Margarita worked for the Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre for over 18 years. It was her first job when she came to Canada from Mexico. As of June, 2011, Margarita is working as the Executive Director of Nellie’s Women’s Shelter in downtown Toronto.
How did you become involved in the Jane/Finch community?
A few months after I came to Canada, because I have my background in community development back home and through a friend that was working in another community organization downtown, she told me there was an opening as an Outreach Worker at the Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre. So, that’s how I got connected. I went and I submitted my application, about six to eight months after I came to Canada. I went for the interview which the first one, I was not successful because back home, we don’t have any relevant training, although my training, both in El Salvador and in Mexico was in psychology. I didn’t have any training in family violence and child abuse.
As part of the interview team, there was a woman from Guatemala and later on I learned that she advocated for me to get a second interview because she saw that I had a lot of potential and she explained that the staff at Jane and Finch, like back home, we don’t have that kind of training but the work I had been doing was really in alignment with Jane and Finch and I was given a second opportunity. I got the job after the second interview.
I started my job soon after I came to Canada. I came to Canada in the middle of 1986 and started this job in the beginning of 1987. I stayed at the Jane/Finch Centre for 18 or 19 years, leaving in about 2004 or 2005. Year after year, you can see how the community changes – it amazing, all the things that change.
You had many roles at the Jane/Finch Centre. What were they?
I started as an Outreach Worker when my son was small and working three days a week. After I started working as a community development worker, that included outreach and as a Program Worker. After, I moved to the Team Leader position for the mental health program, then coordinator for the Child/Parent Programs. When the organization moved from a shared management, I became the Executive Coordinator and then I was made the first Executive Director for the Centre.
What was going on in the local community, the City and Province when you started working?
As a new worker at Jane and Finch, the staffing was not as diverse as it is now. Programs were not as focused on newcomers issues. It was mainly parenting programs, mental health issues and there was some community development happening in some of the neighbourhoods – that was at the level of the organization. Because of the first year, I don’t have the whole picture because I was a recent arrival to Canada. I didn’t have the perspective of what was going on at the level of the province or the City but through my work at Jane and Finch and my own inclinations to learn about issues not just about what was inside with the services. I was working part-time because my son was very small and I was doing outreach and a group mainly for Spanish-speaking women. I think it was that program that was just starting with another organization – there was already a partnership going on at Jane and Finch with Northwood Neighbourhood Services. I started the program called Women Together (its still operating today) and I started to do outreach.
When I started to do outreach, I started talking to people and listening to their issues that they have. It became very evident to me that because there were a lot of complaints about how they have been having difficulties with the public health department, with the Board of Education and with many of those big institutions because the piece of the culture was not part of the big institutions. Even with Hincks-Dellcrest at that time, when they felt residents had to be dealing with those organizations, there has to be a transition because many of the countries where people were coming from and arriving at Jane and Finch, the issue of physical discipline of children and many other cultural issues were not taken into consideration. A lot of people were being involved without being bad parents because there was not a teaching process for the parents.
In talking to many of the families, I started observing that there was a common thread as many of them were complaining of the issues they were having in dealing with agencies because there was a different way of approaching parenting or approaching life that was Canadian and the way that they were coming from in their countries. Part of that was my first conversation with Peggy Edwards who was in Community Development in Jane Finch Centre and I started to share with her my observations in the community. I said, okay, why instead of just advocating case by case we start doing a series of training for these people working in those organizations. I don’t remember what was the name but mainly what we were doing on a monthly basis for a few years, we would invite people who were working in the schools in the area, people who worked with mental health, the hospital and different places and have a person who was already established from the different cultures – I remember we did one with the Italian, Spanish, Somali – different cultures so have a person that was already established and have a name in Canada coming and teaching about the culture. We trained them about back home and the parenting culture – helping workers to understand the culture of the newcomers that were arriving more and more to Jane and Finch. I think they were already here before but already in Jane and Finch, it was diverse. I was told they (Jane Finch Centre) didn’t work with immigrants – the organization just worked with poverty and now poverty is so closely related to immigration but at that time, there was not a clear connection between poverty and immigration.
