Central Council AGENDA 1. - London,...

London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership Central Council

March 3, 2010

5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Kinsmen Recreation Centre, Room 2a

20 Granville Street

AGENDA

1. Welcome & Introductions

2. Review Terms of Reference: Roles & Responsibilities of Central Council

3. Role of Project Staff

4. Follow up from Community Action Planning Day

5. Sub-Council Chair Reports

6. Process

a. Meeting Times

7. Next Steps

London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership Central Council Wednesday, March 3, 2010

SUMMARY

Present: Elisabeth White, Kelly McManus, Munira Ahmed, Asma Ahmed, Mohamed Al-Adeimi, Salah Badawi, Henri Boyi, Jean-Pierre Cantin, Vicki Esses, Trevor Hinds, Anne Langille, George Perez, Naeem Qureshi, Dev Sainani, Lauren Touchant, Debbie Tunrbull, Huda Hussein and Nina Hamou.

Introduction

Elisabeth White, City of London and co-Chair of the London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership (LMLIP) welcomed and thanked all the members of the Central Council for coming. She asked each member of the Central Council to introduce themselves. The role of the LMLIP Council is a Strategic Planning Role. It was highlighted that this project connects with various other community Initiatives, such as the Child and Youth Network and the London Middlesex Immigrant Employment Council.

Review Terms of Reference: Roles & Responsibilities of Central Council Kelly McManus, United Way of London & Middlesex and co-Chair of the LMLIP provided a summary of the Terms of Reference. The role of the Advisory Committee in guiding the project and the role of the community in endorsing the Terms of Reference on November 18, 2009 were highlighted. The roles of the City of London and United Way as co-chairs were also discussed. The City holds the LMLIP Contract and the United Way represents the broader community sector. Key timelines include:

• April 23, all sub-council strategies will be completed and submitted to the Central Council

• May 26, the strategies will be presented to the community for input • June 30, the draft LMLIP Strategic Plan will be delivered to Citizenship and Immigration

Canada (CIC)

Role of Project Staff

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Huda Hussein, Project Coordinator and Nina Hamou, Project Assistant, will be the lead support behind the project and are sharing support for the six sub-councils. They will provide all the information necessary to move forward and will attempt to distribute the meeting minutes quickly. Moreover they will be the point of contact for any questions or to have something distributed for the group. Follow up from Community Action Planning Day There were 143 individuals present on February 2, 2010. The group felt that there was a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm in the room. Feedback received included that immigrants were eager to share their experiences and it seemed that service providers were eager to listen. It was commented that several groups have tried to bring people together but this time with the support of the City and United Way of London & Middlesex and funding from CIC, there is new opportunity. It was interesting to see how many people were there representing themselves as immigrants and interested community members. Sub-Council Chair Reports Justice & Protection Services Sub-council, Trevor Hinds, Chair

The Justice & Protection Services (JPS) Sub-council decided to focus on three preliminary areas:

1. Issues of trust ‐ Criminal Justice System ‐ Protection Services

2. Lack of education/ cultural knowledge

‐ Service Providers ‐ Newcomers ‐ General Community

3. Lack of community collaboration and inclusion of alternative solutions

‐ Between service providers ‐ Across systems- government and non- government ‐ across cultural groups

The group will continue to flush out goals and activities that will come as a result. The JPS sub-council will bring in consultants for specific issues in order to get individual expertise in shorter time frame. The group already has one confirmed consultant for the next meeting.

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Inclusion & Civic Engagement Sub-council, German Gutierrez, Chair

The Inclusion & Civic Engagement Sub-council created a definition of Civic Engagement & Inclusion first because they felt that their area of focus was too broad. The Sub-council has decided to focus on the following areas:

1. Defining the target population 2. Engaging the host community 3. Rooting Newcomers: identifying or creating a diagnostics tool illustrating different paths to

inclusion. 4. Creating an asset based bridging tool to empower the host community and the immigrant.

Employment Sub-council, Anne Langille, Chair

Two issues moving forward:

1. Need to identify overarching issues which are broader and more generic 2. Blue Sky Issues: The group identified many noble thoughts but not to be disregarded.

However, decided to focus on things we can influence locally.

Three priorities have been identified so far:

1. Communication/integration piece ‐ Common assessment, intake tool shared by all employment services. ‐ Standardized intake process

2. Employer connections ‐ Lots of information that came through from February 2, Community Action Planning

Day and the Community Capacity and Needs Report, which will be addressed under this priority.

3. Systemic barriers such as eligibility.

It is important to focus on realistic and tangible activities but it is important to name all those issues which we do not have local control over.

Health & Wellbeing Sub-council, Debbie Turnbull, Chair

The Health & Wellbeing sub-council decided to focus primarily on: mental health, trauma, recreation, and nutrition.

The group collectively decided and committed to collecting more research and information in order to be sure that they are making informed decisions.

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Although the Council does not have the capacity to do more research at this point, there are many existing studies that have been done and there are Students in the Ethnic Migration program who may be interested in doing research.

Settlement Sub-council, Mohamed Al-Adeimi, Chair

The group required some focus on the first meeting. They still needed clarification and individuals still had gaps to add. At the second meeting tasks were assigned and the group came across some areas which were overlapping. The group identified an issue with outdated statistics from Stats Canada (2006) and the desire to identify what community looks like now.

Education Sub-council, Jean-Pierre Cantin, Chair

The Education Sub-council has not yet ranked the priorities. There is much complexity, richness and diversity in the discussion. There are about 15 agencies, 4 immigrants and one member of an ethno-cultural association. The group decided to split into smaller groups to review the gaps. When they came back individuals had identified more gaps.

Currently the group discussed the following gaps:

1. Funding 2. Eligibility for immigrants 3. Access to certain schools and programs 4. Language training

Process a. Meeting Times

The Central Council agreed that two hour evening meetings work best. The location will be confirmed and shared with the group. In order for the Central Council to be ready there needs to be another meeting scheduled in the second week of April and one or two meetings at the beginning of May.

Next Steps ACTION: When possible, Nina will send out all the sub-council meeting minutes in advance, every member will be responsible for reviewing the minutes.

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ACTION: Contact list will be created and shared.

Next Meeting March 29, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Kinsmen Recreation Centre, Room 2a Regrets to [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership Central Council

March 29, 2010

5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Kinsmen Recreation Centre, Room 2a

20 Granville Street

AGENDA


2. Updates

3. Key Milestones

4. Sub-council Chair Reports

5. Next Steps

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London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership Central Council Meeting Monday, March 29, 2010

Present: Elisabeth White, Kelly McManus, Mohamed Al-Adeimi, Asma Ahmed, Henri Boyi, Jean-

Pierre Cantin, Vicki Esses, German Gutierrez, Trevor Hinds, George Perez, Dev Sainani, Lauren

Touchant, Debbie Turnbull, Naeem Qureshi, Huda Hussein and Nina Hamou.

Regrets: Salah Badawi, Anne Langille, Jo-Ann Hutchinson.

Introductions

Kelly McManus, LMLIP Co-chair, welcomed and thanked members of the Central Council for

their commitment and attendance. Members introduced themselves.

Updates

Elisabeth White, LMLIP Co-chair, announced that the contract extension with the City and

Citizenship and Immigration Canada was signed on March 26, 2010. Funding will continue until

August 31, 2010.

Elisabeth also announced that the Welcoming Communities Initiatives is organizing a

conference on April 30 to May 1 which will bring together different LIPs from across the

province. Huda and Elisabeth will be representing the LMLIP.

Key Milestones

Key timelines include:

• April 23, all sub-council strategies will be completed and submitted to the Central Council

• May 26, the strategies will be presented to the community for input • June 30, the draft LMLIP strategic plan will be completed

An invitation for our next Community Strategy Meeting of May 26, 2010 has been drafted with

the new LMLIP logo.

All meeting minutes will be available on the London and Middlesex Immigration Portal at

www.welcome.london.ca. It can be accessed by clicking on ‘about us’. The LMLIP section will

appear on the left side menu. Minutes will be posted after this group has reviewed and

approved them.

Jean-Pierre recommended that the invitation be translated into French. German also offered to

translate the invitation into Spanish.

ACTION: Nina to send invitation to Jean-Pierre and German to be translated.

A copy of the Strategic Plan to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities was

circulated as an example of what our Council is aiming to develop.

