Being Anti-Racist at Work:

Using Relationships and

Tools to Drive Change
Gurvaan Mann
Seren Friskie
Sukhdeep Jassar
Toni Carlton

Apr 2022
 We smudge to clear the air around us.
We smudge to clean our minds so that we will
have good thoughts of others.
We smudge our eyes so that we will only see
the good in others.
We smudge our ears so that we will only
listen to positive things about others.
We smudge our mouths so that we will only
speak of well of others.
We smudge our whole being, so we will
portray only the good part of our self through
our actions.
MENTI Check-in
Share with us the First Peoples lands you are on

Need help? Check out this link: https://native-land.ca/

Click here: https://www.menti.com/qf9nhe4nan

Feel free to share…

● Who you are

● Where you’re from

● What you do
Learning Objectives/Agenda
● What is Foundry

● What is an Anti-Racism Organizational Assessment

● Racial caucusing at work

● Using storytelling for anti-racism organizational change

● How Youth Voice and Youth Safety Drive Change

Links and Res ources

● Anti-Racism Organizational Assessment Tool

● Case Study: Luna, Chomel and Jonnick’s Stories

● Foundry JEDI Strategy

● IBPOC Safety for Mental Health Spaces

● Page with linkages for reports in Canada: In Plain Sight, TRC, and MMIWG’s Report, Racism in BC 150 Years
What is Foundry?
Anti-Racism Organizational Change Task Group
The Start
1. Convened July 2020

2. Membership consists of FCO staff, Foundry centre leaders/service providers and FCO staff

3. Originally had youth participants- now there is a space for youth separate and joined to

Desired Impact
❖ To understand the experience of racialized employees, and racialized youth and families accessing
services across the province

❖ To develop a strategy for change that helps us create a culture of anti-racism which is reflected
in access of services, communications, engagement, policies, hiring practices, research, evaluation and
governance
The Organizational Assessment Consultant
Adeline Huynh (Principal) and Halimah Bealieau
thecommons cons ulting.com
● Co-designing an Organizational Assessment for FCO and 1 Foundry Centre (Foundry
Abbotsford)

● Creating a narrative report on our current pain points and opportunities for change

● Co-creating a change management plan which includes recommendations for training,

HR policies, services, communication, knowledge translation and engagement

Learnings
❖ Relationship and trust with the consultants is important; would recommend creating
time for the co-design process

❖ Share often with your team about the intention of the work

❖ Create opportunities for consultants and senior leaders to have 1:1s

❖ Familiarize and provide content early, and repeatedly to team

❖ Pulse surveys are helpful for planning

Anti-Racism Organizational Change Task Group
Collective Impact Initiative
● Network leads (2) were involved from the beginning in AROC Task Group
● AROC Youth Forum formed separately

Staff Voice
● Foundry Central Office (backbone organization)
● Foundry Abbotsford (1 of 11 open centres)

Youth Voice
● Provincial Advisory Group
● Abbotsford Youth Advisory Group

Ass es s ments at FCO and Foundry Abbotsford

● Organizational Assessment Tool
● Role-based focus group discussions
● Staff racially-caucused discussions
● Youth focus group discussions
The Organizational Assessment- Foundry Central Office
Survey
The tool had 9 sections that capture the numerous ways that can create and reproduce inequities
in any organization. Demographic questions were included. The survey was done prior to Focus Group
Discussions.
1. People + Human Resources

2. Power and Decision-Making

3. Accountability

4. Trust and Relationship Building

5. Wellbeing and Safety

6. Support and Feedback Mechanisms

7. Communications: role-based

8. Operations and Philanthropy: role-based

9. Knowledge Translation and Exchange: role-based

57 people invited to participate; 54 responses received

Res pons e Rate: 95%
Racially Caucused and Role-based Group Discussions
Racial Caucus Group Set Up
● Team leads and staff were offered separate spaces

● Director group was separate

● Group size between 6-8 (max 10)

● 16 Focus Groups with 90 participants (some repeats)

Groups :
● IBPOC staff and leads (3)

● Historically Persistently and Systematically Marginalized (2)

● White staff and leads (3)

● Directors (1)

● Youth (2)

● Role-based (5)
Racial Caucusing
Caucus ing is when people self- select into a group based on shared identity and experience. Racial
identity caucusing creates a foundation on which racialized and Indigenous people and white people
can work together towards equity and organizational change.

https://justleadwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Caucuses-as-a-Racial-Justice-Strategy-JustLead-WA.pdf
Racial Caucusing Cont...
Why Racial Caucus ing?

