Welcome to the Humanity Network

Welcome to the East Kootenay Humanity Network

Our Mission is to create and sustain a regional network that will promote unity in diversity among the citizens of the East Kootenay connected to the citizens of the world whose vision is to foster and be a part of an all-embracing global society.

"Every person in British Columbia has a right to feel safe and participate in their community.
Racism and hate makes that impossible by creating fear and exclusion.
We need to work together to end racism and hate in our communities by understanding hate, how to report it and how to step in when we witness it.

Of all forms of criminality, hate crimes are likely to be among the most underreported offences."

Resilience BC has launched a new website to provide support and information about this important work.

"Hatred against identifiable groups thrives on insensitivity, bigotry and destruction of both the target group and of the values of our society."

Supreme Court of Canada
R. v. Keegstra

For more information, please follow this link

Humanity Network Spoke

CDRJS and the Humanity Network are honoured to announce that our not-for-profit organizations has been recognized as one of the selected community "Spokes" under the restructuring of Resilience BC.

We will be working to address the deliverables identified in this contract, providing opportunities for community engagement and awareness and providing support for the continued safety and well-being of all members in our communities.

The following deliverables are taken from "HUB" contract with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of the Province of British Columbia

1. Local Network Membership
The Spokes will convene and coordinate an active local network in each of the communities it provides services in. The local network supports the development and implementation of a response protocol when a Hate Crime or Hate Incident is alleged to have occurred in the community.

2. Response Protocol

Spokes will mobilize a community response to incidents of racism and hate in a consistent, collaborative and effective way.

3. HUB Activities
The Spokes should participate in network activities hosted by the Resilience BC Hub such as network meetings, surveys, and sharing updates on community activities.

4. Community Programming
In its role as a community leader, spokes may choose to develop unique community programs each year such as workshops, trainings, or awareness raising events to addressing local racism and hate activity in collaboration with the Hub.

If you belong to a group who is interested and willing to be involved in the local network to address Hate Crime or Hate Incident, please contact us.

Reporting Hate Crime

Resilience BC as developed an excellent resource for defining, reporting and obtaining support for suspected incidents of Hate Crimes.

Some of the issues and information covered on this site are:

Know Your Rights - What are Human Rights?

Know Your Responsibilities - Protecting your rights and those of others

Reporting an Emergency Hate Crime

Reporting a Non-emergency Hate Crime

Why I's Important to Report

If You Are Unsure It Was a Hate Crime

Taking Action

If you need help, please contact us.

Strategic Peace Building

Peacebuilding is the development of constructive personal, group, and political relationships across ethnic, religious, class, national, and racial boundaries. It aims to resolve injustice in nonviolent ways and to transform the structural conditions that generate deadly conflict. Peacebuilding can include conflict prevention; conflict management; conflict resolution and transformation, and post-conflict reconciliation.

Peacebuilding becomes strategic when it works over the long run and at all levels of society to establish and sustain relationships among people locally and globally. Strategic peacebuilding connects people and groups “on the ground” (community and religious groups, grassroots organizations, etc.) with policymakers and powerbrokers (governments, the United Nations, corporations, banks, etc.) It aims not only to resolve conflicts, but to build societies, institutions, policies, and relationships that are better able to sustain peace and justice.

University of Notre Dame KROC Institute for International Peace Studies

Peace Building Definitions and Strategies

There is no single process or strategy used in peace building because no two situations are ever the same. However, the United States Institute of Peace identifies seven key components of strategic peace building to incorporate into any plan.

Recognizing the Burdens of Long-Term Violence
Eliciting Plans from Locals
Conflict Transformation
Insider-Outsider Links
Dealing with Spoilers
Identifying Obstacles to Strategic Peace Building
Elicit, Evaluate, Elicit, Evaluate…

Peace Building Definitions and Strategies, Sunday Moultan

How is CDRJS involved in Strategic Peace Building?

Strategic Peace Building is a multi-dimensional approach to improving world peace, community peace, positive community awareness and engagement. CDRJS has four significant project areas which directly support these concepts:

Restorative Justice: is a process which directly involves the community in addressing crime in the community. It brings groups of individuals who have been linked through a difficult situation and fosters a dialogue centered on addressing the harm done and encourages the potential for forgiveness.

Restorative Justice Training: Currently, the systems that we experience on a daily basis to regulate and control human behaviour are based largely on rule and consequences, a punishment based system. Rules and regulations are necessary in given situations. Restorative Justice outcomes are specific to the group who are engaged in finding that solution. It is conceptually different and requires a change in mindset in order to successfully facilitate. Punishment based solutions are simple in that it involves a matching process between act and consequence and because we have daily experience and history with that type of processing, it is relatively easy to overlay a punishment solution with the intention of doing restorative justice.

CDRJS trains and mentors the growth of individuals who wish to be Restorative Justice Facilitators.

