Burlington Inclusivity Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes

Meeting #:
Date:
Time:
-
Location:
3800 Constable Henshaw Blvd. (Halton Regional Police Services)

1.
Members Present:

Brian Wrixon (Chair), Kate Dunn, Kumkum Bhandari (Burlington Public Library), Maroun Naser, Douglas Martin, Stephen Siomra (Halton Police), Rana Al Semaani, Roy La Chappelle

2.
Member Regrets:

Eric Schwab, Ron Baliko (BAAC), Susan Caughran (BSAC), Jess Kiley (Positive Space Network), Girish Parekh, Farah Butt

3.
Others Present:

Councillor Blair Lancaster, Mary Lou Tanner (Deputy City Manager), Keith Doxsee (Ontario Coalition of Indigenous Peoples), Georgie Gartside (Clerk)

4.
Declarations of Interest:

None.

5.
Approval of Minutes:

6.
Delegation(s):

6.1
Keith Doxsee, Ontario Coalition of Indigenous Peoples

Mr. Doxsee appeared before the committee and shared the following information:

Off reserve Indigenous people:

  • all Indigenous people are considered "Indians" for purposes of the Canadian Constitution 1982 (Daniels v Canada SCC April 2016).
  • 85% of Indigenous people in Ontario live off reserve.
  • Burlington is home to 2,000-3,000 off reserve Indigenous people and another 37,000 live in Toronto.

About the Ontario Coalition of Indigenous Peoples (OCIP):

  • OCIP is the Ontario affiliate of the Congress of Aboriginal People (CAP).
  • OCIP membership is open to any Metis, Status or Non-Status Indian living off reserve.
  • OCIP leadership are elected by the membership and consist of a Chief, Secretary, Vice Chief, Treasurer and district governors throughout Ontario.

About the Congress of Aboriginal People (CAP):

  • CAP is one of five national Indigenous organizations recognized by the Federal government as representative organizations.
  • The predecessor organization to CAP is the Native Council of Canada which was founded in 1971.
  • CAP was the first to organize Metis.
  • CAP leadership was credited with negotiating the inclusion of Metis in the 1982 Constitution.

The committee discussed the need for people to learn about the history of indigenous issues. Brian and Kumkum both recommended an online course titled Indigenous Canada, offered through the University of Alberta.

7.
Regular Items:

7.1
2018 Work Plan

Georgie facilitated a discussion of 2018 work plan ideas that committee members had submitted. The following is a list of the work plan ideas:

Inclusion Lens:

  • review the tools developed by the City of Ottawa and make recommendations to assist city staff in implementing the City of Burlington Inclusion Lens document created by BIAC in 2012. 

Communications & Public Awareness:

  • Continue with "We Are Burlington" theme with attendance at events.
  • Develop a program to highlight diversity in the community.
  • Encourage organizations to sponsor food and play events or BIAC to co-sponsor events with a diversity theme.
  • Promote more awareness of BIAC in the community.
  • Community video contest.
  • Create a repository of resources, research and videos.

City of Burlington Staff Training:

  • Lunch and learn sessions.

BIAC will also:

  • invite a guest/presentation at each committee meeting.
  • continue to attend relevant inclusion/diversity events and report back to the committee.
  • provide advice to City Council and city staff on policies, services and programs related to inclusivity/diversity, as requested.
  • be a stakeholder on the City's Anti-Bullying Task Force. 

On motion, the committee approved its 2018 work plan and the establishment of three sub-committees (Inclusion Lens, Communications & Public Awareness, City Staff Training).

ACTION: Georgie to send out an email asking committee members to sign up for a sub-committee and indicate if they would like to act as chair or co-chair of the sub-committee. Sub-committees are asked to have an initial meeting before BIAC's March 23 meeting.

7.2
Roundtable Updates

a.
Halton Equity and Diversity Roundtable (HEDR)

Brian shared that HEDR received a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and is developing a tool for organizations to use to assess where they stand on inclusion and diversity. As part of that work, they are developing a series of training videos on how to use the tool and the first video will be shown at HEDR's next meeting.

b.
March 3 - Women in Gov' Workshop

Blair shared that she is presenting at a Women in Gov' workshop for women to learn how to start a career in government. The event is free and currently has 50 registrants.

c.
Ontario Library Association Super Conference

Kumkum attended the recent Ontario Library Association's Super Conference. The keynote speaker was Jess Wente who spoke on indigenous affairs. Libraries are in the forefront of raising awareness on inclusivity and diversity in communities. Edmonton Public Library published 2 minute video stories showcasing indigenous people in the community to create tolerance and understanding, along with hosting talking circles using an image.

d.
Access Forward

Stephen said accessforward.ca offers free training modules. Police service staff took the module on the Ontario Human Rights Code.

e.
Regional Diversity Roundtable

Stephen will be attending a meeting in March on building capacity in the community. The Regional Diversity Roundtable's website has a lot of resources available: www.regionaldiversityroundtable.org.

f.
Events

Stephen shared the following organizations and events that the committee may want to get involved with to promote awareness:

Red Leaf Cultural Integration: www.burlingtonculturalmap.ca

Guru Ravidass Sabha, Queensway Drive

New Year's Around the World

Black History Month Awareness Events (February)

8.
Other Business:

8.1
Welcome Mary Lou Tanner, Deputy City Manager

Brian welcomed Mary Lou to the committee and provided her with a copy of the results of BIAC's survey of frontline city staff that was undertaken in 2017.

Mary Lou shared that there has been an increase in racist comments both at community meetings and at city hall customer service counters. The city has a long way to go in dealing with the issues and training will be necessary for staff. The city will need to determine how the inclusivity work undertaken by the Mohawk Leadership team can be moved forward.

9.
Adjournment: 10:59 a.m.

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