Dear friends and readers of CMCCF
I am excited to return to our monthly conversations after a bit of a hiatus! Although in terms of sheer timeline, this blog break has not been that long, to me it feels like much time has passed, and I have indeed missed you all…
Much water seems to have flowed under the bridge in the last couple of months, and I should tell you that the CMCCF team has indeed been working hard! Perhaps I should bring you up to speed with our activities so we’re all on the same page.
“You don’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been”
The above quote has been variously attributed, including to Maya Angelou. I first heard it from Justice Murray Sinclair at a conference plenary session. Both in terms of an individual’s life-journey, and from the perspective of an organization’s growth trajectory, I’ve always believed that it is important to know where we’re coming from, to better understand where we’re at in this present moment in time; and having a good sense of that prior journey is one of the learnings that often shapes our pathways onward. I don’t know about you, but for me, a holistic understanding of our life-journey as being on such a connected past-present-future spectrum can help bring clarity and confidence about the directions we wish to pursue to arrive at our next goal post at every stage in our lives.
For many of you who have engaged actively in the (social) justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) focused conversations that we at the Coalition (or CMCCF) have initiated over the past two years, the next part of this post will be a bit of a recap; and for readers new to what we do, and curious to learn more, it might help you see if you would like to get involved and contribute your experiences to support our projects and objectives in the future.
A backward glance- recapitulating the JEDI Initiative…
To recap then: As part of the JEDI Initiative, we have held learning events and panel discussions to build awareness about equity and inclusion related issues that often negatively impact racialized individuals and groups. Oftentimes, therefore, their relationships with service providers and policy makers are fraught or sub-optimal, not being on an equal footing because of the power dynamics always at play. At CMCCF, our vision and goal are to shift the established (power) paradigm that sets the tone of current conversations. For instance, the current narrative goes like this: ‘what do immigrant communities need, based on their deficits?’ And we need to shift it so it sounds instead like the following: `what riches-by way of experiences, cultural values and traditional wisdoms-do diverse communities bring to the table that all of us can learn from.’
Adding to the above recap: We have also delivered leadership training programs for youth and for women; and these have helped participating cohorts in exploring and developing their inherent leadership potential and experiencing a sense of enablement through strengthening their voices. Recently, CMCCF recognised three young leaders from diverse cultural backgrounds with our first Social Justice awards-for the leadership role they have been playing from an early age to support members of their communities, helping grow empowerment spaces where everyone can feel safe and be themselves. Interestingly, and proudly, all awardees are young women leaders!
I also encourage you to visit our website, our socials, and our YouTube channel for podcasts and videos of events held in the last few months of the JEDI Initiative; you will hear voices that will enrich you. Our community writers are storytellers who share inspiring stories of courage and resilience- of individuals who found their strength through overcoming adversities.
Seeking to Build Bridges …
Going forward, with Building Bridges, the Coalition’s new and current project, the aspiration is to further delve deeper into our exploration of JEDI issues to get at more tangible representations (and instances) of everyday violence and exclusion in community settings where individuals and families live, work, and hope to thrive. The objective of such a focus is to prioritize the development of tools, practices and strategies that have the potential to lead all individuals to community safety and well-being, ensuring that all voices are heard and that nobody is left behind.
Creating a path forward through Peacebuilding
In terms of the primary focus of Building Bridges, one of the concrete pathways we suggest for achieving the goals of safety and equity, inclusion and justice-both in the short term, and keeping in mind a sustainable long-term perspective too, is to lean on diverse peacebuilding frameworks and approaches, including those that are integral to traditional practices and inter-generational wisdoms that all communities carry with them to their new home in Canada; in fact, these are essential aspects of who they are. Further, if we want to seriously explore the potential of this project to bring unique and meaningful deliverables to the table, one of the key factors is the spirit (and ability) of stakeholders to work together respectfully with each other.
Based on the discussions held periodically around the Coalition’s Peace Roundtable Initiative, in operation for several months prior to the start of the current formally funded one year Building Bridges initiative (in fact, leading up to it), we find a peacebuilding lens to be a purposeful and holistic approach that can help us work in partnership, using a `collective impact’ framework. Such an approach can help us align our ideologies and our values, as well as learn from each other’s vision, aspirations, and our diverse thinking.
Learning to manage our conflicts
These tools and strategies, if built collaboratively and in respectful conversations with each other, will help us manage and resolve conflicts arising from our differences and the polarisation that swirls around us in the world today, including the winds of division that blow at us from multiple social media platforms. Oftentimes, vast differences of opinion are certainly difficult to navigate, but is it not normal and expected that, being unique beings, there are bound to be huge differences between the ways individuals born and raised in separate ways-indeed, `formed’ by vastly different contexts- see and make sense of the world
This is indeed a complex topic as it also opens for debate issues in relation to free speech, and where may those lines be drawn that separate free speech from hate speech. While free speech is a key element in a democratic society, hate speech must not be permitted; and how do we distinguish between the two? Who decides? These are complicated and ambivalent questions and need more discussion.
Approaches to `talking peace’…
In another of our blogposts, perhaps we should tease out how we might use `peacebuilding’ approaches and strategies to communicate with each other so we may actively listen-in order to understand, learning to value voices other than our own. We must also work hard to identify the slippery slopes that separate freedom from anarchy; and we must all remember that responsibilities co-exist in the same space as rights. Without one, the other cannot survive.
There is so much to talk about, dear friends! The onion has countless layers that need to be peeled slowly, one layer at a time! And I must also add, we must find ways to make these conversations interactive, a two-way dialogue instead of one-way-speak, so we may truly and respectfully learn from each other.
Until next time then, stay safe, and make sure you take care not just of yourselves but also of each other.
The views expressed in this blog post are mine, and I take full responsibility for them. We are always wanting to hear from you – please share your thoughts and feedback by completing our contact form here or by emailing hello@cmccfamilies.ca.
To learn more about our Building Bridges Project you can click: Here
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