|
Office of the Provincial Advocate
Bill proclaims May 14th annual Children and Youth in Care Day!
Last week, members of the Ontario Legislature voted unanimously to declare May 14th - the day "My REAL Life Book" was released in 2012 - Children and Youth in Care Day
|
|
|
Welcome to the D&D issue containing recaps of the programs for the March 22 Standing Committees meetings and Ontario Council updates.
|
|
|
March 22, 2014
Standing Committees
|
|
|
Joint Morning Session Hosted by the Legislation Committee
Theme: Improving Access and Coordination of Mental Health Services for Children, Youth and Families through Service Collaboratives.
Speakers: Dr. Alexia Jaouich, Senior Project Maager, JoinaVink, Regional Implementation Coordinator
Dr. Alexia Jaouich, the Senior Project Manager, introduced the topic with an overview session. She was joined by Josina Vink, a Regional Implementation Coordinator working in North York and the City of York.
The Service Collaboratives initiative was mandated by one of the recommendations of Open Minds, Healthy Minds: Ontario's Comprehensive Mental Health and Addictions Strategy. To date, eighteen Service Collaboratives have been established throughout Ontario to support coordinated services for children, youth and adults. The first three years have focused on children, youth and families. Services for children and youth fall under the responsibility of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services. In reality, services can only be effective with the support and involvement of many agencies and ministries, such as the schools, justice programs and mental health services. Examples of transitions are: hospital to community setting; youth to adult services; justice system to health. In all, six ministries are involved in caring for our children and youth, so coordination is challenging yet essential. Four of the collaboratives are Justice co-ordinated. Each collaborative could have anywhere from 25 to over 80 members which include people with 'lived experience' of the system.
Throughout the morning session, we learned about the process of identifying and choosing a gap, looking for existing evidence-informed practices that can be adapted, developing new practices, evaluating the process and interventions, and moving on to making a sustainable change. From regions in Ontario, examples and strategies for gaps were highlighted. In Thunder Bay, a problematic transition is Aboriginal children moving from schooling on the reserve to high school off reserve. Supports are being developed. In Waterloo Wellington, a serious gap exists in the transition from youth to adult mental health services. The "TIP" model, Transition into Independence Process, an evidence based model, is being implemented. In London, an App called Mind Your Mind has been adapted for youth to help them be safe, deal with issues, and avoid if possible returning to Emergency Services. It is hoped that common intervention components will be developed for use across Ontario. Dr. Jaouich emphasized other important needs essential in communities to support the interventions: supportive housing, in-patient beds, transportation, to name a few.
Sheila Lacroix
Legislation Chair
|
|
Legislation Committee
Topic: Improving Access and Coordination of Mental Health Services for Children, Youth and Families through Service Collaboratives--continuing the discussion
Speakers: Luciana Rodrigues, and Jill Shakespeare, Regional Implementation Coordinators
We were joined by Luciana Rodrigues, and Jill Shakespeare, both Regional Implementation Coordinators, who provided a more detailed look into the workings of two specific service collaboratives.
Jill works in Peel, one of the first service collaboratives established. Unfortunately, the Peel police are not trained to deal with mental health episodes. This leaves families without a productive way of getting help. Many players, including faith leaders, are working on strategies to help families avoid calling 911. Once the police or CAS are involved, there can be serious repercussions for the family; youth could easily become criminalized and end up with a record, not to mention not receiving the type of help needed. There are cultural and language barriers in this community with a large immigrant population. The collaborative is also working on engaging police management to provide training to front line officers. The collaborative is also covering the cost to have community leaders take the course Mental Health First Aid. Luciana works with the Scarborough - East York Service Collaborative, one of the newer collaboratives. The children and youth in this area experience poverty, homelessness, unemployment, unstable families, stigma and many are from new immigrant families. The team, consulting with youth and families and other stakeholders, started by identifying the barriers to receiving mental health and addiction treatment, visualized to be like a steep mountain. Currently there are only two services for youth, which are walk-in. Barriers such as mistrust, stigma, wait lists, cultural insensitivity, poverty, and a lack of transit, keep young people away from these services.
Summary
Each collaborative is unique but the plan is that common interventions across Ontario that have been evaluated and proven to work, will be disseminated to work in tandem with local needs and practices. When the role of CAMH as facilitator is over, the goal is to have service linkages, strong networks, and shared good practices in place for sustainability. Learning about the collaboratives, www.servicecollaboratives.ca, should be very helpful for our local advocacy efforts.
Sheila Lacroix
Legislation Chair
|
|
Status of Women &
Human Rights Committee
Regrettably, our scheduled speaker for the afternoon session of the Status of Women and Human Rights, Charlene Catchpole, cancelled at the last moment due to medical problems. Rather than send everyone off to other sessions, we held a round table discussion of club advocacy activities which filled the entire session, and was a welcome opportunity for clubs to share and learn from one another.
I sense a real desire to share and exchange ideas, and I recommend that during our relaxed lunch, we all make an effort to connect with members from other clubs. Too often (and I'm guilty of this as well) we end up sitting with members from our home club, and the opportunity to exchange ideas and learn from other clubs is lost. We will continue to have opportunities for sharing club advocacy activities at the beginning of our afternoon sessions.
