Creating safer communities
Safe Harbour: Respect for All is a national diversity initiative being implemented in BC by the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC (AMMSA). Active in 26 communities around the province, Safe Harbour creates opportunities for businesses, institutions, agencies and communities to better understand and celebrate differences, and helps build safer and more welcoming communities. Their mandate of “respect for all” fits well with CLBC’s vision of “good lives in welcoming communities”.
Building informal safeguard networks for self-advocates requires having community members respect diversity. With this in mind, the Courtenay CLBC office recently joined the Comox Valley Safe Harbour program, which currently has 42 organizations and businesses as members. Through CLBC’s involvement, staff will raise awareness with self-advocates and caregivers that when they see a Safe Harbour sign in an agency or business window, it means it is a place that respects diversity and where you can get help if needed.
“By joining Safe Harbour, we are connecting to the broader community,” says Barb Legg, a CLBC facilitator with the Courtenay office. “It’s a great opportunity. Our next step is to make sure self-advocates and caregivers are aware of this option. We are planning on sending a message about the program to service providers. Presentations have also been made to self-advocates.”
Staff of businesses and organizations involved in Safe Harbour are given the tools and knowledge to provide help through training from expert facilitators. On October 27, Courtenay staff took the Safe Harbour workshop, which was facilitated by Kathie Landry from Creative Employment Access Society (CEAS). CEAS is the lead agency for Safe Harbour in the Comox Valley.
“CLBC staff already practice the principles of understanding and accepting diversity,” said Barb. “Where the workshop was really helpful was getting us to think about how exactly we’d handle and help in situations where discrimination is taking place.”
Safe Harbour is a made-in-BC initiative that began in Nanaimo in 2004, and has since been expanded to three other provinces. There are currently over 800 Safe Harbour locations throughout Canada. The program receives funding from the federal and provincial governments. Locations of the program and more information can be found on their website at www.safeharbour.ca.
Information on other ways CLBC is helping to build safeguards can be found on the CLBC website under Individuals & Families > Safeguards.