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Meeting minutes from Wednesday, March 3, 2010 were reviewed and approved by the Central

Council.

Sub-council Chair Updates

Education, Jean-Pierre Cantin, Chair

The Education Sub-council has reviewed all gaps and will focus on two priorities:

• Access to education

- Childcare/child minding

- Status and eligibility issues

- Internationally trained individuals

- ESL and literacy- more information is still needed

• Supports

- Teachers

- Parents

- Students

Strategies for the curriculum were not discussed because of the initiative by the province,

Ontario Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy, which is looking at changing the curriculum to

be more inclusive.

Settlement, Mohamed Al-Adeimi, Chair

After discussion of the gaps, Settlement will focus on four priorities:

• Connecting Newcomers to Services :

- Students

- Differences between Refugees and Landed Immigrants

- Temporary workers

- Agency vs. ethno cultural references

• Navigating Systems

- Bureaucratic system

- Managing Finances

- Education Systems

• Family Challenges

- Youth

- Seniors

- The family as a whole

- Parenting

• Housing

- Landlord/tenant relationship

- Affordable housing

There is overlap with the work of the other sub-councils in terms of family challenges and legal

services.

Justice and Protection Services, Trevor Hinds, Chair

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Dr. Mohammed Baobaid was invited to share his recommendations on pre-migration

experiences and on creating a preventative screening tool. Family supports and the

consideration of the family as a whole was another area of focus.

The Sub-council will continue to focus on:

1. Issues of trust

• Criminal Justice System

• Protection Services

2. Lack of education/ cultural knowledge

• Service Providers

• Newcomers

• General Community

3. Lack of Community Collaboration and inclusion of alternative solutions

• Between service providers

• Across systems- government and non- government

• Across cultural groups

The way information is disseminated and the way communities perceive police continue to be a

focus of discussion.

Health and Wellbeing, Debbie Turnbull, Chair

The health and wellbeing sub-council began to think about what the ideal system would look

like and what steps they need to take to get there.

The following priorities were identified:

• Mental health and addictions

• Supports for service providers

• Supports for families and individuals in a holistic manner

• Physical health

• Recreation

There was an opportunity for immigrants to share experiences and struggles within the system.

The group will continue to identify strategies.

Inclusion and Civic Engagement, German Gutierrez, Chair

After review, it became evident that group focused on identifying strategies rather than

priorities. The group identified the following priorities:

• Limited knowledge amongst host community in engaging immigrants

• Barriers to engagement at various levels of society

a. Volunteering

b. Decision making at neighbourhood level

c. Decision making on municipal level

• Lack of shared space

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• Engaging youth

• Barriers to accessing services (language, cultural, childcare)

At the next meeting the group will break out into smaller groups to address each and identify

strategies.

Employment, Huda Hussein on behalf of Anne Langille, Chair

The Sub-council continued to build on the following themes:

• Communication/Integration

• Employer Connection

• Systemic barriers/technical issues

The group began addressing strategies for the first theme:

• A common assessment process that will respect the needs of the client • Appropriate information timely referral will be undertaken in accordance with the Privacy

Act • Build on existing capacity and link it to welcome London – to enhance communication

amongst service providers, one way will be to use existing tools, such as the Networking for an Inclusive Community network.

Lauren indicated that after reviewing the minutes she noticed the gap between immigrants and

administration has not been identified.

Next Steps

It is important to continue to capture the larger advocacy and policy pieces while keeping in

mind that there will be overlap between the sub-councils. The collective voice of all LIPs across

the province may have an impact on decision making at the government level.

The Council needs to keep thinking about what we need and where we need to go. Funding is

one piece but it is not the only piece but should not be the single driver of our work.

At our next meeting we will begin to examine emerging priorities.

Next meeting Tuesday, April 13 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Kinsmen Recreation Centre, Room 2a Regrets to [email protected]

London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership

Central Council

April 13, 2010 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Kinsmen Recreation Centre, Room 2a 20 Granville Street

AGENDA


2. Co-Chair Remarks

3. Meeting Minutes Approval

4. Update from Welcoming Communities Initiative

5. Sub-council Reports

6. Strategic Plan: Preliminary Discussion

7. Wrap-up and Next meeting: April 27, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. at Kinsmen Recreation Centre

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London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership Central Council Meeting Tuesday, April 13, 2010 Present: Elisabeth White, Kelly McManus, Mohamed Al-Adeimi, Munira Ahmed, Salah Badawi,

Henri Boyi, Jean-Pierre Cantin, Vicki Esses, Anne Langille, Lauren Touchant, Debbie Turnbull,

Estela Quintero-Weldon, Naeem Qureshi, Huda Hussein and Nina Hamou.

Regrets: Asma Ahmed, German Gutierrez, Trevor Hinds, Jo-Ann Hutchinson and Dev Sainani.

SUMMARY

Welcome and Introductions

Kelly McManus, LMLIP Co-chair, welcomed and thanked members of the Central Council for

their commitment and attendance. Estela Quintero-Weldon, co-chair of Inclusion and Civic

Engagement, attended the meeting on behalf of German. Members introduced themselves.

Co-Chair Remarks

Elisabeth White, Co-chair, announced that the Welcoming Communities Imitative Action Research session on the Local Immigration Partnerships will be held on April 30- May1. Discussion will be focused on what makes a good LIP, the structure and best practices. Elisabeth and Huda will attend. Elisabeth also announced that the London & Middlesex Immigration Portal has received

additional funding to expand its work. This is especially important because it is the

communication tool for the LMLIP.

Anne Langille added that the Portal will be undergoing updates and edits surrounding issues of

communication. Several strategies have come in the Employment Sub-council regarding the

Immigration Portal.

ACTION: Elisabeth and Anne will touch base with Jill Tansley at the City of London discuss

suggestions brought forth by the Sub-councils regarding the Portal.

This Council will continue to work towards the Community Strategy Meeting on May 26, 2010,

for which the invitations have now gone out. The goal for this Council is to have the draft

strategic plan by May 12, 2010, for community feedback on May 26.

Sub-Council Reports

Health & Wellbeing Sub-council, Debbie Turnbull, Chair

The Sub-council has finished identifying gaps and at the previous meeting the group weighed in

on various strategies by placing stickers beside the ones they perceived to be most important.

This allowed for consensus on the major strategies for every area. A sub-group has been

formed to work on the rationale. The final product will be sent to the Sub-council for review.

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Inclusion & Civic Engagement, Estela Quintero-Weldon, Co-chair

The Sub-council finished discussing priorities and began discussing strategies promoting

information and encouraging newcomers to get involved at various levels. A sub-group has

been struck to gather information on the rationale. There is a lot of overlap and the group will

need to work hard at the last meeting to narrow in on the strategies and rationale.

Settlement Sub-council, Mohamed Al-Adeimi, Chair

The sub-council worked on summarizing the priorities and discussing strategies. Strategies

have been developed and links have been made between existing community initiatives such as

the Neighborhood Strategy.

The group will collect information for the rationale and come prepared to discuss at the next

meeting.

Employment Sub-Council, Anne Langille, Chair

The Sub-council has completed the strategies and rationale for the first two priorities. The

group will continue to work on the last priority dealing with systemic issues.

With regards to the gap in administration mentioned at the previous meeting, it has been

captured in the ‘Systemic/Technical Issues’ priority.

Henri mentioned that, in terms of systemic barriers, we should try to capture what is national,

provincial and local.

Education Sub-council, Jean-Pierre Cantin, Chair

The group continues to discuss the priorities and dig into each subject. Due to the time

constraint, members will be tasked to work on the rationale piece via email.

The group took the Central Councils’ advice and reexamined the issue of the curriculum. The

curriculum needs t be rich enough to create global citizens.

Justice & Protection Services, Nina on behalf of Trevor Hinds, Co-Chair

The Sub-council has finished drafting the strategies and will finalize the rationale at the next

meeting. The group has been asked to come prepared with information for the rationale so it

will only be a matter of synthesizing and editing.

Meeting Minutes Approval

Minutes were reviewed and approved by the Council.

Update from Welcoming Community Initiatives

WCI research continues to grow with a new study with Skills International. Surveys will be sent

to users of Skills International and those who do not use it.

The Welcoming Communities Action Research on the LIPs meeting was initially planned for 30

participants and has grown to about 80. A French Panel is expected to attend along with

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representation from federal, provincial and municipal governments. Observers from other

provinces are also attending. There has been a parliamentary report prepared on the LIPs which

shows support for the initiative.

