Equity, diversity and inclusion

Colonization and Inclusion

The intention of this page is to enhance our comprehension of the meanings associated with these subjects.

Contents

Colonization

Babakiueria 1986

 

Inclusion 

Creating Safe Spaces for 2SLGBTQ+ Persons

Supporting 2SLGBTQ+ individuals begins with intentionally creating environments where people feel safe, respected, and valued. Safe spaces promote well-being, authenticity, and self-actualization. Thoughtful visual cues, such as Pride symbols or inclusive signage, and access to gender-neutral washrooms signal a commitment to safety and belonging. Use of inclusive language is equally important: consider introducing yourself with your pronouns and using gender-neutral terms like “partner” to normalize diversity in everyday interactions. When mistakes happen, briefly apologize and move forward with a willingness to learn. This can help foster trust and respect.

Building authentic connections can also strengthen inclusivity. When appropriate, sharing supportive personal experiences or connections to the 2SLGBTQ+ community can help individuals feel seen and understood, whilst recognizing that not everyone is comfortable disclosing their identity or sexual orientation. Creating a culture of inclusion also requires active allyship. Speaking up against discrimination or harassment reinforces shared values and encourages others to do the same.

Ultimately, supporting 2SLGBTQ+ communities is about cultivating a positive, affirming environment where diversity is embraced. Through small but meaningful actions—both individually and collectively—we can promote well-being, authenticity, and a stronger sense of belonging for everyone.

For more information, please see:

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Don't call people out — call them in

Finding the Leaders Amongst Us

Finding the Leaders Amongst Us

Leaders come in a variety of forms, and they don’t all work at the top. Leaders exist at all levels of an organization, and it is important to be aware of how leadership might look different for a range of people.

Hidden leaders are individuals within a team that possess valuable qualities that have not yet been identified or fostered. Bringing people who may not fit the typical mold of leadership to the forefront allows them to develop their potential and for teams to benefit from their unique approach. Questions that can help recognize hidden leaders are:

  1. Who has quiet influence in the group?
  2. Who do others look to for an example or for support?
  3. Who do you work with that simply knows how to get things done?

If you have important qualities that you have not yet been able to apply in your workplace, speak to a trusted colleague or your Divisional Director. Together you can find ways to use your strengths in current projects or to develop a plan to hone your skills further. Leadership development opportunities are available through university or health care-associated programs and can be a great start to help build leadership potential.

If you already have an established leadership role within the Department, you play an important part in identifying hidden leaders within your team. Your encouragement, mentorship, and sponsorship are invaluable in helping others develop a vision for their future and a plan to get there. If you would like support for how to identify and support future leaders in your workplace, please reach out to the Department. We all benefit when more people can bring their full potential to the work we do!

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Fostering Meaningful Inclusion and Accessibility across Academic Spacess

Accessibility and meaningful inclusion are essential to a university and health-care community that supports all members, advances health equity, and values the contributions of people with lived experience of disability (PLEX). These principles are especially important in academic centres and teaching hospitals, where physicians, trainees, researchers, patients, and staff collaborate in clinical, educational, and research settings.

To support these goals, the Vice Director of Inclusion and Accessibility for iSMART (Taymy Caso) and the Co-Lead of the Smartwear Revolution Project's Social Justice Working Group developed the Smartwear Revolution: Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on Accessibility in collaboration with PLEX scholars, trainees, and staff.

The SOP provides researchers, physicians, educators, administrative staff, and trainees with a practical framework for planning accessible meetings and events, identifying barriers, implementing accommodations, and ensuring the needs of all participants are considered and respected. It also outlines stakeholder responsibilities, inclusive planning practices, accessibility tools and resources, a venue accessibility checklist, and guidance for addressing diverse accessibility needs.

By promoting accessible and inclusive practices, this SOP supports equitable participation in research, education, leadership, and knowledge-sharing, serving as a resource for universities and academic health centres committed to creating more accessible and inclusive environments.

For more information, visit the iSMART website or doi.org/10.7939/84722.

By Dr. Taymy Caso

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Inclusive Leadership

Inclusive Leadership

Managing differences within a team can pose challenges for leaders, but it also provides significant opportunities for success. While a variety of leadership styles can address team differences, inclusive leadership is a proactive approach that leverages diversity into a team’s strength. Inclusive leadership focuses on creating environments where unique perspectives and contributions are respected and encouraged.

First, this type of environment is created through a commitment to identifying and dismantling organizational barriers to allow for equitable opportunities. This requires leaders to reflect on their own biases and examine how the structures within their organization may be limiting the growth of some team members. For example, ensuring the processes by which people are selected for projects, development opportunities, and promotion are transparent and inclusive can help to limit bias. 

Second, inclusive leaders demonstrate curiosity to learn from a variety of perspectives and bring diverse viewpoints into decision-making. Leaders play an important role in developing psychological safety for all team members to feel valued. When leaders clearly model open-mindedness, humility, and a genuine commitment to equity, they communicate that it is a safe place for everyone to contribute. As a leader, you can ask, "What perspectives, or whose perspectives, are not part of the current conversations?" and take steps to empower those people to participate.

Rather than simply acknowledging unique perspectives and skills, an inclusive leader fosters a sense of belonging and community to fuel meaningful engagement.

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Pluralism as an Antidote to Polarization

Equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is a polarizing topic that often sparks strong opinions. Some view it as vital for progress, while others see it as divisive or overly ideological. At the University of Alberta, the focus has shifted from the traditional EDI framework to a more outcome-oriented approach, embracing pluralism to foster access, community, and belonging. 

What is Pluralism? 

