Policy Research Symposium, Victoria BC, March 1, 2010
Welcoming Communities and Long-Term Integration

Dr. Robert Annis is the former Director of Brandon University’s Rural Development Institute (1999-2009) and is currently a Research Affiliate of the Rural Development Institute and of the Prairie Metropolis Centre. Robert has published numerous reports and documents concerning important social and economic issues facing rural Canadians. Most recently he has been engaged in studies relating to rural immigration in Manitoba. Dr. Annis volunteers his expertise to numerous community organizations. He served as a National Selection Committee Member for the Canadian government’s Broadband for Rural and Northern Development Program, and currently serves as a board member for Community Futures Cowichan Valley, the Canadian Rural Restructuring Foundation, and as a fellow of the International Comparative Rural Policy Studies Consortium.

Jean McRae, B.A., M.B.A., is the Executive Director of the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria. Jean has worked in the field of immigrant services since 1982. She has worked in BC and Central America with immigrants and refugees. Prior to taking on the role of Executive Director, she worked as an ESL teacher, employment counselor, settlement worker and manager of various services. She is co-chair of the National Working Group on Small Centre Strategies for the Attraction and Retention of Immigrants. Jean serves on several provincial and national boards and committees concerned with issues of immigrant integration including: the Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance (CISSA), the BC Settlement and Adaptation Joint Training and Conference Committees, the Community Social Services Employers Association, the Federal Provincial Advisory Committee on Immigration in the BC Yukon Region. and is past president of the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC.

Ben Pollard is Director of the Program Design and Evaluation Unit of the Immigration and WelcomeBC Branch, which oversees settlement and immigration programs in British Columbia. He has held several positions within the BC Public Service over the past 10 years, and has been a consultant for clients such as Health Canada and BC Stats. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Public Administration at the University of Victoria, focusing on evidence-based horizontal decision- making in complex social policy areas.

Terre Flower has been the Diversity Program Manager for the Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society for 11 years. She creates innovative strategies and programs to involve people and institutions in diversity and anti-racism initiatives. In 2004, with her community partners, she created the Safe Harbour program. This program asked businesses and organizations to commit to serving everyone fairly and equitably, to be a safe harbour for anyone targeted by racism and hate. By displaying the Safe Harbour logo, businesses and employees demonstrate their commitment to fulfil these commitments. This program is active across Canada with more than 650 Safe Harbour locations.

Paula Carr has worked in the community services sector and with municipal departments supporting locally based organizations for over 30 years in Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Paula has been with the Collingwood Neighbourhood House as its Executive Director for the last 20 years. Collingwood Neighbourhood House has grown substantially over this period, providing a broad range of multicultural services, and community building initiatives. The award winning film "Where Strangers Become Neighbours" features strategies of Collingwood which build on local capacities, assist immigrants in their settlement and practice values of collaboration, relationship building, diversity and respect. The Collingwood Neighbourhood House is a founding member of the Building Welcoming and Inclusive Neighbourhood Initiative.

Koyali Burman immigrated to Canada from India in 2004. She graduated with a Masters Degree in Adult Education from UBC in 2007. For the past two years Koyali has been working as a community developer at South Vancouver Neighbourhood House coordinating several community projects including the Building Welcoming & Inclusive Neighbourhoods Project. Most recently, Koyali has been exploring the use of dialogue circles as a medium for neighbours of all backgrounds to make connections and develop a sense of belonging.

Rachel Blaney has been working towards improving community linkages in Campbell River for the last 6 years. Having completed a degree in First Nation Studies, Rachel worked with a local First Nation band to provide employment services and community relationships. It was while working with the band that Rachel began to explore the complexity dynamics of community inclusion and exclusion in regards to race and culture. After nearly 3 years working with Campbell River and Area Multicultural and Immigrant Association (CRMISA), Rachel's understanding of the barriers for diverse populations has increased. Rachel continues to work towards providing opportunities for a more inclusive and diverse Campbell River through various projects, the most recent being the Campbell River Community Accord on Attracting and Retaining Immigrants.

Dr. Julie Drolet is Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work and Human Service at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC. Julie is particularly interested in the shifting context of Canadian and international social policies and the social construction of women's lived experiences. She is actively involved with Metropolis BC as a Senior Researcher and a member of the WICWP regional committee in the Interior of BC.

Christine Fagan has been involved in the field of Multicultural Education for over 18 years. Teaching English as a Second Language to immigrant and newcomer adults opened her eyes and heart to the complexity of the immigrant community. Currently she is the Executive Director of Cowichan Intercultural Society which serves the Cowichan Region. In that role her work and passion is to provide support for both immigrant newcomers and those who necessarily must shift to redefine “home”. Creative engagement of community is integral to this work.

Linda Hill, founder of Inclusive Leadership, has a BA in Child and Youth Care, a Masters in Education, a PhD in Psychology and over 30 years of community-based diversity education experience in Canada and internationally. She developed the Building Bridges diversity education process that is the foundation of Cowichan Intercultural Society's Inclusive Leadership Adventures. Linda has applied the Building Bridges steps to facilitate hundreds of projects aimed at building more welcoming and inclusive communities. She is the author of two books Discovering Connections (1998), Connecting Kids (2001) and many articles, manuals and curriculum guides.

Lori Wilkinson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Manitoba. Her current research projects examine the life course transitions of immigrant and refugee youth, the employment experiences of immigrant women and newcomer youth, and the health and well-being of immigrant children. She is currently the Secretary/Treasurer of the Canadian Ethnic Studies Association and Economic and Labour Market Domain Leader for the Prairie Metropolis Centre.

Krishna Pendakur - I have spent the last 15 years studying statistical and econometric issues relating to the measurement of economic discrimination, inequality and poverty. A group of papers (jointly written with Ravi Pendakur) established that visible minorities and Aboriginal people face great disparity in Canadian labour markets, and that this disparity shows no sign of eroding over time. A more recent group of our papers has shown that Aboriginal people face staggeringly poor labour market outcomes. A different set of papers (with other co-authors) establishes that prices, especially shelter prices, matter a lot when we are trying to measure poverty and inequality, and lays out a set of methodologies for measuring these things in the face of price variation. A final group of papers lays out the econometric theory for measuring the cost- of-living and the cost-of-children. Taken together, these papers have advanced our understanding of economic inequality across groups in our society, and our understanding of how to adequately measure things.