Some city departments are “woefully lacking” in diversity – and council wants that to change.
Coun. Mary Trentadue recently put forward a motion concerning gender, diversity and inclusion, which says it’s important to the health and wellbeing of the city for its hiring and training policies to address gender equality, diversity and inclusion. The motion states some city departments don’t reflect the city’s aspirations of having a balanced and diverse workforce.
“A commitment to gender equity, diversity and inclusion will contribute to the overall health and success of our organization,” Trentadue said. “We can all make assumptions that we are doing reasonably well and prioritizing this mandate, but without actually investigating, committing to and reviewing, we will only ever continue to hope or assume that we have got it covered. Assumption and hope is not good enough for our workforce or our community.”
Trentadue said diversity is something the city has started to implement with its committee appointments, but needs to carry on throughout the organization.
“There are a number of city departments that are woefully lacking in any kind of gender balance or parity, specifically the trades,” she said. “I would like us to challenge this.”
Trentadue said her motion is also aimed at getting an understanding of how the city supports any minority in the workforce.
“I also have been the lone woman in a meeting where I am considered a minority, and it’s uncomfortable and it’s unpleasant, and I don’t think great work always gets done. I think that we really need to have diverse voices at the table in order to do great work,” she said. “I would like the city to take this commitment on and really show our counterpart municipalities that this is very important, and respect of gender parity, diversity and inclusion should be reflected in all of the work we do, whether it’s council, whether it’s our workforce, our committees.”
The motion, approved by council, asks staff to:
* report back on the current breakdown of departments by gender, diversity and people with disabilities;
* report back on best practices that other governments, institutions and businesses have implemented to address gender parity, diversity and inclusion;
* develop hiring practices that will meet the needs of a changing workforce and improve the balance of the city’s employee makeup;
* develop metrics and a reporting structure that will confirm the city’s success or failure to address these issues; and
* develop citywide policy to which all departments can adhere, and that address not only the issue so gender parity, diversity and inclusion, but also the integration and support of all city employees with disabilities.
Council also supported an amendment to the motion put forward by Coun. Nadine Nakagawa, which asks staff to report back on pay equity and to incorporate an intersectional lens.
“Women are not a monolithic group. I don’t have the stats in front of me right now, but we do know, particularly with pay equity, that women earn less than men in equal positions, and women of colour earn less than that and Indigenous women earn even less than that,” she said. “I think that we need to hear about what the city is doing about pay equity and what our situation is with pay equity and also we incorporate the many diverse identities that our workforce is represented by.”
Mayor Jonathan Cote said there have been some good examples where the City of New Westminster has been able to achieve gender diversity and other diversity ambitions.
“I think of our police department, which is well above the national average when it comes to female officers. The reality is that didn’t happen by accident – that was done with concerted effort,” he said. “I think putting those same lenses, those same types of policies more broadly across the organization and having us better understand that I think is absolutely important work for us to do.”
Coun. Chinu Das supported the motion but longs for the day when people are seen as individuals and recognized for what they bring to the table, not for being representative of a certain group, such as women, seniors or persons of colour.
“The numbers part is the start of the process,” she said.
