Douglas-Coldwell Foundation - Grants

The Canadian Centre for Investigative Reporting (CCIR) was founded in 2008 in response to the ongoing attrition of the resources and expertise from Canadian newsrooms necessary to produce in-depth investigative reporting on matters of significant public interest.

Borrowing from a rich 30-year tradition of independent not-for-profit investigative reporting in the United States – a tradition that now extends around the globe – the Canadian Centre for Investigative Reporting is the only independent investigative reporting news organization in the country.

The CCIR was started in order to tell the stories not getting through the news filter – the stories that require the time, effort, resources and relationship-building only possible when investigative reporting is valued and supported financially.

The CCIR is governed by a national board of directors, with staff and headquarters in Hamilton, Ontario. The CCIR structure also includes a national advisory board of journalists and a network of investigative associate reporters, producers and editors.

Knowles-Woodsworth Centre for Theology and Public Policy
Web site: www.knowles-woodsworth.org
Awarded $4,000 - 2010

The Knowles-Woodsworth Centre has its origins in discussions between Lloyd Axworthy, President of the University of Winnipeg; Bill Blaikie, former NDP MP and now MLA; and Jim Christie, former Dean of Theology at the University of Winnipeg. Their discussions focused on the need to reaffirm and revitalize the connection between the University of Winnipeg and the social gospel.

The late Dr. Henry Duckworth, President of the University from 1971 to 1981, pointed positively to the social gospel tradition of the university in his autobiography, citing Salem Bland, J.S. Woodsworth, Stanley Knowles, Carl Ridd, and Bill Blaikie as embodiments of the attempt "to apply Christianity to social problems."

After a quarter century or more of religion and right-wing politics, the Knowles-Woodsworth Centre for Theology and Public Policy affirms the connection between faith and progressive politics ... in the past and in the future.

Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA)
Web site: www.halifaxinitiative.org
Awarded $25,000 - 2009

Over the past year, the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA) has made significant progress in building political pressure in Ottawa for new mechanisms to hold corporations accountable for human rights violations and environmental damage in their overseas operations. Significant milestones in 2009 include:

February 9, 2009 -- CNCA supports the introduction of Bill C-300, a private member's bill on corporate accountability in the extractive sector put forward by the Hon. John McKay (Lib.). During subsequent debate in the House, the hard work of several CNCA members is acknowledged by MPs of various political stripes.

March 26, 2009 -- In response to ongoing political pressure mounted by CNCA and the introduction of C-300, International Trade Minister Stockwell Day launches the government's new corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy, called "Building the Canadian Advantage." Mainly a series of voluntary initiatives, including a new CSR counsellor with weak investigative powers. It falls far short of the consensus recommendations from the 2006-07 CSR roundtables. CNCA media release expresses major disappointment, calls it a "squandered" opportunity.

April 2009 -- CNCA hires a part-time conference coordinator to organize public events in June and November.

April 22, 2009 -- CNCA members encourage MPs to support Bill C-300 at second reading. Bill narrowly passes 137-134.

June 1, 2009 -- CNCA organizes a highly successful MP panel discussion on CSR, the extractive sector and legislative reform. Liberal, Bloc and NDP MPs speak on the panel, together with the president of the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) and a representative of the CNCA. Standing-room only crowd (100+) demonstrates to MPs and media that corporate accountability issue is hot in Ottawa.

Mid-September 2009 -- CNCA will launch three case studies about major mining conflicts involving Canadian companies in Papua New Guinea, Honduras and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

September / October 2009 -- Several CNCA members are expected to testify at SCFAID hearings on C-300.

November 3, 2009 -- CNCA will host a major multi-stakeholder conference on corporate accountability and the extractive sector in Ottawa/Gatineau. Leading speakers from industry, government and civil society will compare and contrast the state of CSR in Canada with other leading jurisdictions internationally. Special guests from Australia and Norway will highlight groundbreaking corporate accountability initiatives in their countries (e.g. mining ombudsman, ethical screening of state pension fund). The Mining Association of Canada has agreed to co-sponsor the event.

ACORN Canada, in just 3.5 years has grown to be one of Canada's largest and most successful networks of community organizations, with more than 15,000 low and moderate income members organized into 19 neighborhood chapters in 3 cities across Canada.

ACORN members come together to improve our communities, by tackling pressing concerns in our neighborhoods, cities and the country. Members choose what issues to address—from traffic problems or lack of police protection, to nationwide concerns such as increasing affordable homeownership and raising the minimum wage. They take action to get decision-makers to make real changes.

Priorities include: better housing for tenants, living wages, more investment in our communities from banks and governments, addictions services funding, financial literacy and better jobs in our communities.

