March 2014 Urban Alliance on Race Relations Newsletter
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Volume 24 urban update Spring Issue March 2014 Urban Alliance on Race Relations Newsletter message from the president The Urban Alliance on Race Relations contents (UARR) mission “is to promote a stable and healthy multicultural, multi-ethnic environment in Toronto.” We passionate- * Message ly believe in the UARR goals, vision, val- from the ues and strategic plan, and our organiza- President tion continues to remain as relevant now as it was when it was formed in 1975 in * Making protecting the public interest, and mak- Noise ing Toronto, the Greater Toronto Area, @Humber Ontario and Canada, a society where peo- “ I am Not a Stereotype” Human Rights Forum Initative ple of all diversities can live, work, pros- per and succeed. equity seeking grounds and their intersec- tions with race, religion, disability, sexual * UARR 360 We urge everyone whose goals are to fos- orientation, gender identity, gender ex- Project ter equity, diversity and inclusion to con- pression, language, age, and gender. sider taking out a membership. Forms are * Save the available on our website at urbanalliance. I am pleased to report on some of the high- Date UARR ϐ Ǥ lights of this year Awards Dinner I would like to express great thanks and Policing: We have continued advocacy, appreciation to the Board of Directors, research and public education on ways to Staff, Community Partners, Partner Or- build bridges, and improve how the police * Saving Lives ganizations and Funders, members, vol- and policing affect our communities. & Police unteers, and participants/supporters for Accountability making the organization a vital part of We provided deputations to the Toronto the city, and for enabling the organization Police Services Board expressing concerns * Make Your to meet its objectives successfully. about the expanded use of tasers; and card- Mark ing and its disproportionate negative im- As in past years, this AGM and forum have pact on racialized young people. A recent * Toronto been organized to commemorate the In- report from the Toronto Police is looking at Community ternational Day for the Elimination of Ra- revamping the use of carding, and reports cial Discrimination. ϐ ϐ in Toronto. Network As a small organization, we continue to ǡϐ Ǧ We were granted leave to intervene at the * Human resources to improve our research, ad- Supreme Court of Canada in the case Wood Rights Forum vocacy and community-based work to v Schaeffer. The case was heard at the Su- address emerging issues related to diver preme Court of Canada and we won. Police sity, equity and inclusion that covers all in Ontario are no longer able to consult Cont’d from Page 1 URBAN UPDATE - march 2014 with a lawyer before handing over their police We participated in the Scadding Court forum on the notes to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) in Ontario Police Complaints System. A list of useful cases where police have shot civilians. Justice recommendations were generated and widely dis- Moldaver has positively reinforced our position seminated to policy makes and are also available that in policing, maintaining the public trust is online. “paramount”. Ultimately, the UARR believes that better civilian oversight leadership of policing We participated in public education initiatives on will foster safer communities, and improve police ϐ accountability in Ontario. Toronto. These were a public lecture at the Global Cities Institute ‘Justice in Toronto’ series on racial The UARR in collaboration with the Ontario Fed- justice, and a workshop at the Scarborough Campus eration of Labour, the Black Action Defense Com- Students Union on ‘Know your Rights’. mittee (BADC), the Never Again Coalition, families of victims of police lethal use of force, and several Gender-Based Violence Prevention: We have community-based organizations hosted a well at- completed the second year of our collaboration ϐ with the Humber Students Federation and Humber ϐ ͳ͵ǡ ʹͲͳ͵ College Gender-based Violence Prevention project strong community response to the Toronto police on a Post-Secondary Campus. The Making Noise @ lethal use of force on Sammy Yatim, an 18-year Humber, the project was funded by Status of Women old who was shot on a Toronto streetcar on July Canada for 28-Months. The Gender-based Violence 27th, 2013. We used the press conference as an prevention awareness campaign which recently opportunity to urge implementation of the recom- concluded was a success; a gender-based violence mendations of the 2000 UARR Conference report prevention toolkit was created and disseminated “Saving Lives: Alternatives to the Use of Lethal to all stakeholders at Humber and available online, Force by Police.” Additionally, the UARR pub- and a legacy transition is currently in the works for lished an OpEd in the Toronto Star titled “Make the gender-based violence prevention project to Public Oversight of Police Training A Priority”. continue well beyond the duration of the funding, ϐ - and to become