Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): It's so.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So just by way of an overview, we recognize that the the real purposes to have a look and to understand through an anti racist perspective, the equity indicators framework, which is a tool that was created by
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): the network. We have it organically organized ourselves in different groups, based on interest and expertise, and the equity
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): avengers is what we call our group developed this tool as a way of being able to provide a bit of a conceptual guide. We recognize that it isn't, you know, a step by step.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): you know roadmap, but it is helpful for organizations to be able to identify where they are in terms of maintaining colonial processes and structures, or moving towards more anti racist or culturally safe processes and structures.
And in the design of this particular tool it was identified that before organizations can truly, authentically and sustainably
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): support a reconciliatory culture, we would need to be able to decolonize, or we would need to be able to incorporate in a non conforming type of a way represent representation within an organization.
so that that change is to truly transformative.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): so
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): understanding that we are going to be able to get to the tool after we provide a bit of context within our current. You know Canadian circumstance and situation.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So when I first started doing anti-racism. What I came to understand is that even racism
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): itself is not widely understood. We definitely have experienced. I think the majority of people either experience or witnessed racism that comes from a very interpersonal place or location in terms of racial violence or racial slurs.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): However, the idea of understanding, systemic and institutional perspectives of racism is a little bit more difficult to understand. So to begin with.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and the other thing, too, is that now, especially now, there are beginning to be many different approaches, diversity, inclusion, aboriginal awareness, cultural sensitivity. You know anti racism, cultural
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): cultural safety, that it's confusing for people into which approaches do we apply? At what time. and when is it appropriate to be able to apply these different approaches, to be able to achieve the type of transformation or the transformative change that we're really looking for in order to address the outcomes.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So in an overview, what we're looking at doing is trying to provide a little bit more understanding around these different approaches, and then specifically the approach of anti racism that we used in the development of this tool.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and also in the application of anti racism within a an integrated system's lens. So to begin, I suppose we can move to the first slide to receive.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): I wonder if there is. There's somebody who is not muted. I'm wondering if we wanted to do that just so that it's not disruptive to other folks. Oh, yeah, that's fair.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): Okay. So some folks will be very familiar, I think, with you know, an anti racist lens others perhaps not. I do recognize some names who have actually heard very close to this presentation, or something very similar.
But some folks, this will be new, and other folks will already have a very, very solid handle. But what we would like to be able to do is to remind folks that this is an integrated system lens, and when we look across the board
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): we recognize that organizations are not acting individually alone, and then it takes a collective impact to be able to create the type of overall societal change. What we're looking to have happen.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So we're looking at, you know. If if we look specifically in the truth and reconciliation calls to action in every major sector, education, health, justice, business, and sport.
Anti-racism is identified as a practice that is essential to be able to address unequal social outcomes.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So what we're really looking at doing in it is addressing across all systems the incredibly
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): high disproportionate outcomes between indigenous people and people of color and non indigenous people in our social structure. So if we move to the next slide, we can see
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): that consistently indigenous people and non indigenous people across the board in
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): multiple sectors have
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): consistently fall in below non indigenous settlers on community Well, being indexes, this is not new. We have known this
for
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): years and years, and decades and decades and decades and decades. And one of the questions that I think we might need to ask ourselves is, even though we have had very well meeting and well intended
initiatives, like representative workforce, like diversity and inclusion
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): initiatives.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): we still have not seen significant changes over the course of the last, you know. 50 years when we have been, you know, looking at employment, equity, partnerships, representative workforce initiatives. This is the statistics still remain the same in justice and in health. The social outcomes are.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): you know, quite egregiously to be honest with you, quite egregiously disproportionate. And I think that we we know this.
So what can we do? And how do we look at this from at integrated systems lens with
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): anti racist perspectives? So if we we can move to the next slide. We see when I first started doing anti racism, or before I started doing anti-racism I was in the Rcmp. At one time it was my first pre professional career after graduating from university.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and the idea was, it was a few bad apples. It was. The system was generally objective and neutral, and that it was a few bad apples that brought in racism into an organization.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): And this is truly what I believed. We didn't really have a lot of education around systemic and institutional in institutionalized racism, and these were the narratives that we were being told is that you know our systems are created neutral, objective, and benign.
and that it's a few about apples that brings it in. And what we realize is that this is, in fact.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): even though there can be bad apples, that it's really more from a policy and a procedure in a practice standpoint that perpetuates
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): institutions and organizations that
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): produce the same outcomes. Despite good, well intended initiatives that happen within them.
So what we would like to do if you move to the next slide or see.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So what we would like to do is after providing a bit of an understanding of the origins.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): Oh.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): the origins of racism, or how it is that need to find the problem which is really important, because we are wanting to not create initiatives. But we're wanting to be able to address the upstream problem so that we Don't. Just have downstream initiatives that never actually address the source of the problem.
