Burlington Inclusivity Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes

Meeting #:
Date:
Time:
-
Location:
Virtual

1.
Members Present:
 

Carrie Overholt, Jim Young, Heba Lamloum, Kumkum Bhandari, Michael Brooks, Hanadi Al-Masri, Hiba Zinbarakji, Amreen Rahman, Ryan Smith, Jenna Bye, Mumba Litana, Ron Baliko, Rameen Sabet, Salma Emam

2.
Members Regrets:
 

3.
Others Present:
 

Councillor Angelo Bentivegna, Mayor Meed Ward, (left at 10:00 a.m.) Councillor Nisan (left at 10:00 a.m.), Denise Beard (Manager of Community Development), Georgie Gartside, Committee Clerk (left at 10:00 a.m.), Roxanne Gosse (Committee Assistant), (Acting Chair and Clerk)

4.
Declarations of Interest:
 

None

5.
Election of Chair and Vice Chair:
 

On motion, Carrie Overholt and Jim Young were elected as Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, for the term ending December 2021.

6.
Approval of Minutes:
 

7.
Delegation(s):
 

7.1
Mayor Meed Ward and Councillor Nisan anti-racism initiative.
 

Mayor Meed Ward and Councillor Nisan provided information on their anti-racism initiative and believe that BIAC can help by asking for the committee’s feedback:

  • What can Burlington do to find a solution about systemic racism. What the community is doing to combat racism? It is clear that there is a lot of racism in Burlington/Halton. Mayor Meed Ward and Councillor Nisan would like to find a way to house those conversations in a productive and respectful way.  This should be community lead approach.  

The committee is to receive and review the report and recommendations made by the anti-racism consultant to assist with setting priorities and the 2021 workplan:

  • a forum is a good idea, to have top leaders delivering messages of anti-racism in the community
  • we need to initiate the conversation
  • there needs to be more anti-racism messaging in the community
  • its important to start in primary schools, involving the school boards, a strategy needs to be developed
  • conversations with our youth and seniors' would be vital in gathering feedback
  • we need to get the communities feedback  
  • there needs to be an understanding of the strategy in order to achieve results
  • BIAC needs to have a budget to support anti-racism initiatives 
  • BIAC has members who can connect with a network of groups, associations and events within the City of Burlington.  
  • there needs to be language used that is inclusive, this is missing in the in messaging 
  • Burlington library would be a great resource, they are already providing anti-racism training for their employees
  • library has a variety of educational resources
  • its important that people feel safe when providing their feedback, having the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback

Next steps:

  • Mayor Meed Ward stated that the next step is to report Council for Councils support of the anti-racism initiative and then to come back to committee. 

8.
Regular Items:
 

8.1
Orientation
 

Roxanne provided an orientation to new members, presentation has been attached. Committee members were advised of a virtual orientation on Wednesday, March 31, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. The session will go over the city's goals, values and organizational structure, along with policies, rules and procedures.

8.2
Workplan discussion
 

The work plan discussion was referred to the next meeting of April. 

Action: Roxanne Gosse to provide Carrie Overholt and Jim Young historical workplan information. 

9.
Other Business: n/a
 

10.
Adjournment:
 

Chair adjourned the meeting at 10:32 a.m.

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