embedded in the culture of Humber. ond-degree murder. Additionally, several reviews of police use of force, de-escalation strategies and We participated in a short television series on Rog- response to people facing mental health crisis or ers TV in Brampton, titled “Bullying, Battered and emotionally disturbed or have a developmentally Bruised”. This program invited experts, community disability are currently in progress. leaders, artists and various social justice advocates to foster greater awareness and solutions to ending We are members of the joint SIU/OIPRD Direc- violence against women and foster gender-based ǯ ϐ violence prevention in our highly diverse society. meeting of outgoing director Ian Scott tenure and welcomed the new Director Tony Loparco. We participated as keynote presenters in the Law Society of Upper Canada National Day of Remem- We jointly hosted with the Human Rights Legal brance and Action on Violence Against Women Support Centre, an International Human Rights event. Day forum titled “I am not a Stereotype”. This fo- rum was well attended and allowed many com- Addressing Racism in Toronto/The 360 Project: munity advocates and the public to discuss issues The UARR is implementing this groundbreaking ϐ project by engaging various stakeholders in four to deter and ultimately end this discriminatory priority communities. Further details can be found in the project report on this initiative. practice. Page 2 Cont’d from Page 2 URBAN UPDATE - march 2014 Awards Dinner: We are planning for our upcom- Embracing Hope Building Communities: We ing Awards and Fundraising Dinner on September hosted the Embracing Hope Building Communities 18th, 2014. Our keynote speaker and venue have Group meeting on July 30th, 2013. One of the out- been selected and further information on the event comes of the meeting was a letter to Premier Kath- is included in this newsletter and on our website. leen Wynne on improving the Youth Employment Please join us and bring friends – your support is Fund and the Youth Jobs Strategy to better respond crucial for UARR to continue as an organization. to the unmet needs of urban young people in our increasingly diverse communities. New Address: ϐ ʹͲͳ͵Ǥϐ ʹǤ Media/Social Media: The Urban Alliance on Race Ste. 1001. Please feel free to drop by and say hello. Relations have an updated website urbanalliance. ca, facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ Workers Rights: We actively participated in the groups/125617860855504/ and twitter @uarrto- ‘Good Jobs for All’ Coalition. Discussions at the ronto. Our social media presence has continued to ϐǡǡ grow. Over the past year, our twitter account grew EI reform and workers rights to decent jobs. We also from 450 to 1015 followers. Our facebook group has participated in a forum hosted in honour of Martin also increased its users both in terms of visitors and Luther King Jr. Day on the topic of ‘Race and Work’. Ǥϐ Our perspective on this compelling social issue was increase, with over 300 views on some days of the well received. week. We invite all of you to visit us at these sites at any time. We have also continued to generate media We also participate in the Toronto Community Ben- interest and visibility. ϐǤ ϐ Some of our project staff and directors have ap- how communities were able to engage various sec- peared either as subject experts, were quoted, or tors in providing employment, training and oppor- wrote Opinion/Editorial pieces in various publi- tunities for local residents to access employment ϐ opportunities that result from new infrastructure Post. The UARR activities were highlighted in the developments in their communities. UARR has rep- media including the Toronto Star, CBC, CP24, Share ϐ News, CityNews, Caribbean Camera, Humber News, Network Steering Committee that is negotiating CityTV, Dr. Vibe Podcast and many other media out- ϐ lets. Agreement in communities where the construction of the Eglinton Cross-town LRT is progressing. I am pleased with the work of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations. We had a challenging and reward- We attended the Bromley Armstrong Awards Din- ing year, we have done great work and there is even ner followed by the Workers of Colour Conference greater work ahead. We are proud of our collective in May 2013. work at the Urban Alliance on Race Relations and sincerely thank you for all of your support. In February 2014, we collaborated with the Coali- tion of Black Trade Unionists to sponsor a joint la- ϐ Ǯǯǡ a documentary exploring issues of race and identity Gary Pieters in The GTA through the lens of a successful mentor- President of the Board ing project for young people in Brampton. Urban Alliance on Race Relations March 2014 Page 3 URBAN UPDATE - march 2014 Making Noise @Humber Update Based on funding from Status of Women Canada, the Urban Alliance on Race Relations (UARR) has part- nered with the Humber Students’ Federation (HSF) and Humber College to deliver a 2-year project on raising awareness about gender-based violence prevention at the North and Lakeshore campuses.