So, from those workshops that we did for over one year, I started to work with Community Development too. There was that kind of training and conversation – facilitated conversation between experts that were working - we had different people at Children’s Aid that would come and talk about how to parent in this culture. That was something I was noticing. The community was very open to come to these conversations. Another thing at that time was the funding – funding was very flexible at that time and we were able to do these kinds of workshops because there was a partnership between the City, the province and United Way so that we had the flexibility which at that time was excellent. But now, you don’t see that often because everything is project driven and there has to be outcomes and all of that. If we are talking about community development, you cannot come with an agenda – this is going to be happening and within this time because its like over there, you have to come prepared - first to listen, identify the issues and start working and doing. You don’t know how soon the change is going to be happening, how lengthy it’s going to be so that was a big, big plus that we had at Jane and Finch at that time. One was the flexibility of the organization and secondly, the possibilities because of the flexibility of funding.
As a newcomer coming into Jane Finch, what were your impressions? What were you hearing prior to working at Jane Finch?
When I started working, some people warned me about the bad reputation at Jane and Finch. There are these things, it’s not safe and there was an issue of poverty. And, like I say, I was working in community development in both El Salvador and Mexico in marginalized areas where people live in not even houses, they don’t have running water, you will see the dirty water running in the middle of the roads and later on in Mexico too, working in marginalized communities. There was not transportation; people had to walk far away to go to the store. For me, this was not really - my first impression was wow, this is not poverty the same way that I was used to coming from in Latin America. The other piece for me that was very impressive was the diversity.
The more time that I was working there, the more I could see. When I started working in the beginning of 1987, there was a lot of people from the Caribbean Islands and there was a lot of people from Latin American living there but because I was mainly working in social housing complexes, suddenly, there were influxes – people were coming from Cambodian and they stay and they move and there were people from different places in Africa. And you will see the clusters in different buildings. We know which building was social housing – which buildings were more for the Somali’s, which buildings for the Spanish community and you can start seeing in all the 18 years I worked at Jane and Finch becoming more and more diverse. At the beginning there were just a few – three or four major ethnic groups but in the end, you can see people from all over the world. There was a time where there was a big influx of Roma people where they asked Jane and Finch if they could have some space to have some parenting programs. So, the community is constantly changing. That is the piece that really is so important for funding. That was always my big frustration because the community changed from year to year, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year and we were receiving funds from settlement and things like that. For information they were receiving for statistics, it was like three years old. By the time they were setting the priorities and the direction for funding that came to the community, it was so outdated. It’s such a big disconnection. That was something that was so obvious working at Jane and Finch – the big disconnection mainly between the federal government and the community. And its still, to this day and more so because they make these kind of decisions without really having knowledge, actual knowledge of what is happening in the community. When you look at statistics Canada, that is old and by the time it comes, who cares. It’s not a relevant issue in the community. That was the piece that always frustrated me.
The other piece that really, when I started working because my training was in psychology, was that a high percentage of people were experiencing different levels of mental health issues because of isolation and the stress of being a newcomer and things like that. There was the issue of mental health but because of the stigma that was attached to mental health, people were not looking for support and the lack of counselors that were unable to provide counseling in the same language. That was a big issue that I experienced because when you are stressed, when you need to talk about your personal issues, it makes a big difference if you can speak in your own language. There was very limited support for people with mental health issues in their own language. That was something that I observed.
The other piece that I felt good about was the work of the North York Interagency and Community Council (NYIAC). For me, that was an organization that was incredibly, incredibly supportive. Because of doing community development and because of my own observations, I started working on mental health issues and I really enjoyed working with NYIAC on issues of parenting and children. What I really enjoyed was my connection with the Mental Health Sub-Committee of NYIAC because we started working on many of the issues that I was seeing in the community. NYIAC had the ability to make the connections and I started to see some of the changes and how clear it was when working in partnerships and working under the umbrella – more things were happening. I really enjoyed my time at NYIAC.