Another research project underway is surveying London opinion leaders, both government and

non government, on their perceptions of how welcoming the community is and their perception

of immigration.

The WCI report Characteristics of a Welcoming Community has been released. It is a literature

review which gives us a structure to do systematic work to move forward.

Elisabeth commented that the partnership with WCI has given this LMLIP Council an opportunity

to continue to move forward.

It was reiterated from several members of the group that there is still a gap between

expectations of the immigrant and reality. It is important that there be a mechanism in place

that prepares people before their arrival, such as having their degrees accredited before arrival,

this will alleviate pressure off the system. Mohamed mentioned that the Modernized CIC

Approach is currently doing pilot project on this subject in three countries.

Strategic Plan- Preliminary Discussion

The Central Council reviewed the priorities for each Sub-council. It was mentioned that the

groups should continue to move away from negative language and that acronyms be removed

to increase clarity.

The Council discussed following re-occurring themes:

Communication

- Between the service providers

- Community: awareness, perceptions and promotion

- Information on how to navigate the system

Support for Immigrants

- Child care

- Education

- Emotional/counseling

- Employment

- Families

- Navigation support

Systemic Barriers

- Civic engagement

- Housing

- Perception vs. reality

Accessibility and Accountability

- Information and services

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- Shared responsibility between the service provider and the immigrant

- Transportation, childcare, stigma

Cultural sensitivity

- Acceptance

- Training

- Using the media to benefit the immigrant

The group is encouraged to continue to revisit the terms of reference and consider the role of

Middlesex County moving forward.

There was consensus that poverty touches all the sub-councils and that these strategies are

tools to support the outcome of reduced poverty.

Next Steps

ACTION: Staff to build on today’s discussion to incorporate across Sub-council themes.

Next meeting: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 5:00p.m. -7:00 p.m. Kinsmen Recreation Centre, Room 2a Regrets to [email protected]

Funded by: Co-led by:


Central Council

April 27, 2010 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.


AGENDA


2. Co-Chair Remarks



5. Terms of Reference: Principles and Outcomes Discussion

6. Sub-council Chairs to answer questions regarding templates:

• Settlement • Employment • Education • Health & wellbeing • Justice & protection services • Inclusion & civic engagement

7. Strategic Plan: Discussion

8. Wrap-up and Next meeting: May 5, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. at Kinsmen Recreation Centre


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Central Council Meeting Tuesday, April 27, 2010 Present: Asma Ahmed, Lauren Touchant, Trevor Hinds, German Gutierrez, Dev Sainani, Anne Langille, Vicki Esses, Jo-Ann Hutchinson, Salah Badawi, Henri Boyi, Debbie Turnbull, Naeem Qureshi, Jean-Pierre Cantin, Kelly McManus, Elisabeth White, Huda Hussein and Nina Hamou. Regrets: Mohamed Al-Adeimi and Munira Ahmed. Welcome & Introductions

Kelly welcomed and thanked the group for their attendance. She noted that there is much work ahead of this Council as the strategic plan comes together. Updates

Elisabeth welcomed Jo-Ann Hutchinson who was able to join us from the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration (MCI). Elisabeth announced that Windsor and Essex Local Immigration Partnership have finalized and submitted their strategic plan to CIC.

ACTION: Project staff to share Windsor and Essex report with Central Council.

An agenda item was added regarding an editorial in the London Free Press.

Meeting Minutes

Meeting minutes were reviewed and approved by the Central Council.

Welcoming Communities Initiatives (WCI) Update

Vicki reported that momentum has been building up towards the WCI Action Research on LIPs

event coming up April 30 and May 1. Our LIP is part of a movement to be a stronger voice on

immigration issues across the province. An update on the event will be presented at the next

meeting.

Terms and Reference: Principles and Outcomes

Huda presented two new principles that have been added to the Terms of Reference, based on

discussions from last our last meeting:

• Accessibility: We aim to facilitate access to services. • Accountability: We will encourage the shared responsibilities between immigrants and

service providers. Outcomes were discussed and reviewed. A model prepared by project staff depicts the immigrant at the centre and the overarching themes identified by Central Council at the previous meeting.

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Review of Templates and Discussion

The Chairs presented the final draft priorities templates. Nina presented the Settlement priorities template on behalf of the Settlement Sub-council Chair. Council reviewed the recommendations, asked for clarifications and suggested some edits to the templates. Points of clarification and suggested edits with regard to the Settlement:

• Need to broaden the scope of the existing programs like Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) and Library Settlement Partnership (LSP) rather than “enhance them

• Point D: to be rephrased from "targeting economic immigrants” to "attracting economic immigrants".

• Point E: should be rephrased to “advocate to expand services”. • The role of the London and Middlesex Immigration Portal is attraction and retention. It

will continue to evolve to meet the needs of the community. • Need to be more explicit on what types of programs are needed. • Need to keep CIC Modernized Approach in mind. • Need to be careful how we word strategies, for example, topics related to parenting.

Employment, Anne Langille, Chair

It was acknowledged by the Employment Sub-council that London and Middlesex is rich in

employment services. The main challenge is how to keep service providers and clients up-to-

date and how to market these services.

Points of clarification and corrections:

• Advocate for the removal of barriers that impede employment. This effects ability to attract immigrants.

• Communication between different levels of government is important to avoid duplication. More funders are needed at the table such as the Ontario Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities.

• Managing expectation of immigrants and community speaks to a mutual understanding between employers and immigrants.

• The issue for more pressure on employers to become equal opportunity employers was raised. This Sub-council felt that the Canadian born workforce is diminishing and there will be an economic need to hire immigrants.

• It is understood, but not written, that endorsing and supporting the work of the London Middlesex Immigrant Employment Council (LMIEC), need to be captured in the strategic plan. LMIEC are focused on building employer awareness, involvement and commitment.

• It was felt by this Council that we should continue to consider the role of employers on a larger scale. For example, advocate for providing incentives for hiring immigrants, based on the model of hiring summer students.

Justice & Protection Services, Trevor Hinds, Chair


• Provide some examples when mentioning existing strengths in the community, such as Women's Community House and Changing Ways, which are preventative services.

• The role of Children’s Aid Society needs to be more visible.

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• Need to explain what the justice and protection services are in the London and Middlesex.

• Should look at immigrants as consumers. How do we provide immigrants with the information they need?

• It was agreed that it is not the goal of this Council to create parallel services for different cultural groups.

Education, Jean-Pierre Cantin, Chair


• When discussing the second priority, supports, the group could not decide on priorities as they felt that supports for the teachers, parents and students are of equal importance. The group reached consensus by very close votes and accordingly decided on the following order: parents, teachers and students.

• Clarification was made around the fact that the first theme targeted adults and the second theme targeted services and children.

Health & Wellbeing, Debbie Turbull, Chair


• In terms of the rationale, some may not be aligned well. • There is a need to work with ethno-cultural communities in planning. • Mental health issues are not the same as mental health illness • There was a lot of focus on a centre or place for families to interact together and

neighborhood based services. • There is a need to consider traumatic experiences and increase services for trauma

survivors. • London is rich with services but people may not know how to access them.

Inclusion & Civic Engagement, German Gutierrez, Chair


• Civic inclusion and engagement connects to the work of all the Sub-councils. • There is an overlap between education and inclusion and civic engagement. • Shared space and neighbourhood services overlap with strategies identified in Health

and Wellbeing.

• Pre-migratory information provided ahead of time is an advocacy piece which refers to information provided at embassies prior to immigration.

Discussion

Everyone is encouraged to go through the documents and provide input by Monday, May 3. Funding and programming is touched on by all sub-councils but we need to be realistic in what we ask. On May 26 we need to have content for a strategic plan to share with the community. Therefore there needs to be clarity on content and agreement on interconnected themes.

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It was also recommended that the priorities document be updated and shared with the Central Council. Our last meeting before May 26 will be on May 5th however there will be correspondence via email. It was indicated that May 5 meeting may go for three hours. London Free Press Editorial

A disturbing and inaccurate editorial which labeled some countries as terrorist producing countries and called for screening on refugees from those countries, was forwarded by Valy Marochko, Executive Director of the London Cross Cultural Lerner Centre (CCLC). It was requested that the Co-chairs of the LMLIP respond to the article. Although the Terms of Reference mandates this Council to advocate on behalf of the immigrant, we have not yet developed parameters on how to respond. It is important that this has been brought to our attention as it has made us think about how to respond to the media in the future. It was also indicated that there needs to be a strategy from a sub-council that addresses such issues and based on this, the parameters will be developed. ACTION: Elisabeth will respond to CCLC.

