October 29, 2008

Amazing! Simply Amazing! Another wonderful Independent Living Canada Annual General Meeting! I know I am biased but so what. It was great.  Lots of people, good vibs, positive thinking, determination and our never ending passion and hope!

All of the speakers were fabulous!  Burt Danovitz, the Executive Director of the Utica IL Centre really inspired us with stories and examples on how the Utica Resource Centre for Independent Living applies Independent Living. They definitely “colour outside the lines” and firmly believe in directly addressing the underlying conditions of poverty, unemployment, incarceration, lack of transportation and much more.  They go way beyond just articulating concerns by articulating them to government policy makers and politicians. They also make things happen.

For example, Burt recalled one woman who was really tired about talking to social workers about being poor and desperately needing transportation to get from point A to B.  She was simple fed up and frustrated talking about her transportation barrier with professionals when what she really needed was a car!  A light bulb went on for Burt he thought why don’t we try to get her a car and they did!  This situation led the Centre partner with car dealerships and they now help individuals to buy their own car – hence, the removal of the transportation barrier.

I really like the RCIL’s core values statement as well –
“This organization believes that the widespread poverty, segregation, and isolation of people with disabilities are unacceptable, should not be tolerated, and requires change. We feel an obligation to make positive systemic changes through education and legislation and to provide full access, power, and self-determination to those with disabilities. With a focus on integration and assisting people to reach their greatest potential, we will support a culture that encourages risk-taking, creativity, and innovation. To address broader public policy issues, we will be committed and deliberate in speaking about the problems and obstacles faced by people with disabilities. We shall exist as an organization that on all levels abides by a living code of ethics which mandates respect, appreciation, honesty, integrity, empathy, trust, and accountability.”
For more information on the Utica Centre go to www.rcil.com
All of our guest speakers were wonderful and we were very fortunate to have had Alexis Carty an Advisor from Youth Justice Policy and Strategic Initiatives and Law Reform, Department of Justice Canada speak on their youth initiatives as well.

We have two new members to the IL Canada national board of directors – Bev Elliott, Chairperson of the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto and Earl Black, Chairperson of the Sudbury IL Centre.  A warm welcome to both of them.

At this time I would also like to announce two new members to the national office team.   IL Canada has created a new position – Director of Operations to enable me to focus externally which I am very excited about. 

Mike Martin is our new Director of Operations. For many years Mike worked for a national union in many capacities including Director of Finance and Administration and Assistant to the National President. In those roles he oversaw a budget of over $40 million dollars and helped manage the communications and political action functions for the union. For the last seven years Mike has had his own consulting company providing leadership and other types of training to organizations in the not for profit sector. He has worked with dozens of organizations at the local and national level to help them build capacity and strengthen their overall ability to serve their constituencies.

I am also thrilled to announce that that Mike Murphy, the Executive Director of the Kingston IL Centre will be joining us over the next three months as a “Special Advisor to the National Director”.  Mike has been involved in IL for 20 years now!  I have asked Mike to help us strengthen the national office for the future by consulting with IL Centres across the country!  Mike will be at the office and in Ottawa three days per week.  Congratulations to our two Mikes! Notice that their last names both start with “M” so we need to still figure out what to do about two Mikes in the office.  We also have two people with the last name Martin.

At Independent Living Canada’s Annual General Meeting we also announced our national partnership with People First of Canada for this year’s United Nation’s International Day of People with Disabilities.
This year Independent Living Canada will have its annual national kick-off event in Ottawa at the War Museum from 4:00 – 8:00 pm on December 3rd, 2008.  Registration at 3:30 pm. IL Canada is partnering with People First of Canada to screen their new documentary “The Freedom Tour”. The film is about 16 people, 4 vehicles, 3 provinces and 2 cameras with 1 goal –  freeing people with intellectual disabilities from institutions.  The Freedom Tour is an amazing film about a journey by people who once lived in institutions who are trying to help end the practice of institutionalization and exposing some of the horrors of the past and present.
A DVD of the film was given to each Centre at the annual meeting and we are hoping that they will be able to also show this film on the UN Day and/or at other Centre events.

We are also working really hard to release the new IL Canada book entitled:
IMPACT:  Changing the way we view disability
A History, Perspective and Vision of the Independent Living Movement in Canada
We are asking the political leaders of every party to speak at the event as well. IL Canada will keep you posted via our main website.

In closing, we are still downloading over 600 pictures from the AGM and I will post some as soon as possible.
Until next time…
Traci