Women’s Multicultural

Resource and Counselling

Centre of Durham

Inside this

issue:

WMRCC of

Durham: Greeting

1

Launching New Horizon for Seniors Grant

2

New Horizon for Seniors

Pictures

3

1 Billion and Rising

4,5

Black History Month

6,7,8

Greetings from the Ex-ecutive Direc-tor

9

International Women’s Day

10

Not in Our Watch Event

12

Not in Our

Watch 13

Presenta-tions: Fed. & Provincial Governments

14

Completed Activities

15

Thank You 16

Contact Info 17

Spring 2015 Edition

Greetings from WMRCC of

Durham

Please join us on Saturday May 30th

, 2015 for WMRCC of Durham charita-ble Gala of Hope. We will appreciate your presence as we raise funds to

empower women, youth and children to re-build their lives in the commu-nity.

A heartfelt appreciation to Catholic Family Services of Durham who has offered a beautiful office space to WMRCC of Durham. We sincerely

thank and appreciate CFS manage-ment for their generosity.

April 14, 2015– Ajax, Ontario – Launching of New

Horizon for Seniors Grant

The Honourable Alice Wong, Minister of State (Seniors), joined by the Honour-able Minister Chris Alexander, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada,

announced that seniors in Ajax, Pickering and Kingston will soon have new opportunities to make a difference in their communities. The Hon. Minister

Wong announced that the Government of Canada has approved five New Hori-zons for Seniors Program (NHSP), community-based projects in these areas, for a total of more than $122,000 in funding. These projects will make it possi-

ble for seniors to play a major role in a wide range of local programs and activi-ties.

Minister Wong made this announcement on April 14th, 2015 at the Pickering

Village Senior Citizens Club in Ajax WMRCC of Durham received $24, 986 to implement “Building A Safe and In-clusive Community for Seniors” (Project BASICS). Three other organizations

who received funding are Durham Tamil Association, EcoHealthResource and Wellness Centre Ajax and Christian Cultural Association of South Asians, King-

ston. The projects being funded focus on educational, recreational and out-reach activities that promote seniors participation and help provide guidance

and support to community members from diverse cultural backgrounds.

WMRCC of Durham, Project BASICS is a program for senior women, immi-grants and newcomers residing in Durham Region. The purpose of the project is to create knowledge and understanding on issues of elder abuse, financial abuse and decrease vulnerability to abuse and victimization. As participants,

senior women will be involved in the building of a safe and inclusive community activities. Participants will be actively engaged and involved in activities that

would reduce stress and isolation. They will make new friends, attend commu-nity events, volunteer, and will socialize with people of different age groups while promoting an active living for their physical and emotional well being.

– The Honourable Chris Alexander, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration “I am proud of our Government’s commitment to support New Horizons for

Seniors Program projects in Ontario communities. These projects will go a long way to enhance the lives of local seniors and provide them with opportunities

to interact and broaden their knowledge.”

.

Esther Enyolu, Citizenship and Immigration Min-

ister, Hon. Chris Alexander, Minister of State

(Seniors) Hon. Alice Wong , Vp of Pickering

Village Senior Citizens Club

Ajax Regional Councillor Colleen Jordan, Esther

Enyolu, Hon. Minister Alexander, Hon. Minister

alice Wong, VP of Pickering Village Senior Citi-

zens Club, Councillor Joanne Dies, Regional

Councillor Shaun Collier & Councillor Pat Brown

Hon. Minister Alice Wong , Hon. Minister Chris

alexander , Esther Enyolu with some seniors at the

event

1 Billion Rising Revolution

Jaki Mckinnon (ED Bethesda House), Regional Councillor Lorne Coe of Whitby, Vanessa Falcon (ED Herizon

House), Sirkku Meldrum, 1st VP (ETFO), Devorah Garland (Women‘s Counselolor Aids of Durham), Esther

Enyolu (ED WMRCC), Regional Councillor David Pickles of City of Pickering, Judy Khetani (WMRCC Direc-

tor), Cordelia McIntosh, President (Congress of Black Women) and Dayna GeorgeCounsellor , Herizon House

Whitby Regional Councillor Lorne Coe, Esther and

Pickering Regional Councillor David Pickles

Const. Keith Richards ( DRPS), Evelyn Smith (Past President, Pickering Rotary Club ), Martyn Beckett (Director DDSB),

Sirkku Meldrum (1st Vice President ETFO), Cordelia McIntosh (President of Congress of Black Women Oshawa/whitby) ,

