(Oct 29) - [Closed] - Encounter have begin a series on religious holidays for the Oakville Public Library staff. This next session focuses on Hinduism and will highlight the Hindu Holidays such as Diwali, Holi and other colourful celebrations. We will aim to increase staff's religious literacy as a means of fostering an inclusive workplace for staff and a welcoming environment for the general public.

We explored key holidays in the fall and early winter months. Learning about key dates on colleagues' calendars and yearly schedules makes us more aware of the richness of our colleagues' lives and it gives us a chance to recognize important moments in their families and communities.

Religious holidays are an enjoyable and relatable way to foster openness on religious identities in the workplace. During this talk, we explored some key holidays in the last months of the year such as Diwali, the Jewish High Holidays, Christmas, and more.

We discussed the fall and end of year holidays to better understand the religious and spiritual lives of colleagues and the people the CMHA serves.

Encounter presented religious literacy for library staff and its relevance to workplace culture and serving the public. We explored how understanding religious diversity, including key Jewish holidays can foster inclusion, support equitable scheduling practices, and strengthen relationships with colleagues and community members.

We explored why religious literacy is so important for creating inclusive workplaces, and how inclusion fosters greater teamwork, higher productivity, and enhanced employee well-being with positive implications for staff retention. We enjoy offering this workshop to city employees and also to partner organizations among the businesses in Chatham-Kent.

We addressed how religious literacy is relevant to the workplace and how it promotes a greater sense of belonging, more divergent thinking, and thus leads to better results and performance.

Encounter hosted its annual 3-day police religious literacy program where officers and staff from across the country were invited to come learn about minority religious communities, visit places of worship, and converse with leaders about issues around policing. We spoke about how police services can make workplaces inviting to minority officers, how to build trust in these communities, and how to deal with difficult issues around body searches, trauma, etc.

Brian provided two talks to police officers from several services as part of a training in religious literacy, in factors to consider when dealing with certain religious minorities, as well as background on geopolitical conflicts playing a big role in our civic life.

This is part of a series with the Region of Peel, with this session focusing on Sikhism. In this session, we partnered with our dear...