Up to All of Us

 Nov. 16-17, 2018, Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel, Richmond

Join Board Voice for an engaging, enlightening and informative day and a half of workshops, panels, and facilitated conversations that will increase your effectiveness as a board member, provide insights and strategies into the major issues affecting BC’s community social-benefit sector, and offer opportunity to network and share knowledge with your peers.

Highlights

Conference 2018 agenda
Conference 2018 bios

Keynote speaker Alex Nelson, “In the Beginning, then TRC, and Natural Law.” Alex is an Indigenous leader, residential school survivor and founder of Canada’s first Indigenous provincial sports body, the Aboriginal Sports and Recreation Society of BC.

This keynote responds to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action through Alex’s personal story of life in a residential school. It illustrates how these schools twisted Indigenous teachings and foundational values of family, community and land into a broken, confused and destructive intergenerational legacy that is now being changed through healing, relationship, wellness and leadership.

Conversations with political leaders

  • Role of the community social-benefit sector in the health of British Columbians – Hon. Adrian Dix , Health Minister, and Hon. Don Davies, federal NDP Health Critic
  • Poverty reduction in BC – Hon. Shane Simpson, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, in conversation with Dawn Hemingway, Co-Chair of the Minister’s Advisory Forum on Poverty Reduction

Advocating for Children and Youth. First Call panel featuring:

Responsibility for Social Care: Isolation and Loneliness. Open facilitated conversation featuring:

  • Vickie Cammack, founder and CEO, Tyze Personal Networks, co-founder of Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network
  • Holly Kavanaugh, board member, AiMHi; board member, Board Voice
  • Rod Santiago, executive director, Abbotsford Community Services
  • Hon. Sam Sullivan, MLA for Vancouver-False Creek and noted advocate for people with disabilities

Community Partnerships: Serving People in Crisis Situations

  • Moderated by Cheryl Melder, Manager of Victim Services for Family Services of Greater Vancouver (FSGV)
  • Members of the FSGV/New Westminster Police Department’s collaborative Domestic Violence and Criminal Harassment Unit
  • Models for collaborative community response

Working tables

  • Reconciliation in Action. Identifying and cultivating actions in your organization that work toward a goal of reconciliation.
  • Communication with Partners and the Public
  • Networking with Other Social Service Agencies

Conversation on refugee settlement

  • Chris Friesen, director of settlement services with the Immigrant Services Society of BC, chair of the Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance, co-chair of the National Settlement Council; Tima Kurdi, co-founder of the Kurdi Foundation and author of The Boy on the Beach: My Family’s Escape from Syria and Our Hope for a New Home

Workshops

  • Boards and Executive Directors: Bringing out the Best in Each Other (panel) with Phoenix Centre Executive Director Sian Lewis, John Howard Society North Island Executive Director Wendy Richardson and PLEA Community Services Executive Director Tim Veresh.
  • Non-profit Life Cycles and Board Roles in Times of Transition, with Alison Brewin, Executive Director of The Vantage Point.
  • Building and Strengthening Social Enterprises, with Sean Condon, social enterprise development advisor for Vancity Community Foundation.
  • Lessons in Risk Management: Perspectives of Senior Staff, with Steve Atkinson, Director of Finance, Pacific Community Resources Society; and Jessica Denholm, Vice-President of Family Services of Greater Vancouver.
  • Indigenization Strategies, with Rick Ouellet, Langara College’s new Director of Aboriginal Education and Services. This workshop will explore the ways that community and social service organizations can engage employees in furthering their understanding of Indigenous people and issues.
  • Advancing the Case: Next Steps in Social Policy Planning, with Board Voice Executive Director Jody Paterson,Board Voice Co-Chair Leslie Welin and Board Voice secretary-treasurer Craig East.

Friday night networking reception and dinner will be followed by musical entertainment provided by  Luna and the Moondogs

ACCOMMODATION: 

Board Voice has negotiated a special rate at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel (phone number 604-273-7878of $179 for up to two people, $199 for three and $219 for four. Parking is free for those attending the conference, as is a shuttle from the Vancouver Airport to the hotel.

These rates are valid for bookings made before 5 p.m. Oct. 24, 2018. Ensure you receive these rates by booking early and making sure you tell hotel staff when registering that you are part of  the “Board Voice of Society of BC Conference 2018” booking group. If you are coming from Vancouver Island and want to explore the possibility of sharing a ride with other conference attendees coming from the Island, contact Jody Paterson

Meals: Conference fees include conference lunch and dinner on Nov. 16, and breakfast Nov. 17.