Timmins project aims to tackle racism in city

The Timmins Diversity Awareness Project, one of 85 projects across the country receiving funding from the federal government's Anti-Racism Action Program, is hoping it can address discrimination in the city.

This new project, led by the Timmins Economic Development Corporation (TEDC), aims to help foster a welcoming and inclusive society in the city.

There will be challenges ahead.

Madison Mizzau, a community development consultant with the TEDC, said past surveys conducted by several groups show that newcomersdon't always feel welcome in the city.

"We've heard over the years that this is an issue and we're hoping that this project will be one piece in addressing that," Mizzau said.

"Within the Timmins2020 strategic plan, this was identified as an issue. And consultations with the community during that process had mentioned that racism, intolerance was an issue that needed to be addressed."

The problems made headlines in 2018, when Ontario's Human Rights commissioner blasted Timmins for its "pervasive" level of racism after a string of violent incidents involving the city's Indigenous population.

But Mizzau said she's hoping they can use this project as a spring board to helping develop a culture of success and inclusion in the city, something that will trickle into the city's economic health, too.

"From an economic development perspective, we know that in Timmins we need to attract and retain workers," Mizzau said. "We're hearing from employers...that they do need people."

"It's not just a matter of newcomers, but also Indigenous people from surrounding First Nations as well as the James Bay coast, because we know that they come to Timmins for accessing work as well as health care."

The first step in this program is collecting data from a survey on the city's web site.

"We're asking really just for people's experiences, so if they've personally experienced racism or discrimination within Timmins, but also people if they've witnessed it"

"So whether it's verbal, physical, microaggression, there's many different categories," she said.

The results, Mizzau said, will guide their approach to implementation of the project, which she expects to roll out over one year.

"We know that attitudes and behaviours take a while to change.," she said. "Next year we're going to be looking at doing a wrap-up survey and seeing if we've seen any of those changes, if the incidences have decreased or if people's knowledge or behaviours have potentially changed because of the awareness campaign or the workplace initiative."