Monday December 8, 2008
8:30 am to 4:00 pm
Ryerson University
Jorgensen Hall, POD 250
8:30 to 9:00 am -- Registration
9:00 am to 10:00 am
Indigenous Elder to open the eventParkdale Activity & Recreation Centre Drummers
Kevin Smith, Clinic Director, Parkdale Community Legal Service: Welcome& Greetings
Ayshia Musleh, Parkdale Community Legal Services:Overview and Objectives of the day, why are we here, what do we want toachieve and what will happen during the day, Community Caucus highlights Ethno-Racial People with Disabilities Coalition of Ontario(ERDCO):Intersectionality: Experience and Perspectives from the Community
Panel Descriptions
10:00 am to 10:15 am
Indigenous Peoples’ Issues
Speaker: Bonita Lawerence, Professor York Unviersity
Ms Mohady, a community activist and Indigenous people’s speaker, willoutline the historical context to the current experiences of Indigenouspopulations’ interaction with the mental health and addiction systemsand its’ institutions.
10:15 am to 11:00 am
Immigration
Moderator: Claire Littleton, Parkdale Community Legal Services
Panellists: Ezat Mossallanejad Canadian Centre for Victims of TortureKwassi Kissi, Across Boundaries,Iliam Burbano, The Meeting Place
This panel will provide a historical and contemporary overview onCanada’s immigration policies and programs and their subsequent impacton the overall settlement and mental health conditions of racializedcommunities. Speakers will also highlight the specific ways in whichthese policies and programs in addition to existing mental healthlegislation exacerbate the stressors faced by immigrant and refugeepsychiatric survivor populations. By highlighting the various systemicbarriers this panel will help us to understand the importance ofapproaching social policy from an intersectional approach in order toenhance the opportunities for racialized populations to access justiceand successfully settle into Canadian society.
CCVT will address the experiences of those who are affected by PTSD andother forms of stress and trauma pre and post settlement and thespecific ways in which this impacts an individual’s ability to settleinto Canadian society.
Iliam Burbano will highlight the ways in which ones legal status withinCanada intertwined with the intersections of race and disability impactupon the daily lives of those struggling to call Canada their home.
Across Boundaries will speak about their work as a community-basedagency to address the issues and barriers experienced by racializedpsychiatric survivors. What are some of the solutions/programinitiatives, for immigrants? Where are the gaps?
11:00 am to 12:00 pm (noon)
EmploymentModerator: Chris Ramsaroop, Parkdale Community Legal Services
Panellists:Ajamu Nangwaya – Executive Member of CUPE Ontario Indigenous speaker Community memberWorkers’ Action Centre Representative
Studies confirm the growing numbers of racialized individuals who exist within precarious labour circumstances. With the ever growing body ofresearch being conducted there is a growing understanding andacknowledgement of the ways in which ones legal status subsequentlyimpacts on the mental health of those that are employed in the labourforce but who are not afforded basic employment rights. By examiningcurrent labour/employment legislation such as the Employment StandardsAct (ESA), Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA) and migrant labourprograms, such as, the Domestic Workers’ Program, the SeasonalAgricultural Workers Program and the Temporary Foreign Workers Program;this panel will discuss the links between workplace rights, mentalhealth, and racialization.
Issues to Discuss:Precarious work and mental health statistics and historyDuty to Accommodate: are racialized psychiatric survivors trulyprotected? Where are the gaps and how can we improve upon sustainableand accessible workplace environments?
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm – LUNCH (provided)
1:00 pm to 2:00 pm
Social Assistance/Poverty/Income SecurityModerator: (Angela Robertson, Executive Director, Sistering)
Panelists: Voices from the StreetAboriginal Legal Services of Toronto (TBA)Professor Grace-Edward Galabuzi (Ryerson University, Colour of PovertyCampaign)ODSP Action Committee
Over the last 13 years Ontario has been witness to the erosion of the“social safety net”, with the claw backs of social assistance programsand supports. The confusing and complicated employment programs that arepart of Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP)create a disincentive to return to work ultimately creating situationsof continued and persistent poverty. Community-based research andcampaigns have highlighted how the experience of poverty has exacerbatedthe social stressors and stigma faced by racialized communities.Panelists will provide a critical analysis of Ontario Works and ODSPbenefits and programs: where are the gaps, how can it be improved, arethere existing models that currently can be used as a standard to follow?
Poverty Reduction Strategy/25in5 Campaign/Colour of Poverty Campaign,what do these campaigns mean for indigenous and racialized psychiatricsurvivors and their families? How do these campaigns address the issuesof homelessness and outreach to the most vulnerable in society?
Policing
Moderator David Reville (Ryerson University, School ofDisability Studies)
Panellists: Magaly San Martin (PCLS) -- Safe Streets Act and Ticketbusters –
Nadia Chiesa, CLASP (Osgoode Hall Law School, York University)
TBA Mental Health and Police Records Check –The use of tasers and theuse of force in dealing with individuals in distress No One Is Illegal Policing and immigration – undocumented anddeportation/criminalization Homeless, indigenous/racialized psychiatric survivors feel especiallytargeted by policing policies and procedures and often made to feel likecriminals for being in poverty and stigmatized due to their potentialmental health status. How do initiatives such as the “Safe Streets Act”,the use of tasers and the disclosure of mental health status during avulnerable person security police check impact upon the psychiatricsurvivor communities, and in particular indigenous and racializedmembers? What are programs and groups such as Ticketbusters and theMental Health Police Records Check Coalition doing to mobilize andadvocate for change?
