Equity

The bubbling water image was selected as a visual metaphor to represent the Faculty of Education’s journey toward equity. The image focuses not only on the surface of the water, but also on what lies beneath, signalling the collective work that the Faculty needs to engage with in order to understand the underlying barriers to equity. The bubbles rising to the surface are aspirational, indicating a community in which all members will reach their potential. Significantly, the bubbles that rise to the surface retain their identity and distinctiveness, yet become part of the collective.

E
EQUITY

Equity involves the creation of opportunities for historically, persistently, or systemically marginalized populations of students, staff, and faculty to have equal access to education, programs, and growth opportunities that are capable of closing achievement gaps.

D
Diversity

Diversity is meant to convey the existence of difference. Diversity is created when people who are different from one another come together and includes everyone in the room.

I
Inclusion

Inclusion1 is an active, intentional, and continuous process to address inequities in power and privilege, and build a respectful and diverse community that ensures welcoming spaces and opportunities to flourish for all.

D
Decolonization

Decolonization is a necessary and ongoing process of unlearning, uncovering, and transforming legacies of colonialism that requires making space, balancing, generating, and enabling diverse knowledge systems to thrive in the academy, as well as in and through educational and knowledge transmitting places for Indigenous Peoples, the formerly colonized or continuing colonized nations, peoples, and cultural knowledge systems.2

At the UBC Faculty of Education, we strive to promote an environment that values respect, reciprocity, opportunity, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Advancing equity is a shared responsibility, an ongoing conversation with actions, and a challenge to which our faculty, staff, students, and community members must rise.

We are committed to creating conditions for transformative teaching, innovative learning, and leading-edge research guided by the highest standards of scholarship, collaboration, equity, and inclusion. Central to our mission is the advancement of Indigenous priorities in teaching, learning, research, and scholarship while supporting Indigenous education opportunities for all.

Resources

UBC General

  • Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence
    The Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence (ARIE) was created as part of the response to UBC’s commitment to build a more inclusive university community. The work of the Task Force is supported by the Office of the President and the Co-Executive Leads for Anti-Racism. The Task Force report outlines 54 Steps on the Pathway to an Anti-Racist and Inclusively Excellent UBC.

  • Equity and Inclusion Office: Contact
    The Equity and Inclusion Office advances equity and human rights at UBC by promoting diversity, eliminating discrimination, and engaging the community in dialogue and action. If you have you concerns and would like a confidential, safe and welcoming environment to clarify your situation and discuss options, contact the Office to make an appointment.
  • Equity and Inclusion Office: Staff Resources
    The Equity and Inclusion Office’s staff resources include human resources advisors, mental health support, the employee and family assistance program, extended health resources, sexual assault resources, and more.
  • Equity and Inclusion Office: Faculty Resources
    The Equity and Inclusion Office’s faculty resources include the faculty association, faculty relations, mental health support, the employee and family assistance program, extended health resources, sexual assault resources, and more.
  • Inclusion Action Plan
    The Inclusion Action Plan includes information on how UBC is operationalizing the theme of inclusion, and supporting the themes of innovation and collaboration in UBC’s strategic plan.
  • Indigenous Strategic Plan
    The Indigenous Strategic Plan sets out a series of eight goals and 43 actions UBC is collectively taking to advance the implementation of Indigenous peoples’ human rights. The plan is the University’s response to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ Calls for Justice. It is also UBC Vancouver’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.
  • Positive Space Campaign
    The Positive Space campaign is a campus-wide initiative to raise awareness and visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, two-spirit, trans and queer students, staff, faculty, alumni and allies at UBC.