What were some of your involvements at the Centre that you feel had an impact?
The one that I really had an impact on was the one I mentioned before - when we did the series of cultural conversations with the workers. I think that was very important. The other piece for me that was important as when I was doing outreach at 15 Tobermory and having meetings with local police. Now an MP, Mr. Fantino at that time was with the 31 Division. Having meetings with him and holding him accountable for the issue of the timing of responses when the community was calling for issues of family violence needed attention. Residents had a meeting with him. The community came together because they were tired that when there were issues of family violence and they were calling and the length of time, if they even came around, was too long. I remember he came and clearly saying, “Well, why are we going to send police? We have so many priorities.”
It was not mandatory for the police, at that time, to press charges so he clearly said, “It’s not a priority” for him to be responding because they are going to come and later on the women were not going to press charges. I think that as a result of this conversation, Wanda went and did some training with the police at the police station. So, the community had this need for the community to hold Mr. Fantino responsible for the role where he was supposed to protect the women and the people living at 15 Tobermory. That was a very important piece for me.
Another piece I remember was working as an outreach worker and running a program out of 15 Tobermory. Eery morning that I was walking there, you would see a lot of blood at the entrance of the building and guys smoking pot or making their deals – cars driving in and out of Tobermory and again, they were calling the police. The police were not responding. There were also a few cases where I learned of women using the stairs in the building and they were robbed and beat up. Then they said enough is enough. The police are not responding and they just put a table at the entrance of the building, had coffee and they were there. Residents were visible so the drug dealers moved. That was a very powerful piece of response from the community.
At Jane/Finch Centre, we had a program for people with mental health issues and it was a social recreational program. There was a year when I was the Team Leader and there were a lot of men (big men) coming off medications and we needed to have the police helping us and again, the police weren’t responding. Some of them, because of that, we were not able to get them into the hospital for treatment. I remember one case where a guy ended up stabbing someone in the elevator and after that, again, as part of NYIAC, there were meetings in different areas including the Mental Health Advisory Committee that was made up of people from the hospital and different places. We called the police and we wanted to hold them accountable for that time. We started working with a person, Tony McKenzie, from the police. He was in community relations. He was the one who came and we invited him to become part of the Mental Health Advisory at Jane and Finch and he stayed on that committee for a few years. We were able to get a better response and he stayed very much involved in our organization and in the community. That was something that I really remembered.
I don’t know when the changes started to happen, but suddenly there were more services coming for settlement support. We started to see more and more services geared towards more ethno-specific communities – more in that area. Jane and Finch was involved in some of these organizations. The organizations serving the ethnic groups were coming alive and some were disappearing because of how they were structured. At the time I was working there, there were two big ethno-specific organizations serving people – the Asian Community Centre and the Latin American Community Centre. They both disappeared and Jane/Finch Centre was very much involved in those two organizations by trying to provide support so that they would be viable and receiving funding as they were significant service providers for residents in the community. Those two ethno-specific organizations disappeared and for me that highlighted the importance of having more multi-service organizations because when you have organizations that are geared to one specific culture, not all Latin Americans are the same and that’s why those two organizations disappeared. For example, the Latin Americans - you have people that are coming for different reasons because they are very much involved in social change and political change in their countries but you have people coming here because they are not happy with changes so you have such diverse mentalities. How can you provide to those specific groups when you have such diverse approaches to social and political issues? The same for the Asian Community Centre – you have so many differences in religion and political and economical approaches. In all these countries, there is not a diverse community but there are the diverse approaches. Class is a big issue; religion is a big issue so how can you be serving them. That’s why I believe these two organizations failed. In addition to the Latin American Community Centre, management was not properly done and that really had a big impact in the funding.
