Executive Director's Message

After being away from my office for two weeks, travelling the country for various meetings all having to do with women`s rights, feminism and the role of States and Governments, I came to my desk and sat down to check my messages. The first message to play was from a colleague from British Columbia, I`m yet to meet in person. Her message? She was calling to gauge my interest in discussing the re-establishment of a national immigrant and ‘visible minority’ (racialized) women’s voice/organization/coalition.

April, 2018

It is a windy, icy mid-April Spring morning as I turn my thoughts to the beginning of a new fiscal year and what it means, especially this year, for us as a Sector.

February 2018

"Your silence will not protect you" - Audre Lorde

January 2018

November 2017

October 11, 2017 - Farewell speech at OCASI Annual General Meeting by Ibrahim Absiye, President of OCASI - Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
(Reprinted with permission)

My fellow members of this Council, associate members and other colleagues, I want to take a few minutes of your time to talk about my feelings today about who we are as a sector. And let me begin with my own personal experience.

August 2017 / Toronto - This August long weekend in Canada was a time for much discussion of what this civic holiday means for different parts of the country. In Ontario, there’s a mishmash of understanding of why we take off the first Monday in the month. For many it’s just a day off. For others (especially Torontonians and those in the Greater Toronto area) its Simcoe day and still for others, especially Ontario’s Black communities, its Emancipation Day, a commemoration of the end of the enslavement of Black people here in Canada* and throughout the Americas (1834).

August 2017 / Toronto - This August long weekend in Canada was a time for much discussion of what this civic holiday means for different parts of the country. In Ontario, there’s a mishmash of understanding of why we take off the first Monday in the month. For many it’s just a day off. For others (especially Torontonians and those in the Greater Toronto area) its Simcoe day and still for others, especially Ontario’s Black communities, its Emancipation Day, a commemoration of the end of the enslavement of Black people here in Canada* and throughout the Americas (1834).

July 2017

Over the past few weeks, my time has been taken up with government relations obligations: consultation with the Federal Minister responsible for immigration; discussions with the Provincial Ministry (of Citizenship and Immigration) and their new Refugee Resettlement Unit; participation on the Global Migration Compact Advisory Committee and my work on the Provincial Working Group charged with developing a roadmap for Income Security Reform.

June 2017

This short month with the longest day in the year is unfolding with a packed legislative and policy agenda at all levels of government. From the City of Toronto (where OCASI’s offices are located) to Queen’s Park to Parliament Hill, announcements from our elected leaders have been raining down from on high: Most of it good.