There’s no doubt that the collective heart of Milton is geared towards helping fellow citizens. How often do we hear of random acts of kindness like someone paying for a complete stranger’s morning coffee in the drivethru lane, locating a lost dog, cat or budgie that has wandered away from home or the donation of clothing and other essentials to families in need. Milton’s reputation is founded on its pay-it-forward culture.

But like many communities, Milton has its share of malevolent hate crimes and behaviours that affect its citizens to greater or lesser degrees. Addressing this aspect of the social fabric is vital according to Kara Hart, Bail Program Manager at the John Howard Society of Peel Halton-Dufferin and Kimberly Cato, Psychotherapist, Founder and CEO of True Roots Counselling Service in Oakville, who together have initiated the Halton Coalition for Prevention of Hate Crimes (HC4PHC) in Halton Region.

HC4PHC is a fledgling organization informs Kara. “HC4PHC started working as a collaborative in December of 2020. We are still very new, but we have been very busy since our inception due to a number of hate-related incidents and crimes throughout the region.”