Toronto – The great multicultural melting pot
I have now had a full week in Canada and much richer for the experience. The week was sizzling hot with a mix of work, friends, family and being a tourist.
Although not surprised that Toronto was a melting pot of different cultures, I was somewhat surprised by the obvious ease with which cultures exist side by side – no, a more accurate would be the ease of interaction amongst people from different cultures. There is a comfortableness that is difficult to express in words but easy to see and feel.This Canadian Race Relations Foundation poster partly sums up this image.
However, not to get too carried away with this perceived exemplar of multiculturalism, digging beneath the surface did reveal the usual set of inequalities that we are more used to within cities in the Western world. I learnt from folks at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives that income inequality was a cause of serious concern. A careful look at the impact of income inequality reveals that black communities suffer disproportionately. Listening to both young and older family members relate their personal experiences confirmed the hidden depths of discrimination in education and employment. They talked about the glass ceiling and instances where the cultural norms (like braided hair), were considered unacceptable in schools and some places of work.
Nonetheless, I was inspired by some positive examples of good practice. TheCentre for Social Innovation – an amazing place. Like most centres of its type, it rent spaces to small to middling organisations, a mixture of social enterprises and commercial businesses. What I found unique about this centre is how it creates a community of tenants from a group of disparate organisations. How do they do this? a big part of the criteria for being in the building is the need to have a social mission; the key values are transparency and a focus on collaboration; and community animators help to create synergy between groups within the centre. The design of the space enables this to happen. The space includes hot desk, office and open plan facilities. Much attention is paid to the social spaces that allow easy collaboration. The intra communication also facilitates this, with opportunities for organised social activities. The Centre has an active role in supporting the development of organisations’ capacity. This is a shared experience where organisations are facilitated to promote activities and share access to services via a members only website.
There is a sense that the commitment to the mission and the atmosphere of trust and transparency makes it more likely that some of the problems inherent in this type of establishment is avoided.
At the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, I learnt that unlike in the UK, in Canada organisations that advocate or lobby on particular issues are not able to secure charitable status. Consequently, in recent years there has been a significant reduction in the number of think tanks due to the lack of government funding for such bodies.
This lack of government financial support for the NGO sector has led to a new format for thinking about these issues and setting the agenda for future research and action. Roundtables with participation from all stakeholders has become the usual way of collaborating on such issues. Whilst restricting the work of NGOs is seen as a negative move, there are some positive outcomes from this new model of working – it encourages collaboration between groups that might not ordinarily take place. Further, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative believes that Foundations play a key role in working together to facilitate these roundtables and any proposed action resulting from them.
This week in Canada has shown that there is a great deal of positive collaboration. My mission continues next week to discover whether collaboration enables marginalised communities to have greater influence over the policies and decisions that affect their lives.
Thank you for reading my blog. You can continue to follow my journey in my next blog.
Welcome to my blog!
My role as development Officer for The West Yorkshire Racial Justice Programme involves supporting projects working for race equality, social justice and civil rights in the region. But the Racial Justice Programme as a whole aims to change policy and practice at national and European level; in order to promote racial justice and equality of opportunity as a basis for a harmonious multi-racial, multi-ethnic society in Britain.
I am currently enjoying a period away from my usual activities at Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust in Yorkshire, lasting three months from 29 July to 20 October 2013. The focus of this sabbatical is to explore models for social change through collaboration.
This idea is about bringing about changes to racial justice by exploring how the BME voluntary and community sector organisations are collaborating with those that are important in helping them to work effectively. Having worked with many organisations over the years that sometimes struggle, often with limited success, to influence policy makers and those delivering key services to communities, I felt this is an area I want to explore more, so I decided to base the theme of my sabbatical work on collaboration. I will be exploring models of good practice that would help the West Yorkshire’s grantees to collaborate effectively with all their stakeholders in order to get the best changes in our pursuit for racial justice in communities.
Researching possible good practice models led me to Brazil, India and Canada. Unfortunately, although Brazil perhaps offered the best learning opportunities, I felt language would have been a major barrier; and yes, I discounted India because it will be too hot at this time of year. This left me with Canada.
I plan to visit a number of organisations in Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. Fortunately, I also have the opportunity to attend a three week course on Facilitation and Training Approaches for Community Change at the Coady International Institute based on the Xavier University in Nova Scotia.
My interests in the relationship between civil society organisations and public bodies will take me to a number of cities within Canada. I will be visiting organisations in Toronto, Montreal and Halifax to explore different models/ practices that promote effective collaboration which enables marginalised communities to have greater influence over the policies and decisions that affect their lives. In particular, I will look at how the role of public sector bodies and civil society organisations facilitate this collaboration.
My journey of exploration in Canada starts on 24th August and culminates with a three weeks long course at the Coady International Institute based at the St Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The course entitled Facilitation and Training Approaches for Community Change will help contribute towards social transformation and citizen-in development. It will develop local and international strategies for inter-agency collaboration and networking in participatory education and training.
I hope to share the learning from these experiences with JRCT’s grantees in West Yorkshire and anyone interested in finding new strategies to explore these vital relationships. I am excited about these plans and hope that you are able to share some of my excitement as well as the learning by helping to make this a truly interactive experience.
Please read my guest blog on the Involve Yorkshire & Humber website, which introduces the project and includes my thoughts around the governments ‘Compact Voice’ promises:
The relationship of discontent between voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations and public Bodies
You can follow updates on my blogs and twitter: @leanandymag
Your thoughts, comments and insights are welcome. I really want to hear from you.
Maureen Grant
The focus of this sabbatical is to explore models for social change through collaboration.
This idea is about bringing about changes to racial justice by exploring how the BME voluntary and community sector organisations are collaborating with those that are important in helping them to work effectively. Having worked with many organisations over the years that sometimes struggle, often with limited success, to influence policy makers and those delivering key services to communities, I felt this is an area I want to explore more, so I decided to base the theme of my sabbatical work on collaboration. I will be exploring models of good practice that would help the West Yorkshire’s grantees to collaborate effectively with all their stakeholders in order to get the best changes in our pursuit for racial justice in communities.
Researching possible good practice models led me to Brazil, India and Canada. Unfortunately, although Brazil perhaps offered the best learning opportunities, I felt language would have been a major barrier; and yes, I discounted India because it will be too hot at this time of year. This left me with Canada.
I plan to visit a number of organisations in Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. Fortunately, I also have the opportunity to attend a three week course on Facilitation and Training Approaches for Community Change at the Coady International Institute based on the Xavier University in Nova Scotia.
Maureen's Sabbatical Journey 2013 