UBC Students

UBC Research

  • UBC Library: Decolonization and Anti-racism Guide
    In support of UBC's Indigenous Strategic Plan, the Decolonization and Anti-Racism guide assists with decolonial and anti-racist research (resources, search strategies, and more).
  • Indigenous Research Support Initiative
    Grounded in local partnerships and perspectives, the Indigenous Research Support Initiative provides professional support and services across both UBC campuses for Indigenous research collaborations based on community-led interests, reciprocal relationships, and principles of mutual accountability.
  • Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in UBC’s Research Community: Dimensions Pilot
    UBC is one of 17 Canadian post-secondary institutions that are participating in a federal pilot project which seeks to identify and eliminate systemic obstacles and inequities for marginalized and under-represented people in research. The UBC Dimensions pilot project is co-led by the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation and the Equity and Inclusion Office.
  • Office of the Provost and Vice-President Academic
    The Office of the Provost and Vice-President Academic provides research, data, programs, resources, initiatives, and more, to help attract and retain a diverse faculty, a key component to excellence in research and teaching.

UBC Funding for EDI and Anti-racism

  • Equity Enhancement Fund
    The UBC Equity and Inclusion Office’s Equity Enhancement Fund supports community-based initiatives that enhance equity, diversity, and inclusion.
  • Workplace Accommodations and the Equipment Accommodation Fund
    Workplace Health Services supports the accommodations process for UBC faculty and staff that have a medical condition or disability. The Equipment Accommodation Fund helps departments with the purchase of related equipment.
  • Anti-racism Initiatives Fund
    Established in 2021, UBC’s Anti-racism Initiatives Fund supports initiatives that seek to celebrate and elevate diverse communities and advance anti-racism efforts in UBC’s Vancouver and Okanagan campuses.

Faculty of Education Open Online Courses

  • Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education
    The Faculty’s Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education MOOC helps participants envision how Indigenous histories, perspectives, worldviews, and approaches to learning can be part of the work done in classrooms, organizations, communities, and everyday experiences in ways that are thoughtful and respectful. In this course, reconciliation emphasizes changing institutional structures, practices, and policies, as well as personal and professional ideologies to create environments that are committed to strengthening relationships with Indigenous peoples.
  • Local Open Online Course (LOOC): Historical, Systemic and Intersectional Anti-racism: From Awareness to Action
    Through systematically uncovering implicit and explicit forms of racism and its colonial and intersectional impacts on marginalized peoples and their communities, participants in the Faculty’s Historical, Systemic and Intersectional Anti-racism: From Awareness to Action LOOC will gain a deep understanding of the hegemony of racism, as well as how it is embedded and experienced in everyday interactions and relationships.

Higher Education and Canada

  • Universities Canada: EDI
    Universities Canada (formerly the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada) collaborates with community organizations, business leaders and governments to reduce barriers to equity, diversity and inclusivity on campuses and in society.
  • Anti-racism in Academia (ARiA): A Learning Journey
    Anti-racism in Academia (ARiA): A Learning Journey is a volunteer-led, grassroots initiative that provides higher education employees an opportunity to engage in self-examination through national, intersectional themes.
  • Building the Anti-racist University: Next Steps
    In their article, Drs. Shirley Anne Tate and Paul Bagguley address common global concerns about racism in higher education institutions through highlighting a range of issues regarding students, academic staff, knowledge systems, and more.
  • Underrepresented and Underpaid: Diversity and Equity Among Canada’s Post-Secondary Education Teachers
    The Canadian Association of University Teachers’ 2018 equity report provides a snapshot of academic staff representation and income in Canada’s universities and colleges in 2016, noting particular changes in the university sector over the last decade.

