Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria: Creating More Welcoming Communities

Posted on October 3, 2022 in Hosted Organizations

In the ’70s, the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria (ICA) emerged out of a multicultural FolkFest with the goal of building cross-cultural connections. The idea was that racism would be reduced if people had the chance to interact and learn more about one another.

Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria

Fast track 50 years and we now know it takes much more to combat racism and other forms of discrimination. This is why ICA developed multiple approaches to address racism in our communities.

 

 

We have three main areas we are focusing on to create safer, more welcoming communities:

  • Tools for Equity, an anti-racism training program and Bystander Intervention Training which provides people with the skills to interrupt harassment. These two programs are providing employers, employees, and the broader community with the knowledge and skills to create real change and provide greater safety to all who live in the region.
  • Anti-Racism at Work campaign aims to encourage everyone to speak up against racism at work, especially white colleagues, managers, and leaders who are presently quiet, hesitant, or unsure how to address the issue.
  • Arts programming that brings forward the voices and stories of those most impacted by racism. Currently, we are producing im:print which is a multidisciplinary show that weaves the personal stories of immigrant, Indigenous, and Canadian-born artists. With support from United Way of Southern Vancouver Island, ICA has partnered with the University of Victoria and Raino Dance to create this powerful performance.

  im:print

 

These strategies are designed to ensure newcomers to Greater Victoria will be able to flourish as full members of the community. ICA remains steadfast in our commitment to create strong community supports and systems so newcomers can more easily make Greater Victoria their new home.

ICA has been fortunate to receive support from the Victoria Foundation to help develop Tools for Equity as well as the first im:print performance that was produced in 2019. This support has been crucial to ICA having the resources needed to get new, innovative programs off the ground.