Next Steps:

ACTION: Staff will work to identify overlap and connections between Sub-councils.

ACTION: Chairs are encouraged to make amendments based on discussion today and send to

Huda by Monday, May 3.

Next meeting: Wednesday, May 5, 2010 4:30p.m. -7:30 p.m. Kinsmen Recreation Centre, Room 2b Regrets to [email protected]



Central Council

May 5, 2010 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Kinsmen Recreation Centre, Room 2 20 Granville Street

AGENDA


2. Co-Chair Remarks



5. Outcomes Discussion

6. Strategic Plan: Review of Priority Setting Templates

7. Wrap-up and Next meeting: June 15, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. at Kinsmen Recreation Centre


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London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership Central Council Wednesday, May 5, 2010 Present: Dev Sainani, Debbie Turnbull, Naeem Qureshi, Jean-Pierre Cantin, Mohamed Al-Adeimi, Salah Badawi, Lauren Touchant, Henri Boyi, Vicki Esses, Asma Ahmed, German Gutierrez, Trevor Hinds, Elisabeth White, Kelly McManus, Huda Hussein and Nina Hamou. Regrets: Munira Ahmed, Anne Langille and Jo-Ann Hutchinson. SUMMARY Welcome and Introductions Kelly welcomed and thanked members of the Central Council for their commitment. This meeting is the last meeting before the May 26, Community Strategy meeting. Minutes Minutes of the April 27meeting were reviewed and approved by the Central Council. Welcoming Communities Initiative (WCI) Vicki reported that Elisabeth White has agreed to be on the WCI Executive Committee as one of three community representatives. Eighty people attended the WCI Action Research on LIPs event on April 30-May 1. There was representation from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and other levels of government. Discussions surrounded the different strategies for developing a strategic plan, ways to link the LIPs, sharing strategic plans, collaborating, moving forward and obtaining data. It brought the various LIPs together, advocating together for change that we want to see and sharing ideas and best practices. Overall the event was very successful. The department of Clinical Psychology is holding their annual spring retreat to talk about mental health services. One of the goals is to begin the process of forging a community-university partnership focused on the provision of accessible and effective mental health service to London's immigrant populations. Strategic Plan Discussion Huda highlighted that three updated templates were submitted from Inclusion & Civic Engagement, Justice & Protection Services and Settlement. The group was asked to note the following changes to the priorities summary chart:

• Inclusion & Civic Engagement have added action verbs to their priorities • Justice and Protection Services have included examples of what is meant by justice and

protection services.

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Review of Priority Setting Template of all Sub-councils It was suggested that we add the sub-themes under each priority wherever applicable. Action: Staff will update the template to reflect the suggestion This summary is a high-level snap-shot of the priorities, like what you might see in an executive summary. There is a shared agreement that wording and language will be changed to be consistent. Outcomes /Vision (Diagram) Staff and Co-chairs met last Friday to put together the following documents based on the discussion of the last meeting of the Central Council.

1. Outcomes Template reflecting the following outcomes: • LMLIP Council Terms of Reference • Staff and Co-Chairs analysis of Central Council discussion • CIC Modernized Approach Outcomes

CIC sets the national agenda for immigration. As a community in our planning, we need to be aware of the national agenda and how our plan will fit into the broader piece.

2. Overarching themes identified by this council from the last meeting: Overarching themes were linked with outcome statements. These general themes included specific examples of what, how, where and who. It illustrates the big picture for strategic plan.

ACTION: Examples should be general and should avoid specifics unless it is an advocacy piece. Brief overview of what the strategic plan may look like:

• Purpose • Background (including principles) • Vision • Big Picture

- Supports and services for immigrants - Supports for service providers - Communication and access to information - Host community - Systemic Barriers (Advocacy)

• Sub-themes - Education - Employment - Health & wellbeing - Inclusion & civic engagement - Justice & protection services - Settlement

Comments about the diagram:

• The word community should be reflected in the diagram • Arrows should link the Sub-councils together to show the connectedness among them,

for example the connection between Education and Employment and Inclusion & Civic Engagement and Health & Wellbeing may be reflected by the arrows.

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• The LMLIP Council Model was shared with the group which shows that Sub-councils are interconnected.

Action: Project team will review diagram. Overarching Themes & Outcomes Draft Document a. Supports and Services: Types of services/supports

• In the outcome statement, the use of the phrase “our community” may be interpreted negatively. The Council endorsed this statement, “Immigrants have increased access to supports and services to ensure that they can successfully participate in the community.”

• Advocate for a broadened scope of immigrant supports (specific program names are removed)

• Neighbourhood life course is unclear. Needs to be reworded • Outreach workers needed for counseling, not specific to addiction supports • Supports to navigate the system should be included

How are they delivered?

• Coordinated case management system. This statement was endorsed to include “client-centered”

• Neighbourhood and community based activities. The word “activities” was substituted with “supports and services”

• “Involvement of the immigrant in developing strategies and implementing programs” was included

How are they coordinated? • Build/foster “community” and inter-immigrant networks. The word “community” was

added • Statement regarding shared space and recreation needs to be clarified

b. Communication and Access to Information Outcome statement was changed to “Immigrants have increased access to information about available services, cultural expectations and on how to successfully use the system in the community.”

How/where

• London and Middlesex Immigration Portal as the central tool for communication “where

possible”. “Where possible” was included

• “Media literacy” was changed to say “Media strategy” to counter negative depiction of

immigrants”

• “Community locations” such as tourist centres, bus stops, schools. “Community

locations” was added

• Provide culturally sensitive information in various languages and promote language

simplification for information on community services and supports

• Develop common” issue specific” information package(s). “Issue specific”

was added and package was pluralized

• Advertise service and supports through media was moved from “what” to “how”

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What • “Awareness about other cultures” replaced “cultural content”

c. Host Community

The outcome statement was changed to say “London and Middlesex residents, are exposed, educated and engaged in positive interaction with diverse traditions, behaviours and experiences of all the cultures that make up the community and understand the benefits of diversity and are more accepting.” Specific stakeholders were moved from outcome statement. Who/Stakeholders

• The following stake holders were added: media, business, community residents, government, service providers and volunteer organizations

What • “Systemic discrimination” was added

How

• Diversity training was added

d. Supports for Service Providers • The outcome statement was changed to Service providers and volunteers have increased

access to sustainable funding, information, diversity training and resources to ensure timely, effective and responsive services for immigrants.

Collaboration

• Collaboration across sectors and with cultural groups should be added. (or is it host

community)

Tools (add resources)

• Information and training for frontline workers

Stakeholder Groups

• Remove specific stakeholders

e. Advocacy/ Systemic Change • It was discussed whether the word advocacy was the best one to use because of the

negative connotations it might have. It was agreed to keep it as it is one of the principles in our Terms of Reference and it was also indicated that CIC uses the word. May wish to use an endnote to explain what is meant by advocacy.

Government Eligibility Credentials • “Universal access to employment” was changed to “equal access to employment” • Advocate to “extend and expand” existing CIC eligibility criteria to include refugees and

new Canadian citizens • “Advocate for fast and affordable process of” recognizing foreign credentials” • “Advocate for increased funding for educational support and language development

services to assist immigrant students with special needs.”

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Barriers to Services • It was suggested that these barriers are both barriers to accessing services and to

inclusion • Language, costs and awareness of available services were added

Co-Chair Remarks

Elisabeth reported that 28 LIPs out of 31 LIPs were present at the WCI Action Research on LIPs

meeting. Mary Barr, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for CIC made several key

announcements:

• There will be seamless transition into the implementation of the strategic plan. Funding will continue to support meetings, planning and implementation.

• LIP councils are not decision making bodies about spending CIC funds. • CIC and AMO are working to develop tools and resources for the LIPs. Both the Provincial

and Federal governments are committed to working with municipalities. • LIPs are a mechanism, not a service.

