Tag: Canada

Diversity in Leadership at S&P/ TSX Companies

Posted on by 30club-Canada

Canada | 2023

 

The business case for diversity and inclusion in corporate leadership has never been stronger. More diversity contributes to improved corporate social responsibility, innovation, employee satisfaction, governance practices and risk management. Despite growing evidence of these benefits, diversity in corporate Canada’s leadership remains inadequate, tied to a lack of effective mechanisms for measurement, tracking and accountability.


Various interventions, including government legislation and advocacy initiatives like the 30%+ Club and BlackNorth Initiative (BNI), aim to address the slow progress in achieving diversity, particularly for women and racialized individuals. The 30%+ Club focuses on achieving at least 30% representation of women on boards and executive teams globally, while BNI aims to combat anti-Black systemic racism and achieve 3.5% representation of Black leaders in executive and board roles.


This report assesses the state of diversity in leadership roles in corporate Canada, focusing on representation of equity-deserving groups (women, Black individuals and racialized individuals) from 2015 to 2022. The study encompasses 783 firms on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), including 235 on the S&P/TSX Composite Index.


The report shows TSX firms have not yet reached 30% representation of women on boards or executive teams (26.2% on boards and 21% on executive teams). S&P/TSX Index firms have done better: Between 2015 and 2022, women’s representation rose from 18.3% to 33.7% on boards, and from 15% to 23.1% on executive teams.


Other key findings

 

Representation of Black individuals

 
  • – Incremental progress has been noted since BNI’s launch in 2020, with the share of Black individuals increasing from 0.9% to 2.1% on boards and from 1% to 1.5% on executive teams for S&P/TSX Index firms.
  •  
  • – Progress was slower for TSX firms, reaching 1.7% on boards and 1.5% on executive teams.

Racialized individuals’ representation

  •  
  • – From 2020 to 2022, racialized individuals’ representation increased from 4.9% to 9.3% on boards and 7.5% to 10.8% on executive teams for S&P/TSX Index firms.

  • – Similar rates were observed for TSX firms, standing at 9.3% on boards and 11% on executive teams in 2022.

Intersectional analysis

  •  
  • – Racialized and Black women still face underrepresentation, with progress noted from 2020 to 2022, but at lower rates compared to other groups.

  • – The 30%+ Club members demonstrated higher diversity, achieving at least 30% representation of women on both the S&P/TSX Index (38.8%) and TSX (37.8%).

Geographic variations


  • – Representation varied based on where firms are located, indicating a need for tailored interventions. Ontario and Quebec showed higher representations of women, including racialized and Black women.

– The report also delves into strategies for advancing diversity and inclusion.


Societal level

  •  
  • – Legislation and voluntary codes shape culture and values. The implementation and enforcement of these measures are crucial but insufficient on their own.

  • – Addressing basic social infrastructure is essential for lasting change.

Organizational level


  • – Comprehensive equity, diversity and inclusion) strategies should be integrated into governance, leadership, human resources, culture, metrics and partnerships.

  • – Diversity and inclusion should be embedded in the entire human resources process, from selection to exit processes.

  • – Performance measures should track representation, pay inequality, procurement targets and community engagement.

Individual level


  • – Companies should invest in building capacity through mentorship, coaching and skills training.

  • – Employees need to unlearn biases, stereotypes and perceptions that perpetuate exclusionary practices.

  • – Raising awareness of negative behaviours like microaggressions can improve interpersonal relationships and foster inclusive work environments.

In conclusion, this report emphasizes the need for multifaceted interventions at societal, organizational and individual levels to achieve meaningful diversity and inclusion in corporate leadership in Canada. Addressing barriers and leveraging an ecological model of change is crucial for sustained progress.


Published:


December 2023 | Read full report here.


How to Address the Underrepresentation of Women in Leadership

Posted on by 30club-Canada

While progress has been made, women continue to face stereotypes, discrimination and bias at work that contribute to gaps in employment, wages and leadership positions

 

Experts on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the workplace highlighted the barriers and opportunities facing women in the workplace for governance professionals across the country during a webinar hosted by the Diversity Institute (DI) and the Governance Professionals of Canada on Mar. 7, 2023 in celebration of International Women’s Day.

 

“Every International Women’s Day we have an opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come and how far we have left to go,” said Wendy Cukier, founder and academic director of the Diversity Institute (DI), who led with a recap of DI research. While the wage gap is narrowing, women earn, on average, 87% of what men earn, Cukier said. That gap increases for racialized women (67%), Indigenous women (65%) and women with disabilities (54%).

 

Research conducted by DI shows that women remain underrepresented in board positions and in senior leadership—particularly in the corporate sector. The underrepresentation is even greater for racialized women. In the GTA, where one-half of the population is racialized, Cukier said white women outnumber racialized women 12:1 on corporate boards.

 

Cukier emphasized the importance of closing these gaps as a way to address some of the other barriers facing women at work, including gender-based discrimination, stereotyping and microaggressions.

 

‘When we think about boards, when we think about leadership, it signals who belongs,” Cukier said. “It shapes aspirations as well as stereotypes.”

 

Organizations can play a significant role in advancing a more diverse and inclusive workforce while breaking down the barriers facing women at work, Cukier said. One way to do that is by joining the 50 – 30 Challenge, external link and striving towards gender parity (50% women and non-binary people) and increased diversity (30% other equity-deserving groups) on boards and/or in senior leadership roles. As an ecosystem partner in the 50 – 30 Challenge, DI has developed a host of tools and resources to help organizations along their EDI journey, including The Micropedia of Microaggressions, external link (external link)  and the What Works Toolkit, external link.

 

“We really need to recognize that organizations are part of an ecosystem. They are affected by societal forces but they could also change them,” Cukier said.

 

Jennifer Laidlaw, country head of the 30% Club Canada, led panelists in a discussion that delved further into the barriers facing women at work and strategies to address them. The discussion included Julie Cafley, executive director of Catalyst Canada; Rumeet Billan, CEO and owner of Women of Influence+; and Nadine Spencer, CEO of BrandEQ and the Black Business and Professional Association. Cukier outlined the status of women in the workplace and how organizations can address the underrepresentation of women—particularly those from other equity-deserving groups—in leadership.

 

“Good intentions are no longer enough.” – Julie Cafley, Executive Director of Catalyst Canada

 

As part of her work with Catalyst, Cafley has seen organizations placing EDI efforts at the center of their strategy. Yet research shows that 51% of racialized women have experienced racism at work, Cafley said. That number increases for women with darker skin tones, she added.

 

“If you want to see change, good intentions are no longer enough. You really need to drive change at a strategic level with metrics,” Cafley said. 

 

Women who succeed in the workforce in spite of the barriers can still be attacked, resented, criticized or cut down for their achievements, Billan said. This is what her research defines as Tall Poppy Syndrome.

