Mosaic Institute has wound down operations effective August 9, 2024. Read more.
ABOUT US
MISSION
At Mosaic Institute, we believe that everyone has a right to be free from prejudice & discrimination.
We equip people with the tools to dismantle prejudice in their own communities through four pillars:
Our office, located in Tkaronto/Toronto, is located on the ancestral and traditional lands of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat (Wyandot), and Mississaugas of the New Credit.
Mosaic's team, distributed across what is now known as Canada, celebrates the ancestral and traditional lands of the Algonquin, Anishinaabe, Blackfoot, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat (Wyandot) Mississaugas of the New Credit, First Nations.
POLICY
We amplify the voices of people in Canada through our programs, research, and dialogues to inform policy changes that address inequities and prejudice.
RESEARCH
We conduct community-grounded research through our postsecondary fellowship and student research programs that identify prejudices and recommend actions.
DIALOGUE
We facilitate community led in-depth conversations using our Model of Dialogue to work through conflict, foster understanding, and find paths forward.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
We work with and deliver workshops and resources for educators, community leaders, youth, organizations and policy makers to dismantle prejudice.
Our 2023 Impact Report:
We are grateful to you, the Mosaic community of supports, volunteers, partners, collaborators, and champions, who believe what we believe in: the profound importance of nurturing empathy, building bridges and taking action.
As a leader in an increasingly demanding and quickly evolving landscape of social change, our unique value, our HOW, continues to ground us and guide us into the future.
HISTORY
Mosaic has reached nearly 560,000 people around the world (engaging nearly 35,000 in person, another 500,000+ indirectly). This work has been delivered through over 550 workshops, projects, resources, and events.
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Reached over 200,000 people in Canada and around the world
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75+ undergraduate and graduate student interns
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90,000+ people reached by UofMosaic Program
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100,000+ people reached by Next Generation
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10,000+ people reached by our public engagement initiatives
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Won the Canadian Race Relations Foundation Community Award of Excellence (2012)
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CharityVillage Awards Winner "Best Nonprofit Employer (Under 20 staff) Workplace Mental Health" (2021)
Charity Village Awards Winner 2021
Best Nonprofit Employer (Under 20 staff) Workplace Mental Health
My desire to dismantle prejudice stems from my experience growing up in an Armenian family in Toronto, with my parents and sister. Because of the perpetrated mass atrocities and genocide against Armenians, and ongoing issues between modern day Turkey and Armenia, I was conditioned to dislike Turkish people. I saw the same prejudice among other ethnicities in my adopted country of Canada, where immigrants, in addition to the challenges of establishing their new lives, faced exclusion, at times subtle and at times overt.
A message from Vahan Kololian, the Co-Founder and Board Chair of the Mosaic Institute.
OUR CO-FOUNDER
As I matured and my world evolved, I eventually had a “lightbulb moment” where I knew I didn't want to hate Turks. I then wanted to do something that would help others in their journeys of understanding and societal change.
In the early 2000s, my wife Susie and I created dialogue groups between Armenian and Turkish university students in Canada and the United States. The unique nature of these initiatives eventually led to our creation of the Mosaic Institute in 2007. This was our way to contribute to a more peaceful, inclusive, and just society and to help others of all ages have their “lightbulb moments”.
This foundation of respectful dialogue is an essential part of who we are and how we go about our work today – focusing as well on education, policy, and training to offer tangible solutions and meaningful skill-building to advance social change. Mosaic has evolved over the last 15 years to become a leading voice with the know-how to help create a more equitable and prosperous society for everyone. These polarized and increasingly divided times we live in now make it clear that this work is more vital than ever.
Canada, comparatively, has stood as a beacon of inclusion in the world. Today, Canada is facing the tough truth about its past with Indigenous peoples, while at the same time maintaining a largely unchanged and potentially expanding immigration policy. To unlock the true potential of these efforts, imagine what we can achieve as a nation as we promote respect and inclusiveness.
