCarthy and Manoj Sood.

Their participation is part of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television’s Canada Award Screening Tour — part of a road show that attracted audiences in Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary and Vancouver.

The screening series showcases diversity in the show, encouraging discussion and promoting multiculturalism. The series will feature episode screenings and a question and answer period with the show’s producers, creator and several cast members.

The screening is free to the public and will be at the NFB Cinema (150 John Street) at 6:00 p.m. ET.

For the first time, the CBC has tabulated the amount it raised for charities across the country. The total was 3.35 million. $345,030 of that came from CBC Radio’s Food Bank Day.

CBC Television anchor Peter Mansbridge speaks at rally (Robin Rowland/CBC)

Hundreds of CBC staff and colleagues from other news organizations gathered Thursday in Toronto to mark the 60th day of BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston’s captivity and make an impassioned plea for his immediate release.

The crowd filled the sun-drenched Simcoe Place outside the CBC building on Front Street over the noon hour to express their solidarity with Johnston, who was kidnapped at gunpoint near his Gaza City home on March 12.

Johnston, the only Western journalist living in Gaza at the time of his capture, has not been seen or heard from since. The 44-year-old reporter had been working in the turbulent region for three years.

More at cbc.ca

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) and the Canadian Media Guild (CMG) will hold a rally tomorrow in support of British journalist Alan Johnston. The BBC Gaza correspondent was kidnapped by gunmen near his office in Gaza City on March 12.

The CBC’s Peter Mansbridge, Brian Stewart, Anna Maria Tremonto, and Rick McInnes Rae will be speaking at the rally, to be held at noon in Simcoe Park (beside the Toronto Broadcast Centre).

Johnston is believed to be alive and in good health but there is no sign of his captors releasing him anytime soon. Why he’s being held remains a matter for speculation.

• Tony Burman’s Letter: Why BBC’s kidnapped Alan Johnston needs to be freed.
• How you can help spread the word

Did you know? CBC offers thousands of hours of CBC programming — both radio and TV — to support school curriculums, from junior high right through to post-secondary and career colleges. Shows like The Nature of Things and O’Reilly on Advertising are available.

The folks who put all this together have now launched a web site which includes lesson plans, video, audio, and links to the dozens of educational CBC sites. A great site for teachers, professors and people involved in the educational community. It’s at www.cbclearning.ca

And, for the first time, educators can purchase curriculum relevant programs directly online, view excerpts, and explore the vast library of resources for the classroom. (Try visiting the Classroom Resources links on the right nav-bar and Click on Nature of Things to have a peek at the multimedia resources that exists there.)

CBC Radio host Jennifer Gibson will compete in Toronto soon for the title of Canadian Media Idol — a light-hearted charity fundraiser. Gibson won the Saskatchewan rounds by playing a guitar and singing. “(The guitar) made a difference for me and for my own comfort. The competition is about vocal talent, but it’s also about how comfortable you are on stage,” Gibson said. Canadian Idol donated $1,000 to the Saskatoon Food Bank, Gibson’s charity of choice. more

During the holiday season, CBC focuses on charity drives in many communities across the country. Turns out this past year’s holiday was especially successful, with many locations setting new records. I’ve seen the spreadsheet of all the donations raised from CBC’s audience and in cash and food it exceeds $2,500,000! Some of the more interesting donation successes:

• CBC’s audience in PEI donated 3,218 turkeys. Edmonton brought in more than 7,000! None were dropped from a helicopter
• The Cape Breton Christmas Carol event brought in more than 300 pounds of food donations
• Vancouver’s food bank day raised $500,000 and Calgary’s raised $750,000

CBC’s fundraising drives to support the food banks in local communities set records last week. In Toronto, more than 3,100 kg of food were donated and $57,000 in cash was taken in — above the previous record of $45,000.
     Vancouver’s CBC plant raised more than $500,000 (!), thanks in part to a $97,000 donation from Viatech and $88,000 from Business Objects (employees raised half, and the company matched it).

The National Ballet of Canada is offering CBC employees 20% off ticket prices to the following Toronto performances of The Nutcracker:

• Wednesday December 13 at 7:30pm

• Thursday December 14 at 7:30pm
• Tuesday December 19 at 7:30pm

To take advantage of this offer, quote the discount code in this PDF document (sorry, link works from within CBC only)

CBC Radio stations in Toronto and Vancouver today are raising funds for their local food banks, and CBC has produced a Sounds of the Season CD in support of that. It’s being distributed across the country in major retail outlets and is also available on-line at the CBC Shop. Proceeds will be going to food banks across Canada.

The totem pole that stood outside CBC Vancouver for nearly 25 years is back home in traditional Kwaguilth territory in Fort Rupert, B.C.
     This past weekend, a CBC team made the journey to Fort Rupert to celebrate the raising of the totem pole with the original artist and his family. The pole was commissioned by the Royal British Columbia Museum and CBC/Radio-Canada in 1982.
     This returning of the totem pole was one of the goals in the ongoing Building Redevelopment Project currently underway at CBC/Radio-Canada in Vancouver.