Action on Anti-Black Racism by Jesse Murray, Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Senior leadership of Lumenus recognizes the importance of developing an action plan to create a workplace culture where Anti-Black Racism cannot thrive. We recently engaged consultants to assist us with this, and together with our colleagues Jesse Murray, our new Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Rachael Brubacher, Director of Residential Support Services, have developed the following timeline for engaging with staff:
December: Meet with intensive management team and People of Colour Caucus at legacy Griffin division – Completed.
January: Town Hall Meeting with Jesse Murray, Director of DEI, to introduce staff to the project + Racism in the Workplace Survey.
Feb-April: Individual and/or group sessions with staff sharing experiences of racism in the workplace.
April-June: Broader agency work, re-engage management team, and development of ABR action plan.
July-August: Final ABR Action Plan and Final report.
Sept-December: Our Ongoing work will start!
On January 13th, Lumenus Community Services held our first town hall focused exclusively on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) facilitated by Jesse Murray our Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. With our town hall, 15 exciting organizational changes and projects related to DEI were shared. As we move forward with our learning journey with DEI, Lumenus is now an Employer Partner with the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI). This partnership allows all Lumenus staff to have access to an e-library with over 1,000 files containing Canadian-specific and international diversity and inclusion trainings, research items, reports, toolkits and news. As Lumenus staff you have also been given a DEI Knowledge Self-assessment to support you in identifying learning priorities and opportunities for leadership. The standing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee (DEIC) has worked diligently to develop and approve Terms of Reference for both the DEIC and the Anti-Black Racism Taskforce that will be foundational in many of the agency-wide DEI and anti-racism initiatives. At this time, Lumenus staff who are interested in joining the DEIC are invited to complete and submit an Expression of Interest form by February 23rd, 2021. Before completing the Expression of Interest form for the DEIC, please review the Terms of Reference for the committee.
Diversity is a strength that Lumenus strives to recognize in all that we do. Join us in highlighting these Days of Recognition for February, March and April.
| February |
| All month – Black history month |
| 20th – World day of social Justice |
| 24th – Pink shirt day (Anti-bullying), |
| March |
| All month – Bangladesh heritage month |
| 1st – Zero Discrimination Day |
| 8th – International Women’s Day |
| 21st _ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination |
| 25th – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery, |
| April |
| All month – Sikh Heritage Month |
| 4th – Refugee Rights Day (Canadian Council for Refugees) |
| 2nd Wednesday of April – International Day of Pink (Anti-Bullying), |
| All month – Speech and Hearing Month (Awareness Month) |
| All month – Asian Heritage Month |
| All month – South Asian Heritage Month |
| 17th – International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia |
| 21st – World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, |