CIC must approve the final strategic plan before phase two can begin. Elisabeth also informed Council that recommendations from the Sub-councils and the WCI Characteristics of a Welcoming Community report, are being reviewed at the City of London, as part of a review of housing in the City. Next steps:

It is important that the Central Council attend the Community Strategy Meeting to be

recognized for all their hard work. Chairs may be asked to present their groups’ work to the

community. Debbie and Henri have sent in their regrets. Co-chairs are encouraged to present in

the absence of the Chairs.

Sub-council Chairs will be asked to forward the final notes for their area to their participants for

reference in advance of May 26.

ACTION: Staff will share updated materials and ask for input via email.

ACTION: Chairs of Sub-councils to meet at 11:00 a.m. prior to meeting on May 26 to touch

base. Staff will arrange via e-mail.

Next meeting: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 1:00 pm. - 4:30 p.m. London Convention Centre RSVP to [email protected]



Central Council

June 15, 2010 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Kinsmen Recreation Centre 20 Granville Street

AGENDA

1. Welcome & Introductions 2. Approval of May 5 Meeting Minutes

3. Co-Chair Remarks 4. Feedback from May 26 Community Consultation

5. Strategic Plan Next Steps

6. Protocol for Media Response

7. Discussion on Chair and Vice Chair Roles 8. Wrap-up and Next Meeting


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London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership Central Council Tuesday, June 15, 2010 Present: Elisabeth White, Kelly McManus, Anne Langille, Debbie Turnbull, Dev Sainani, German

Gutierrez, Jean-Pierre Cantin, Mohamed Al-Adeimi, Salah Badawi, Lauren Touchant, Huda

Hussein, and Nina Hamou.

Regrets: Vicki Esses, Trevor Hinds, Naeem Qureshi, Asma Ahmed, Munira Ahmed and Jo-Ann

Hutchison.

SUMMARY

Welcome & Introductions

Elisabeth thanked the Central Council for their hard work that led to successful May 26

community consultation.

Approval of Meeting Minutes

Minutes for Tuesday, May 5 were approved.

Co-chair remarks

Vicki Esses is unable to attend as she is sitting on the Welcoming Communities Initiative (WCI)

governing council in Hamilton. This is the second time LIPs and WCI meet to discuss continuing

partnerships.

Kelly recommended a sub-committee to discuss what is needed in terms of staffing for Phase

Two of the LMLIP. The goal is to meet once and have recommendations prepared by July 16.

ACTION: Jean-Pierre, German and Anne volunteered to review LMLIP staffing needs for Phase

Two.

Feedback from May 26 Community Consultations

The Council approved the May 26 Community Strategy Meeting Report. Some members felt that

had the whole Priority Setting Templates been shared, questions could have been better

answered. On the other hand, some participants expressed that the presented information was

too heavy.

The work presented in the sub-council templates will be part of the strategic plan. It was agreed

that it may be up to each chair to make participants feel that their contributions have been well

received.

Community feedback was reviewed. Staff will incorporate the following into the Strategic Plan:

• Need to put more emphasis on the issue of racism/discrimination.

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• Create an introductory statement on how this document is intended to be used. Include

the role of the LMLIP Council and sub-councils in supporting implementation.

• Additional context will be included regarding how LMLIP connects to other projects (i.e.,

Immigration Portal, Child and Youth Network).

• .

ACTION: Staff to draft and send electronically.

LMLIP will not be writing any letters of support to Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC).

However, organizations are encouraged to reference the LMLIP Strategic Plan.

Strategic Plan Next Steps

Our goal is to deliver the draft Strategic Plan to CIC by June 30, 2010. A copy of the Strategic

Plan will be sent to the Council in draft format. The final will be complete by July 20, 2010. Hard

copies of the final strategic plan will be brought to our August 17 meeting for distribution.

The Central Council felt there was not enough time for sub-councils to prioritize action items.

This next meeting of the sub-councils will be a transition meeting to celebrate, and set the tone

for implementation in the Fall.

An email will be drafted to sub-councils outlining next steps for implementation. There will be a

common agenda outlining LMLIP role, feedback and next steps.

ACTION: Communication and dissemination plan will be shared with Central Council on August

17.

Discussion on Chair and Vice Chair role

The issue of roles was raised in the community’s feedback. The terms “chair” and “co-chair”

have been used in the Terms of Reference and during the selection process at the sub-council

level. The actual intent was “chair” and “vice-chair”. It was agreed that the sub-councils will be

informed on this issue. It will also be reiterated that the Chair is the group’s representative at

the Central Council and the vice-chair will be delegated to the Central Council’s meeting only in

the absence of the chair.

ACTION: The term “co-chair” will be changed to “vice-chair” in the Terms of Reference.

Protocol for Media Response

Discussion on the public presence for the LIP Council in our community was deferred to next

meeting. It was suggested that a group be set up to look into existing policies, including

OCASI’s policy for responding to the media.

ACTION: Dev and Lauren volunteered to work with staff to look at existing protocols and bring

a recommended LMLIP approach to Council on August 17.

Wrap-up and Next Meeting

Next Meeting: Tuesday, August 17, 2010

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Regrets to: [email protected]


Central Council

August 17, 2010 4:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.


AGENDA


2. Co-Chair Remarks

3. Approval of June 15 Meeting Minutes

4. Review of Final Strategic Plan and Council Role in Implementation 5. Draft Dissemination & Communication Plan

6. Draft Protocol for Media Response

7. Call for Proposals

8. Other Business

9. Next Steps

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London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership Central Council Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Present: Elisabeth White, Kelly McManus, Anne Langille, Jean-Pierre Cantin, Lauren Touchant,

Salah Badawi, Jean-Claude Kilubi, Mohamed Al-Adeimi, Naeem Qureshi, Victoria Esses, Debbie

Turnbull, George Perez, German Gutierrez, Asma Ahmed, Henri Boyi, Huda Hussein and Nina

Hamou.

Regrets: Dev Sainani, Jo-Ann Hutchinson, Trevor Hinds.

SUMMARY

Co-chair remarks

Elisabeth announced that funding was approved by CIC for Phase 2 of the LMLIP until March 31,

2011.

Meeting Minutes

Meeting minutes for June 15, 2010 were approved.

Review of Final Strategic Plan and Role of Central Council in Implementation

Following distribution of the final Immigrant Community Strategic Plan, the Council discussed

its role in implementation. Discussion focused on the overarching themes and led to prioritizing

action for the Council. Kelly asked the group to brainstorm the pieces we can show success on.

While some members felt advocacy was the most important focus, others felt that something

with a direct impact, such as, supports and services for immigrants should be considered first.

Following discussion, the group came to the conclusion that it is reasonable to focus on two

priorities in the first year of the implementation: supports and services for immigrants and

communication.

The Council concluded that it is important to build credibility before advocating, and that

advocacy will be interwoven into the general work of the Council and the high level themes.

Kelly encouraged the group to be thinking about recommended actions for moving forward, to

be discussed at the next meeting.

Chairs are encouraged to lead Sub-councils through a similar exercise in order to prioritize

actions for the first year of implementation.

Draft Dissemination and Communication Plan

Huda provided an overview on the key thoughts behind communication plan. She requested

group to send their feedback, suggestions or corrections electronically. Dates for dissemination

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of the plan will be determined after the Community and Protective Services Committee (CAPC)

presentation. Huda also highlighted that the ethno-cultural groups listed are the ones that have

been active with the LMLIP. She welcomed the Council to submit any other contacts to be

included in the Communication Plan.

Elisabeth provided two possible dates for presentations to the CAPC, September 27 or October

18. Elisabeth will prepare the report and welcomed all Council members to attend. Elisabeth will

inform the group once a date for presentation is confirmed. The Plan will become public after

the CAPC presentation. Middlesex County will also receive the Plan which will be presented to

the County Council.

Draft Protocol for Media Response

After reviewing the Media Protocol drafted by Dev, the Council felt that it is extensive and

covers a lot of ground.

Corrections to be made:

- Contact should always be the chairs (2.2)

- Council members must discuss any arrangements with media with co-chairs. (2.3)

The Council agreed that all comments need to be made in relation to the stated

recommendations and actions in the Strategic Plan.

The Council agreed that it is not our position yet to take a stance against anything

discriminatory in the media; however, the question: “Should Council correct any misinformation

in the media?” was left for members to think about and send any feedback to Project Staff

electronically.

Call for Proposals

Inter-Action the new Multiculturalism Grants and Contribution Program was brought forth to the

table.