I could see too, the other piece that had a negative impact was at the time of Mike Harris, with the funding and amalgamation of the city and when the city started to lose access to community space like schools for after-school programs. We used to run some programs at Jane and Finch - people just getting together and using the schools for a basketball game. We were in partnership with one of the schools with the Boy Scouts and the school said no, this is not going to be available anymore. Those programs had issues of insurance because the school was not open. Who is going to be responsible so the community started to lose a lot of community space and you can start seeing the impact like when the school came with the Zero Tolerance. That had a big impact because there were a lot of kids in the community that were not supervised. They had lots of time on their hands and there was an increase in break-ins and the issue of drug use.
For me, it was very impressive when we started to do a drop-in. It was just a drop-in program for kids from the Cambodian community. They were very young. They were high-school students and the outreach worker for that program was a kid who himself had a problem with alcohol use. The only thing that we did was provide a drop-in space – not treatment but a space where they could come and watch movies (they would choose the movies), listen to music, a place for them to hang out where it was supervised. Again, it is important to have staff that are flexible. The staff person and the director of the community centre were flexible. We were talking about kids who were very young and for whatever the reason were smoking pot, had problems with alcohol and things like that. The Director of the Driftwood Community Centre, he was in the bathroom one time and he caught two kids smoking pot and doing drugs in the bathroom. The way that he approached them was very good. Instead of just calling the police which would have had a very negative impact, he started talking – this is happening, these are going to be the consequences, you are not going to be allowed to do that and that if this was going to happen, it affects not just the two kids that were involved. There was a meeting with all the kids and he was clear that this was a safe space and it was not allowed. I think that had a very good impact because they really feel safe in their space and they started opening up about the things they were involved in. They didn’t have anything to do at the end of the day. They would go a break into houses and being in the group really had a positive impact in changing those kids. They were more involved and going back to school. There was a lot of advocacy. For me, it was so obvious when we are talking about this year again with the political situation that is happening and with all the budget cuts and decreases in services. There are going to be for sure, not this year but next, cuts to the parks and recreation services and people don’t see how in the long term, the cost of cuts to all these services because that is going to have an impact. It’s so clear when kids don’t have a space. They don’t have access to art; they don’t have access to sports so where are all those energies going to go? There is going to be a lot of trouble so at the end it’s going to be more costly. When are we going to learn? When are we going to learn that those savings are costing in the end?
The other piece I always impressed me was that I never felt unsafe in Jane and Finch. I remember that when I was running one program and my son was small, the program was on Wednesdays from 6:00 – 9:00. I was walking (I didn’t have a car) from one of the neighbourhoods – I would go from Firgrove and then at 9:00 and with my son of maybe six or seven years, we would wait for the bus. I would never feel unsafe. I was doing outreach. I was walking, going in and out of buildings. I never felt unsafe and I feel on the contrary that communities were getting together and when they get together, they can see the change when it was obvious. There was the time when there were elections at the City and we at Jane and Finch organized an all-candidates meeting in one of the ridings. We asked one of the candidates in the riding what their position was with Metro Housing and he said, “Well, I don’t have any position”. In that year, in the community of Firgrove, they got really organized and they increased the voter turnout percentage significantly and the day after, when they see the increase in voting and that the community came out, the city counselor elected in that area was immediately trying to have a meeting with the residents in that area. That speaks volumes about how the community of Jane and Finch, when they feel strong about some issues they get together, they can get the politicians, the police, whoever they need to make accountable, they make accountable.
The other piece for me that was interesting was when NYIACC became part of the amalgamation. When I was working at Jane and Finch, I felt that I could be addressing a lot of the issues in Jane and Finch with having the support of NYIACC. I saw some of the results we were having. I felt that Jane and Finch was working in the community, we were identifying the issues and when we brought the issues to NYIACC, they were working on advocacy and developing the advocacy tools so that we could have responses to the issues that were identified as part of Jane and Finch. So, I felt there was an excellent cycle or way of working.
