Abid Jan To develop effective municipal CSWB plans, it’s essential to understand the objectives behind them. Historically, research and community safety experts have worked to ensure community safety and well-being from two…
Abid Jan The success of transformative community safety hinges on a strong partnership between the community and the police. This means breaking down the silos between police and social services and working…
Abid Jan Police in North America have a well-documented history, which helps us understand how their role transformed in protecting the safety and security of our communities. Law enforcement has evolved significantly…
Abid Jan Traditionally, policing has been incident-driven, reactive, and focused on speedy emergency responses, investigations, minimizing harm, and law enforcement through arrests and prosecutions. As a result of primarily operating along the…
Instead, a more effective approach is redesigning systems so that they interrupt bias. In the case of hiring, for example, that could mean incorporating “bias disrupters” such as standardized hiring rubrics and…
There is mounting evidence that suggests that empathy should not be the modus operandi of our DEI efforts. Instead of empathy, Bloom suggests that compassion and kindness are better replacements. Within organizations,…
Abid Jan – Feb 02, 2023. This is not surprising that ten Ottawa community groups released a statement Wednesday calling for a freeze to the police budget and investment in other services.…
CBC News: Hate crimes reported to Ottawa police rise in 2022. 377 reports in 2022 compares to about 95 in 2017, 180 in 2020. This is not an encouraging news for those…
Abid Jan There is no denying that the so-called “Freedom” Convoy in Ottawa was just one act of a more significant movement, and there is a need to know how to avoid future…
Police reforms are needed. However, reforms need to take 360 degrees of perspective to help us understand that policing is a challenging job to do. It is costly and complex. Police officers…
People do change. People can change when they’re self-aware, receive support, and become intentional about behaving differently. Therefore, we need to be kind and considerate – mainly if we are in leadership…
We are in the best time of the year again to reflect and figure out who we are and what we truly want. As always, the passing year has taught us some…
Abid Jan Director Capacity Building at United Way East Ontario 6 articles December 28, 2022 According to a Stats Canada report released last month, 2021 witnessed the highest rate of gang killings in Canada…
Pursuing social justice is truly at the heart of everything we do in the social service sector in partnership with government, law-enforcement and corporate world. However, “allyship” in the journey to achieve…
From 1930s to 1950s, a group of Canadians took racism to court. It was the beginning of the struggle for Black civil rights. The 6 people who refused to accept inequality include Viola…
Abid Jan A bank account for any organization is a must-have, and non-profits are no exception. However, recently some major banks in Canada have told an increasing number of Muslim charities to…
An Imam was allegedly assaulted during a morning prayer in Toronto. A person representing a community is targeted yet again, leading to a new cycle of fear and pain. Hate-based violence is…
United for All partners are deeply disturbed by the rise in casual and overt antisemitism in local schools, online, and in our communities. We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community, and…
Tamba-Kuii Bailey,Associate Professor at the University of North Dakota, makes an interesting observation about systemic racism. “You don’t see it,” Bailey says. “We don’t see air. For fish and other things swimming…
Transcripts Presentation at the Ottawa Police Service Annual Human Rights Learning Forum – December 08, 2022 Thanks so much to the facilitator today. I am sorry, I am off-site, so I couldn’t…
I know the rise in anti-Semitism is not representative of our community here in Ottawa, but its happening and its outrageous, hurtful and wrong. All of us need to strongly condemn the…
News: How racial bias can affect 911 calls and what dispatchers in Montreal are learning to stop it To fix the police or any other institution for systemic racism, we need to…
Police-reported hate crime data from Statistics Canada shows that Jews remain Canada’s most targeted religious minority and the second-most targeted minority overall. Though less than one percent of the population, Jews were…
Could systemic racism be dismantled by implementing small changes? Is the violence against persons of color easily solvable? How can society transform through choices a few people make every day? What small…
o counter the rising hate, we need to take a moment to pause before we share; check the content’s origin; speak up calmly but firmly against hate speech and call it out…
Of course, representation matters and the business case for diversity is strong. However, recent studies caution that representation without structural changes to office culture, including creating platforms for underrepresented decision-makers, can lead…
What made my head spin for a long time was the use of word “freedom” by the leaders of divisive forces. Finally, I reached this conclusion that words like freedom, democracy, choice,…
A stitch in time saves nine. Reading about the investments in anti-hate, community resilience-building measures in this story is astonishing. The little provincial and federal investments in this area here in Canada…
Canada has long way to go on recognising and preventing domestic extremism and terrorism – starting from refining/updating hate crime legislation. This is a great piece of work from US about dealing…
“As a political scientist studying contemporary antisemitism and the current arguments about it, I believe this pattern stems from fundamental misunderstandings about what antisemitism is and how it works.”