As of now, our role is to make sure Sub-councils are aware of this. The role of the Council is to

facilitate and enable.

In the future some possible directions discussed:

- Project staff to assist community partners in writing their proposals.

- Provide information we have to agencies, use LIP project staff to support proposals with

resources and information

- Council to facilitate and assist agencies to apply for funding

The way we respond to resources as a community is an evolution around systems thinking.

Council will not apply for any funds as this is clearly indicated in our Terms of Reference but

will facilitate the process. LMLIP will not compete with other organizations and will be driven by

the needs of the community.

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Next Steps

Next meeting dates are confirmed for: September 28, October 26, and November 30, 2010.

Details to follow.

ACTION: Members to email feedback regarding documents shared to project staff.

Regrets to [email protected]


Central Council

September 28, 2010 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Kiwanis Senior Centre 78 Riverside Drive

AGENDA

1. Welcome & Introductions 2. Co-Chair Remarks

a. Update on CPSC presentation 3. Approval of August 17 Meeting Minutes

4. Sub-council Chair Updates a. Report back on September meetings b. Supports Required

5. Priorities of Central Council

6. Editorial Board Meetings with Ethno-cultural Media 7. Wrap-up and Next Meeting: October 26, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m., Kiwanis Senior

Centre


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London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership Central Council Tuesday, September 28, 2010 Present: Kelly McManus, Elisabeth White, Mohamed Al-Adeimi, Trevor Hinds, Henri Boyi, Anne

Langille, Jean-Pierre Cantin, Lauren Touchant, Debbie Turnbull, Nancy Wanigatunga, Jean-Claude

Kilubi, Huda Hussein and Nina Hamou.

Regrets: Jo-Ann Hutchison, Asma Ahmed, Salah Badawi, German Gutierrez, Dev Sainani, Vicki

Esses.

Welcome and Introductions

Elisabeth welcomed Nancy Wanigatunga, Regional Program Advisor from Citizenship and

Immigration Canada. Her role is oversight to all LIPs in Toronto and outside Toronto.

Co-Chair Remarks

Elisabeth thanked the members of the Council for their attendance at the Community and

Protection Services Committee (CPSC) meeting. The Strategic Plan was presented by Elisabeth,

Kelly, Salah and Lauren. Co-Chairs were invited by CPSC to present to the new City Council early

in January 2011. The Plan will also be presented by Sally Bennett to the County Council.

The Plan was unanimously endorsed by CPSC and will go to City Council on Monday, October 4

for endorsement. When the City Council endorses the plan, it will assist in keeping the issue of

immigration on local planning initiatives.

Key things from the CPSC meeting:

• Invitation to present to London Police Services Board on October 15.

• Questions around connection to Immigration Portal.

• Comments related to importance of immigration to economic, cultural and social future.

• Concern that midsized communities are not getting fair share of funding.

• How are we getting the message out and how will we get it to the “unconverted”?

• How has the LIP considered retaining graduates/creating job opportunities in London?

In response to some of the questions raised, Ross Fair, General Manager, Community Services,

City of London, pointed out that the mark of a good community planning process is when your

questions are answered in the document itself. He also indicated that Employment Sub-council

is looking into the question raised on retention and job opportunities.

Elisabeth reported that she had received a call from a group doing a Canada-Ontario

Immigration Agreement (COIA) evaluation. They would like to meet with staff and review

records sometime in October. They also would like to do a focus group with immigrants

involved in the LIP. Elisabeth suggested that the Central Council Immigrant Representatives to

be involved.

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On September 17, there was a meeting in Ottawa initiated by Welcoming Communities Initiative

(WCI). Various LIPs including Hamilton, Ottawa, North Bay and London were involved.

Elisabeth has been invited to sit on the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO)

Immigration Committee.

Elisabeth reported that the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration (MCI) is doing an event for

all Immigration Portals in London next week.

No additions or recommendations were communicated to staff regarding the Media Protocol.

ACTION: Another note regarding input to media protocol will be sent out. George and German

will be invited to discuss ethno-cultural media.

Meeting Minutes

Meeting minutes for August 17, 2010 were approved.

Sub-council Chair Reports

Chairs were asked to report back on the next steps of their respective Sub-councils.

Health and Wellbeing Sub-council- Debbie Turnbull, Chair

Debbie met with the Political and War Trauma Committee to share information about the LIP

and discuss possible roles once we get into implementation of strategies.

Possible directions for the Health and Wellbeing Sub-council include:

• Free and accessible neighborhood services

• Provide culturally sensitive information specific to health and mental health

• Screening and assessment tools

The Sub-council will meet again on October 12, 2010.

Justice & Protection Services Sub-council- Trevor Hinds, Chair

In the first year of implementation, the Sub-council will focus on the following strategies:

• Adopt or create lesson plans to be used in ESL and LINC classes which discuss issues related to the Criminal Justice System

• Improve awareness of legal rights and responsibilities in Canada through ongoing outreach to immigrants and applying culturally sound approaches

• Continue to explore successes of partnership models such as the relationship between Changing Ways and the Muslim Resource Centre, where discretion related to cultural implications is considered.

Tasks have been assigned. One member is exploring funding opportunities for outreach.

Education Sub-council- Jean-Pierre Cantin, Chair

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Collaboration with the Employment Sub-council was stressed. Six sub-committees were formed

to work on the following strategies:

1. Work on exploring alternative programs such as the Family English as a Second Language programs currently in place in Ottawa.

2. Look into planning coordination among service providers at Language Instruction for New Canadians levels to streamline existing spots.

3. Map out Literacy services, English as a Second Language services and English as a

Second Language literacy services, opportunities across the city.

4. Address the issue of providing multilingual information on the responsibility of both the

parents and the school around the necessity of parents interacting with schools by

attending school events/meetings and by joining the school council/parent

organization.

5. Develop a position paper to the Ontario College of Teachers and Ministry of Education recommending that ‘Teaching in Multilingual Classrooms’ be designated a mandatory requirement for certification in Ontario.

6. Address the strategy of “Promote cross-cultural peer mentoring: SWIS / parents/ teachers/ through the School Council and events”.

The Sub-council has decided to work on projects that do not require immediate funding for the

time being.

Education and Employment are working together to bridge strategies.

Settlement Sub-council- Mohamed Al-Adeimi, Chair

Strategies the Sub-council has decided to focus on within first year of implementation are:

• Develop a common information package, across the city and county, with all information related to services in a culturally and linguistically relevant way which includes brochures in different languages that explain settlement agencies and all the services they provide (such as the Settlement Workers in Schools, the Library Settlement Partnership etc.).

• Enhance and strengthen communication among service providers.

A sub-committee has been struck to look at collecting and developing an information package.

At the next meeting Sub-council will look at how service providers could come together.

The issue of providing information to points of entries was addressed. Jean-Claude provided the

contact for someone at Pearson Airport who can display settlement information.

Currently the Sub-council is only looking at creating information packages in English.

Information will be concise, overarching and specific to the City of London.

Inclusion & Civic Engagement Sub-council - Nina Hamou on behalf of German Gutierrez, Chair

The group has agreed to focus on two strategies for the first year of implementation:

• Promote neighbourhood based activities and events that will provide opportunities for immigrants to engage and participate in their new community.

• Create a multilayered community based Communication Strategy.

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The Sub-council recognizes that both priorities are interconnected. We will begin tackling the

first priority by gathering existing resources and leveraging existing information sharing tools

in order to promote events in the community. The Sub-council will meet in October to split up

into task based committees.

Employment Sub-council- Huda Hussein on behalf of Anne Langille

Three sub-committees were struck to work on the following strategies:

• A common assessment (CA) process that will respect the needs of the client (building on the existing common assessment process of the Employment Service Council of London and Middlesex).

• Appropriate information and timely referral will be undertaken in accordance with the Privacy Act.

• Employer Connection –bridging systems– a sub-committee from both the Employment and Education Sub-council will work on labor demands and designing educational programs.

Each group has 3-4 volunteers and will be meeting in the month of October. Reports to be submitted to the Employment Sub-council and these in turn will be submitted to the Central Council. Central Council Priorities

Following discussion, a few key themes arose across the Sub-council next steps:

• Communication strategy/ bridging systems

• Access to Information

• Neighborhoods

Kelly brought the groups attention to the priorities identified by the Council at the last meeting,

they are:

1. Supports and Services for Immigrants 2. Communication.

A Communication Strategy is needed to bridge common themes and key priorities. It should

include:

• what we want the average Londoner to know about immigrants and immigrations (benefits). Should show: why immigration matters, dispel myths about immigration and what individuals can do.

