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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-11-06• If this information is required in an alternate format, Clarington please contact the IDEA Officer at 905-623-3379 ext. 2563. Clarington Anti -Black Racism Task Force Minutes November 6", 2024 @ 7:30 pm Present: Hawa Mire Joseph Adesanya Lauren Reyes -Grange Jodie Glean Angela Anderson Rochelle Thomas Dione Valentine (joined at 8 pm) Regrets: Absent: Nadia Nembhard-Hunt Also Present: Pinder DaSilva, Municipality of Clarington Donnalee Smith, CLMA Meeting started at 7:39 pm 1. Land Acknowledgement Land Acknowledgement read by L. Reyes -Grange Review and approval of agenda Moved by R. Thomas; seconded by J. Glean That the meeting agenda for Nov. 61h, 2024, be approved No declaration of interest by Task Force members Carried 2. Review and approval of previous meeting minutes Moved by R. Thomas; seconded by J. Glean That the minutes of the October 2"d, 2024, meeting be approved. Carried • If this information is required in an alternate format, Clarington please contact the IDEA Officer at 905-623-3379 ext. 2563. 3. 2023 Work Plan —Next Steps a. Black History Month Planning P. DaSilva provided update on what the plan is to move forward with the Black Vendor Village. The planning committee has been formed. Vendor applications will go live first week of December. There will be more food vendors for the 2025 event. • Staff training— exploring idea of showing a short film followed by discussion J. Glean — shared the name of another film called Working Well Black but is 1 hour — highlighting discrimination in the workplace which would offer great break-out sessions. CLMA BHM updates • Drumming program with a musician on Feb 13t" at 10 am at Bowmanville Library and will be inviting schools. • Book reading with L. Reyes -Grange that will be open to the public and school. • Durham Family and Cultural Centre —workshop for families with mixed roots and backgrounds to talk about the impact of raising children in mixed families. b. HR Working Group • H. Mire and A. Anderson met with the HR team. The idea was to meet with the HR team and then get a sense of how CABRTF would like to engage with the HR team. • The framework for the HR strategy is currently being developed with the help of an external consultant. This results will go to SLT in December. • HR focused on technology based systems so that recruitment processes are more modernized so it's taking up a significant amount of their time. Need to build the foundational systems before they can answer a lot of other questions. • Media campaigns to encourage new candidates. • Have limited metrics for recruitment and retention related to diversity. Municipality has implemented an employee demographic survey which was completed this year but there are no metrics related to candidates applying for jobs. • HR team is looking for help with connecting them with diverse organizations so they can add organizations to their recruitment/job posting. • 2025 Fire Fighter recruiter— usually recruit from volunteer base but they are looking for diversity— also looking for support in diversifying fire fighter recruitment. • Is there a way that people are being interviewed or hired. • Unable to confirm whether the interview panels reflect diversity as HR only has capacity to support hiring of f/t employees. managers are doing a lot of the recruitment and recognize how difficult it can be to ensure diversity on every interview panel. • If this information is required in an alternate format, Clarington please contact the IDEA Officer at 905-623-3379 ext. 2563. • R. Thomas — Do we have any numbers on how many black staff Clarington has? Can understand how difficult it can be to collect that data given its self -declared. • Fire Fighters — some bigger cities like Toronto have made changes and removed swim test which has increase candidates from racialized communities applying. Exit interview — what questions are being asked of folks. P. DaSilva shared that it has been implemented for full-time staff but not for part-time staff. Can confirm with HR what questions are being asked to see if there are any questions related to work environment/diversity. • Lots of work to be done but the HR team is eager to do it and find ways to be more inclusive and welcoming. Members discussed different ways they could contribute: • Supporting them to set metrics around recruitment from the Black community • Look at what other comparable committees are doing in Durham Region • African land acknowledgement statement added to job postings —talk about the history of the Black community in Clarington • Conflict of Interest Policy • Will things that are the committee recommend disappear — won't happen as P. DaSilva will act as a staff liaison is supporting the HR Strategy development. • Provide feedback on the strategy once the framework is built. c. Social Media Working Group • The audit document forwarded to P. DaSilva who shared that the content of the document goes beyond Terms of Reference for CABRTF (looks at AODA compliance, plain language, inclusivity etc.) and dives into the roles and responsibilities of other committees such as the Accessible Advisory Committee and CDAC. • Anything related to AODA will need to be removed from the audit and it will need to be done by the Accessibility Coordinator and/or Accessibility Committee. • P. DaSilva recommended that the rest of the audit content falls within CDAC Terms and given that L. Reyes -Grange and R. Thomas are also CDAC members, they may be able to move it to the CDAC workplan. • Explained that Comm's dept is building out a Comms strategy which includes a fulsome audit in 2025, but it would require going to tender to hire a consultant as per procurement policies. The team is interested in engaging with all three committees (CDAC, CABRTF and AAC) when they conduct the audit of their social media accounts. • P. DaSilva shared that Comm's is wanting and open to receiving any feedback that the committee members may have (i.e. lack of diversity in the imagery) • If this information is required in an alternate format, Clarington please contact the IDEA Officer at 905-623-3379 ext. 2563. 4. Community and Municipality Update • Durham Region Black History Month event is taking place on Feb 51h from 5:30-8:30 which will be at the same time as the Feb CABRTF meeting. P. DaSilva advised that CABRTF meeting will need to be postponed/cancelled as Clarington is a planning partner on the Region's event. • P. DaSilva recommended that since the meeting would need to be cancelled it would be a good opportunity for CABRTF to have their own table at the Region event or join Pinder at the Clarington table to talk about CABRTF. • P. DaSilva reminded everyone about the upcoming DEI Symposium on October 261h that is being hosted by the Region for the municipal DEI committees. Other Business • Future guest speakers - Nicole Bernhardt who presented at the DEI Symposium was a great speaker and a potential option. • P. DaSilva also reached out to Ontario Black History Society for both staff training and presenting at CABRTF. Has not heard back yet so will follow up on them. • RSVP'ing for meetings - P. DaSilva emphasized importance of following the ToR protocols and letting her know 24 hours in advance of the meeting whether they will be attending. For example, as of 7:30 pm Nov 5th, there was no quorum to have the Nov 6th meeting. Email was sent out to members to advise that meeting was being cancelled due to lack of quorum. The next day (day of meeting) P. DaSilva received RSVP's which provided the quorum needed. • Explained that waiting until the day of the meeting to determine quorum makes it very challenging to manage the logistics. Also explained that it is unfair to individuals who have RSVP'd and are organizing their evening activities based on having quorum. • Members agreed to RSVP in advance so everyone's schedules can be planned accordingly. Moved by D. Valentine; seconded by H. Mire That the meeting be adjourned at 8:58 pm Carried Next Meeting— December 4th, 2024 @ 7:30 pm (virtual)