Esther Enyolu (ED WMRCC) & Cecil Ramnauth (Sankat Mochan Hanuman Mandir & Cultural Center)

On February 14

th, 2015, thousands of One Billion Rising

Revolution events took place around the world. Women in Durham Region joined women globally to rise, dance, drum and raise awareness on issues of violence against women and girls. One Billion Revolution was an energy, a platform and ar-tistically orchestra event. The event was organized by WMRCC of Durham in partnership with the Pickering Town Centre, Ele-mentary Teachers Federation of Ontario, Herizon House and Aids of Durham. The event attracted many community members, local politi-cians, dignitaries and community partners and well wishers. Special thank you to Regional Councillor David Pickles from the City of Pickering, Regional Councillor Lorne Coe from the Town of Whitby, Mr. Martyn Beckett, Director, Durham District School Board, Const. Keith Richards from Durham Regional Police Service, Ms. Evelyn Smith from Pickering Rotary Club, Mr. Cecil Ramnauth from Sankat Mochan Hanuman Mandir and Cultural Centre, Ms. Cordelia McIntosh from Congress of Black Women. The community at large, men, women, youth and children who joined us at this event. Special appreciation to Lorna Murphy, Nidhi Sawhney and Erika Power from Pickering Town Centre, Sirkku Meldrum, ETFO, Vanessa Falcon, Herizon House, Devorah Garland, Aids of Durham, Judy and Kisho WMRCC Directors and the stu-dents, volunteers and staff who helped to plan and organize this event.

Black History Month

WMRCC Board Members, staff and students: Uma, Sarah, Esther,

Judy, Miranda and Marina

Jim Markovski—Education officer, DDSB, Camille Taylor– Superintendent of Education, DDSB, Daniel Hanna–

Danny Drums, Esther Enyolu, Baba William– Drums Etal, Nneka Bowen RBC– Regional VP & Meccana Ali,

Manager Youth and Violence Prevention Programs, SSN York Region

Event sponsors, Community partners and supporters: Nneka Bowen RBC– Regional VP, Erika Power– Digital Marketing Coor-

dinator & Lorna Murphy– Marketing Director , PTC, Regional Chair & CEO, Mr. Roger Anderson, Esther Enyolu ED-

WMRCC, Ajax– Pickering MPP, Mr. Joe Dickson & WMRCC Board Members Kisho Umar, Uma Suresh & Judy Khetani

Masters of Ceremony Mickey Palha, Artists: Dave Mclaughlin,

Maria Jemmott and Daniel Hanna– Danny Drums

On Friday February 27th 2015 WMRCC of Durham in partnership with the Pick-

ering Town Centre and RBC hosted the Black History Month Event at the Pickering

Town Center. The event attracted many people from different parts of Durham Region

and Greater Toronto Area at large. It was a great occasion and a memorable evening for

one to remember. There were various activities for everyone to participate and enjoy

from inspirational speakers to spoken words, fashion show, drumming, saxophone and

dancing. The event also attracted a lot of shoppers.

WMRCC of Durham would like to thank and appreciate all our community part-

ners who attended the event to join us in celebrating this occasion . Special appreciation

to MPP Joe Dickson , Regional chair/CEO Mr. Roger Anderson, Mary Nippak, Constitu-

ency Assistant/Outreach from MP Corneliu Chisu‘s Office, Whitby Regional Councillor

Lorne Coe, Nneka Bowen from RBC, Lorna Murphy and Erika Power from Pickering

Town Center, Dr. Naila Butt and Meccana Ali from Social Service Network (SSN) of

York Region, Debbie Falconer from Victims Witness Assistance Program , Joan Green ,

Devorah Garland from Aids of Durham and Ron Yuzark from Snapd for covering the

event.

We would like to extend our gratitude to all the performers and speakers who

made this day a special one by sharing their talents and creativity with the community.

Our appreciation goes to Baba Williams, Daniel Hanna, David Mclaughlin, Maria

Jemmott and Kelly Miller. To our models, Uma, Miranda, Judy and Kelly. To all the stu-

dents, Staff, volunteers and Board of Directors of WMRCC who organized and attended

this event.

Last but not the least our heartfelt appreciation and sincere thank you to RBC and

Pickering Town Centre for sponsoring this event. WMRCC would specifically want to

thank the following individuals from Pickering Town Centre: Lorna Murphy, Nidhi

Sawhney and Erika Power, Nneka Bowen from RBC. We sincerely appreciate your gen-

erosity and cannot thank you enough.

