• Richard Shillington, Infometrica Limited (click for bio)

  Dr. Richard Shillington has been engaged in the quantitative analysis of health, social and economic policies for 30 years. His research has covered many fields, including poverty, income security, tax policy, program evaluation, and human rights.

  He has worked for NGOs, the private sector, provincial and federal government departments, as well as commissions studying the economy, unemployment insurance, human rights and tax policy. He appears regularly before committees of the House of Commons and the Senate, and he is a commentator on issues of social policy, taxation, and human rights for television, radio and newspapers.
  
  Dr. Shillington has also done international work on social indicators for the Social Policy Development Centre in Pakistan and on monitoring human rights for the South Africa Human Rights Commission. He has post-graduate degrees in statistics from the University of Waterloo.

• Michael Creek, Voice from the Street (click for bio)

   Michael Creek is currently the coordinator of the Toronto Speakers Bureau, Voices from the Street, where he learned research, public policy and public speaking. He is one of three Ontario directors on the board of the National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO), and he is also a board member of the Gerstein Crisis Centre.

  Mr. Creek is a survivor. He is a psychiatric consumer/survivor and he has overcome cancer, physical and mental abuse, homelessness, and poverty. He has witnessed first-hand how poverty oppresses people and communities. Describing it as an “unwanted companion,” Michael says poverty has caused him more physical and emotional pain than any other illness he has suffered. He advocates by speaking out about the disastrous consequences of poverty on the health and well-being of those in his community.

   

• Ruth MacDonald, School of Social Work, Memorial University, and Lone Mothers Building Social Inclusion Project (click for bio)

  Ruth MacDonald is the proud mother of three sons aged 5, 8, and 20. She is also very proud to be a board member of the National Anti-Poverty Organization representing Newfoundland and Labrador.

  Raised in a middle-class family, Ruth worked for 10 years as a sales associate with national and provincial jewellery outlets. Then her life took some unwelcome turns. She suffered serious health problems and after ending an abusive relationship, she and her sons had to rely on social assistance and low-income housing for several years. Rather than give up, she enrolled in courses to help gain employment and she developed support networks to encourage goal-setting, informed decision-making, and improve her self-esteem.

  In 2005, she found employment as a Research Assistant in the School of Social Work at Memorial University, working on a five-year project known as Lone Mothers Building Social Inclusion. Done in conjunction with Wilfred Laurier University, the project explored the impact of welfare and labour market changes on the lives of lone mothers in Vancouver, Toronto and St. John’s, and developed more effective policy and service interventions. In addition to conducting interviews with lone mothers in the community, Ruth helped develop presentations on the research project, and she has made presentations at the Provincial Social Work Association Conference and the Social Work National Conference.

  In 2007, Ruth joined Vibrant Communities St. John’s, working as the Neighbourhood and Citizen Voice Engagement Facilitator. This collaborative initiative involves community partners from all sectors committed to poverty reduction. Her main responsibilities involve networking to build spirit, capacity, and engagement for collaborative action, especially in those neighbourhoods without established community centers; and to facilitate the Citizen’s Voice Forum, which brings together people living with low incomes for learning, sharing and opportunities to impact policy and decision-making.

• Shirley Soleil, talking about disability and poverty (click for bio)

  Shirley Soleil is from the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. She chose her last name because it described her sunny personality and a character as trustworthy as the rising sun.

  Shirley was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia while working on her Masters of Education degree. By 2002, when additional diagnoses of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Environmental Sensitivities were made, she was forced to leave work.

  Realizing that there were others facing these health issues, Shirley established a support group in 1992 which began with six members. Today, it has grown into a national organization − Invisible Disabilities Association of Canada − and includes people suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Environmental Sensitivities, and Fibromyalgia. Many people in the organization also suffer from low incomes, disabilities, and a lack of family or community supports.

  In 1997, Shirley’s efforts were formally recognized when she received the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award. She continues to help others regain control of their lives and fight for their basic human rights, and her articles have been published in The Nova Scotia Policy Review.

  Shirley is currently setting up a home-based business. It will provide counselling, tutoring, teaching, writing and facilitation services to fulfill her passion for helping people.

   

2:00 - 3:30 pm: Change your world, one workshop at a time.

Want updates on promising practices and interventions?
Interested in the latest in policy research?
Not quite sure how to use technology to tell your story?

