What is new at the coalition?

Ethno-cultural Communities Forum for 2012 Provincial Election

With the provincial election campaigns in top gear,  Edmonton Multicultural Coalition in collaboration with the Somali Media Society of Alberta organized a multicultural forum where Ethno cultural communities raised their concerns and issues with various parties ahead of the  provincial election scheduled for April 23 2012 (see details of the event Forum poster for the election). 

Training and recruitment for new animators

In order to realize self reliance of the newly emerging communities in Edmonton, the Coalition sustains a pool of community animators who provide the forward and backward linkage; articulating their needs and aspirations and finding solutions that meet  these needs. Community animators work with people and groups so that they participate in and manage the communities in which they live. Animators come from the Latin word “animere” which means to breathe life into something. A community animator uses his/her skills and talents to enable people and groups to learn from each other and take action on their needs and aspirations.

The Coalition recruits and trains new community animators every year, so that they are equipped with knowledge on top of their skills and gifted talents. The trainings are scheduled in collaboration with Alberta Community Spirit. The next animators' training is scheduled on April 18, 25 and May 2, 9. All sessions  will be from 5:30 – 9:00 pm. Certificates will be awarded to the participants upon completion of the entire training. Participants are expected to complete the entire training sessions. 

In order to be an animator, the person has be a member of the coalition, nominated by his/her community and willing to volunteer for the community. For further details on community animation, please clink this link: Community Animators

A friendly Soccer game 

On Tuesday 27th March, the coalition organized a friendly soccer game between youth from the ethnocultural community and the Edmonton Police Service (EPS). The Injera Soccer Game brought together police officers and members of the ethno-cultural communities to share a pleasant time. The purpose of the game was to bring together two groups that hardly deal with each other in positive circumstances. In view of the recent wave of homicides in Edmonton, building trusting relationships is vital in establishing better communications with community leaders and police officers.

What better way to do that than with the world’s favourite game? The atmosphere of the evening was exciting, the fans cheering their favourites and the players scoring in response. Names were exchanged and soccer skills admired as both teams bonded over some great soccer. More games coming up in the summer: Be sure to not to miss another great opportunity!

Ubuntu Sharing circle

The coalition has been running Ubuntu as one of the projects that supports ethno cultural communities in the past one-year. The project is targeted at improving the capacity of the ethno-cultural community organizations to manage small-scale projects that cause a material difference in the socio-economic circumstances of these communities. The project was funded by CIP (Community Initiatives Programs) of Alberta, City of Edmonton and Butler’s foundation.

Ubuntu project provided seed grants for 10 ethno-cultural communities who had implemented 10 various small-scale projects at the grassroots community level. As the project comes to an end, eight out of the ten communities got together with funders at the Coalition office to share their experiences in the implementation of the seed grants on 22^nd March 2012.

Among the eight communities than attended the sharing circle included: Somali community, Ethiopian/Eritrean community, Zimbabwe (Posolona), Liberian community, Karen Community, Chinese community, Filipino community and Oromo Community … See photo gallery for more clips of the event. 

Did you miss Injera Sharing Back event ? 

The Injera Community Sharing Back Event hosted by the Coalition had a great turn-out this past weekend. African Drumming and poetry by Saida Barre entertained audiences. The highlight of the event was the testimony from the community animators on their experiences with Police Officers and the success in seeing the Sudanese, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Somali and Oromo communities transform.

Also present was the Mayor of Edmonton, His Worship Mayor Stephen Mandel who said: “All of us are here to make it better for the next generation…It doesn’t matter what colour, what race or what religion you are, with good education we will be successful…I hope that through Injera you understand that the Police are our friends”. He encouraged us to continue working with the Police in building relationships because we are a team.

"One of the animators Mulki from the Somali community also added that: “I saw that my community is afraid of the police and I also saw the gap there was with the community. This is why we come together in the Injera Initiative and educate ourselves on each other”. Another community animator from Sudan, Joseph mentioned that: “Like any other community, the Sudanese community has experienced challenges with the Edmonton Police and the youth at large. It is at this juncture that the animators devised ways and means of bridging the gap. The strategy has been to provide workshops on the role of the Edmonton Police, crime prevention skills and the prevention of alcohol and drug abuse. Parents were very happy to participate in the discussions.”

In addition, the timely news of additional funding from REACH and the City of Edmonton was most welcome! Coalition community animators are ready to work with the community as we build relationships with EPS. This was indeed another tremendous success in community dialogue and sharing.

Through the INJERA INITIATIVE, the Coalition partners with the Edmonton Police Service, Central McDougal and Queen Mary Park Neighborhood Revitalization, REACH Edmonton and the City of Edmonton Community Services to build stronger relationships with officers in Edmonton.

We would to offer special thanks to all the members of the ethno cultural communities, our partners the Edmonton Police Service, REACH Edmonton and City of Edmonton, as well as the media and other organizations/agencies/institutions that joined us for this celebration of Community Engagement.

The Coalition disturbed by the Bill- 31

On 16 February 2012, the government issued Bill C-31 to reform Canada’s refugee determination system. The Coalition is extremely disturbed that the bill would produce a two-tier system of refugee protection in Canada. The Bill C-31 brands refugee protection in Canada seriously vulnerable to political impulses, rather than confirming a fair and independent decision about who is a refugee. The Bill also includes costly measures to detain refugee claimants and to revoke the status of refugees who are now permanent residents. Read more New Legislation targets Canadian Permanent Residents

Coalition elects a board member

The February members’ monthly meeting was a special meeting that was called by the members. The special members meeting was to carry out a by election as stipulated in the by law of the Coalition. The members who attended the special meeting on 18^th February 2012 were 30 (double of the number of members) that can convene a special members meeting as outlined in the by law.  Along with the other monthly agendas of the monthly members meeting, the members were to elect one board member to fill one of the Board members position.

 Two members were nominated for the position , Rafael L Cortes and Badri Kabira.  The members overwhelmingly elected Rafael L Cortes with 93% votes of the members. Rafael comes from Columbia/Spanish speaking community.  He has been a volunteer with the Coalition for a long time. Members of the Coalition are happy to welcome Rafael as a Board member who will bring a lot of experience into the Coalition Board of Directors.