So we recognize the source of the problem as being.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): you know, colonization or ongoing settler colonialism. So with that in mind there are 4 different columns
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): of performance criteria that exist within the equity indicators framework, and we have identified, and by all means. No organization will be wholly or solely in one of these columns.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): but may exist in multiple different columns. So when we look at the tool more closely. Later on you'll see that we have on the far left, maintaining colonial processes and structures.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and this is most mainstream organizations depending upon how big are large. They are, we find, will generally be in the first column. And this is not a this is not meant to be yeah, a a criticism at all.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): But this tool we find, really helps. Organizations identify where they're actually at
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and within these columns we move from being
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): almost solely maintaining colonial processes and structures moving towards what does tokenistic processes and structures, or superficially inclusive processes and structures?
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): And then we move on to what does authentic diversity and inclusion look like
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): to ultimately moving to maintaining a culturally safe or an anti-racist anti-impressive structure. So, even though we identify ourselves as anti racist, we recognize that we cannot separate racism from other forms of impression. So we look truly through a holistic and an intersectional lens. So, taking into consideration that this also has to do
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): with section 15 of those prohibited grounds. And then this is the legal legislation that we have to understand that organizations are legally bound by. So we took that into consideration that isn't just about racism. But it's about
all of the prohibitive grounds that actually STEM from the origin of the problem as settler colonialism, which is an ongoing process in Canada. So.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): along with our performance criteria that we have that we will see in the tool. We also have those divisions or departments. So what does the physical space look like? What does the but you know budgeting? What does leadership look like? What is partnerships? What is an Hr. Department. What does
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): physical space look like? So there's multiple different aspects of this particular tool that we will get into
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): Once we provide a little bit of the context.
So if we move, if we move to the next slide, this is how it is that we began to understand.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): We we begin to understand how it is that racism was
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): originated, how it is that we began to learn about policy that was developed based on these ideas of racism and superiority. So this comes from.
you know, original race theory, where all individuals were categorized as belonging to 4 different racial categories, and some theorists depending upon who they are. There's Linnaeus Bloom, bog it it it doesn't really matter, because we've identified as this as being not true science.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So this this is a textbook
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): definition
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): of race that actually came from the Encyclopedia Britannica. They have since updated this because we know that this is not true, that this is not based on science.
But this helps us understand
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): where the origins of racism and where the origins of our hierarchical organization of our social systems comes from.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So this definition says: Race refers to categories and hierarchy. Society has created, describe groups of humans based on physical features. So this is, I mean, the the theory was that all human beings descended from these 4 different categories.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and when we look at Caucasoid we realize that that white folks are still actually referred to as Caucasian.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and this is where that comes from. But the problem here is not that
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): human beings are divided into categories, but the real problem here with this definition is that the hierarchy was created based on this science that was being performed at the time called crediometry. So if we move to the next side
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): there was a science that measured the circumference of your head, or the shape of your nose, or the distance from you know your forehead to your chin, and this science, called phonology, or creating aometry, ultimately was
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): identified. And this, like I said, please remember this is untrue, but it was used to be able to identify characteristics or mental faculties, or or characteristic traits. This has since been debunked.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): but what the purposes of this were were to create a hierarchy.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So we'll move to the next slide. And what I'm wanting to be able to point out which is really important is that we're not talking about the diversity between these physical characteristics. So when we're talking about racism, and we're talking about systemic and institutionalized racism, we have to come back to the idea that it isn't about recognizing differences, but it is the value that is placed on those differences.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So the next slide i'm wanting to be able to. I was put this in here as a as a content wording, because the next slide. What is important is to demonstrate the establishment of
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): the idea of superiority and inferiority for the purposes specifically of developing a hierarchy. and keep in mind what all of our or charts look like in our
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): contemporary colonial organizations with this idea of hierarchy. Okay, hierarchies look like triangles where the majority of the power and often decision making is held at the top of these hierarchies.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So the content warming what learning, what is important is to look at.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): It's a trigger warning for me for me. It's also very offensive. The information that is in this next slide. But what's important is to look at the time and to look at the establishment of a hierarchy.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): Okay. So if we're ready, we'll go to the next slide, remembering it's very offensive, and it's also very untrue. What's important is to look at the time in the context of the development of our country. These were the findings that were disseminated widely at this particular time 1,839
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): what was found from the science of crediometry or craniology, or phrenology is that Caucasians or white folks were more intelligent. They were ethically superior and
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): morally superior, so they were smarter. They were more moral. They were more ethical in terms of hard working, and then we see the hierarchy as it moves down, and the hierarchy, specifically, as I said, was meant to be able to create
the idea of superiority and inferiority.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): And so again, I don't want to spend too much time on this. If we look away from race for a second. We're gonna come back to that and look at Gender.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): We see if we go to the next slide. When we're looking at the creation of superiority and inferiority when we're looking at gender. This is another example. This was from 1,955 housekeeping monthly where
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): at this particular time, which wasn't that long ago women did not have a lot of choices. Women definitely were identified, as you know, the responsible persons for looking after the home and and the children.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and did not, you know, take part in decision, making even over sectors that heavily influence the outcome of their lives and their well being
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): so we see. And I mean, this is kind of funny. I mean. We can laugh at this now, because i'm pretty sure that this is not what happens in most households today.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): where it says Don't, ask him questions about his actions, or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house, and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him. A good wife always knows her place. So this was in 1,955,
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and we can we? We can recognize this type of inferiority playing out in how it is that you know, in heads of State.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): you know, most political decisions were made by men, and not just men, but white men. In our you know, particular context.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and we there really were not a lot of choices, even though when women did make significant contributions
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): historically, they were often erased. So if we go to the next slide. This is an example of a grade 2 or Grade Iii. Student, who was to assume the identity of a historical figure, and they chose.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and they say i'm so mad. I took 3 annoying men, who were very stinky to find the best route to the Pacific Ocean, found horses, food, and piece of tribes wouldn't attack us, and I did the whole journey.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and most of the work not Lewis or Clark. It should have been called the sack to we at expedition, and we ask ourselves why Isn't it called the Sacramento expedition. I did all of this with the baby on my back. Yet the men did more complaining, and I got 0 money like come on, I'm never doing that again.