More than 40 separate workshop sessions are being developed with presenters who combine the practical with the passionate

(Forum organizers reserve the right to make changes in workshop times)

Concurrent Sessions

IP-20: Poverty Reduction in First Nations Communities

Description / Presenters to follow

OP-31: Poverty and Provisioning Women’s Work in the Household and Community

This workshop examines the dynamics of poverty and provisioning, specifically the work that women do for themselves and for others with whom they have relationships of responsibility – in the household and in the community. These activities include paid and unpaid employment, care work, sustaining health, ensuring safety, making claims and volunteering in community organizations. Low-income urban mothers face a variety of challenges in pursuing provisioning strategies, including the constraints of existing state policies. At the same time collective provisioning in community settings includes activities which can serve women’s strategic needs, such as challenging current definitions of the worthy citizen and bringing privatized need back into the public arena.

Presenters: Stephanie Baker Collins (York University), Judy Cerny (University of Toronto)

OP-51: Gender, Violence and Homelessness

This workshop foregrounds the intersections between domestic violence, poverty and homelessness. It presents an overview of these issues drawing on research from across Canada, and explores then policies and conditions necessary to reduce the likelihood that women who have experienced abuse will cycle into a spiral of domestic violence, poverty and homelessness.

Presenters: Ann Decter (YMCA Canada), Jan Reimer (Alberta Council of Women's Shelters), Leslie Tutty (University of Calgary)

IP-01: Partnership for Neighbourhood Revitalization

The workshop will discuss the evolution of the funding partnership between the City of Montreal, the Public Health Department and Centraide du Grand Montreal – l’Initiative montréalaise de soutien au développement social local – that created 30 «tables de concertation» (Collaborative Neighbourhood Discussion Tables) across the city. It will also look at the innovative Revitalisation urbaine intégrée (RUI) program; this program led to the creation of a network, le Collectif Quartier, who created a web-based neighbourhood Atlas and supported community partners and their community development work at the local level.

Presenters: Patrice Allard, Geneviève Giasson (Ville de Montréal)

OP-32: Families First

This workshop explores the complexities, processes and progress of implementing a major community based longitudinal research study in Edmonton. Participants will be challenged to reflect upon their own experiences working with low-income families and within partnerships and its applicability, relevance and potential contribution to a major research initiative.

Presenters : Perdita Baier (Families First), Barbara Dart (United Way of the Alberta Capital Region), Martin Garber-Conrad ( Edmonton Community Foundation)

OP-47: Co-learning in a Homeless Shelter: A Foundation for Change

Over four years, nursing and social work students and faculty from the University of Calgary and residents and staff of a city shelter have been learning with, from, and about each other. Their goal has been to improve the lives of those around them. This interactive workshop brings students, residents and faculty together to show this how partnership has built a momentum for social change.

Presenters: Gayle Rutherford, Christine Walsh, Michael Decker, Alyssa Cruz, Irfan Sabir, Clayton Buck, Shirley Aarrestad (University of Calgary)

IP-07: Taking the Lead • Poverty Reduction Plans from Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Ontario

What started in Quebec more than a decade ago is now spreading across the country. This session with officials from Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario and Quebec maps the initiatives and explores the successes and obstacles.

Presenters: John Broadhead (Government of Ontario); Aisling Gogan (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador); Marie-Renée Roy (Government of Quebec)

IP-12: The Power of Social Media

New media has had a profound effect on change-making – whether it is electing a president, mobilizing around an issue, or expanding social networks. But for many of us, the prospect of this kind of work seems daunting and out of reach. This interactive session features the work of National Film Board’s Citizen Shift Unit as well as a demonstration project involving the Métis community.

Presenters: Colleen Ayoup, Reisa Levine (CITIZENShift); Athena Lothian (Métis Nation of Alberta), Yvonne Poitras Pratt (University of Calgary)

OP-48: Weaving Relationships to Strengthen First Nation Communities

In spite of Canada’s high standard of living and significant government investments in First Nations communities, reserve communities continue to struggle with inadequate housing, poor health and education levels, high unemployment and poverty. In an effort to break the pattern of dependence on government programs, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, in partnership with Health Canada and the BC Ministry of Aboriginal Renewal and Reconciliation, has launched an initiative that creates relationships between communities and a diverse set of external partners in three communities on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. This workshop will describe the way in which the initiative has been developed in the three communities. Participants will experience a simulation of the decision-making process partners engage in – a process designed to build meaningful dialogue and trusting relationships.