 

A worldwide study found nearly 87% of respondents experienced Tall Poppy Syndrome at work, Billan said. This has a considerable impact on how women show up at work and how they celebrate their successes, Billan said. It also affects the bottom line, with 75% of respondents agreeing that being “tall poppied” had an impact on their productivity at work.

 

Spencer underlined the need to understand how barriers and challenges can grow and compound for women of multiple marginalized identities.

 

“An intersectional lens is so important because it recognizes that individuals experience multiple forms of discrimination or disadvantage based on their intersecting identities—such as race, gender or economic status,” Spencer said.

 

Billan pointed out that while a particular board might be diverse, it might not be equitable or inclusive. “Yes, we want to invite everyone to the table but the question is, ‘What happens when they get there?’”

 

For Spencer, ongoing training and learning is key. We all have biases that perpetuate stereotypes and barriers facing women and other equity-deserving groups at work, Cafley said, so it is important to consistently try to identify and address them. 

 

Panelists also agreed that women can benefit from sponsors who can vouch for them, celebrate their accomplishments and usher them into new networks.

How equity, diversity, and inclusion can drive growth and innovation in businesses of all sizes

Posted on by 30club-Canada

The first webinar in a new series with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce spotlighted tools and initiatives to help organizations unlock the benefits of diverse workplaces

 

 

Dr. Wendy Cukier, founder and academic director of the Diversity Institute (DI), underlined the strategic importance of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the workplace and how businesses can achieve it during an insightful presentation hosted by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) on Feb. 1, 2023.

 

Moderated by Andrea Carmona, manager of public affairs at OCC, “What is diversity and why does it matter?” attracted almost 200 people from 100 businesses. The webinar is the first in a series designed to encourage more organizations to join the 50 – 30 Challenge and support them along their EDI journeys. 

 

The 50 – 30 Challenge calls on organizations to aspire to gender parity (50% women and non-binary people) and increased representation of other equity-deserving groups (30%) on boards and in senior leadership positions across sectors. For the purposes of the Challenge, equity-deserving groups include Indigenous Peoples, racialized people, persons with disabilities and those who identify as 2SLGBTQ+.

 

“Who is at the top of the house really matters in terms of setting the tone, leading strategy and shaping organizational culture,” Dr. Cukier said. To date, more than 1,800 organizations have joined the Challenge. As an ecosystem partner, DI provides tools and training to help organizations, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), achieve their goals.

 

Research suggests that diverse and inclusive workplaces perform better. “Given current skills shortages, being able to attract the best and the brightest talent is critical for organizations across sectors, especially for SMEs. If you are not rethinking your recruitment strategies to reach more diverse job seekers, you are fishing in a pretty small pond,” Dr. Cukier said. 

 

Lower turnover and higher employee satisfaction are also associated with more diverse and inclusive workplaces. Not only does EDI help reach and serve increasingly diverse markets, but many customers in the public and private sectors are using a diversity lens in making procurement and funding decisions. There is also evidence that more diverse leadership helps drive innovation and avoid risk.

 

Dr. Cukier set the stage by defining key terms and concepts. Equality was the focus of the civil rights movement—where the struggle was for access to the vote, housing, jobs and facilities, and basic human dignity. In contrast, Canada’s 1986 employment equity legislation defined “designated groups” as “women,” “visible minorities,” “Aboriginal peoples” and “persons with disabilities” who face historic disadvantage and oppression. Increasingly there is recognition of the importance of addressing the needs of the 2SLGBTQ+ community as well. Rather than just treating them equally, they merit additional supports and consideration to “level the playing field,” Dr. Cukier said. While the language has evolved, the principle still applies. 

 

While diversity refers to demographic differences and the representation of these groups—for instance, the percentage of women on boards or racialized people in senior leadership—inclusion refers to a sense of belonging where employees feel valued, respected and that they are able to bring their whole selves into the workplace. 

 

More than ever, SMEs recognize the importance of EDI in the workplace, Dr. Cukier said. However, they often lack the human resources capabilities, training and networks to find, develop and retain diverse talent on their own. This is particularly pressing as organizations of all sizes struggle to recruit skilled employees.

 

Dr. Cukier highlighted resources designed to help SMEs meet their goals, and explained how leaders can use their influence to embed EDI within larger business strategies.

 

The What Works Toolkit  was developed to support signatories and is hosted online by DI. Organizations can use the toolkit to map their 50 – 30 Challenge journey and develop anti-racism, anti-harassment and inclusive workplace strategies—all at no cost. Research conducted by DI, the Environics Institute and the Future Skills Centre on discrimination in the workplace emphasizes the importance of such strategies. For instance, two in five racialized employees experience race-based discrimination in the workplace. This increases to one in two for Black employees.

 

“Whether you are big or small, embedding equity, diversity and inclusion in your larger business strategy is the way to go,” Dr. Cukier said. She discussed how DI’s Diversity Assessment Tool (DAT) can help companies examine existing policies and practices, and develop their own strategies. The DAT is being piloted by more than 120 SMEs across Canada.

 

Many resources are available for organizations looking to recruit and retain diverse talent, Dr. Cukier said. The Discover Ability Network, for example, is a portal powered by Magnet that connects job seekers with disabilities with meaningful employment opportunities, and employers with resources that foster inclusive and accessible work environments

 

“Inclusion is not something that is being demanded just because of a current focus on social justice. It is something that will drive innovation and growth,” she said.

The Power Of Intention: Board Diversity Best Practices Realized

Posted on by 30club-Canada

Canadian Western Bank and the 30% Club recently hosted a session with the Diversity Institute focused on The Power Of Intention: Board Diversity Best Practices Realized.

 

The conversation featured a welcome and presentation from Wendy Cukier, who leads the Diversity Institute which is an ecosystem partner supporting implementation of the The 50 – 30 Challenge. The Challenge focuses on advancing gender parity (50%) and increased diversity in boards and/or senior leadership. DI research has underscored the importance of the Challenge in addressing the continued underrepresentation of women and non binary people, Indigenous peoples, racialized  people, persons with disabilities and those who identify as 2SLGBTQIA+ in Canada’s board rooms. 

 

Rahul Bhardwaj, Gay Mitchell, Dr. Marie Delorme, and Ian Reid.

 

The session highlighted the experience of Canadian Western Bank (CWB) which in early 200 made the decision to diversify their board representation. Rahul Bhardwaj, President and CEO of the Institute of Corporate Directors, moderated a fireside chat with CWB Board Directors to dive into the processes that they employed, advice for other boards and companies looking to be more inclusive, and the power of intention when adding diverse Board representation.

 

Gay Mitchell joined the CWB Board in 2019. While the CWB Board had nearly reached gender parity by that time, Mitchell recognized that it did not sufficiently mirror Canadian society. To realize their goal of being the best bank for business customers in Canada, the Board determined it needed to better reflect the diversity of its customers. For the first time ever, it engaged an external search firm to recruit new members.

 

“We looked around the table and we said, “We don’t know who we don’t know,” CWB Board Director Ian Reid explained. “We recognized that we had to look outside of our comfort and outside of our network to find people that looked like our target customers.”