So we we we do have to ask ourselves
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): who this girl's parents are, for one thing.
and also why Isn't it called the Sacramento expedition right? And this is this is true; but often when women make significant contributions. Historically they are erased. And what comes to my mind also is, you know, that movie called Hidden Figures, where it was black women who did the majority of the computations that sent
people and brought people home safely from the moon. And there are countless examples of where this has happened historically.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): but it isn't just a store. We can say that. Oh, colonization happened in the past. It's over now. It it did this isn't relevant. But If we move to the next slide we can see an example of.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): You know these are a pair. These are. This is a married couple
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): of a triad who contributed to a Nobel prize in economics.
and this was in 2,019,
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): where they mentioned him. And then they just say, and wife, even though she. you know, equally participated in the award winning work of this triad in economics. And
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): it it's kind of interesting, too, actually, that they identify his race Indian, American, mit Professor, because if you were a white man, I don't know if they would actually say that, and they say and wife. So
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): Her name is Esther Duflow.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and she contributed to this work, but was not mentioned by name. So we see that this kind of minimization, or this inferiority through messaging and media, and you know education, we it, it's still happening. And this was in October of
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): 2,019, so very, very recent.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So If we move, then, and understand that our own circumstance ours in in our society, in our current
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): contemporary
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): understanding that Canada is a colonized country. and that settler. Colonialism is an ongoing process, and by settler colonialism
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): we mean the same values.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and the development of our country are still being upheld within our systems. Now over time.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): we recognize that
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): these values were based on
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): white, male and human supremacy.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): but yet piecemeal.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): even though very well intended and very well meaning people are applying these same value systems, but they just have become invisible, and these same structures are reproducing
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): the same outcomes. So if we move to the to the next slide. There's a bit of an infographic here that identifies
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): the elements of colonization that continue to exist within our current colonial systems.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So settler colonization based on the principles of white, male, and human supremacy. we're imposed upon social structures in the development of our country and over time, even though
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): we Don't look at and identify these values. They still continue to be present within our policies and practices and standards. And what's also important to recognize and remember is that
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): with colonization, so with
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): people coming from Britain
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): brought their own systems. They brought their own world view.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and it's the world view that is upheld within these systems that was imposed upon people living in Canada in these territories at the time.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So the idea is not just to maintain the current culture and structure within our hierarchical organizations. But we're looking at identifying the origins of these value systems within our organizations.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): so we still do have white male human supremacy that is operating within all of our systems, because it was the world view
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): that was imposed for the purposes of colonization. We still have ongoing colonization that is reproducing the same outcomes over and over and over again in our systems.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So if we look at.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): excuse me if we look at our Canadian legacy. We move to the next slide. Remember the trigger warning where I said, what's important is to recognize the time
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): of the dissemination of those
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): of those findings from craniometry. Does anybody remember you don't have to answer out loud? But does anybody remember what the time was? The date was on that slide
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): of the those findings the the trigger warning side. It was 1839. So that is 180, somebody didn't get it awesome. So that was I mean when we're looking at. You know the dissemination of that science based on
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): you know that research that was done. This was largely the thought that went into the establishment of our country. So if we read this.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): does anybody know who this is? I'm sure there are lots of folks who do, but i'll just give you a second to read this quote
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and think to yourselves who this was.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So this was Johnny Mcdonald. Some folks would know that
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): this was, you know, also the first Prime Minister of Canada, but he was, you know, also the architect of the Indian act
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and residential schools.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So if we move to the next slide. We have much of the same sentiment that we are wanting to be able to get rid of the Indian problem.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So when we look at what is the origin of the problem? Because we're not wanting to create downstream solutions to an upstream problem. It's expensive, and it's not sustainable.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So what we're really wanting to be able to do is look at the origins of racism within organizations, and it's not just racism, but we're looking holistically
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): at what are the effects, or what are the unintended, we can say, unintended or intended consequences
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): of ongoing settler colonialism. So we understand we move to the next slide. We see.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): we understand settler colonialism to be the origins of the problem.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): And there is one thing actually, that I wanted to mention
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): is that in the creation of race
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): in the superiority, the identification of Caucasian as being
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): superior.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): What is important to remember about this is that first of all those categories Don't actually exist. It was constructed
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): for colonial purposes of colonization.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So those
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): categories Don't, actually exist.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and even for the purposes of establishing
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): race.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): The idea is white. Yes. Okay, it is a colonial construction of white nests as being superior.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): not white people.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So we're talking about the idea of white nests and not white people.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So this is really important that we really understand that we're not talking about white people in the same way
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): that we're talking about male superiority or male supremacy. There is an idea of masculinity that is constructed, and it's not talking about male people. It's talking about the idea
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): of masculinity. Right? So what is masculinity. It's Mendel crop
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): Sorry mental crime men are, you know, tough emotionally, and they, you know, exhibit strict. They don't. Do you know, like all of those I I I don't have this absolutely perfect idea of masculinity, but we know what we're talking about. Right?
