The Centre wishes you and yours a happy and warm holiday season. 

There are many reasons to celebrate in December:  

• Hanukkah is observed for eight days and nights, starting the evening of December 18 to December 26, 2022. A candle or oil-based light is lit on a menorah each night throughout the eight-day holiday.  

• Winter Solstice, December 21, is the day with the fewest hours of sunlight of the year and may be marked by various celebrations and traditions like the Persian festival of Yalda.   

• Christmas celebrated on December 25, involves a wide range of secular and religious traditions, celebrated with family, Christmas trees, and gifts.  

• Kwanzaa is an annual celebration of Pan-African culture from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a communal feast called Karamu, usually on the sixth day. 

• Ōmisoka, New Year’s Eve, is considered an important day in Japanese tradition as it is the end of the old year and the eve of New Year’s Day. 

We remind you to be inclusive in your holiday celebrations and recognize the different ways those around you may be celebrating this time of year.  

If you have any questions, please contact humanrights@humber.ca.

We hope you all have a safe and restful holiday break!

Last year, many people in our Humber College community were integral in helping us surpass our goal of raising $2,000 in donations to Ernestine's Women's Shelter; a non-profit organization based in North Etobicoke that provides advocacy, crisis intervention and shelter to Women and Gender Diverse individuals and their children experiencing violence. 

With huge thanks to those who have already donated, and with just a week until the College closes for the December holiday break, we are almost halfway to reaching our $2,000 goal this year!

The holiday season can bring with it added stress and anxiety for survivors of gender-based violence, and your donations will help ensure that Ernestine's can continue to provide support to all of their clients in the shelter and out in the community. Let’s do what we can to support this important local charity.

If you have the means, please take a moment to contribute what you can on the FHSW Canada Helps page. Tax receipts are provided.

Every little contribution truly helps, whether you can contribute $10, $25, or more,

With gratitude,

Your friends in the Faculty of Health Sciences & Wellness.

About Ernestine’s Women’s Shelter

Ernestine’s Women’s Shelter was opened in 1983 by a group of community members who saw a need for a safe place for women and children fleeing violence and abuse.

Ernestine’s is a non-profit organization that provides advocacy, crisis intervention and shelter to Women, Two-Spirit, Trans, Non-binary and Gender Diverse individuals and their children experiencing violence. Our services are evidence-informed and driven by values of inclusion, anti-racism, anti-oppression and respect. We seek to interrupt violence through education and advocacy for social justice.

Ernestine’s is a 32-bed emergency shelter with 14 private bedrooms.

We provide a home for individuals and their children – who stay with us from six months to over one year – until we find appropriate housing for them. During their stay, we provide them with all the necessities they might need (new bedding, clothes, school supplies, toiletries, baby supplies, prescriptions not covered by OHIP, loaded Presto cards, and anything else they might need).

In addition to shelter clients, we support over 600 adults and children from across the GTA through our Outreach Program. The shelter’s Outreach clients have access to counselling services and programs as well as the shelter’s on-site donation rooms and food bank.

We provide a range of holistic services to our shelter and Outreach clients. Our services and programs include 24-hour crisis assistance, individual and group-based counselling support, skills exchange programs, as well as legal, housing, and immigration support and advocacy.

Since we opened our doors in 1983, we have supported over 15,000 individuals and children.

Thanks to our supporters, last year (2021-2022) we were able to:

• Respond to 1,258 crisis calls.
• Provide shelter and support to 50 adults and 35 children, who called Ernestine’s their home.
• Offer lifelines to 286 adults and 418 children in the community through our outreach programs.
• Provide 397 check-ins and supportive engagement to children and youth, who form the majority of our clients.
• 214 adults and 401 children were serviced as a result of the 637 times Ernestine’s food support services were accessed. Ernestine’s has continued to see an increased need for our services since the beginning of the pandemic.

Please note a change in how large volumes of cardboard are managed at Lakeshore Campus: 

• For several boxes/cardboard volumes: Please break them down flat and create a work order on Archibus for BEST staff to come pick it up. 

• For small amount (e.g. one or two pizza boxes): Please break them down flat and leave them near a recycling bin station. BEST will collect them as they come by to manage the recycling streams. 

CALL Ontario's 2023 Conference, entitled "Back to Our Future: Rethinking College Education in the New Normal" will be held at Humber College on May 24, 25 and 26. All communications, ESOL/language, and general education faculty are invited to submit proposals for presentations, workshops, or facilitated discussions under that theme.

The deadline for proposals is Friday, January 27 and should be emailed to info@callontario.org.

Proposals should include the following: presentation title; presentation overview; brief bio(s); preferred format: presentation, workshop or facilitated discussion; preferred session length, and AV requirements. The conference will be held at Humber College, but all sessions will be hybrid or bi-modal.

For additional information, please contact Matthew Harris (matthew.harris@humber.ca) or consult the attached poster.