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DiverseCity Project Launched to Promote GTA Diversity

Posted by Joshua / January 13, 2009

22 Comments

DiverseCityToronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world, and the GTA is certainly the most diverse region in Canada. We gladly welcome immigrants from all over the globe every day, and yet the leaders around town do not reflect our multi-ethnic fabric. The DiverseCity project was launched to counter this nagging problem.

Countless immigrants cannot get a job in their field or their credentials recognized, much less achieve a leadership position. And as an immigrant myself - from the remarkably foreign U.S.A. - I felt the pain of unanswered resumes, left to wonder if my non-Canadian experience was working against me. Of course I don't have an accent (or much of one, anyway) and I do have white skin, so my problems pale in comparison to those faced by thousands of immigrants.

Nonetheless, I was very curious when I discovered DiverseCity and their mission: "Over three years, the project will expand our networks, strengthen our private and public institutions, advance our knowledge on the role of diversity in leadership and track our progress."

DiverseCity aims to achieve its goals through its 8 initiatives. There are two initiatives for each of the four main categories in the mission statement.

There will be speakers, fellows, placement, training and more. The project has established numerical targets to achieve in 2010, such as "300 senior level executives will have created new networks across ethnic and racial groups." An ongoing speaker series debuts January 26th with the Partner Launch at the Canadian Club.

So who is behind DiverseCity? It's a partnership between the Toronto City Summit Alliance and The Maytree Foundation, and they're recruiting additional partners. The 8 initiatives are a product of the steering committee.

But after all the rhetoric and good intention, will this project have an effect? Will we really see more ethnic and racial minorities in leadership positions around the GTA? I suppose only time will tell, but any effort to utilize the enormous talent and connections of our many residents seems like a darn good idea to me.

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Cynthia / January 13, 2009 at 11:31 am
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My only worry is that their focus on "diversity" is very first-generation, non-western culture oriented. Most "diversity" programs in this city seem to be this way, meaning that people like myself (my parents are from Hong Kong and raised me in a very westernized environment...most HK parents have, at least in my circle) are kind of left out of the picture (since we're still not multi-generation and of Anglo/Celtic descent).
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Joshua replying to a comment from Cynthia / January 13, 2009 at 11:49 am
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The project seems to be focused on visible minorities, which would address your main concern, I think.
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Parkdalian / January 13, 2009 at 01:00 pm
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I really hope this works and it's being organized by credible people. I'm tired of conversing with minorities and hearing their stories about how they can't find high paying jobs here(*with their education) It's plain to see that while we're "diverse", we're also racially divided as a city/country(whether we admit it or not) And spare me with the excuses such as a doctor or dentist not being the same here as in another country. That's a bunch of you know what and we all know it.
I wonder though, how other cities with as much diversity tackles these dilemas.
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Cynthia / January 13, 2009 at 01:05 pm
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But when non-visible minorities think of visible minorities and diversity, it always implies "minority/old country culture." People like myself (and there are many people like me) are definitely not heard, no matter how hard we try, at least for East Asians. In fact, we're pretty much invisible. The multicultural agenda pushed to Canadian society seems to be very immigrant generation focused, IMHO.

Out of all the MPs of East Asian descent in Ottawa (ok, there aren't that many of them), MOST are not Canadian-born. In fact, most didn't even come as young children. People born in Canada and people who came to Canada at pre-school age have a very different perspective than those who came here at as tweens, teens or adults.
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Andrew replying to a comment from Parkdalian / January 13, 2009 at 01:13 pm
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Do you really think all the schools around the world are as credible as the ones here?
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Disparishun / January 13, 2009 at 01:22 pm
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<i>We gladly welcome immigrants from all over the globe every day, and yet the leaders around town do not reflect our multi-ethnic fabric.</i>

I think the comments above are correct. The leaders around town do not, according to the study, reflect our multi-<i>racial</i> fabric. We do not know much about our multi-ethnic fabric, as this report whitewashes it.

<i>But when non-visible minorities think of visible minorities and diversity, it always implies "minority/old country culture."</i>