What i'm talking about is the idea, this construct of what masculinity is. It's an idea. It doesn't mean that all male people will be every single one of those
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): one of those criterias out masculinity. So that's a very important concept
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): that to to be reminded of is that it is the aspiration to whiteness
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and not describing white people. If anybody has questions on that. I'm certainly happy to kind of come back to that later. But we are really recognizing in this. It is a conceptual
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): creation. It is the colonial construction.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): of whiteness and of masculinity, and of human superiority in combination with an economic system that values resources and profit
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): over human lives.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So this is how it is that we have identified the origins of the problem. And as a world view, just as an example, the idea of human supremacy
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): in our mainstream kind of settler colonial
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): value system.
You know, man has dominion over the land.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): whereas from an indigenous perspective.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): individuals or human beings are part of the land
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): we are interconnected
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): in that we don't have control over the land, but indigenous people really believe that human beings are dependent upon the water, and the trees and the land and the animals and the insects.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and that human beings are the only species on the planet that relies on every other system to be able to survive.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So it's almost the inverse, really, from a settler colonial perspective where we control the land and the resources for profit. So it is a very, very different world view
that we are trying to reconcile
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): in the transformation of our organizations and our systems. So we need to be able to recognize that we're trying to move beyond the idea of diversity and inclusion
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): within our current social structures is that we are trying to move away from that world view of
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): tokenistic or
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): kind of quota, the idea of being diverse and inclusive.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): because that can still be very tokenistic. If we're asking people to conform
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): to the idea of that imposed worldview.
So in the construction of our
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): equity indicators framework.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): we are looking at through an anti-racist lands, understanding settler colonialism as the upstream problem.
So instead of creating downstream solutions which are not sustainable, we're wanting to be able to look at
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): what type of
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): change within organizations are necessary, so that the change is truly transformative. and an analogy is that we don't want to just become better caterpillars. We want to become butterflies.
So this tool you know we are finding
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): is quite helpful in being able to identify through an anti racist lens, and that anti racism, you know doesn't just happen by itself, but it needs to be guided with that level of expertise to be able to move organizations
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): through levels to create this truly transformative
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): collective impact on society, and it's not easy work, but we're excited to be able to share this tool with you, and so that provides a bit of the context around.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): Why, we're moving, and I I I don't want to say moving away. But why we're we we we believe that it's very important to incorporate an anti racist perspective.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): You know diversity and inclusion is very important to still continue to practice in terms of management and safety within an organization. But we would like to be able to emphasize. Why it is that we think anti racism is an important tool
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): to be able to contribute to that transformative nature of change that we're not just changing the organization that reproduces the same outcomes that we have seen. But we're introducing an alternative practice that will allow us to be able to move through
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): different forms of change, so that we eventually can actually impact the outcomes for people who have been most marginalized historically. So with that I will hand it over to my colleague Racy to actually go into talking about
the equity indicators framework.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Alright, Thank you so much.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah. I so encouraged always when I your presentation, and and hear you speak about these things I had issued. I know some more people have joined since I put this into the chat. But I issued a bit of a a challenge, or like a task, I guess.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): to people in the zoom today to be paying attention to how Becky presents this anti-racism content, and what it has
Rissy Hantke (she/her): in common, or what characterizes the approach that she takes.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): because with this framework that that we're going to share with you right away Here one of the columns, one of the performance criteria is anti culturally safe anti-racist anti- oppressive processes and structures
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and that's that's that's our goal, right. But sometimes we we might assume that we know what that means
Rissy Hantke (she/her): like. We know what racism means, so we might assume that we just know automatically what anti racism means. But yeah, we have. We have to think about that, too, and and what that means, and how it happens, and and I've learned a lot from Becky about how that works.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I I think, like before I share this equity indicators framework with you like, since i'm a a white person doing this anti racism work alongside
Rissy Hantke (she/her): people who experience racism. When I myself don't experience racism, I think it's very important to like recognize that my whiteness is always operating in ways that I some ways that I can observe in some ways that I can't. And so I like to
Rissy Hantke (she/her): just
Rissy Hantke (she/her): say something about accountability at the start, because I answer to my my mentors and my colleagues, one of whom is Becky, and another of whom is Dr. Manuela by Castro, who who co-founded the anti-racist and network with Becky and then I also need to recognize the amazing lifelong contributions of Dr. Vernon and Dennis