Pluralism is the recognition, acceptance, and celebration of diversity within a society and promotes the idea that society benefits from diverse identities, cultures, values and viewpoints. Rather than seeing diverse opinions as threats, pluralism views them as opportunities for fostering acceptance, innovation and a shared understanding. The idea is to embrace our differences to achieve a shared vision for the common good, creating an environment where all individuals, regardless of their background, can thrive. 

In the context of EDI, pluralism serves as an antidote to polarization by encouraging understanding and dialogue between diverse groups. It shifts the focus away from “either/or” thinking, which often fuels division, and instead emphasizes collaboration, compromise, and shared humanity. Polarization often arises when groups feel that their identities, values, or beliefs are under threat, creating an “us versus them” mentality. Pluralism counters this by promoting inclusivity and the active participation of all members, ensuring that no group is marginalized or excluded based on identity or beliefs. 

Pluralism is like a box of chocolates. Each chocolate is unique, but it's the combination that makes the experience rich and satisfying.

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The Story Behind the Pride Flag

The Story Behind the Pride Flag

The Pride flag was created in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, an artist and gay rights activist in San Francisco. It was designed as a symbol of 2SLGBTQ+ pride, representing hope, solidarity, belonging and the ongoing fight for equality.

The original Rainbow Pride flag featured six coloured stripes. Over the years, the flag has evolved to better represent people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions and sex characteristics, including intersex individuals.

Each colour on the Pride flag carries symbolic meaning:

  • Red — life
  • Orange — healing
  • Yellow — sunlight
  • Green — nature
  • Blue — serenity and harmony
  • Violet — spirit

The blue, pink and white chevron represents the trans community, while the black and brown stripes were added to increase representation for racialized communities within the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

The most recent version, the Intersex Inclusive Pride flag, was developed in 2021 and first raised on Parliament Hill in 2024. A purple circle on a gold background was added to symbolize wholeness, completeness and the potential of intersex individuals.

As we recognize Pride Month each June, the Pride flag continues to serve as a powerful symbol of inclusion, diversity, resilience and the ongoing commitment to equality for the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

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Trauma-informed Care is Essential for Health Equity

Trauma-informed Care is Essential for Health Equity

Trauma-informed care is a critical approach in health care, particularly for marginalized populations such as individuals experiencing homelessness. These individuals carry a disproportionate burden of adverse childhood experiences, structural violence and ongoing social exclusion. People experiencing homelessness have significantly higher rates of mental illness, substance use, chronic disease, and premature mortality, along with greater emergency department use and longer hospital stays. These outcomes are not incidental; they are shaped by trauma, stigma, discrimination, poverty, and repeated negative encounters with health systems and social institutions.

Trauma-informed care reframes clinical practice from asking, “What is wrong with you?” to “What has happened to you?” and centres safety, trust, choice, collaboration, and empowerment. By recognizing trauma as a pervasive and ongoing influence, clinicians can reduce re-traumatization, strengthen engagement, and adapt care to patients’ lived realities, including competing priorities, unstable housing, and mistrust of institutions. This approach is especially important for Indigenous peoples, justice-involved individuals, and gender- and sexuality-marginalized populations who face compounded barriers to care.

When embedded into clinical practice, trauma-informed care improves continuity, supports safer discharge planning, and reduces avoidable acute care use. Most importantly, it advances equity, dignity, and access, fostering trust and healing for those historically excluded from traditional health systems—benefiting both patients and the broader community.

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Universal Design

Universal design is a concept whereby processes, products and spaces are designed to work for as many people as possible, without the need for specialized design or adaptation, regardless of their size, age, ability or disability. Instead of needing special requirements or re-designs, universally designed solutions are built to be inclusive from the start. Everyone benefits if everyday things are easier, more accessible, and more comfortable to use! Examples of universal design include captions on videos, ramps, automatic doors, curb-free entries and tables/desks with adjustable heights.

Universal design also applies to learning environments and curriculum design. It helps all learners to succeed by giving them the tools and flexibility to manage their own behaviour, emotions and cognitive processes while they interact with their learning environment. The ultimate goal is to develop learning environments that are accessible, inclusive and challenging for all. This requires continuous examination of the educator-student relationship to create space for learners to process content individually and collectively through interaction and reflection. It is important to recognize the many dimensions of culture and identity, and to identify where bias may be a barrier to a learner’s ability to fully exercise their agency.

Examples of how to integrate universal design into learning and curriculum development include providing information in a variety of formats (e.g., audio, visual, text, etc.), offering different methods of assessment (e.g., presentation, essay, infographic, etc.) and using inclusive language and imagery that is respectful and representative of diverse backgrounds.

For more information on Universal Design for Learning, please see:

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Use Gender-Neutral Language

Language matters in fostering an inclusive environment. It is a way to communicate belonging. Subtle words or phrases indicate who belongs and who doesn't. The use of gender-neutral language, both verbal and written, can help build a psychologically safe culture. Gender-neutral language prevents discrimination against a particular sex, gender identity, or social gender, and it does not perpetuate gender stereotypes.

There are some easy ways to incorporate gender-neutral language into one's work and social life. The pronouns "they/them" can be used to describe someone's gender identity when their gender identity has not been made clear. Although someone may look like a "man" or a "woman", it doesn't mean they want to identify that way. Using the pronouns "they/them" in policies can be an effective way to ensure documents are inclusive. Rather than saying "hey guys" when referring to a group of people, consider using alternative wording such as "friends", "folks", or "everyone". Although this may seem like a small change, everyone will feel included when being addressed this way.

Other options for addressing a group with gender-inclusive language include "guests", "participants", "faculty members", "students", "distinguished guests", etc. For more guidance on using gender-neutral language, the United Nations has published guidelines in six languages.

The Government of Canada also has recommendations on the use of gender-neutral language.

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