After an information gathering period over the past year, Chatham-Kent’s diversity, equity and inclusion and justice efforts are ready to take the next step.
After an information gathering period over the past year, Chatham-Kent’s diversity, equity and inclusion and justice efforts are ready to take the next step.
Rebecca Haskell-Thomas, co-ordinator for the initiative, said staff are working to establish working groups for the three areas of focus: Workplace/workforce, council/committees, and policies/process/services.
While presenting the update during the last council meeting, she said growth is fueled by newcomers, as well as Indigenous people, and that Chatham-Kent “can’t focus on one aspect of diversity alone.”
According to a staff report, there have been conversations with 130 individuals, and an additional 23 teams, groups and unions within the municipality.
In August, the team conducted formal engagement, during which staff, council and committee members could share perspectives through surveys, group conversations and anonymous comments.
“Equity is about fairness. It’s not about treating everyone the same. It’s about equality of outcomes,” Haskell-Thomas said. “Even the Ontario Human Rights Code is created with the concept of equity in mind. It recognizes that our policies, processes and services are created by people and reflect the time in which they were made.
“People sometimes think that equity is about special treatment, but that assumes we’re starting from an even playing field.”
She said people in under-represented groups are often less likely to engage in political life and have a “lower sense of belonging to our community.”
Diversity also helps communities grow and become more competitive, she added.
Between September and November, there were 13 municipal initiatives, ranging from providing feedback on marketing materials to reviewing draft policies.
In October, the team partnered with CK Pride to offer a webinar to staff for International Pronouns Day to support learning about why using pronouns is important, and the considerations related to gender and pronouns in the workplace.
Several councilors around the table credited those involved and the work that’s been completed to date.
Wallaceburg Coun. Carmen McGregor called it important to never stop learning.
“It’s opened my eyes a lot. I’ve always thought of myself as a very open-minded person,” she said, “but sometimes we take for granted what maybe we don’t fully understand and how we need to make changes.”