A new dawn for the City of Vaughan

“When we first engaged with TRIEC in 2009, the community of Vaughan was changing dramatically” says Mara Furlan, Manager of Learning and Development at the City of Vaughan. “We needed to make some changes to ensure that the City reflected the community it serves.”
Working with TRIEC helped the City establish a plan to do just that. They started by joining The Mentoring Partnership, through which staff mentored skilled immigrants and improved their cross-cultural communications. Yet, the City wanted to do more.

The City jumped at the opportunity to be a pilot site for TRIEC’s new workshops. TRIEC presented workshops to the City’s HR team and hiring managers on Recruitment and Selection, Cross-Cultural Connections, Inclusive Orientation and Onboarding and Managing Performance. And the City has already seen an impact.

“The training has been incredibly eye-opening for me and our staff,” says Mara. “It gave us practical tips, like changing some of our recruitment practices, and also gave us the confidence to start conversations with our community members on how we can continue to improve.”

Now an active partner in the TRIEC Campus, the City of Vaughan is supporting the project’s pilot phase and the development of an organisational checklist for immigrant integration. It is all part of their ongoing path to transformation.

“I’ve seen where we were and where we are today, and it really is a new beginning, a new dawn for the City of Vaughan,” says Mara. “A lot of things are changing positively, and our work with TRIEC around immigrant inclusion has been one of the most positive.”

This story first appeared in TRIEC’s 2011-2012 Annual Report.