Aboriginal Affairs Award
Simon McNichol grew up in the small village of Benny, north of Sudbury, where he experienced a legacy of violence, spiritual, emotional, sexual and alcohol abuse. He lived on and off the streets for 18 years, eventually ending up in Toronto in 1992.
The turning point in his life happened when was referred to the Native Men's Residence (also known as Na-Me-Res). There he was able to tell his story at the circle ceremonies, receive Aboriginal counselling and teachings, and participate in healing treatments. He soon began to volunteer for Na-Me-Res, taking his experiences and turning them into lessons to help others on the streets.
Simon was subsequently hired by Na-Me-Res, and became very successful in bonding with those in need and helping them receive timely assistance. He refuses to take power away from the people he meets on the streets, instead seeking to empower them by building trusting relationships.
From 1998 to 2005, he was the Executive Coordinator of Street Help Outreach Services, a program that reaches out to almost 200,000 homeless or at risk people on the streets. Currently, Simon is an outreach worker for Na-Me-Res Outreach Services. He is often sought after as a speaker at local service clubs, the United Way and church groups. Through his narrations of his tragic past, he provides a view of the historic trauma experienced by generations of Aboriginal people and acts as a symbol of hope in creating new partnerships, dialogue and relations in the community.
In 1999, Simon received the "Rags to Riches" award, sponsored through Project Warmth and Chill Out; he is a recipient of the 2001 International Volunteer Award, awarded by Prince Charles and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal.
When asked how many people he has gotten off the streets, he will say, "None, they got themselves off the street. All I did was walk with them." 
The Native Learning Centre within Native Child and Family Services of Toronto is a partnership program with Jarvis Collegiate Institute that has been in operation since 1999. The Native Learning Centre is a classroom setting where First Nations youth can work towards a high school diploma through a flexible curriculum, one-on-one instruction and in a non-competitive environment.
| David Reed, Guidance Counsellor; William Schmut, Program Coordinator; Jennifer White, English Teacher; Noel Bird, Math and Science Teacher; Maryline Lanteigne, Ojibwe and First Nations Identity Teacher; Jerry Lazare, Social Science Teacher |
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The program began with individualised math and English instruction, co-op placements and apprenticeships. In 2003, the school added First Nations history, science, geography, physical education, art, keyboarding and Ojibwe language instruction. Native Child and Family Services also provides many other essential services to these students including, counselling, employment, housing, legal and welfare referrals, life skills, recreational activities and cultural programming.
This pioneering program continues to learn new ways to move these students forward, addressing both their personal and educational needs and is an innovative and crucial program that serves the Toronto community.
Their Mission Statement reads, in part: 'Consistent with Aboriginal traditions, education must develop the whole child, intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically.'
Toronto COUNCIL FIRE Native Cultural Centre's beginning was a humble one. In 1976, a small group of people met for weekly worship at St. Barnabas Church. They found the potluck dinners were attracting an increasing number of young Native men, mostly between the ages of 16 and 30. Many had arrived in Toronto having left their home territory, an institutional setting, or another urban environment in search of housing and employment only to find themselves faced with hardship, uncertainty and in some cases homelessness. Moving to All Saints Church in June 1978, the centre offered drop-in programming,
quickly expanding to include other support services.
Frank Keesickquayash, Chair,
Board of Directors
Between 1978 and 1998, Council Fire underwent a number of changes, allowing the Centre to further expand services. In 1997, they purchased their own building. By 2003, they were serving over 100,000 clients. Today, their services are designed to address the needs of Aboriginal youth, adults, seniors and families, as well as an ethnically diverse community who are low income, marginalized or homeless.
The Centre provides cultural and social services designed around the traditional values of caring that promote a philosophy of empowerment. The social, cultural and training services respond to the needs of a First Nations urban population. Its ongoing programs include a Little Embers youth program, Prenatal and Family Nurturing, Life Long Care, Healing & Wellness, literacy, Computer Skills, Counselling, a Residential School project, traditional arts and crafts, Drop-in, Emergency Shelter and community gatherings.
The goal of the Centre is "to provide counselling, material assistance and other direct services to First Nations people and to encourage and enhance spiritual and personal growth."