 

Mitchell stressed that it was important to be very clear, thoughtful, and deliberate when defining the mandate for the search firm. The Board had a number of subsequent conversations with the search firm to ensure that their initial findings were representative of that mandate, part of which was to drive greater diversity.

 

Dr. Marie Delorme was recruited for the CWB Board through this process. For Dr. Delorme, CWB’s use of a search firm was notable, as that is best practice when looking to cast a wider net during recruitment.

 

Dr. Delorme was clear that she did not want to be the “diversity candidate.” Their concerns were alleviated by a recruitment and onboarding process that they found to be comprehensive, professional, respectful, and candid. Dr. Delorme was invited to attend two board meetings throughout the recruitment process, which allowed them to get a sense of the culture and get to know the people. Their onboarding was thorough, consisting of over a dozen orientation sessions with other Board members and senior leadership.

 

From the start, Dr. Delorme felt welcome and included—not only invited to the party but also asked to dance.

 

Learn more

 

If you were unable to attend this discussion live, you can watch it now on demand to hear more about Canadian Western Bank’s efforts to create a more representative board.

 

To stay apprised of the latest research and programming out of the Diversity Institute, subscribe to our newsletter, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Advancing Organizational Diversity: The 50-30 Challenge

Posted on by 30club-Canada

 

A diverse workforce helps organizations tap into new markets, attract the best and the brightest talent and drive innovation and performance. Many of Canada’s entrepreneurs and businesses understand this and are striving to increase diversity within their organizations, but need help to do so. 

 

The Diversity Institute (DI) and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce recently hosted a presentation and panel discussion for entrepreneurs and small- and medium-sized enterprises to learn more about the no-cost and easy to use tools and initiatives that can help them implement equity, diversity and inclusion practices within their workplaces.

 

Wendy Cukier, founder of the DI and the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH), and Academic Research Lead for the Future Skills Centre, explained The 50 – 30 Challenge, a voluntary initiative that calls Canadian organizations to strive for gender parity (50%) and significant representation (30%) of individuals from equity-deserving groups on Canadian boards and/or in senior management. Equity deserving groups for the purposes of the Challenge include Indigenous peoples, racialized, Black and people of colour, persons with disabilities and those in the 2SLBTQ+ community. The 50-30 Challenge is grounded in the evidence that better representation can drive organizational performance including access to talent, access to markets and innovation. Along with Colleges and Institutes Canada, Global Compact Network Canada, Women’s Economic Council and Egale, the DIversity Institute is working to promote the 50-30 Challenge and support organizations, particularly SMEs, in improving representation in leadership.

 

“We need to move from good intentions to action. While representation in leadership is not the only thing that matters, it signals who belongs and can help an organization better respond to the changing world. it,” Cukier stated. “We have definitely made progress but it’s glacial. This year there were only four women among the 100 top paid CEOs in Canada. And DI research found that white women outnumber racialized women 12:1 on corporate boards in Toronto, where the population is evenly divided. Of 1,600 corporate board members across Canada, there were 9 Black men and 4 Black women. Improving representation in leadership requires action at many levels.”

 

Signatories of The 50 – 30 Challenge gain access to a variety of tools and expert guidance to reach these goals. KPMG has recently developed the What Works Toolkit which will be hosted by the Diversity Institute. The toolkit is an online suite of resources and best practices designed to help organizations meet their diversity and inclusion goals. To-date, more than 1,650 organizations have signed onto the Challenge, and publicly committed to increasing the representation and inclusion of diverse groups within their workplaces. 

 

The Diversity Institute is providing a range of training programs, including the Diversity Assessment Tool, best practices and access to specialized tools such as the Micropedia as well as a database of well-qualified women and diverse leaders. Along with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and Chambers across Canada, DI is building out supports tailored to the needs of SMEs.

 

Expert Panelists Share Their Tips to Meet the Challenge

 

 

A panel provided concrete ways organizations in Canada can rise to meet the Challenge.

 

Sanjana Vijayan, Manager of Diversity & Inclusion at the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, suggested that small actions can make a big impact. She recognizes that many organizations, particularly SMEs do not have the time or expertise to tackle everything at once. While developing an EDI strategy can be daunting, Vijayan explained that something as simple as learning about and recognizing important observances for different groups can signal to staff that they are recognized and valued and this in turn can promote an inclusive environment where all feel comfortable bringing their full selves to work. Adding language in job advertisements to signal diverse people are welcome to apply can also produce quick results.

 

Jennifer Laidlaw, Country Head of the 30% Club Canada, agreed noting that organizations that struggle with diversity in the workplace do not need to wait to get started with inclusion. The 30% club, which includes Canada’s largest corporations, was committed to ensuring women represent 30% of Board members. The data show that the voluntary code has produced concrete results—members have substantially more representation of women on boards than organizations traded on the TSX. Many now realize focusing on gender is not enough. An intersectional lens is needed to address other dimensions of diversity.

 

Nancy Mitchell, Program Manager at the Diversity Institute and has formerly worked with UNWomen, brought a perspective on global best practices. She explained some ways that organizations can advance diversity and inclusion through the hiring process, for example, rethinking job definitions and qualifications, providing bias-free and accessible job postings written in plain language and offering accessibility supports throughout the hiring process. Organizations can also reach a greater pool of applicants by taking advantage of a range of recruitment channels, Mitchell said. But EDI is more than HR practices, Mitchell stressed. It needs to be embedded in corporate strategy, through the entire value chain, whether we are talking about procurement, inclusive design of products and services, or marketing and sales. Bringing an EDI perspective can improve access to markets, drive innovation and fuel the bottom line.

 

Critically examining the words and phrases we use every day is a necessary part of creating inclusive workplaces. Nadine Spencer, President & CEO of BBPA and Founder of BrandEQ, talked about the importance of providing support for people who may not feel they belong at the table who may not understand the “unspoken rules” or norms that are second nature to people with privilege. Like the other panelists, she stressed the importance of creating inclusive environments and introduced the Micropedia of Microaggressions—a free online tool leaders can use to learn more about microaggressions and their impact. For instance, using the term “guys” to refer to entire groups, or asking someone, “Where are you really from?,” can further marginalize women and non-binary people, and individuals from equity-deserving groups.

 

Panelists agreed that a commitment to continuous learning is a big part of the EDI journey. While these transformations do not happen overnight, it all starts with taking the first step. 

 

Hear more from our expert speakers and panelists.

 

Learn More

 

 

Find out more about The 50 – 30 Challenge and how your organization can get involved.

 

Sign-up for the Diversity Institute newsletter and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for more guidance, resources and research.

#BalanceForBetter

Posted on by 30club-Canada

 

 

 

Held at the Globe and Mail Centre, our 2019 International Women’s Day event gathered investors, not-for-profits, corporations and academia together to recognize this year’s #BalanceforBetter theme, one that provides a unified direction to guide and incite continuous collective action.

