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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApril 5, 2007 Cillf (J~ Minutes PICKERING ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON RACE RELATIONS & EQUITY April 5, 2007 7:00 pm Main Committee Room Attendees: Councillor David Pickles - Chair Tanya Malika Foster Fred Gibson, Pickering Carib Canadian Cultural Association Cathy Grant, Pickering Public Library Margaret Lazarus, Valley Farm Public School Adrian Rampersad, Dunbarton High School Siobhan Saravanamuttu, Dunbarton High School Constable Lindsy Richardson, Durham Regional Police Services Sharon Singh, Pine Ridge Secondary School Ansar Siddiqui, Pine Ridge Secondary School Marisa Carpino, City of Pickering Linda Roberts, Recording Secretary Absent: Kirk Mark, Community Appointee Sethu Madhavan, Community Appointee Regrets: Mariyah Gonzales, Dunbarton High School Joanne Guindon, Durham District Catholic School Board Philip Howard, Durham District School Board Councillor Pickles welcomed members and guests and introductions were made around the table. Constable Lindsy Richardson was in attendance representing the Durham Regional Police Service. Reference was made to the cancellation of the March meeting due to weather Reference was made to the inclusion of this item to our agenda Page 1 CORP0228-2/02 as Councillor Pickles and Marisa reviewed business arising from previous meeting. Councillor Pickles indicated he had not yet obtained a contact for publishing of the essays. Constable Richardson suggested he may have one. Minutes from the February 1, 2007 meeting were handed out and approved. Constable Richardson to look into a contact and send information to Marisa 4.1 Tapestry Marisa explained the Tapestry event, which is being held on Saturday, June 9th from '12:00 pm to 4:30 pm at the Pickering Museum Village. This event is free to the public. Marisa listed all the organizations involved this year. One difference will be that each group will be inhabiting a building as opposed to being on stage. There will also be passports this year. Tanya inquired about the organizations involved. They have until April 16th to confirm their attendance. Councillor Pickles indicated he would like to have two representatives at the Tapestry meetings. Tanya and Margaret confirmed their attendance at the May 6th meeting to be held at the Museum at 2:00 pm. to finalize the details. He also noted that this time Gould be contributed as volunteer hours for the students. 4.2 Race Relations Forum . Marisa provided handouts of the program from March 21 . All winners attended the event as guest speakers . Marisa expressed her appreciation to the students who participated in the essay contest. . Marisa passed around photos of the event . Marisa indicated that letters as well as photos of the participating students and their families had been mailed out . Councillor Pickles suggested getting the essays printed and sent to the schools to help promote this program · Councillor Pickles commended the new photographer for including family ml3mbers in the photos and also thanked Marisa and staff for a successful event. Discussion ensued on how best to promote this event and who to contact. Marisa explained the process involved. Councillor Pickles indicated timin could be an issue with respect to the CORP0228-2f02 Marisa to forward a list of all groups to Tanya Page 2 lower response this year, possibly due to the conflict with exams. It was suggested we could look into communication with the teachers and promoting more through the schools, possibly by attending an administration meeting of the school board. It was also suggested lengthening the time frame for students to work on the essays by launching this in September. 4.3 Heritaqe Dav . Event was held February 1 ih this year at the Pickering Town Centre . Marisa passed around an example of the program . Marisa thanked the Committee members for thier help on this event, indicated good participation from groups . It was felt the dance performances were the biggest draw . Marisa passed around pictures from the event and indicated they could also be viewed on the City's website . It was suggested that we could have interactive booths . Sharon suggested we could possibly relate this event with Black Heritage Month, as it is always held in February . Cathy suggested electronic map pinning . Councillor Pickles requested that all members come up with comments and/or suggestions for this event for next year. Marisa to look into electronic map pinning Cathy Grant, a representative for the Pickering Public Library spoke in regards to our diverse community. She indicated that they have a user focus group from the multi cultural community, but that it was not serving the community as well as possible. She indicated they were trying to get more feedback in this respect, and to make more of a connection with the multi cultural society. Cathy passed around brochures on programs available at the Library. She discussed their recent guest speaker, Lawrence Hill, a best selling author, but unfortunately audience participation was disappointing. Councillor Pickles indicated he would like to see the Committee do more with the Library, possibly forming a partnership. It was suggested a portion of our budget could be used to purchase books for the Library. He suggested all committee members give some thought to the donation of books to the Library as well as forming a partnership with the Library. CORP0228-2/02 Cathy to determine the allocation of materials the committee could provide Page 3 Discussion ensued on having more guest speakers out to the Library. Cathy indicated the Library had a wide range of literature available, and the diversity in their collection, but felt the community may not be aware of this. Sharon suggested that since May is Asian Heritage Month, possibly the Library could look into doing something in connection with this. Discussion ensued on staffing at the library and the diversity in this respect. 6.1 Siobhan announced Dunbarton High School will be hosting an Annual Culture Show on Thursday, April 26th, 2007. A representative of different performing arts within the school will be pariticpating. The event will include the following: . A fashion show . Cultural foods for sampling during the show . A food fair in the cafeteria featuring foods from each of the six continents · Food fair will begin at 6:00 pm with the show following at 7:00 pm . Mayor and Council will be invited - Councillor Pickles suggested all Councillors should be invited as well as the MP and MPP . General admission fee $7.00, but free to invited guests . Marisa commendHd the students for taking on such a project 6.2 Councillor Pickles indicated he would like to get the questionnaire/survey out by the end of next week, and also complete the end of term report 6.3 Councillor Pickles indicated he would like to send out formal letters to all the organizations on our mailing list to indicate our meetings are open to the public, and to encourage them to attend and participate at our meetings. The consensus was to proceed with this 6.4 Constable Richardson indicated he may now be representing the Durham Regional Police Service on our Committee due to scheduling, and would like to receive a copy of the minutes 7.0 Adjournment 8:40 pm CORP022B-2/02 Sobhan to email Marisa complete details Marisa will get information on electronic sign board Marisa to forward letters Linda to forward minutes Page 4