In 1991, the Economist magazine reported the problem of race as one of “shattered dreams.” 1n 1992, Thurgood Marshall said: “wish I could say that racism and prejudice were only distant memories,…
The worst form of social media misuse is the dissemination of misleading information. Keeping your cool and avoiding spreading false information is the greatest tip for using social media responsibly. There is…
Just came across the website of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). The balanced approach under “Social Justice and Democracy” is impressive: Unlike the criticism of the social justice movement that we started…
Ontario government introducing Grade 6 Holocaust education requirement in 2023 History has shown us that genocide and other atrocities begin with hate. Hate begins with words and manifests itself in various forms.…
Very interesting and useful to understand for our preventative work. “Dehumanizing and vilifying a person or group of people can provoke what scholars and law enforcement officials call stochastic terrorism, in which…
A welcome step by Halton Police. Community and police forces are collaborating in preventative efforts. However, when it comes to enforcement, unfortunately, in the Criminal Code of Canada, there is no such…
Racism actively contributed to the development of our systems of ownership, employment, health care, education, and nearly every other aspect of our lives. History has taught us that eliminating discriminatory laws alone…
We must seriously consider a lesson from the US experience because trends from the South are replicated in the North – sometimes without delay. We are witnessing copycat extremism and polarisation in…
The pandemic has highlighted the importance of collective action and exposed how existing systems nourish politics of exclusion in which people are treated as disposable. In this broader ecosystem of societal transformation,…
It’s good news for folks busy in social impact work to know that building equity is now the centre of attention and an international priority for action (https://lnkd.in/eAzWQrfJ). There are a FEW…
It’s dawning on 2023, and we witness an anti-Semitic group hanging a banner from an L.A. overpass https://lnkd.in/eQKwqyzg Such outrageous efforts to fan the flames of hatred and bigotry at this age in human…
Hats off to OPH. GREAT job, OPH, for tackling the issue head-on. Not an easy task to turn things around when a report presented to the board said: “every racialised staff member…
This shows how institutions that supported slavery and racism in the past are being humiliated and disgraced today. The same will happen to the systems, structures and institutions that sustain the legacy…
It’s time to act. Merely talking and thinking about racial justice is not enough. Racism doesn’t just hurt black and other racial minorities; it hurts everyone. Heather McGhee draws on a wealth…
Improving diversity for the sake of statistics is not enough. The truth is diversity alone will not provide a competitive advantage without inclusivity. Inclusive organisations take an objective approach to talent management based on…
“A social justice model of philanthropy replaces investment in projects with investment in communities and organizations affected by the very social challenges they are working to solve.”… “more than 70 organizations across…
Increasingly, funders who consider themselves “progressive” are leaning into social justice frameworks in their grantmaking. But what does that mean, and how can foundations adopt social justice philanthropy practices more intentionally? Social…
Equity lens for Community service organisations. Just like in life reasons don’t count. Its the results that matter. In the community development work, mere talk is not enough. Actions lead to results.…
The petition ( https://lnkd.in/e7Jb7B6P ) is fine – calling for steps to ensure this violence never takes place again to the visible minorities due to race, religion, gender, or any other distinctions that might…
#antiracism #antipoverty #equity #equitymatters
Freeing schools from intimidation, harassment, and violence requires more than just punishing individuals after the fact. Students will benefit most from stopping hate-motivated harassment from happening at all. The right approach needs…
A fascinating read: Building equity is now a prerequisite for Collective Impact work. It might sound like a new development. Regardless of our simple approaches to community impact in the past and our…
Sadly, we talk about products more than the values we stand for – not just in the business world but also in the non-profit world. For example, some of us still believe…
