Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Committee
The events of 2020, including the senseless murder of George Floyd, the growing Anti-Black racism protests and the impact of COVID on marginalized populations, particularly among children, youth and families with mental health needs, became a catalyst for Youthdale staff, leadership, and the Board of Directors to refocus and prioritize our strategic and operational commitments to diversity and inclusion.
We acknowledge that we could have done better, sooner, and are committed to accountability and ongoing learning as we strive to do better moving forward.
Who we are
Committee membership is open to all staff, at all levels, areas of service and administration, who represent the diversity of the organization. Membership is reviewed annually to confirm continued commitment, identify & address representational gaps.
What we do
The purpose of the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Committee (EDI-B) is to promote and drive initiatives toward the achievement of Youthdale’s strategic priority to “Build an Inclusive Environment that Embraces Diversity”. We hope to foster an equitable, diverse, inclusive and safe culture for staff, clients and families. This includes providing guidance and recommendations to organizational leaders monthly in order to affect the development of policy, planning and implementation of staff and service related initiatives.
The EDI-B Committee seeks to maintain and constantly incorporate concepts of equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging into its learning and working environments so as to better reflect the communities we are embedded within and serve and out of our responsibility for ongoing improvement in the quality of care and service we provide.
What we have done already?
We have made progress toward some of our goals, but there is more to be done.
The EDI-B Committee has been instrumental in training and continuous education of our Staff. Based on the recommendations of the Committee, Anti-Black Racism, Indigenous Cultural Safety, 2SLGBTQ+, racialized/other diversity related training are consistently made available to our Staff. The Youthdale management team has been continuously focused and working towards improving accessibility and availability of these training opportunities.
The Committee has also played a major role in highlighting holidays & celebrations from many different religions and cultures reflective of our staff and clients, and have been able to integrate many new activities into our programs.
Additionally, multiple communication forums were organized including Town Halls and focus groups to facilitate two-way communication between Staff and Management and to support the development of an EDI-B plan. These meetings have been well received and gave an opportunity for staff to safely share their personal experience and discuss and/or highlight any concerns/issues related to EDI-B that they have observed within the workplace.
Quarterly updates are shared with all Staff about the committee’s initiatives, activities and plans to keep them abreast on the work being done by the Committee.
In order to support the committee’s strategic planning process, Dr. Javeed Sukhera, an internationally renowned expert in the EDI-B field, was engaged. Over the last several months, Dr. Sukhera has worked closely with EDI-B committee team members and the Senior Management team to survey and analyze the current state of the Agency’s policies, procedures and practices. He shared his findings and recommendations focusing on organization, education, culture and climate, client and family. In the context of strategic refresh efforts, implementation planning is underway.
In the future, we look forward to actively engaging with our clients and families to contribute to this work.
How to get in touch
Committee members serve as liaisons with staff in the programs and departments they represent. Please feel free to connect with EDI-B Committee members to ensure your thoughts, questions, and concerns are heard.
You can also get in touch with the committee through email at edib@youthdale.ca
We welcome any questions and/or feedback.