On this page you'll find short stories of Canadian collaborations - how they came to be, who's involved, and how they're making a difference. Each collaboration is different, most are attempting to address complex community problems using a comprehensive approach. We offer these stories as starting points for you - we hope they'll help you to consider a new way of looking at your collaboration, a new way of organizing, or inspire you to think about your community and its potential in a new way. Each story also provides links and resources for further reading and exploration.
“A lot of us felt it was time for real
action,” says David Pecaut, when he shares the story
of how the Toronto City Summit Alliance came to be. Formed
to address the challenges a leadership summit identified in
2002 as critical to the future health and wealth of the city,
the Toronto City Summit Alliance focuses its efforts on issues
related to finance, infrastructure, education, immigration
and the health of the regional economy. The Toronto City Summit
Alliance is well positioned to influence change on each of
these issues thanks to its ability to attract diverse leadership
to work on issues of concern. Learn
more.
Hamilton is historically recognized as a
prosperous and industrial centre, and was recently named as
the best city in Ontario to conduct business. It may come
as a surprise then to learn that there are enough people living
in poverty in Hamilton to fill Copps Coliseum five times.
One of every five Hamilton residents (95,605 people) lives
in poverty. Hamilton has become a city of those who “have”
and those who “have not.” A new collaborative
effort has launched to reduce poverty in the city. The historic
collaboration is lead by the City of Hamilton and the Hamilton
Community Foundation. Learn
more.
Dufferin County wants to be the best! It’s
a laudable and achievable goal if local leaders and everyday
citizens pull together to make it happen. For many years a
small group of health and social services providers met to
share ideas and resources. This group recognized that the
whole community needed to work together if the quality of
life for Dufferin was to be maintained. More could be done.
Learn
more.
The use of community-owned power facilities
using renewal resources is rapidly gaining popularity across
Ontario. Wind energy is the fastest growing source of energy
in the world. Since 1990, wind energy has increased at an
average rate of 25% per year, a trend driven largely by dramatic
improvements in wind power technology.
Learn more.
Given that Canada is one of the most urbanized
countries in the world, it should come as no surprise that
well over one-half of Canada’s Aboriginal people live
in urban settings. Two-thirds of the urban Aboriginal population
lives in western Canadian cities alone.
Learn more.
Complex issues – such as street prostitution
- require comprehensive responses. And that
is what is occurring in Edmonton with a program called COARSE
– Creating Options Aimed At Reducing Sexual Exploitation.
COARSE is designed to help people leave the sex trade and
rebuild their lives. The primary component is a unique court
diversion program that removes or reduces criminal sanctions
for offenses related to prostitution. It's a tall order, but
this community-based collaboration is making a difference.
Learn
more.
For 25 years Swift Current, Saskatchewan
stopped growing - in industry, population, and imagination.
The population stagnated. Business development was a problem.
There was no common vision of what the city should become,
and a fear of failure prevented local residents from considering
innovative or alternative development opportunities. Learn
more.
Poverty is a serious problem in Canada.
Despite significant economic progress, government programs
and the market place have not been able to eliminate poverty.
An estimated 2,908,000 people (9.5%) live below Statistics
Canada’s after-tax low income cut-offs, representing
a significant number of Canadians who are not realizing their
full potential. Vibrant Communities is a unique and innovative
response to this problem. Learn
more.
A remarkable multi-stakeholder council is
working in the Toronto area to improve access to employment
for immigrants, so they are better able to use the skills,
education and experience they bring with them to Canada. The
Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) is tackling
the effective integration of immigrants into the labour market.
This unique collaboration has attracted a diverse membership
and is pursuing an awe-inspiring number of initiatives and
strategies. Learn
more.
At first glance, a
community in northern Ontario settled by
mine speculators and lumbermen and a downtown
Toronto neighbourhood along St. Clair Avenue might seem to
have little in common. Both are building on the traditional
virtues of the village – physical proximity, mutual
dependence and concern for neighbour – as a means of
encouraging participation and building a vibrant future. Collaboration
plays a key role in these communities that are combining arts
initiatives with community economic development projects.
Learn
more.
The Saltwater Network
is a coalition of community-based organizations around the
Gulf of Maine that works to support community based management
and conservation in the Gulf. Like the upwelling process that
circulates nutrient throughout the water, Saltwater Network
aims to distribute the human, economic, educational and social
“nutrients” among the communities of the Gulf
of Maine, in support of community-based management. Learn
more.
The schools located in Edmonton's downtown
core deal with a variety of issues including declining enrolment
and families struggling with poverty and substance abuse.
Transiency is also a major issue. When children as young as
grade 1 have been in 8 different schools in their lifetime,
their ability to make connections with others and with learning
is severely limited. This undermines and effects the achievement
of children in schools. The City Centre Education Project
(CCEP) is a groundbreaking collaboration, launched in 2001,
of seven inner city schools that have come together to create
a positive learning environment.
Learn more.
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