Truth and Reconciliation day has come to an end. However, this is a journey we all begin at some point in life. Here is a powerful video that shows no one knows…
Want to know what a community based reconciliation initiative looks like? Check this out! #trc
In this interview author of The Anti-Racist Organization argues that diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging are used to perpetuate systemic racism. Shereen Denials maintains that vague platitudes about inclusion and belonging without…
Sometimes a few simple steps can save lives and resources. In this case: Partnership with local mental health agencies. Gathering necessary information about people with mental health. Preparing officers for the MH…
Here is an interesting new approach tried by some police services in US. Persons with mental illness have been killed or seriously injured during attempts to manage their crises. A growing number…
Time is changing. In a few decades, things that we consider as normal today would change considerably. What we hear in reports like the one by MUHU would soon become shameful practices…
Today, August 23, 2022 is the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. This day is observed in memory of all victims of the slave trade and…
You know the old children rhyme about sticks and stones. Well, it’s wrong. Words most certainly can hurt, and they can inspire other people to take threatening actions. The signs of growing…
The antidotes to prejudice: “‘I’m not going to hide. I’m not going to allow myself to disappear because I do want to challenge other good people to stand up and say no.…
The idea that the important thing to debate is whether the Emergencies Act should have been invoked or not is not right. The point to deliberate is how to address the root…
Every one of us has a role to play, but many people don’t know how to intervene effectively. Here are some tips: Author of the article: Abid Jan Published in Ottawa Citizen Aug…
Hate speech is prohibited in a restaurant but not online. No wonder why online hate and extremism are on the rise. All eyes are on the government to fulfil its promise of…
We largely seek to develop the race equality agenda, without the acknowledgment that there are no effective solutions for systematic and behavioral change without active realization of anti-racism. Most often, the anti-racism…
National projects that can have signifant impact includes the new public awareness campaign that urges Australians without lived experience of racism to reflect on its impacts and do more to address it.…
Here is an interesting read. See: “Canada’s Right-Wing Extremists: Mapping their Ties, Location, and Ideas.” We have a long journey from hate to hope to real concrete actions ahead of us. Based…
What an amazing – must-watch story this is!!!! Agree; we CAN control our destiny to a point. However, not everyone is like Dr. Myles Monroe. The reality is that some people, typically…
Alberta updates Crown prosecutor’s manual to go after hate crimes Great progress indeed: “Prosecutors will now be explicitly directed that it would be in the ‘general public interest’ to prosecute a crime…
What Martin Luther said could be a way to deal with the growing polarization and hatred in our society today. Some of us ask, why are hate movements on the rise that…
An interesting read. The author, a retired commissioner of the OPP, believes it’s critically important to be aware of the linkages between public trust in police and police leadership, as the factors…
Organisations that are anxious to prove they are not racist frequently increase the number of “diverse” hires. However, representation does not always equate to giving coworkers (and leaders) the clout, authority, and…
Like a real pyramid, the pyramid of hate must be build up from the bottom. The layers at the top of the pyramid require all the layers beneath it, or it will…
Hot off the press. A very interesting read. I strongly recommend it to those who are genuinely interested in addressing systemic racism in their organisations. Here is rip from the intro of…
In the darkness, switching on a light eliminates our fears of bumping or tripping over things. Similarly, education and awareness help us eliminate the fears and resulting hatred of those we don’t…
Note the following in Nazem Kadri story published here today. “ In the following game, Kadri scored a hat trick. As pleased as I was for Kadri the player, my concern for…
If we have problem re-learning, let’s make sure our children learn this very well !!!
