Tuesday, May 18th, 2021

Hate in Hamilton’s Francophone Community:
Pas de haine dans le Hammer

6:00pm-7:30pm

Koubra Haggar
David Legagneur
Gary Warner

This French-language program will explore how personal and collective action to fight hate in Hamilton looks in the Francophone community, and how No Hate in the Hammer/Pas de haine dans le Hammer can meet its mandate to support a community response to hate in English and French.

Qu’est-ce que le racisme? Comment cela nous affecte-t-il? Cette séance s’adresse aux membres de la communauté francophone et francophile qui veulent en savoir plus sur les façons insidieuses dont le racisme se manifeste dans notre vie quotidienne. Venez en apprendre davantage sur les moyens de lutter contre la haine et le racisme en profitant de l’expertise d’activistes et de professionnels de la communauté. La session comprendra également une performance des artistes NGS. no-hate.ca/fr

Registration in the summit is not required to attend.
This program can be accessed directly at no-hate.ca/fr.

Wednesday, May 19th, 2021

Keynote: United We Stand Against Hate

9:30am, following Summit Opening at 9:00am

Varsha Naik, Executive Director, The Regional Diversity Roundtable

There is power in numbers and strength in community. Varsha Naik will discuss why it is important to break down silos and unite together to stand against hate.

What Hate is and Where It Comes From

10:45am

Pauline Kajiura
Jyssika Russell
Dr. Priya Sharda
Dr. Pamela Swett, Dean of Humanities, McMaster University
In conversation with Ralph Benmergui

How Do You Have Tough Conversations With Your Circles?

1:00pm

Kim Katrin

We can learn to confidently and non-defensively have conversations about topics such as race, racism, and racialization and other forms of exclusion in all the places we find ourselves: workplaces, schools, at home, and at decision-making tables.

Insight into our own social location and how it intersects with others’ will help us notice and understand how power operates in conversation. The next step is working to interrupt problematic power dynamics and holding honest conversation.

Courageous Conversations in Your Broader Networks

2:30pm

Focusing on four areas — healthcare, education, workplaces, and faith communities — in these participatory breakout sessions you will hear experiences and strategies for countering hate when it arises among those you encounter in your daily lives.

These sessions run concurrently. Participation is limited to 50 people per stream.

Courageous Conversations in Healthcare

Lyndon George
Dr. Hodan Ali
Moderated by Novelette Gordon

Courageous Conversations in Education

Syrus Marcus Ware
Dr. Richard Douglass Chin
Moderated by Celeste Licorish

Courageous Conversations in the Workplace

Robin Lacambra, GOODBODYFEEL
Moe Bsat, Hamilton Community Legal Clinic
Moderated by Laura Babcock

Courageous Conversations in Faith Communities

Rabbi Hillel Lavery-Yisraëli, Beth Jacob Synagogue
Rev’d Garfield Wu
Farheen Khan
Moderated by Rev. Victoria Ingram

Children’s Program: Let’s Talk Kindness

4:00pm

Canadian Dance Company – Burlington
Vandana Verma, Just One Wish Kindness Program

By using puppets, Vandana will help children understand how deeply hurtful and hateful words hurt. They will work through various school situations to come up with ways to turn hate into kindness.

Registration in the summit is not required to attend.
This program can be accessed directly at no-hate.ca/lets-talk-kindness.
To interact with Verdana during the program, register for the summit and use PheedLoop with a computer or device that has a camera.

The Future is Now!

6:00pm-7:30pm
designed by youth for youth

An evening of inspiration led by a panel of youth activists. This session hopes to encourage participants towards action. Admission is open to all.

Koubra Haggar
Neha Gupta
Jessica Vinluan
In conversation with Novelette Gordon

Performance by Never Gonna Stop (NGS)
Performance by Shanika Maria, singer-songwriter

Registration in the summit is not required to attend.
This program can be accessed directly at no-hate.ca/the-future-is-now.

Thursday, May 20th, 2021

The Threat of Organized Hate in Canada and the U.S.

9:45am

Evan Balgord, Executive Director, Canadian Anti-Hate Network
Caleb Kieffer, Research Analyst, Southern Poverty Law Center

Extremist ideology has been mainstreamed and normalized as a result of political rhetoric, conspiracy theories and social media communications.  You can find hate 24-7 with just a few clicks on your phone.

But just how pervasive is organized hate? Is it being taken seriously enough? Experts from the Canadian Anti-Hate Network and the Southern Poverty Law Center expose the frightening growth of hate groups and domestic terrorists and discuss what can be done to combat organized hate and its threat to democracy.

Hamilton’s Community Response to Hate

11:30am

Caleb Kieffer, Research Analyst, Southern Poverty Law Center
Lindsay Schubiner, Director of Momentum Program, Western States Center

We have listened and learned about hate. Now it is time to start taking action. The first half of this session focuses on lessons learned from community campaigns in other jurisdictions by organizations over decades of doing anti-hate work. In the second half, we apply those lessons learned to begin to develop the components needed for Hamilton’s community response to hate, following the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “10 Ways to Fight Hate: A Community Resource Guide” and taking into account the current political and social climate.

Acting Out in the Hammer!

1:45pm

Let’s learn about the ways groups in Hamilton are already taking action. Map your greatest personal strengths onto the current issues and collective actions developing in Hamilton.

How Will We Act Out Together?

2:45pm

Where do we go from here? How will we map out what we’ve learned and what needs to happen so that our collective actions have the most impact? Who do we need to bring into this work, and how will we make it happen?

Sandi Bell, Chair, No Hate in the Hammer
Mouna Bile, Member, No Hate in the Hammer
In conversation with Laura Babcock

Featuring Performances and Workshops

During breaks between sessions we’re pleased to be able to present:

photo credit: Jess Bullock

Defined by Bone
by Mayumi Lashbrook

May 19, 10:30am

A story of adaptation and resilience, Defined by Bone gives an intimate look into a sliver of Canadian history. Mayumi unfolds an intergenerational narrative, intersecting dance and theatre. It brings together the muscles of Canadian history, the blood of Japanese ancestry and the bones of a story written in prejudice. Defined by Bone is a reclaiming of history, contextualizing what is carried forward in our communal mosaic.

Intersections of Mind & Body (movement workshop)
by Mayumi Lashbrook assisted by Lisa Emmons, Aeris Körper, Hamilton.

May 20, 12:45pm

Take this time to dive into your body to release the assumptions of the mind. In this one hour workshop we’ll tune into your intuition and the sensations that arise from within. This mindful practise is meant for all movers with a focus on breath, creative release and improvisation. Encouraged as a way to shake up, digest and integrate the learnings from the day!

Make your limits yours
a yoga practice with Yonah Lavery-Yisraeli

May 19, 12:00pm

We all have limits to our mobility. Are we aware of where they are and how they work? Perhaps limits can be helpful as well as restrictive — if we put ourselves in charge of the process. We will investigate these questions with our bodies and minds over the 60-minute session.

Dance performance
by Beekaa Abraham

May 19, 2:15pm

I Want to Live (Contemporary Dance)
by Nona Houshiyarkhah
Music: “The Cloudy Weather” (Persian) by Homayoun Shajarian

May 20, 9:45am

Nona writes: “I don’t really understand why racism is a thing, I don’t experience racism in my country but I have definitely been a victim of racism in other countries that made me feel like I’m not welcome there; however, I’ve seen people who treat everyone equally and that is how everyone should be. It’s 2021 after all and I don’t know why racism exists.”

Singer/Songwriter Piano Performance
by Jocelyn Mattka.

May 20, 11:15am

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