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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-05-09Clarington Clarington Diversity Advisory Committee Minutes - May 9, 2024 Microsoft Teams Join the meeting now Meeting ID: 265 190 381 013 Passcode: nEKWzx Present: Tenzin Shomarr Pranay Gunti Councillor Anderson Ron Hooper Lauren Reyes -Grange Joe Solway Dione Valentine Vincent Wong Bev Neblett Regrets: Rochelle Thomas Absent: Aaliyah Ruddock Also Present: Pinder DaSilva, Municipality of Clarington 1. Call to Order Meeting called to order at 7.02 pm 2. Land Acknowledgement Land Acknowledgement read by T. Shomar The Municipality of Clarington is situated within the traditional and treaty territory of the Mississaugas and Chippewas of the Anishinabeg, known today as the Williams Treaties First Nations. Our work on these lands acknowledges their that resilience and their longstanding contributions to the area now known as the Municipality of Clarington. 3. Declaration of Interest There were no disclosures of interest stated at this meeting. 4. Review and approval of Agenda Moved by R. Hooper; seconded by V. Wong Clarington Diversity - 2 - May 2024 Advisory Committee That the agenda for May 9, 2024, be approved with one additional item (Pride in Clarington event) to be shared by P. DaSilva under item 9 - Community Update. Carried 5. Adoption of Minutes Moved by V. Wong, seconded by P. Gunti That the meeting minutes for April 11t", 2024 be approved. Carried 3. DAC Membership discussion T. Shomar shared some of the challenges that P. DaSilva has had in connecting with one of the committee members: There has been minimal to no communication to confirm attendance for meetings and for 2024, the member has attended 2 out of the 4 meetings but had to leave early both times but did not advise ahead of time (this could impact quorum). P. DaSilva connected with committee member prior to May meeting and discussed their intentions to stay on the committee. The member wanted to think about how DAC meetings would impact schooling schedule and another time was set up to speak with P. DaSilva a week later. That meeting was cancelled as the member was not feeling well. P. DaSilva has not been able to get in touch with the member since then. Committee members discussion on matter: • The member has not missed 3 meetings in a row (as per Terms of Reference) which would have allowed DAC to ask Council to remove member and replace with another community member. • DAC members acknowledged that the individual has been a very valuable contributing member of the committee in the past. • Committee could issue a letter expressing concern about the lack of commitment and attendance at meetings and wait for response or leave it for now as there is only one more meeting left before the summer break and re-evaluate once the individual knows their school schedule. • Members wondered if missing 3 consecutive meetings was the only way that someone could be asked to be removed from the committee? • P. DaSilva to follow up with Clerk department regarding these discussions. 4. Anti Black Racism Task Force (ABRTF) Update The ABRTF has selected D. Valentine for position of Chair and L. Reyes -Grange for position of Vice -Chair. The work plan was pushed to next meeting so that a more fulsome conversation could take place. Clarington Diversity - 3 - May 2024 Advisory Committee • C. Honigan has resigned from the Task Force so DAC will need to fill her position. P. DaSilva will work with Clerk dept to get a posting out. 6. Working Group Update A. Civic Engagement Working Group Group members include L. Reyes -Grange, T. Shomar, D. Valentine and V. Wong. The group provided the following update: Much of the discussion focused on lack of voter turn out for the last municipal election and not enough diversity and representation in candidates and their platform. The working group discussed two ideas that they are interested in exploring further: I. Providing a place where candidates could share information on their platform, perhaps through a candidate debate hosting by DAC. II. Focus on getting youth more aware and interested in civic engagement. Discussed the possibility of doing a mock council day with some of the high school kids who are in the Civic's class. Committee members asked if the Municipality has ever done a poll to ask community members why they aren't voting? This could possibly be done through a Facebook to get a sense of why people aren't coming out to vote. Committee members wondered if we knew what the demographics are of the voters and non -voters. Are people not coming out to vote because people feel like they aren't being heard or represented? Clarington is a commuter community and sometimes people who commute aren't as invested in the community in which they live. P. DaSilva will find out from Deputy Clerk to see what's been done in the past. The decrease in the public coming out to vote does seem to be a trend across the whole province. Schools don't appear to have the kind of civic engagement that they used to have. Social media connection is sometimes difficult because candidates have lost the personal