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and I always love. Share this you can, putting in the chat right now. It's a video for later watching. It's a 28 min, Webinar, that might just blow your mind about like, what's the difference between cultural approaches versus anti-racism approaches
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and then, yeah, so I Sure, i'd both like to give a shout out to Dr. Furnace Dennis, and also to provide a a resource that's been extremely useful for me, and I hope it's.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I hope it's useful for you as well. So. as we get ready here to share this equity indicators framework with you. All
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I wanted to give a little, maybe disclaimer, request or requirement. We are very careful with how we distribute this framework. A a lot of work and intention went into creating it, and we don't want it to just be circulating
Rissy Hantke (she/her): without accompanying education. So please don't take this framework and share it and post it elsewhere. So that's what we ask from you. But if you know someone who would benefit greatly from this framework. Please direct them to us, and we have contact information
Rissy Hantke (she/her): at the end of the slide, or you can reach out to Tamarack. They they know how to find us. So, having said that.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): i'm getting ready here, you've seen this slide already about these these 4 columns, which are the performance criteria that the equity indicators framework utilizes.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I'm. Going to open up the framework and show you before I give it to you. So you have a bit of a sense of of what's coming your way.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): That's when I lose the link. Great. Yeah, there we go.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Hello!
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I think I've got my share screen here. Here.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I will open the link.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Okay, so are you seeing equity indicators framework?
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Awesome. So this is what the framework looks like. So you can see these performance criteria columns, and then on the left, in the different colors we have the key elements of organizations. So you can see, each is a different color. We have budget, we have human resources.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): It goes on like this. And this this is a a big document with lots of examples.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah. 10 pages, and we certainly are not going to go through each of these examples and talk about all the the various aspects of it. But we are going to do is share this with you.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and I want to give you 3 min to just kind of look through. Get a bit familiar with the document, and but I have a task for you in in that
Rissy Hantke (she/her): in that time. So i'm going to give you 3 min, am I to First, i'll show you how to get the document. I'll share it with you and and make sure you know how to download it. But your task in these 3 min is to choose one of those columns.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): so it could be the colonial processes and structures. It could be the tokenistic, superficially inclusive processes and structures, or could be diverse and inclusive, or it could be from the for this right column, culturally safe anti-racist.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): when you choose one of those columns I think of. Just look through and see. What do these things have in common? How do I? What characterizes each of these columns? So that is your task, so that we can give you like a few minutes here to look at it. And so now i'm going to put the link into the chat.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): So this should pull up the document for you and
Rissy Hantke (she/her): up, and when you open up that document up in the top, right there should be a little icon for downloading it, that you have your coffee to keep.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): It lasts after this session is done, and if anyone's having trouble with that, please let me know you can unmute or type in the chat if you need a bit of help with that.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): or you can give me a thumbs up if it's working for you. You got that document.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Okay, it's a nonsense and thumbs. Thank you.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Awesome. So i'm going to set my timer to give you a few minutes. Oh, I do not have access to Google. Docs: oh.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Emily, okay, Emily, if you
Rissy Hantke (she/her): okay, If anyone has that same problem
Rissy Hantke (she/her): with not being able to access Google Docs. Currently, please put your email into the chat. And for those few people I can. Oh, Colleen, just I just jump the Pdf for you awesome. Thank you very much.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Okay. So it is 1120. I want. I want to give you these 3 min to do this task of trying to see. What do these things have in common? That's what you're searching for right now.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah. So choose one of the columns and and try to figure out what characterizes this column. What does this column have in common? Look at some of the examples.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): They'll got a couple of minutes to be through. Some examples come up with some ideas. But if you are having ideas already, feel free to type those into the chat.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): give me one more minute here to look through brainstorm some ideas.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Okay, so
Rissy Hantke (she/her): hopefully
Rissy Hantke (she/her): that few minutes has given you a chance to get a bit of a sense of the document, a bit of a sense of these performance criteria, and what each of these columns are trying to do, and I see Richard has put into the chat. All the actions are top down, management controlled, none suggests
Rissy Hantke (she/her): giving lead to others. Maggie wrote it's all about control. Who has it? Who thinks they should have it, and when it is shared or seeded. my Julia, it goes back. So
Rissy Hantke (she/her): now we're going to get my presentation back up here.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Share my screen again.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Now we've got those those ideas in mind. We're thinking of power differentials. Awesome thanks for that.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Cassie Colonial controlled by a few denial avoidance. Yeah, Tristan seeing share degrees of sharing, collaborating. Okay, more more observations are pouring in here.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): So I want us to take a look at each of these performance criteria. So we'll go through one by one and and see what we are noticing about them.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): So what are if we start over here in this colonial processes and structures? What's characterizing that?
