Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-10-17Clarington If this information is required in an alternate format, please contact the IDEA Officer at 905-623-3379 ext. 2563 Clarington Diversity Advisory Committee Minutes for October 17, 2024 Microsoft Teams Need help? Join the meeting now Meeting ID: 241 379 956 663 Passcode: Crdbfd Dial in by phone +1 289-274-8255, 384371305# Present: Tenzin Shomar Pranay Gunti Councillor Anderson Ron Hooper Lauren Reyes -Grange Joe Solway Bev Neblett Regrets: Vincent Wong Rochelle Thomas Dione Valentine Also Present: Pinder DaSilva, Municipality of Clarington 1. Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 7:05 pm 2. Land Acknowledgement Land Acknowledgement read by P. DaSilva 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. Clarington Diversity - 2 - October 17, 2024 Advisory Committee 4. Review and approval of Agenda Moved by P. Gunti, seconded byJ. Solway That the agenda for October 17, 2024, be approved with the following additions: feedback on PRC Master Plan (P. Gunti) and Land Acknowledgement (J. Solway) added to Other Business. Carried 5. Adoption of Minutes Moved by R. Hooper, seconded by B. Neblett That the meeting minutes for September 12, 2024, be approved Carried 6. Guest Speaker — Jeannette Whynot — Clarington Accessibility Coordinator Presented the Clarington Accessibility Design Standards (CADS) that were recently approved by Council. CADS is a best practices document on how to make our facility and services as accessible and inclusive as possible. Important to present CADS to CDAC as there are significant benefits for CDAC in the document as it follows the 9 guiding principles of inclusive design which also focuses on inclusivity. Supporting DEI lens through such things as universal design, signage and pictograms, multi -faith rooms, universal washrooms and changerooms, baby change table in all multi - stall washrooms. CADS is based on the social model of disability which states that disability is not an inherent trait of an individual but rather a result of barriers in our system (facilities, programs, services etc.). Need CADS to ensure that our spaces are for everyone and that people with disabilities can access our facilities and programs. Misconception that we will need to spend lots of money but that is not true. CADs looks at the things we already must do when we build something but doing them in a more accessible and inclusive way (counter tops heights, colours, washrooms etc.). At minimum, will be reviewing the document every 5 years but likely will be updating it more often than that. Clarington Diversity - 3 - October 17, 2024 Advisory Committee Changes needed to document will happen with approval from CAO, and in consultation with Senior Leadership Team. CADS applies to all municipal owned and managed facilities where we have programs and operations. Incorporated CNIB approved guidelines for those with low or no vision Committee members asked how involved J. Whynot and P. DaSilva are when new facilities are being built or old ones are being updated. Shared that part of the planning process is engaging with IDEA and Accessibility staff so that feedback on projects can be provided. This includes bringing some of those projects to various committees, including the Accessibility Advisory Committee. Shared that J. Whynot is also supports digital accessibility when needed although the Comm's team is very well versed in AODA standards. She is responsible for providing Creating Accessible Document training to new staff who are responsible for developing internal or external documents. 7. Approval of Motions at Council Meeting Removal of CDAC youth member due to lack of attendance. Recruiting for a total of 6 positions (5 terms ending Dec 31 st, 2024, and 1 position to replace removal of youth member). P. DaSilva has completed a skills and representation matrix to support Council in selecting members. Representation gaps identified by committee include representation from the Indigenous and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. Rainbow Crosswalk for 2025 — P. DaSilva will be researching cost, vendors, timelines before moving onto community engagement. CDAC has requested to look at the locations shortlisted before it goes out to public so that they can also provide feedback. 8. CDAC Workplan Update Student Bursary - review of 2023 - 2024 process + next steps Discussed if there is anything that needs to be adjusted from the inaugural year. Members agreed that moving forward need to further develop guidelines and criteria used to award the bursary. Working group members explained that was always the intention but due to time constraints, they couldn't formalize the process as much as they wanted to. Will need to look back at which high schools didn't have students apply and make sure we market to that school also. Clarington Diversity - 4 - October 17, 2024 Advisory Committee For 2025, P. DaSilva will need to determine the budget and number of bursaries that can be awarded within the budget. If it's possible to have 2 bursaries for next year. P. DaSilva asked the committee to consider one of the bursaries be for an Indigenous student Look at establishing a mentors hip or internship process forth e recipients. Youth Civic Engagement The working group has not met yet. L. Reyes -Grange requested that she be removed from this working group due to time constraints. P. DaSilva will send out another doodle poll to get the remaining members to start planning P. DaSilva shared that she has some staff members who are also interested and able to support the planning and implementation of the initiative. Diversifying community events Working group shared ideas; currently waiting for community services to hire the new Director before making any decisions around next years events. 