Welcoming Communities Coalition Collaboratory

Welcoming Communities Coalition Working together for diverse, inclusive and welcoming communities  Hello Coalition members, Happy New Year! Here is wishing you and your loved ones the most fantastic year, 2021. Our Community forums around Discrimination and Racism were great and we appreciate everyone that attended. As a follow-up to that and based on the feedback received, we are excited to announce that the Immigrant Welcome Centre and the Welcoming Communities Coalition will be hosting our annual joint (Campbell River and Comox Valley) virtual Collaboratory on Wednesday February 24th, 2021 from 2pm – 4:30pm via Zoom. The theme for the Collaboratory is: Beyond Inclusion: Focusing on Equity/Equality and Leveling the Playing Field for Everyone to Thrive Our speaker is Dr. Moussa Magassa. He specializes in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), Intercultural capacity development and anti-racism education, and program evaluation. He is the UVic human rights educator, specialist in anti-racism education, equity, diversity, inclusion curriculum design and program development. He also teaches at UVic, Royal Roads University; and the UBC Centre for intercultural communication. Dr. Magassa is an advisor to various organizations: Resilience BC Anti-racism advisory and strategic planning committee; SFU academic and practitioner advisory committee for the migrant systems Change Leadership Certificate program; Co-chair of the Greater Victoria Police Diversity Advisory Committee, and board director of the Victoria Multifaith Society. As well as Dr. Magassa’s presentation, participants will get a brief overview of anti-racism and inclusion activities being undertaken in other communities and hear from newcomers who will share their experiences of settling in Canada in their own words. Preliminary results of our Needs Assessment Research will also be shared. Interactive breakout sessions will give participants an opportunity to discuss and prioritize the ideas presented and explore more solutions. Participants will take home activities for themselves and their organizations to work towards ensuring equity and equality. We are looking forward to engaging community members, Welcoming Communities Coalition and other stakeholders in the workshop and interactive discussion. The outcomes of the Collaboratory will inform the Coalition’s work and the specific activities/projects that we will be focusing on in the coming year. To register please click the link below to register. Registration is free. Collaboratory Registration Thank you for your commitment in cultivating and fostering Welcoming Communities!