Media and Knowledge Mobilization

  • Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Inclusive Education (SOGI)
    The Faculty’s SOGI initiative seeks to transform educational environments to support self-determination surrounding gender and sexuality in schools. While SOGI’s focus is primarily on supporting students, faculty, and staff in the UBC Faculty of Education, it also aims to provide resources to other Canadian faculties and institutes seeking to contribute to anti-oppressive education.
  • UBC Black Futures
    Drs. Annette Henry, Bathseba Opini, and Kisha McPherson aim to open post-secondary horizons for Black youth and engage current Black undergrads through UBC Black Futures, part of a larger five university project.
  • Statistics Canada: Gender, Diversity and Inclusion
    As part of the Disaggregated Data Action Plan, Statistic Canada provides data on diversity and inclusion, including age, race, gender and sexual orientation, immigrants, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and more.
  • British Columbia’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner: Disaggregated Demographic Data Collection in British Columbia
    The Human Rights Commissioner’s Special Report, “Disaggregated demographic data collection in British Columbia: The grandmother perspective” answers and echoes the calls to collect disaggregated data to advance human rights. The report emerges from decades of activism—particularly from communities of colour—calling for the data needed to develop policy that effectively addresses systemic inequalities.
  • Navigating Race in Canadian Workplaces
    The Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion provides a toolkit for diversity and inclusion practitioners.
  • Video: Implicit Bias, Lifelong Impact
    The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity shares an informative, animated video which explains how implicant bias affects crucial decisions that determine what pathways are available to individuals. The purpose of the video is to illustrate how unconscious barriers presented on these pathways can alter one’s entire life trajectory.
  • Video: Where are we in the world? – Chinatown 唐人街 in the making of Vancouver
    "Where Are We in the World?" is a series of films that feature sites around the Lower Mainland shaped by often ignored or hidden histories of struggle and agency. The Chinatown 唐人街 In the Making of Vancouver video explores Chinese people’s history and impact in the city.
  • Video: The Urgency of Intersectionality
    Kimberlé Crenshaw, JD, LLM, is pioneer in critical race theory. In her moving 2016 TED Talk video, she explains intersectionality (a term she founded): if you're standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you are likely to be affected by them all. She also calls on us to bear witness to this reality and speak up for victims of prejudice.
  • Talking About Race
    The National Museum of African American History and Culture provide readily available tools and resources which span several topics, including being anti-racist, bias, community building, historical foundations of race, race and racialized identity, self-care, social identities and systems of oppression, and more.
  • Podcast: National Public Radio: How to Start Conversations about Anti-Asian Racism with your Family
    In this podcast, Audie Cornish (host of All Things Considered) Nicole Chung (author and advice columnist for Slate), and Christine Koh (neuroscientist and co-author of a book on parenting) discuss concrete tips for starting age-appropriate conversations with children about racism, tackling dialogues about race with adoptees or adoptive parents, and dealing with discomfort around sensitive topics.
  • Podcast: Momentum: A Race Forward
    This podcast features movement voices, stories, and strategies for racial justice. Co-hosts Chevon and Hiba share their unique views on race and pop culture, and uplifting narratives of hope, struggle, and joy, as communities build the momentum needed to advance racial justice in policies, institutions, and culture.

Local, National and Global Organizations

  • Indian Residential School Survivors Society
    The Indian Residential School Survivor Society is a provincial organization with a 20-year history of providing services to Residential School Survivors, their families, and those dealing with intergenerational traumas.
  • Centre for Global Inclusion
    The Centre for Global Inclusion is a non-profit, public charity that serves as a resource for research and education in the quest to improve diversity and inclusion practices around the world.
  • Canadian Race Relations Foundation
    The Canadian Race Relations Foundation is dedicated to the elimination of racism and all forms of racial discrimination in Canada. As part of the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement, the Foundation was created by the Government of Canada as a Crown Corporation in 1996 to reaffirm the principles of justice and equality for all in Canada.
  • Black Lives Matter: Vancouver
    The Vancouver chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement supports the organizing work of Black people and allies working in solidarity with communities seeking justice for racialized violence.
  • Chinese Canadian Council for Social Justice
    The Chinese Canadian Council for Social Justice educates, engages, and advocates for equity and justice by empowering and equipping Canadians to combat anti-Asian racism.
  • Council of Agencies Serving South Asians
    The Council of Agencies Serving South Asians is an umbrella organization of agencies, groups, and individuals that provide services to the South Asian Community by serving as a resource for information, research, mobilization, and coordination.

1 Modified text from UBC Equity and Inclusion Office: equity.ubc.ca/resources/equity-inclusion-glossary-of-terms

2 Source: Final Report of the Humanities and Social Sciences’ Advisory Committee on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonization

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