Here is a great read from Ben Hecht about moving beyond diversity. The lines that stood out for me are: ““…it’s clear that the suite of diversity and inclusion tools and practices…
The Hollyer House in Bells Corners is a compelling example of how this can work. It’s a community hub set to feature mixed-use affordable housing, community programming, a food cupboard and a women’s shelter.…
Some shocking revelations here for those of us working hard to promote cohesion and build consensus to make progress together. Among many disappointing findings, in a recent study by Ottawa-based firm Anacus…
Extending utmost gratitude to Hydro Ottawa and City’s other first responders for their tireless efforts after the disastrous storm of May 21 – clearing roads and restoring power amidst the unforeseen circumstances…
People of all races and ethnicities are at different stages of their anti-racist journey. Bias can be unintentional or unconscious. Racism results from a mix of social and institutional power and racial…
Jagmeet Singh says economic inequality makes Canadians more vulnerable to radicalisation. He is worried about the growing divisions in the country. To address the issue, we must also remember that we can’t…
Let’s learn together. Let’s learn bit by bit and then try to apply our learning to making some change happen in our spheres of influence. Shereen Daniels, someone who has worked in…
This story proves that you are what you think. This shows the power of our thoughts. They become our beliefs, and they go on to define our life and how we experience…
The reporter says at minute 4:50 that one of the issues is to try to identify individuals with racist beliefs and root them out. Rooting out might not be the solution. Some…
Mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., that killed 10 a racially motivated hate crime, authorities say. “Racially motivated hate crime.” This has happened in Canada before, and it can happen again. The privileged ones…
On behalf of the United Way Team and the United for All Rapid Response Committee a big thank you to all the Champions for taking the time for the meeting today. We…
British Columbia’s new anti-racism data act will help fight systemic racism We need similar legislation in every province to fundamentally change government and community development programs and services in by removing long-standing…
This is the right call because this is one of the effective ways to combat various forms of extremist moments. Combating disinformation is the key. The extremists use social media, chatrooms, and websites…
Canadian armed forces are not alone. Right-wing extremism has, for a long while, been resurgent all over Canada. Still, it has mainly gone unattended compared to the prominent focus on the likes…
Abid Jan Director Capacity Building at United Way East Ontario 6 articles April 25, 2022 All forms of bigotry are not alike. The roots of each form of discrimination and hatred are…
We have so much to learn from others’ good work without reinventing the wheel. Thanks to Covid, since the pandemic, there has been an encouraging focus on equitable economic recovery. However, this…
“I was pulled over today for speeding. The officer did not know me nor did I know him, but we each showed one another a mutual display of respect in our interaction.…
Research shows that distrust of the police is consequential for public safety. However, there is a shortage of interventions that demonstrably reduce negative police interactions with the communities they serve. A training…
Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and everybody can do something to knock down barriers. Author of the article: Abid Jan Published in Ottawa Citizen Mar 21,…
Hate and extremism are prevalent online and pose substantial risks for youth who are often online daily. This report seeks to understand where youth encounter hate and extremism online, how they respond,…
Abid Jan speaks on CityNews Ottawa’s The Sam Laprade Show about steps we all can take to better understand and get involved in the local anti-racism movement. Today is the UN’s International Day…
The occupation is over. OPS/RCMP/OPP have done their job. The power of a healing community needs to kick in to support those in need. The following story from CBC reminds me of…
Two things to note here: 1) Ottawa is supposedly a liberal town, but StatsCan data consistently put it in the top municipalities with the most police-reported hate crimes. 2) OPS hate crime…
Of course, the occupation is over. However, the fears of further polarisation and deepening divide have grown many folds deep inside. Of course, we deserve relief now, but healing is more important…
Remembering Rabbi Bulka as we enter the last two days of Kindness Week 2022 – taking place February 18-25.
