THUNDER BAY — Diversity Thunder Bay hosted its 18th annual event in recognition of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination at the Italian Cultural Centre.
“We all have to become 'inbetweeners,' which means we have to put ourselves in the uncomfortable position of breaking down the silos and barriers between people.
“The message today is, 'have the courage to be an in-betweener,'” said Roshand Danesh, the keynote speaker for the event on Wednesday.
Anna Torontow, the communications coordinator for Diversity Thunder Bay, said the organization has been around since 2000.
“It's a group of individuals and organizations that just really believe in celebrating diversity and promoting a community free of racial discrimination or any discrimination, that's safe and welcoming for all," said Torontow.
The event has always been well attended, but has changed in the past number of years, Torontow said.
“In the past it was a breakfast that would be 500 people strong, but we all know that things have changed so drastically since the pandemic.
“As of 2020, we went online for a few years and had a wonderful response doing virtual presentations. Last year, we came back to in person, but offered it as a hybrid where we were simultaneously streaming the event," said Torontow.
This year the event is strictly in person, she said, adding that she believes people are ‘hungry’ for it with everything that's going on in the world.
This year’s event was sold out at a capacity of 300, two weeks prior to Wednesday.
“I think it offers a reset for everybody because we can all get busy and bogged down with life, but at the same time we get busy and bogged down with working on these issues on a daily basis. To see that there's all of this desire to build better communities is invigorating for people," said Torontow.
Danesh will touch on different aspects of diversity through his presentation.
“One of the things I'm going to be touching on, not just in the context of reconciliation but more broadly, is how in communities we often have invisible silos that have been built up. We all see the visible ones, but the invisible ones hold a lot of power and we don't often address them, see them and then break them down.
“When you bring all sorts of people together from different backgrounds, ethnicities, ways of life, cultures, traditions and have a dialogue about that, it often surfaces new ways to break those down together,” Danesh said.
Danesh said he’s been impressed with the work Diversity Thunder Bay does for the Thunder Bay community.
“I was asked to speak about resilience and community cohesion and it's really an important theme right now... We're really going to speak about how we build strong communities in light of the challenges that we face at this moment.
“My co-author of a recent book, Jody Wilson-Raybould, spoke for Diversity Thunder Bay a few years ago and she really encouraged me to accept the invitation and join me here today,” he said.
The sold-out event shows the vitality that exists in Thunder Bay and the work that community organizations are doing, Danesh said.
“It really shows that people are thirsty and hungry to keep rising to the challenges of this moment in time, which, as I've said, are getting more and more every day. To see people stepping forward and wanting to learn and take action together is fantastic," said Danesh.
For more information, visit Diversity Thunder Bay’s website.