We need to continue to work together. Thank you for doing what you can to dismantle prejudice.
OUR BOARD
Gaëtane Verna
Board of Directors
Kathleen Vesely
Secretary and Treasurer
MOSAIC CIRCLE
*in memory of
Mohammad Al Zaibak
Debra Campbell
Charles Coffey
Phil Fontaine
Blake Goldring
Helena Gottschling Zabeen Hirji
Margaret O. MacMillan John Monahan
Don Morrison
Jim Muldoon*
Gordon M. Nixon
Raheel Raza
Ed Safarian*
Randy Vander Starren
OUR DONORS
We couldn't do this work without the support of our amazing donors. Thank you all so much for your kindness and generosity in supporting our mission of dismantling prejudice across Canada.
AGF Management Ltd.
Sunayna Ali
Robin Asgari
St Clair Balfour
Bank of Montreal
Deborah Barrett
Timothy Bean
Philip Berger
Kat Biondi
Alan S. Blair
Richard Boxer
Kevin Braiden
Maddie Brockbank
David Bruce
The Bruce H. Mitchell Foundation
Joan Butler
Canadian Race Relations Foundation
The Canadian Tilling Foundation
CARMA Corp.
Chadha Family Foundation
David Chan
María Chiang
Nicole Chiang Duarte
Richard K Christiansen
Juan Carlos Cochrane
John Coulton
Chaim Cutler
Mark Daitchman
Douglas Davis
Robert Dawson
Decision Point Research
Definity Insurance Foundation
Thomas Demlakian
John Di Tecco
Rana El-Mogharbel
Yasmeen Emadi
Ewing Morris
Mark Faragher
Bernie Farber
Eric Geringas
Jesse Gill
David Gordon
Smyth Graeme
Griggs Family Foundation
Susan Guichon
Damian Gunaratne
Sandra Hanna
George Harper
Keith Harradence
Danann Hawes
Sandra Hawken
Kenneth Held
Angela Henry
Zabeen Hirji
Jennifer Hollett
Ani Hotoyan-Joly
Julia Jalinskaia
Marian Johnson
Jonathan Joudrey
Janet Kaiman
Chris Keating
Megan Kee
Theresa Kenney
Erin Kenzie
Arsinee Khanjian
Bill Kidd
Susan Kidd
KingSett Capital Inc.
Marla Knutsen
Tanya Kololian
Christopher Kololian
Vahan and Susie Kololian
Napsugar Kolontar
Mona Kornberg
Lesley Kowalchuk
Uros Krtolina
Luminor Environmental Inc.
Laura Lavie
Arpana Madhavan
Patricia Malone
Rachel Mansell
Michael Marmur
David McCann
Marlon McCombie
Sasha McCue
Rohit Mehta
Myles Mindham
Lyndsay Montina
David Moorcroft
Joe Moretto
Leigh Naturkach
William Naturkach
David Noble
Leonard Nolasco
Susan Ormiston
Ouellette Family Foundation
Chris Paliare
Barry Panov
Melissa Pavlidis
Rachel Pearl
Janice Price
Province of Ontario
RBC and RBC Foundation
Jason Robinson
Jeff Rose
Margo Rosen
Reeta Roy
Lena Sarkissian
Nairy Shahinian
Abigail Shakespeare
John Sharpe
Paul Shortt
SickKids Foundation
Anthony Sigel
Christin Simms
Chelsey Simpson
Donna and Gary Slaight
Jarrod Stark
Dundee Staunton
Mary Staunton
Patricia Staunton
Curtis Stevenson
Alice Stevenson
TD Private Giving Foundation
Jonathan Thomson
Waran Thuraisingham
Toronto Metropolitan
University
John Ulcar
Philip Valeri
Ben Valeri
John Van Toch
Jane Van Zant
Gaëtane Verna
Kathleen Vesely
Monique Vesely
Michael Welling
David Wiebe
Brenda Wilson Young
Beverley Wybrow
Dyanoosh Youssefi
Chahe Zarokian