Our structure has the neighbourhood chapter as its structural cornerstone; our organization is built organically by and for the membership. Our community organizers go door to door every day reaching hundreds of families per week. All our chapters have democratically elected leadership chosen by our membership in the area.

Our history began in 2004 when ACORN Canada was founded with the goal of representing and championing the interests of Canada's low and moderate-income urban communities on the critical issues of social and economic justice. We believe that transforming the conditions that adversely affect millions of Canadians can best be achieved with an active national membership – members deeply invested in their organization and focused clearly on lasting socio-economic change.

Our Victories include securing regulation of the payday lending industry in British Columbia, winning $250,000 in rent abatements for tenants living in 2 run down buildings in the Weston rd. community in Toronto, getting a motion to license landlords in Toronto introduced at City Hall, winning tens of thousands of dollars in investment in social housing in Ottawa and much more!

"The need for independent channels of information and interaction is always critical for a free society, but particularly so at times like these. It is no exaggeration to say that the hopes for a decent world rest substantially on the success of the kind of work that rabble.ca has been carrying out with such distinction and dedication."

rabble.ca - a snapshot
rabble.ca was created in 2001 by a group of inspired media and community activists who recognized a need for more spaces for alternative news and views. Now in its seventh year rabble has become Canada’s most popular source for online independent media.

Original news and columns by established and emerging writers from across Canada (and beyond)
Reprints of articles by leading columnists, including the best of the left from mainstream columnists
Editor selected links to stories on social movement and union websites (our in cahoots section), as well as links to news stories elsewhere netted news.
Dozens of podcasts (rabble podcast network) on topics ranging from politics (local, regional, national, international) to DVD reviews, to cooking advice. rabble has its own flagship show rabble radio which can also be heard on a number of community radio stations across Canada.
A moderated discussion board (babble) where you can always find dozens of threads on politics, culture, and the happenings of the day filled with insight, wit and passion.
A unique book section (the book lounge), featuring original and reprinted book reviews, a listing of book events across Canada, book themed podcasts, an online bookstore, and an online book club.
3 minute action listings, a quick, but important, action you can take online to affect change (such as signing a petition).
A Canada-wide event calendar (what’s up), featuring events, workshops, speakers and more. This is a free service (to list and to read)
A free weekly email “announce” highlighting the stories and features of rabble for the week.

And coming soon rabble will be offering videos, blogs, rss feeds and other new features with a redesigned look to make the site even easier to use and even more interactive.

Mission:
Apathy is Boring is a non-profit organization that uses art and technology to educate youth about democracy and encourage community engagement.

Apathy is Boring’s ‘Youth in Democracy’ Goals are:
• Increase youth volunteerism
• Increase youth voting rates in federal elections
• Build sustainable dialogues between community leaders and youth
• Increase consideration of youth issues by decision makers

History:
Apathy is Boring was founded in January 2004 by three young Canadians who were tired of seeing their peers feel disconnected from our democratic system. Using a website, digital media technology, concerts, and a media outreach campaign, Apathy is Boring was able to reach over 500 000 young people in Canada in less than four months. After an extremely well received ‘get out the vote’ campaign in the 2004 federal election & another in 2006, Apathy is Boring has continued its work on democracy projects that create dialogues between youth and community leaders.

Since that initial campaign, Apathy is Boring has established itself as a respected voice on issues relating to youth and Canadian democracy. Through its interactive website, workshops, concerts & events, and cutting-edge programming, Apathy is Boring reaches un-engaged youth and provides them with tools to get involved in democracy.

The Youth Activist Retreat, an annual event since 1999, is a weeklong learning retreat for young activists ages 16 - 20. The retreat develops the participants' organizing skills, enhances their knowledge of current issues, gives them the tools they need to create change, and inspires them to become activists! During the course of the retreat participants attend workshops and network with other young people who want to make a difference.

Intent for a Nation Book Launch
Web site: www.douglas-mcintyre.com

What is Canada For?
By: Michael Byers
A compelling call to arms to reinvigorate our vision of Canada’s place in the world, from one of the best of our new generation of public intellectuals
Invitation (PDF)

Michael Byers
Michael Byers has recently returned to Canada from stints teaching at Oxford and Duke University. He now holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia. He is the author/editor of three books and a contributor to the London Review of Books, the Globe and Mail and cbc Radio. He lives in Vancouver.

Saskatchewan Archaeological Society - The Zenon Pohorecky Memorial Fund
Web site: www.saskarchsoc.ca

Provides financial support to post secondary Aboriginal students studying in the area of archaeology.

The Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC) is a group of social policy, health care and housing experts, academics, business people, community health workers, social workers, AIDS activists, anti-poverty activists, people with homelessness experience, and members of the faith community. We provide advocacy on housing and homelessness issues. We declare homelessness as a national disaster, and demand that Canada end homelessness by implementing a fully-funded National Housing Program through the One Percent Solution.

