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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:

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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.

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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.

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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.

  • Reached over 200,000 people in Canada and around the world

  • 75+ undergraduate and graduate student interns

  • 90,000+ people reached by UofMosaic Program

  • 100,000+ people reached by Next Generation

  • 10,000+ people reached by our public engagement initiatives

  • Won the Canadian Race Relations Foundation Community Award of Excellence (2012)

  • CharityVillage Awards Winner "Best Nonprofit Employer (Under 20 staff) Workplace Mental Health" (2021)

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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.

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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 TEAM

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Rachel Mansell

Vice President

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Leigh Naturkach

Executive Director

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Jeremy Ofwono

Research Officer

OUR BOARD

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Dany Assaf

Board of Directors

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Vahan Kololian

Co-Founder and Chair of the Board

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Dundee Staunton

Vice Chair

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Baljit S. Chadha

Board of Directors

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Bernie M. Farber

Board of Directors

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Janice Price

Board of Directors

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Reeta Roy

Board of Directors

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Susie Kololian

Board of Directors

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Yusra Siddiquee

Board of Directors

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Gaëtane Verna

Board of Directors

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Kathleen Vesely

Secretary and Treasurer

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Yuen Pau Woo

Board of Directors

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

CONTACT US

The Mosaic Institute

2 Bloor West, Suite 3400

Toronto, ON

M4W 3E2

Tel: 647-547-4187

Email: info@mosaicinstitute.ca

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