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Working Towards Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

“How might we better coordinate Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Concordia?”

Project Context

In the fall of 2018, Concordia began university-wide discussions to advance equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in their institution. To guide their inquiry; they asked;

“How might we better coordinate Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Concordia?”

Further advancing their commitment to fully seeing and reflecting the full spectrum of their community’s talent and perspectives strengthened Concordia’s reputation in equity, diversity and inclusion, and paved the way for new and existing initiatives to thrive.

CLIENT: Provost Office, Concordia University
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Delivery: Creative Public Consultations
Year: 2019

Organizational Innovation

PUBLIC CONSULTATION
#CommunityInclusion | #CulturalDevelopment

Percolab’s role

  • Establishing criteria to guide the process and share knowledge with the Concordia Advisory group.
  • 4 Stakeholder group interviews with student mentors, the Critical Feminist Activism in Research Project, the Centre for Structural and Functional Genomics, and the Access Center for Students with Dissabilities.
  • 4 Ethnographic listening sessions held in various locations across both campuses to listen in to what was already taking place in the university.
  • 3 Creative consultations: sense of belonging stories, a bold EDI vision, and deeper EDI questions.
Concordia Article on the EDI Report
EDI Report based on Consultations

OUTCOMES

Through the consultation process, Concordia;

  • learned how to approach EDI as a strength and to build upon and collaborate with existing EDI initiatives
  • developed their skills in holding generative and creative consultation processes
  • gained concrete recommendations on how to improve their EDI across multiple practices and structures
  • strengthened the sense of belonging within Concordia while reinforcing the call for a powerful equity, diversity and inclusion culture

Learning loop; insights from the consultations:

  • Living EDI is as important as any policies; courageously listening, seeing, witnessing and facilitating connection are essential parts of the work.
  • Equity, Diversity and Inclusion should be a part of core education in Concordia.
  • A bold aspirational statement that acknowledged the university’s past is required to guide Concordia into its next phase.