This page was exported from Shelburne Free Press [ https://shelburnefreepress.ca ] Export date:Wed Jul 3 16:21:51 2024 / +0000 GMT ___________________________________________________ Title: Town’s 3rd Multicultural Event to be held at end of the month --------------------------------------------------- Written By Jessica Laurenza Shelburne's 3rd Annual Multicultural Event, which is a community initiative designed to unite cultural differences and encourage the celebration of every ethnicity, is again being hosted by its founder, Althea Alli. This year's virtual event will be held on Sunday, June 27th at 1:00pm on Dufferin County's YouTube channel: www.YouTube.com/DufferinOne. This year's main theme is recognizing community members who are giving back during an unprecedented time. The community was able to nominate people who have been working hard to unite the community through diversity and inclusion work.  “The criteria for [a nomination] is someone who embraces differences and linguistic duality and leads by example by [either] volunteering personal time or working within a diversity, equity and inclusion field to foster that empowering and engaging environment in the community,” explains Alli.  A volunteer committee will review the submissions and announce the winners at the event.  This year's event will also have a speaker panel moderated by the Museum of Dufferin and Alli. The panel will feature MP Dufferin/Caledon, Kyle Seeback; Chair of Diversity, Equity and Anti-Racism of Peel, Joanna Downey; Cultural Emersion in Education UGDSB, Nicole Jeffery; Celebrate Your Awesome's, Jim Waddington; Shelburne Youth Community Leader, Harleen Toor,; Dufferin County Sikh Punjabi Representative, Amanjeet Grewal; Award-winning Poet, Jamaal Jackson Rogers; President of CDDHS Muslim Student Association, Soha Soliman; Dufferin County Warden, Darren White; and Shelburne's Deputy Mayor, Steve Anderson.  Alli is of Caribbean descent and her children are mixed race- half Italian, half Guyanese. She grew up her entire life having been around people of mixed ethnic backgrounds.  When she moved to Shelburne from Brampton in 2013, she realized there was a lack of diversity and representation of ethnic services in the community. Through speaking with other community members, she understood she wasn't the only one feeling that way.  She created the Multicultural Event to exemplify that “differences in culture are worth celebrating.” The event offers a rich history and culture for the community to learn about and celebrate. Her first event launched in 2018 at the Shelburne Public Library and the result was so outstanding that in 2019, she moved the event to Centre Dufferin High School to host a larger crowd. The first event showcased different booths, each with unique arts and crafts from the local schools depicting a particular culture.  Businesses were able to advertise in the booths which increased traction and attentiveness and resulted in the growth of the event to include local businesses and organizations. In speaking with local residents, Alli found that people were going back to Brampton and Mississauga to shop for ethnic foods which is why she found it necessary to incorporate local food vendors wishing to promote diversity within the community.  “This was a way for businesses to grow in Dufferin County while simultaneously stimulating the economy,” says Alli.  2021 is the first year in which Dufferin County and Caledon have proclaimed June 27th as Canadian Multicultural Day to celebrate the rich culture and diversity in local regions.  --------------------------------------------------- Images: --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Post date: 2021-06-10 12:36:15 Post date GMT: 2021-06-10 16:36:15 Post modified date: 2021-06-17 13:22:12 Post modified date GMT: 2021-06-17 17:22:12 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Export of Post and Page as text file has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.gconverters.com