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Do you see? Are you seeing anything? I think we've already seen some in the chat about control and power top down management.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and and i'm wondering if we're just looking at these colonial examples from the colonial performance criteria.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Are we noticing anything that I keep presented on anything that
Rissy Hantke (she/her): that it chose that legacy. Where does the history come in here?
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Patriarchal cultures? Right? Thanks for that. Yeah.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Maintenance of white supremacy. Yeah, exactly so. And when we say white supremacy. We're not. We're not just talking about the Kkk: we're talking about
Rissy Hantke (she/her): that structure where the where this these categories were created. White gets put at the top. Everyone else gets put below. That's what we're talking about. When we say whiteness or white supremacy, I tend to use those terms into tree changeably, because it's always about it's always going back to hierarchy. Those systems.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Pam, said. Colonialist legacy, but also current reinforcement. Yeah. So it comes from the history that that colonialism has on this land.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Kristen said, the recognition of patriarchy and whiteness being where control is held, Emily Shapiro said, based on threat or fear, Maggie said, the expectations and rules around who can affect change?
Rissy Hantke (she/her): And DC. Moves Coordinator said about being better caterpillars? Yeah, exactly. Thanks for thanks for using that analogy bringing us back to that.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): And Orpha said, maintaining status quo, yeah, exactly. We're we're sustaining. So
Rissy Hantke (she/her): yeah. And if we are focused on maintaining the status quo being better caterpillars. The amount of change that we're looking for is, is
Rissy Hantke (she/her): not that much? We're not going to be getting different outcomes if we focus on staying here.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): So if we look here next at the superficially inclusive processes and structures.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): tokenism gets a bad rap, I would say, because tokenism is not good enough, but I do want us to remember that for organizations who are here in the colonial processes and structures mechanism can be a big step forward.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and and it can be a bold step towards working towards the the kind of change that's that we need at a at a foundational level. But what are we, seeing? What are we noticing in this tokenistic column?
Rissy Hantke (she/her): You think of that criteria.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Richelle said. Performative actions which give limited power to those who continue to hold power. Thanks for that. And Hi Richelle
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and Kristen said one or 2. Yeah, so so it's very limited. It it probably doesn't necessarily represent the population. It's less than representative
Rissy Hantke (she/her): tokenism to me, Tristan said, is embodied by just putting land acknowledgments in an email and feeling that the job has been done. Yeah, No, no serious change. Just kind of a garnish.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah, thanks for that. And then Martin said, Tokenistic state can be damaging, especially if an organization
Rissy Hantke (she/her): stick on being in this state. Yeah, if this is where the the change aspires to, that's not good enough. It could be a really meaningful first step.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): but we really don't want it. The change to end there, Lori said. Not enough policy or in force policy, Pam said. Token is is basically marginalization. Yeah. So the structure that's that's causing the harm isn't changing, and 1 one way that we can understand. This is
Rissy Hantke (she/her): more brown faces in white spaces. This is how it how it could be described. And Colleen said, Does this call and reinforce the idea that charitable responses enough?
Rissy Hantke (she/her): It reinforces how good the white folk really are.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): So yeah, it can. It can be about like publishing your image instead of actually like making change that demands
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and Stella and surface level to avoid reputational risk. Thank you for all these brilliant observations, folks. So if we move now oh, and Natasha said it's fear based Chris and said lots of expectations of a single person being a spokesperson for any non white perspective. So much pressure. Yeah. Just represent everybody. Right? Well.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): yeah, really, flattening diversity into like something that one person could possibly represent.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Okay. So if we move on to this performance criteria of what our diverse and inclusive processes and structures moving towards equity, more than more than that tokenistic. What do we see? What are you noticing for this column
Rissy Hantke (she/her): in this performance? Criteria?
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Oh, yeah, I see, Meggie said. Duty to consult, and that's it, maybe for the Tokenism column.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah, and just stop at that. We checked. We checked the box. Karms had some space opening to share power.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Okay, so you're seeing that that shift here where the the actual power of who gets to make decisions is is changing.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): That's huge. Yeah.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): What else do we notice in this performance criteria
Rissy Hantke (she/her): more humility and openness? Thanks for that. Orpa. Yeah.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah. Humility. I think I think humility is so underrated like this. Tristan's had more transparency and calling, said, documentation of accountabilities and expectations.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Kristen said, Willingness to change, not just maintain status quo with her without more surface level diversity.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah. So we're not just trying to be better butterflies here, or better caterpillars. Here we actually are like trying to change, Tanya said. More discussion and community collaboration.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): And Calla said: I hope in this column more listening happens.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): creating space for those with lived experience, he said. Remnants of colonialism and capitalism persist, however, right? It's not necessarily where we want to end up.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Lori said. Safe space for discussion, and Sharon had engaged in engagement with differing voices.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Colleen relationship building, Natasha said. Community has voice, but still lack of a meaningful power shift.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Okay, and that like leads us nicely into this. This last category with the with the stars bursting, the fireworks exploding here. If we get to this column, if we get to this culturally safe anti racist sense your oppressive processes and structures. What are we noticing about this column?
