Register Now for Collective Impact! The Environment & Our Diverse Society on June 3 @Evergreen Brick Works

Collective Impact! The Environment and Our Diverse Society

Location: Evergreen Brick Works
550 Bayview Ave., Toronto
Time: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Reception: 5:00pm - 7:00pm

Registration Fee: $100

Collective Impact! The Environment & Our Diverse Society is a signature event of the Environment & Diversity Project, a collaborative initiative led by the Sustainability Network.

Collective Impact! will bring together environmental nonprofits, settlement agencies, and community and faith groups and is designed to help the environmental movement change to better reflect various ethno-cultural and Aboriginal communities. Thought leaders will share insights and facilitated discussions will showcase success stories. There will be opportunities to explore numerous existing diversity initiatives and ample time to network and develop key contacts.

Keynote Speakers
Michael Adams, President, Environics
Robin Cardozo, CEO, Ontario Trillium Foundation
Melissa Shin, Contributing Editor, Corporate Knights Magazine
Rosemarie Powell, Assistant Executive Director, Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre

Register Now!

Dec. 17 Webinar on Chicago's Community Engagement with Diverse Populations

Sustainability Network's Environment & Diversity partner Clean Air Partnership is hosting an interesting webinar on Chicago's community engagement with diverse populations. Hope you can make it!

The City of Chicago has formed a partnership with Chicago's Field Museum to engage the public in the development and the implementation of the Chicago Climate Action Plan. The Field Museum has also focused on reaching out to Chicago's diverse populations. Join Clean Air Partnership on Friday December 17th at 1 pm when:

• Jennifer Hirsch from the Chicago Field Museum will present on the activities and learnings of Community Engagement on Chicago's Climate Action Plan.

Register

Anti-racism for Environmentalists

"There can be no green movement unless there is a also a black, brown and copper movement ... our house is literally burning, and it is only logical that environmentalists expect the social-justice movement to get on the environmental bus. But it is the other way around, the only way we are going to put out the fire is to get on the social justice bus and heal our wounds, because in the end, there is only one bus." ~Paul Hawken

Sustainability Network recently held an Anti-Racism for Environmentalists workshop for the collaborative members in the Environment & Diversity Project. Led by Anu Radha Verma and Muna Ali, the jam-packed day included activities and case studies that addressed social location, everyday racism, institutional racism and systemic racism, environmental justice and environmental racism, a discussion about definitions and a learning session on the history of Canada and colonization. It was great day to learn about each other and about how move the movement forward.

We thought we'd post a couple of the documents Anu and Muna put together for us for you to download - an excellent terminology/definitions list with selected reading and comparison chart of multiculturalism vs. anti-racism. Both are available on the Sustainability Network website.

More about our facilitators:

Anu Radha Verma has lived and worked in Toronto, Peterborough, Mississauga and New Delhi. She is intensely concerned with issues of social justice and has engaged in work around issues of race, gender, sexuality and the environment.

Muna Abdulkadir Ali is a Masters student in Sociology at York University in Toronto, Canada. Her interests include: environmental justice, transnational sexualities, feminist theories, and anti-racism as well as anti-colonial work/organizing.

Saturday, Novemember 6: Toronto Public Library Hosts First Human Library

The Toronto Public Library is launching its first Human Library on November 6^th. Visit one of five libraries across Toronto on Saturday, November 6^th, 2010 from 10am – 2pm and you’ll have the opportunity to sign out a human “book” and find out what it’s like to walk in another person’s shoes.

Have a one-on-one conversation with a human “book” and learn about what it’s like to be homeless, or new to Canada, be in prison or start your own IT company (to name a few). If you’re interested, you can also volunteer to become one of the books at the participating libraries.

More about the Human Library

The first Human Library was held at Roskilde Festival in Denmark in 2000. The youth organization Stop the Violence was encouraged by the festival director at the time to create anti-violence activities for festival goers to encourage dialogue and help people build relations with each other - and that's how the Human Library came to be. In its original form, the "library" was set up in an outdoor space at the festival where people could come in and "borrow" human "books", ask questions and have a conversation to help break down stereotypes and prejudices.

With the help of the Human Library Organization, which provides a wealth of resources and information to support groups that want to organize their own event, Human Libraries are now held around the world.