Access Award for Disability Issues
The Argonaut Rowing Club believes that the sport of rowing should be accessible to all members of the community and as a result they have become the leader in Canada in adaptive rowing. Starting 2001, the Club launched their adaptive rowing program allowing individuals with a disability to acquire basic rowing skills and functional knowledge of techniques and rules to enable a safe and enjoyable experience.
| Samantha Grant, Program volunteer/coxswain; Larry Marshall, Past president, Argonaut Rowing Club/adaptive program coach; Allison Sheard, Adaptive program founder and coach |
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Up until 2004, the adaptive program was limited to participants who did not require special equipment such as fixed seats; however with the receipt of donated specialized equipment, the rowing program was offered to wheelchair athletes. A wide range of disabilities including visual, mental and hearing impairments, cerebral palsy, amputation, polio and spinal cord injuries are now accommodated.
Thanks to a Trillium Fund grant in 2004, club facilities underwent a $165,000 renovation, which improved access for the adaptive rowers. The renovations included fully-accessible washroom and shower facilities.
In 2004, Canada sent its first Canadian National Adaptive Rowing Team to the World Rowing Championships in Banyoles, Spain. This team was consisted primarily of members of the Argonaut Rowing Club (4 of 5 members) and the coaching team was also made up of Club members.
The Argonaut Rowing Club adaptive rowing team has successfully competed in seven regattas in 2004. The adaptive winter training has included competing at the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships where team members received gold, silver and bronze medals within the male LTA category and the silver in the female LTA category.
The Argonaut Rowing Club's adaptive rowing program provides individuals with access to a life-long sport, encouraging fitness, teamwork and a sense of accomplishment.
Community Head Injury Resource Services (CHIRS) exists to improve the quality of life for individuals living with the effects of an acquired brain injury (ABI). Known as the invisible disability, ABI often leaves people with significant, life-altering cognitive and behavioural impairments.
Scott Southwell, Chair, Board of Directors; Hedy Chandler, Executive Director
CHIRS began in 1978, and was known as Ashby House. It was the first community-based brain injury rehabilitation program in North America. For over 27 years, CHIRS has provided services and programs to a clientele with diverse and complex needs. From education, employment and family support services to community placement and neuropsychiatric services, all the programs at CHIRS assist individuals to redefine their place in the community following a brain injury.
When CHIRS moved to a 4-story, fully-accessible building, in the true spirit of collaboration, clients were instrumental in choosing everything from design features to paint colours. CHIRS is also known for its many community partnerships. They have long-standing relationships with the City of Toronto Parks and Recreation, Variety Village and the YMCA. Their ground-breaking partnerships with companies like Ikea, Canadian Tire and the Hunt Golf and Country Club have created unique employment opportunities.
Community Head Injury Resource Services has created an environment that celebrates diversity and views barriers as opportunities for growth - where clients no longer feel that participation is "off limits" to them because of their brain injury.
Celebrating its 15th anniversary, VoicePrint Canada - Toronto Broadcast Centre volunteers - is a division of the National Broadcast Reading Service, a registered charity. Its mission is to reduce barriers to media faced by the 4.4 million Canadians who cannot independently access printed materials. Whether as a result of blindness, learning or physical impairment, low literacy, old age, ESL
or an illness, VoicePrint enriches lives by breaking the information barriers.
Jeremy Elliott, volunteer; Catherine D'Angelo, National Coordinator Local Broadcast Centres, VoicePrint Canada; Rolster Taylor, volunteer
In September 2004, VoicePrint's first local broadcast centre was established in Toronto, the first of 100 centres to be established nation-wide over the next seven years. Thanks to a team of over 400 volunteers who read from a variety of local community newspapers, over 300,000 Torontonians can now hear about community events, birth and death notices and even grocery story specials over the Internet.
The Toronto Broadcast Centre volunteers range from seniors and former broadcasters to students looking for broadcast experience. Each will select, record, edit and "upload" their stories using information culled from local newspapers.
VoicePrint Canada is the country's 24/7 audio newsstand, providing full-text readings of news reports, columns and feature stories from over 100 Canadian newspapers and magazines. Original local programming has ranged from interviews with June Callwood and Premier McGuinty to public policy meetings such as the hearings on the Ontarians with Disabilities Act, to covering service improvements such as the Sheppard subway opening, and municipal elections.
Constance E. Hamilton Award on the Status of Women
Vivien Green has been the Executive Director of the Women Abuse Council of Toronto (WACT) since 1991. She has been a tireless champion in the anti-violence movement, advocating for systemic co-ordination and accountability in all sectors. Under her leadership, WACT has grown into an organization which works with all sectors to present proposals for changes in policy and legislation and to develop a co-ordinated community response to violence against women.
Her focus has been to work with community agencies, police, provincial Ministries, educational, health and court systems to identify better ways of co-ordinating services for abused women and their children and to ensure that services are developed and delivered in ways that maximize the safety of women and children.
