‘Everything has a silver lining’ – this goes for most things and our AGM was no exception (writes ELREC Chair FOYSUL CHOUDHURY MBE). Even during difficult times like such, we as a humanity find ways to not only survive but thrive.
As many of you know, we had the AGM scheduled for March 2020 but due to Covid -19 it was cancelled, and we then went into lockdown. During this time everything went digital and Zoom is now a very common source of conducting meetings, workshops, and classes.
So, we also decided to host our AGM online via Zoom on Wednesday 5th August 2020 and it was just as wonderful as the ‘real’ deal!
The AGM was hosted by ELREC Chair, Foysol Choudhury MBE who welcomed everyone and introduced ELREC’s Honorary Patron, and Lord Provost to the City of Edinburgh, Frank Ross:
Rt Hon Frank Ross – Lord Provost for the City of Edinburgh
Lord Provost welcomed everyone to our AGM and congratulated community groups for coming together during this very difficult time. “Edinburgh is the most successful economy in Scotland with 94 per of its population in employment. We are world centre for celebrating culture and festivals attracting 4 million visitors each year. Since March 2020, our city has been closed to protect ourselves and others from the virus and lives have been disrupted such as schooling, businesses as well as our traditions”. I thank local groups for observing lockdown during the Muslim Eid celebrations and other celebrations which fell during this time.
Since March 2020:
Edinburgh has provided and delivered 200 food parcels to the vulnerable and poor families every day. 1600 to those in shielding, 100 million pounds of support has been provided to businesses and enterprises over last 4 months. 3000 community care grants paid every month,2000 people supported through crisis centres, 200 additional bed spaces created to eliminate homelessness in our city.
These last 4 months have seen communities being resilient and coming together like nothing I have ever seen. During this time volunteering has trebled.
Moving ahead I urge ELREC to continue its work in substantial public society by maximising inclusion and access to employment and access to equality, justice, and access to services. On behalf of Civic Edinburgh, I pass gratitude to ELREC board, staff, volunteers, and partners in their contributions in minimising impact of coronavirus and the lockdown within their communities.
Sarah Boyack – MSP – Member of local government and communities committee.
I want to thank the communities and local groups for all their efforts during this unprecedented time. There are many lessons to be learned from this situation and one is that we cannot go back to the old way of living. We need to create a better society to what we had before lockdown, our focus has been on how to protect people from Covid particularly the vulnerable, and access to practical support for people who have lost jobs, loved ones and are really in need of help.
Some of the issues I have been working on these past few months are that people are worried about the long term effects of Covid and the lockdown on their mental health, more testing in care homes and for care workers and support for teachers and their staff in schools and ensure that our local authorities have the resources they need to make this happen.
I have also had lots of letters asking me what the scientific guidance is on opening religious places and supporting people in workplaces once we return to work. I can tell you that this is the busiest the parliament has ever been.
Or governments need to work together to reduce the effect of the virus on people, find a vaccine and ensure funding for businesses is available to get our economy up and running again.
We also had a debate in parliament on Black Lives Matter movement and three big things we agreed that need to happen were:
A Museum of slavery to look at the history of black lives
School curriculum needs to include this
Establishment of an expert advisory group on to look at the effects of Covid on bme people
I have also been contacted by the son of the Late Saroj Lal who was the first bme teacher and community worker and worked for ELREC and many community organisations in Edinburgh and did some amazing work. We will be planning a session in parliament to remember and celebrate Saroj soon. The Chair thanked Sarah for organising this and ELREC would be happy to be involved in this.
The pandemic is only reiterated the value of our front-line staff and service workers and we want to ensure everyone has equal opportunities and that our services are fairer and allow people to serve their country.
Professor Sir Geoff Palmer OBE
I want to start by conveying my dearest sympathies to the people who have died or are sick and pray that we can manage this disease and minimise the damage further. These are unprecedented times.
Different parts of the country are talking of the links to chattel slavery and we must change attitudes and start with schools and tell children why black people are in this situation. The curriculum must teach the truth.
“Its easier to mend broken children than mend broken men”
Do not let things be nice to do, make it part of the curriculum and it becomes the attitude of the people we produce in the future.
I have given interviews for Canada, Japan and South Africa, Jamaica and other Caribbean connections and the world is interested not in me but in Edinburgh and what it is doing. What we are doing in our city is going worldwide and has attracted the attention on the world.
