A little more than two years after botched diversity training for Sarnia city council led to a public reprimand for some councilors, council Monday again sat down for training on recognizing diversity in the community and being inclusive.
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Trainer Kristy Foreman, with EU8 Strategy Inc. — a lawyer, consultant, and certified diversity and inclusion trainer — wasn’t taking chances.
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She did her due diligence, she said, and was aware how training council received behind closed doors went sideways with the Toronto-based KOJO institute in late 2021.
Foreman, Monday, said she was taking “a very different approach.
“There will be no role plays; there will be more focus on legal compliance, examples of discriminatory action,” she said.
KOJO’s main trainer Kike Ojo-Thompson, after the 2021 training with Sarnia city council alleged “undisrupted, uncorrected and unabated hostility demonstrated by some members of council.”
A subsequent integrity commissioner investigation lead to eventual code of conduct offenses for councilors Bill Dennis and Terry Burrell for “hostile (pushback, making) the trainer (feel) threatened and intimidated.”
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Burrell—who voted in favor of holding Monday’s training — was in attendance Monday, along with most of council.
Dennis and Coun. Dave Boushy were absent.
Dennis posted to Facebook Monday, before the two-hour, $4,300 training, that he was “adamantly opposed,” calling it a “woke DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) indoctrination session.”
The training session itself was calm throughout.
Foreman, who described the session as a “broad overview,” reviewed various examples where municipalities or workplaces were found to be discriminatory, talked about the history of discrimination against Indigenous people in Canada, women and others, noted slavery existed in Canada for about two centuries, until 1834, talked about gender identity, sexual orientation, the importance of equity in recognizing equal access to equality of opportunity, and pointed to the 2022 Canada census as rife with examples of systemic racism continuing to exist.
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“As you know, it’s critical for elected officials to understand and adhere to legal requirements related to diversity and inclusion, to avoid both political and legal risks,” she said.
She added having culturally safe workplaces contributes to more productivity and less turnover.
An 111-member Coalition of Inclusive Municipalities network of local governments exists that’s committed to diversity and inclusion, she said noting EQU8 isn’t affiliated or encouraging Sarnia to join, just communicating that it exists.
Mayor Mike Bradley thanked her, calling the presentation informative on a complex array of topics, and said he’ll make a motion for city staff to report back with more information about that network.
“There are a lot of issues were facing,” he said, noting Sarnia is adjacent to a First Nation territory.
Council has a land acknowledgment before every meeting, he said, and the city and Aamjiwnaang have said their relationship is strong.
“But we need to do real things besides crosswalks and flags,” Bradley said.
A city United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples working group is expected this year to hold a summit on what goals of the UN document to prioritize.
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