For example, we would start working as a group, identifying political action and it was an excellent way of working. I think it was historical the way Jane and Finch worked with NYIACC because when NYIACC disappeared (due to amalgamation), they gave 3 special commemorations to strong supporters of NYIACC. The 3 people that received those were staff at Jane/Finch Centre. There was Peggy Birnberg, Wanda MacNevin and myself. They were recognizing different people but they said 3 people from the community that played an incredible role at NYIACC were 3 staff from the Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre. I think that was historical. I don’t ever remember receiving directions from any one of them, it was just a natural combination of these issues and how are we going to deal with them back with the community.
What were the dominate issues that needed to be tackled at that time?
The issue that I think of the most was because of the diversity of the community and people living in close contact, there was not an understanding when many of us come from many different countries were being exposed to such diversity, cultures and religions, food, smells, and way of dressing. I feel that Jane and Finch, that was the strength to be so diverse but at that time, it became a challenge. When you have a lot of people that are struggling to get settled and they don’t have knowledge of the other communities that are living in very close contact with them that is a big issue. There has been a lot of violence between groups that are living in a building and things like that.
Mainly, I remember there was a building at Eddystone and Jane Street that when I went to the building, it blew my mind. I have never seen such awful living conditions in that building. Everyday, morning or afternoon, you will see the police in that building because the owners of the building (this was private housing), were renting by the room. I went in there to do outreach and I couldn’t believe it. That for me was the worse situation that I have ever seen because I have seen poverty but people have their own space. But, in one apartment with 3 bedrooms, they would even rent the storage room to another person and they had to be sharing the bathroom, they had to be sharing the kitchen, they had to be sharing the refrigerator and people that don’t speak the same language, people that don’t eat the same food, they have different political and cultural approaches, for me that was really something – wow! It was really scary - the conditions of some of the private buildings, so abusive and so oppressive. The rent, they were high.
How did the community respond to those issues?
The agencies worked together to respond to some of the issues. There were some ongoing meetings and there was a time that I used to go to meetings at the library for settlement organizations (Yorkwoods Immigration Network) and you had people there who were great in those days because you had people from Federal Immigration office and the police. It was very diverse, not just organizations providing services. That was an excellent forum to discuss services. We talked about access to training, how newcomers access language training and the support was really helping them to integrate in the community and the understanding of the police on some of the issues they were facing. Those kinds of forums we had at that time were excellent to be dealing with issues from a diverse perspective. There was a lot of conversations happening to understand what the federal workers were facing, what issues the police were facing so that kind of forum that was so diverse, that was something that I really liked. I don’t know if it’s happening any more but those were at the level of the organization, at the level of the community. Every time the community came together, I’m talking about the Firgrove and Tobermory issues because for me, that was really something you can really talk about with the power of people really getting organized to make services accountable.
How did governments, religious groups, influential people/ people in power respond to the issues?
The only religious groups that I saw but they were very quiet and who were not in the press was a group from the Mennonite Church group working at Tobermory, the United Church at Firgrove and the Anglican Church at Chalkfarm. They used to have meetings on a regular basis and I think they were more proactive in responding to issues but having a presence, an ongoing presence in the community by being there and they worked very quietly but effective in the work they were doing. Still, when there were some killings in some areas, there would be politicians and people from some religious denominations that we never saw them at the table but there was the press, they were there. Some of them moved to big positions because I think they were taken advantage of and so there was a diversity of that, with politicians. I can’t tell if there was any politician working closely with the community. I think that Maria Augimeri was the most approachable if we wanted to talk but Peter LiPreti or the federal or provincial, not really. They weren’t there working with the community. My experience was, not really.
What do you remember as being challenging to your work?
