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Home My WebLink AboutJanuary 8, 2009 Minutes Pickering Advisory Committee On Race Relations & Equity January 8,2009 7:00 PM Tower Room Citq o~ Attendees: Absent: Raymond George Facey, Community Appointee Steve Holt, Community Appointee Sethu Madhavan, Community Appointee Kirk Mark, Community Appointee Devinder Kaur Panesar, Community Appointee Tiera Dookhie, J. Clarke Richardson School Becky George, Pickering Public Library Emily Honsberger, Dunbarton High School Marisa Carpino, City of Pickering Linda Roberts, Recording Secretary Councillor David Pickles, Chair Margaret Lazarus, Valley Farm Public School Brandyn Mascall, St. Mary Catholic School Sylvie Morel-Foster, Durham Catholic District School Board Fred Gibson, Pickering Carib Canadian Cultural Association Philip Howard, Durham District School Board Item Details & Discussion & Conclusion Action Items I / (summary of discussion) Status Ref (include # deadline as appropriate) 1..0 Welcome All Marisa welcomed everyone and introductions were made around the table, as we welcomed our three new members to the Committee. 2.0 Review & Approval of Agenda &. Minutes All Marisa reviewed the action items from the December 4th, 2008 minutes and provided an update on the following: . Unable to coordinate the attendance of delegations from the Multi- Faith organizations for the December 15th Council meeting. . Emily will provide information on the Diversity Camp for 2009 at our next meeting, as they will be meeting on Monday . Holiday Celebrations Update - hope to have multi-faith organizations respond to survey, invite them out to meetings and provide information for our cultural calendar Committee approved the agenda. 3.0 2009 Events fYOUlnity's Diversity Camp - March 2009 Marisa provided an overview of the Diversity Camp and explained the formation and function of the sub-committee [YOU]nity. Emily provided an update with respect to this item and a brief overview of the 2008 camp: . Two day event during March break . Students from grades 6 - 8 were invited to attend . Activities, a guest speaker, lunch and snacks provided . Approximately 20 students participated - good turnout for first year · Free to participants with the support of the Race Relations Committee . Next meeting is coming up on Monday . Library is booked for March 16th and 1 th for March Break 2009 Marisa requested to be provided with the dates and times for this year as well as the event structure (registration information) as soon as possible so promotions can be initiated. Emily explained a similar program run by the school boards, STAR (Students Together Against Racism). She also noted she will be unable to attend the camp this year as she will be away, but will still be involved in the planning process. Discussion ensued with respect to a guest speaker for the event. Tiera suggested the author Itah Sadu, that had spoken at the 2008 Race Relations Forum. Pinball Clemons was also suggested as a guest speaker. Kirk will forward contact information onto Emily. Heritaqe Day on February 21 , 2009 Marisa provided an overview of this event and noted it will be held on February 21, 2009 and will be located in the Food Court at the Pickering Town Centre this year due to ongoing construction at the mall. She provided an update as follows: . Invitations have gone out with a deadline of January 8th, 2009 . Great response in signups . Marisa handed out a list of the performers and booths that have booked to date Emily to provide to Marisa Marisa to forward info to Emily Kirk Mark to forward contact info to Emily · Booths will be set up at various locations throughout the mall - let Marisa know if you have any suggestions . [YOU]nity noted they would like to have a booth this year · It was suggested we avoid any loud bands due to our location in the food court this year · Deadline for booking performers is early next week (January 12th) · Welcoming remarks will take place at 1 :30 pm with Councillor Pickles introducing various government dignitaries in attendance at that time. (Mayor, Councillors) Marisa noted that she would like to know who will be attending to help with the booths that day, and what time they would be available. Confirmed at this meeting: Kirk Mark - available after 1 :00 pm Raymond Facey - available from 11 :00 am to 12:00 pm Marisa explained how promotion for this event is done, through the News Advertiser, media release, website, electronic boards. She noted that the media is always in attendance the day of the event. Suggestion was made for possibly appearing on the local cable show for promotion purposes as well. Race Relations Forum on March 25. 2009 The Race Relations Forum is scheduled for March 25. This was launched in September with a creative arts component included this year. This year's statement is "Imagining our Diverse Community where we are all treated with dignity, fairness and respect...." Marisa provided an explanation of the judging process. Judges will be Mark Holland, MP, Mike Johnstone, News Advertiser and Cynthia Mearns, CEO Pickering Public Library for the written submissions. Members from the PineRidge Arts Council will be judging the creative arts submissions. The judging will take place in mid-January and the winning entries will be on view in the lobby at the Pickering Civic Complex. Invitations will go out in early February. Guest speakers were discussed with the following suggestions being made: Minister of Education, Kathleen Wynne Dorsey James - Pickering resident and member of PineRidge Arts Council Dr. Jean Augustine - Minister for the Status of Women & Multiculturalism Alvin Curling - Canada's ambassador to the Dominican Republic Marisa noted she will provide this information to Councillor Pickles. Kirk Mark noted that he would like to see work from the previous years Marisa will email Emily a description of the event Marisa to forward suggestions to Councillor Pickles compiled into book form for publication. Steve Holt noted this would enable students to qualify for potential grants, if they have had their work published. All members of the Committee were encouraged to attend this event. 4.0 2009 Annual Work Plan .. Marisa requested the Committee give some thought to what initiatives we would like to see completed for 2009. A brief overview of our 2008 accomplishments took place. Emily will put the coffee shop on her next agenda for discussion. She noted she has already started to foster other students to take over as current student [YOUI]nity members prepare for university. Suggestions for our 2009 work plan: . Presentation at Council from multi-faith organizations in December 2009 . Booth at Library for various cultural celebrations in 2009 . Outreach - supporting the work of other cultural organizations by encouraging Committee members to attend their functions - any invitations received by the Committee go out to all Race Relations members . Establish a meeting between PAC4-Teens and [YOU]nity - to enable the members from each group to know each other and the mandate of their groups . Cultural holidays - hope to expand on this component - ways to promote and develop strategy . Town Hall symposium on current conditions of Race Relations and Diversity - have a panel and moderator to take questions from the audience . Order name tags for Committee members . Continue recruitment of student representatives from all high schools Marisa noted we hope to get a better response from the community survey when we do another one in March. Any further suggestions for the 2009 work plan will be discussed at the next meeting. 5.0 Other Business 5.1) Schools - it was questioned whether anything was happening with respect to Asian Heritage Month in the schools. Emily noted there is a cultural show at Dunbarton High School, but was not sure of the date. Place on February agenda 5.2) Library - Becky noted there were events happening with respect to Black Heritage Month with demonstrations. She noted this is free to the public and is being held in the Central Library Auditorium. 5.3) Civic Awards Event - Marisa noted this event will be taking place on May 25,2009 5.4) Kirk suggested a social event be held in conjunction with our June meeting. Possibly we could do something down at the waterfront. 5.5) Raymond suggested the committee look into hosting a job fair, in conjunction with the Library 5.6) Steve recommended that the committee look into working with the colleges and universities to generate more student interest and also reach out to more schools to encourage additional student representatives to attend our meetings. Get more high schools involved, ma be throu h YOU nit meetin s. 7.0 NextMeetin Next Meetin : 5,2009 at 7 m in the Main Committee Room Meeting Adjourned: 8:40 pm Copy: City Clerk Becky will email information Place on February agenda