Presenters: Mark Selman (Simon Fraser University), Michelle Corfield (Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council), Kathy Langlois and Yousuf Ali (First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Health Canada)

OP-40: Making Common Cause and Effecting Real Change: Advocating for Poverty Reduction in Alberta and British Columbia

Advocates are pushing hard for comprehensive and effective poverty reduction strategies in Alberta and British Columbia. In this workshop, participants will hear about these efforts – how organizers are working to advance poverty reduction in the face of political and ideological resistance, build diverse coalitions and incorporate into poverty reduction strategies key mechanisms to ensure that real change happens and that goals are achieved.

Presenters : John Kolkman (Edmonton Social Planning Council), Bill Moore-Kilgannon (Public Interest Alberta), Margot Young (University of British Columbia), Seth Klein (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, BC Office)

OP-50: The Impact of Poverty and Social Exclusions on First Nations Children and Youth In Quebec

In Quebec, a child from a First Nation has a much greater chance of being placed by, or taken into the care of, the Direction de la Protection de la Jeunesse than non-Aboriginal children. Initiatives to promote greater individual and collective well-being and responsibility are an important challenge for organizations working in First Nations communities. This session will present and discuss the strategies that the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission has developed to successfully mobilize community members around issues of concern to them such as poverty and child well-being.

Presenters: Carl Simard, Patrick Bacon (Commission de la santé et des services sociaux des Premières Nations du Québec et du Labrador)

IP-21: Innovation and Experiences with Public Sector and Community Collaboration the Urban Aboriginal Strategy (UAS) Experience

Canada's continued prosperity depends on ensuring that Aboriginal peoples can create their own futures as fully participating citizens. Learn how the UAS collaborative design works across organizational boundaries to bring together numerous partners to understand current circumstances, collectively determine the need for change and clearly define future possibilities with the urban Aboriginal community. This participatory government-community strategy is yielding dividends for communities by maximizing resources and making significant in-roads in areas that have proven resistant to the efforts of individual governments.

Presenters: Allan MacDonald, Cynthia Foreman (Office of the Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians) Susan Lewis (Winnipeg Anti-Poverty Council)

IP-19: Social Inclusion and Mental Health

This workshop will focus on national and international attempts to improve social inclusion for people living with mental illness. Steve Lurie will speak about the role of the Mental Health Commission of Canada and Fran Silvestri will describe the work of IIMHL with first nations and developing countries.

Presenters: Steve Lurie (Canadian Mental Health Association – Toronto Branch), Fran Silvestri (International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership)

OP-46: Racialization of Poverty

In 2000, Michael Ornstein released a report which highlighted the growing racialization of poverty in Toronto. In this workshop, participants will hear about a similar study conducted in Calgary in 2008, looking at the impacts of rapid immigration, labour market demands and an economic boom on racialized Calgarians and the larger Calgary population. The workshop asks what is behind the economic marginalization of new immigrants and established racialized communities as graphically revealed in the disconnect between professional credentials, paid work, and earned income in Calgary and across Canada. Join our panelists to discuss the implications for policy and programs, and specific strategies for poverty reduction.

Presenters: Luann Good Gingrich (York University), Valerie Pruegger (City of Calgary), Uzma Shakir (Atkinson Charitable Foundation)

OP-33: Part of the Solution: Community Economic Development and Poverty Reduction

Community Economic Development (CED) organizations are uniquely positioned to assist individuals and their communities lift themselves out of poverty through effective community-based approaches. This workshop looks at several concrete examples from across the country of community economic development and poverty reduction in action and describes some of the ways we can measure those impacts .

Presenter: Paul Chamberlain (Canadian Community Economic Development Network); Michele Cherot (Greater Trail Community Skills Centre), Marty Donkervoort (Inner City Development Inc. Winnipeg)

OP-39: Canadian Income Policies after the Crash of 2008

Canada's income security system provides critical support to Canadians living in low income. At the same time, numerous reports have documented its serious shortcomings, particularly with regard to programs targeting working-age adults. The current recession has only served to exacerbate existing problems. The three presenters in this session discuss the shortcomings of programs such as EI, but also present alternatives for strengthening the efficacy and reach of Canada's social safety net in the 21st century.

