Each year representatives from the seven Canadian JETAA chapters come together for CanCon, which is a conference hosted by annual rotating chapters and gives delegates a space for discussing the successes and hardships faced by individual chapters. It is also a great time for idea sharing and networking amongst the JET Programme Alumnus across the country, building better bridges between Canadian JETAA Chapters. The 2013 CanCon was held and hosted by the Quebec/Atlantique chapter in Montreal, with the 2014 CanCon scheduled to rotate to the Manitoba/Saskatchewan chapter in Winnipeg. Due to limited capacities, though, the conference was re-scheduled to be hosted by JETAA Toronto at the Japan Foundation, in coordination with the Consulate-General of Japan and CLAIR New York. The conference was held Friday June 6 to Sunday June 8, and focused on career development and mentorship initiatives. This article gives a quick summary of what the event was all about and what was discussed throughout the weekend.
Friday, June 6th
On the Friday evening, CanCon kicked off with delegates from all over the country flying into Toronto, who were then welcomed by a MOFA reception dinner hosted at the Official Residence of the Consul-General Eiji Yamamoto. The honourable host Eiji Yamamoto, welcomed delegates and started the conference with an encouraging speech that recognized the efforts of the JET alumnus and their dedication to their respective JETAA chapters and to local Japanese communities in their home cities. Yamamoto-san brought to everyone’s attention, the networking possibilities that JET alumni have between JETAA chapters. Another networking possibility also exists between Japanese companies and corporations that are looking to expand mutual ties in Canada and are looking for Japanese culturally aware people, such as JETAA participants, to help bridge the path to mutual beneficial partnerships and prosperity between our two countries. JETAA Toronto is very grateful in having the Consul-General give all JETAA delegates a very warm welcome to the city.
Saturday, June 7th
The main day of the conference was on Saturday, where there was a ton of information and ideas shared between the chapters. Jeff Minthorn, the keynote speaker, set off the day by narrating his own experiences after JET, in his escapades that led to his founding of Verge Magazine. Some advise given by Jeff was to reflect on our motivations and values of what we are currently doing and ask ourselves ‘is it working?’ He also expanded upon the notion of networking, and how you only get out what you put in. You have to grow your networks and build a relationship with those people. In the end the network won’t come to you, you have to take the initiative, be proactive and actively seek out those networks. Jeff’s stories of how he has engaged with people and kept his consistency and motivation for culture and travel was a great encouragement to all present, and we hope to hear from him again at future events.
The morning sessions also featured an update from MOFA and Grant-in-Aid, and an update from CLAIR New York. Following these discussions, a delicious bento lunch was accompanied by music from local Japanese artist Chihiro Nagematsu of the Creator’s Lounge.
The afternoon sessions were broken down into chapter reports and presentations from individual chapters. It seemed that most chapters host the standard key JETAA events such as pre-departure orientation, Japanese language lessons, summer matsuri festivals, and networking events. Some of the more interesting updates included Ottawa’s update on how it is in the process of becoming a registered non-for-profit and re-writing their bylaws and are doing really well in their annual dragon boat team. The Quebec/Atlantique chapter has also been expanding and for the first time last year was able to add an additional pre-departure orientation in Halifax. They have also had success in their apple picking networking event and Care packages to JETs in Japan. The BC/Yukon Chapter has succeeded in their goals of centralized hosting. The past two years there have been focused on promoting the JET Programme in the region. Their current sempai programme is also a great example of JET alumni mentoring. Southern Alberta is doing well with their biggest board yet, and is striving for membership participation and is making membership retention a priority. Throughout the session a lot of networking and information sharing was achieved.
Jessie Zanutig representing Northern Alberta presented one of the last sessions of the afternoon, “Pitching your JET Experience with a Professional Voice.” Jessie, as a professional educator and career counselor was nice enough to share her professional advice on how JETs can use their experiences in Japan and put them into resume form. The information will definitely put to use at JETAA Toronto’s next career events.
In the evening, after the conference, delegates were able to discover Toronto on a walking tour around lovely downtown. Delegates also had the chance to experience Toronto’s diversity by sharing dinner at Copocebana Brazilian barbeque hosted by CLAIR New York and continued the night singing karaoke in KoreaTown.
Sunday, June 8th
CanCon wrapped up on the Sunday with idea sharing on professional development events, inter-chapter communication and collaboration, strengthening ties to the JET desks, and the Canada Representative election process. The talk of the 2015 CanCon being hosted in Northern Alberta was also discussed. Wherever CanCon is hosted next year, we hope all chapters are able to come together again and update everyone with all their great ideas.
CanCon 2014 was a huge success and could not be possible without support from CLAIR New York, the Japanese Consulate General in Toronto, JETAA Toronto’s organizers, volunteers and support staff, the Japan Foundation, and of course all the chapter delegates who took time from their schedules to come to Toronto.
Attendees
This years attendees included thirteen delegates who were representing the seven JETAA chapters.
Region 1 – Ottawa – Events Coordinator, Alina Stubbs and President, Alex Svetlovsky
Region 2 – Toronto – Co-chairs Nadine Buckman and Julia Rozinowicz
Region 3 – Quebec/Atlantique – Secretary Sonomi Tanaka and VP Anne Roop Takata
Region 4 – Manitoba/Saskatchewan – VP Roger Wong and President Erynne Sjoblom
Region 5 – Northern Alberta – Co-chair Jessie Zanutig
Region 6 – BC/Yukon – Secretary Miyuki Mozomi and Treasurer Tai Lam
Region 7 – Southern Alberta – Chair Jennifer Carter and Treasurer Troy McTavish
Honourable guests and representatives from CLAIR New York who attended were; Assistant Director Emi Fujii, Director Rie Imazeki and Senior Researcher Matthew Gilliam.
The guests and representatives from the Consulate-General of Japan in Toronto included, Consul of Culture and Information Yuka Hananogi, Culture & Education Programme Coordinator Marcia Iwasaki, and Culture and Economic Affairs Aide Nobiru Nakamura.
Other attendees included JETAA Toronto conference organizers Chris Draenos, Natalie Bey and Carl Sachs, plus all of the amazing volunteers and support staff who helped make the conference a huge success.
JETAA Toronto would also like to acknowledge the Japan Foundation and the staff there who graciously let us use their beautiful space for the venue of the conference and helped in the organization and set-up of the conference.
(Take a look at the Consulate of Japan’s report of the event by clicking here.)
For additional photos check out our Twitter feed @jetaatoronto
Thanks to Nicholas Jones (http://bokehto.com/) for the photos of the weekend conference.
