Announcing our Strategic Plan and Other Updates from the Board

１）Introducing our new Strategic Plan 

In the spring of 2020, JSS  began to undertake our strategic planning to set our future directions. We are happy to announce our Strategic Directions 2021-2025, which sets three priority areas going forward: 1) enhance financial sustainability, 2) increase recognition in our community, and ultimately, 3) be the organisation that the community can count on. With these focus areas set, we will strive to ensure that our services are sustainable and responsive to the needs of our communities.  To read the full JSS Strategic Directions, please click on the link here.   

２）Meet our New Board Members 

JSS welcomed two new members to its Board of Directors: Bruno Savoie and Harumi Yamamoto. Here are their brief introductions: 

Bruno Savoie 

My name is Bruno Savoie. As a new member of the JSS board, I look forward to collaborating with a dedicated team of passionate board members, staff, members and volunteers, to continue to provide help to the Japanese people who are in a difficult situation. 

JSS has a “working board”, which means that the board members are managing the organization to a large extent. As a lawyer, I hope to be able to contribute to the continued success of JSS. I have a long-standing interest in Japanese culture and I am grateful for the chance to interact with the Japanese community of Toronto. 

It brings me great happiness to think about ways to help others, but in my experience, more often than not, we realize that it is the people we help that leave a mark on us. We are often the ones learning from them and their resilience. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. 

Harumi Yamamoto 

My name is Harumi Yamamoto and I am a career Corporate Banker with the Big 5 Banks in Canada. I am also a long-time volunteer to the immigrant community in Canada, mainly providing mentorship and career advice to newly arrived Canadians. I recently joined the JSS Board of Directors with a desire to expand my volunteer activities to serving the Japanese Canadian community, and in particular, the elderly. I am married with two university-aged children and live in Toronto. In pre-pandemic days, I enjoyed going to concerts and Broadway musicals, while lately I have been cooking, baking and binge-watching shows on Netflix. I look forward to working with you and serving the community.