Community Living Toronto’s AGM

With Special Guest, Minister Todd Smith

On September 26th, Community Living Toronto hosted our 71st Annual General Meeting at the Alliance Francaise. With over a hundred people in attendance including Association members, staff, families, self-advocates and other DS agencies, we were pleased to welcome our guest speaker for the event, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, Todd Smith.

Also the MPP for Bay of Quinte riding, Minister Smith spoke to attendees about how Community Living agencies across the province and the work that we collectively do are close to his heart because his wife, who is now a school teacher, used to work at her local Community Living agency. Because of this, he knows first-hand the impact that we have on the lives of the people we support, and he was eager to visit us when he recently took over as Minister of MCCSS.

Minister Smith also commented on the Ministry’s decision to once again provide stabilization funding to the sector for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, which is a positive sign that the Ministry is understanding the challenges that our sector faces. Stabilization funding will go a long way in helping us to continue to provide quality supports and services to individuals and families. After concluding his remarks, Minister Smith was presented with a piece of artwork from Creative Village Studio as a token of thanks.

To close the business portion of the meeting, outgoing Board Chair Victor Figueiredo and CEO Brad Saunders delivered an update on strategic priorities and program direction, and retiring Directors, Judith Andrenacci and Donna Britten (absent) were presented with gifts for their contributions. Lastly, our Annual Report for 2018-2019 was unveiled and we are proud to share it on our website, here.

We are also pleased to welcome incoming Board Chair, Susan Silma as well as returning Directors Victor Figueiredo (Past Chair), Michael Challes (Treasurer), Emory Gilbert, Laura Parsonson, Valerie Picher, Edward Lau, Nelson Raposo, Nick Macrae, Donald Hale and Stephen Andrews.