 

 

Check out our highlight reel here, the event recap and action-oriented takeaways from our distinguished #BalanceforBetter speakers here, and our photo gallery from the event here.

The two health crises facing Black people in Canada: COVID and Racism

Posted on by 30club-Canada

A conversation with Sané Dube on the two health crises facing Black people in Canada: COVID and Racism

By Stephania Varalli

 

By early April, just a few weeks after COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic, the headlines started appearing: Black people were experiencing an increased risk of infection, hospitalization, and death from the virus. 

 

The stats were coming from the US and the UK, because we weren’t collecting race-based COVID data in Canada — despite awareness of the risks for Black communities, community members sounding the alarm, and supporting evidence by way of overlapping COVID and census data. 

 

As Black Lives Matter protests erupted globally at the end of May in response to the killing of George Floyd, accelerating calls from Black community health leaders in Canada to have anti-Black racism declared a health crisis — mainstream discussions were still asking, “Is Canada racist?” 

 

Sané Dube has been advocating for greater visibility and action with respect to the connection between race and health. Currently the Policy and Government Relations Lead, with a focus on Black health, at the Alliance for Healthier Communities, she has worked in community development, health promotion, research, and strategic policy development. 

 

I spoke with Sané about the link between anti-Blackness and the severity of COVID among Black people in Canada, the distinctly Canadian blind spot that serves to halt progress on the issue, and what we could be doing differently to dismantle systemic racism in healthcare. 

 

This interview has been edited for length. 

 

 


Statistics are showing that Black people are more likely to die from COVID — but while the numbers are making the headlines, not everyone is gaining an understanding of why this is happening. Can we start there? 

 

Health is about a lot more than being able to walk into a doctor’s office or being able to walk into a healthcare facility. Health is really influenced by a range of factors and the environments we live in. Social determinants of health can be understood as the conditions that you live, work, and play in — it’s really a combination of the social and economic factors that impact your health.

 

Housing, for example, impacts health in very significant ways in terms of stability. We know that people who are unhoused or are experiencing homelessness tend to have worse health outcomes than people who have stability and don’t have to worry about housing. These social determinants of health are really looking at health with a much broader view than just through the ability to see a doctor, nurse or healthcare provider. They’re looking at the everyday things in someone’s life that can either help their health or lead to deterioration of their health.

 

 

Early on in the pandemic, when first called upon to collect race-based data with respect to COVID, Dr. David Williams, Chief Medical Officer of Health for Ontario, responded that statistics based on race aren’t collected in Canada unless certain groups are found to have risk factors — which seems to completely ignore the existence of social determinants of health. 

 

That moment was really shocking. At the same time that Ontario was saying we won’t collect the data, we were seeing really striking statistics coming out of the United States and also the United Kingdom. We now know that in the US, Black people are five times more likely to be hospitalized and more than twice as likely to face fatal outcomes from COVID, compared to white Americans. 

 

We know that in Ontario it’s the same story. At the time when Dr.Williams made this comment, we were already seeing the impact of COVID on some communities. It was really disappointing to hear.

 

There was a lot of rallying, there was a lot of mobilization — I think people were pushing back against this thing that often happens in Canada, where we try and make invisible the way that systemic racism and structural inequality impact the most marginalized and vulnerable in our communities. We often get, ‘We’re not the same as the US,’ which invisibilizes the harm that Black, racialized and Indigenous people experience in this country. 

 

 


The efforts made by advocacy groups eventually led to the Ontario government changing course on the collection of race-based data for COVID, which is certainly a win. But to put that in perspective — this can’t be the first time this conversation was happening, right? 

 

You’re right. This is not new. People have been calling for this for literally decades. I was looking at something today — someone showed me a committee that had been put together in 1998, asking for the collection of this data. I think that this happened to be a window of opportunity because of the devastation that we have seen with COVID.

 

Data is collected in Ontario for other sectors. Education collects data by race. Justice also does. And there was a discussion, around 2017, to collect the data for health, but at the time the ministry said that there are lots of privacy concerns. I don’t think in calling for more data collection now, people are saying we should not be mindful of privacy. It’s also important to say that the collection of the data is not the end goal — but having the data means we have better tools to dismantle what causes harm.

 

“This call was partly pushback saying, no, things are really awful, and this is not an issue just in the US. Even in Canada, Black people are dying, Indigenous people are dying, because of what happens with policing, because there isn’t a recognition of the ways that racism leads to death, or racism leads to us getting less services than other people, or getting care that just isn’t good enough. “

 

You were a signatory on thejoint statement calling for anti-Black racism to be declared a public health crisis. Can you share what led to its release on June 1, and what were the main goals of this joint effort?

 

You’ll remember that in the same week in the US, we had just seen the killing of George Floyd and Tony McDade, and we were talking about the killing of Breonna Taylor. Then in Canada, that same week, we had seen Regis Korchinski-Paquet, an Afro-Indigenous woman, fall to her death in police presence. There have been two other deaths in Ontario under similar circumstances. In New Brunswick, we had just seen Rodney Levi, an Indigenous man, killed by an RCMP officer, and Chantel Moore, who was also Indigenous, killed by police who were called in to respond to a mental health and wellness check.

 

All these things were happening in Canada, and our Premier was asked about systemic racism, and his response at that time was that ‘we’re not as bad as the US’ — the premier did later reverse this, but in that moment it had the effect of minimizing the violence Black and Indigenous communities were facing.  

 

This call was partly pushback saying, no, things are really awful, and this is not an issue just in the US. Even in Canada, Black people are dying, Indigenous people are dying, because of what happens with policing, because there isn’t a recognition of the ways that racism leads to death, or racism leads to us getting less services than other people, or getting care that just isn’t good enough. Racism leads to our communities being underfunded, so that in the social sector, the health sector, our communities receive less. That ends up influencing our health.

 

With the declaration of anti-Black racism as a public health crisis, we were calling for it to be seen that racism was impacting people’s lives. It was a push to make things visible, and to then have the system be accountable for the ways that people are harmed. Declaring something a public health crisis shows urgency, that this is a critical issue that demands a response. It ensures health resources are designated, and there’s planning for the appropriate resources to be put in place, as well as accountability, infrastructure, and mechanisms for the system. 

 

 


A lot of the mainstream media stories have focused on the mortality rate of COVID being higher for Black people. What’s not making the headlines that should be, with respect to Black communities and health? What about mental health? 

 

When that question comes up, my first thought is always, how do you talk about this in a way that doesn’t pathologize Black people? Anti-Black racism, anti-Indigeneity has done so much harm and continues to do so much harm. White supremacy does so much harm to our people, and yet we often talk about mental health in a way that somehow again places the harms of these huge, unrelenting systems at the feet of Black people, without holding the system accountable for the distress that it causes to our people. What I would really like us to ask is, ‘What does this system do to Black people and in what way is it not accountable?’ 

 

I’ll give the example of healthcare workers who are dying in Ontario. Most have been personal support workers, many of them Black and racialized. It’s caused tremendous distress to their families, especially the circumstances under which they have died. I think that even the system has not held itself accountable for the way that it’s contributed to those deaths.

