Anti-Racism and Inclusivity

Councillor K. Balsom put forward the following motion for consideration, which was seconded by Councillor B. Inglis as follows:

THAT Administration be directed to:

1. Work with the Regional Advisory Committee on Inclusion, Diversity and Equality to bring forward recommendations and advice to Council on anti- racism and the Black Lives Matter movement by the end of September 2020;

2. Bring forward a report to Council on the progress of the various actions included in the 2017-2022 Diversity and Inclusion Community Plan and Workbook by the end of September including an action plan on how to complete any outstanding matters;

3. Build an administrative framework to support the following initiatives on anti- racism and equality within the RMWB and report back to Council on their progress of the following initiatives no later than the end of December 2020:

a. encourage staff to expand their knowledge on anti-racism and inclusivity from a policy and procedure development perspective by attending training on GBA+ (gender-based analysis+) and applying the training when reviewing and drafting policies, directives and procedures;

b. conduct an employee census with a breakdown of demographic information of staff to better understand our current state of diversity and inclusion;

c. create mandatory anti-racism training for all Council members and staff to be completed by the end of 2020, such training to be required as mandatory training for all new employees within the organization within six months of their official start date; and

d. conduct an anonymous corporate climate survey amongst staff related to anti-racism and inclusivity.

Kg Banjoko, resident, spoke in support of the recommendation.

Surekha Kanzig, resident, spoke in support of the recommendation.

Jason Beck, on behalf of the Regional Advisory Committee on Inclusion, Diversity and Equality expressed support for the recommendation in a written submission which was read aloud for the record.

Councillor P. Meagher proposed a friendly amendment to remove the word mandatory from section 3(c) of the recommendation. The friendly amendment was not accepted by Councillor K. Balsom.