The disconnect between the government funding agencies and the realities in the community, that to me was always such a big, big challenge. When they were coming with programs and they were…..I think that because of the work I had been doing was my strength and the strength of the organization that I was working with was in community development and the community engagement and identifying their issues and responding to them. There was a time when there was this federal person and he wanted to teach us about community and I found that very arrogant - without listening, without looking at the history of the organization – just coming….I’m going to teach you in one hour about community development. I had to put up with that if we want the money for the community. Working with the federal government for me was challenging. I think with my tenure as Executive Director, I never pursued federal funding. We had something but it was gone because of a staff person and changes in the criteria but I always felt that the federal funding, and its now confirmed, its very risky because you rely on that and suddenly someone changes in the political party, they make the decision not based on the reality and needs of the community on how the agencies perform – I don’t know, its completely disconnected. I felt there was a disconnect between the federal government and it was most challenging. Another thing for me that was very frustrating is like everyone, all the funders at all the levels talk about the diversity of Jane and Finch. You have all this data, all these stats of the immigration and the diversity but when you see the resources that are put into the community to respond to the issues, it’s completely disconnected.
The other thing that was more challenging was when the funding started to be more project driven so that is something that makes the work more difficult and more challenging because you are just doing projects. I hate projects where the funders, they are not there in the community. They leave the freedom to the workers and the people living in the community to identify the issues and to identify the way to resolve the issues. But you have to give them time. When I was on my sabbatical, I went to this conference with this woman that is in leadership, Margaret Wheatley and when she talks about you as a leader, you have to learn that many things that are important cannot be measured. And, many things that are measured are not really important. So, that is always with me. What is that obsession of measuring, how can you be measuring for example with mental health, the support that you have in coming to a drop-in? Maybe you are going to see the changes, we are not doing therapy but still and the drop-in that we were having with the Cambodian kids, they are not going to be coming and telling everyone the things they were doing but just to have that safe place. The whole community is having a benefit, not just the kids that were attending the program because the break-ins weren’t happening. All these issues of safety for the people in the housing, where they were breaking into, the cost to having the police coming….so how can you be measuring.
The other challenge that I felt was not very generalized, there were a few agencies that were fighting for boundaries – this is my turf so don’t come so when you have people in the community working and they just see themselves like the keepers of that neighbourhood or that ethnic group, that is a big problem because you can’t really join resources or efforts to be responding to the issues. And, the housing conditions of the private housing because what power did they have. With Metro Housing, there was more accountability. But those private buildings, they were such a big fire risk and the conditions of where these people were living, with cockroaches and all of those other things – lack of maintenance. Those were the things that were challenging.
What were you most proud of?
I think I have said over and over some of those things. When I was working in the community and residents were holding them accountable, that was really something that I really liked. I think that I am proud too that during the time that I was there, we were selected by other agencies in the area to be the lead agency for the Ontario Early Years Centre. That was really a big feeling of trust by residents and other agencies in the community by them saying, “We trust that you are going to be looking at the interest of the whole community.” I think that was a big, big feeling of trust. “We trust you to be looking for the well-being of the children in this riding”. For me that was a big stamp of support from the community.
What did Jane and Finch teach you?
It reinforced my belief of community organizing – how community organizing really can have an impact of making things happen and how community organizing is going to be beneficial because people who are doing the community organizing become so proud of their successes and they can move to other things. That was really something that was very much there.
What advice would you give to workers in Jane Finch today?
