A LIFETIME SPENT LOOKING AFTER OTHERS
BY KAREN BLISS
CARP Ottawa treasurer Subhash Rai has spent a lifetime looking out for others, from being the designated driver or walker in his teenage years to more recently answering phones for the Distress Centre of Ottawa and conducting speaking engagements for CARP about fall prevention.
“I’ve been a volunteer all my life,” Rai tells CARP. “My biggest start was when I was in the military service in Canada. I was never a drinker; I was the guy who made sure all the girls got home from the bars, and even if a fellow soldier had an issue, I would talk to them. That’s how it started.”
In addition to CARP Ottawa and the Distress Centre of Ottawa, over the past 50 years the 68-year-old has been a “hands-on volunteer” for such large organizations as the Ontario Charitable Gaming Association, Ontario Society of Senior Citizens’ Organizations, Air Canada – Dreams Takes Flight, Shriner’s Group, Starlight Children’s Foundation and East York School Board.
“My biggest forte in volunteering is talking to people and de-stressing them,” says Rai. “I’ve been doing that all the time, even right now. For many years, I was much more involved with kids, especially kids who are terminally or seriously ill. I used to do magic shows and clowns with them at the hospital in Toronto. Now, I’m much more involved with adults and seniors.”
Since joining the CARP board in 2024, Rai has been developing a spiel to persuade older persons to install grab bars and railings in their washrooms and other necessary areas of their home. “I do a lot of speaking with small groups and try to get them to buy them,” Rai says. “There’s also some psychology behind it: if I have grab bars, that means I’m old. That’s probably the biggest stigma. I’m just telling them how people fall and what the stats are, and then saying, ‘Don’t get the grab bars once you fall; get the grab bars before.’”
According to statistics from the Government of Canada, between 2017 and 2022, deaths due to falls increased 51% in adults aged 65 years and older, and fall-related hospitalizations rose 47% between 2008 and 2019.
Rai believes “most of the falls are never reported. That’s number one. And, if they are reported, they’re usually serious injury, requiring a few days in hospital to months of recovery. It is sad because people will not get grab bars until they have fallen.”
While Rai is not yet 70, he does practice what he preaches. “I have some shoulder issues, so I have grab bars, a second railing on the staircases, you name it. I made my house very safe.”
In addition to his fall prevention focus, Rai came to CARP as treasurer because of his career in taxation compliance, at senior levels with international organizations such as E.I. DuPont, Pfizer, Warner Lambert, Sprint Canada, Alfa Net, Rogers Cellular, North Telecom, National Film Board, Canada Revenue Agency, Tax Executives Institute and the Ontario Ministry of Health.
Growing up, he didn’t eye a career in accounting or taxation. Born in India, he wanted to become a dentist because, at age 10, he had an “unusual tooth problem,” what he refers to as a “fang” behind his front teeth that required surgery. When the scheduled appointment was suddenly cancelled, he fortunately found a dentist who took the tooth out on the spot. “That was what made me want to go into dentistry, but my marks sucked,” he admits.
In 1969, when he was 12, his family moved to Canada, settling in Ottawa. At 17, he joined the Canadian Armed Forces (Reserves) in 1974 until 1979, during which time the army paid for his tuition at the University of Ottawa. He also took courses at Carleton University and Algonquin College.
“I never really did accounting per se. I just got into taxation immediately,” Rai says. “Every job I’ve had in taxation has been working for the company doing their taxes and the other part is representing myself to the CRA and Department of Finance for tax development.”
He says his first four jobs were in Ottawa, but then he was “forced” into moving to Toronto because he wanted to do high level taxation development. He was there almost 30 years, returning to Ottawa in 2018.
In addition to his work with CARP, Rai, who never married or had children, has several hobbies.
His interest in painting began at age 45, when he tried paint by numbers and found he had a natural skill. He has since created about 250 paintings, mainly of flowers and landscapes, using oils and acrylics. “The big thing is my paintings are all done in one sitting,” Rai says, who only used paint-by-numbers in the early days. He donates his work to charities or to friends, family and clients.
“I also have some paintings, which I’ve made a lot of copies of, so I distribute copies as a thank you to people that I work with. There are about 12 of them and I have probably distributed about 500 of them,” he says. “My paintings are not just in our Toronto area, but they’re in the US, South Africa, India, Philippines, England — and one of my paintings is hanging in a senator’s office in Ottawa.”
Rai, who retired from the corporate world at age 49 but continues to “help out with people when developing the policies and giving guidance,” also travels extensively.
“As a rule, I go one week a month or about a hundred days a year out of Canada. That’s been going on for 20 years or so. The highest I’ve ever hit was 135 [days], other than COVID time, the lowest I hit is about 48 in a year.” Hawaii, Iran and Saudi Arabia are still on his list.
“It’d be easy to say where I have not gone?”
Rai is also a musician, who has performed in the band for Shriner’s Group in Hamilton and Toronto since 2003, participating in parades. “I play about 10 instruments and at home I have probably about 25 instruments. If I like something, I buy it; I’m fortunate enough to be able to do that,” he says. On one trip to Havana, Cuba, he even sat in with the famed Tropicana band, playing bongos for the entire show.
“If I have about a week where I’m not doing an in-person presentation, I’m off south on a cruise or island, but because of the internet, even when I’m traveling, I’m available.”
