York Region is rapidly changing and growing – between 2001 and 2006 the population increased by 22 per cent, the number of visible minorities¹grew by 53 per cent², and the number of low-income households increased by 55 per cent; in 2009 over 40 percent of students in the York Region District School Board identified their first language as one other than English³. As the Region becomes more diverse, there are challenges that municipalities and community institutions must be prepared to address to ensure a safe and healthy Region for current and future residents. In the context of a rapidly changing region, an equity lens is most useful – one that is informed by the concepts of access, equity and inclusion. Keeping this in mind, Putting Equity on the Agenda: Are We Being Heard?, a York Region equity campaign, was launched in 2009 by the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA). The campaign created spaces for dialogue on the issues facing newcomers and immigrants in the Region.

 The aim of the equity campaign was to put equity issues on the agenda in York Region and to mobilize community members around these issues. Multiple methods were employed to engage residents including youth, seniors and women, municipalities, service providers, and representatives from school boards. These methods were community dialogues, open-ended response questionnaires, surveys and an equity forum. The campaign used a participatory community engagement approach. Each of the methods allowed for a more inclusive way of discussing equity. All of the methods asked about experiences, barriers (community concerns) and recommendations. The process was only made possible by the numerous community partners.

At the forum in May 2009, community members discussed equity issues around education, public space and civic participation, social change, youth justice, seniors as agents of change and gender equity. The issues identified (community concerns) and recommendations can be understood around these six themes, and through three targets (policy, civic engagement and service delivery).

Highlights of community concerns

• Many immigrant and newcomer parents feel disconnected from the school system
• School curriculum is not representative and reflective of the diversity of students
• Municipal governments are not representative of diversity within Region
• Lack of translators, interpreters or translations for municipal and community services
• Racial profiling of youth
• Retirement homes are not appropriate for racialized seniors
• Transportation barriers exist for seniors
• Subsidized housing shortages are especially affecting women in Region

Highlights of Recommendations

• More inclusive curriculum that includes equity, immigration and civic education
• Review hiring practices within municipalities
• Better outreach about how to access services with a focus on newcomer services
• Increased availability of rehabilitation alternatives for youth (community rehabilitation)
• Creation and expansion of intergenerational programs
• Increase poverty reduction strategies to address the feminization of poverty

The list of community concerns and recommendations outlined is not exhaustive, but can be seen as indicators of areas of concerns. It is our hope that these will continue to be discussed, and are looking forward to the recommendations being taken up by all those that serve the diverse communities of York Region.

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_{¹ Visible Minorities, as identified by the Employment Equity Act, are “persons, other than Aboriginal person, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour.” While the term is commonly used in data collection by Statistics Canada, CASSA and many organizations prefer “people of colour” or “racialized.”}

_{² York Region Fact Sheet on Employment and Equity.}

_{³ Pathways to Equity, York Region District School Board, Volume 17, Issue 2, Winter 2009, page 4, retrieved from http://www.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/pdfs/a/depts/racerel/Pathways17-2.pdf}