by David Zakarias
The First Annual Ottawa Police Service (OPS) Diversity Celebration event was held on June 25th. The event was an opportunity to bring members of the public, particularly those from racialized and Aboriginal communities, to Ottawa Police Headquarters to celebrate Ottawa’s diversity, equality and mutual respect.
The idea for the event evolved out of the Flag and Banner Program review, which decided that it would be better to have a large scale event that celebrates diversity rather than 22 small events with particular communities. The Diversity Celebration recognized Canadian Multiculturalism Day, including Canada’s National Aboriginal Day, which is also part of a series of national Celebrate Canada Days that take place at the end of June. In order to recognize Aboriginal communities, Chief Charles Bordeleau acknowledged that Ottawa is on traditional Algonquin land and an Algonquin Elder, Albert Dumont, was invited to speak at the opening.
The event also took place during the second annual Welcoming Ottawa Week (WOW), a project of the Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership (OLIP). The OPS Diversity Celebration was listed as part of WOW’s series of events and WOW’s Ambassador Louisa Taylor was invited to speak at the opening. CHIN Radio, which is the premiere source of radio programming for Ottawa’s immigrant communities, was also an event partner who helped with the event promotion and the executive producer of CHIN’s Mirch Masala Radio, Hunsdeep Rangar, was the MC for the event.
The event was attended by a large diversity of community members, including COMPAC Community members, the GLBT Liaison Committee members, community members who had attended past Flag and Banner Events, officials involved in the City of Ottawa’s Diversity initiatives, members of the OPS both sworn and civilian, and members of the general public who joined the event after passing by.
The event offered an opportunity for members of the OPS to meet, learn about, and socialize with members of the diverse group of communities who came together to make this happen. Community members had an opportunity to share their culture, cuisine and heritage while also learning about the OPS, including recruitment opportunities. The event was an opportunity to build bridges of trust, partnerships and understanding between the OPS and members of diverse, racialized, and Aboriginal communities.
The interactive display tables represented a wide spectrum of communities and organizations. Some represented established service organizations, such as the Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre, embassies such as the Embassy of the Philippines, community associations such as the Vietnamese Society of Ottawa, the Jamaican Community Association of Ottawa, the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, the Association of Palestinian Arab Canadians, and cultural events such as the Latin American Festival.
Members of these and other communities performed over twelve cultural songs and dances throughout the event. After the planned performances, some of those in attendance began to spontaneously perform to a very supportive audience.
The OPS Diversity and Race Relations team was very pleased with the success and turnout for our inaugural Diversity Celebration event. It is through such events that we can continue to learn to embrace each other’s differences in language, culture, and religion. Additionally, it helps to further our nation’s commitment to multiculturalism by enriching our collective understanding of the diversity of the Canadian people. More and more, being a Canadian is not just about the land in which you were born and/or currently reside, it is about the shared values and experiences that unite us all – diversity is our strength.
About the writer
David Zakarias is the Diversity Officer with Ottawa Police Service
Photo credits: Ottawa Police Service & Sarah Onyango