Since I left, I am disconnected but I think that the issues that Jane and Finch is facing are most of the issues that we were facing - for the workers to believe that you are not the expert, that you know everything – the importance of listening because I learned so much through just going and talking. I used to go and just have coffee – I feel safe, like I say all the time I would go to people and they would let me in and I was invited in to have coffee and tea and that is the way I was working back in El Salvador and back in Mexico, just sitting with people and talking and listening. So, what are the issues and when you talk about issues, you start learning about some of the things they are doing and so that is how I feel. It is a big piece of going and talking and listening too. Start listening to facilitate instead of trying to solve the things for them - we have to help them. Jane and Finch has a lot of skilled people that is living there with a lot of education with a lot of experience, even not with formal education but have survived many difficult situations; political situations so they are survivors. Listen to them; use their skills and their interest to start solving some of the problems. The other piece for me that is very important as a worker that you have to find a balance in your life because if you don’t find a balance, you will be drained in one year. Self care is important and I think in the last year with the funding cuts and all of that, we are loosing that perspective and we keep on doing, keep on doing, and keep on doing. When you are drained you don’t have anything to give so you have to stop and you have to find a time for yourself. I remember we used to do that kind of thing in Jane and Finch. Not just with staff, but with other organizations – just go out. I’m not a winter person but I do remember going out in winter to eat and have fun and go for walks and laugh because the work is so demanding that if you don’t keep your mental health and your balance, you are useless to yourself and for others.
Do you have any other memories from working in the area?
I think that Jane and Finch was not just my working place – I was Monday to Friday working but Saturday morning I was at Driftwood Community Centre because my son was in a soccer game or I was doing something in the community so I think that Jane and Finch was my ideal place to work when I came. I can’t imagine going to a place to work that you don’t like and at that time there was not too much to choose from to tell the truth. I was new and I needed to get a job. I think that I stayed at Jane and Finch so long because it was a match between my beliefs, my approach of work, the philosoply and values of the organization so I think that Jane and Finch was an excellent, excellent support for me to be part of the Canadian culture.
Although at the beginning, I remember I was – I learned in so many ways and so many forms, not just formal learning but at the table when we were having lunch all of these jokes and all these things that at the beginning – okay, what are they talking about? It was just going over my head but afterwards I became very sharp with all of these things. At the beginning, I remember I was at the lunch table and I was a bit frustrated because I think at that time, with the exception of Helena who was of Chinese background, I was different and people would say, “What are you eating”, “what is that?” I really enjoyed seeing the transition of Jane and Finch and of the growth because when I remember we were very small, we didn’t have admin support and I saw that growth of the organization. And the other piece is how things in life are – nothing in life is permanent. There was a time when I was working at Jane and Finch and it was seen as a big challenge. Jane and Finch was seen as this awful place where all of these drug dealers and all these Black people are living and all of that and getting funding for the organization because of that was a big challenge. Now, with the priority neighbourhoods, that is becoming so trendy and its becoming easy to get funding and those people want to be addressing some of the issues but like I say, wow, even how you address social issues by society change depends on how the external people like the United Way has a very important role in some way of changing that perception. Although I don’t agree with the priority neighborhoods because I feel that the community should be more focused on the weakness of the community – okay, what communities need to be healthy so that is going to be more inclusive. I’m glad that has changed but like I say, for me, it was a big incredible experience working at Jane and Finch - an organization that was similar to my values and my culture. I saw the organization change so I really enjoyed working there in the community and the friendships that I made and still, not too many, but I still – when I move, I move but still I keep a few contacts but not too many in the community. I really enjoyed my time.
Any other comments?
When I was doing the Women Together group, again talking to the women and asking what they want to be doing – I wanted to have speakers so that they can learn because those are the things that are important to them and to help them to integrate. I wanted to have speakers so they can learn about the schools and they told me no….leave us alone. This is our space to come and be silly, to laugh, to eat, to do crafts. That’s what they wanted to do. “If we want to learn, we will find another way, this is our safe space.” This for me was a big challenge because I am not a crafty person at all – never in my life. But what’s good, because I told them I’m not a crafty person so they themselves had some leadership and when I left, one of the women who were helping to facilitate some of the sessions took over the leadership and I think that you [Wanda] were telling me that the group is still going. I didn’t hire Dora who was still the leader. I don’t know how that leadership was passed to her but I think that it was passed to different participants among themselves. There was a woman from Columbia when I left. She stayed for a few years and she came from that group. That is a very important piece – like I say, the women feel the program was important and so they told me what they want to be doing and because I didn’t have the craft skills, I didn’t need them because they were providing the skills.