NATIONAL CONFERENCE
We are glad to announce that registration for our National Conference will be open on April 13, 2016. This year's theme is "Realizing an Inclusive Canada: 2017 and beyond."
The two-day event, to be held in October 2016, is a "don't miss" for diversity and inclusion professionals, people working in settlement and immigration, community leaders and city-builders - and anyone else interested in these issues!
We're now welcoming submissions to organize workshops or present papers that will advance knowledge and share best practices. Get in touch with us if you'd like to submit a paper or organize a workshop.
AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE
The conference will also feature the Awards of Excellence, which highlight Best Practices achievements of organizations.
Award recipients are drawn from submissions to the CRRF‘s call for Best Practices for the CRRF’s online resource database. The call for Best Practices will be open on April 22.
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Take part in the conversation
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Get involved with the CRRF. Tap into your network and spread the word about our initiatives! You're essential to our organization - let's work together to promote harmonious race relations.
- Do you have kids or work in the education sector? We want to hear from youth (up to 18 years old) about what Canadian values mean to them. We're looking for video entries for our 2016 Youth Challenge. Spread the word and Tweet about the challenge using #2016YouthChallenge.
- Did you know the CRRF has its own academic journal? The latest issue of Directions, titled "The Power of Words," is available for purchase.
- eRACE this month: To celebrate National Poetry Month, we featured Jayashree Thatte Bhat, author of Monsoon Rainbow: In Canada. Get in touch with us if you're an author or know an author who would like to be interviewed.
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Gurbax Singh Malhi
"Until 1993, no MP in North America had donned any form of head covering while in office. That changed when Gurbax Singh Malhi, a turban-wearing Sikh, was elected to represent the Liberal Party in the Bramalea-Gore-Malton region of Ontario."
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PJ Lakhanpal
"PJ, who was recently granted a wish by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, chose to be Prime Minister for a day. The Make-A-Wish wish coordinator didn’t even blink, and called the teenager soon after with more good news: pack your bags for Ottawa."
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Brenda Reimer
"Sitting in the Intercity mall, handing out brochures and trying to engage people in conversation. These are my first memories of celebrations in Thunder Bay for March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racism.”
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Brenda St. Germain
"Like every other person in Canada, there are significant experiences in your childhood or youth that become markers in your life that lead you towards the development of your identity."
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Marufa Shinwari
"I often find myself reminiscing about my life. The long and gruelling journeys across the seas, the many close encounters with death...This is a familiar narrative for many immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers."
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What's your story? Be part of the CRRF's 150 Stories collection!
Read more
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The CRRF convened university students from coast to coast for the Canada Lecture on March 21, in recognition of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Click here to read more and to watch a video recording of the event.
Living Together Symposia: We held two very successful Symposia in Red Deer (March 22) and Hamilton (March 29). Click here to read The Hamilton Spectator's article on our Hamilton event.
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Participants at our Symposia in Hamilton (left) and Red Deer (right)
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 As the CRRF continues to engage Canadians in dialogue across this country, the commitment to build on the promise diversity offers while strengthening Canadian identity as a unifying force is clear. And yet, it is disturbing that we also continue to learn of acts of racism, acts aimed at dividing us and striking at the core values we must build on.
Not all these incidents make the news. However, just as documented on a recent CBC report asking "Are We Racist?," we too have heard about storekeepers following black youth around their stores. We learned of graffiti on schools threatening newly arrived refugees. We were told with great pain of harassment of Indigenous youth while playing hockey, or while simply walking down the street.
Read the full text here.
Anita Bromberg, Executive Director, CRRF
Follow Anita on Twitter @AnitaBromberg
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