The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

7 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,S eptem ber 10,2020 insidehalton.com Independent Living Apartments • Full Service Retirement Suites • Assisted Care • Memory Care STAYING TOGETHER in our apartment while my husband gets great care, ENJOYING THE FREEDOM to prepare fresh meals in our full kitchen and PLAYING CARDS on Thursday evenings with my friends. I'm looking forward to...I'm looking forward to... LIFE at The VillageLIFE at The Village 2930 Erin Centre Boulevard, Mississauga For more inform ation call Christina or B radley 905-56 9-7155 x 8015 schlegelvillag es.com We know that diversity is the strength of our com- munities. As your commu- nity's source of local news and information, we are committed to amplifying and elevating a more di- verse range of voices in our coverage, both by seeking out more Black, Indige- nous and other racialized experts, and by covering the issues that matter to people of colour, members of the LGBTQ2+ communi- ty and anyone else who has been underrepresented in the media. To accomplish this goal, we want and need your help. We are reaching out to you in the hope that you will consider sharing your unique and important voice as a member of an under- represented community in the pages of our print publi- cations and on the website you are reading now. We are aware that many items in the news impact our many communities in very different ways, and that these different per- spectives need to be heard to better reflect the diversi- ty of our communities. If you have ever picked up one of our publications or visited one of our com- munity news websites and felt your unique voice could have contributed to, or improved our coverage, we want to hear from you. For more information, please contact our Torstar Community Brands Edito- rial Diversity and Inclu- sion Committee at diversi- tyinclusion@metroland. com. HELP US BE MORE REPRESENTATIVE OF COMMUNITIES WE SERVE NEWS Most Canadians are aware of Oakville's appeal -- lush parklands, a beauti- ful waterfront, excellent restaurants and shopping, and quiet, well-maintained neighbourhoods. However, there is anoth- er very special characteris- tic about Oakville that is less recognized, which is its commitment to foster- ing a welcoming and re- spectful community for all. B'nai Brith Canada -- my employer -- is the old- est Jewish human rights organization in Canada. It has been in operation since 1875, and is committed to combating racism and an- ti-Semitism. Our organization oper- ates a free 24-7 anti-hate hotline where we help each and every person who re- ports an incident to us. We are the only organi- zation in Canada that tracks and records all anti- Semitic incidents, and we compile an extensive year- ly report based on that da- ta. We see ourselves as so- cial epidemiologists in a sense, because we track ill- ness in our society, in the form of hate that manifests itself first as anti-Semi- tism. But as history has shown us repeatedly, this hate quickly grows to even- tually consume all of us. In our advocacy, we remain vigilant and watch for trends that can undermine the health of our communi- ties. Because of the work we do and with the under- standing of how unchecked hatred can cripple and de- stroy a society, we have come to appreciate and val- ue the positive impact that leaders in Oakville bring by creating a community of respect and appreciation for diversity. Last month, I accompa- nied our CEO, Michael Mostyn, on a visit to Oak- ville's Maro's Bistro for a lunchtime meeting of the minds with Mayor Rob Burton, Rabbi Stephen Wise of Shaarei Beth El Congregation of Halton, Parvin Sharma of Inter- faith Council, and chef and owner Maro Al Chamaa. We talked about the com- mitment of Oakville's civic and community leaders to promoting and fostering a positive multicultural ex- perience. Mayor Burton spoke about how he places great value on embracing diver- sity, adding "Oakville is the crossroads of the world where we all get along." As Michael Mostyn apt- ly said, "What we saw was unison and harmony ... This is all one Canada, and what it's all about at the end of the day is all of us getting along ... Isn't it won- derful?" Oakville certainly is. To see a video of our ex- perience, visit https://you- tu.be/YqeYusviBe8. Andrea Adler is a GTA- based human rights activ- ist in charge of digital advocacy for B'nai Brith Canada. She can bew reached at aadler@bnai- brith.ca. CELEBRATING OAKVILLE'S COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY OPINION VISIT WITH LOCAL LEADERS WAS TRULY AN INSPIRING AND MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE, WRITES ANDREA ALDER ANDREA ADLER Column