 

Earlier on in the pandemic, Chief Medical Officer of Health, David Williams, was asked about personal protective equipment for personal support workers. He initially did not name them as essential workers, or prioritize access to equipment for them. Then personal support workers started dying, and there’s no apology for the way that they have been treated, there is no acknowledgement of the way that the system has failed them. Instead, when you read about their death, it’s almost framed like they are responsible for what systemic and structural issues have done to them.

 

 

Is there a way we can tell these stories differently, so that they are contributing to positive change?

 

We need to be able to tell these stories in a way that also holds the system and these structures accountable for the harm that they do to people.

 

With Regis Korchinski-Paquet, for example, I think we have to ask, as a 29-year-old young woman, what other support had she received to that point? Had she been able to find care that was culturally appropriate and that understood her very specific cultural issues that she was bringing? If she hadn’t, then why isn’t there more of an effort, even as we discuss her case, to talk about funding for mental health programs that are designed by and for marginalized communities, so that people can get the care that they need?

Even with Chantel Moore, I think that there just hasn’t been as much useful conversation talking about the way that policing continues to be part of the colonial project in Canada. It again goes back to that accountability. So much of the media coverage in Canada has been focused on the question, is there systemic racism? — which is just a distraction, and it takes away from what people are going through. 

 

And while we’re wasting time asking if there’s systemic racism, people’s lives are still being negatively impacted. People are still not getting the care that they need in Toronto’s  North West to deal with a deadly pandemic. While we’re asking, ‘Is there systemic racism in prisons?’, people who are Black and Indigenous — who are also overrepresented in prison populations — are not getting all the supplies that they need to deal with COVID, even though they are at some of the highest risk because of the condition that people in prisons live under.

 

 


Has the conversation around racism and health evolved at all, as a result of the pandemic?

 

I think that we are having conversations right now in 2020 under COVID that we weren’t having in 2018, which is great. But it would be naive not to look at the ways that already white supremacy is mutating and working to keep the status quo in place. I think there’s a lot of words that are being put out, but I don’t know that most of them are turning into actual work.

 

 

You have written about how anti-Blackness is a health crisis that deserves more than lip-service. Is there anything that gives you hope for change in what’s happening now? 

 

This is a question that we also see a lot in Canadian media. I think that hope is a critical part of resistance; hope is a critical part of being able to remake a world where we can live better. I think that often what happens when people are asked to be hopeful, is minimization of the very real pain that people are in and the difficulty of this moment. So I don’t usually answer that question, ‘what gives you hope?’ But what I do say is that I recognize hope is a critical part of resistance.

 

 

Throughout the pandemic we’ve heard the phrase “We’re all in this together” — but are we? Looking closer, the impact of COVID-19 is not equal for all. The 30% Club Canada and Women of Influence are partnering on Unmasked — a series that amplifies the voices of community leaders, sharing unique challenges and thoughts on how we can build a better, more inclusive future.

COVID’s greater impact on women and how we can rebuild equitably

Posted on by 30club-Canada

A conversation with Sarah Kaplan on COVID’s greater impact on women and how we can rebuild equitably

 

 

At this point in the pandemic, we should no longer be asking if COVID is affecting women to a greater degree than men.  

 

The evidence shows it is, and in many ways; a primer on the gendered impacts of COVID-19 released in April by the Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE) pointed to higher participation in risky front-line work, greater susceptibility to economic uncertainty, increased domestic and caregiving responsibilities, increased vulnerability to domestic violence, and barriers to sexual and reproductive healthcare — with Indigenous, racialized, low-income, LGBTQ+ and other vulnerable groups worse affected.

 

Even as social distancing rules are relaxing, the situation has not improved. The latest statistics show women suffered a greater loss of jobs and are experiencing a slower recovery, have higher reported mental health issues, and a higher COVID mortality rate in Canada — and relatively speaking, this is still just the immediate impact. We don’t have a clear view of the long-term effects of the pandemic for women. 

 

I spoke with Sarah Kaplan, Founder and Director of GATE, to get her take on why it’s important to look at COVID with an intersectional gendered lens, where we are headed with respect to gender equality, and what we can be doing to build a more inclusive future. 

 

The interview has been edited for length. 

 

 

From the very beginning, you’ve been looking at the pandemic with an intersectional gender lens. Why is this so important? 

 

When we first put out our primer on the gendered impacts of COVID, I had a colleague reach out to me irate that at a time when people were getting sick and dying, and the economy is in the tank, that I would dare be talking about gender issues — as if gender were something on the side, a nice-to-have, but it has nothing to do with the core economic or health impacts. 

 

And of course, when you actually do look with a gender lens, you see how much it does have to do with gender, and you see the very unequal economic and health impacts. Gender, or women’s issues, or issues of masculinity, are not just something you focus on when times are stable — this moment of crisis is when we should be spending the most time looking at these kinds of issues. 

 

 

Some people might argue we should take a ‘neutral’ approach to these issues, rather than a gendered approach. Is that even possible? What do you think could be the impact of that kind of thinking? 

 

There is evidence from previous economic downturns and previous corporate layoffs that often diversity suffers, because if you approach it with rules like ‘we’ll furlough all the part-time workers’ or ‘we’ll furlough the people with the lowest evaluations’ or ‘we’ll furlough the people who are most recently hired’ — all of those are gendered. Women are more likely to be part-time, we know that performance evaluations are often gender-biased, and because companies have historically been bad at diversity, women are less likely to have seniority. 

 

These supposedly gender-neutral rules have really gendered outcomes. We need to have an explicit diversity lens on these decisions, or you’re going to kill off whatever diversity we’ve been fighting to get in the last decade or so, including in corporate Canada. 

 

 

That’s a very bleak thought — but not unsurprising, considering how many ways women are being affected from an economic standpoint. Are there any repercussions that you are particularly concerned about? What’s the worst case scenario here? 

 

I think we could end up quite far back. Take a situation like yours, with young kids at home — if there has historically been a gender division of labor in the household, then it’s much more likely that the woman is going to drop out of the labour force, because it’s too hard for her to manage small children and perform in her job. 

 

Among heterosexual couples, we know that we don’t have equal sharing of responsibilities in Canadian households — there is an incredibly gendered division of labour. The likelihood that we are going to see a whole generation of women with pre-teen children dropping out of the workforce is extremely high. It’s just not manageable. And until we get a vaccine, I think we’re going to see a whole slew of people leaving the workforce, and that will undo a lot of the progress. 

 

 

 

 

“We’ve known for 30 years that childcare is the secret to women’s advancement in their jobs, and now we’re talking about how the secret to economic recovery is going to be childcare — it gives me some hope that we might actually get a universal child care solution.”

 

 

What about the argument that men are now seeing how much work is involved in care responsibilities?

