Equity and Inclusion

Over the last several years, we have made a commitment to provide culturally responsive, anti-oppressive services for the families we serve. We, both at Durham and our colleagues at CASs across Ontario, are dedicated to continually learning and to ensuring that we provide services that are inclusive and are respectful of the unique needs of each family. We are committed to acknowledging the role that systemic racism has played in child welfare, and to dismantling that very system has had devastating impacts our communities.

As part of our commitment, we are continuing to consult with members of communities throughout Durham Region to ensure that our services evolve to meet the diverse needs of all the families we serve. We conducted several community consultations with our Community Advisory Council and have implemented a number of changes resulting from what we learned during those sessions.

Upcoming Consultations: Spring 2023

We are now hosting a new series of public consultations, a series of “Community Chat” sessions to be held in Oshawa and Ajax.

We invite everyone to join us for an evening of conversation and collaboration.

We are excited to share the changes we’ve made using feedback we’ve received, and want to hear more from our community as we continue to evolve with a more culturally-relevant and holistic lens.

Each session will:

• Utilize focus-groups, so there’s more space for discussion.
• Be hybrid, in-person and virtual to ensure everyone can participate.
• Feature different topics of discussion.
• Include community service partners who will provide information on their services.
• Reinforce our accountability commitment

All sessions are both in-person and online. A registration link for Session #2 is coming soon.

For more information, please contact Shailene Panylo, Diversity Initiatives & Community Engagement Lead.