Corporate Knights Global 100

Corporate Knights (Suite 129) Publisher Karen Kun and Editor Toby Heaps didn't spend their entire time at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on the ski slopes, we promise. They actually spent most of their time presenting the second annual Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World, a list of companies that "have the best developed abilities, relative to their industry peers, to manage the environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities they face." Corporate Knights Magazine is an independent Canadian publication that focuses on corporate responsibility and has the world’s largest circulation in it's subject area. The magazine is published bi-monthly and is included with a subscription to the Globe and Mail newspaper as well as through individual subscriptions. Founded in 2002, the magazine's "goal is to jumpstart Canada to become the world leader in responsible commerce." The World Economic Forum provided a perfect opporunity for the team from Corporate Knights to highlight those companies who show leadership in sustainable practices.

www.corporateknights.ca

Defending Our Dreams

Congratulations to the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID, Suite150) who produced a pioneering collection of essays by young feminists exploring how to shape a better future in the current world order. Defending Our Dreams "presents key issues arising out of the experiences of young women living in both North and South, the challenges confronting young feminists, and the agenda for a new era of feminist leadership and activism."

The book was co-edited by AWID's Young Women and Leadership Programme Manager Shamillah Wilson with Anasuya Sengupta (UNICEF), and Kristy Evans, a recent Young Women and Leadership intern at AWID. There are also chapters contributed by fellow AWID colleagues Alison Symington and Ann Elisabeth Samson.

Defending Our Dreams, published late last year, has already received very positive feedback from readers. Sisonke Msimang says: "This book represents the most powerful, eloquent and thought-provoking collection I've seen in a long time. It brings together a poetic, jarring, often painful chorus of voices together. These are not naïve, headstrong young women with blinders on; they are experienced, committed and thoughtful activists whose challenges are complex. Each of the writers in this book brings a rare and sparkling truth to the table - what we, who read, choose to do with this truth is our choice; these young women have done their job."

If creating a groundbreaking collection of essays wasn't keeping AWID busy enough, they also hosted their 10th Annual International Forum in Thailand in October 2005. The forum titled How Does Change Happen attracted 1,800 women for a series of thought provoking panels and discussions about how women are making change happen. Development Journal has dedicated their March 2006 issue to women's rights a development continuing the conversations started at AWID's Forum. For more information about AWID, or to order a copy of either publication mentioned in this article visit: www.awid.org

Green Corner: History in the Making

On February 1 Toronto City Council committed to a green roof policy for the City marking a significant day for green roof advocates, building owners, and the wider Toronto community. After nearly a decade of research, demonstration projects, market development, and community- motivated green roof projects (like the Robertson Building) Toronto will finally have more green roofs than ever before. The Robertson Building's green roof has played a seminal role in helping city leaders "believe" in this environmentally savvy technology. A new city-managed green roof website, featuring photos of our prairie meadow green roof, helped galvanize the City's commitment to green roof policy development. The recommendations approved by Council included a commitment to install green roofs on new and existing buildings owned by the City whenever practical to do so. For example, green roofs are to be considered for existing municipal buildings when roofs are due to be replaced. For new City-owned buildings, a target has been set to cover fifty to seventy-five per cent of a building's footprint with a green roof.

Council also recommended that a pilot program of financial incentives be initiated this year for the construction of
green roofs, and City officials will work with Toronto Hydro and the Toronto Atmospheric Fund on the possibility of
offering building owners additional financial incentives for retrofits. Mayor David Miller said, "This is a perfect
example of how we expect the new City of Toronto Act will help us govern in the best interests of Torontonians. Given the power to regulate green roofs in our city, we can work with residents to implement major initiatives that will make our city cleaner, healthier and more beautiful." Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone chairs the City's Roundtable
on the Environment, which recommended the "Making Green Roofs Happen" policy. He said, "Torontonians have told us that they want the city to do more to promote green roofs. In response, City Council has approved a comprehensive approach - from establishing standards and building our capacity to support green roofs at the
City level, to offering education, funding, expert advice and promotion."

www.toronto.ca/greenroofs 

Harvey Locke on Tour

Harvey Locke (Harvey Locke Consulting, Suite 368) has been spending a lot of time on the road this past fall on a speaking tour for the Canadian Parks and Wildernes Society's (CPAWS) Nahanni Forever campaign. The campaign included an impressive roster of supporters and wilderness activists working to raise awareness about the Nahanni region, Canada's most renowned northern boreal forest area. The Nahanni National Park Reserve is one of the first World Heritage Sites declared by the United Nations, but there is increasing concern about a mine proposal that puts the water, wildlife and wilderness values of the area at risk. Harvey, a senior advisor to CPAWS, is also program advisor to Tides Canada Foundation (Suite 363) where he oversees the Sage Climate Project and conducts a philanthropic consulting practice. To find out more about CPAWS’ campaign to protect the entire South Nahanni Watershed visit: www.cpaws.org

