UNA-Canada Toronto Branch

I have been honoured to serve as President of the Toronto Region Branch of the United Nations Association during 2010-2011. With the guidance of the Association’s head office, I believe we have over the year succeeded in making a small contribution in support of the broadly-framed United Nations objectives and those of the Association. And I will try to identify several activities with which we have been intensively involved at our Branch, which we typically refer to as UNACTO.

I would like to start by saying a big, big thank you to Aqeel Saeid, my immediate predecessor as president. With an extraordinary investment of volunteer time, Aqeel has been very effective in engaging UNACTO in a coalition with other sponsoring organizations called the New Horizons: Healing and Hope Coalition whose goal is to help youth and children who have come to Canada from war-afflicted countries and been traumatized by war and migration and can benefit from educational programs teaching self-confidence, teamwork, problem-solving, adapting to new surroundings, and so on. This coalition in which Aqeel has played a key role has obtained funding from the federal and Ontario governments as well as the local business community. And the exciting news for me and other Directors is that, although Aqeel is stepping down as a Director at this Annual General Meeting after having served as our President for two years and involving us in the coalition since early 2009, Aqeel has very generously agreed to continue his association with UNACTO as a creative programmer and fundraiser. Thanks again, Aqeel, for your wonderful leadership, and I would like to present you with this token of our esteem.

I would also like to thank all the other Directors on our 14-member Board for their many contributions during the past year. The Board members have been very active and I particularly appreciate the leadership by the Directors who have served as Officers and as Committee chairs — several Vice-Presidents, our Treasurer, our Secretary who recorded the minutes of many meetings and also another Officer who on occasion assisted with the minutes, and the Chairs or Co-chairs of a number of our standing committees, namely, on human rights, youth and education, the environment, volunteer co-ordination, communications, special events, fundraising, refugees, internal governance, and the International Day of Peace which I will refer to momentarily. And the Board has also appreciated the participation of the non-Board-members who have volunteered on these Committees and have often joined us at our monthly Board meetings to which typically we have invited them.

I will briefly mention several special other program activities. In October, 2010, for the UN’s International Year of Youth, we assisted the national office represented by Kate White with the presentation in Toronto of the film Adventures of Power with its director Ari Gold. This was in conjunction with AMC Theatres.

In December, 2010, for International Human Rights Day, there was a presentation of National Film Board documentaries on child poverty in Canada, on education at an Ontario juvenile detention centre trying to break a cycle of violence, and on aboriginal youth gang members and their reform, and the films were followed by a lively panel discussion.

Starting several years ago, UNACTO has been working with a number of other organizations in organizing the celebration of September 21st in Ontario as International Peace Day. This is an annual date established by the UN for focussing on this very important issue. One aspect I would refer to is the leadership effort of UNACTO with other organizations to persuade the three Ontario political parties to pass unanimously a bill in the Ontario Legislature that would formally designate September 21 of each year as International Peace Day. With the benefit of a resolution to this effect having been introduced in the Legislature in its current session, it is now hoped to arrange for the introduction of a bill in the Legislature in the fall after the pending election.

And I should conclude by thanking again all the wonderful volunteers who have collaborated in generating a raft of creative ideas essential to our achievements.

Larry Hebb,
President, UNACTO
June, 2011