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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-02-13Clarington If this information is required in an alternate format, please contact the IDEA Officer at 905- 623-3379 ext. 2563. Clarington Diversity Advisory Committee Meeting - Thursday, February 13th, 2025, 7:OOpm to 9:00 P.M. 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# Canada, Oshawa CDAC Members: Tenzin Shomar Rochelle Thomas Koren Kassirer (7:04 pm) Bev Neblett Ron Hooper Starr Lee Grace Councillor Anderson Regrets: Vincent Wong Pranay Gunti Lauren Reyes -Grange Also Present - Pinder DaSilva), Melissa Westover (Municipality of Clarington), Donnalee Smith (CLMA) Meeting called to order at 7:04 pm 1. Land Acknowledgement: The Land Acknowledgement was read by T. Shomar 2. Review and Approval of agenda Moved by R. Thomas; seconded by B. Neblett That the agenda for February 13, 2025, be accepted with the following changes: move agenda item 8 to agenda item 6. Carried Clarington 3. Declaration of interest There was no declaration of interest by members. 4. Review of January 9, 2025, meeting minutes Moved by R. Thomas; seconded by B. Neblett That the minutes from January 9, 2025, for the CDAC meeting, be approved. Carried 5. Welcome New CDAC Members Introductions of all current and new members, and guests were completed. 6. CDAC Terms of Reference Changes P. DaSilva provided an overview of the process followed by Staff to update the Terms of Reference for the Committee, including: • Staff reviewed multiple other Terms of References for similar committees in other municipalities to identify other governance/best practices. • Staff connected with Allison Hector -Alexander, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, at the Region of Durham to gather feedback. • The Terms of Reference were reviewed by Staff in the Clerk and CAO's departments. • The Terms of Reference document is being brought forward to the Committee prior to Council meeting as a courtesy and to determine if the members identify any strong red flags. R DaSilva shared that some of the governance changes include: • A focus on better defining roles and responsibilities for both Committee Members and Municipal Staff. • Introducing community organization representation and re -introducing a youth member which changes the composition from 11 voting members to 13 voting members • Additional procedural changes such as recording of meetings. Based on feedback from Committee Members, `social service agencies' was added under Composition (Section 4.1(D)). Staff also further clarified that when the council appoints organizations to the committee, it will be the organization and not a specific individual from that organization that is being appointed. Clarington The following next steps were shared by Staff with Committee Members: • Council will consider the proposed changes to the DAC Terms of Reference at the February 24t" meeting. • If approved, recruitment of new members (1 youth and 2 community organizations) will take place in March. 7. Update on Anti -Black Racism (ABR) Advisory Committee The following update was provided on next steps for establishing the Anti -Black Racism Advisory Committee: • The ABR Advisory Committee's Terms of Reference were also presented to the Committee Members earlier this week. • Council will also consider the proposed new ABR Advisory Committee Terms of Reference at the February 24th meeting. • If approved, recruitment of new members (1 youth and 2 community organizations) will take place in March. T. Shomar thanked Council members and Staff for getting everything completed in such a timely manner. T. Shomar shared that it is good to see that the ABR will be moving in such a thoughtful direction. 8. Update from DEI Symposium -Next Steps B. Neblett shared the following update from the Regions DEI Symposium meeting: • Meeting was led by Durham Region Staff and included representation from different Durham Region Municipalities and Council Committee Members. • Everyone who attended stated they were eager to keep the work active and moving throughout the year as opposed to only focusing on a static Symposium • There were certain themes that came out of the survey and debrief meeting o Advocacy & awareness o Policy & systems -level changes o Innovative approaches to programs and service delivery o Strengthening the enabling environment o Collaboration • The conversation focused on how the Municipality's and their applicable Committees, could align their work plans across the municipalities, to share best practices. • The Region would like to create key messages around what is happening in our communities and really stressed the importance of creating opportunities for collaboration, supporting one another and not working in silos. • The Region is interested in assessing the safety aspects of the community such as supporting newcomers, homelessness and shelter space. Clarington T. Shomar shared that it feels like we are all moving in the right direction, especially since many of the DEI related issues we are seeing are popping up across the Region so having a Durham approach is the right way to go. 9. CDAC 2025 Work Plan DAC Members discussed the initiatives and ideas for the 2025 workplan T. Shomar provided an overview of the Diversity Leadership Bursary program from last year and indicated that the goal is to build on it this year by adding mentorship components to it. The Youth Civic Engagement initiative is in the early stages of planning. There was an initial meeting with a couple of Council members, Committee Members and Staff to discuss if this was doable. The working group needs to set up another meeting to discuss it further. P. DaSilva shared that there are a few community recognition and celebratory events planned for 2025 (Pride, National Indigenous Day, Indigenous Veterans Day etc.) that will require support from the Committee Members. S. DeGrace also asked if it would be possible to look how other Committees in different municipalities are doing their Land Acknowledgement to if there is a way to personalize it more instead of reading the Clarington Land Acknowledgement before each meeting. T. Shomar also stated that the DEI symposium and collaborating with other municipalities on DEI initiatives should be added to the workplan. P. DaSilva will send out an email to everyone with timelines for the various workplan initiatives so that Members can decide which one they want to help out with. 10. Council Update Councillor Anderson shared that the DRPS is forming a hate crime unit to help address the rising hate crime across Durham Region. 11. Community Update: P. DaSilva shared the following update: • The Black Vendor Village in honour of Black History Month was very successful and well received by the community. There were 50 vendors and around 700 people who came through the event. • The Region will be hosting an event on March 6t" for International Women's Day. P. DaSilva will provide more details once she receives them. • The 2024 IDEA Report will be going to Council in April. This will also bean opportunity for T. Shomar to present the 2024 DAC accomplishments to Council. Clarftwn 12.2025 IDEA Plan / Initiatives Moved to the March agenda due to time constraints. 13.Other Business P. DaSilva reminded Committee members that we have guest speaker Danielle Harder from Honouring Indigenous People coming to the March meeting to do a presentation. Moved by K. Kossirer; seconded by S. DeGrace That the DAC meeting be adjourned at 8:54 pm Carried Next meeting March 13, 2024, at 7:00 p.m.