 

Yes, on the positive side, and again talking about heterosexual couples, there are situations where the male partner is seeing exactly how much care work is required at home, and actually participating more and becoming more committed to getting corporate policies adjusted to adapt. 

 

This may be a wake up call for many male leaders about what exactly has been happening behind the curtains. Some people predict that maybe we’ll get a wave of more equal households going forward, but I’m not sure about that. I think it remains to be seen exactly what social changes are going to be wrought from this. 

 

I think one thing is true: we are never going to go back to everyone always working in their offices, now that people are set up to work from home. The future of work is going to change because of this, or accelerate at least, and I don’t think we have a good way to predict which way it’s going to pull — whether it’s going towards more gender equality because men have gotten more involved in care work, or it’s going to uphold inequality because women will have to give up their work in order to deal with the additional care work. 

 

 

 

In the face of losing ground in the push for gender equality, what gives you the most hope? 

 

A few things give me hope, including this broader conversation about care work. We’ve known for 30 years that childcare is the secret to women’s advancement in their jobs, and now we’re talking about how the secret to economic recovery is going to be childcare — it gives me some hope that we might actually get a universal child care solution. That would be great. 

 

The second thing that gives me hope is that we all got thrown into a period of experimentation. We had been talking for years and years at the Rotman School about doing some online education, and there was resistance to that change — and then from March 13 to March 16, the entire in-person experience got transferred to online. We’re seeing similar things in all sorts of companies; between experiments with collaborative work, and different tools, we may come up with a better way of working. 

 

We’re also able to include so many more people at work than we were ever able to include before. For example, people in smaller communities can now get a remote job at a big corporate in Toronto, get the advantage of that salary, and the advantage of staying in their communities. And many of the things that we have ended up doing because of the pandemic have been things that people with disabilities have been asking for for years. We can still do a better job of including people with disabilities — virtual meetings can be harder for people who have a vision impairment, or people who have a hearing impairment if they can’t read people’s lips — so it’s not perfect, but I see all kinds of experimentation leading us to think about ways of work that could actually be much more inclusive, and that gives me hope.  

 

 

These are all examples of positive side effects of the pandemic, which are great, but what do you think we could be doing to intentionally rebuild in an equitable way? 

 

GATE has actually partnered with the YWCA to develop a feminist recovery plan — because we definitely need to be intentional about what is included. From a more narrow focus, corporate recovery plan, to a broader focus, like where governments should invest in infrastructure. These kinds of big projects have major feminist dimensions to them. 

 

As an example, investing in caregiving pays huge dividends — it basically pays for itself in a very short period of time — but it seems really expensive and so people don’t want to do it because it’s just caregiving, it’s not a highway. Investing in social infrastructure as opposed to physical infrastructure is a way of reconceptualizing the major government spending that will happen to help recover the economy.  

 

It would be very different from how countries typically spend to recover the economy, and without some more very serious conversations, it’s unclear we’re going to get the feminist solution that we need.

 

 

Throughout the pandemic we’ve heard the phrase “We’re all in this together” — but are we? Looking closer, the impact of COVID-19 is not equal for all. The 30% Club Canada and Women of Influence are partnering on Unmasked — a series that amplifies the voices of community leaders, sharing unique challenges and thoughts on how we can build a better, more inclusive future.

COVID and People Living with Disabilities

Posted on by 30club-Canada

A conversation with Maayan Ziv on COVID and people living with disabilities

By Stephania Varalli

 

Maayan Ziv is an award-winning tech entrepreneur and disability advocate. Frustrated by the barriers she was experiencing living with muscular dystrophy, nearly five years ago she founded AccessNow — an app that uses crowdsourcing to pin-point the accessibility status of locations on an interactive map. 

 

A few days before our conversation, the federal government announced new funding: $15 million to enable community organizations to help Canadians with disabilities adapt to the realities of COVID-19, and up to $600 for individuals who qualify for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC). 

 

While that measure would have reached about 1.2 million eligible Canadians, one study estimates it would only cover roughly 40% of working-aged adults with a severe disability. What’s worse, on June 11 the bill that included these benefits failed to pass, as opposition parties withheld support. Party leaders blamed one another for the impasse, and so far, no new initiatives have been announced.

 

Maayan Ziv spoke candidly on the challenges COVID presents for people with disabilities — and the opportunities.

 

 

I’d like to start by asking, how are you doing?

 

I’ve been okay. At first there was a lot of fear that I was experiencing — especially being someone who fits into the category of being immunocompromised. Whenever I listen to stories about how this is really, really dire for people who fit my criteria, there’s a lot of fear around that. And that is a shared experience. Pretty much everyone that is in a similar situation as me, we have had to take a lot of precautions. 

 

It was difficult at first. Before there was even a lockdown, I was starting to self-isolate. I used to live in Toronto and I just moved out to the country to be in a less dense population. I’m not going to the grocery store or anywhere really, and basically everyone who’s living in the same house is in the same boat. It’s pretty extreme. 

 

It can be frustrating or difficult, especially now when things are starting to open — it’s really not the case for me. I’ve gone through cycles, from fear, to a sense of grieving for what life was like pre-COVID. Now, I’m in a state of acceptance and really working on leveraging the silver lining that comes along with this new reality. I think that there’s a lot of change and it’s not all bad.

 

 

One of those silver linings, from what I’ve been reading, is that some of the ways we’ve adapted because of COVID are actually beneficial to people living with disabilities. Would you agree with that?

 

A lot of the things that we were seeing in the very beginning — like people writing about what it means to work from home, to access services online or remotely, and people having this panic of, how do I do life if I haven’t done this before? — that was general across the board, every person we talked to said the same thing. 

 

And for our community of people with disabilities, it was a very interesting experience, because the things that people started realizing that they needed are things that people with disabilities have been advocating for years. The flexibility, working from home or having different work hours, the ability to use online tools as opposed to meeting in person.

 

Specifically, if you just look at employment, it’s been a huge conversation that has been happening within the disability community for a very long time. Part of it has actually resulted in barriers where people don’t get the job, or they’re not given a fair chance to pursue an opportunity because people will say, ‘Well, if you can’t come into the office every day or if you can’t work in this way, you can’t work for us at all.’

 

Now, there’s a bigger sense of advocacy for the disability community, that’s been demanding these types of accommodations, you might call it, for years — from home delivery to telehealth. There are so many different aspects of how we’re revolutionizing the world to be post-COVID that have been part of the DNA of how people with disabilities have been wanting to live their lives, and not always been granted access to.

 

There’s a sense of, welcome to my world, and a real opportunity to develop a sense of empathy and work towards a greater understanding of inclusion because things that were considered accommodations, or things that are accessible specifically for people with disabilities, are now things that every person needs. That is a really unique opportunity to capitalize on and keep working towards inclusive progress.

 

We’re in a really important moment in time where we hope that things will continue in this direction. We hope that restaurants will continue to offer options, and that offices will continue to embrace a remote work style, and that we won’t just go back to a one-size-fits-all model without the flexibility to be there for every person. That’s something we’re advocating for within the disability community.

