Ottawa, May 10, 2005 The Canadian Ethnocultural Council is pleased to announce the completion of a three-year project called Capacity Building and Strengthening for Ethnocultural Communities, funded by Multiculturalism Program, Canadian Heritage. This project began with a national conference which brought together over one hundred representatives from across Canada. The Conference proceedings were televised on a four part series on OMNI Television. Training sessions were then held across the country with leaders of diverse ethnocultural communities. The last stage a Toolkit for community trainers has been printed and distributed to participating communities across the county.

The Toolkit was developed after input from the conference, interviews and research. Representatives from CEC member organizations, regional ethnocultural communities and multicultural associations across Canada participated in training sessions or partnered with the CEC to produce this final product.

"Over 200 leaders and representatives of various ethnocultural communities participated in the project" said Oleh Romaniw, President, Canadian Ethnocultural Council. "Multicultural and ethnocultural organizations are an important part of Canadian society. They contribute to the cultural and social fabric of many communities and they act as a bridge to other organizations. The training tool will help guide these groups and strengthen them on issues of governance, youth engagement or conflict prevention." said Mr. Romaniw. The tool kit is available on the CEC website www.ethnocultural.ca and on www.culturescanada.ca

For more information contact Anna Chiappa, Executive Director, (613) 230 -3867, fax (613) 230-8051 or cec@web.ca

The Canadian Ethnocultural Council is a coalition of over 30 national ethnocultural organizations, which in turn represent over 2,000 local chapters across Canada. Its mandate is to work towards the elimination of racism and to promote the understanding of the multicultural reality of Canada as defined in The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and The Canadian Multiculturalism Act.