The Toronto Chapter of the Chinese Canadian National Council has had an incredible year. The essence of the advocacy work that the Toronto Chapter takes on is easily summed up in a few words: grassroots, community building and fierce. However, it is incredibly difficult and most likely impossible to cover all the many projects that our organization has taken on over the last twelve months. In fulfilling our mandate, The Toronto Chapter has remained very active on many equity-seeking fronts and this report will focus on a few key projects that we have spearheaded.
In 2003, we saw the racialization of SARS and its impact on the Chinese Canadian community in the political, social and economic arenas. Parents of non-Chinese students asked their schools to remove Chinese students from the classrooms, government officials were wearing masks in the Refugee Hearing Board when Chinese claimants were in the room, Chinese owned businesses remained empty while misinformation whirled around media outlets furthering the racist stereotypes about our community. CCNCTO spoke to and lobbied varies levels of media and government demanding a more level headed approach to this new disease.
We continue to work in partnership with both the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA) and the Hispanic Development Council (HDC) in the ongoing Alternative Planning Group (APG): As in previous years, the APG has been active in building a distinct vision where all diverse views are involved in policy planning at the City of Toronto. APG strives to advance recognition for development and empowerment for diverse groups wanting to play an active role in shaping our communities, by ensuring that a planning perspective from all ethno-racial diversities are truly put into practice, until it becomes fully entrenched in advanced planning and development models.
Last year, CCNCTO become the main sponsor of the Homeworkers' Association after we took over the position from the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). The HW A is a natural partner for CCNCTO because we have always been committed to the advancement of workers' rights. With the support of CCNCTO, the HW A offers ESL, computer training and sewing classes to its members, in addition to ongoing support around issues of workplace rights. In the upcoming year, CCNCTO will help the HW A strive for greater self-efficiency and to increase effectiveness in their advocacy for equality in the workplace.
For over ten years, CCNCTO has been active at the Chinese Interagency Network (CIN) and its Labour Group. Most recently, we helped organize the Mayoral Election BBQ, which brought many of the mayoral candidates into our community. Questions in Cantonese and Mandarin, all affecting the Chinese Canadian community were asked to the candidates. We know that this event has further encouraged civic participation and empowerment within our community.
Our involvement in projects, cover a variety of fields and continue to touch many people. CCNCTO is active in the Contingent Immigrant Women's Project and does so in partnership with CASSA and the group Toronto Organizing fbr Fair Employment. The mandate of this project is to develop a network to seek policy improvements for contingent immigrant women. With the Youth Engagement Initiative, we are mandated to build and sustain infrastructure within CCNCTO to engage youth priorities in a fully integrated manner. The main focus is to foster youth involvement at CCNCTO to ensure effective mentorship and to encourage youth to become better engaged in civil society. Counter Impressions 2003 was the successful second annual art auction fundraiser hosted by the Monkey King Collective (MKC). The MKC remains a highly spirited youth focused project that will be lead in 2004 by our newly hired Youth Co-ordinator, Barnett Chow.
CCNCTO is constantly developing and in the spirit of organizational growth, we hired professional consultants, Glen Brown and Dionne A. Falconer to assist us in the development of a three year Strategic Plan. The purpose of the strategic planning process is to put into place a documented guide that will outline priorities and programming shifts for our organization so that we can be more effective in our pursuits of advocacy, outreach and research.
When I think of the equity work that our local organization has undertaken this past year, I think of the thousands of volunteer hours that it takes to keep our little social justice engine going. CCNCTO would not have accomplished as much as we have without the energy and dedication of our volunteers. According to the research of the Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society, one-eighth of the Canadian population volunteers for a charity or non-profit organization. It goes without saying that at the Toronto Chapter we are primarily driven by volunteerism. With the support of the volunteers and ongoing encouragement from our membership, we will continue to serve our community.
Finally, I want to thank our invaluable staff for their incredible work. CCNCTO is truly blessed to have the commitments and talents of Teresa Ng, Judy Hill, Carolyn Ji Jong Goosen, Oliver Li, Ming Yin and our Executive Director, Mr. Chung Tang. With your perseverance and passion CCNCTO is poised to continue our great tradition of advocacy and support to the community. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I thank you for all that you do and all that is done above and beyond the call of duty.
Kristyn Wong Tam
