UPSTREAM project
UPSKILLING PREVENTION BY STRENGTHENING READINESS, ENGAGEMENT AND MULTISECTORALITY

Communities across Canada are increasingly grappling with the complex and evolving challenges posed by social polarization, hate, and violent extremism. These issues are manifesting in multiple ways — political and ideological divides, cultural and identity-based tensions, socio-economic disparities, and racial and ethnic conflicts — and have emerged as focal points demanding attention to bolster community cohesion, resilience, and safety, as well as the sense of security, within communities. 

Strengthening the capacity of communities to assess and address the factors that contribute to polarization and hate is essential to mitigating the risk of extremist violence. Too often, communities are forced to respond to these issues only after a crisis has occurred. There is a pressing need for building local capacity to recognize and address risk before harm takes place. One promising yet underutilized strategy is the development of multi-sectoral partnerships that bring together a diverse range of community partners to foster resilience and model social cohesion at multiple levels within communities. 

Upskilling Prevention by Strengthening Readiness, Engagement and Multisectorality (UPSTREAM) is a two-year project funded by Public Safety Canada through the Canada Centre for Community Engagement and the Prevention of Violence’s Community Resilience Fund (CRF). The project aims to pilot and scale up local multi-sectoral partnerships across Canada to address issues of social polarization and hate that can lead to violence or violent extremism. 

More specifically, the project aims to: 

Engage practitioners across various disciplines to address factors contributing to hate and social polarization.
Empower community partners (including local government, civil society, and private sector actors) to prevent social polarization and hate by connecting them with experts and other communities across Canada to foster knowledge sharing.
Enhance cooperation and knowledge transfer among key community partners to address gaps in multi-sectoral collaboration and prevention efforts.

The project aims to amplify community voices in shaping locally grounded responses, with participating communities playing a key role in articulating priorities, informing prevention strategies, and co-developing responses rooted in their unique contexts, lived realities, and strengths. Our approach to working with communities will be invitational, and will centre the importance of relationality, collaboration, and local perspectives.