Presenters: Grant Bishop (TD Bank), Michael Oliphant (Daily Bread Food Bank), John Stapleton (Metcalf Fellow)

• Cindy Blackstock, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada (click for bio)

  Cindy Blackstock, M.M., PhD (candidate) is Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada (www.fncaringsociety.com).

  A member of the Gitksan Nation, she has worked in the field of child and family services for over 20 years. Key interests include exploring the over-representation of Aboriginal children in child welfare care, structural drivers of child maltreatment in First Nations communities, human rights, and the role of the voluntary sector in expanding the range of culturally and community-based responses to child maltreatment.

  Ms. Blackstock’s current professional interests include serving as co-convener of the Indigenous Working Group for the United Nations NGO Working Group on the Rights of the Child, as co-director of the Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare, and as a board member of the National Aboriginal Youth Organization.

• Uzma Shakir, Economic Justice Fellowship, Atkinson Charitable Foundation (click for bio)

  Uzma Shakir is a community-based researcher, advocate, and activist. In 2007, she was awarded the Atkinson Economic Justice Fellowship from the Atkinson Charitable Foundation. Ms. Shakir is the former Executive Director of the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA) and the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO). She has also worked as a teacher, journalist and researcher.

  Ms. Shakir has a BA in English Literature from Karachi University in Pakistan and a BA in International Relations from Sussex University in England. She received her Masters Degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

  Ms. Shakir’s work focuses on issues of race, the erosion of civil liberties, and critical multiculturalism. Her experiences include advocating, organizing, facilitating, writing and speaking on such issues as the racialization of poverty; violence against immigrant and racialized women; youth and civic engagement; hate crimes; racial profiling; access to professions and trades; precarious and contingent work; legal education; rights and obligations; building innovative coalitions with diverse ethno-racial communities; and the production and documentation of alternative practice and knowledge.

  Ms. Shakir also serves on a number of boards. She is the Immediate Past President of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI), a
  board member of the HR Council (sector council for the voluntary sector), an Editorial Board Member for the Non-Profit Quarterly in Boston, Massachusetts, and a Member of the Attorney General’s Hate Crime Community Working Group.
  In 2003, she received the Jane Jacob’s Award.

• Tim Draimin, Social Innovation Generation Program, Causeway Initiative on Social Finance (click for bio)

  Tim Draimin is the Executive Director of Social Innovation Generation (SiG). A partnership between The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation,Toronto's MaRS Discovery District, the University of Waterloo and Vancouver's PLAN Institute, SiG unleashes the creativity of social innovators to tackle the profound social and environmental challenges facing Canadians. Tim was the founding CEO of the Tides Canada Foundation and Sage Centre and continues with Tides Canada as a Senior Fellow. 
  
  He has over 30 years experience in the charitable and non-profit sector in both Canada and abroad, including: the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, CUSO, and the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice.
  
  Mr. Draimin has also served as a consultant on such issues as non-profit management, resource diversification, and non-profit/private sector partnerships for domestic and international clients including the Canadian Public Health Association, the Ford Foundation, Synergos Institute, International Development Research Centre, and the Steelworkers Humanity Fund.  
  
  He is coordinating a collaborative initiative, Causeway Social Finance, among several foundations, Carleton University, SiG, and the Canadian Co-operative Association on "social finance," which aims to accelerate the expansion of social finance capital for public interest initiatives and organizations. Mr. Draimin also sits on the Advisory Board of the International Studies Program at the University of Toronto.

• Michel Venne, Institut du Nouveau Monde (click for bio)

  Michel Venne is Executive Director and founder of the Institut du Nouveau Monde − a non-partisan organization dedicated to the renewal of ideas and the animation of public debates in Québec (www.inm.qc.ca/index.php). He is also Co-Director of L’annuaire du Québec, published by Éditions Fides.

  In 2007, the Government of Quebec named him Vice-President of the (Castonguay) Task Force on the Funding of the Health System. From 1990 to 2006, he worked for the Montreal daily, Le Devoir, as parliamentary correspondant at the National Assembly, as a news editor, and columnist. The quality of his work was recognized with the Judith-Jasmin Award (print media section) in 1993 and the Michener Award in 1997. He is the author of several works, in particular Souverainistes, que faire? and Les Porteurs de liberté, and he had edited several collective works including 100 idées citoyennes pour un Québec en santé; Jeunes et engagés; Justice, démocratie et prospérité – L’avenir du modèle québécois; and Penser la nation québécoise.

• Ginger Grant, Simon Fraser University

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