MAKING VOLUNTEERING MULTICULTURAL We have heard it before when it comes to multiculturalism; that the US is a melting pot and Canada is a mosaic. Personally, I love the visual of a colourful mosaic creating a larger Canadian identity that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Since today is Canadian Multiculturalism Day, it’s the perfect opportunity take a minute to reflect on how we can make volunteerism more diverse! Canadians are proud of our reputation of being welcoming to other cultures; though it’s not always clear how we can practice that in a meaningful way. To help us, I reached out to some volunteer centres that support multiculturalism in volunteering and asked them to share their insights into how volunteer managers and organizations can better engage with volunteers from different cultures. Here’s a little about who they are and how they support diversity in volunteering:

INTERNATIONAL SELF-CARE DAY (ISD), on 24 July each year, provides a focus and opportunity to raise the profile of healthy lifestyle self-care programmes around the world. ISD is a device developed by the International Self-Care Foundation to promote self-care as a vital foundation of health. ISD has been running since 2011. It provides a media-friendly forum and a focus for individuals and groups to (independently) promote self-care in their organisation or community.