In the effort to end homelessness, we are active on numerous fronts. We provide coordination services for the National Housing and Homelessness Network. We are a prominent and highly recognized voice on the City of Toronto’s Advisory Committee for Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons. We work closely with former residents of Tent City, and supported residents in their effort to relocate into housing on non-polluted lands. We research the issues and have produced numerous reports with our findings. We track the numbers of those who die on our city streets. We watch the homeless disaster worsen daily.

Awarded $25,000 - Fall 2006 (The 2006 Douglas-Coldwell Foundation Award Recognizing Tommy Douglas’ Vision for Canada)

2005
Fair Shares for All - Documentary
Recollections of Allan Blakeney DVD project
Birdsong Communications Ltd.

The Homelessness Marathon was founded in 1998 by Jeremy Weir Alderson (aka "Nobody") as an offshoot of his regular radio program, "The Nobody Show," broadcast weekly on WEOS, an NPR-affiliate in Geneva, NY. "That first year, I was just thinking of it as a matter of conscience," Alderson says. "Basically, I just wanted to get on the air and say, 'This isn't right, and I want no part of it,' and, of course, I wanted to bolster this argument with the opinions of experts and the voices of homeless people." He got the idea of broadcasting from outdoors in the dead of winter, he says, because he wanted to dramatize the plight of people with nowhere to go in the cold. And the marathon has been broadcast from outdoors ever since, even though other things about it have changed.

"By the time I broadcast that first marathon, I'd already been on the air for six years, so I had a pretty good idea of how my audience responded to issues. But the response to the marathon was something different altogether. Throughout the night, people brought me coffee without my having said a word, and in the morning, people dug into their pockets and gave me crumpled up bills to help defray my expenses, even though, as a matter of policy, the marathon doesn't solicit money even for itself, because we really want people to understand that ending homelessness isn't a matter of charity but a matter of changing the way our society is structured.

"Anyway, that first year opened my eyes, so I got the idea to put the marathon up on the NPR satellite and make it available to a broader audience. The second year we were on seven stations, I think, and the next year we were on 23. The fourth was on 35, and the fifth was on over 50. As the marathon has grown, its philosophy has evolved. I used to think I had to scold people and tell them why they ought to care, but now I know that people really do care, and that homeless people aren't on the streets because that's where Americans want them to be. So I've backed off a lot, and I now mostly look at the marathon as giving people the reasons for what they already know in their hearts."

Over the years, the marathon has become something more than just a broadcast. Dozens of people, affiliated with organizations or just acting on their own, contribute their time (no one on the marathon staff gets paid) to help get the show on the air. And each year the broadcast has been associated with small marches and candlelight vigils around the country. "I'm not kidding myself that just the marathon is going to change the world," Alderson says, "but that's the goal, to create a world where the marathon will be obsolete, because there won't be any more homeless people.

"You know, I hate it when every now and then someone compares me to Jerry Lewis, because we both do these long, cause-related broadcasts. But there's one way I'll accept it. We're not just trying to make a statement anymore. We're looking for the cure."

Community Ownership Solutions is a unique and proactive not-for-profit development corporation whose mandate is to raise the bar in commercial excellence and workplace culture through:

Mission

COS is a proactive economic development corporation committed to a model of sectoral employment development that will create systemic change within targeted occupational labour markets.

A book on Women and Homelessness by author Susan Scott
All Our Sisters
Stories of Homeless Women in Canada
By Susan Scott

Published Under the Garamond Imprint

Though they account for only a small portion of the formal homeless statistics, there are many more women living on insufficient funds, with violent partners, in unacceptable dwellings, or in other fragile circumstances that are too often overlooked. They are our mothers, our daughters, our aunts, our nieces, our wives—they are all our sisters—and they remain largely invisible compared to homeless men.

Susan Scott interviewed more than 60 women facing homelessness across Canada. Part of her agreement with these women was to tell their stories in the way they would want to have them told. With uncompromising honesty and a deep sense of empathy, Scott recounts their stories while highlighting the many underlying problems they face. These include personal histories of abuse, addiction, and violence, as well as systemic conditions of gentrification, a paucity of affordable housing, and a lack of social services sensitive to women's needs.

All Our Sisters is essential reading for anyone who wants to know more about the conditions facing homeless women in Canada.

Ottawa: Our Diverse City
Catholic Immigration Centre - Ottawa
Web site: www.cic.ca

This is an exciting year-long project that will explore the major issues relevant to diversity and immigration in Ottawa, looking for ways to maximize the opportunities and minimize the challenges.

A series of forums, public discussions and researched articles and papers from October 2004 tpo December 2005, will examine the current status of diversity and identify recommendations for improvement.

