On Tuesday, February 13, 2018 CFICE presented Community Voices: Advancing community policy agendas through CCE. Moderated by David Peacock, the webinar had presenters Cathy Wright, Diane Bronson, Bonnie Brayton, and Colleen Christopherson-Cote sharing their experiences working in community-campus partnerships to advance their organization’s policy agendas. The webinar touched on:
- Ending Generational Poverty through CCE – Cathy Wright
- How Living SJ benefitted from CFICE support in developing a city-wide collective impact initiative
- Building a national food movement – Diana Bronson
- How Food Secure Canada (FSC) worked in partnership with CFICE to advocate for a National Food Policy
- Advancing Rights for Women with Disabilities – Bonnie Brayton
- How the DisAbled Women’s Network Canada (DAWN) worked with CFICE to build tools for critical policy work in Canada
- On a Journey of Reconciliation – Colleen Christopherson-Cote
- How the Saskatoon Poverty Reduction Partnership prioritizes reconciliation and decolonization in its community work
Video Link
If you missed out on the day-of presentation, not to worry. We’ve made it accessible below.
Presenters
For the past thirteen years, Cathy Wright has been a key catalyst in the poverty reduction efforts in Saint John, New Brunswick. Prior to moving into semi-retirement, she served as executive director of Living SJ, a dynamic network of leaders from business, government, non-profits and low income neighbourhoods, focused on ending generational poverty. She supported the development and implementation of this growing network as it applied a collective impact approach to four game changing priorities – education, health, employment and neighbourhoods – impacting the lives of individuals and families living in poverty. As both a professional and a volunteer, Cathy has contributed to changing social issues at the local, provincial and national levels. Her work, primarily in the non-profit sector in poverty reduction, social planning, and adult literacy, is guided by the necessity of diverse partners working and learning together. Cathy is a recipient of the 2017 Vibrant Communities Canada Legacy Award and the Canada Volunteer Award.
Diana Bronson joined Food Secure Canada as Executive Director in March 2012 and has worked to strengthen FSC as the national voice of the Canadian food movement. Diana is trained as a political scientist and sociologist and has a professional background in journalism (CBC radio) and international human rights (Rights & Democracy) as well as international climate and technology negotiations at the UN (ETC Group). Diana’s research, policy and advocacy work has centered on supporting social movements around the world, critically reviewing and educating around international trade and investment agreements, looking at the impacts of Canadian mining companies, and assessing the social and environmental impacts of emerging technologies. She has participated in many international negotiations on human rights, climate change, biodiversity, technology and sustainable development over the past two decades. She also worked in a senior position on Parliament Hill from 2006-2008. She lives and works in Montreal.
Bonnie Brayton has been the National Executive Director of the DisAbled Women’s Network of Canada (DAWN) since 2007 when she established a national head office in Montreal. This national, cross-disability feminist organization has focused on advancing the rights of women with disabilities and deaf women in Canada and Internationally for the past 30 years. Through DAWN, Bonnie helps highlight key issues and advocate for policy changes for women with disabilities in the employment sector to the justice sector, and everything in between. In 2014, as part of Canada’s 150th year Celebration of the Charlottetown Conference Ms. Brayton was named a Visionary, one of 23 Women in Canada, and in January 2015 was named one of Canada’s 40 Women Change Makers by Canadian Living Magazine. In 2016, she was appointed for a two-year term as a member of the Federal Status of Women Minister’s Advisory Council on Gender-Based Violence. Bonnie is also the President of Coup de Balai – Clean Sweepers, an innovative social economy organization providing home care services to people with disabilities and seniors in her Montreal community. Bonnie has also served as the Vice-Chair of the Feminist Alliance for International Action and was a member of the Steering Committee of La Maison Parent-Roback, a Quebec feminist collective in Montreal from 2008-15. Ms. Brayton lives in Montreal with her partner Delmar Medford. She has two adult daughters, Leah and Virginia.
Colleen Christopherson-Cote is the coordinator for the Saskatoon Poverty Reduction Partnership and the community co-lead for the Evaluation and Analysis working group of CFICE. She lives and works within Saskatoon, Treaty 6 territory and the homeland of the Métis. The interconnect between all three partnerships provides her with the opportunity to catalyze, convene and coordinate community-based work to drive change and build capacity around improving the lives of vulnerable people in Saskatoon. Fostering new and existing community-campus relationships is a core priority of her work, understanding that engaging community throughout research processes is integral to successfully reducing poverty. Colleen is committed to the implementation of UNDRIP and the TRC Calls to Action in both her professional and personal life, recognizing that reconciliation is essential for an equitable, just society.
Moderator: David Peacock is the Executive Director of Community Service-Learning in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta, Canada. His research encompasses global service-learning, student equity policy and practices in higher education, curriculum theory, community-university engagement and ‘first generation’ university students’ participation in experiential learning programming. David is active in developing Canadian networks for community-engaged learning and research.