● Time to gather

● Intervention strategy and tool to mitigate harmful spaces, proactively planned

● Scheduled learning to build self-awareness

● Reconciliation and understanding

● Less burden to educate others for IBPOC people

“White people and people of color each have work to do separately and together…. For white
people, a caucus provides time and space to work explicitly and intentionally on understanding white
culture and white privilege and to increase one’s critical analysis around these concepts. A white
caucus also puts the onus on white people to teach each other about these ideas, rather than
constantly relying on people of color to teach them. For people of color, a caucus is a place to work
with their peers on their experiences of internalized racism, for healing and to work on liberation.”
 Luna’s Story
● Identifies as queer and IBPOC

● Recent graduate who is looking for her first job out of

university

● Wants to work at a place where there are opportunities to

be mentored and to grow

Gets the
job! Work is
Applies for Joins
a job fast-paced
and feels Witnesses AROC
isolated racism
Break Out

● You will have 15 minutes with 3 other people

● Choose a facilitator for your group

Discus s ion :

● What resonated from Luna’s story for your organizational experiences?

● You can review the next 5 slides and use them for your discussion:

○ Hiring and Recruitment

○ Onboarding and Orientation

○ Organizational Culture: Fast-pace, no time for trust and relationships

○ Safe Disclosures

○ Accountability- Action, and Oversight

People & HR Practices: Recruitment & Hiring
Pain Points
● HR intertwined with PHC
● PHC being a Catholic organization may present
a barrier
● Lack of embedded HR roles
● Job des criptions may present barriers to IBPOC
& young job seekers
● Qualifications - valuing ‘formal’ qualifications
over. Cultural Safety & JEDI qualifications
● Cultural Safety Skills - training not provided
● Hiring panels - IPOC may not feel empowered &
have to advocate for IBPOC candidate
● Cronyis m- hiring practices inconsistent &
inequitable headhunting practices
Opportunities
● Increased autonomy & influence in the
hiring process
● Embedded HR leadership role(s) with JEDI
lens
● Job descriptions with minimal education
& experience; JEDI & Cultural Safety
skills
● Cons is tent, Culturally Safe & JEDI lens
- recruitment, interview process, interview
guides
● Uncons cious bias & Cultural Safety
training
● Outreach & support for IBPOC & young
workers
People & HR Practices: Onboarding & Orientation
Pain Points
● Onboarding - inconsistent process & no JEDI
lens
● Police Checks are a barrier
● Orientation Guide - does not communicate
JEDI priorities
● Lack of communication about
organizational culture
Opportunities
● Cons is tent onboarding proces s that
centres JEDI values & actions
● Orientation guide - JEDI lens with
communication about JEDI values &
priorities
● Cultural Safety & JEDI training as part of
onboarding process & ongoing education
● Mentors hip program for IBPOC & young
workers
Fast Pace: No Time for Trust & Relationship Building
Pain Points Opportunities

● Demanding workloads & fast-pace ● Mentors hip program + pathways to leadership

● Lack of clear growth pathways ● Identity-based caucus es & working groups

● Emotional labour ● Allocate res ources to JEDI work

● Barriers to building relations hips ● Create time & space for JEDI-centered check-ins &
conversations
● Need to hold space for JEDI discussions
● Clear commitment to values around boundary-
● Good relations hips are crucial for meaningful
setting
conversations & feedback
● Evaluating how current structures & proces s es
● Need to slow down & shift gears + minds et
impact staff
shift
● Provide JEDI coaching & training to leaders
● Need to build relationships with race-bas ed
grass roots community groups
Responding to Race & Power: Well-Being & Safety;
Support & Feedback Mechanisms
Pain Points Opportunities

