The majority of the human service agencies in Peel - especially those that are non-profit agencies - were created in the 1970's and early 1980's when the majority of the population in Peel was quite homogenous: mostly people who were White, of European background, Christian and English-speaking. Today, as has been shown, the population of Peel is no longer homogenous but very diverse - in race, language culture, religion, etc. The challenge for the human services sector in Peel is to respond to this diversity in culturally appropriate ways and to do this from a social justice and human rights perspective. The following are some of the issues that the human service organizations in Peel will have to address:
- Increased demand for settlement services for new immigrants and refugees
- Increased demand for English language training
- Increased demand for culturally appropriate or culturally competent services
- Increased demand for equal opportunity in all areas of Canadian society (especially in the labour market and the educational system).
- Increased need for cross-cultural planning of services
- Increased need for co-ordination between settlement agencies and traditional (or "mainstream") human service agencies
- Increased need for cross-cultural training of human service workers
- Increased need for anti-racism education of human service workers and the community at large
- Increased need for conflict-management processes and skills of relevance to a racially and culturally diverse population.
The approach taken to these challenges of diversity can take one of two forms. The challenges can be seen as new burdens on an already over-worked and under-funded human services sector. From this perspective, the primary objective would be to acquire the necessary funds for the job at hand and to apply the appropriate diversity management expertise to change and enable the organizations and their services to be responsive to the needs of diverse groups in culturally appropriate ways.
In contrast to the "diversity as burden" perspective is the "diversity as opportunity" perspective. The challenges posed by Peel's diverse population can be seen as an opportunity to create a culturally-competent human services sector that can be a model for the rest of the world, especially at this time in human history when ethnic conflicts are increasing around the world. Acquiring funds for the job at hand would be one objective; however, it would be linked to an even higher objective: creating social infrastructure that is respectful of and responsive to racial and cultural diversity in Canadian society. Furthermore, the knowledge, skills and values gained from this civic adventure can be shared with the rest of the world. This humanitarian and global approach to building culturally competent infrastructure is in keeping with Canada's traditional role as "peacekeeper" in international conflict areas and its historical support for the very diverse United Nations.
A
LIST OF SOME OF THE HUMAN SERVICE AGENCIES SERVING
IMMIGRANTS AND
VISIBLE MINORITIES IN PEEL REGION
| South Asians | |
|
|
905-459-0159 |
|
|
905-275-6799 |
|
|
905-790-1910 |
|
|
905-569-6222 |
|
|
905-273-4884 |
| Blacks (African, Caribbean, Canadian, etc.) | |
|
|
905-206-9497 |
|
|
905-460-9514 |
|
|
905-890-2676 |
|
|
905-840-3378 |
|
|
905-608-0126 |
|
|
905-453-7940 |
|
|
905-455-6789 |
| Chinese | |
|
|
905-458-4159 |
|
|
905-275-8558 |
|
|
905-507-2280 |
|
|
905-625-6222 |
|
|
905-615-9500 |
| Arabs/West Asians | |
|
Organization |
905-279-3679 |
|
|
905-270-3622 |
| Southeast Asians | |
|
|
905-567-8495 |
|
|
905-891-3825 |
| Filipinos | |
|
|
905-792-7422 |
|
|
905-275-1372 |
| Latin Americans | |
|
|
905-453-8606 |
|
|
905-451-7264 |
| Italians | |
|
|
905-502-6003 |
| Polish | |
|
|
905-403-8860 |
|
|
905-306-9900 |
| Portuguese | |
|
|
905-840-6061 |
|
|
905-275-6844 |
| AGENCY/ORGANIZATION | TELEPHONE | WEB-SITE (if available) |
|---|---|---|
| Catholic Cross-Cultural Services |
905-457-7740/ 905-273-4140 |
|
| Elder-Help Peel | 905-457-6055 | |
| Multicultural Inter-Agency Group | 905-270-6252 | www.miag-spc.org |
|
Newcomer
Information Centres Mississauga: Brampton: |
905-270-6000ext.266 905-791-6700ext.301 |
http://www.clta.on.ca/Newcomers-Information/about.html |
| Peel Multicultural Centre | 905-608-0075 | www.peelmc.com |
* These agencies also provide a wide range of community development and organizational development services to immigrant organizations and “mainstream” human service agencies that want to provide culturally appropriate services to their clients.
| AGENCY/ORGANIZATION | TELEPHONE | WEB-SITE (if available) |
|---|---|---|
| Brampton Multicultural Centre | 905-790-8482 | www.bmccentre.org |
| Brampton Neighbourhood Resource Centre | 905-452-1262 | |
| Caledon Community Services | 905-584-9460 | www.caledoncommunityservices.org |
| Dixie Bloor Neighbourhood Centre | 905-629-1873 | www.dixiebloor.ca |
| Inter-Cultural Neighbourhood Services | 905-273-4884 | www.icnsspeel.org |
| Malton Neighbourhood Services | 905-677-6270 | www.maltonservices.org |
| AGENCY/ORGANIZATION | TELEPHONE | WEB-SITE (if available) |
|---|---|---|
| Centre for Language Training and Assessment (CLTA) | 905-949-0049 | www.tcet.com |
| Cultural Interpreter Service of Peel (CISP) |
905-238-1463 1-888-721-4444 |
www.cisp.ca |





