Burlington Mundialization Committee Meeting

Minutes

Meeting #:
Date:
Time:
-
Location:
Virtual

1.
Members Present:
 

Hassan Raza (Chair), Leanne Cecil, Christa Papavasiliou, Johanna Haan, Joanna Sparrow, Anne Koopman, Aysha Rizwan, Alex Maveal, Allan Dykstra, Brett Huttman, Chris VanDooren, Allison Tan, Shadi Salehian, Brianna Jennings, Rob Lyng, Eric Lim

2.
Member Regrets:
 

Ryan Martin, Marybeth Curtin, Councillor Rory Nisan

3.
Others Present:
 

Suzanne Gillies (Clerk)

4.
Welcome and Introductions:
 

Hassan welcomed everyone to the meeting, with a special welcome to the newly appointed members.  The committee members went around the virtual table to introduce themselves.  

5.
New Member Orientation:
 

Suzanne 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.

6.
Declarations of Interest:
 

None.

7.
Approval of Minutes:
 

7.1
Approve the minutes from the meeting held January 6, 2021
This item has attachments. 

1.Post-Meeting Minutes Jan06_2021 - English.pdf

On motion the minutes from the meeting held January 6, 2020 were approved as amended.

8.
Delegation(s):
 

None.

9.
Regular Items:
 

9.1
Chair Update:
 

Hassan provided the following update:

  • welcome to the new members and thank you for being a part of the Mund committee moving forward.  
  • spoke of the importance of joining a subcommittee and would be happy to speak with any new members about the work of the subcommittees
  • summarized the type of work the committees are looking for members to do

9.2
Business arising from the minutes:
 

These items were referred to the next meeting as Councillor Nisan was not in attendance to provide updates.

9.3
Subcommittee updates:
 

a.
Apeldoorn Subcommittee
 

Anne and Eric provided the following updates:

  • Pen pal program is still going strong, Trinity School is ready to send another set of letters
  • The decision was made that there will not be any citizen exchanges this year, no one going to Apeldoorn from Burlington and no one coming to Burlington from Apeldoorn
  • Canada Netherlands Friendship Day (CNFD) will be held virtually this year, traditionally when we host the event in person we have a flag raising, speeches, music and art display in Civic Square
  • Ideas for the virtual festival include:  both the Mayor of Apeldoorn and Burlington recording videos, having Arnold Koopman speak to his experience during the Liberation, recorded performance by the 48th Highlanders, ask local families to talk about their family experience, on the day of Liberation have a flag raising, play anthems, read proclamation.
  • Arnold has contacted schools for students to do a video, no singing is allowed so maybe O'Canada in sign language or provide artwork?
  • ACTION:  Hassan to reach out to Mayor Meed Ward about doing a video
  • MOTION:  Approval to spend up to $2,000 to cover costs related to hosting the virtual CNFD events - CARRIED
  • Alex volunteered to help with the production of the video

b.
Itabashi subcommittee
 

Rob provided the following updates:

  • The pen pal program through MM Robinson High School  is off to a slow start due to Covid, a school in Itabashi mailed letters to us in January and they have not yet been received at City Hall, this will make for a quick turn around to respond as school ends in April in Itabashi.  Teachers in Burlington and Itabashi are open to the program continuing and are open to the connection.  
  • MOTION:  approve up to $100 to cover mailing costs associated with the pen pal program - CARRIED
  • Working on the virtual Sakura Festival, this is a very important time in Japan.  We have hosted an in person event at the Art Gallery of Burlington in the past, with 2020 being a virtual event that went very well.  The virtual event will take place from May 5 - 12 depending on how many videos there are to show.  
  • MOTION:  approve up to $1,000 to commission videos for the virtual Sakura Festival - CARRIED
  • ACTION - Suzanne to send Mayor Meed Ward's Blog post regarding the Commendation to the committee members

    Burlington Mundialization Committee Awarded the Japanese Foreign Minister's Commendation | Marianne Meed Ward

  • The Nelson Hight School Interact Club is looking to establish pen pal relationships, I will send contact information to Itabashi and hopefully a relationship can be established
  • Leanne has artwork ready for the art exchange program, we are waiting to receive art work from Itabashi that can be displayed in City Hall

c.
United Nations subcommittee
 

Shadi provided the following updates:

  • summarized what the subcommittee usually does in a non Covid year for the benefit of the new members
  • this year school boards are not supportive of an online conference, there are a lot or restrictions
  • Committee will look ahead to an in person conference in 2022, there needs to be committees at school and students on subcommittee to be successful
  • remain in touch with students and subcommittee members to brainstorm what, if anything, can be done this year, such as what is the UN doing during the pandemic, what is their role
  • can we use the website to host videos and articles as a way to connect virtually

10.
Other Business:
 

  • suggestion made that perhaps an initiative geared around soccer and the Euro Championships could be started, involving the Dutch community, youth soccer organizations and other partners as a way to show support and highlight our relationship

11.
Adjournment:
 

Chair adjourned the meeting at 9:04 p.m.

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