• a coordinating piece– groups or individuals should be able to opt out of information to receive and not receive;

• service providers and immigrants; • combination of advocacy and information; • how to move forward maximizing our efforts; • specific and general actions.

Example: How can LIPs collectively work towards common advocacy pieces?

Elisabeth indicated that WCI is holding a WCI-LIP gathering late in October. This discussion can

help inform the agenda of what we need going forward as a system of LIPs.

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The Co-Chairs encouraged Sub-council Chairs to think about the connections between Sub-

councils and how to better bridge systems.

ACTION: Project staff will come back with a Draft Communication Strategy for the Council to

weigh in on.

Next Steps and Wrap Up

ACTION: Elisabeth and Kelly will bring forward the connecting themes including the connection

to the Strengthening Neighbourhoods Strategy (SNS).

A sub-committee was established to work on the Communication Strategy:

• Jean-Pierre Cantin

• Lauren Touchant

• Dev Sainani

ACTION: Staff will share the Communication Plan used for distribution of Strategic Plan.

Anne asked about the role or affiliation with LMIEC. It was reiterated that LMLIP will build upon

what exists in our community.

Next meeting:

Given that a number of members cannot make it on Tuesday evenings, we will look into other

times. However, our next meeting is currently scheduled for October 26, 2010.


Central Council

October 26, 2010 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Kiwanis Senior Centre 78 Riverside Drive

AGENDA

1. Welcome & Introductions 2. Co-Chair Remarks

3. Connecting to other Community Strategies

a. Child and Youth Network, Lynne Livingstone b. Strengthening Neighbourhoods Strategy

4. Approval of September 28 Meeting Minutes 5. Sub-council Chair Updates

a. Inclusion & Civic Engagement Sub-council b. Health & Wellbeing Sub-council

6. WCI Research Update

7. Business from our last Council meeting a. Cross Sub-council Priorities b. Communications

• Media Protocol • Ethno-cultural Media Strategy • Multi-media Plan

8. Wrap-up and Next Meeting: November 30, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 pm., Kinsmen

Recreation Centre Room 2a.


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London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership Central Council Tuesday, October 26, 2010 Present: Kelly McManus, Elisabeth White, Asma Ahmed, Lauren Touchant, Henri Boyi, Anne Langille, Salah Badawi, Debbie Turnbull, Vicki Esses, Dev Sainani, Jean-Pierre Cantin, Naeem Qureshi, and Nina Hamou. Regrets: German Gutierrez, Mohamed Al-Adeimi, George Perez, Trevor Hinds, Munira Ahmed, Huda Hussein. Guests: Lynne Livingstone, Cheryl Smith. Welcome and Introductions Elisabeth thanked members for their attendance and introduced Lynne Livingstone, Director of Neighbourhood and Children Services and Child and Youth Network (CYN) Chair; and Cheryl Smith, Manager, Community Partnerships & Funding. Elisabeth stressed that it is important for us to be aware of other initiatives that connect to the LMLIP Strategic Plan. Child and Youth Network (CYN) - Lynne Livingstone, Chair Lynne gave an overview of the CYN, which includes 140 community agencies, 340 individuals. All organizations around the table have been asked to make in kind contributions (financial or staff time). The priorities of the CYN are: 1. End Poverty 2. Make Literacy a Way of Life 3. Lead the Nation in Increasing Healthy Eating and Healthy Physical Activity 4. Create a Family-Centred Service System (System Reengineering)

Some activities of the CYN include:

• The Real Issue campaign which tells the story of poverty in London and what individuals can do. It aims to change the conversation on poverty in our community.

• Working with Neighbourhood Resource Centres to thinking differently about how we provide basic services and how we can better coordinate and collaborate.

• London’s System Reengineering Group is working to change the way services are currently delivered and move beyond the coordination of services to the integration of services. The focus is now on a system that is child and family centered.

Lynne asked the Council to think about the following:

• How CYN can be more inclusive in our work? • Whether there are shared priorities. • How can we avoid duplicating and partner?

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Lynne extended an invitation to the Council to join future CYN discussions. More information about CYN can be found at: www.london.ca/cyn London Strengthening Neighbourhoods Strategy (SNS) - Cheryl Smith SNS worked with residents in neighbourhoods to develop strategies and to understand what makes a strong neighbourhood. SNS is not about making the most disadvantaged better. SNS will impact every neighbourhood and contribute to the quality of life for everyone. The Strategy was developed by asking the following:

• What is the definition of a strong neighbourhood? • What makes up a strong neighbourhood? • Where do the neighbourhoods stand? • How do we move forward city wide?

Cheryl also mentioned that Janice Walters from SNS sits on the Inclusion & Civic Engagement Sub-council. Cheryl will touch base with Mohamed to discuss connection between SNS and Settlement strategies. Cheryl extended an invitation to the Semi-annual December 9 SNS meeting. Details will be sent by email. More information on SNS can be found at: www.london.ca/neighbourhoods Co-chair Remarks Kelly thanked Cheryl and Lynne for their presentations. Kelly encouraged the Council to think about the commonalities in the LMLIP Strategic Plan and those of the CYN and SNS. One thing which LMLIP has in common with CYN and SNS is that we are not tackling easy questions. Because we are working in the same direction, it is important to clearly lay out the synergies. Updates:

• Kelly and Elisabeth presented to London Police Services Board. Superintendent John Pare will be joining work of LMLIP.

• Canada Ontario Immigration Agreement (COIA) Evaluation took place on October 21 and 22. London was the only LIP selected for evaluation. Council immigrant representatives participated in the evaluation focus group.

• Elisabeth and Vicki will be in Ottawa this week for the second Welcoming Communities Initiative (WCI) and LIP gathering.

• Elisabeth will join the immigration work group for the Association of Municipalities in Ontario.

Meeting Minutes

Meeting minutes for September 28, 2010 were approved.

Welcoming Communities Initiative (WCI) Research update Vicki provided the Council with an update on WCI and key projects underway.

• At the WCI-LIP meetings in Ottawa there will be a series of workshops which include, sharing best practices and how to move from a strategic plan to implementation.

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• WCI is interviewing opinion leaders to explore the attitude in the community regarding immigrants.

• A study is currently looking at ethnic and visible minorities running at the municipal level. A follow up with the candidates is underway.

• Looking at data on all university applications and the decision patterns of immigrants. • Small study at Western and CultureWorks is looking at why international students are coming and their expectations.

• WCI is doing some work for Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) focusing on how to measure outcomes.

• Huda will be speaking at the Migration & Ethnic Relations Colloquium on November 4. She will be sharing information about the LMLIP as well as potential research topics and projects for students to look into.

• WCI has finished evaluating CIC’s settlement information. • WCI and CCLC have put in a joint proposal to hire journalists to be imbedded in community organizations to write stories for the media. The aim is to develop a system where we will be tracking information in the media and being proactive.

Sub-council Chair Updates Health & Wellbeing, Debbie Turnbull, Chair The group met once in October. There are now five working groups addressing different goal areas. They include: 1. Mental Health and Addiction (Increase Immigrant awareness and knowledge about addiction and mental health)

2. Develop and implement Cultural Sensitivity training to service providers 3. Developing screening and assessment tools to assist early identification of learning disabilities in immigrant children and also for identifying mental health and addiction issues to be used by mental and physical health care providers.

4. Provide supports for families in a holistic manner- Increase Immigrant awareness of available resources

5. Create free accessible designated community centres and areas within neighbourhood where people of all ages can meet and spend quality time

Each group will designate a lead and flow minutes to Huda. The working groups will report back at the Sub-council meeting. Inclusion & Civic Engagement, Nina Hamou on behalf of German Gutierrez, Chair The Sub-council expanded on the identified strategy related to neighbourhoods. The group is looking at best practices to engaging immigrants and connecting with the Strengthening Neighourhoods Strategy. Priorities of Sub-councils Huda is away, so an update on the chart with the information from Health & Wellbeing and Inclusion & Civic Engagement will be done and sent out by email to members. Jean-Pierre reported that he met with Anne and they have established a way for Education and Employment to connect. All Sub-councils will be meeting in November.