Every institution needs to follow the PSAC’s lead or come up with an alternative (if an association doesn’t exist or is biase) to ensure this: “…Now more than ever, our union is…
Hailing from Pakistan, I know firsthand the harmful and deadly consequences of mistrust between the community and the police. That’s why it hurts the most when some “activists” don’t leave any opportunity…
Abid Jan February 3, 2022 In the 1990s, youth violence connected to gangs and drug-related crimes was escalating to unprecedented levels in many neighbourhoods within the city of Boston. A record of…
UWEO and UFA partners issued the following statement today. The United for All coalition strongly condemns the racist, anti-Semitic, and xenophobic symbols, signs and acts used at this weekend’s protests in downtown…
We hoped things would miraculously improve after a deadly attack that claimed six lives in Quebec City on January 29, 2017. Instead, we lost more lives to hatred. Overall police-reported hate crimes…
In 2016, people gathered and shouted at a bus full of refugees: “We are people”. In other words, they meant, “you are not.” It was pure hatred. Hate is not the same…
Today, we remember the 6 million Jews who were murdered and millions of other victims during the Holocaust. Sadly, we have seen a rise in antisemitism and hate in Ottawa and across…
Yet another painful discovery: 93 potential burial sites found near former B.C. residential school We need to be very clear about our vision of reconciliation. I hope it is not that the…
A son took his old father to a restaurant for an evening dinner. Father being very old and weak, while eating, dropped food on his shirt and trousers. Other diners watched him…
A Winnipeg professor is developing a tool kit to help teachers in the province identify the early stages of extremism in their students so it can be addressed before thoughts and musings turn…
Calgary sees jump in hate-motivated crimes with 346 reported to police in 2021 Calgary is not alone in seeing a jump in hate crimes. Interestingly, however, in August 2021, Alberta Hate Crime…
Barrie police chief Kimberley Greenwood says the criminal code doesn’t allow hate crime charges for the attack on a young black woman in downtown Barrie. In Canada, hate crimes fall under very…
Mark Sangster, vice-president of Waterloo-based cybersecurity firm eSentire, said about the rising online hate crimes: “”I think that’s the problem is a lot of people are suffering in silence here and we’re…
In June this year, the Ottawa Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) voted to “immediately and completely” end its involvement with the School Resource Officers program, where officers are assigned to schools to…
if we do it right, we can significantly improve the way local people interact with law enforcement and social services. Author of the article: Abid Jan Published in Ottawa Citizen | Dec…
December 6, is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women – still one of the most important days of commemoration on our calendar. It marks the sombre anniversary of…
This is an interesting story. Accordingly, “the court support program will share $250,000 in provincial funding with two other programs designed to support women of colour.” Alberta cabinet minister Rajan Sawhney, MLA…
What should be our priority keeping in mind that 1) Ottawa is #2 on the list of most police-reported hate crimes in Canada and 2) data from Statistics Canada paints a disturbing…
Inspiring – a great way to promote respect, equity and inclusivity. The Power of One exhibit is thought-provoking and inspires and empowers all people to make the world a better place through…
UWEO and the United for All Coalition members issued the following statement today. Over the past few weeks, unacceptable instances of anti-Semitic and homophobic graffiti and posters have appeared around Ottawa. The…
A lesson for us here in Ottawa. ‘Defund the Police’ faure has Minneapolis residents taking matters into their own hands amid crime surge. As the crime rate in Minneapolis continues to rise,…
It’s all about the use of social media. The same tech that enables social media to galvanise social justice activists is being used by hate groups seeking to organise and recruit paddlers…
This is heartbreaking. People live in fear like this because some take their implicit bias and hatred to extremes. It doesn’t mean only one person in Quebec City, one person in London…
Lest we forget: The status-quo prevails. For clarity, Canadian legislation is framed so that a police officer needs to obtain written consent from the Attorney General before s/he can proceed with charges…
Ottawa police see a 33 percent increase in hate crime in 2021. Does it mean we didn’t prevent enough hate? Or did we need to spread more kindness? The latter is because…
What a Day before Canada Day – for which Thank Yous are not good enough. June 30, 2019. What a day it was! How lucky is Ottawa, and how fortunate it is to be in…
Very sad to hear about the passing of Rabbi Bulka today. My condolences to his family and friends. Rabbi Bulka will always remain in my prayers and my heart as a kind…
Some of us wrongly interpret systemic racism as an accusation that everyone in the system is racist. Systemic racism means almost the opposite. It means that we have systems and institutions that…
