Land Acknowledgement
Centennial College is proud to be a part of a rich history of education in this province and in this city. We acknowledge that we are on the treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and pay tribute to their legacy and the legacy of all First Peoples of Canada, as we strengthen ties with the communities we serve and build the future through learning and through our graduates. Today the traditional meeting place of Toronto is still home to many Indigenous People from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work in the communities that have grown in the treaty lands of the Mississaugas. We acknowledge that we are all treaty people and accept our responsibility to honour all our relations.
Aspiration Statement
Mandate
The Innovation, Inclusion, Reconciliation and Healing Portfolio (IIRH) facilitates and advances the development of a transformational culture at Centennial College. Transformational culture is achieved through the decolonization of our systems and practices, the expansion of equitable access to services and opportunities, and the growth of inclusive environments that seed innovation and co-creation at the College and in community.
Impact
This transformational culture nourishes a sense of uniqueness and belonging for college members with real-world impacts. It is associated with enhanced student capacity for learning and success. It is also connected to employee engagement, claims to organizational attachment and improved institutional effectiveness. At the core of this work, we empower all community members to see themselves as leaders; distinguished by their global and cross-cultural outlook as well as their ability to inspire generative, reconciled and inclusive social change.
How We Work
IIRH represents a strategic advisory and service delivery hub as well as a pan-divisional partnership centre. Providing support to employees, students and the broader community, the portfolio integrates culture transformation work across the college using evidence-based approaches. We counsel and co-design with community stakeholders to strengthen the inclusivity of college operational processes, governance structures, teaching and learning practices, as we lead the expansion of equitable and intercultural capabilities for all.
Working in collaboration with our community partners, our progress is rooted in a foundation shaped by a respect for concepts of Indigenous sovereignty, our institutional responsibility for the sustainable and custodial use of the land and its resources, and our allegiance to human rights imperatives. We build upon this alloyed anchor by activating principles of equity as prerequisites to inclusion, always mindful of the need to centre marginalized voices and attend to decolonial practices with every step.
Portfolio Structure
IIRH consists of four integrated departments coordinated by Associate Vice-President, Michael F. Charles. The four departments are Indigenous Reconciliation and Healing (The Eighth Fire); Global Citizenship Education; Research and Strategic Initiatives EDI; and Human Rights and Conflict Resolution.
Glossary
Prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions and practices based on real or perceived differences in physical, mental and/or emotional ability that contribute to a system of oppression; usually of able-bodied/minded persons against people with illness(es) or disabilities. (EDI Glossary University of Washington School of Public Health, 2020.
Anti-Black racism is prejudice, attitudes, beliefs or stereotyping or discrimination that is directed at racialized people of African diaspora and is rooted in their unique history and experience of enslavement and colonization in Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas. Anti-Black racism is deeply embedded in Canadian institutions, policies and practices.
Anti-Oppression is a commitment to social equality and social justice in which one seeks to identify and eliminate both individual and systemic barriers. The concept of power and privilege is central to anti-oppression noting that inherent in relations there are power imbalances based on age, class, gender, ethnicity, geographic location, disability, racialized status, Indigeneity (adapted from Brant, 2008).
The term cisgender refers to a person who identifies with the sex they were assigned at birth. For example, a person assigned male at birth who identifies as a man would be considered cisgender (Diversity Glossary, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 2017).
Decolonizing in a college means creating spaces and resources for a critical discourse among all members about the voices, experiences and perspectives represented and unrepresented in received canons of knowledge; and what it means to integrate multiple and intercultural ways of knowing, learning and being into our curricular, pedagogical, working and governance practices. Decolonization movements find expression worldwide with varying manifestations across national and transnational locations.
In Canadian caselaw, discrimination is understood as differential treatment whether intentional or not based on a protected ground (gender, nationality, race, disability, sexual orientation etc.) that has the impact of denying a benefit not withheld to others, or imposing a burden not imposed on others.
The similarities and differences among people, including but not limited to: gender, gender identity, ethnicity, race, native or indigenous origin, age, generation, sexual orientation, culture, religion, belief system, marital status, parental status, socio-economic difference, appearance, language and accent, disability, mental health, education, geography, nationality, work style, work experience, job role and function, thinking style and personality type.[1]
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
The term equality refers to the condition under which every individual is treated in the same way, being granted the same rights and responsibilities, regardless of their individual differences (EDI Glossary of Terms, University of Washington, School of Public Health, 2020).
