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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSPAC 2010-05-05 minutes.pdf) District of Maple Ridge SOCIAL PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE REGULAR MEETING The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Social Planning Advisory Committee, held in th e Blaney Room at Maple Ridge Municipal Hall, 11995 Haney Place, Road, Maple Ridge, British Columbia , on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT Joshua Leyenhorst, Chair Katrina Elliot, Vice-Chair Councillor Linda King Councillor Cheryl Ashlie Gwen Champagne Alex Bodden, Staff Sgt. Betty Levens Valerie Spurrell Paul Livingstone Kathie Chiu Treena Innes Candace Gordon GUESTS Patrick Johnson Michael McCarthy Flynn Sidhartha Ramsoondar Nimi Chauhan STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT Sue Wheeler Shawn Matthewson Christine DiGiamberardine Tracy Camire REGRETS/ABSENTS Eleanor Palis lneke Boekhorst Lyn Taylor-Scott Mike Huber 1. Call to Order and Introductions Community at Large Community at Large Council Liaison Council Liaison Ministry of Child and Family Development RCMP Ridge Meadows Seniors Society Fraser Health Community at Large Community at Large Community at Large Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows-Katzie Community Network United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1518 Living Wage for Families Coordinator, First Call Maple Ridge Resident Organizer, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1518 Director of Community Services Coordinator, Social Planning Recreation Coordinator Committee Clerk School Trustee (alternate), School District No. 42 Business Improvement Association Ridge Meadows Association for Community Living School Trustee, School District No. 42 The meeting was called to order 7:07 p.m. 2. Agenda Approval Social Planning Advisory Committee Regular Minutes Page 1 of6 Social Planning Advisory Committee Regular Meeting Minutes May 5, 2010 Ri0-017 Motion was moved and seconded That the Agenda for May 6, 2010 be adopted with the following amendments; • Delete Item 5.3 CARRIED 3. Minutes of April 7 2010 Meeting Ri0-018 Motion was moved and seconded That the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of March 3, 2010 be adopted. CARRIED 4. Delegations & Presentations 4.1 Presentation to Staff Sergeant Alex Bodden Councillor King presented a thank you card and poster to Staff Sergeant Alex Bodden for his dedication and commitment to the committee. 4.2 Living Wages BC Campaign -Patrick Johnson (UFCW) & Michael McCarthy-Flynn (First Call) Patrick Johnson, UFCW, introduced and reviewed the Living Wages BC Campaign. He also reviewed the recent bylaw that was established in New Westminster with the Committee. Michael McCarthy-Flynn, Living Wage for Families Coordinator, First Call, reviewed the process for determining a living wage. Mr. McCarthy-Flynn reviewed the Metro Vancouver Living Wage which is based on two working parents with one preschooler in daycare and another school aged child in before and after school care. He indicated that First Call is involved in the living wage campaign as part of their efforts to end child poverty in BC. He explained that if daycare services were universal the living wage would be much lower. Mr. McCarthy-Flynn advised the Committee that Living Wage Campaign goal is to build awareness and encourage both government and large businesses to become living wage employers. Michael McCarthy-Flynn suggested that a good place for the District of Maple Ridge to begin looking at this concept would be for staff to complete a living wage study. It was noted that this Committee's role is to make recommendations to Council and that it would be Council's decision to ask for a staff report on this matter. Please note that Patrick Johnson, Michael McCarthy Flynn, Sidhartha Ramsoondar, and Nimi Chauhan left the meeting at 7:52 p.m. Social Planning Advisory Committee Regular Minutes Page 2 of 6 ) Social Planning Advisory Committee Regular Meeting Minutes May 5, 2010 5. New Business 5.1 Homelessness in Metro Vancouver: A Comparative Community Profile Sue Wheeler advised that Council passed resolution that this report be directed to the Social Planning Advisory Committee for review. Ms. Wheeler reviewed the report, indicating that the Count was commission by the Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness (RSCH). RSCH works to develop a coordinated response to homelessness in the region under the "Three Ways to Home" Plan which indicates the solutions to homeless include: affordable housing, support services and adequate incomes. Three regional homeless counts have been conducted to date: 2003, 2005 and 2008 with the purpose of providing: an updated enumeration of homeless persons by municipality; a demographic profile of those enumerated on the day of the count; and information on trends. The Homeless Count report recognizes that the numbers are a conservative estimate, indicating the intent is to provide a "point in time" snapshot of homelessness in the region with a progress report against previous counts, and benchmarking the absolute minimum number of people who are without housing and who need emergency shelter and other types of support. The recently released Comparative Community Profile is intended to provide more detailed information at the individual community level in order to assist communities, governments, policy-makers, private foundations and service providers in developing an appropriate mix of prevention and intervention strategies and measures to address the needs of people who are homeless, whether in the local or regional context. Sue Wheeler reviewed the demographic profile for this community noting that when people were asked to identify "the main reasons why they did not have their own place", the most common responses were consistent across the region: low income/lack of income; high costjavailability/poor condition of housing; addictions; and family breakdown/abuse. Please note that Alex Bodden left the meeting at 8:16 p.m. The Committee