A powerful message. Thanks to MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq for the service & truth telling. We all have the responsibility to understand the history and address ongoing oppression and hate. Watch Nunavut MP’s…
United Way East Ontario and the United for All Coalition issued the following public statement today. On behalf of the United For All Coalition, we are sharing this statement about the horrific…
There is no age in history where human beings have not committed unimaginable excesses against their fellow human beings. The later generations always come, admit the wrongs, and try to reconcile with…
Nearly all major American cities are seeing spikes in violent crime. Rosa Brooks, an associate dean at Georgetown Law, believes: “The ‘defunding the police,’ I think was not a helpful slogan, and…
Black and racialized populations — including in Ottawa — face daily degradation in almost all walks of life. Abid Jan – Ottawa Citizen The scale and complexity of systemic racism have confused…
Thanks to the United for All (U4All) Champions for their leadership and continued commitment. A great show of commitment and dedication at the highest level again!!! U4All Champions Table met today to…
United Way East Ontario and the UFA Coalition issued the following statement today. United For All partners are deeply disturbed by the highest increase in harassment and intimidation of the Asian community…
The concept of “defunding the police” refers to the idea of reallocating funds away from traditional policing and investing them in other programs and services, such as mental health services, education, and…
Very interesting read. Here is the bottomline: “…While “diversity and inclusion” may sound a lot like antiracism, they’re really not the same thing. In some organizations, asking the Chief Diversity Officer or…
The best first step for those who wish to address racism yet do not necessarily know where to start is arming themselves with an understanding of how racial oppression: – Was socially…
Having worked for UWEO for close to 11 years now, I have thought about this question every day as I work to foster constructive change in our communities and our City. Our…
Character is indeed an important aspect of an individual’s personality and identity. It includes traits such as integrity, honesty, responsibility, and compassion, among others. Having strong character can help a person make…
Chief Sloly responded well to the question about systemic racism. The reality is that those within OPS and outside who claim there is no systemic racism represent a denial of institutional-based racism,…
The truth about systemic racism is not easy to communicate to many. One of the great nineteenth-century English philosophers of liberty and opponents of African slavery, John Stuart Mill, once put it…
This interesting report points only to one factor affecting one population segment. In our community in Ottawa, we know very well from which neighbourhoods most of the mental health-related 911 calls originate.…
What looks and feels normal during a particular age is not always normal. The inequity in Ottawa took me on a journey into the past. What I came to know made me…
United For All’s multi-pronged strategic approach to addressing hate and violence in Ottawa as the risk of hate and extremism – across racial, ideological, political and religious motivations – becomes a major…
Had the honour to convene United for All’s Champions Table meeting yesterday. This table supports the Coalition in building social cohesion and community resilience to counter violent extremism in all its forms.…
Well said, Minister Patty Hajdu: “Racism is not an accident. The system is not broken. It was created this way.” Here is a lesson for those who deny systemic Racism. Systemic Racism…
United for All is a strong voice of more than 120 organisations who collectively had the same call to action. Adam: The Ottawa community must speak up for Police Chief Peter Sloly…
Many of us have this misunderstanding that White Supermacy is a recent phenomenon that came to light with Oklahoma City bombing and got a shot in the arm with Trump’s election, and…
If you have children, and certainly if you have more than one, you know that each one presents differently and that you hold the highest outcomes for all of them. But when…
Ottawa Anti-Racism Forum – July 28, 2020. 1:00 -3:00pm United for All Coalition, in collaboration with the City of Ottawa, would like to cordially invite you to participate in the virtual Anti-Racism…
Research has shown that microaggressions and unconscious bias have a negative impact on the mental health of people of color at work, which may include issues with emotional regulation, lower self-esteem, anxiety, depression, hypervigilance,…
On November 19, 2019, Ottawa formally joined the Strong Cities Network at the launch of the United for All Coalition. Partners signed commitment to Strong Cities Network’s approach https://youtu.be/sInOiOZxRn4
Abid Jan has 17 years of extensive work experience with social services practice in Ottawa for high need populations (children and youth, seniors and low-income demographics, individuals and families in crisis) in…
Abid Jan, Ottawa Citizen December 30, 2009 Community development can be like the work of physicians and nurses. Like a health professional, you don’t cry when see your patients in agony and…