Photo by Kyle West

Hamilton city council has committed to taking an equity and inclusion lens to municipal decisions going forward.

Two weeks ago, Mayor Fred Eisenberger brought a motion to city council to implement a new equity, diversity and inclusion lens into city policies.

The motion passed unanimously and calls for a report to be brought forward on how to introduce an EDI lens to all city initiatives.

Attached to the motion was a draft version of an equity, diversity and inclusion handbook.

The motion also includes an allocation of $5,000 for city council to hold an EDI summit.

The new lens builds on the recommendations highlighted in Hamilton’s equity and inclusion policy implemented in 2010.

Ward 1 councillor Maureen Wilson said an EDI lens will require the city to be more specific and concrete when it incorporates equity and inclusion into different policies.

According to Wilson, it is not about quotas and targets, but about a shift in decision-making that will require city council to include the perspectives of all communities.   

The EDI lens will first be applied to issues concerning housing and homelessness.

However, Wilson sees potential for it to affect how the city envisions issues like transit, helping to consider the ways that different communities, like women or bikers, get around in Hamilton.  

Eisenberger’s motion followed debate at city councillor over the city manager search committee and interview process, which some individuals, including Wilson and Ward 3 councillor Nrinder Nann, criticized for not taking a diverse and inclusive approach.

Denise Christopherson, the CEO of the YWCA Hamilton and chair of the status of women committee, has called for city council to adopt an EDI framework for years.

Christopherson said she is encouraged by the support for the motion at city council and appreciative of the efforts of Wilson and Nann in pushing this forward.

“It’s been in the works for a long time,” Christopherson said. “To develop a framework, this is going to be a multi-year work project that hopefully gets ingrained in everything they do at city hall. So when they're putting forward a proposal, it’s about, have they gone through the lens of inclusion? Who have they consulted with?”

The YWCA Hamilton currently runs multiple programs providing housing for non-binary people and women without places to stay.

Christopherson is hopeful that the new lens will result in more funding for programs like these.

“I like to say that the city should have a hand in all marginalized communities,” Christopherson said. “Hopefully we see more investment in those necessary programs.”

Community organizer Sophie Geffros is also optimistic about the new lens and what it could mean for current city council issues.

“I’m cautiously excited about it, because it signals to me that the city is at least beginning to acknowledge that designing a city around the needs of straight, white, middle class, able bodied men is not just ineffective but can be actively harmful for its marginalized citizens,” Geffros said.

As the city still awaits a report on how the lens will be implemented, activists and supporters of the motion are hopeful about the many policy areas a city-wide EDI framework could effect change in.  

 

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Photos by Catherine Goce

By: Donna Nadeem

On Jan. 22, Arig al Shaibah, the associate vice-president (Equity and Inclusion) with the McMaster equity and inclusion office, held an event in the Mills Library Connections Centre centered around McMaster’s “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Framework and Strategy.”

During her term, al Shaibah plans to engage with local and historically underrepresented and marginalized communities to understand and learn about their challenges.

She hopes this awareness will enable her to build strong ideas and strategies to advance the equity and inclusion goals at McMaster.

The event begin with al Shaibah’s presentation on McMaster’s EDI framework and strategy.

McMaster’s EDI framework is broken down into four pillars: institutional commitment and capacity, educational content and context, interactional capabilities and climate and compositional diversity and community engagement.

 

The first pillar aims to “mobilize McMaster’s commitment and capacity to advance inclusive excellence by establishing and resourcing structures, systems, policies and processes that facilitate equity, diversity and inclusion leadership, governance and accountability.”

The second pillar seeks to strengthen academic programs, practices and scholarships to ensure they “demonstrate relevance… to diverse local, regional, national and global communities.”

The third pillar focuses on improving the McMaster community’s ability to foster a culture of inclusion and an environment where members feel “a sense of dignity and belonging.”

The fourth pillar aims to engage marginalized communities on campus, enhance employment equity, and improve student access and success amongst historically underrepresented students and community members.

“Not everyone here feels included, so even among our diverse [community population], some of us may feel included and others not, in part because of inequities that exist,” said al Shaibah.

Al Shaibah explained an action plan that would help facilitate the development of the EDI plan.

Some of the points included developing goals across the institution and faculties and integrating the EDI into academic programs and self-reported student experiences, strengthening complaint resolution from harassment and discrimination complaints and increasing training for McMaster community members and committees.

Throughout the presentation, al Shaibah spoke in abstract terms, not outlining specific initiatives that the university will undertake take to improve student access and success amongst marginalized students and training for McMaster community members.

After the presentation, the floor was open for students to express concerns and feedback.

Students asked for more clarity about McMaster’s plans to meet the objectives stipulated in the EDI.

Even after students pressed further, Shaibah still failed to clarify what in particular she would do to work to combat the problems she raised.

One student expressed concern over the fact that his friend who is of Indigenous descent was not able to obtain a Teaching Assistant position for an Indigenous course while a student who was not of Indigenous heritage successfully secured the position.

Al Shaibah responded that if the candidates’ qualifications were equal, the Indigenous students’ application should have been prioritized.

Students also asked about whether other universities have implemented this EDI framework and whether it has been successful for them.

Al Shaibah said that some schools have explored strategies similar to this, but have not pursued an ‘across the board’ strategy that applied to faculties across the entire institution.

In addition, students asked how they could get involved with the implementation of the strategy.

According to Al Shaibah, McMaster students can promote the EDI framework through clubs and the McMaster Students Union. Students can also contact McMaster’s equity and inclusion office at equity@mcmaster.ca.

 

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