Black History Month

Debbie Falconer, Victim Witness Assistance Program,

Joan Green, Micky Palha and Esther

Ajax-Pickering MPP Joe Dickson and Regional Chair/

CEO, Mr. Roger Anderson

Group of audience enjoying the BHM event Youth attendees at the BHM event

Baba Williams, Mary Nippak from MP Chisu‘s Office, Lorna Murphy, PTC, Jim Markovski, DDSB, Councillor Coe, Ca-

milleTaylor, DDSB, Maria, Nneka Bowen, RBC, Mr. Anderson, Mickey and Naila Butt, E.D. SSN of York Region with

WMRCC members

Greetings from the Executive Director:

Esther Enyolu

Our Spring Newsletter is finally here ! It is an honour to present to you WMRCC of Durham Spring Newsletter. As usual it has been a very busy time for us due to several factors. The move com-bined with services and programs have kept us quite busy at the agency. I am hap-py to report that finally, we have re-located to a new environment. Thanks to our sis-ter agency, the Catholic Family Services of Durham Region who is currently housing us at their location in Ajax. Kindly join us to express a heartfelt appreciation to the wonderful Board of Directors and the Executive Director of the Catholic Family Ser-vices of Durham, Elizabeth Pierce (A friend in need; is a friend indeed). We can never thank you enough for your generosity and kindness. We are happy that some grants have come through after a long period of waiting. My greatest appreciation goes to the staff, students and volunteers who dedicatedly tried their best to deliver services in the community. Your commitments are inspirational to me and for that I am saying “thank you” to all of you. We have wide range of programs being delivered in the community including: Women Entrepreneur Project for small business owners, Civic Engagement Pro-gram for Newcomer and Immigrant women, youth and children, Program for Senior Women dealing with issues of violence and isolation, Youth Enrichment and Em-powering Program (project YEP) & Literacy Program. Our sincere appreciation to the funders, Status of Women Canada, Service Canada, Children’s Aid Foundation/RBC, Community Foundation of Durham Region/Town of Ajax, and Ontario Power Generation. We recently completed “Reach for the Sky” young women empowerment and mentorship program, and, a support group for women who experienced violence. We would like to appreciate some of our business partners who made in kind dona-tions toward the programs: Swiss Chalet, Pita Pit & Pizza Hut. We have been busy as well planning and organizing our 2015 “Gala of Hope”. We hope that you can join us at this event. It is promising to be a great event. We sincerely appreciate your continued support and generosity

International Women’s Day

Just like other years, the Women‘s Committee of Durham Region

(WCOD) hosted the International Women‘s Day Event on March 5th 2015.

Since the International Women‘s day this year fell on a Sunday the group decid-

ed to have the event on the 5th as majority of people were available that day.

Our theme this year was ―Surviving to Thriving” . The event was organized by

the organizations who are members of the Women‘s Committee of Durham Re-

gion. It was a great occasion as we had some powerful speakers who inspired

and captivated the audience. The Women‘s committee of Durham region would

like to thank UOIT for providing the space for the event. Also to the women and

young women who performed at the event and community partners who were

there to display their information booth.

Sincere appreciation to Joan Ann Evelyn who provided astrology consul-

tation with the attendees, Pauline who provided Reikki, Uma Suresh for provid-

ing henna, Kat who provided Thai Massage, Robyn and Jocelyn for hosting the

booth for children‘s activities. Nancy for providing Hand Massages.

We would like to thank our guess speakers: Social Law Advocate,

Lorraine Russell, the Author of Women are Worthy, Ettie Rutherford, CEO

Henderson Auto, Christine Henderson, Surviving to Thriving, Charlynn Archer

and Survivors Advocate, Michelle Moody. Young women singers who enter-

tained the audience with their talents: Kaelie Ullberg and Trinity.

We will also like to thank the Denise House for donating purple scarves

proceed to WCOD.

Finally, to the event emcees Lynn and Emma as well as all the members

of the WCOD who worked so hard in organizing such a great and inspiring

event.

