Chair: Brenda Knight

The Centertown Community Association Anti-Racism Working Group has been formed to work towards increasing awareness and promoting the understanding of the trauma caused by systemic racism, hate crimes and violence directed towards the racialized community. 

Goals of the Anti-Racism Working Group : 

• Engage interested people to share information, develop recommendations/initiatives or to take actions to combat racism, including hate crimes, racial discrimination, harassment, and other individual or systemic racist issues that affect BIPOC and other racialized communities in Centretown/Ottawa; 

• To work collaboratively with existing organizations (e.g. the City of Ottawa Secretariat on Racism, other community associations, United For All) to further our efforts to achieve our anti-racism goals; 

• To invite key stakeholders and subject-matter experts to educate the public; 

• To take action and present motions to the CCA or Councillor when needed. 

Main areas of concern: 

• To continue to prioritize the importance of supporting Councillors and community groups to reallocate funds from the OPS budget to social services and mental health resources; 

• Increase awareness of the importance of representation of all groups at City Council in the upcoming elections; 

• Growth of the group in both in participation, numbers and diversity; 

• To consider if and how we could engage with youth to ensure their issues are also examined. 

Interested in joining this committee? Become a CCA member today and contact us at anti-racism@centretowncitizens.ca.