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Oh, yeah, and Pam voice the concern that organs might stop at that diverse and inclusive processes where the whole structure isn't changing it's. But people organizations might think that they're there.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah, I think that's a a huge
Rissy Hantke (she/her): possibility, and I would. It reminds me of something Paul Gorsky says in his short piece on Equity detours and pacing for privilege and like.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah, trying to maintain the comfort of the way things currently are.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): Yeah, if I can. Actually, I don't need to interrupt. But I think that that that that concern
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): is a very real concern, and I think that this might also be a you know, a very, very good place to point out that this work is very deliberate. It will not happen without having the expertise
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and the
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): you know the the the reason to compel people to keep going. So that's a very real concern that it will stop, and that the work is deliberate, and that's kind of why it is that we look at this through an anti racist lens that needs to be kind of, you know.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): ushered through within an organization with deliberate intent
Rissy Hantke (she/her): is specifically because of that concerns. I just wanted to add that I thought it was a good place to be able to point that out. Sorry we see things
Rissy Hantke (she/her): is when there is already the commitment to creating anti races change within an organization. This this tool can be employed then. But yeah, there has to be that that overall vision in order to make that move, I think, in that direction. Yeah, i'm really glad you jumped in there, Becky.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah, Maggie noticed the sharing of resources and accountability for outcomes. Not just initiatives. Yeah. Another thing I've like learned from Becky is we can't initiate our initiative, our way out of racism.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): And then Maggie also said, I really think it's also always ongoing to agree. There's no destination with this column.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): It's an an ongoing process. It's all about the process.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Stella said, integrating different and diverse ways of knowing, being and practicing psych psychological safety upheld. Yeah. And I would add to that Stella length valuing like integrating different ways of knowing, but valuing them too like it's not just
Rissy Hantke (she/her): included, because it's nice. It's like included, because
Rissy Hantke (she/her): there's like we don't just value this one way over all the other ways. Kristen said. Shift from ownership to stewardship
Rissy Hantke (she/her): on the org's behalf. Example change from Becky's recognition of colonialism's, Perspective of Men's dominion overland to indigenous ways of being one with the land.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): though it may not be the case. No, it may not be about land in this case, but about community and projects. Yeah, thanks for that. And Julia said, there is consistency. It isn't for show agencies are showing, not only telling.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): And there's a growth mindset all levels of practice. Micro Community Meso, community partners and macro stakeholders and funders are committing to this creation of change.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah. And Colleen said, there is is there a tipping point where you unlearn relearn and increase the capacity to move from edi to anti-racist
Rissy Hantke (she/her): that prevents you from stopping at the third column.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I mean, I want to do a whole session on that one on that one idea. Yeah.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): yeah, I think I think there has to be that commitment to move.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Move ahead from the third to the fourth column here.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Awesome. So
Rissy Hantke (she/her): be mindful of the time here, and wanting to leave a lot of. And I'm going to move us along to some examples for for practicing thinking about these performance criteria.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): So here's a Here's a pop quiz for you.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Where do you think if we're thinking about representative workforce initiatives? Where do you think those representative workforce initiatives might fit in like what what call long here? What performance criteria
Rissy Hantke (she/her): with these fit Under
Rissy Hantke (she/her): what are People's slots?
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Okay, so I see Emily in the chat had said Tokenism. Colleen said phone 2, and so did Kirsten.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Do people any anyone who's like i'm gonna have a different idea about that?
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Okay, Maggie said. 2, but maybe 3, likely 2. So maybe 3.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Okay, and Sharon said, Representative workforce initiatives could be token or integrated into diverse and inclusive processes. Yeah.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Natasha said. I think it depends on what level of positions they have in the workplace. 2 or 3. Yeah, I think that's so, Key, because we're looking at power right like. Is it? Is it that case of just more brown faces in white spaces, where, like
Rissy Hantke (she/her): the the whiteness, the white norms are upheld Like, for example, what's considered professional is that def defined by like whiteness standards.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): I think we need to keep in mind, too, that the ideas of maintaining that like tokenistic, that even though diversity is in an organization, those people are expected to conform to the world view, and the culture that already exists within an organization
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): so as indigenous people. For example, we renounce our culture, spirituality, language, worldview, when we join mainstream organizations, and that's what's expected of us as opposed to
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): embracing
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): alternative worldview and bringing that as a diverse perspective that strengthens an organization.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): so one is very conformist looking and depending upon the culture of your organization, and one is very forward looking right?
