Changing the Mind of the City: Preparing the Public Sector for a Multicultural Society

Exploring Indigenous newcomer relations in the City of Toronto: changing demographics, reconciliation and the capacity of city planning

“…Fawcett et al (2015) argue for the need for the cultivation of a municipal culture of coexistence and coproduction between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in Saskatoon and other Canadian cities facilitated by the municipal government through institutionalized collaboration with Indigenous organizations, leaders, and communities. Brock (2009) argues that municipalities must create community dialogue around issues of diversity, immigration and multiculturalism is important. Governments and staff, therefore need to look at strategies for the creation of long-term engagement in cross-cultural dialogue between members of the host society and immigrant populations.…”

“…Governments and staff, therefore need to look at strategies for the creation of long-term engagement in cross-cultural dialogue between members of the host society and immigrant populations. Senior levels of government, particularly federal governments, are usually the drivers behind immigration policy and the creation of opportunities for new immigrants to come to Canada and other polyethnic nations (Brock, 2009). As part of their responsibility for implementing this strategy, senior levels of government need to focus energy and resources on effectively co-integrating new immigrants and current residents.…”

“…As part of their responsibility for implementing this strategy, senior levels of government need to focus energy and resources on effectively co-integrating new immigrants and current residents. To accomplish this, they need to explicitly support programming in cities that attract the most immigration (Brock, 2009). This would be a vital step towards creating an environment conducive to effective immigrant settlement and integration including learning about the history and current context of Indigenous peoples and communities.…”

“…The training of public service staff is also an important tool that cities can utilize, as the TRC Call to Action #57: Professional Development and Training for Public Servants suggests. To be effective, diversity training and cross-cultural communication initiatives must create long-lasting changes in people's behaviour (Brock, 2009). Rather than merely focusing on rights and responsibilities, this pedagogical approach focuses on developing critical insights into issues of power and inequality (Brock, 2009).…”

“…To be effective, diversity training and cross-cultural communication initiatives must create long-lasting changes in people's behaviour (Brock, 2009). Rather than merely focusing on rights and responsibilities, this pedagogical approach focuses on developing critical insights into issues of power and inequality (Brock, 2009). Increasingly, in planning discourse and other literature on social change, the transformational role of stories and storytelling is explored especially through community arts, undertaken with a community engagement approach, offering unique opportunities to create dialogue between groups (Brock, 2009).…”