Burlington Inclusivity Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes

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

1.
Members Present:

Heather Wray (Chair), Brian Wrixon (Vice Chair), Doug Martin (Vice Chair), Kate Dunn, Susan Caughran (BSAC), Maroun Naser, Stephen Siomra (Halton Police)

2.
Member Regrets:

Eric Schwab, Imran Kamal, Brenda Agnew (BAAC), Farah Butt, Georgi Alishandemirof, Girish Parekh, Jess Kiley (PSN), Councillor Lancaster

3.
Others Present:

Lisa Palermo (Clerk)

4.
Declarations of Interest:

None.

5.
Approval of Minutes:
This item has attachments.

1.Post-Meeting Minutes - Burlington Inclusivity Advisory Committee_Jun16_2017 - English.pdf

6.
Delegation(s):

6.1
Kim Smith, Manager of Community Engagement, Halton Poverty Roundtable

Kim discussed the various programs/initiatives offered by HPRT, such as advocating for a living wage at the City of Burlington, partnering with the YMCA to deliver meal programs and provide financial support to students.  The HPRT has representation from government, business community, citizens and school boards.  Kim invited members to attend an HPRT roundtable discussion on "A Rights-Based Approach to Poverty Elimination" planned for Sep. 21 at Sheridan Conference Centre.

Note: BIAC members attending this conference will report back with a summary of the event at the October meeting.

Kim to follow up on a request by members to have representation from HPRT at future BIAC meetings.  Kim also to follow up on a request by members to review the draft Creating more inclusive events checklist.

7.
Regular Items:

7.1
Communication subcommittee

Subcommittee members provided an update on the Creating more inclusive events checklist.  The checklist was circulated to a small group of stakeholders over the summer.  Feedback was received by the Accessibility Coordinator. Subcommittee members met with Special Events staff in the summer.  Once the checklist is completed, staff will incorporate it into their resource list for event organizers. 

ACTION: Lisa to circulate the checklist once again for feedback and then send to the city's communication and design team.  

Special Events staff have invited 2 members of BIAC to attend the City of Burlington’s annual Festivals & Events Organizer Group Conference on Nov 21 to participate roundtable discussions. 

ACTION: Maroun and Heather have tentatively agreed to participate.

7.2
Workplan update

Heather led a discussion about BIAC's work plan / projects for the remainder of 2017. It was proposed that the committee focus on a small number of projects that can be delivered in the short term.  The following projects were proposed and approved by the members:

  • Create and distribute a survey to front line staff at the City of Burlington.  The intent of the survey is to learn about the customer service experiences of front line staff at the city - specifically related to diverse groups. Can they identify barriers the public face when accessing city programs, using city facilities, interacting with staff, etc.  The initial survey may be followed by a focus group if determined useful.  Members also wish to survey members of council.  A draft survey for councillors has been created and will be circulated to members for review and comment.

ACTION:  Kate and Heather will gather survey questions from members and prepare a draft for discussion at the next meeting.  Lisa will circulate the draft council survey for review and comment.

  • Deliver lunch and learn sessions for City of Burlington staff to increase awareness of inclusivity, diversity and equity.  Possible topics include; understanding biases, indigenous people...  Committee members will select the "Ted Talk" or other video to present and prepare probing questions for discussion.

ACTION:  Lisa to gather video suggestions from members and then circulate to all members for review and comment.  Note that all videos should be no longer than 15-20 minutes in length.  Lisa to establish dates for the Lunch and Learn sessions to share with members to determine which members are able to attend and facilitate a discussion with staff.

  • Provide a list of speakers, interactive activities, topics for discussion related to diversity, inclusivity and equity and share with Burlington's Leadership Team for consideration at department staff development days

ACTION: Members to attend the October meeting with suggestions.

  • Review the BIAC website and provide suggestions for updating the content.
  • Community awareness campaign. - promote inclusivity in the community and build awareness of BIAC.  Several options were considered for delivering a social media campaign to citizens.  It was determined that planning for this campaign would be deferred to a time after the work plan initiatives listed above had been completed.

7.3
2018 Events

Members suggested that the number of events that the BIAC attend in 2018 be limited to two.  It was suggested that BIAC members participate in:

  • Kite Festival held in June
  • One Burlington Festival to be held late August

8.
Other Business:

Committee services staff will be recruiting for all citizen committees in Sep and Oct with interviews scheduled for Nov. 

Save the date for the Halton Equity and Diversity Roundtable (HEDR) conference on Nov 9 - more details to come.

The next meeting's speaker will be Denise Beard, Manager of Community Development.  Members requested that Jess Kiley present at the Nov meeting regarding PSN, their services/programs, and positive space awareness.

9.
Adjournment: 11:00 am

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