Burlington Inclusivity Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes

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

1.
Members Present:
 

Heather Wray (Chair), Eric Schwab, Maroun Naser, Susan Caughran (BSAC), Ron Baliko (BAAC), Stephen Siomra (Halton Police)

2.
Member Regrets:
 

Brian Wrixon, Douglas Martin, Imran Kamal, Farah Butt, Girish Parekh, Jess Kiley (PSN), Georgi Alishandemirof, Katelan Dunn

3.
Others Present:
 

Councillor Lancaster, Lisa Palermo (Clerk)

4.
Declarations of Interest:
 

5.
Approval of Minutes:
 

6.
Delegation(s):
 

6.1
Denise Beard, Manager of Community Development
 

Denise provided an overview of her role/responsibilities and current community projects/initiatives. 

  • Denise oversees special events, sport and neighbourhood development. 
  • In January a special events strategy will be introduced.  The strategy speaks to general events but also specifically references how Spencer Smith Park will be used.  One of the guiding principles of the strategy is to permit events that are inclusive to everyone in the community.
  • In the area of sport, staff are always evolving the programs offered in order to reach the broader community. For example, the recent addition of "women's only" swims at public pools, activites for youth with special needs, etc.
  • Some programs within the neighbourhood development portfolio:
  • Love My Hood program is in it's 3rd year.  This year's goal is to host 150 LMH events in Burlington.  To date there have been 148.  The city will provide money and resources for residents to come together for a 'party".  This program promotes a sense of belonging for residents.
  • Neighbourhood Rnks ppogram
  • Community Matching Fund - residents can have their money matched by the city up to $5000 for a neighbourhood project (i.e. butterfly garden, enhance a park, mural, community garden)
  • Coming in 2018 - 100 in 1 project where staff will inspire residents to host 100 activites in a day (June 2) anything from a lemonade stand to a marathon.

Staff strive to make Burlington an 'inclusive city' - how can that be achieved?

Committee members to investigate top languages spoken in Burlington and consider providing written material and signage in these languages.

7.
Regular Items:
 

7.1
Lunch and Learn
 

Eric and Maroun have volunteered to facilitate a lunch and learn with city staff on Wednesday, November 8th from noon - 2pm.  The video "What does my headscarf mean to you?" will be shown, followed by a discussion.  The lunch and learn is part of the city's Customer Service Week program.  Staff will be invited to attend lunch learns related to Inclusivity, Accessibility, and Mental Health. 

If successful, the committee may consider offering future lunch and learns to city staff.

Heather to arrange a meeting in advance of the lunch and learn to finalize discussion points.

7.2
Surveys
 

The council survey is ready for distribution.  It will be sent to members of council at the same time the front line staff survey is launched.

Heather will compile the suggested questions submitted by members and send out a draft survey for everyone's review and comment.  The online survey will be launched on Nov. 6th to coincide with the Lunch and Learn.

The front line staff survey is intended to gather staff's experiences while dealing with the public to determine "what barriers are our customers experiencing?"  language barriers?  accessibility barriers? etc.  BIAC will review the final survey results and make recommendations to senior staff for improvement where needed.

Lisa to connect with internal communications to create the online survey and promote the survey internally.

7.3
Making events more inclusive checklist
 

The draft checklist has been reviewed by BIAC members and special events and accessibility staff at the city.  The draft checklist will now be shared with internal communications and design to create a more plain language, accessible and visually pleasing document.

The designed document will be circulated for review prior to the next meeting.

The goal is to have the checklist available on the city's Special Events webpage for event organizers to access.

7.4
BIAC Website Review
 

Following a brief review of the BIAC webpage, the following initial recommendations were made:

  • include more images
  • add the committee logo
  • consider a photo of the committee members
  • highlight the recent achievements of the committee
  • remove old reports and replace with more recent ones
  • link to diverse activities at the city (i.e. womens only swim, events checklist, etc.)

8.
Other Business:
 

At the next meeting the committee will determine where/when they would like to have the annual social gathering. 

The city has received applications for citizen committee vacancies and will be arranging interviews during the month of November.  BIAC is filling one vacancy for an Alternate.

Reminder that the Halton Equity and Diversity Roundtable (HEDR) Conference will be held November 9 - this is a free event.  The conference theme is Building Equity Through Allies and Leadership.

Before the next meeting, Lisa will poll members confirm the date/time slot for BIAC meetings starting in 2018.  Do members wish to stick with the same day, time and/or location?  If not, then what is the preferred day, time, and/or location?

9.
Adjournment: 11:00 a.m.
 

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