Near North Mobile

Media Lab

For young students, health and wellness can be the difference between surviving and thriving in schools. However, access to tools and resources is mostly questions instead of answers, especially in Northern Ontario. In 2022, Allie and Chelsea of Ways to Wellness Project (WTWP) successfully completed Creative ACE, a collaborative multi-disciplinary arts project that emphasized student wellbeing. Laidlaw Foundation’s Youth Action Fund (YAF) brought arts classes to the alternative high school Laurentian Learning Centre (LLC) for the first time.

As the programming continued, Allie and Chelsea wondered how they could further expand the concept of health and wellness into inclusive, accessible programming for the LLC. However, when Allie discussed ideas about that expansion with the school, funding became another question.

After the success of Creative ACE, the school hired a full-time art teacher. However, funding for arts supplies was still a question. Applying for another YAF grant became an answer.

The course code PPZ3C became another answer. Allie learned that it’s an underused, optional course for Ontario high school students that emphasizes a holistic approach to health and wellness.

With a successful YAF application, the WTWP could now use the concepts of PPZ3C to facilitate programming across curricula that encourages students to engage with their physical, cognitive, emotional and spiritual wellness.

Programming also included collaborations with local businesses, community organizations and cultural facilitators that addressed cultural and generational wellness. Chelsea’s collaborative idea, the Nishnaabemwin / Anishinaabemowin Language Deck (ALD), is an incredible example. The deck is an open education resource that contains bilingual flashcards with phonetics. WTWP printed and distributed 1000 hard copies across the province.

“I personally didn’t have that connection with my grand-parents…I really had to seek it out. The idea of incorporating [the deck] for students who may not get that cultural connection, or maybe they don’t have grandparents…. whether they’re Indigenous or not…this would be a beautiful way for everyone to connect with the language,” says Chelsea.

The WTWP project continues to help students gain confidence, improve emotional regulation skills, graduate and see brighter futures for themselves.

Allie and Chelsea hope that WTWP can receive further funding to continue addressing ongoing questions that need innovative, community-led solutions.

NOTE: A free digital version of ALD can be found at www.earthandskystudio.ca.

laidlaw foundation celebrates

75 years of philanthropy

To mark the 75th anniversary of Laidlaw Foundation, a reception was held on October 1, 2024, at 35 Jackes Avenue, the former residence of Robert A. Laidlaw who established the Foundation in September 1949. The evening was a chance for the Laidlaw Family, current and former Board members, advisors, and staff, partners and beneficiaries to connect and celebrate the Foundation. The venue featured a curated, multi-faceted exhibit showcasing the history of the Laidlaw Family through archival photographs and artifacts, a slideshow with the Foundation’s milestones, and a walk-through history of the Laidlaw Family depicted on banners. This was put together with the tremendous expertise of our consultants from Heritage Professionals. We would also like to thank United for Literacy, the charity that now operates from the former residence, for generously allowing us to host our event in their building.

Early on, the Foundation aligned itself with the family’s passions, supporting organizations like The National Ballet School, Central Neighbourhood House, SickKids, the ROM, Upper Canada College, and U of T. Institutions that were near and dear to the roots of the family in Ontario. This support wasn’t just about giving money—it was about working directly with organizations, helping them grow and thrive. Over time, RA’s children, Rod and Nick, became key leaders within the Foundation, making changes that helped build and expand on that initial vision from 1949:

• In 1960, Rod traveled to the US to study different foundation models, a move that helped formalize and refine our approach to philanthropy. It wasn’t just about what was being done, it was about HOW it was done.

• In 1974, the Family Committee was formed, bringing Bob, Jamie, and Lyn into leadership roles and directing the Foundation’s focus toward more youth-based grant-making. At the time, Jamie and Lyn were in their mid-20s and Bob was a very youthful 32—a powerful example of how our family believed in passing on responsibility to the next generation early and empowering youth to make decisions.

