Welcome

The Toronto Conference on Community Crisis Response: Looking Through a Cultural Lens is a forum for sharing, learning and collaboration on community crisis response at a local level.

Its goal: to expand the dialogue on crisis response and move towards effective long-term approaches that engages community and utilizes a social development approach.

As our local communities experience varying crisis situations, the alarm has sounded for responses that are immediate, co-ordinated and culturally appropriate. The utilization of a culturally competent, asset based community development approach to stabilizing and re-building communities from a crisis or trauma inducing incident requires dialogue, sharing of best practices and training.

We have focused on, prepared for and reacted to disasters - whether people-created or natural. It's now time to explore the varying types of crises having fundamental impacts on local communities and neighbourhoods. We must enhance our knowledge to ensure effective response.

The forum will connect local residents, community based organizations, the private sector, researchers and others. Bringing together groups and individuals that work on crisis response into one forum will create opportunities for dialogue, reflection, partnering and program development.

We invite community residents, policy makers, researchers and practitioners to join us in Toronto in June 2005 to discuss and share their practices and experiences.

Conference Theme

The theme of this conference is cultural competence, community asset based development and healing.

Cultural Competence entails the alignment of behaviours, attitudes and policies that come together in a system, organization or among service providers to enable effective cross-cultural work. There is a growing recognition and acceptance that culture not only frames the way in which individuals and communities see and experience the world but also the way in which individuals and communities interpret and respond to crisis situations.

This recognition raises the question of what is a culturally competent community crisis response approach and how is it implemented during a real crisis? There is an emerging need to get theoretical and anecdotal responses to these questions for service and program enhancement or development.

Community Asset Based Development requires viewing communities as having the capacity to deal with their challenges and issues. It also requires a paradigm shift through which communities are viewed from a place of assets rather than their deficits.

In the area of crisis response, communities have a fundamental role in providing immediate and longer term supports. However, defining the role requires an acceptance of the ability of communities to do so, particularly in a crisis situation, as well as identifying the roles and supports required to deliver and sustain community engagement and participation.

Healing speaks to the process in which individuals and communities engage following or during a critical situation or crisis. It manifests itself in various forms, shapes and time frames and is fluid and undeterminable.

Supporting individuals and communities through this process requires an awareness of the various healing approaches and the role of culture in the healing process. We are eager to hear and learn about the creative healing strategies and processes being used by communities.

Goals

The goals of this two-day forum are:

• To engage stakeholders from various sectors in a dialogue on local community/neighbourhood crisis response supports
• To explore the role of cultural competence in crisis response
• To explore the varying worldviews of trauma, cultural trauma and collective identity and appropriate intervention approaches
• To share best practices/approaches for community/neighbourhood crisis response
• To explore the role of community development and healing within crisis response

Call for Presentations/Papers

The Community Crisis Response: Looking Through a Cultural Lens Conference is a cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary forum for sharing, learning and collaboration on community crisis response at a local level.

We are looking for papers and presentation from service providers (community based, private sector and government), researchers, policy makers and community residents engaged in crisis response in their community.

Submissions on all topics relating to community crisis response are welcome.

Conference participants will explore and discuss a broad range of areas including:

• Organizing local/ neighbourhood crisis response teams (screening, recruiting, training, legal issues, literacy, model (peer), maintenance,
• Neighbourhood/community crisis response training curriculum and approaches
• Cultural competence principles and practice in crisis response
• Service and system co-ordination
• Critical incident stress management & critical incident stress debriefing and its effectiveness in ethno-specific communities
• Crisis response, collective trauma and structural violence
• Community healing/development and crisis response
• Policy impact/implications

We invite the submission of proposals for papers, panels, workshops, storytelling, film and video screenings and other forms of presentation on these or other topics.

Abstract Submission Deadline: February 25, 2005

How to submit an abstract:

Please include the following: name, title, e-mail address, and mailing address, abstract description of no more than 150 words and 3 key words. Submissions can be sent by by e-mail: safety2@toronto.ca, fax: (416) 392-8492 or mail to:

Community Crisis Response Conference Committee
Community Safety Secretariat
City of Toronto
100 Queen Street West 15th Floor East Tower
Toronto ON Canada M5H 2N2

Conference at a glance
You will need to have the latest version of the  FREE Acrobat Reader to view the PDF of the schedule.

Conference Schedule
You will need to have the latest version of the  FREE Acrobat Reader to view the PDF of the schedule.

Throughout the years, communities across Toronto have experienced critical incidents of violence that eventually can lead to breakdown in community networks, relationships and communal co-existence. How can we respond to help these communities and neighbourhoods move beyond the crisis? What resources are needed? What resources are available? This two-day conference (PDF 242 Kb) represents a proactive step in tackling these questions. At this conference, stakeholders from a variety of sectors can work together to explore and develop appropriate and effective responses to local community critical and traumatic incidents.

Registration

Registration form (PDF 165 Kb)

Accommodations
Intercontinental Toronto Centre
(8-10 mins. walk from conference location)

Ryerson University Residence
(10-15 mins.walk from conference centre )

Toronto Hilton
(10-15 mins.walk from conference centre )

The Sheraton
(10-15 mins.walk from conference centre )

Other conference note:
2005 ISTSS Annual Meeting
Dissemination: Transforming Lives Through Transforming Care
November 2–5, 2005
The Westin Harbour Castle
Toronto, Ontario, Canada