in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, Ju ne 24 ,2 02 1 | 6 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the newspaper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca insidehalton@metroland.com facebook.com/OakvilleBeav @OakvilleBeaver WHO WE ARE VP, Regional Publisher Kelly Montague Director of Content Lee Ann Waterman Regional General Manager Jason Pehora Regional Managing Editor Catherine O'Hara Managing Editor Karen Miceli Director of Distribution Charlene Hall Circulation Manager Kim Mossman Director of Production Mark Dills Regional Production Manager Manny Garcia Directors of Advertising Cindi Campbell and Ryan Maraj CONTACT US Oakville Beaver 901 Guelph Line Burlington, ON L7R 3N8 Phone: 905-845-3824 Classifieds: 1-800-263-6480 Advertising: 289-293-0620 Delivery For all delivery inquiries, please e-mail kmossman@metroland.com or call 905-631-6095. Letters to the editor Send letters to insidehalton@metroland.com. All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at insidehalton.com OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT INSIDEHALTON.COM A wild turkey with intricate plumage visits a backyard near the lakeshore area. Do you have a great local photo you'd like to share? Send it to sleblanc@metroland.com, along with a brief description. Terry Jackson photo SNAPSHOT It's about trust. Our rela- tionship with our readers is built on transparency, hon- esty and integrity. As such, we have launched a trust initiative to tell you who we are and how and why we do what we do. This article is part of that project. In a year bookended by the murder of George Floyd, a Black man killed by police in the United States, and the discovery of the unmarked graves of 215 children on the site of the former Kamloops residen- tial school, may we never again deny the existence of systemic racism. One year ago, I joined editorial leaders in endors- ing seven calls to action from the Canadian Jour- nalists of Colour (CJOC) and Canadian Association of Black Journalists (CABJ), found here: www.cjoc.net/white-paper. We invited Metroland's journalists, including those at this newspaper, to join us in this endeavour. More than 25 per cent of the team volunteered to join committees to help us map our path forward. In the months since, our journal- ists have participated in workshops, planning and discussions around our own biases, and about con- sciously listening to, and giving voice to, a broader audience. Our parent company, Torstar, has completed its first internal, voluntary demographics survey. Those results will be used as a baseline against which we will monitor our prog- ress in building a more di- verse workforce. We are redrawing re- cruitment, hiring and de- velopment practices that have historically limited diversity at all levels. Year to date, 62 per cent of all newly-hired journalists in Metroland have furthered our goal for a more diverse workforce. We are establishing leadership training and mentorship programs to provide diverse staff an op- portunity for development and advancement. We have established a province-wide community council to advise us on im- proving diversity and in- clusion in our content. To assist students from diverse and under-re- presented backgrounds in gaining experience in our newsrooms as part of their scholastic requirements, we have reshaped our aca- demic placement process. Each newsroom will host at least one student each year. We have launched a summer internship pro- gram for BIPOC journal- ists who are new to the in- dustry. We have an obligation to educate ourselves, to fight racism, to raise up those who do not have ready ac- cess to a platform through which their voice can be heard. We are committed to making a difference. Joanne Burghardt is the director of community engagement for Metroland. We welcome your questions and value your comments. Email our trust committee at trust@metroland.com. WE COMMITTED TO DO BETTER: HOW ARE WE DOING? OUR OBLIGATION IS TO RAISE UP THOSE WHO LACK A PLATFORM FOR THEIR VOICES TO BE HEARD, WRITES JOANNE BURGHARDT JOANNE BURGHARDT Column Many investors dislike volatility. Most would prefer a $10- a-share price to increase gradually to $11. Perfect. A 10-per-cent return with no drama. Volatility is a normal part of investing. As inves- tors, we have to accept that if we own shares. As it turns out, volatility is our friend. Potential strong returns from own- ing shares are predicated on those shares having the risk of volatility. You do have the option to eliminate stock volatili- ty in your portfolio. Sell your shares and buy bonds and the level of volatility that you are likely to expe- rience will be significantly less than if you had owned those shares. But there is a problem. The expected return on a bond is significantly less than that of stocks. That is logical because a bond owner that has significant- ly less risk of volatility will accept a lower return as a trade-off. As investors, we accept the risk of volatility with the expectation that we will have a higher return. This leads us to the im- portant task of designing an investment portfolio that meets our needs. This is referred to as as- set allocation. In my opinion, asset al- location is the most signif- icant decision investors make. It will be the most significant determining factor of expected volatility and expected returns. Peter Watson is regis- tered with Aligned Capital Partners Inc. (ACPI) to provide investment advice. Investment products are provided by ACPI. ACPI is a member of the Invest- ment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of ACPI. He provides wealth man- agement services through Watson Investments. Wat- son can be reached at www.peterwatsoninvest- ments.com. WHAT TO EXPECT FROM INVESTMENTS STOCKS AND BONDS HAVE A DIFFERENT EXPECTED VOLATILITY AND RETURN, WRITES PETER WATSON PETER WATSONColumn