Attention News/Assignment Editors:

MEDIA RELEASE – Rebuilding urban foundations, promoting inclusion a fundamental challenge to Toronto, says a new report.

March 23 / The fundamental challenge to Toronto during the coming decade is to rebuild the urban foundations of the City so that every resident can experience the dignity and opportunity of full inclusion, argues a new report.

Toronto Community Voices, Perspectives and Priorities is one of five city reports released across Canada today, the work of Inclusive Cities Canada. This participatory research initiative uses a social inclusion framework to promote people-friendly cities, good urban governance and strategies for supporting urban diversity. The reports issue a wake-up call on the future of Canada’s cities.

The Toronto report was coordinated by a civic panel of community leaders and elected officials. The Community Social Planning Council of Toronto coordinated the report’s research, examining key dimensions of social inclusion, such as how the city responds to diversity, levels of civic engagement, living conditions, opportunities for human development and the adequacy of community services.
 

The report recommends extending the right to vote in municipal elections to all Toronto residents, including immigrants and refugees, and to youth aged 16 and 17. The report also calls for expanding community participation in policing; turning city schools into community hubs of inclusion; and mandating “leadership equity” standards for public institutions and community agencies.

“Our research captures an authentic community voice that is seeking new forms of inclusion,” said Amanuel Melles, co-chair of the Toronto civic panel. More than 270 individuals from diverse community sectors contributed to focus groups and local soundings.

The report shows that participants found their city one of contradictions. While Toronto has many strengths including a willingness to make civic democracy work, municipal policies that address diversity, and some good practices, the city’s leadership does not adequately reflect the city’s diversity, and there is no coherent strategy to translate goals into realities on the ground.

 
Social inclusion is being used in national and international research to provide a “confidence index” of community well-being and to determine how secure and welcomed individuals and groups feel in their communities.   

The report calls on Ottawa and Queen’s Park to expand urban strategies beyond transit and water systems to include social policy issues, and sees a central role for local authorities. “Virtually every local decision, from zoning to police attitudes toward youth and visible minorities, can promote or hinder inclusion,” said Councillor Pam McConnell, civic panel co-chair.

Tam Goossen, board member of the Community Social Planning Council, said the report offers important guidance for decision-makers. “This measure of community perception shows where action should be taken to motivate and encourage both our political and community leadership to strive together to build an inclusive city”.

The report contains 31 recommendations in six priority areas including renewing civic democracy and advocating for federal and provincial initiatives to address disparities in living conditions. The findings and recommendations will be presented to city council, school boards and community organizations.

Inclusive Cities Canada is intended to support civic capacity to build inclusive communities, secure a stronger voice for urban communities in national social policy and ensure that voices of diversity are recognized as core Canadian ones. In addition to Toronto, four other communities participated: Saint John, Burlington, Edmonton and Vancouver. The findings from the five sites will also be shared at a national roundtable to be held in Ottawa on June 2, 2005. The roundtable will develop common recommendations for the provincial and federal governments.

For further information, contact: John Campey, Executive Director, Community Social Planning Council (416) 351-0095 ext. 260 (cell) 647-283-9657 or Samantha Sherkin, ICC Regional Coordinator 416-351-0095 ext. 224.
 
The five site reports, background information and executive summaries are available on www.inclusivecities.ca