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| Ratna Omidvar Named President of Maytree
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Maytree founders Judy and Alan Broadbent announce the appointment of Ratna Omidvar from Executive Director to President.
Ms. Omidvar joined Maytree in 1998 as Executive Director of the Refugee and Immigrant Program. In 2001 she was appointed Executive Director with responsibility for all programs and activities. The new title of President reflects the broad range of activity she directs, and the significant respect and visibility she has earned in Canada and abroad. Ms. Omidvar has designed, built and directed Maytree’s granting, public policy, training and convening programs, positioning the organization as a catalyst and leading thinker on issues related to immigration, diversity and urban prosperity. |
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Upcoming Events
The Race for Talent: September 26 The Power of Networking: November 1 |
The Race for Talent: Comparing Canada's, the United States' and Australia's Approaches to Skilled Worker Migration
Friday, September 26
Join Maytree and the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) for a discussion with three internationally recognized leaders on migration policy:
- Demetrios G. Papademetriou, president of Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank
- Lesleyanne Hawthorne, author of a recent IRPP study comparing the employment outcomes of skilled immigrants in Canada and Australia
- Naomi Alboim, vice chair of the Policy Forum at the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University
Learn about how three countries’ immigration policies have contributed to skilled migrants’ successes or failures and what future immigration policy can do to improve labour market conditions in Canada for skilled workers.
Event Details:
Friday, September 26, 2008
11:30am Registration
12 noon to 2pm
Faculty Club at University of Toronto
41 Willcocks Street
Registration fee is $50
Register online  |
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The Power of Networking with Mike Lipkin
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Moderated by world-renowned motivational speaker Mike Lipkin (pictured), immigrant participants will learn how to use networking to their advantage in the job search. Afternoon sessions will bring together employers, industry associations, regulatory bodies and other groups to help participants explore the resources available to them.
The Power of Networking is open to all immigrants in the Toronto Region who have come to Canada with existing skills, education and experience, and have not yet gained Canadian work experience in their field of choice.
Event Details:
Saturday, November 1, 2008
9am-4:30pm
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
Admission is free and lunch will be provided.
Hosted by the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council
Register online |
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| Poor Educational Outcomes for Aboriginal Students Threaten Canada’s Prosperity |
Poor Educational Outcomes for Aboriginal Students Threaten Canada’s Prosperity
Sixty percent of First Nations students living on reserves are not graduating from high school. This issue of Maytree Policy in Focus describes Caledon Institute ideas to improve the educational outcomes of these students. They propose the creation of: 1) an Act which would enable First Nations to create their own organizations similar to School Boards; 2) Centres to help develop culturally sensitive curriculum; and 3) an Institute to collect and analyze data to measure progress. If you are interested in participating in a webinar on this topic, please email us at: policyinfocus@maytree.com. |
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Upcoming Deadlines
Leaders for Change Applications: September 16
Diversity in Governance Awards Nominations:
October 17
Immigrant Success Awards Entries: November 14 |
Leaders for Change Seeking Applications
Deadline: September 16
Apply today for this unique nine-month leadership development program for social justice activists. Leaders for Change consists of a two-and-a-half-day opening retreat and nine full-day training sessions designed for individuals committed to making change through action-based poverty reduction initiatives. The program runs from October 2008 to June 2009.
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Diversity in Governance Awards Seeking Nominations
Deadline: October 17, 5pm
As part of Maytree’s DiverseCity onBoard program, these Awards go to organizations whose governing body demonstrates exemplary and innovative leadership by:
- Demonstrating a clear commitment to diversity
- Providing measurable and tangible results
- Showcasing promising practices to other organizations
Nomination forms are available online.
The Awards will be presented at a reception on November 12, 2008. More |
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Immigrant Success (IS) Awards Call for Entries
Deadline: November 14
The Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) recognizes employers and individuals in the Toronto Region that have a proven track record of achievement in recruiting, retaining and promoting skilled immigrants in the workplace through its annual Immigrant Success Awards.
Categories include:
- RBC Best Immigrant Employer Award
- Canadian HR Reporter Individual Achievement Award
- Toronto Star Immigrant Champion Award
- CBC Toronto Business Leadership Award
Entry forms available on September 15, 2008. Visit www.isawards.ca for details or contact Emily Mills at 416.944.1946 ext. 282 or emills@triec.ca. The IS Awards are funded by RBC. |
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Municipal Voting for Non-Citizen Residents |
Maytree and the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance co-hosted an event on August 26, 2008 at Hart House, University of Toronto, entitled Has the Time Come? Extending the Municipal Franchise to Toronto's Permanent Residents. Howard Duncan, Executive Head of Metropolis, made a presentation followed by responses by panellists Myer Siemiatycki, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University, Ratna Omidvar, Executive Director, The Maytree Foundation, and Phil Triadafilopoulos, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Department of Social Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough. Watch a podcast of the event.
I Vote Toronto Campaign Launch
Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office and Maytree are working to extend municipal voting rights to non-citizen residents. Maytree believes that allowing landed immigrants to vote in elections for mayor, city council and school trustee will help them contribute to community life faster and achieve the skills of becoming a citizen sooner.