EK Humanity Network: CDRJS has recently been accepted as one of several provincial groups who will focus on addressing issues of hate and racism in BC. We are honoured to be given this recent recognition and support and it will further the previous work of OARH which CDRJS has been engaged in for the past 10 years. Provincially this initiative is called Resilience BC and we are exciting about the direct and support it will provide.

Hate and Race Based Incident Response: CDRJS is a local representative for the BC Hate Crimes Team. We work in conjunction with local and provincial RCMP to indentify, investigate potential crimes associated with offenses to self and indentity.

The BC Hate Crimes Team works with local police detachments to investigate the criminal offenses and to protect sense of self and identity. For non-emergency questions about hate crimes, resources, training or education, please contact the BC Hate Crimes Team:

Phone: 1-855-462-5733 (toll free)

E-mail: BC_Hate_Crime_Team@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

Taken from Report Hate Crime

Don't Forget What Life is Really About

by Jay Shetty

In 2018, the Humanity Network held community awareness events associated with the UN International Day of Happiness. We were fortunate in having Senator Murray Sinclair as our keynote speaker. This video is worth watching especially during a time when thoughts of the impact of Covid may further focus our thinking on what is lost in terms of our personal freedom and social interactions.

I hope you enjoy it and it furthers defines your quest for happiness. You may want to skip the ads at the start of the video

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Resilience BC

"Every person in British Columbia has a right to feel safe and participate in their community.
Racism and hate makes that impossible by creating fear and exclusion.
We need to work together to end racism and hate in our communities by understanding hate, how to report it and how to step in when we witness it.

Of all forms of criminality, hate crimes are likely to be among the most underreported offences."

Resilience BC has launched a new website to provide support and information about this important work.

"Hatred against identifiable groups thrives on insensitivity, bigotry and destruction of both the target group and of the values of our society."

Supreme Court of Canada
R. v. Keegstra

For more information, please follow this link

Benefits of Membership with the Humanity Network

Guiding Principles

To treat human beings with civility and decency
To be respectful of our common humanity
To use consultation and exchange of views in the process of decision-making
To seek new solutions suited to the challenges of today’s world
To commit to the supremacy of the rule of law

The Humanity Network is an not-for-profit organization of organizations, a network of like-minded organizations, with the collective intent of fostering dignity, equality and respect. This is accomplish, in part, by supporting the objectives and services of OARH and working with and within the network to define and present supportive community engagement opportunities.

The "other" benefits of our membership are:

1. It is free. There are no dues or fees, we only ask that members represent a community service or organization and are willing to be involved in some personal and meaningful way.

2. Involvement in organizational or input sessions that are held to define and organize the public engagement sessions.

3. Involvement in the OARH responsibilities which is to be actively involved in the Hate and Race Based Incident Response and Protocols. This involves a collaborative and supportive approach to Anti Racism and actions taken to support further community awareness.

4. Raise funds and write grants - I know, there are some people, in addition to myself, who enjoy this sort of activity;

5. Suggest articles to be added to the website or newspaper - Suggesting also includes writing, but suggesting as a start is great.

6. Be involved in surveys or other forms of community input - We are currently looking for input into a new LOGO!

One of the recent initiatives is to create a new Logo for our two project areas: Cranbrook and District Restorative Justice and Humanity Network. We have contracted with Telus to come up with something truly amazing. In order for it to be amazing and represent our collective efforts, I prepared a survey with the information that Telus needs in order to get started.
The survey takes about 5 minutes and the benefit of your involvement will be to select one of the possible options that are created by Telus.
If you are currently a member of either CDRJS or the Humanity Network, check your email as I may have sent to a link to the surveys. If it isn't there, please drop me a line and I'll send the link

Doug McPhee.

If you would like to join and contribute in a manner which honours your interest, ability and most importantly your time:

For CDRJS, please tour the CDRJS website and visit our Membership Page.
For the Humanity Network, please tour this website and contact Amy Cross for further information.

What are International Days of Celebration

These are the international days currently observed by the United Nations.

"The United Nations designates specific days, weeks, years and decades as occasions to mark particular events or topics in order to promote, through awareness and action, the objectives of the Organization. Usually, it is one or more Member States that propose these observances and the General Assembly establishes them with a resolution.

On occasion, these celebrations are declared by the specialized agencies of the United Nations, such as UNESCO, UNICEF, FAO, etc., when they concern issues that fall within the scope of their competencies. Some of them may be later adopted by the General Assembly."

November 14 - World Diabetes Day

"On World Diabetes Day, I voice my support for all individuals around the world living with diabetes, and reaffirm the commitment of the United Nations to fight for their needs and well-being on our path towards health for all." — UN Secretary-General António Guterres

How does the work of the Humanity Network allign with International Days of Celebration?

At the conclusion of the community engagement opportunities, the Humanity Network holds a Round Table discussion with community partners. During this opportunity the days of celebration for the following year are presented and selection of possible themes is done on the basis of work or issues that are most pressing in our region.

The work for the following years is to find alignment and agreement between the Guiding Principles of the Humanity Network, the Objectives of OARH and the intent of observances defined in the International Days of Celebration.