EDI Action Plan
Last updated: Thursday, December 9, 2021
Our EDI Action Plan outlines the immediate commitments and priority actions we’re taking to address racism and inclusion at Emily Carr. This is a living document that will be continually updated, in reflection of the ongoing nature of this work.
The Action Plan is in direct response to our community’s calls for change. The commitments reflect the concerns and ideas brought forward by our students, staff, faculty and alumni, including those raised by student-led groups such as the Anti-Racism Initiative, whose petition identified many areas for urgent action.
Strengthening EDI is a shared responsibility. The initiatives in our Action Plan are organized by administrative unit, reflecting that EDI is integral to operations in every areas of the university. Each action identifies an accountability lead who is responsible for advancing that initiative and providing updates on its progress
Institution-Wide + Senior Leadership Initiatives
Formalize the Student Wellness Advocate to provide students with confidential support and advocacy.
Recruit a Vice-Provost, Student Services through a restricted search to increase BIPOC representation on the President’s Executive Committee.
Engage an advisor on anti-racism to support policy review and development.
Establish grant programs to support student-led social justice and community-building initiatives.
Implement mandatory anti-racism and anti-oppression training for senior administrators.
Implement new employment equity practices to support the hiring and retention of employees from underrepresented groups.
Launch a community consultation on a new leadership role that will provide strategy and oversight for EDI.
Provide a variety of EDI training and learning opportunities for staff and faculty.
Organize a series of community forums on anti-racism and inclusion.
Establish a Student Engagement Policy to ensure students are fairly compensated for participating in university committees, consultations and other engagement activities.
Establish an Anti-Racism Policy.
Increase the amount of financial support that is available to students who are Black, Indigenous or people of colour.
Academic Affairs + Research
Provide faculty workshops to examine the practice of critiques to promote an inclusive and supportive environment for all students.
Develop a multi-year hiring plan to increase the number of faculty members from historically disadvantaged groups.
Develop a core course on Indigenous methodologies and relationships to the land.
Establish mentorship opportunities for BIPOC students.
Develop a plan to increase course offerings on Black Diasporic, African, Asian, Middle Eastern and Latinx histories and cultural production.
Increase funding for research and scholarship in decolonization, anti-racism and community engagement.
Decolonize the way library collections are arranged, including the addition of Indigenized subject headings.
Increase the number of BIPOC students in research assistant positions.
Review and update course descriptions and learning outcomes where necessary to reflect our commitment to an inclusive, decolonized curriculum.
Overhaul the Student Complaint Policy to ensure there are clear systems of accountability for community conduct.
Implement Year 1 activities of the NSERC EDI Institutional Capacity-Building Grant.
Host community circles and webinars as part of NSERC EDI Institutional Capacity-Building Grant.
Aboriginal Program Office
Facilitate food security for Indigenous students.
Create new opportunities for teaching local cultural protocol.
Create wellness kits to provide cultural support for Indigenous community members.
Develop the capacity to apply the First Nations principles of Ownership, Control, Access and Possession.
Support faculty conversations on decolonization and Indigenization.
Develop a framework for undertaking a colonial audit of the university.
Develop an introductory Halq'eméylem language course.
Develop an initiative to strengthen relationships between ECU and local First Nations.
Honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Create apprenticeship opportunity with Xwalactun for Indigenous students.
Complete and raise the Community Totem Pole
Building Indigenous student capacity in research.
Develop Indigenous History Month initiatives.
Human Resources
Implement a workplace mental health initiative (Not Myself Today) to help promote a healthy work environment.
Revise recruitment procedures to ensure hiring leaders have considered how they will address EDI in the recruitment process.
Adopt an intersectional framework for reviewing HR policies and practices.
Develop an Employee Indigeneity Policy to address needs related to cultural practices, campus space, research support and workplace flexibility.
Student Services
Update procedures to ensure students receive credit for traditional Indigenous learning models.
Develop student programming on Indigenous issues in career development.
Develop new recruitment strategies to increase Indigenous student enrolment.
Increase the funding available for emergency bursaries.
Communications + Marketing
Update the ECU Writing Style Guide to include guidelines on the use of inclusive language
Update social media strategy to ensure content is inclusive, accessible and representative of ECU’s diverse community.
Undertake a colonial audit and an accessibility audit of the ECU website.
Establish university policy on inclusive and accessible communications.
University Advancement
Develop a donor program to support the creation of new financial awards for BIPOC students.
Undertake a review of naming practices and establish a policy that governs the naming of campus spaces.
Review fundraising strategies with the aim of adopting more inclusive practices.
University Operations
Add closed captioning and transcription options to video conferencing software.
Review potential measurement frameworks for evaluating and reporting on institutional EDI efforts.
Conduct an accessibility audit to identify and remove physical barriers and ensure campus is inclusive and accessible to people of all abilities.
Replace IT terms that have racist connotations with neutral alternatives.
Audit our information systems to determine how they can better accomodate EDI data requirements.
Implement software for recording name pronunciation and displaying preferred pronouns