discussed how this information can be best utilized to address the issue of homelessness in this community. Current community trends were discussed including the rise in the number of sen iors and families at risk of homelessness. ACTION ITEM: ACTION ITEM: Staff to invite the Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Katzie Senior's Network to do a presentation about the work they are currently doing. Candace Gordon to make a presentation on the joint project with the Seniors Network regarding food security issues for the Seniors Population. Social Planning Advisory Committee Regular Minutes Page 3 of6 Social Planning Advisory Committee Regular Meeting Minutes May 5, 2010 5.2 Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness -Connecting Communities Forum Sue Wheeler gave a brief report on this Forum which provided a venue for Homelessness Planning Tables from across the region to share information, ideas and solutions to address the issue of homelessness. Representatives from the Alouette Home Start Society attended and did a presentation sharing the successful initiatives from this community. Face to Face: Community Devefopers Conference May 17 19, 2010 5.4 South Haney Neighbourhood Change Project -Establish Selection Committee Ri0-019 Sue Wheeler indicated that Council has approved the reallocation of dollars to enable SPAC to oversee a South Haney Neighbourhood Change Project. Motion was moved and seconded That a Selection Committee be formed to oversee the community development coordinator selection process. And that the following members of SPAC will participate on the Selection Committee: Candace Gordon, Katrina Elliot, Paul Livingstone, Joshua Leyenhorst and one Councillor to be determined once a schedule has been created for the sub-committee meetings. CARRIED 5.5 Request from Council: Response to BC Coalition for Action on Alcohol Reform (Jetter attached) Ri0-020 Sue Wheeler reviewed the recommendation from Council for SPAC to send a letter supporting the BC Coalition for Action on Alcohol Reform's position to the provincial government. Ms Wheeler also noted that the recommendations contained in the request reflect the recommendations in the Centre for Addictions Research of BC's "Proposed Incentives for BC Drinkers to Make Healthy Choices" report which committee had passed a motion supporting at the last meeting. Motion was moved and seconded That staff prepare a letter signed by the Chair and the Mayor approving the recommendations found in the report from the Coalition for Action on Alcohol Reform. CARRIED 6. Unfinished Business 6.1 UBCM Resolutions to Propose to Council: 6.1.1 Potential Motion on The 1% Solution -A Case For Liquor Taxes that Reduce Harm Sue Wheeler reviewed the motion from the last meeting advised the Committee that staff will work with Ceri Marlo, Manager of Legislative Social Planning Advisory Committee Regular Minutes Page 4 of6 Social Planning Advisory Committee Regular Meeting Minutes May 5, 2010 Services on a resolution that will go forward to Council to consider sending forward as a resolution to UBCM. 6.1.2 Potential Motion on Researching the Effects of Graduated Licensing Program Shawn Matthewson reviewed the documented results to date of the graduated licensing program. Ms. Matthewson noted that the research indicated that this program has been successful in terms of goals it was meant to achieve. 6.2 Affordability Studies -Review of SPARC BC Proposal -defer to June ACTION ITEM: Staff to research the First Call Living Wage and SPARC BC Affordability Study information and provide their findings at the next regular meeting. ACTION ITEM: Future agendas will be structured with time allocations for each agenda item. 6.3 SPAC Feedback to Parks, Recreation & Culture Draft Master Plan Sue Wheeler reviewed the summary of the feedback on the Draft Plan that SPAC gave and noted that the feedback information from the community was used to develop criteria that assisted in prioritizing the recommendations. She then reviewed the criteria that will be proposed to the Parks and Leisure Services Commission. 7. Committee Reports 7.1 Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows-Katzie Community Network Update: Candace Gordon Candace Gordon advised the Committee that the Community Network has hired Bev Bakka as their new Community Network Coordinator. 7.2 Healthy Communities Fraser Health Initiative -Update Valerie Spurrell advised the Committee that there will be a workshop on May 20th that will begin with a presentation from the Mental Health Officer on the status of health of our community, followed by a facilitated workshop to determine the community priorities and where opportunities might lie. 7.3 Building Community Solutions Project: 7.3.1 Haney Farmers Market Update Christine DiGiamberardine advised the Committee that the opening day for the Farmer's Market is this Saturday, May 8th with the official cake cutting with the Mayor and Council at 11:00 a.m. 7.3.2 2010 Move for Health Day -Walk BC Social Planning Advisory Committee Regular Minutes Page 5 of6 Social Planning Advisory Committee Regular Meeting Minutes May 5, 2010 Christine DiGiamberardine advised the Committee that the Building Community Solutions has partnered with the Park & Leisure Services for the "Move for Health Day" that takes place May 10-16 with a walking event hosted by a different neighbourhood each day 8. ROUNDTABLE -deferred 9. CORRESPONDENCE 10. 9.1 City of Vancouver Homeless Count News Release 9.2 2010 Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Cards: News Release - http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/04/27 /physical-activity-children.html Report- http://www.activehealthykids.ca/ReportCard/2010ReportCardOverview.aspx Shawn Matthewson reviewed the statistics from this report with the committee. Next Meeting: Agenda Deadline: Location: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 -7:00 p.m. Monday, May 24, 2010 Blaney Room, Maple Ridge Municipal Hall 11. Adjournment -9:15 p.m. ~ Chairper~r--++-- /tc Social Planning Advisory Committee Regular Minutes Page 6 of6