Promoting Equality and Fighting Discrimination
ELREC is registered in Scotland as a company limited by guarantee no. 183419 and is a recognised Scottish Charity no. SC007896
The Henry Dundas statue in St Andrew square has been there for 199 years and its taken us this long to change the placard to include the word “slavery” on it. It may have taken a long time but its been worth it and truth be told.
Edinburgh is a city that is seen by the world as doing something about Black Lives issue and I am grateful for ELREC for making lives better for its bme communities in Edinburgh and the surrounding areas.
Councillor Donald Wilson – Convener Culture and Communities Committee
I am proud to be part of discussions on our history and making changes. Some of the silver lining has been reaction of communities and organisations who have stepped up and been involved in their local areas.
The Impact this has had on elderly and how we treat our elderly and our role and priority we have in society and role of culture on our mental wellbeing. In terms of mental health and realising role of culture has on mental health and wellbeing is essential part of our lives.
Edinburgh is a world class city of culture, and Covid has had a massive impact on it, we must do what we can, culturally and civically and its vital for our wellbeing. Our committee had been suspended and rightly so and is restarting soon and rightly so as its time to get back and argue the case for culture and strong communities.
Police – Chief Superintendent Sean Scott
Policing over the last four months has been something I have ever seen before. We were given new powers and had to learn quickly. I must say though that communities came together fantastically in the last 4 months, and we have not had major issues to report.
During these rather difficult times we wanted to be as tolerant as possible and the last resort was to enforce however Edinburgh and the bme communities have been fantastic with adhering to the rules. We may not have got it right every time, but we took the right approach and have a new survey online for feedback, so please do have a look at this on our website and send us feedback.
Going forward we closely monitor social tensions and are working very closely with our partners so that we can provide the right protection service to our local communities.
Crime is dramatically down last number of months, but anti-social behaviour has increased but not any great levels to cause any worry.
I thank ELREC and other partners for their continuous efforts and support making our work easier.
I would also like to mention that we have a new ACC, Tim Maier’s who will be joining us soon. The Chair thanked Sean and the rest of the Police for their swift action on the issue of hate incidents against the Asian community in Edinburgh due to Covid.
MSP Ben McPherson – Minister for Public Finance and Migration
Ben is the MSP for Edinburgh North and Leith.
In support of the health service and third sector that has come together in a tremendous way has been one of the positive things to come out of this terrible situation, my condolences for those who have lost their loved ones to the virus. We need to learn the lessons from this such as
Promoting Equality and Fighting Discrimination
ELREC is registered in Scotland as a company limited by guarantee no. 183419 and is a recognised Scottish Charity no. SC007896
how we can adapt to the changes and inequalities Covid has raised and the humanity that has strengthened the process. How do I support local organisations, and local businesses? Money has been made available and given quickly during this time to help with this. Recognising our own society and understanding our history to build a better society. I thank Sir Geoff for always inspiring us to be proactive and better.
ELREC Projects
Our current projects: Communities for Conservation, Equalities Engagement, Open Arms, True Colours, are all doing well despite the current situation.
Many of our services have gone online and some just cant. We want to thank the funders for their patience and understanding during this time. During lockdown we started 2 new projects, equally informed which disseminates information in different languages related to Covid and the lockdown restrictions to various ethnic minority groups in Edinburgh.
The purpose of this work is to ensure our local diverse communities have access to the official guidance and its understandable. We have also been working in partnership with Edinburgh Community Food, Lieth Decides and Port of Leith Housing to provide food parcels to local bme communities in North of Edinburgh.
Many of the communities need halal meat and products so our food parcels are specific to the needs of the local groups we represent here in Edinburgh. The Lockdown and Covid has pushed many of our local bme groups into poverty so this little help offers some support.
Appointment of Board Members
This year we had four board members retiring so we had four vacancies.
Mrs Shana Rams and Mr Irshad Ahmed were elected as new board members, and Mrs Magdalena Sajnaga and Cllr Carl John were re-elected.
Vice Chair, Shami Khan and the Chair thanked the speakers and everyone for attending and participating in ELREC’s AGM. We thank all front-line staff for all their hard work and public services for keeping the city moving during these unprecedented times.