• And in 1977, the Foundation opened itself to outside support and direction on the Board, recognizing that the scope of our ambitions required new perspectives and greater capacity. This move wasn’t the norm for family philanthropy back then, but opening ourselves up to listening to new voices and empowering those voices was a bold step forward.

Paul Nagpal, Chair of the Board, remarked that “anniversaries are opportunities to reflect on the past, celebrate accomplishments, and learn from a history of partnerships, investments, granting, and convening. There is a lot to be proud of as we look back at the past 75 years. There is a rich legacy of granting across many important sectors: the environment, arts and culture, and children and youth. And there is a proud tradition of working collaboratively with others on many important social and cultural issues and a history of bold sector-building partnerships.

Generally, these kinds of milestones are a testament to endurance and continued relevance. For Laidlaw Foundation, it is a moment to publicly recommit to the founder’s dedication to philanthropy, and to the public good. It is also a chance to recognize the Family and the ongoing commitment to enabling meaningful change. Additionally, we want to make a meaningful legacy contribution to a cause or to an organization whose work and mission inspire us and remind us of the philanthropic vision of the founders of the Foundation.

In 2019, we marked the 70th anniversary with an elegant gala at Canada’s National Ballet School. During that event, the Board awarded the anniversary gift to Feathers of Hope, a Thunder Bay-based Indigenous-led organization that advocates for youth in care. This year, we are proud to provide a gift of $75,000 to the Somali Centre for Culture and Recreation. This gift will support the process of building a multi-purpose physical space that will be the first home for the Somali Community in Toronto. With this gift, we believe that we pay tribute to the Foundation’s tradition of supporting community groups to acquire spaces, especially community theatre groups. Also, with this contribution, like the 70th-anniversary gift, we affirm our ongoing commitment to communities that continue to be significantly underfunded.”

Somali  Centre for

Culture and Recreation

“What role does philanthropy play in helping us reimagine community but also helping us reimagine what social infrastructure looks like? How do we build infrastructure?” These are some of the questions that Zakaria Abdulle, Co-Chair of the Somali Centre for Culture and Recreation (SCCR), contemplated while considering a partnership with Laidlaw Foundation. The possible answers began with an exploration of how Laidlaw’s storied past could inform the present.

The SCCR is a Black-led organization that aims to build a multi-purpose, sustainable community space in Toronto that becomes the focal point for creativity, recreation, heritage and culture for Somali communities.

Together with Somali elders, youth and the broader Toronto community, SCCR aims to create a community-driven space that responds to the critical gaps in social infrastructure, the lived experiences of Black people and the abundant dreams of Black communities for sustainable spaces to thrive.

To Zakaria, Laidlaw’s support represents the importance of shifting narratives from charity to justice. “Justice helps people thrive and charity helps people survive,” he says. In fact, he sees Laidlaw as a city builder, despite philanthropic organizations rarely being associated with the term.

Case in point: Last fall, at Laidlaw Foundation’s 75th anniversary event, SCCR received a legacy gift of $75,000 to support the process of building and acquiring space for the SCCR.

The gift was essential to the process of structuring governance processes that helped fundraising in private sectors.

“Without their initial support, we wouldn’t have been able to do all the governance work required to raise the pre-development dollars required to begin to do a lot of the work with the private sector. Setting up the board, getting your governance together, doing a lot of capacity building…”

Youth voices and lived experiences have been key to realizing the SCCR vision. They’ve contributed artistic contributions, community engagement, architectural design suggestions. The wisdom of the elders has also been a driving force.

On March 1, 2025, it was announced that SCCR will receive a federal investment of $20 million. The historic achievement of infrastructure investments is rare for Black communities. Zakaria believes that infrastructure for Black communities should not be a rare thing. Nothing of this scale and significance happens overnight. The SCCR in particular was over 40 years in the making.

Zakaria is optimistic about the grand opening of SCCR and the potential impact it can have on communities across Toronto.

We would like to recognize the many contributors to this report, including Kinmond Smith (Designer), Grace Swain (Artist), Jean Boampong (Copywriter), and Dimitra Chronopoulos (Editor).