Messages from the One Burlington Executive Committee:
IN MEMORIAM – We are saddened to relate that Shadi Salehian, Chair of One Burlington, passed away recently. She was active with several arts, cultural, faith and service groups in Burlington and Halton. Her dedication to inclusion, equity and unity in diversity inspired many. She will be greatly missed and our three fall events are presented in her honour.
SPECIAL THANKS – One Burlington expresses our gratitude to all of the research, healthcare, frontline, essential and education workers who are providing dedicated and exceptional service to us all during this pandemic. Thank you.
SUPPORT – If you’d like to volunteer with One Burlington or make a donation, send us a message using the message form at the bottom of this webpage. Please resend your message if you don’t receive a prompt reply.
Our Autumn 2021 Outreach Events
September 30th – See our original video, in honour of Indigenous Heritage, that was streamed online during Canada’s 1st national day of Truth and Reconciliation. View our video now on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/hEbhypMWElg
October 16th – See our original video celebrating our area’s multicultural diversity, with a variety of local musicians and performance artists. Faith representatives share the meaning of Inclusion & Togetherness; and performances include the Enchorus Children’s Choir, Sikh Youth Dancing, Caribbean Pan Drummers, Pianist Renée Huynh, the Don Ko Daiko Drummers, Ukrainian Bandura music, the GuZheng Chinese Zither Group, Filipino Tinikling Pole Dancers, and Chris McKhool with the Sultans of String. View our video now on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/1mQrmupXDgs
October 27th – Register to participate in our Zoom seminar about Islamic Heritage, featuring adherents and educators at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMtfu6hpjouGdV8_c2HPSfPoJX08S0UoUnX Presenters include:
– Dr. Brian Carwana – Director, Encounter World Religions Centre, Guelph
– Dr. Todd Lawson – Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto
– Hanadi Al-Masri – Halton Multicultural Council
– Imam A. Q. Mufti – Interfaith Council of Halton
– Jewel Amoah – Halton District School Board
– Sita Jayaraman – Halton Catholic District School Board
If a link doesn’t work, send us a message using the message form at the bottom of this webpage. Please resend your message if you don’t receive a prompt reply.
History of One Burlington
One Burlington began through the inspiration of many Burlington faith leaders and representatives after the Quebec mosque shooting in 2017. We love the unity that flows from embracing the multifaith and multicultural reality of our city. We believe the contributions of our diverse cultural, community, environmental, faith and service groups continually strengthen Burlington; make it an exceptional place to live; and are a foundational part of the prosperity we enjoy here in Halton and area. Our beliefs are manifested in the inclusivity of our free and open annual events.
Mission
One Burlington is dedicated to creating and facilitating opportunities for people of different backgrounds to come together in a cordial and peaceful manner, in order to learn about and experience aspects of each others’ faith and culture – because we believe a diverse, integrated Burlington is a stronger, kinder and more interesting community to live in.
Vision
One Burlington envisions our city and region growing beyond a place of mutual awareness and tolerance, to a place of mutual respect and understanding; leading to shared goodwill amongst the residents of our diverse community, and to unity in diversity.
Events
At its inception, One Burlington hosted an annual summer fair featuring faith, cultural, community, environmental and service groups; with free admission, free food and performances in Central Park. Each year, over a thousand people from Burlington, Halton and are enjoyed the relaxed, amiable atmosphere of this event. Seasonal outreach events were added to engage more of our community. Due to pandemic precautions, all our events then went online. We hope to resume our in-person events in 2022. For the most recent information, visit us on social media.
2021 - In January, One Burlington co-hosted World Religion Day online with the Interfaith Council of Halton. For Black History Month In February, we streamed original videos about "Africville" which was the Black Loyalist refugee settlement in Halifax, that faced systemic racism before their community was razed for industrial space in the 1960s. We also organized a February Food Drive for the Burlington Food Bank; and in Autumn, we premiered three online events in appreciation of Indigenous Heritage, Islamic Heritage and Multiculturalism.
2020 - In February, for Black History Month, we hosted the musical "Rise and Struggle" before a packed and enthuastic audience in the Port Nelson United Church auditorium.
2019 - Our multifaith and multicultural Summer Fair in Central Park inspired multilingual posters
2018 - Councillor Rory Nisan highlights all the best things at our Summer Fair in Central Park.
(use OB Sign 2018.jpg graphic, + OB Activities.jpg, + OB Bandshell.jpg, + OB Booths.jpg, + OB 2018 Dancers.jpg photos attached to this eMail) (use current website video of our 2018 summer event with Burlington Councillor Rory Nisan in the still – Caption could identify him).
2017
(use OBF 2017 Poster 2 graphic image attached to this eMail) (use the current Embrace The World.png globe image with supporting hands) (use OB Dateless Display Poster.pdf file) (use your discretion which row order is best)