Thorncliffe is leading the campaign which launched on September 10. Go to: www.thorncliffe.org to find out how you can get involved or attend their AGM on September 17. |
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Maytree Funds Vancouver Foundation to Implement Local Employment Strategies for Skilled Immigrants |
Maytree’s ALLIES (Assisting Local Leaders in Immigrant Employment Strategies) program has awarded a start-up phase I grant to the Vancouver Foundation to establish a regional immigrant employment council that brings together multiple stakeholders. A summit will be held in October to jumpstart the initiative.
Vancouver is Canada’s immigrant gateway of the west. Its foreign-born population has more than doubled since 1981 and today nearly 40% of the city’s residents are born outside of Canada. |
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Leader Profile |
Leader Profile: Rene Adams
Graduate of Leaders for Change
To say that Rene Adams has overcome barriers would be a supreme understatement. She’s hurdled over them. As a single mother of two on Ontario Disability Support Payments with multiple hidden disabilities and a history of child abuse and domestic violence, Rene has channelled her life experience into helping others achieve their full potential. Since high school she has been advocating for social justice causes like affordable housing and child poverty -- lobbying politicians, organizing all-candidate meetings and mobilizing the community to find shared solutions to local issues.
Guest lecturer, peer advocate, co-producer, advisor, spokesperson, community mobilizer – the collection of roles she’s played as a community leader are impressive. These days she’s spending a lot of time planning her church’s 190th anniversary. And in her spare time she’s volunteering for two social justice organizations, working part-time and lobbying the city to bring back the winter clothing and back-to-school allowance for welfare and disability clients with children. Rene understands first-hand the impact of these cuts. Her family has lost $145 over the past month. A recent government memo reveals that they will be getting a one-time only payment to bridge the loss of this funding. She asks: “Does anyone realize that these children will still be poor next year?”
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Author Readings Celebrate Three Years of Publishing Diverse Writers |
At an anniversary event at Toronto's World's Biggest Bookstore on September 11 (7pm), Diaspora Dialogues hosts readings from Samantha Bernstein, Alissa York, Joseph Kertes and Devyani Saltzman to celebrate the publication of three editions of their annual anthology TOK: Writing the New Toronto.
Joseph Kertes’ story “First Dance,” which appears in TOK 1, chronicles a teenage Hungarian immigrant’s painful struggle to find a sense of belonging among his Toronto-born peers. TOK 2 features Devyani Saltzman’s creative nonfiction piece “Amah,” the author’s tender recollection of her South Asian nanny. Alissa York’s poignant “Rock Dove” captures a bird rescuer’s emotional encounter in a Danforth grocery store in TOK 3. Samantha Bernstein’s poems, also in TOK 3, pay tribute to the flower-men that wander local restaurants and ruminate on the nature of Toronto’s reputation on the international scene.
Join Diaspora Dialogues at Word on the Street (September 28, Queen’s Park) for a full afternoon of stories, poetry and drama with Toronto-specific settings.
For more information: Julia Chan, 416-944-1101 x277, julia@diasporadialogues.com
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Urban Nation |
Maytree Chair Alan Broadbent will be speaking about his new book, Urban Nation, at the Word on the Street, Toronto’s book and magazine fair on September 28th at 2:15 and at an Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference on October 27th.
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New Book Promotes Better Earnings for Working Poor |
Make Work Pay by Ken Battle and Sherri Torjman (September 2008) explores the various actions that governments and employers can take to improve the earnings of the working poor. It outlines essential changes to the amount and design of the Working Income Tax Benefit – the federal policy initiative whose intended purpose is to help make work pay. One in four Canadian workers makes just $10 an hour or less and close to half (44 percent) of low-income households have at least one working adult.
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Toronto District School Board Recognized As A Global Integration Leader |
The TDSB has been awarded the 2008 Carl Bertelsmann Prize for its successful efforts to close the achievement gap between second-generation students of immigrant origin and their Canadian peers.
Responsible for more than 550 schools in Canada’s largest and most diverse city, the TDSB is the only school authority in the country to employ an executive officer for equity issues.
The Bertelsmann Foundation has given the Carl Bertelsmann Prize annually since 1988 to honour innovative policies for key social policy challenges worldwide. This year, initiatives from England, Sweden and Switzerland were also short listed. The Bertelsmann Foundation, located in Germany, is a founding partner to Maytree’s new international Cities of Migration initiative.
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New Survey on Diverse Youth on Nonprofit Boards |
The Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children’s (METRAC) Youth Alliance Project (YAP) has developed a short survey to gather information to help nonprofit boards become more accessible to diverse youth. Findings will be used to create a checklist tool to increase youth engagement and governance on nonprofit boards throughout Toronto.
Fill out the short survey here.
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Contact Us |
Questions or comments about the Maytree newsletter? Send an e-mail to info@maytree.com.
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Maytree
170 Bloor St. W. Suite 804, Toronto, ON
CANADA M5S 1T9
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