Community conversations

All Welcome Here begins a series of community discussions

Judith Burfoot founded All Welcome Here (AWH) in 2018 as a way for people in the County who identify as Black, Indigenous or people of colour (BIPOC) to connect with each other and to share experiences. The last census showed the about five per cent of the County’s population identifies as BIPOC, which Burfoot says is actually quite high for rural Ontario. “I was trying to find a way to help bring us together and to connect. In rural spaces, you need to know people,” she said. In 2020, AWH organized a rally in Picton to support Black Lives Matter after the murder of George Floyd in the US. “The community came out in unbelievable numbers. The whole street was filled with people, mostly White people, who wanted to stand in solidarity against racism,” she said. “Since then, we have had two focuses. Our main focus is on our BIPOC community, and then we also work with our larger community on anti-racism. We do education, community events, some training in different workplaces. As we were talking to people in the community about anti-racism, it became clear that people here don’t always know people of colour, don’t have the interactions, or don’t have the understanding. After the BLM demonstration, I had quite a few people come to me and say that they were shocked and sad and wanted to make sure our community was welcoming, and what could they do.”

Together with AWH Education Lead Jessica Lindsay-Sonkin, Burfoot began to think of ways to bring about these larger community conversations, to find a way to have discussions about race and how to foster a welcoming community. “Judith and I have been implementing training programs across the County and we have received feedback that people would love an opportunity to more deeply explore what it means to be anti-racist,” said Lindsay-Sonkin. “Learning about anti-racist concepts in a safe and secure space allows individuals to feel comfortable and ask questions to deepen their understanding. Our hope is that these conversations will empower people to have important talks with friends, family and community members to ensure that Prince Edward County is a welcoming place for all individuals. We all have a role to play in creating equitable spaces where everyone feels like they belong.”

All Welcome Here will be holding a series of eight community meetings on a variety of subjects, with the aim of building a more equitable community. There will be a small education component at each meeting, as a base upon which to build a conversation. “These are not lectures from us. They are about hearing what people have to say, what they want to learn about, what their thoughts are, and even be a place where you can ask uncomfortable questions,” said Burfoot. These community conversations will begin on Tuesday, March 21, at 6 p.m. at Macaulay Church Museum in Picton. That day was chosen because it is designated by the UN as the International Day to Eliminate Racism. The topic of the first session is “Asking uncomfortable questions: How do we start talking about race?” There will be additional sessions on a range of topics in the following months, at different locations in the County. These sessions are pay-what-you-can, to help defray the cost, and any surplus will be directed towards a proposed youth program at PECI. For more information, or to register for these sessions, please visit allwelcomehere.ca. All members of Council have been invited to attend. “These conversations will give people an opportunity to collaborate and to connect and to learn something,” said Burfoot. “One of the things that I love about living here is how connected you are with your neighbours, and if we really want that to be the case, then there are some spaces where we need to do a little work. It’s not a lot of work, but we need to be intentional about creating community.”