9. Council Update Councillor Anderson shared recent discussions at Regional Council meetings about the proportionally high violent and threatening behaviour towards racialized elected offices and the importance of keeping this discussion going. Locally, doing a lot of upgrades to facilities and always pushing to look at the demographics to ensure everyone will feel welcomed and included in the facilities and in the programs. J. Solway shared that as a community, big organizations that are implementing events in Clarington also need to do their best to be more inclusive and ensure that their marketing goes out far and wide to allow the maximum number of people to participate. Shared that, while building cell towers is not a municipal service, staff were directed to find new and creative ways to help facilitate investment, eliminate barriers and work to get more cell infrastructure built in our community. At Planning and Development Committee Meeting on Monday October 21, Clarington Council will be considering a report to address cellular gaps in our Municipality. View the full agenda for the meeting: https://brnw.ch/2lwNPSf 10. Community Update P. DaSilva provided information on an initiative that the Municipality and CLMA are collaborating on for Black History Month: Nadine Williams facilitates a collective public art project in celebration of the The International Decade for People of African Descent Clarington Diversity - 5 - October 17, 2024 Advisory Committee • CLMA will run a registered community event for about 40 community members on December 101, from 2-4 pm. Nadine will work with the community members to create designs on 81h x 11 papers which she will take back to her team to create a 7 ft x 8 ft quilt that will be hung up at the libraries and municipal facilities. • Goal is to market Dec 101, event to the Clarington Black community. • The quilt will be unveiled at the Feb 81h Black Vendor Village. Pride celebrations for Clarington P. DaSilva shared that in 2025, Clarington will host its' first Pride event. Provided the committee with the dates of other Pride events that are already scheduled in June across Durham. Committee selected Saturday, June 21st for Clarington event. P. DaSilva advised that the Municipality will be conducting a flag raising ceremony for Transgender Awareness Week and Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov 15th at 10 am and invited all interested and available committee members to attend. 11. CABRTF Update No update as D. Valentine was not able to attend the meeting. 12. Other Business Parks, Recreation and Culture (PRC) Master Plan and Cricket Pitch P. Gunti brought forward a request for support of a cricket pitch in Clarington. Although there is a temporary at Courtice Memorial Park, very few people are using it as it is small, not fully developed and it is on concrete instead of grass. Committee members asked P. Gunti for further clarification on what the community is wanting given that a brand new cricket pitch is one of the recommendation made in the PRC Master Plan. P. Gunti shared that the PRCMP is a 10-15 year plan and although the cricket pitch is recommended in the plan, it could be many years before a suitable pitch is developed. He is interested in finding a way to speed up the process as the recommendation could take years before it's implemented Stated the community is also looking for the Municipality to identify a park (perhaps Lord Elgin) where a better but temporary pitch could be put. Committee members shared that it would be worthwhile for the cricket community to continue to make a presence at Committee and Council meetings, similar to how other sport organizations are doing this. P. Gunti confirmed that the cricket group has submitted feedback on the PRC Master Plan. The committee members agreed to the following motion: Clarington Diversity - 6 - October 17, 2024 Advisory Committee Moved by P. Gunti; seconded J. Solway That the PRC Master Plan give some priorityto identifying a space for a proper cricket pitch given that the demand for such a pitch is growing and the current pitch is not useable. Carried Land Acknowledgement J. Solway stated that he was recently in a meeting where there was a discussion on working with local Legions to include a Land Acknowledgement as part of the Remembrance Day Ceremony but was advised there were some challenges with this happening. P. DaSilva shared that she had reached out to the Bowmanville Legion 178 with two requests: 1. Could the Legion start the ceremony with a land acknowledgement recongizing the treaty and traditional territories that Clarington is located on; and 2. If the MP could mention that Nov 8' is National Indigenous Veterans Day, which federally recognizes and honours the over 8,000 Indigenous soldiers who sacrificed their Lives during World War 1 and 2 and the Korean War. P. DaSilva shared that she was advised this would not be possible at this time. The committee decided they will make the effort to communicate this request earlier in preparation for Remembrance Day 2025. Carried 8. Adjournment No motion to adjourn as there was no quorum at the time the meeting came to a close. The meeting ended at 9:30 pm Next Meeting: November 14t' at 7 pm via Teams