In addition to the Toronto Public Library, other Canadian Human Library organizers include:

• Douglas College, British Columbia
• Coquitlam Library, British Columbia
• Moscrop Secondary School, British Columbia
  
• Calgary Public Library, Alberta
• Augusta Campus, University of Alberta, Alberta
• The University of Guelph, Ontario
• King's University College, University of Western Ontario, Ontario
  

First Nations History, Terminology & Cultural Differences Webinar with Kathleen Padulo

Kathleen Padulo will join us on November 3, 2010 @10am EST for a one hour webinar to
provide a brief cultural and historical overview of the First Nations who reside within the
boundaries of Ontario.

She will outline the significance of key legislation and policy including; the Royal Proclamation of 1763, the Indian Act of 1876 highlighting the objectives behind this Act, and the Constitution Act of 1982.

This webinar will also look at the Residential Schools a chronology of “killing the Indian in the child”.

The goal of this educational webinar is for all of us to gain a better understanding of First
Nations Peoples so we can develop and build long-lasting relationships built upon respect and knowledge.

Kathleen Padulo has her Masters in Environmental Studies from York University. She is from the Oneida Nation of the Thames and has 15 years working experience planning, developing and coordinating programs with Aboriginal organizations and First Nations communities.

This webinar is the first in a series of three over the next several months.

Please register online.

Bay Area Restoration Council and SISO Host Successful First Annual Multicultural Festival

Photo credit: L. Tessier

Sustainability Network's Environment & Diversity Project partner Bay Area Restoration Council (BARC) co-hosted a very successful First Annual Multicultural Festival with Hamilton's Settlement and Integration Services Organization (SISO) last weekend!

Generous donors covered the cost of an HSR shuttle to bring people from Hamilton's diverse East End out to the Bay Front. Said BARC's Rhoda deJonge, "New Canadians were invited to try out canoes, sail boats, kayaks and dinghies in a fun and safe environment. They loved it!"

Photo credit: T. Wiercioch

Over 300 people came to the boating event which also included activities such as fishing lessons from FutureWatch, henna and face painting as well as door prizes from Mountain Equipment Co-op. BARC also partnered with local boating clubs, police, firemen, other local non-profits, the power squadron and even the navy to pull of a wonderfully fun-filled gathering!

Check out more pictures and find out more about BARC's engaging and working with Hamilton's diverse communities on BARC's Facebook page.

New Series of Bus Tours to Explore Indigenous History and Knowledge

The Native Canadian Centre is running a series called The Great Indian Bus Tours, which will offer people with a chance to learn about Toronto's indigenous history, aboriginal wars, lifestyles, medicines, and forms of government.

For more information and to find out how you can participate, check out this article from this week's Yonge Street magazine.

HR Council launches new project to increase cultural diversity in Canadian nonprofits

The HR Council recently launched a new project to increase the cultural diversity of Canadian nonprofits.

The project aims to:

• identify key issues preventing nonprofits from accessing the talents of visible minorities
• deliver practical and realistic outcomes to help the sector develop a more inclusive labour force

This is an important project because cultural diversity in the nonprofit sector is very low - take a look at the following statistics from the HR Council’s 2008 survey of nonprofit employers and employees:

• 6% identified themselves as a visible minority (compared to16.2% visible minority across Canada)
  
• 88.9% of respondents were born in Canada
• 8.6% born outside of Canada (compared to 19.8% foreign-born across Canada)
  
• 1.8% considered as landed immigrants

The HR Council is introducing the project and seeking questions, thoughts and perspectives during an interactive, live conversation today at 1pm EST. Sustainability Network will be joining the discussion because we are working to improve the diversity of environmental nonprofits.

Will you be joining the conversation?

Sustainability Network at Roadmap: 2030!

I'll be speaking at Roadmap: 2030 tomorrow afternoon at the Toronto Reference Library. What is Roadmap: 2030?

"Roadmap: 2030 will be a thought-provoking two days of innovative ideas and best practices. With an eye to Canada’s future, Roadmap: 2030 will answer a crucial question: how can the public sector better engage with, and reflect, cultural minority, Aboriginal and disability communities in the development of public and political policy?"

I'll be on the Citizen 2.0 panel, which will explore whether social media and new communications technologies have offered benefits to Canada’s diverse populations and whether these tools have increased their ability to engage with their governments and communities. We'll also talk about how new technologies be used to promote representation, engagement, integration and prosperity.

Hope to see you there!