Hello from the Joint Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) committee,

We are your CMG representatives who meet every month with CBC management to discuss employment equity issues at the CBC. Under current Canadian law, CBC Is required to provide an equitable workplace for four equity seeking groups: women, Indigenous peoples, people of colour and people of different abilities.

The CBC has recognized that there is much urgent work to be done on this file. As a result, we have started meeting with management more frequently on a monthly basis. It is no secret that the higher up you go, the less diverse we are as a workplace. The President of the CBC and the Senior Executive team (SET) have assured us that they are committed to increasing representation of employees from equity-seeking groups. To address that, half of all new hires for management positions will be from equity-seeking groups. However, since there are few positions to fill, this process will take quite some time to bear results.

The SET began a series of new initiatives in response to the concerns raised by our members on the lack of diversity and inclusion at the CBC. For example, there is a review of the JSP and an effort to promote employees from equity-seeking groups into more senior roles. It is a good start but much remains to be done. As your representatives, we continue to advocate for better representation of equity-seeking groups from hiring and onboarding to retention and promotion at all levels of the corporation.

In September we sent out a survey to get your input about employment equity at the CBC. We were delighted that we got responses from members working in every region and most departments of the CBC. The respondents also covered all levels of experience and age group. Thank you for taking the time to do that, as it helps to inform and guide our work. At the top of your concerns were lack of career advancement and mentorship for employees from equity-seeking groups. You expressed deep concern about the various ways in which systemic racism continues to impact your work experience at the CBC and SRC. We hear you loud and clear and will continue to advocate for change in our future meetings with management. The survey was a starting point and we hope to keep the lines of communication open with you.

We know that this has been a difficult year for so many of our members. We appreciate that many of you have been doing double and triple duty. Under the circumstances, it is hard to find the energy and the time to fight for change. Your continued involvement in guiding our work is essential. In the new year, we commit to sending you regular updates on the progress we are making and what remains to be done. If you have any concerns or suggestions we would like to invite you to communicate with us at: cmgjedi@gmail.com.

We would like to end by wishing you and your family a safe and happy holiday season. We hope you get some time off to rest and recuperate from this very challenging time for all of us.

Sincerely,

CMG JEDI Committee
Saïda Ouchaou-Ozarowski, Co-Chair of JEDI
Adrian Harewood
Khaleel Mohammed
Sujata Berry
Terri Monture, CMG staff representative
Kim Trynacity, President