Picture Perfect

This fall we decided it was high time we had some great photos of the Robertson Building, so we hired photo- grapher Cat O'Neill to document the transformation. Cat is responsible for many of the images taken of the recently renovated Gladstone Hotel (another member of the Urbanspace Property Group family of buildings). As tenants, you pass through the lobby of 215 daily, but we thought it would be nice to share these images with you and perhaps allow you to see these spaces in a new way.

Profile: Toronto Training Board

In the last issue of the Robertson Pipeline, we got up close and personal with A Commitment to Training and Education for Women (ACTEW, Suite 350). As a natural segue, this spring we will be spending some time with ACTEW's roommate the Toronto Training Board (TTB) learning what makes this dedicated organization tick.

ACTEW and TTB are co-located on the third floor at 215 Spadina where they share a space, a history, and a philosophy about access to employment and training opportunities. TTB's Executive Director Karen Lior spent many years creating ACTEW from the ground up. Now she spends her time working diligently to maintain and strengthen the TTB; one of the last vestiges of a national labour force development strategy that began in the early 90s with the creation of the Canadian Labour Force Development Board (CLFDB). The CLFDB was dissolved in 1999, leaving only the Saskatchewan Labour Force Development Board and twenty-one local boards in Ontario. As Karen explains, "on the Canadian Labour Force Development Board there were eight labour seats, eight business, two education and trainers, four equity, and an aboriginal seat. It was the first time that all these parties came together on a consensual decision-making basis to look at national issues around labour adjustment, low employment, how to recognize off-shore skills and credentials, among others. They did a lot of research and some really good work." TTB has continued this work in their local catchment area of Toronto (which includes Etobicoke and Scarborough).

TTB is funded jointly by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and Human Resources Social  Development Canada. The local training boards were originally created to implement training and adjustment programs, and to look at skills development, employment, and the needs of unemployed workers. Their mandate changed in the late 90s to performing local area environmental scans to identify the needs and services required and to develop an inventory of local programs and services (available on the Internet. The TTB continues this
inventory work in connection with 211 Find Help Toronto and the Possibilities Project.

The Local Boards also deliver a Trends, Opportunities and Priorities Report. This report is an examination of what the local issues are and what's happening in the city. "We create a City of Toronto profile, with labour market information, population, and what's happening; what the jobs, trends, and issues are. Then we identify initiatives on the ground that respond to those issues and where we can plug ourselves in, or do something new." The "do something new" is usually forged in a series of partnerships that the board is funded to implement every year.

TTB has been instrumental in putting some valuable tools in place through their partnerships. After identifying the
difficulty for internationally-trained teachers to find work in Ontario classrooms, they held a think-tank bringing 
together all the stakeholders, which resulted in the Teach in Ontario project.  Three thousand newcomers
"were able to access a website that provided information in more than 167 countries around their skills and
credentials. It also outlined the process to get certified to teach here in Canada. Four assessment centres have
been set up where people can go to have their qualifications reviewed and colleges have made enormous policy
changes to help people get into the classroom." The project was very successful and over seventy-five per cent of those who were certified are currently working in the school system.

The TTB works on six partnerships annually, which has included joint ventures with the Somali Youth Association of Toronto (SOYAT) and produced a pamphlet on the conditions of precarious employment (much of the work available to immigrant workers is part-time, contingent, and does not provide benefits). The pamphlet accompanied a panel discussion on the issue in Toronto presented by speakers from the Alliance on Precarious Employment based at York University.

As the organization gains maturity there is the hope that they will be able to conquer some new ground by
producing a publication for every partnership. The Board will also continue to partner with others to work on vital
issues affecting the Toronto labour force. Being in their new space with their ACTEW colleagues has also added a lot to their basic operations. "It's amazing - I think there's a unique synergy amongst all of us who work in this space. We're seven women who come in and out, of all ages from fifty five to probably twenty five, yet there's enormous
respect and collegiality. If people have questions I can't answer I'll send them to see Jen Liptrot [ACTEW Executive
Director] and vice versa. We have a resource centre that we haven't quite amalgamated, but ACTEW's is probably
the most complete resource centre around women's training and employment issues in the country, and ours is pretty good too. I think we're really privileged to work in this environment."

For more information on the Toronto Training Board, including the Trends, Opportunities and Priorities Report, visit:
www.ttb.on.ca