During the afternoon session, Beth Haynes raised the point that in the past, the program for these sessions was driven by the members, and that it was not always necessary to have a formal speaker. On surveying the attendees, I noted that most - though not all - prefer a speaker. On consulting with Brenda Robertson, President of OC, it was decided that we will continue to organize speakers for the three standing committee meetings, and of course, for the one plenary session per year that we are responsible for. The programs for each of the standing committees is decided by the OC Advocacy Chairs committee, which works to minimize redundancy and ensure that we are able to address current Ontario issues of interest to the committee. However, I encourage you to contact me with ideas and suggested speakers so that I may bring them forward in our program discussions over the summer.
During our meeting, I mentioned that due to personal circumstances, I was seeking a co-chair for the coming term. Linda Gill, CFUW Hamilton, stepped up and I look forward to working with Linda starting this summer.
Respectfully submitted,
Cheryl Ambrose
Chair, Status of Women and Human Rights Standing Committee
Ontario Council, CFUW
|
Education
Topic: "Cultural Identity Formation and Holistic Support for Learning: An Overview of the Gidayaamin Aboriginal Women's Certificate Program at Brock University".
Speaker: Jennifer Brant
Jennifer Brant is a member of the Mohawk, Turtle Clan and the mother of two boys. She is a doctoral student in the Joint Ph.D Program in Educational Studies at Brock University. Her current research interests include: Aboriginal women in education, cultural identity formation, and the advancement of ethical space for Indigenous scholarship.
Jennifer is employed at the Tecumseh Centre for Aboriginal Research and Education at Brock University as the Program Coordinator for the Gidayaamin Aboriginal Women's Certificate Program. Informed by her MEd research, this program includes curriculum that focuses on decolonizing and reclaiming cultural identities, along with program outcomes that encourage balance between traditional and academic worldviews. Jennifer sits on the Aboriginal Education Council of Brock University and is a member of the Aboriginal Research Advisory Circle of the Research Ethics Board at Brock University.
Arleen Midriak
Myrtle Greve
Co-chairs, Education
2014 - 2015
Standing Committees Meetings
September 27, 2014
January 24, 2015
March 14, 2015
|
|
ONTARIO COUNCIL ADVOCACY
Ontario Council Letters:
- Letter sent to Ontario Securities Commission consultations on Women in the Corporate Boardroom
|
|
Advocacy and Action in Ontario Clubs
| |
|
Integrated Public Transportation
CFUW Stratford will again be represented in discussions with VIA Rail on Wednesday, April 2nd, in Toronto. The Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW):Stratford has been invited to send a delegation to share their concerns with the National Director of Transportation, Mr. Dino Trubiano. Attending will be Sheila Clarke, Louise McColl and Holly Barkman from CFUW, and Mayor Dan Mathieson, drawing attention to the needs of Stratford. Because Stratford is also a part of the SW Ontario network, Serge Lavoie, President of the Southwest Economic Alliance, and Mabel Higgins representing the Sarnia advocacy group RAIL have been invited to accompany CFUW and the Mayor.
Discussions will centre around the need for a network of integrated transportation options available to Stratford and to SW Ontario. People who do not have access to a car, who do not wish to drive or cannot drive, are finding that their transportation options are becoming increasingly limited. The loss of the Stratford early morning train (6:15) has had economic, health, education and social impacts that are of serious concern to our City. The delegation will address transportation needs, scope, and positive directions for the future.
The invitation was extended following a meeting of a CFUW: Stratford delegation with Mr.Gary Schellenberger, MP, at which time a request was made for a meeting with VIA. CFUW: Stratford has been working on this project for over a year, preparing a presentation for groups and maintaining a webpage (gettingthere.ca) with information, research and action items. The club is working with SWEA, the United Way, the City of Stratford, and the Ontario Council of CFUW.
Sign our petition at: www.change.org
Sheila Clarke
CFUW Stratford
|
|
A Great Partnership - CFUW Milton and the Coldest Night of the Year Walk
The night of February 22 was a great night for Milton's Coldest Night of the Year Walk and for CFUW Milton and District. The Coldest Night of the Year Walk is a national event held this year in 64 cities and towns across Canada. Milton's walk was hosted by Milton Transitional Housing and supported their work with people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Teams of walkers did a 2K, 5K or 10K evening walk along sidewalks in Milton from 5 pm to 8 pm, ending with a free soup and/or chili meal with hot drinks and dessert. It was a great, fun event that raised much needed funds for a very worthy cause and the involvement of CFUW members was key to its success. There was a very festive atmosphere throughout the Walk, even among those hardy walkers who had just completed 10K on icy sidewalks.
