Burlington Inclusivity Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes

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

Heather Wray (Chair), Brian Wrixon (Vice Chair), Doug Martin (Vice Chair), Girish Parekh, Farah Butt, Ron Baliko (BAAC), Stephen Siomra (Halton Police), Katelan Dunn, Maroun Naser, Jess Kiley (PSN)

Imran Kamal, Susan Caughran (BSAC)

Councillor Blair Lancaster, Lisa Palermo (Clerk)

Ingrid and Thomas, staff participating in the Mohawk Leadership program attended to provide an update on their project.  They last attended a BIAC meeting in May for input.  Ingrid and Thomas relayed that they had completed a best practice review, interviews with key staff at the city, an internal employee survey and interviews with diversity coordinators from surrounding municipalities.  The staff team will present to the city's leadership team in December to recommend actions to consider including; diversity champion and training.  The staff team will come back to BIAC in the new year to provide their final presentation.

Jess provided committee with an overview of the programs / services offered by the Positive Space Network (PSN).  PSN provides services/programs to Milton, Georgetown, Acton, Burlington and Oakville.  Programs include drop in programs, crisis line, education, mental health services, resources and referrals for LGBTQ+ youth and their families.

https://www.positivespacenetwork.ca/

Members reviewed recent statistics regarding top languages/mother tongue spoken in Burlington/Halton homes.  Sources of data included Community Development Halton's community lens, HMC Connections annual report and the census.  BIAC suggests applying an inclusion lens to this information and providing suggestions towards improving city services.  Some suggestions include;

  • That city correspondence (i.e. property tax notices, planning letters re proposed developments, etc), include a sentence in the top 5 languages "do you need this information in another language?" and provide a number to call.
  • Translation button on city website include a universal image rather than just the words "select language"
  • Investigate the implementation of an interpretation service
  • Investigate the services offered by 311 and 211
  • Offer 'overview pages' for each department and for major projects in the top 5 languages for residents to access/download.

BIAC members brainstormed a list of priorities/recommendations to provide to the new Deputy City Manager.  This new position at the city will be responsible for diversity / inclusivity within the organization.  BIAC suggested the following be included in a welcome letter:

  • Provide an inclusion lens to all imagery on the city's website and all city publications / print material.
  • Offer a city hall 101/ intro to municipal services for diverse communities. Target ESL classes, new immigrant settlement services, libraries, places of worship, community meals, employment centres,etc.  Offer information about local government, services, job opportunities, etc.
  • Highlight information obtained from language research (item 7.1) and the challenge of making the City of Burlington more inclusive and suggest that staff explore this further.  (i.e. translation services, correspondence mailed with message in top 5 languages)
  • Advocate to Region and Province for more ESL programming and improved programs for newcomers.

Members suggested attaching the presentation made to the City Manager in June 2016 to the welcome letter.

Suggested resources:

  • Cities of Migration for examples of successful local practices and policy innovation from global cities that promote immigrant integration, inclusive communities and shared urban prosperity.  www.citiesofmigration.ca
  • Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusivity for workplace solutions, workshops, webinars, toolkits, etc.
    www.ccdi.ca
  • City for All Women Initiative and City of Ottawa Guide for Municipalities.
    www.cawi-ivtf.org
  • Halton Equity and Diversity Roundtable (HEDR). www.hedroundtable.com

City departments host annual development days for their staff.  BIAC members will provide a list of resources (speakers and activities) related to inclusivity and diversity for senior staff to consider when organizing staff development.  Below is a list of suggested speakers and/or activities suggested by members.  The list will be compiled with descriptions and contacts and provided to the city's leadership team as a resource.

  • Positive Space Training
  • Opening Doors Project and Syrian Youth Mentor Initiative
  • PAH! deaf and hard of hearing
  • Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (webinars)
  • Cities of Migration
  • Obijway cultural workshop (Erin Bell)
  • Visit Mississauga of the New Credits / First Nations
  • Muffins for Granny video
  • Walk a Mile video
  • Visit Halton Mosque
  • Darren Thomas - Indigeneous speaker
  • Sweat lodge ceremonies - a tradition for First Nations , the sweat lodge ceremony cleans and heals the body. It heals the mind – bringing clarity – and sweat lodges are also holy places where Aboriginal people can renew their deep connection to the universe and to the spirit realm
  • Blanket workshop - facilitated interactive learning exercise that teaches Indigenous rights history.
  • Jean Samuels - oppression, equity and inclusion speaker
  • Canadian Mental Health Association workshops/speakers
  • Ted talks /videos (suggestions will be provided)

The customer service staff survey is in progress.  Staff were given 2 weeks to complete the survey (Nov 12 - Nov 23).  Once completed, the results will be shared with BIAC members for discussion and next steps.

Eric and Maroun conducted a lunch and learn for city staff on November 8 on the subject of unconscious bias.  The lunch and learn was well received by staff - a total of 20 individuals attended over two lunch periods.  The session started with a Ted Talk video entitled "What does my headscarf mean to you?" by Yassmin Abdel-Magied.  Following the video, Maroun and Eric facilitated a discussion about unconscious bias and customer service.  The session ended with a video from Danish TV2 station entitled "All that we share".

The Guide is currently being reviewed by communications staff at the city for grammar, plain language, flow, etc.  The Guide will then go to the creative team to produce a booklet for posting to the web.

The conference was attended by Heather, Brian and Maroun.  Overall, the event was a success, very informative and good networking opportunities.  The speakers included - Jean Samuels speaking on oppression/ equity/ diversity and Darren Thomas from Seneca Nation speaking on Indigineous matters.