Left to Right: Esther, Grace, Princess, Shakeidra, Kelly,

Sarah & Marina

Organizers: Members of the Women‘s Committee of

Durham Region (WCOD)

WMRCC Staff, Volunteers and Students with Sirkku and Ettie at

IWD event. Front Row: Uma, Shakeidra, Grace & Sarah

Back Row: Judy, Esther, Kelly, Princess, Sirkku Meldrum & Ettie

Rutherford

Our great speakers: Michelle Moody, Lorraine Russell,

Christine Henderson, Ettie Rutherford and Charlynn Archer

SSN “Not in our Watch”

A group of guest with Not on Our Watch Sign

Panelist on Violence against Women, Const. Darryl Rice,

DRPS, Uma Suresh, DTA, Esther Enyolu, WMRCC of

Durham, Martine Robinson, DDSB and Oliver Forbes, CDCD

A group picture of the organizers, Dr. Naila Butt, Meccana Ali,

Mr. Naushad Hirji, Josh and Uma Suresh with the dignitaries

Not in our Watch Campaign

The Social Service Network of York Region hosted its Neighbours, Friends

and Families Campaign in collaboration with DTA and other community partners in

Durham Region on February 28, 2015. The event took place at the Pickering Town

Centre.

Its’ purpose was to raise public awareness of the signs and risk factors

of violence against women, and helping people close to at-risk woman or an

abusive man offer effective support. The event was well attended with some

great speakers and community supporters and dignitaries in Durham Region.

Some of them included: Hon. Minister Chris Alexander, Hon. Minister Tracey

MacCharles, MP Corneliu Chisu, MPP Joe Dickson, Hon. Mayor of Picker-

ing, Dave Ryan, Hedvig Alexander, DDSB Director Martyn Beckett, Whitby

Regional Councillor Lorne Coe, Ajax Councillors: Renrick Ashby, Joanne

Dies and Marilyn Crawford. Also different ethno-cultural leaders and commu-

nity agencies representatives were in attendance.

The keynote speaker was Hedvig Alexander and the Masters of Cere-

mony was Tracey Vaughan.

Presentations: Federal and Provin-

cial Governments

Presentation at Queen’s Park WMRCC of Durham was one of the organizations invited by the Ontario Gov-

ernment ‗s Standing Committee on Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence.

The organization presented to the Standing Committee at Queen‘s Park on

May 6th, 2015. Delegates who presented were the Executive Director of WMRCC,

Esther Enyolu and WMRCC of Durham‘s Board Secretary and previous Youth

Community Connections Mentor and Engaging Youth in Preventing Violence against

Girls and Women‘s Youth Leader, Atiyya Bacchus. Prior to the presentation, the team

met with the Minister of Children Youth Services and Minister Responsible for

Women‘s Issues, Hon. Tracy MacCharles with her Policy Advisor, Rebecca Cald-

well.

Presentation at the Status of Women Canada WMRCC of Durham was one of the organizations invited by the Status of

Women Canada to share the ―Best Practices‖ in supporting Women and Girls who

experienced violence and abuse. The presentation was made on May 12th, 2015 in

Gatineau, Quebec. It was great to meet the project officers and Directors from SWC,

as well as the community organizations from different regions who presented on the

best practices being used to combat violence against women and girls, including dif-

ferent projects they implemented.

A picture of presenting agencies with

Status of Women Officers: Yannick

Raymond, Ont. Regional Director,

Danie Kingsbury, Senior Admin. As-

sistant and Mila Younes, Program &

Development Officer

Completed Activities

Reach for the Sky was an eight week ―Young Women Mentoring and Empower-

ment Program‖ implemented by WMRCC of Durham. The program objective was to

support, empower and provide an opportunity for disadvantaged young women to meet

with each other to share their experiences, learn from one another and be mentored. A

series of workshops were delivered which geared towards empowering them to break

the cycle of violence, build self-esteem, learn conflict resolution skills and develop

effective relationship with mentees.

WMRCC would like to thank the volunteers and students who implemented this

project in the community. Our special appreciation goes also to the SWISS Chalet on

Bayly Street West for sponsoring this program.

Women’s Support Group

The Goal of this program was to create a cohesive group that assisted and sup-

ported women and their families with their everyday experiences. It provided women

with information on the workforce (resume building, Job finding and how to interact

with future employers); effective communication; building confidence and self-esteem

through self- exploration; healthy lifestyles; managing stress, anger management,

breaking the cycle of violence and how to access services available in the community.

It was an eight weeks support group that brought together women from diverse back-

grounds to share experiences and work on common goals.

Thank you to our Funders and

Donors

WMRCC of Durham Contact Information

Mailing Address:

1355 Kingston Road, P.O Box 66164, Pickering

Ontario, L1V 6P7

Tel: 905-427-7849

Toll Free: 1-877-454-4035

Fax: 905-427-9299

TTY Phone: 905-427-6860

Email: info@wmrccdurham.org

Website: www.wmrccdurham.org

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