Working Group on
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
The final report of the Working Group on EDI is now available!
The Working Group on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) organized its recommendations into three pillars that address five areas of discrimination and harassment reported by members of our community during the consultations.
The report summarizes the process and what was heard from Concordians. It also creates a framework for a coordinated EDI strategy across the university, including five guiding principles and 115 recommendations to build our commitment to EDI.
Learn more about the Working Group's process, findings and recommendations in the report of the Working Group on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
A 3-phase process
Mandate
The Working Group on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is in charge of the Phase 2 of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion conversation at Concordia.
The mandate of the Working Group is to address priorities from community consultations in Phase 1 and develop a strategy for advancing EDI in all aspects of life at Concordia, with the goal of coordinating and enhancing on-going initiatives.
Specifically, the Working Group will:
- provide additional opportunities to the Concordia community to give feedback on EDI and to validate Phase 1 priorities
- formalize final recommendations for the advancement and coordination of EDI at Concordia
Process
The Working Group met thirty times between September 2019 and October 2020. Members reviewed the recommendations from the report of the Advisory Group on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and provided additional opportunities to the Concordia community to give feedback on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at the university.
- University-wide survey
- Series of EDI Conversations
- 3-step stakeholders’ consultation process
- Community consultation
- Open call for feedback
Members also hosted themed meetings with invited stakeholders to review the priorities identified in Phase 1 and the main bases of discrimination at Concordia university reported in the survey. The complete list of stakeholders invited to meet with Working Group members can be found in the report of the Working Group on EDI.
University-wide survey
The Working Group on EDI sent a survey to all Concordia students, faculty and staff between October 7 and 23, 2019, to learn more about existing practices, needs and suggestions related to EDI.
1 183 university members responded: 731 students, 148 faculty, 267 staff and 37 preferred not to specify.
A complete summary of the survey results can be found in the report of the Working Group on EDI.
Series of EDI conversations
Following the release of the report of the Advisory Group on EDI, the Working Group on EDI organized a series of six events from October 7, 2019 to October 10, 2019.
Complete information on the conversations and event material are available here.
3-step stakeholders' consultation process
Between August 13 and August 26, 2020, the Working Group on EDI hosted a 3-step consultation process with 152 stakeholders from across the university to help finalize and prioritize its set of recommendations.
- Information session on EDI
- Prioritization questionnaire
- Consultation sessions on EDI
Information on the stakeholders invited to participate in this 3-step consultation process can be found in the report of the Working Group on EDI.
Watch the recording of the August 13 information session on equity, diversity and inclusion:
Community consultation
Following the stakeholders' consultations, the updated version of the recommendations was posted on the Working Group’s website for two weeks, from September 7, 2020, to September 20, 2020.
The whole Concordia community was invited to submit any final feedback to the Working Group’s email address.
Open call for feedback
For the duration of the Working Group on EDI’s work, an open call for feedback was posted on the Working Group’s website inviting any member of the community to send feedback to the Working Group’s email address.
All submissions were confidential and reviewed only by Working Group Members.
Working group members
- Anna Barrafato, Disability Accommodation Specialist, Access Centre for Students with Disabilities
- Laurane Beyle, Project Coordinator, Campus Life, Office of the Provost and Vice-President Academic (Working Group Coordinator)
- Faye D. Corbin, Supervisor, Interlibrary Loans, Library
- Emilie Fortin, Advisor, Organizational Development, Human Resources
- Mona Hamzeh, Senior Advisor, Strategic and Institutional Research Initiatives, Office of Research
- Lisa Ostiguy, Special Advisor to the Provost on Campus Life, Office of the Provost and Vice-President Academic (Working Group Chair)
- Kajol Pasha, BA student, Anthropology and Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Science
- Jacqueline Peters, Part-time Lecturer, Classics, Modern Languages & Linguistics, Faculty of Arts and Science
- Rahul Ravi, Chair, Finance, John Molson School of Business
- James Roach, Senior Communications Advisor, Institutional Affairs, University Communications Services (Working Group Communications Advisor)
- Tina Shah, Manager, Financial Planning and Analysis, Financial Services
- Mark Villacorta, Senior Lead, Diversity and Equity, Office of the Provost and Vice-President Academic