Through the removal of barriers and provision of appropriate supports, the principle of equity refers to fair access to opportunity and services for all, recognizing that members come to the College with relative advantages and disadvantages. Equity considerations extend beyond issues of legal human rights compliance, take up issues of demographic representation and underrepresentation, and examine questions of power and resource allocation.[2]
[2] Carlton University Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan (2021).
Harassment is defined under the Ontario Human Rights Code as engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome. The Code definition of harassment refers to more than one incident of comment or conduct. However, even a single statement or incident, if sufficiently serious or substantial, can have an impact on a racialized person by creating a poisoned environment. A consequence of creating a poisoned environment is that certain individuals are subjected to terms and conditions of employment, services, etc. that are quite different from those experienced by individuals who are not subjected to those comments or conduct.
A basic tenet of the Ontario Human Rights system as it applies to the College is to ensure that all members may learn and work with dignity and have equal access to services and opportunities without discrimination or harassment on the grounds of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status and disability. In certain contexts, the prohibited grounds of discrimination and harassment extend to receipt of public assistance and record of offences. Human Rights in Ontario is a quasi-constitutional legal and compliance framework.[3]
[3] Carlton University Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan (2021).
Inclusion is the ongoing exercise of ensuring the College values and proactively cultivates difference so that every member can fulfil their potential and bring their whole selves in service of articulated common goals. While inclusion involves and mutually benefits every member of the College, its successful operation is predicated on the fulfilment of human rights and equity objectives.
Intercultural / cultural competence is the ability to shift cultural perspective and problem-solve across common and competing cultural objectives. Culture in this sense is a set of values, beliefs and behaviours shared by a group and sustained over long periods.
Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” to explain the compounded experiences of both sexism and racism experienced by Black women. The framework recognizes intersecting and compounding experiences of discrimination and privilege based on multiple factors of advantage and disadvantage that include race, gender, gender expression, ethnicity, class, sexuality, religion, disability and more.
First coined by psychiatrist Chester M. Pierce in the 70’s, the term microaggression describes the seemingly harmless but impactful everyday verbal and/or nonverbal slights, snubs, insults, or exclusions—whether intentional or unintentional—that negatively highlights otherness and communicates hostile messages, based solely upon marginalized group membership. When intentional, microaggressions are a form of passive-aggressive behaviour—a pattern of indirectly expressing negative feelings instead of openly addressing them. EDI Glossary of Terms, University of Washington, School of Public Health, 2020). At the individual level, microaggression may be expressed in an overt manner but also through everyday behaviour that involves many small events in the interaction between people. When expressed as a form of racism, this is often described as everyday racism and is often very subtle in nature. Despite being plain to the person experiencing it, everyday racism by itself may be so subtle as to be difficult to address through human rights complaints. However, at other times, where it falls within a protected area covered by the Code, there may be circumstances where everyday racism, as part of a broader context, may be sufficient to be considered racism. (Ontario Human Rights Commission Policy and guidelines on racism and racial discrimination, 2005).
Definitions of racism all agree that it is an ideology that either explicitly or implicitly asserts that one racialized group is inherently superior to others. Racist ideology can be openly manifested in racial slurs, jokes or hate crimes. However, it can be more deeply rooted in attitudes, values and stereotypical beliefs. In some cases, these beliefs are unconsciously maintained by individuals. Racism often manifests in negative beliefs, assumptions and actions. However, it is not just perpetuated by individuals. It may be evident in organizational or institutional structures and programs as well as in individual thought or behaviour patterns. At the institutional or systemic level, racism is evident in organizational and government policies, practices, and procedures and “normal ways of doing things” which may directly or indirectly, consciously or unwittingly, promote, sustain, or entrench differential advantage for some people and disadvantage for others. Racism oppresses and subordinates people because of racialized characteristics. It has a profound impact on social, economic, political and cultural life. (OHRC, Policy and Guidelines on Racism and Racial Discrimination, 2005).
Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions. As well, Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State. (UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples)
Systemic or institutional discrimination consists of patterns of behaviour, policies or practices that are part of the social or administrative structures of an organization, and which create or perpetuate a position of relative disadvantage for racialized persons. These appear neutral on the surface but, nevertheless, have an exclusionary impact on racialized persons. (Policy and Guidelines on Racial Discrimination, 2005).