The Vancouver Island community of Saanich has a lot of heart – literally. Since summer 2020, Saanich residents have decorated more than 900 wooden and clay hearts that now adorn structures all over community parks and spaces. Brenda Weatherston is a community arts specialist with the municipality, and one of the people behind the HeArts…
La collectivité de Saanich, sur l’île de Vancouver, a beaucoup de cœur — littéralement. Depuis l’été 2020, ses résidents ont décoré plus de 900 cœurs en bois et en argile, lesquels ornent maintenant des structures dans les parcs et les espaces communautaires. Brenda Weatherston est une spécialiste des arts communautaires auprès de la municipalité, et l’une des…
This week: the sector celebrates Black History Month; the case for better Holocaust education; setbacks for advocates of guaranteed basic income; and developments in the campaign for a home in government for sector representatives. Celebrating Black History Month 2021 It’s Black History Month in Canada. Here are some of the ways charities, non-profits, and the…
For the past decade, Right To Play’s Promoting Life Skills in Aboriginal Youth (PLAY) program, which is led by youth mentors, has been working with Indigenous communities to help youth build leadership skills, resilience, and physical and mental health. I work at Right To Play and, since COVID hit, I’ve watched as program managers and…
This week: Indigenous housing, the economic plight of single people in Canada, and mentorship for Black youth and young adults. Are singles Canada’s forgotten poor? Investments in progressive, universal income policies like the Canada Child Benefit and the GIS top-up for seniors have lifted thousands of Canadians above the poverty line. But a new Policy…
This week: WE fallout, charities and trust issues, new or increased funding from CanadaHelps and Chagnon, and a big win against SLAPP suits. WE fallout On September 9, founders Craig and Marc Kielburger announced that WE Charity would cease operations in Canada and that they would step down from the global organization they started in 1995….
This week: The Ontario government and others sever ties with WE, new report predicts dire future for Canada’s faith buildings and the Canadian Black Policy Network launches. Week three of the #WEScandal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his chief of staff, Katie Telford, appeared before the House of Commons finance committee on July 30. Both…
March 20 was the day the team at MakeWay (then called Tides Canada) mobilized. The Vancouver-headquartered public foundation had been reaching out to its community partners, many of which are in remote and northern communities. “People were just terrified,” says executive director Joanna Kerr. “[They said] they needed core funding. They needed it to be…
In this week’s News Digest: calls for more diversity, WE controversy, the international response to COVID-19, and more. Addressing the lack of diversity in the sector In an open letter released June 20, Senator Ratna Omidvar urged government, charitable, and non-profit leaders to take action to increase diversity in the philanthropic sector. The first step:…
In this week’s Special News Digest: more data on the pandemic’s impact, foundations step up, and the roller-coaster policy response. New national, regional, and rural survey data Imagine Canada’s Charities & the COVID-19 Pandemic Sector Monitor report contains much-anticipated data on how the pandemic has affected the charitable sector. According to the survey, 35% of…