One out of five citizens of Ottawa is not from an English of French language background. (155,295 persons according to Statistics Canada 2001 Census)
22% of the population of the city is foreign-born
18% of the population are described as visible minorities.
Religious minority groups are also growing at a fast rate.
The foreign born population is one of the most rapidly expanding groupings in Ottawa. The demographic shift is challenging local institutions who need accurate information in order to design and implement program and organizational changes.

The purpose of this project is broaden our understanding of the impact of diversity and immigration on the Ottawa community. The issues are moving rapidly and it is timely to put the best minds to work on what is happening.
This initiative will bring together policy makers and influencers, researchers, practitioners and others with a professional interest, to present research results, discuss ideas and share perspectives on immigration, diversity and the impact on the Ottawa community.
The roundtables will work toward finding ways to make sure that me maximize the opportunities, and minimize the challenges - for individuals, for communities and for the city as a whole.

What? Eleven public forums on how immigration and diversity impacts on municipal policy and programs in Ottawa.

Format? Each forum will include researchers, municipal officials, community organizations and media representatives. They will feature a few key presentations followed by a focused discussion..

Why? Ensure municipal policies and programs are sensitive to the increasing diversity of communities in Ottawa.

Sponsored by? Catholic Immigration Centre, Ottawa
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa
Metropolis Project, Citizenship & Immigration Canada
Canadian Opportunities Partnership

What issues? Following an overview forum, these are specific policy issues that will be examined:

2004
"Round Table Consultation on Foreign and Defense Policy"
Centre for Social Justice
March 22, 2004, House of Commons, Ottawa
Awarded $5,000 - 2004

MiningWatch Canada (MWC) is a pan-Canadian initiative supported by environmental, social justice, Aboriginal and labour organisations from across the country. It addresses the urgent need for a co-ordinated public interest response to the threats to public health, water and air quality, fish and wildlife habitat and community interests posed by irresponsible mineral policies and practices in Canada and around the world.

The MiningWatch Canada office opened in April 1999. MiningWatch Canada shares infrastructure and services with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) in a central Ottawa location.

A national non-profit with dedicated staff in an Ottawa-based office, and supporting initiatives from partners in affected communities in Canada and around the world, MiningWatch Canada is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of a range of experts, community leaders and activists from across Canada.

About MSN
The Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) is a labour and women's rights organization that supports the efforts of workers in global supply chains to win improved wages and working conditions and a better quality of life.

We believe retailers, manufacturers and brand merchandisers must be held accountable for the conditions under which their products are made.

Since 1994, we have been working in solidarity with women’s and labour rights organizations in Mexico, Central America and Asia, promoting greater respect for workers’ rights through corporate campaigning and engagement, networking and coalition building, and policy advocacy.

The fundamental aim of our work is to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations in the North and South to challenge the negative impacts of industry restructuring in the global garment industry. In a global economy groups in the North and South must work together for employment with dignity, fair wages and working conditions, and healthy workplaces and communities.

"Canada -US Deep Integration"
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Web site: www.policyalternatives.ca
Awarded $3,000 - June 2003

2002
MISC Conference on the Future of Social Democracy
The future of social democracy

"From the start, the whole point of social democracy is to assert the primacy of politics over economics" says former NDP leader Ed Broadbent, who is co-chair with Desmond Morton, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, of the conference on:

The Future of Social Democracy
Friday and Saturday, May 25-26
McGill Faculty of Law
3644 Peel Street Montreal
2001 Moot Court

Two hundred social democrats, including NDP leader Alexa McDonough, Canadian Auto Workers President Buzz Hargrove and the United Steel Workers’International President Leo Gerard, have paid $75 each to discuss the ways and means of asserting the primacy of politics over economics. They will address such issues as: Where is social democracy really going in Canada? What are its new ideas? Can the New Democrats regain their role of standard-bearer? Are there lessons to be learned from continental Europe? What is the place for organized labor or for the civil society protestors who filled Quebec City last month? What will social democracy mean economically, socially and politically in a new century? Media representatives are cordially invited to attend the conference. Further information can be found on the conference’s web site.

The conference organizers have made an "absolutely determined effort" to make it highly representative in terms of age, gender, and regions of Canada. As part of that effort, they have arranged for the on-line publication StraightGoods to post and promote on-line discussion and surveys about the conference.

M.J.: The Life and Times of M.J. Coldwell
The Douglas-Coldwell Foundation commissioned the writing and publishing of the The long overdue biography of M.J. Coldwell, the longest serving leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. This informative book was released in Spring 2000. The book includes a history of M.J.'s personal life as well as the story of his battle in parliament for a society based on social and economic justice. His was one of the greatest influences in building the kind of social legislation that distinguishes Canada today. This excellent biography is written by well-known author Walter Stewart, who has some 20 books, including two best selling biographies to his credit.