The Community Foundation Breakfast Series

October 28th 2010

Making our Communities Safer:  Let's Stop Concussions in Sport

Dr. Charles H. Tator

Dr. Tator founded ThinkFirst (www.thinkfirst.ca), a national non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of brain and spinal cord injuries that has been heightening public awareness through education since its inception in 1992.  Two examples of ThinkFirst's injury prevention programs are the Give-a-kid-a-helmet program, which provides children with a helmet, and TD ThinkFirst For Kids, a school-based curriculum program for children in kindergarten to grade 8 that teaches children how to think first and play safely to prevent brain and spinal cord injuries.

Dr. Tator spoke about aspects of concussions and also warned about issues that arise from "sucking it up" and continuing play after suffering a head injury.  Dr. Tator's presentation is available for download here

 December 1st 2010

Being a Canadian Muslim Woman

Alia Hogben

Ameena Jaffer, Board member of the Community Foundation introduced Alia Hogben. 

"I have known Alia Hogben for the forty years that she and I have lived in the area of Kingston, her with her husband three children, myself with my two sons. 

Alia was born in Burma, lived in India and later in a number of different countries as the daughter of a diplomat. 

I have always associated Alia with assisting Canadian Muslim women to participate as fully as possible in the newly adopted country of Canada and to promote to Muslim women, an Islamic message of equality, plurality and inclusiveness in the practice of Islam.
 
In the last 15 years Alia has promoted this message of participation and inclusiveness through Canadian Council of Women of which she is currently the Executive Director.

Alia is known to the Kingston community through her monthly columns in the Whig Standard on Islam and Muslims; she is known to greater Canadian public through her frequent commentary and analysis on CBC, appearances on Steve Pakin’s The Agenda, and American public radio stations. She is internationally recognized through her presentations at conferences in Britain and elsewhere, on Muslim women’s rights in the religion of Islam.
Currently, she serves on the Ontario Press Council and on the Advisory Committee for the Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg.

Prior to her current work with Canadian Muslim women, Alia’s professional career was in the field of social work where she was a programs supervisor with the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services.

The CCMW whose membership is a broad range of Muslim women has taken  a strong position against implementation of sharia on the basis that there is no one interpretation for sharia .  On a personal level, Alia chooses to uphold equality rights and the need to uphold those rights in the face of the argument made on the basis of ‘religion and culture’. 

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to present Alia Hogben to you"

The full text of Ms. Hogben's talk can be downloaded by clicking here