● Clear policies to ensure there are no repris als

● Lack of awarenes s of formal policies or
procedures for incidents at work ● Foundry specific, trauma-informed “Respectful
Workplace” policy
● Onus on pers on harmed to report
● Mechanism to report incidents anonymous ly
● When reports made there has been incons is tent
respons e or no action taken ● Alternative processes for third party reporting
● Lack of res ources provided for leaders to support ● Training for team leads to support & respond to
staff disclosures and culturally safe investigations
● Not possible to create safe space for AROC work if
lack of support and safe recours e for IBPOC staff
Accountability: Action & Oversight
Pain Points Opportunities

● Need for action ● Create a JEDI framework that is integrated

with Foundry’s strategic plan
● Need strategic and sustainable JEDI strategy
● Empower IBPOC staff & leaders with mandate
● JEDI work not currently supported by time &
and res ources to move JEDI work forward
res ources
● Embed JEDI knowledge and practices into
● “Nothing about us, without us”
everyone’s work
● Over-reliance on the AROC working group
Next Steps for our Organization
Foundry Central Office
● Human Resources Advisory Group

● Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion Communications Advisory

● AROC Working Group (with network)

● Unconscious Bias training using Racial Caucusing

Network
● Anti-Racism Organizational Assessments

● Unconscious Bias training using Racial Caucusing

● Community of practice for leaders

Youth Driven
● AROC Youth Forum

● Youth Event May 14 & 15th 2022

Youth Experience and Youth
Voice
Youth Voice & Youth Experience
Gurvaan’s experience as a racialized youth navigating Foundry Central Office Youth Groups

● Youth spaces still were often predominantly white

● The approach to mental health care was western, without the flexibility of cultural
incorporations of mental health care

● IBPOC youth spaces were supportive

● Often tokenized as a racialized youth

● Youth spaces with young racialized peers (YPECS) had greater accountability and
safety

● Safety and intentionality was done on the labour of other racialized youth within the
organization (YPECS)

● Many IBPOC Youth were harm while putting in the emotional labour to make white
spaces safer for racialized folks

● Lack of structures to hold staff accountable that harmed youth (microaggressions or

more explicit ways of racism)
Youth Voice & Youth Experience:
Employee perspective
Seren’s Experience as a Youth Peer Engagement Coordinator
● Advocating for youth and youth voice in spaces
● Emotional labour and taking additional steps to support youth outside of work
hours and compensation
● Tokenization of identity around IBPOC issues and expectation to lead EDI work
● Experiencing a new, “professional” environment where lived experience is valued in
youth spaces, but not necessarily staff spaces
● Intersectionality not always taken into account when working with staff who have
lived experience.
● Opportunities given and support given, but feelings of imposter syndrome persist
● Rewarding to work with youth and supported through a dream opportunity
● Ability to create
Themes that came out from the youth
focus group discussions
● White power and hierarchy
● Systemic Racism, Colonization & White Dominant Culture
● Emotional Labour & Burnout
● Performativity
● Lack of Safety & Perpetuated Harm
● Lack of Accountability & Action
● Improving Communications
● Barriers to Accessing Services

● Current Strengths & Opportunities

Character Profile:
JONNIK

● Bright, confident and outgoing 16 year old high

school student
● Uses services + programs at the agency
● Youth ambassador
Links and Resources

❖ Anti-Racism Organizational Assessment Tool

❖ Case Study: Luna, Chomel and Jonnick’s Stories

❖ Foundry JEDI Strategy

❖ IBPOC Safety for Mental Health Spaces

❖ Page with linkages for reports in Canada: In Plain Sight, TRC, and MMIWG’s
Report, Racism in BC 150 Years
Thank You