Vivien has been instrumental in a number of key accomplishments including: the development, piloting and ongoing monitoring of the specialized domestic violence criminal courts in Toronto; implementation of a Women's Court Watch Project which recruited and trained survivors of abuse as court monitors; development and implementation of Standards and Guidelines for Batterers' Programs in Toronto; the development and co-ordination of a multi-agency model for delivery of court mandated batterers' programs; a province-wide training on best practices in woman abuse identification and intervention in health care settings; the development of a model and risk assessment tool for an enhanced response for high-risk woman abuse situations that can be used in a variety of health, community and criminal justice settings.
She is in the process of establishing a technical team to advise practitioners who work with abused women at risk for serious injury and/or death. She is a frequent speaker on the topic of woman abuse at colleges, universities and conferences in the United States and Canada.
Marilda Tselepis came to Canada in 1974 as a political refugee from Chile. She brought with her a keen sense of social justice and her real life knowledge of the struggles of the oppressed. Since her arrival, she has helped to change the face of the services available to immigrant women throughout Toronto. Many of the existing services which assist immigrant women included Marilda as either a founder and/or current board member. Among them: Working Women Community Centre (President), Immigrant Women's Centre, Metro Toronto Women's Credit Union, Advocacy Centre for Training and Education for Women, Times Change, Barbra Schlifer Clinic, the Arauco Co-op, and Education Wife Assault.
While studying for a diploma in Community Development, she found time to be on the board of Women Working with Immigrant Women, Centre Donne (an immigrant women's health service) and to be a founding member of the board of the Toronto Refugee Centre.
Marilda has worked for the YWCA Toronto for over 25 years in a variety of positions. Under her leadership as Director of Residential Services, the housing options for women leaving violence were expanded for women in Toronto. In 1993, she became the Director of Women's Services, responsible for all YWCA programs.
Currently she is the YWCA Toronto's Director of Employment and Skills Development, delivering programs for women needing to learn English for the workplace, computer skills, and services to assist professional women and those with unrecognized international credentials. Employment readiness programs for disabled youth were also expanded under her leadership.
Marilda Tselepis is passionate about keeping the connection to a world movement alive and works with the YWCA's International Co-operation Committee, which raises money through fair trade with women overseas to support women-led development projects.
Pride Award for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual and Two Spirited Issues
The Lesbian and Gay Community Appeal (LGCA), or "The Appeal", was started in 1980 by a group of lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals concerned about building a healthy and vibrant LGBTT
community in Toronto.
Doug Kerr, Fundraising Chair; Omo Akintan, Board Member; David Brownstone, Co-Chair
The LGCA was formed to identify and support emerging human rights, social and cultural needs in greater Toronto's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered/transsexual and two-spirited (LGBTT) communities through fundraising and grant-making initiatives.
Since 1980, hundreds of volunteers have raised over $2 million for community projects aimed at improving the lives of thousands of LGBTT people in Toronto. From small grants supporting emerging, unincorporated groups to supporting LGBTT legal cases, from innovative health and social service research projects, to anti-homophobia education campaigns, The Appeal has made over 950 grants to 310 organizations and 150 artists or individuals.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, The Appeal is the only foundation of its kind in Canada that builds and supports individuals and groups that enhance the development of LGBTT communities. Its mission is: "to activate and mobilize people to support and embrace the diversity of our communities, and to raise and disburse funds for the enhancement of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered/transsexual and two-spirited life in the areas of education, health, human rights and culture."
Supporting Our Youth (SOY) was established in 1998, to address the needs of a growing LGBTT youth who have no other social support system. Increasing numbers of young people were "coming out" at earlier ages, but still found themselves on the margins of the LGBTT community, ignored, feared or exploited. SOY's goal has been to increase the quality of life for LGBTT youth through the active involvement of adult communities.
| Felipe Ocampo, Volunteer; Suhail Abualsameed, Project Coordinator, Newcomer & Immigrant Youth Program; Clare Nobbs, Coordinator, Community Programs; Ayden Scheim, Project Assistant; Guy Matorin, Volunteer |
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SOY is committed to facilitating opportunities for youth who are particularly marginalized such as newcomer and immigrant queer youth, queer youth of colour, street-involved or homeless youth, and transgender and transsexual youth.
Initiatives and activities are focussed in four main areas. The arts, culture and recreation programs work in partnership with other community groups to foster young people's creativity within larger organizations. Employment and skills building give youth the tools and resources to find work. Mentoring and housing programs match adults with youth in formal and informal settings for emotional and practical support, and give youth access to safe, affordable housing. Programs for specific populations of youth address issues of race, class, gender identity and immigration within the LGBTT community.
