Inclusion Infusions: Annual Report Released

Posted on Friday, May 28th, 2021

This week The Journey Towards Inclusion & Diversity in the Algonquin College Workforce Annual Report 2020-21 was released. The report is both a celebration of the College’s actions and delivery on our commitment to transparency in those actions. It documents the actions, outputs, and outcomes from the past year. I believe the opening letter from the Vice President of Human Resources, Diane McCutcheon, is a powerful reflection on the year, and I’m sharing it with you all here:

Over the past year we have learned to ‘pivot, ‘zoom’, ‘connect’, ‘be mindful’ and ‘resilient’. We have all experienced isolation and loss, and through it all we have proven that the spirit of our College community is strong. Part of that strength is in our diversity, but most importantly this year our strength comes from leaning into inclusivity. By creating a sense of connectedness and belonging through pandemic induced isolation we have found a myriad of new ways to demonstrate how we value one another and our individual uniqueness; and we have collectively promoted a working environment where everyone was able to bring their authentic selves (including their children, pets, partners, and homes) to work.

We learned to deliver all of our inclusion and diversity programs remotely, creatively and in newly engaging ways. This brought opportunities to have conversations with experts from across the nation, and to bring together our College community with record numbers of employees and learners participating in virtual learning opportunities.

This year will forever be remembered for the broad societal awakening to the ongoing realities of racism, sparked internationally by the death of George Floyd, but also in our communities with the deaths of Anthony Aust, Joyce Echaquan, and the murder trial for Abdirahman Abdi. The College did not shy away from the conversation about systemic racism, but instead we again leaned into our value of respect. During the year we prepared our community to have difficult and uncomfortable conversations with wise words from diversity & inclusion expert Hamlin Grange in July, as well as launched our Ethical Upstander training to employees to call-in those who do harm in our community. Our work this year culminated in a week of pivotal and disruptive conversations about the experiences of racism within the Black and Indigenous members of the Algonquin College community with the ‘Taking a Stand’ week, which further strengthened our focus on inclusion.

This report reflects on Year Two of the College’s Inclusion & Diversity Strategy and Blueprint, and we are just making progress towards sustainable culture change. We are seeing a rise in xenophobia and anti-Asian racism and we will meet this by living our commitment to value equity and diversity in our community, and to stand against hate in all its forms. Let us keep our momentum of change to embrace our culture of inclusion.

  • Sincerely, Diane McCutcheon Vice President, Human Resources

You can read the full 202-21 annual report here: https://www.algonquincollege.com/diversity/annual-report/


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