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Items from last meeting: a. Media Protocol The Media Protocol was circulated by email for further review. Jean-Pierre provided some input and recommended edits which will be circulated by email. Overall the Sub-council felt the Media Protocol was very comprehensive and well written. Thank you to Dev for his leadership in developing. b. Ethno-cultural Media Strategy Project Team met with German and George as our media experts. German and George provided information on the most established ethno-cultural media outlets available in the region and how to approach them. They also highlighted the importance of bringing people as connectors to their own communities as part of these meetings. ACTION: Project staff will create a media list and begin to engage ethno-cultural media. c. Multimedia Communication Plan

Kelly touched briefly on the Multimedia Communication Plan (referred to in our last meeting as the Communication Plan). Huda is currently working on finalizing the Plan which will be shared in advance of our next meeting. Kelly announced that we have money in our budget to hire a communication consultant. Salah shared the idea of having a radio station to communicate ideas and messages in various languages as part of the multimedia plan. It was mentioned that North Bay region has launched a similar initiative. ACTION: An advisory working group will be established to advise the communication consultant will be established from the Central Council’s members who expressed their interest in working on the Multimedia Communication Plan. ACTION: Salah to research what that radio station would look like and report back to Council. Wrap up and next meeting The question of sharing the Central Council’s minutes in advance of Sub-councils’ meeting with sub-councils’ members was raised. Given the timing of the Central Council’s meetings and that minutes need to be approved first by the Central Council, this will have to be done case by case. If requested by the Chairs the minutes will be approved by email. Our next meeting is scheduled for November 30. The time will be confirmed since the 5-7 time slot no longer works for some members. ACTION: Project staff will send out a few options for meeting times. The group also expressed that they preferred to confirm one meeting space.

Please send regrets to [email protected].


Central Council

November 30, 2010 3:30 - 5:30 pm


AGENDA


2. Co-Chair Remarks

3. Approval of October 26 Meeting Minutes

4. WCI Update

5. Business from our last Council meeting a. Draft Cross Sub-council Priorities

b. Draft Multi-media Communications Plan

c. Shared Priorities- LMLIP/ Child & Youth Network/ Strengthening

Neighbourhoods Strategy

6. Wrap-up and Next Meeting: Monday, January 31, 5:00 - 7:00 pm.


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London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership Central Council Meeting November 30, 2010 Present: Elisabeth White, Kelly McManus, Vicki Esses, Mohamed Al-Adeimi, Lauren Touchant, Jo-Ann Hutchinson, German Gutierrez, Salah Badawi, Jean-Pierre Cantin, Anne Langille, Henri Boyi, Huda Hussein and Nina Hamou. Regrets: Debbie Turnbull, Asma Ahmadi, Dev Sainani, Trevor Hinds, Naeem Qureshi. Guest: Juan Carrera, Community Planning Specialist, Beginnings & Transitions, United Way of London & Middlesex Welcome and Introductions Kelly introduced Juan Carrera has joined United Way with a focus on their impact area, Beginnings and Transitions. Co-Chair Remarks Elisabeth shared that we will likely be offered the opportunity to extend the work of the LMLIP to March 2012; however, negotiations with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) have not yet begun. On November 22, the Co-Chairs and project staff met with the following senior system partners in our community:

• Tim Deslippe, London District Catholic School Board • Laura Elliot, Thames Valley District School Board • Suzanna Hubbard Krimmer, London Public Library • Philip Hunt, London Economic Development Corporation • Dr. Graham Pollett, Middlesex London Health Unit

Regrets were received from London Police Services and the South West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).

The purpose of the meeting was to learn how each organization is addressing immigration and immigrant issues. Kelly noted that it was interesting to learn how organizations are supporting immigrants in our community. Servicing immigrants is part of their core service delivery model and not an add-on. A similar meeting with funders will be held in the new year now that we know the needs of the Sub-councils. Elisabeth, Lauren, Salah, and Huda presented to the City’s Social and Community Services staff on November 23, 2010. Staff appreciated hearing from the immigrant representatives and would like to engage them in future discussions. Approval of Meeting Minutes

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Meeting minutes of October 26, 2010 were approved. Welcoming Communities Initiative (WCI) Vicki reported that she, along with Elisabeth, attended the WCI/LIP Conference in Ottawa on October 28-30. Conference included workshops about implementation and communication. Presentations from the Conference and LIP Strategic Plans are posted on www.welcomingcommunities.ca. There are now 34 LIPs in Ontario and 9 applications are being negotiated. From last Central Council meeting a. Sub-council Priorities Huda provided an overview on the Sub-Council Priorities. The chart was updated to include two additional priorities under the Health & Wellbeing Sub-council. Anne and Jean-Pierre shared that volunteers from the Education and Employment Sub-councils will meet in December to discuss how to move forward collaboratively. b. Draft Multimedia Communication Plan Huda presented the Draft Multimedia Communication Plan. The Plan is one of the overarching

themes that emerged from the six Sub-councils’ recommendations. It aims to create awareness

about cultures among the host and the immigrant communities and highlight the impact of

immigration in London and Middlesex. This Plan is about engaging stakeholders, residents,

government and service providers that provide services for immigrants in the six areas of focus

of the LMLIP and volunteer organizations in the conversation.

The following members volunteered to serve on the Advisory Group to work with the Project

Coordinator and the Social Marketer on developing the Multimedia Plan:

• German Gutierrez • Jean-Pierre Cantin • Lauren Touchant • Salah Badawi • George Perez (confirmed his participation via email) • Dev Sainani

Kelly recommended that Juan Carerra join the Advisory Group. Elisabeth indicated that Jill Tansley will be asked to join the discussion. Huda advised that there may be opportunities for a phase two LIP-wide Plan. ACTION: The Advisory Group will meet to review the Project Parameters that Huda will prepare. Comments on the Multimedia Plan The group suggested the following:

• internet tools be included in the delivery method • objectives to include awareness of cultures for immigrants as well • provide some guidelines on the project parameters and define ownership of the project

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• Journalism students from The University of Western Ontario and Fanshawe may like to take some of this on as an internship

• consider the role of international students and how to reach out to them • The website: www.media-awareness.ca may be reviewed • Salah is researching the feasibility of a radio show or station. He hopes to share it when

the Advisory Group meets.

Vicki indicated that WCI is working with Cross Cultural Learner Centre (CCLC) on a funding application to have journalists working in settlement agencies. This may be a good fit with the Multi-media Plan if it is approved. Kelly clarified that the Sub-councils will be accountable in terms of generation of content. The role of the Social Marketer will be to take our content and make it real. c. Shared Priorities- LMLIP/ Child & Youth Network (CYN)/ Strengthening

Neighbourhoods Strategy(SNS) At our meeting on October 26, Lynne Livingstone, Chair of CYN and Cheryl Smith, SNS, encouraged us to look into all the plans, see where we connect and how we can move forward together. Huda provided the group with a draft document outlining the common themes among the three initiatives. The intent of this document is to begin to identify areas of collaboration and partnership. While the LMLIP is focused on the immigrant population, the Child and Youth Agenda and the London Strengthening Neighbourhoods Strategy Resident Task Force are focused on all residents in London. This is an overview of the shared themes which emerged from each of the three plans:

• Neighbourhood based activities • Employment and Training • Housing • Targeted Programs • Literacy & English as a Second Language Supports • Healthy Living • Childcare Supports • Voluntarism and Political Engagement • Access to information • Collaboration

ACTION: Project team will schedule a meeting with Lynne, Cheryl and Sub-council Chairs after

the Holidays.

Other Comments

Going back to the Multi-media Plan, Henri encouraged everyone to keep employers in mind. We

should pay attention to diversity and sensitivity training.

Jean-Pierre echoed Henri’s concern. Jean-Pierre shared that the Western Region Training Board

also highlighted sensitivity training as a priority.

Anne shared that CCLC and WIL are engaged in a joint initiative to match professionals with

immigrants. A successful milestone has been achieved with 100 mentor matches made.

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ACTION: An invitation will be made to London Middlesex Immigrant Employment Council to

present to the Central Council.

Vicki brought up a concern that we do not want to take on more than we can handle at the Sub-

council level.

ACTION: Sub-council Chairs will report back on what has been accomplished so far at the next

Central Council meeting.

Next meeting: Monday, January 31, 5:00-7:00 pm

Regrets to: [email protected]


Central Council AGENDA 1. - London,...

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