contact. A lot of the older individuals don't use social media so if candidates are trying to reach people via social media, then they may be missing a large part of the community. Working group is aware that whatever actions are identified must have a diversity lens on the civic engagement (i.e. finding out if individuals from minority groups are voting, increasing IDEA action items in candidate portfolios, encouraging candidates from diverse backgrounds to run for elected official positions etc.). B. Diversifying Community Events Working group has decided to concentrate on municipal events rather than those run by BIA and Rotary Club as it is more within the DAC's mandate to provide guidance and support to municipal staff and initiatives. The working group is focusing on the following action items: Clarington Diversity - 4 - May 2024 Advisory Committee I. Supporting Municipal staff to create an event/festival next year that would bring people of different backgrounds together, highlighting food, music, dance, culture etc. II. Working with Municipal staff to highlighting celebrations happening in the community through flags, community board signages, TV's in recreation facilities. The working group is aware that is already conversations happening internally about bringing in more diverse celebrations. The working group members are interested in being part of these discussions. P. DaSilva will be bringing this request back to the Manager in charge of community engagement and events. C. Diversity Student Bursary It's officially launched as of May 1st. So far no applications. The comm's package has been shared with schools, and committee members have posted on their own social media. Committee members wanted to know if we are able to get analytics from the website. How are they accessing the link? Are they visiting the site? Are they dropping off at a particular field/form? P.DaSilva will check in with the Comm's department and get the analytics T. Shomar shared that schools have posted it on their internal bursary facebook page. Application reviews will happen around June 13t" at which time the working will look at the interview process. Committee is hoping to complete the presentation of the bursary during the school's graduation ceremony. DAC members asked that the minutes from all 3 working groups be shared with everyone. P. DaSilva will send all the working minutes out. 7. Council Update Councillor Anderson asked about TV at MAC can include information on community events that are happening. P. DaSilva will ask Comm's team. Durham Region Anti -Racism Task force had the DRPS come in to present. Councillor Anderson asked committee members if there is interest in having someone from DRPS to come in and present to DAC. All members agreed this would be a worthwhile presentation. Councillor Anderson will find out if they are available for the June meeting. 8. Community Update P. DaSilva shared the following updates: (a) Equity and Inclusion Lens Guideline that was approved by all the internal and external Diversity committees has been approved by at the GGC meeting and will be ratified at the Council meeting. Once that is done, it will be uploaded Clarington Diversity - 5 - May 2024 Advisory Committee to the website and shared internally with staff. (b) Pride Festivities — Clarington is part of the planning committee for Youth Pride Durham. The festivities are taking place on June 22nd at the Regional HQ. J. Solway has agreed to help out but still looking for other committee members to come out. Pride in Clarington is a facebook group who will be hosting a small Clarington event on June 151" in honour of the 51" anniversary for the Rainbow crosswalk. P. DaSilva will be attending and has also purchased some swag to provide to the organizers. Drag Queen Story time is taking place at the Bowmanville Library from June 81n from 1-3 pm. (c) Nation Indigenous People's History Month is coming up in June. Social media posts are ready to go. There will be a few events happening across Durham which will be shared through social media. (d) DEI Foundational training was completed by CultureAlly with various "People Leaders" in Clarington. 3 different virtual sessions were held in order to accommodate as many individuals as possible. We had around 150 staff complete the training. (e) Diversity survey analysis — P. DaSilva shared that she was able to locate information on a Community Diversity survey that was completed in 2019. She met with the Business Improvement dept to discuss which survey (2019 or 2023) should be used to determine baseline data. It was decided that given the large gap between the two surveys and the pandemic, it would be better to use the 2023 survey to establish baseline data. This data is being used to develop an anti -racism and anti -discrimination education and training plan for the community. 9. Other Business No other business but please let please let Pinder and Tenzin know if there are future guest speakers the committee is interested in inviting. Moved by P. Gunti; seconded by V. Wong. That the meeting be adjourned at 8:47 pm. Carried Next Meeting June 13 at 7 pm via Teams