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, Stephen Siomra (Halton Police), Rana Al Semaani, Roy La Chappelle

2.
Others Present:

Councillor Blair Lancaster, Rebecca Mackay (Assistant to Councillor Lancaster), Georgie Gartside (Clerk)

3.
Regrets:

Eric Schwab, Ron Baliko (BAAC), Susan Caughran (BSAC), Doug Martin, Girish Parekh, Farah Butt, Mary Lou Tanner (Deputy City Manager)

4.
Declarations of Interest:

None.

5.
Approval of Minutes:

6.
Delegation(s):

6.1
Mary Marshall and Rob Eatough, Halton District School Board

Mary Marshall, System Principal, Equity & Student Health, and Superintendent Rob Eatough, who oversees the school board's equity portfolio, sent their regrets and will be rescheduled to a future meeting.

7.
Regular Items:

7.1
Annual Report

Georgie advised that the annual report will be presented at the June 4 Committee of the Whole meeting.

Brian provided a summary of the work BIAC undertook last year, along with details of the 2018 workplan.

ACTION: Georgie to change "video contest" to "video strategy".

On motion, Burlington Inclusivity Advisory Committee approved its 2017 annual report and 2018 workplan, as amended.

7.2
Sub-committee Updates

a.
Inclusion Lens

Kumkum advised that the team communicated by email and will undertake a review of the Equity and Inclusion Lens Handbook developed by the City of Ottawa. The sub-committee will then review the City of Burlington Inclusion Lens document created by BIAC in 2012 and determine which of Ottawa's tools fit with Burlington's document.

It was suggested that when tools are developed, they could be incorporated into lunch and learn sessions for city staff.

b.
Communications and Public Awareness

Maroun shared that he will chair the sub-committee, Eric and Roy will act as co-vice chairs. The team met and a draft plan was discussed. They would like to bring more awareness to BIAC in the community and talked about reaching out to Burlington associations (community groups, police, schools etc.), and all residents. One concern is BIAC's limited budget. They will look into working with other community groups and the city to achieve this. The team will also attend community events.

Roy shared that the team may also consider reaching out to businesses in Burlington to do some speaking engagements or training to businesses and their employees.

c.
Staff Training

Brian advised that Rana and Kate will co-chair the sub-committee.

Kate shared that the team met and went through videos that they would like to frame as lunch and learns for city staff. They will also package them with the intent that staff could facilitate them on their own. Each training session will include a video, discussion points and questions around the video. Staff could facilitate the training or BIAC could facilitate if needed. It was suggested that the videos could also be used to train local businesses.

ACTION: Georgie to arrange for the sub-committee to meet with city staff responsible for training to discuss the videos. 

7.3
Roundtable Updates

a.
Halton Police Update

Stephen provided an update on Halton's 2016-17 hate crime statistics and said the report is available on the Halton Police website.

A hate crime is considered a criminal offence motivated by hate. A suspected hate crime is when police can't prove, but believe a hate crime has been committed. A hate incident is not necessarily criminal in nature and could consist of racial slurs and printed material (billboards/signs), etc. Hate incidents are Halton Police's largest category.

Total hate related incidents: 34 across Halton
Burlington: no hate crimes, 2 hate related incidents, and 8 suspected hate crimes

b.
Burlington Public Library Update

Kumkum shared information about videos she watched on bias and will send a link to them.

The library is working to build bridges with different cultural groups. They went to the mosque to share information and ask what the mosque might need from the library. The also met with the Red Leaf Cultural Organization.

Let Kumkum know if there are other groups that would benefit from this outreach.

c.
Taskforce on Anti-Bullying/Harassment

Councillor Lancaster advised that an advertisement has been placed in the newspaper for a citizen representative on the Taskforce and they have also reached out to community organizations to seek a representative. A framework has been established with 3 or 4 quick wins and they will also identify long term goals.

d.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Vital Conversations

Kumkum provided details about the March 1 event that included a panel discussion about cultural appropriation.

e.
New Year's Around the World

Brian attended this event at Halton Region that had about 15 different cultural displays, music and food.

f.
Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

Brian provided details about this webinar offered by the law firm Aird & Berlis. Brian will add information about the webinar to the committee's dropbox and said committee members could register to receive the information without attending the webinar. Aird & Berlis will offer another webinar next week on harassment in the workplace.

g.
Halton Equity and Diversity Roundtable Training

Brian shared that HEDR is putting together video training sessions for its self-assessment tool and received excellent feedback from the group at its last meeting.

h.
Trans Misogyny Workshop

Kate provided details of the workshop she attended about the importance of engaging and creating safe spaces for all. Kate will share the notes she took.

i.
One Burlington Festival

Stephen advised that this year's One Burlington Festival is Monday, Aug. 6 at Central Park. BIAC will need to decide if they want a table. This year's theme is the green rule - equitable mindfulness as a principle.

8.
Other Business:

8.1
Resignation of Jess Kiley, Positive Space Network

Brian advised that Jess resigned due to time constraints. It would be beneficial for BIAC to have a replacement from the LGBTQ community. If anyone has recommendations, please let Georgie know.

9.
Adjournment: 10:38 a.m.

No Item Selected