FOURTH MEETING OF THE
RACE RELATIONS COMMITTEE FOR 2007
TOWN OF
Ontario Room,
MINUTES
|
ATTENDANCE: Committee Jobson Easow Kevin Koo Aisha Manji Linda Stewart, Chair
Gordon To Regional Councillor T. Wong Staff Nadine Daley, Acting Manager of Human Resources Policy L. Gold, Assistant to Committee/Council C. Raynor, Committee Clerk |
Guests Maureen Brown, Consultant,
Diversity Trainers Plus Consulting Regrets Warren Ali Carina Mahendra Councillor Erin Shapero |
The third meeting of the Markham Race Relations Committee in 2007 convened at 7:35 p.m. with Linda Stewart in the Chair.
1. MINUTES OF THE MARCH 5, 2007 MEETING OF THE RACE RELATIONS COMMITTEE
HELD IN 2007
The Committee noted that Item 6 b) of the minutes should be amended to read as follows:
“Members Ghulam Sajan, Jobson Easow, and Linda Stewart attended the Chinese New
Years event held at Time Square on
THE TOWN OF MARKHAM RACE RELATIONS COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS:
That the Minutes of the Town of Markham Race Relations Committee meeting held on March 5, 2007, be adopted as amended.
CARRIED
2. PRESENTATION
Sharon
Laing, Director of Human Resources, Nadine Daley, Acting Manager of Human
Resources Policy and Program and Maureen Brown, Consultant, Diversity Trainers
Plus Consulting, gave a brief presentation on the Town’s current diversity
initiatives.
Sharon
Laing discussed three partnerships the Town is committed to including 1) Career
Bridge - a partnership, which involves
the Town committing to 4 paid internships per year for foreign trained immigrants
in their field of expertise; 2) TRIEC Mentorship Program – a partnership that
involves Town staff providing mentorship to foreign trained immigrants in their
field of expertise; and 3) Diversity in Action- Junior Achievement – a
partnership involving training volunteers from Town staff to facilitate a one
day program for grade 7-9 students on the value of diversity. She also mentioned several courses offered to
Town staff and managers to learn about diversity and provide knowledge of the
Human Rights Code.
Nadine
Daley briefly discussed the Town’s recruitment process and the Town’s current
efforts to broaden the candidate selection criteria. She also mentioned a fourth partnership with
the Maytree Foundation. This partnership
would involve improving the representation of immigrants and visual minorities
on the Town’s boards and committees.
Maureen
Brown then gave an overview of a 3 year action program that would have the
purpose of guiding the Town towards its goals in regards to diversity. This would involve 1) engaging the community
2) small but meaningful steps (for example displaying culturally diverse
artwork at civic centre) 3) building the internal capacity and 4) incorporating
the Mayors 4 pillars into the action program.
The
Committee briefly discussed the presentation and felt there were potential
partnership opportunities between the Committee and the Town’s Human Resource
Department. The Committee requested that the matter be discussed further at the
next meeting.
THE TOWN OF MARKHAM RACE RELATIONS COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS:
That
the Committee thank Sharon Laing, Nadine Daley, and Maureen Brown for their
presentation.
CARRIED
3. CORRESPONDENCE
– RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM
The
Committee discussed the issue of religious symbols on display on Town
property. The Committee agreed it is
difficult to include symbols from all religions and there should be a consistent
policy on the matter. The Committee unanimously
agreed that the best approach would be for the Town to exclude all religious
symbols from display on Town property.
THE TOWN OF MARKHAM RACE
RELATIONS COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS:
That
the Town of Markham create a consistent policy regarding excluding the display
of religious symbols on Town property.
CARRIED
4. COMMITTEE
MEMBERSHIP
This item was deferred to the next meeting.
5. abcGTA-
THE MAYTREE FOUNDATION
This item was deferred to the next meeting.
6. SUB-COMMITTEE
UPDATES
Events –
Many Faces of
Keynote Speaker
Linda
Stewart reported to the Committee some recent developments in the planning of
the April 15th event Many Faces of Markham. She advised the event is a celebration of
Markham’s diversity.
Options
for the keynote speaker were also discussed.
It was suggested Mayor Frank Scarpitti may be the best choice.
Invitation of Special Guest
Linda
Stewart reported the invitations to special guests have yet to be sent
out. Special guests include locals such
as, the Chief of Police, and the Fire Chief.
She informed the Committee that invitations will be sent out this
week. The Committee suggested the
invitations be sent out earlier next year.
Poster and Writing Contest
Linda
Stewart reported to the Committee that they had 650 contestants for the poster
contest and 12O contestants for the written competition and that the winners
had been selected. Prizes would be
rewarded to the first, second and third place winners at Markham Theatre on the
day of the event.
Tickets
Linda Stewart reported any remaining unsold tickets will be provided to the
Committee members to make available for sale.
Policy – No report was provided from this item.
7. NEW
BUSINESS
8. DATE
OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of
Committee is scheduled for
9. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, the
Markham Race Relations Committee adjourned at