The local club became involved because of a remark made at a meeting last fall by the president of CFUW Milton, Susan Snooks. She spoke about the importance of CFUW becoming involved with local organizations to benefit the community. As a member of the club and of Milton Transitional Housing, it immediately sprang to mind that the Coldest Night Walk would be a great way to do that. It fit so well with CFUW's purpose to support girls & women and particularly the national initiative to prevent and respond to violence against women. Homelessness makes women more vulnerable to violence. Also, we had previously heard a speaker from Halton Womens' Place, a local shelter, speak about the difficulty abused women have in finding suitable housing when they leave the shelter. Many end up staying in the shelter and using spaces longer than necessary, or even returning to unsafe situations because of this.
Our Advocacy Committee, led by Bonna Richmond, proposed that our club support the Walk and at our Jan. 9th meeting, we voted unanimously in favour. And involved we were! Almost half of our members participated in some way: as part of the CFUW team, by volunteering at the event or providing food. Two of our members made bright blue scarves with the CFUW logo that made us instantly identifiable. A great way to be visible working to help our community.
The Milton Walk was a great success! We far surpassed our original goal of $25, 000 and raised over $40, 000. There were 31 teams and 169 walkers, a great response from the Milton community. Our Milton and District Team, led by Toni-Lynn Hannon raised an impressive $1, 895. Other club members made a great contribution by working at the Registration and Welcome Desks, greeting walkers, and making chili, soup and desserts. The walk organizers were very appreciative of our support. They said that the event would not have been as successful without us. The money raised will be well used by Milton Transitional Housing to provide support and counseling to their participants to enable them to rebuild their lives.
The members of CFUW Milton and District are looking forward to next year's Coldest Night of the Year Walk. It's a great opportunity to work toward our goals, make a difference in our own community, raise our visibility and have fun too!
|
|
Sheila Lacroix Receives Agnes Macphail Award
On Monday, March 24, the 21st Annual Agnes Macphail Award was presented to our own Sheila Lacroix (Chair, Ontario Council Legislation Standing Committee). It was an impressive ceremony replete with music from the 66 member strong VOCA Chorus, short speeches by two local girls who are winners of the annual Agnes Macphail public speaking competition for grades 6,7, and 8, and a keynote address by Jane Pitfield. Judie Arrowood, who nominated Sheila, presented the first testimonial of Sheila's many accomplishments, especially through CFUW. She was followed by Graham Lute of Leaside United Church. Sheila's acceptance speech was humble and sincere, and included much that is good about CFUW Leaside-East York and the Ontario Council. Sheila chose our Scholarship Trust and the East York Women's Shelter to share the $2,000 monetary award. CFUW Leaside-East York president Janice Mitchell, accepted graciously with a nice promotion for our CFUW club. Caroline Rabbat, Director, Girls & Family, Programs and Shelter & Clinical Services for the YWCA accepted for the Shelter. A number of CFUW L-EY members were present as additional witnesses. Sheila also received presentations from the City of Toronto, the Province and the Federal Government. She enjoyed the opportunity to speak with the many politicians present and it was wonderful to see Sheila appreciated for her contributions both locally and globally.
|
|
Woman of Excellence 2014,
Evelyn Picketts
CFUW Brantford member Evelyn Picketts takes 'think globally, act locally' to a new height. On a global level, Evelyn has made pilgrimages to Home of Hope Orphanage in Malawi for nearly a decade. Raising over $80,000 Evelyn focuses on helping orphans grow to independence. Presentations at RTO and Rotary have inspired Brantford organizations and individuals to raise money for the orphanage, knit bonnets and blankets for the babies, donate clothing for the children, school supplies for the school, and even join her there. Locally, Evelyn inspires friends to serve breakfasts at Heritage United every month. She buys dinner tickets for people at the food bank to join her at church suppers. Evelyn hosts dinners for the elderly, and for 44 years has opened her home to carol-singing. Evelyn has inspired small groups - monthly book, bridge, and breakfast gatherings that are wonderful community builders. Many people have opened their doors to find muffins or bouquets of flowers - her random acts of kindness. She truly is a Woman of Excellence.
|
CFUW Cornwall Member Alyssa Blais Joins Canadian Women's Foundation Leadership Institute
Alyssa Blais has been selected to participate in the Canadian Women's Foundation Leadership Institute. The tap on the shoulder is a recogn ition that Ms. Blais is considered by the Foundation to be an emerging female leader in Canada. As Executive Director of Cornwall's largest hunger relief organization, The Agapè Centre, Alyssa has dedicated herself to reducing the impact poverty has on the community. Prior to accepting her position at The Agapè Centre, Alyssa applied her business sense as a Small Business Manager at Cornwall Economic Development. She is also a director of Aultsville Theatre, resolutions chair for the Cornwall Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), a member of the Culture Plan Committee for the City of Cornwall, and a member of Team Cornwall. |
|
2014 - 2015
Standing Committees Meetings
September 27, 2013
January 24, 2014
March 14, 2014
|
|
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS
CFUW Ontario Council AGM 2014
The Times They Are A' Changin'
Hosted By CFUW Barrie & District
May 9-10, 2014
Monte Carlo Inn--Barrie Suites
CFUW Annual General Meeting
Our Emerging Mosaic
Hosted By CFUW Kitchener-Waterloo
June 19-22, 2014
Waterloo Inn
accommodations also available at Wilfrid Laurier University
|
|
|
|
|