 

“There’s a sense of, welcome to my world, and a real opportunity to develop a sense of empathy and work towards a greater understanding of inclusion because things that were considered accommodations, or things that are accessible specifically for people with disabilities, are now things that every person needs.”

 

Is there a degree of frustration that you’ve been advocating for this for years and people have been saying, ‘We can’t do it’ — and now all of a sudden, en masse, the world has started doing it?

 

It’s a good question. For sure, I think that there is some frustration there, but the frustration has always been there. The fact that people with disabilities haven’t been given the same rights and opportunities, that’s a systemic issue, and it’s global. 

 

That’s why the largest minority group in the world has been advocating for that for so long. But rather than just leaning on that anger and that frustration, having the opportunity to then use that frustration as fuel to capitalize on this chance for change, I think is really the approach that I’m taking personally and I see a lot of people in the community doing as well. 

 

So knowledge-sharing, improving access with our Access From Home product, and we’ve launched a campaign that’s focused on storytelling, so that people with disabilities can share their own lived experiences about what access from home looks like, so that it becomes more personal and it becomes real for people, rather than this blob of immunocompromised people. 

 

 

You mention your Access From Home product — which seems to be the opposite of what you were offering with AccessNow. How did that come about?

 

At AccessNow we were originally focused on connecting people to the physical world, the built environment, and encouraging and empowering people to get out and do things and be independent. With COVID, we had to quickly start thinking about what our role is now, in a world where people can’t really go out. 

 

That’s really where Access From Home became part of the solution. We’ve been hearing a lot of people in our community saying, ‘I’m having a difficult time finding access to groceries,’ or ‘What opportunities do I have for online employment? What tools can I use?’ or ‘What sources of education or entertainment do I have access to from home?’

 

We started building this directory of different companies and services, where people can look for the things that they need in their life, and so have that sense of accessibility and empowerment at home. So we’re contributing in the same way that we’ve always done, connecting people to an accessible world — even if our world is now digital, and accessed through devices at home.

 

And we continue to invest in our main platform, the AccessNow app. We know that accessibility in the built environment is still, and will always be, critical to achieving independence and equity

 

 

What about other supports — like group programs and at-home care? I’ve read they’ve had to change how they’re delivered, or they’ve just gone away. How is this being managed?

 

Many people are really struggling. I’ve heard nightmare stories from people who are without enough support, because their caregivers have had to pick only one place of employment or don’t feel safe coming to work. I’ve heard from people who have had to isolate from loved ones in order to limit the risk of exposure, or those unable to get basic needs met due to new financial constraints or gaps in care. It’s just hard, it’s hard on everyone, with or without the disability. 

 

But for those with disabilities, it can be really trying right now and that story is not widely known. We still have a lot of people hanging out in big groups or not practicing proper social distancing or not wearing masks. Many people I feel are not thinking about how those actions, although they might not actually hurt them personally, are hurting other people. 

 

 

Do you feel like, as we’re all figuring out this new normal, that your voice is being heard?

 

Early on Minister Qualtrough put together an advisory committee of people that were focused on disability and COVID-19, and that now there is also a new effort from Stats Canada to collect survey data on the impact of COVID on Canadians with disabilities.

 

But is it too little too late? I think the $15 million for programs, that’s a significant number but when we talk about funding on the personal level, there’s a lot of people who fall through the cracks. The important thing to realize, and I don’t think people do, is that people with disabilities have a lot of expenses, especially now, and many are without the support they need.

 

Here’s one tiny example: a caregiver that’s coming and going daily — you need PPE not just for you, but for all the people who come in and out of your life every day to support you. There are all these microtransactions that people don’t really think about, and there’s a whole body of work that talks about the cost of disability — and during this time, it’s even more significant. I’m glad that some funding is there, but I’m not sure it will be enough.

 

 

Is there a lesson you hope that we learn out of this? If there was one thing you wish we could hold on to that will lead us towards a better future, what would that be?

 

I honestly think that it boils down to empathy. I think when there is a sense of empathy we react differently, and we’re kinder to each other, and we are more thoughtful about our actions. I think we’ve been given the opportunity to empathize with another person’s fear, another person’s reality. People start meetings with a meaningful ‘how are you?’ — it is not necessarily something we would have seen in the past, but is a chance to connect with another person, authentically.

 

Having that kind of human element, we have a unique opportunity to now grow from this experience, and I hope that we do. Human tendency is to get these new paths and then eventually forget about them and go back to the old ways. I hope that that’s not going to be the case. I think we have an opportunity to learn from this, and to invest in a future that is welcoming and inclusive.

Throughout the pandemic we’ve heard the phrase “We’re all in this together” — but are we? Looking closer, the impact of COVID-19 is not equal for all. The 30% Club Canada and Women of Influence are partnering on Unmasked — a series that amplifies the voices of community leaders, sharing unique challenges and thoughts on how we can build a better, more inclusive future.

COVID, Inequality, and Black communities

Posted on by 30club-Canada

A conversation with Candies Kotchapaw on COVID, Inequality, and Black communities

By Stephania Varalli

 

 

I first met Candies Kotchapaw at the Top 25 Women of Influence celebration on March 3, where we presented her with an award for the work she’s been doing as the founder of Developing Young Leaders for Tomorrow, Today (DYLOTT), a leadership incubator focused on Black youth.

 

The inspiration for DYLOTT came from Candies’ own experience with systemic racism in academia — she holds Master and Bachelor degrees in Social Work, and a diploma in Child and Youth Work — and an understanding of the need to make spaces of influence more accessible for Black communities, from education to corporations to the public sector. She’s now at home with her 7-year-old and 17-month-old, figuring out how to pivot DYLOTT to best serve Black communities in need, and how to raise the funds needed to do it. 

 

Much like with Indigenous communities, a conversation about the impact of COVID on Black communities extends much further than health. While Candies sees an opportunity for positive change, it’s clearly a challenging road ahead. 

 

 The interview has been edited for length. 

 

 

Let me start by asking, how are you doing?

 

I was having a conversation with another BIWOC person today, about how Black community members are sharing their experiences, and people are in shock that this actually happens in Canada. And I said to her, I don’t think I’ve ever been as triggered as much as I am triggered now. And it’s because of the spotlight — all of the sudden, all these things are being put out in the open, and discussions are raw, and conversations are really hitting the core of what we’ve been experiencing for such a long time. So how I’m doing is, I’m not sure. 

 

There are times that I have media trauma. With social media and mainstream media, everything comes home with you. It’s in your living room, it’s in your bedroom, it’s in your kitchen — wherever we have a screen, it’s there with you. And Black community members have been put on the stage, and now we are expected to perform, in a way that we’ve never been conditioned to perform, nor have we been given the opportunity to prepare. I’ve never been invited to speak this much in all the years that I’ve been active in program development. The best term that I can use is just truly overwhelmed by it all.    

 

 

And through all of this, you’re figuring out how to keep DYLOTT moving forward. How has that journey been?

