By Eliana Trinaistic, Social Impact Manager “All models are wrong, but some are useful.” — George E. P. Box Over the past couple of years the Government of Canada has made some significant moves in terms of accelerating innovation in the social sector. First, in 2017 they appointed the Co-Creation Steering Group, to guide the development of a Canadian Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy. After a year of consultations, the Group presented its recommendations…
By Sarah Haque, Board Administration and Communication Coordinator I have heard from more than one non-Bengali speaker that when they hear Bengali spoken it sounds sweet and melodious. I speak Bengali. It is my mother tongue. My language is my identity. But these feelings and my story would’ve been entirely different if Bengali student demonstrators, Abdus Salam, Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Abul Barkat, Abdul Jabbar and many others hadn’t sacrificed their lives and become language martyrs….
By Sanah Matadar, Social Media Coordinator 25 percent. The figure marks the near percentage of working Canadian immigrants in 2016. The following year, 60 percent of the country’s increase in employment was from immigrants joining the work force. So to anyone who genuinely believes that immigrants should not be welcomed into Canadian society, we must ask, what would we do without them? As for those who support migration to Canada, and who believe in it,…
By Sanah Matadar, Social Media Coordinator ‘Join the conversation,’ and ‘Today, let’s talk!’ These slogans are likely on every other post of your social media feeds today, most probably followed by the hashtag #BellLetsTalk. It began as a single day in 2010, to aid in eliminating the stigma that surrounds issues of mental health and mental illness. Unfamiliar with how it works? For each tweet and RT that includes the official hashtag, Bell donates 5…
The What, Why, Who and How of Language Policy Hackathon, Part II By Eliana Trinaistic, Social Impact Manager Who (The Alliance and Audiences) With some ambiguities around what exactly our hackathon experiment “should be or should deliver,” we needed to find strong and trusting partners. Early in the planning process, we identified a young, immensely competent group of soon-to-be graduates from The Policy Innovation Initiative (Pii) at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public…
By Eliana Trinaistic, Social Impact Manager What Depending on the angle, a policy hackathon could be a simple gathering of interested parties having a conversation about political processes – how policies are being made or articulated. After all, policies are the main instrument of a government’s agenda and the key to public spending. In that context, some see policy hackathons as a disruption to top-down delivery by introducing fresh and creative public input. Hackathons are…
By Eliana Trinaistic, Social Impact Manager In 2019, Canada will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the first Official Languages Act of 1969. To ensure that the language rights are guaranteed (as outlined in the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms), the Act has undergone revision, albeit only one, and that was 20 years ago. The Government recognized the need for modernizing the policy. So in 2018, public consultations on the…
by: Shash Anand, Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of MCIS Language Solutions “What a magical experience I had volunteering during the Annual Community Christmas Dinner at the Salvation Army!” “Last year I joined the MCIS team and helped prepare and serve Christmas Dinner to over 50 people. It was such a wonderful experience seeing the smiling faces and serving the community that I made sure to come back again this year with MCIS and…