During the last five years, SOY has served more than 20,000 LGBTT youth and has established partnerships with a broad range of organizations including Buddies in Bad Times, Inside-Out Film Festival, Foodshare, Xtra!, T.E.A.C.H., Children's Aid Society, Pride Toronto, Lesbian, Gay, Bi Youth Line and the Toronto Public Library.
The Triangle Program is the only public high school in Canada for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgendered and two-spirited students. The Triangle Program is one of three program/locations that make up Oasis Alternative Secondary Schools and is part of the
Toronto District School Board.
Vanessa Russell, former Teacher, current School Council; Les Tage, Teacher; Jeffrey White, Teacher; Tim McCaskell, Chairperson, School Council
In operation since 1995, the program is committed to providing a classroom where LGBTT youth can learn and earn credits in a safe, harassment-free, equity-based environment. The teaching curriculum includes and celebrates LGBTT literature, history, persons and issues.
The Triangle Program is a transitional one, designed to assist students in developing both the academic and life skills necessary to move on to another high school, post-secondary program or employment. It allows students to develop the confidence, pride and finesse they need to be successful when they transition back to their larger lives.
In addition to the academic subjects, the program includes counselling, housing support and conflict mediation, as well as tutorials, mentoring and a lending library.
William P. Hubbard Award for Race Relations
For over 25 years, the Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter (CCNCTO) has been advancing human rights for Chinese Canadians and their equal participation in Canadian society.
Kristyn Wong Tam, Board Member
and Immediate Past President
Following a CTV W5 program that was described by many as blatantly racist, the Ad Hoc Committee of the Council of Chinese Canadians Against W5 was formed in November 1979. After an apology from the network, the Ad Hoc Committee organized a national conference, from which 28 local chapters were established across Canada.
The work of the CCNCTO ranges from social planning research to advocacy, from civic participation in municipal elections to support for federal same-sex marriage legislation. Their research projects have included "Mapping Chinese Youth Engagement", "Integrated Settlement Planning Research Project - Re-Visioning the Newcomer Settlement Support System," "Alternative Social Planning: A Paradigm Shift Developing and Inclusive, Healthy Toronto" working with Chinese skilled immigrants and a web-based survey that provides ethical guidelines for community research and academic accountability.
In 2003 when the negative publicity from SARS distressed the Chinese community in Toronto, CCNCTO was at the forefront of lobbying various levels of government to demand and end to racializing the disease and encouraging the media to provide a more level-headed approach to the education the public.
With their Youth Engagement Initiative and their youth committee, fondly known as the Monkey King Collective, CCNCTO is committed to running programs to engage youth leadership, to provide mentorship and encourage civic participation.
CCNCTO is the main sponsor of the Home Workers' Association (HWA). This group provides ESL, computer training and sewing classes to home based garment workers. In addition, CCNCTO has been educating homeworkers about their labour and human rights, which are often be abused by unscrupulous employers breaking these laws.
CCNCTO is also a member of the Chinese Interagency Network (CIN) of Greater Toronto, a coalition of over 30 agencies serving the local Chinese Canadian community. Here CCNCTO continues its important role of being an external advocate for the betterment of Toronto's Chinese Canadian population.
For over 25 years, Akwatu Khenti has been contributing to the African Canadian community through his pioneering community development work addressing the health and educational needs of marginalized Black youth as well as his ongoing promotion of the African Canadian Heritage in educational curriculum and school activities.
As a student leader, Akwatu co-ordinated the Anti-Apartheid Network at The University of Toronto and as a member of Toronto's Jamaican Canadian Association's youth arm, organized tutoring and conducted fundraising initiatives to encourage high school and college students to think positively about their African heritage and to excel in their academic endeavours.
Akwatu became the first Executive Director of the National Council of Jamaicans and Executive Director of the Jamaican Canadian Association. He pioneered a unique community capacity-building project called Facilitating the Academic Success of Black Children in Canada and also helped to establish the African Relief Committee in Canada (AFRIC) to assist children in south Sudan.
He has written several booklets and handbooks, such as a Brief History of Black Toronto, Building a Racism Free Canada and a handbook for parenting Black children, as well as curriculum materials on African Canadian history. He has given innumerable lectures, organized community initiatives and professional training programs, and has also provided services in the mental health and substance abuse field for African and Caribbean Canadian youth, earning the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for innovation in drug prevention programs for at-risk youth.