 

Before COVID-19 hit, we had just come off our closing activities for 2019. After having experienced a tremendous amount of success for our pilot year in different programs, we were ready to bring them to other Black communities across Ontario and then nationally. Over October, November, and December we were building our strategic direction — operationally, financially, and in terms of the personnel that we’re going to bring on board — and had started conversations about going after an Ontario Trillium Foundation Grow Grant. That would have been multi-year funding, so we wouldn’t have to be in the precarious position of looking for funding every single year.

 

In January, we started to write the grant and were communicating with potential partners to come on board and support the program. By February, COVID started to take root and our steering committee and our board members began to talk about what we should do. By March, everything was shut down. Fortunately, we were already doing virtual conferencing — everybody who is in DYLOTT works full-time, or has part-time work or school work — so we were doing conference calls at 9:30 at night when our children went to bed. 

 

 

And what about that strategic growth plan? Are you continuing in the direction you were discussing, or has COVID changed things? 

 

The work really has shifted from ‘How do we prepare to roll out our current programs?’ to ‘Is there an opportunity to prepare Black youth for the transition into the future of the work?’ Because we know that the digital age is already here and our communities are already left behind.

 

When COVID hit and we had to adjust to learning at home, there were pockets of information coming out saying that Black communities don’t have access to reliable Internet, we don’t have access to reliable technology. We already knew those things were happening — but it was an opportunity for us to say we need to create access to those technologies that are going to be mandatory in the digital age, during the recovery period and beyond. 

 

That’s a mountain of a job, because how do we reach out to these people using the virtual space when they don’t have the access to the virtual space? That’s a road-map that we need to create to make sure that we don’t leave anybody behind, but we recognize that is going to be slow, it’s going to be long, and I’m sure it’s going to be treacherous. 

 

 

Looking at the issue of learning from home, the Ontario government made big announcements about distributing laptops and tablets to disadvantaged students — but it’s community organizations like DYLOTT that are recognizing the gaps in the program. Should the government be working with you more closely on efforts like distributing learning devices? 

 

I absolutely think we should take the lead here, because we know those communities that we’re working with, and have an understanding of the needs of the people who participate in our programs. We can provide training, and help families to adjust to the new demands and technological requirements that they’re being presented with. The assumption is that we just provide them with the technology and they will figure it out. That’s not always the case.

 

I can draw on the example of my seven-year-old daughter. She had a Google Meet meeting every Wednesday with her teacher and her classmates for an hour. The only thing I got from her teacher and from the TDSB [Toronto District School Board] is: ‘Here is the link to the Google Meet, and the time. Log on when it’s time.’ I could figure it out, but what about those families who are technologically illiterate? What about those families that have children with a learning disability, with autism, with all the other challenges that come, the exceptionalities that children have? What do you do to support those families? 

 

I think the assumption is that people will just get by and figure it out, but you can’t have those assumptions when you’re dealing with a population of people that have already been marginalized within society. COVID really has rolled back the curtain on all the inequities that exist.

 

 

“I think the biggest positive that I can take from COVID is that it has opened up the lines of communication, where I think they were locked or non-existent before. Even through social media, there’s access to people that I think before as a Black person I would have never had the opportunity to engage with.”

 

 

For DYLOTT to provide these services, you need funding. You’ve set up a GoFundMe page, but that’s far from the multi-year support you were hoping to secure at the beginning of the year. What does the financial part of this equation look like? 

 

At the end of April, the federal government announced $350 million of support for the nonprofit sector and community. That generated a lot of interest of course from community organizations. We had several different workshops on how to apply for this grant and how to gain visibility. But the thing that I realized about this whole process, is that if you’re not a well-established organization, if you haven’t been around for a long time, or if you don’t have a mechanism that you’re connected to other organizations that have visibility, you get passed over, always.

 

While at DYLOTT we were talking about, ‘How do we put an application together?’,  other organizations were already out there doing that work, they were already planning their response, and how they would access the funding that was out there. We could not get a hold of anyone. No one was listening to us. We were floundering in a way, because we didn’t have visibility.

 

That day when I decided to put that tweet out and I tagged Jan [Frolic, SVP at Women of Influence], I tagged her because I knew that in order for us to get a support team, someone else who knew about us had to pick it up. That’s the only way that an organization like DYLOTT can get any support.  And when we got visibility, now all of a sudden a lot of people are calling and they’re all saying, “Hey, what are you guys doing?”

 

It’s not that organizations aren’t doing the work, they do the work and they’re doing very important and impactful work, but if someone else doesn’t recognize the value that the organization is providing, that work gets unnoticed and they end up falling by the wayside. 

 

 

 

And what about at the community level, the individuals that you work within your programs? Or other organizations in this space? What are you hearing from them? 

 

What we’re hearing is the things that we already knew existed, the challenges that we already knew existed — like mental health, which was never a priority area for social determinants of health for Black communities. All of a sudden, it’s a priority. If all of a sudden it’s a priority — we never got a chance to sit down and deconstruct what mental health looks like within that community, and we’re expected to have solutions for all those challenges, we’re expected to have the people who can address those challenges.

 

For me as a social worker, I know for a fact that there aren’t enough Black mental health workers to support our community, because there has never been that focus put on the need to provide Black mental health services. 

 

Also, of course, the challenge with technology and the barriers that presents. One of the questions that we’re discussing with organizations like ours is ‘What training do we need to provide?’

 

But what agency do we have to answer that expert question? I don’t feel like I’m an expert right now. That’s the reality. I think it certainly is an opportunity to address something, but I think it’s unrealistic to expect that we have all the answers, especially right upfront, right now. We need the space to figure out strategies to address all the different social determinants that are happening all at one time.

 

 

 

What in all this gives you hope? Is there anything that is happening because of COVID that you believe can help us build a better future? 

 

Yes. Definitely. Even in all this horribleness, all the terrible, tragic impact that COVID has brought with it, I would be remiss if I didn’t say that COVID has brought many opportunities for people who are Black and for people to collaborate. I think the biggest positive that I can take from COVID is that it has opened up the lines of communication, where I think they were locked or non-existent before. Even through social media, there’s access to people that I think before as a Black person I would have never had the opportunity to engage with.

 

The major thing that gives me hope is that people are recognizing the value of contribution from Black communities. They are recognizing that there is capacity for agency within Black communities. And they are recognizing that there are a plethora of experiences that are valuable. 

 

Now, the spotlight is being shone on our communities, and we’re saying, ‘Hey, there’s an opportunity for self-governance. There’s an opportunity for economic independence. There’s an opportunity for collaboration on a level that there has never been.’ I’m certainly very happy for that.

 

 

Throughout the pandemic we’ve heard the phrase “We’re all in this together” — but are we? Looking closer, the impact of COVID-19 is not equal for all. The 30% Club Canada and Women of Influence are partnering on Unmasked — a series that amplifies the voices of community leaders, sharing unique challenges and thoughts on how we can build a better, more inclusive future.

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