How on Earth could you tell who is a non-visible minority? Isn't invisibility, you know, invisible?
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Parkdalian replying to a comment from Andrew / January 13, 2009 at 01:30 pm
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To Andrew: The type of "re-training" our country forces on these peole is ridiculous(*sometimes 3-5 yrs) The major reason these people flee their old life is political and/or work(lack of) related. All i'm saying is that there should be an easier way these people find jobs with the kind of high education they already have. And by my count, if people don't want to be doctors or dentists or nurses here(which are desperatly need) shouldn't we try put these folks into these jobs as fast as we can?
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Cynthia / January 13, 2009 at 01:34 pm
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@ Disparishun : Ok, fine - non-whites (or more specifically, non-Anglo/Celtic)
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jack / January 13, 2009 at 02:30 pm
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until Canadian companies are promoting visible minorities as department heads or company ceo's in a larger scale in main stream but not stereotypical industries, discrimination will not go away..
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Cynthia replying to a comment from jack / January 13, 2009 at 02:43 pm
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There's a socializing/connections factor here too. Kate Jones may be hired over Jen Lee because Kate's mom's first year roommate works at the such-and-such department and got Kate a good rec. Jen, however, is the child of immigrant parents who're doctors and work within the Chinese community. No connections for Jen means it's more difficult to get a good rec.
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Cynthia / January 13, 2009 at 02:47 pm
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^^^ I should also add that you have to go networking too. While many of the networking events I've been to are somewhat diverse (of course, it depends on what your definition of "diverse" is), most attendees seem to speak English either as a default language or a first language (i.e. they do not speak English with an accent (unless it is UK, American, Australian, etc...)).
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o_O replying to a comment from Cynthia / January 13, 2009 at 03:54 pm
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Cynthia, the Maytree Foundation has a great deal of diversity within its organization, including many people who are second generation/raised in a Western context. So I think their idea of diversity goes beyond the one you've criticized. That said, one of the biggest issues no one seems to be able to tackle adequately is how to deal with foreign credentials, whcih mainly applies to newcomers, so if that occupies a lot of Maytree's time, I wouldn't hold it against them.
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matt1256 / January 13, 2009 at 04:04 pm
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I think part of the problem is the schools that some of the folks get their qualifications from aren't considered to have standards equivalent to those of our schools. When it comes to International Medical Graduates, I believe it's the required 12 month residency to confirm qualifications in practice that holds most doctors up as Canadian medical graduates are given preference. Ontario's IMG page can be found <a href="http://www.cpso.on.ca/registration/international/default.aspx?id=1792";>here</a>. For people who have degrees from non-Canadian universities, our very own UofT has a very helpful site with FAQs <a href="http://www.adm.utoronto.ca/ces/";>here</a>.
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\m/ \m/ / January 13, 2009 at 04:30 pm
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The Ontario Ministry of Citizenship & Immigration's website (http://www.citizenship.gov.on.ca) is extremely useful to newcomers and offers bridge-training programs for internationally trained people. There is also a foreign-trained professionals loan program.
Ontario also runs a Provincial Nominee Program for employers to attract skilled immigrants, including international students (i.e. close to graduating or are recent graduates from a publicly-funded Canadian college or university, and have a job offer in Ontario for a skilled position related to their field of study), to meet their labour needs by getting them on the fast-track to permanent residency.
No...not everyone has a computer but all public libraries have computers with internet access - free of charge!
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Cynthia replying to a comment from o_O / January 13, 2009 at 04:31 pm
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But it isn't just Maytree, but diversity advocates in general. I have had a very difficult time sitting through "diversity/sensitivity training" sessions because people who train make the assumption that everyone from a certain background behaves a certain way. People often will give me their business cards with both hands, which is considered the polite way of doing so in many eastern cultures. However, I don't mind people giving their cards the "Canadian" way. In fact, I prefer it.
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jack / January 13, 2009 at 04:48 pm
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"matt1256 on January 13, 2009 4:04 PM
I think part of the problem is the schools that some of the folks get their qualifications from aren't considered to have standards equivalent to those of our schools."

lol @ this comment.. you got that right... most elementary school graduates in Asia have better maths skills than our university graduates in Canada
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matt1256 replying to a comment from jack / January 13, 2009 at 08:32 pm
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This is somewhat true, however, the universities tend to fall flat and outside of maths other subjects fall flat. Also, Asia is a very large place and rural versus urban education differs greatly.
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Peter / January 13, 2009 at 11:31 pm
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"And as an immigrant myself - from the remarkably foreign U.S.A. - I felt the pain of unanswered resumes, left to wonder if my non-Canadian experience was working against me."

Oh. My. God.
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Corina / January 14, 2009 at 12:23 am
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Part of why our current leaders do not reflect current immigration trends is the baby boomer factor - we have old, established leaders who will not be retiring at 65, remaining in control of much of the new workforce.

This is racist, it's just reality. Unfortunately, although it may seem unfair, the trend is demographical and based on the relatively slow replacement of older, non-minority leaders with the new fresh blood coming in to our country. Give it ten years.
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Corina replying to a comment from Corina / January 14, 2009 at 12:24 am
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* correction, meant to say this ISN'T racist, it's just reality.
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Cynthia replying to a comment from Corina / January 14, 2009 at 07:21 am
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I completely agree with you, Corina. This is also what's "slowing" women down too.
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Silvia / January 14, 2009 at 08:28 am
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Diversity cannot be effectively addressed without an analysis of structural inequalities that create barriers to full participation in society. I don't see that kind of analysis in this project.
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