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So even people of color can be expected to conform to whiteness. And they do.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah, thanks for that, Becky, and we can, we can understand in anti-racism we can understand
Rissy Hantke (she/her): whiteness to be a performance
Rissy Hantke (she/her): so it's not just the performance that white people perform, but it's that
Rissy Hantke (she/her): the performing of the hierarchy of that of those values where we where we're, we're placing values, what we value in society.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Pam I'm. Noting your question, and I would like to circle back to that at after another another little piece. If that's okay. But please remind me of that.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): And then I'm, seeing Colleen said, depends how long they stay in that role, how they move through roles or disrupt the organizational processes. And Kristen said: I would think that representative in representative workforce makes a direct tie tokenism. Yeah, I think that there is an argument to be made for that.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): And I also think
Rissy Hantke (she/her): that it's important for us to remember.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Like the goals of this, I think, are very important. If the if the representative workforce aims to represent the population where that organization exists like the the intentions there are to do something that's
Rissy Hantke (she/her): where where people are seeing themselves in their representation. Maybe if it's a municipality, the people of that city are seeing themselves in the the leadership of the city.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah, Lori said. What about organizations where there are more people of color and white people in the minority.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah. Great question. That's there's like certainly more layers of complexity than what we'll
Rissy Hantke (she/her): we're we're giving you like some
Rissy Hantke (she/her): probably oversimplified kind of ideas in this session. But I hope that we can encourage people to take those those concepts away and and chew on them and and think about okay, what is, what, what does this look like when
Rissy Hantke (she/her): when the organization is
Rissy Hantke (she/her): like? Not not representing the colonial, the image where you see, like the founding fathers, or like this table of white men making decisions in in early like when Canada first became country. Maybe your organization doesn't look like that.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): So then, what does it mean like how just like having having people of color in an organization doesn't magically
Rissy Hantke (she/her): make the organization not colonial, because we all exist in this of. We've been socialized into this colonial system.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I am falling behind on the track here. Oh, yeah, Tristan's talking about conformance dynamic
Rissy Hantke (she/her): using examples from basketball. Yeah, thanks for that having a majority of non-way people does not always mean that the non way people aren't pressure to confirm to white upper middle class norms. Yeah, thank you for the
Rissy Hantke (she/her): that. You said that a lot more concisely than than I could have been this time. So thanks for that. Cassie said. I was also thinking.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): If the initiatives are those that are coming from the representative workforce, there could be movement towards transformation. Yeah, I think that's really important, and that that leads me into a an a a point that I wanted to talk about with this column here of anti racism.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Because how are we defining anti racism. And so for me, it's. It's important that that we situate anti racism as
Rissy Hantke (she/her): a scholarly practice.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and as a practice informed by decades of activism, people who have been fighting racial oppression for decades. And so
Rissy Hantke (she/her): like when when we, when Becky and I are presenting on anti racism, we're drawing on the scholarship of Dr. Furnace, Dennis, and and all of the the various scholars that she's taught us about. And it's not just
Rissy Hantke (she/her): not being racist. But yeah, we wanna recognize the that there's pedagogy there. There's scholarship, and there's activism. And there's lived experience, and there's people who have been fighting
Rissy Hantke (she/her): for for many decades to make change to make a more equitable society.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): And so when we are
Rissy Hantke (she/her): yeah, looking at
Rissy Hantke (she/her): transformation and seeing, like, how does anti racism fit in here? To me. Anti-racism, anti-racism is a not like a a necessary component. If we are going to build society's
Rissy Hantke (she/her): systems in ways that aren't enacting and and continuing racial oppression.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): And we
Rissy Hantke (she/her): yeah, what we have an example here of
Rissy Hantke (she/her): a framework that that that I learned from Dr. Bernice and Dennis called the power triangle. And to me this is like such an a a useful example of anti racism, education as a tool. So she looks at
Rissy Hantke (she/her): discourse at the top here, or narratives, or like what's stayable in society.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): She follows that through over to policies and practices. So how do these discourses and ideas get acted on. and then over 2 outcomes to understand how those actions are informing the the outcomes that we see.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): And so here is a bit of a breakdown of that.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): So the
Rissy Hantke (she/her): the harmful messages that in this case we're talking about racism. So racist, harmful messages communicating inferiority and superiority at the heart of it.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): And these these ideas, then inform how people act both on an individual level, but also on broader levels
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and across policy, and in in positions of power. And of course we we can understand how this leads to increased rates of incarceration or higher rates of
Rissy Hantke (she/her): preventable illnesses or poverty. And so those outcomes can then also cycle into feeding the discourses when people interpret those outcomes as
Rissy Hantke (she/her): coming from like victim blaming the outcome. This is Basically, blaming the people who are experiencing the hardship as though they are the the reason that those hardships are are happening.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Oh, yeah, I see, Claire said.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Micro aggressions.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Okay, i'm checking the time here.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Good stuff. Okay. So
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I yeah. I've
Rissy Hantke (she/her): mentioned that Dr. Dennis, who is an anti-racism color. This has a this framework. And so I already kind of gave you the spoiler the answer here, that that
Rissy Hantke (she/her): we assess that as fitting into this category. But i'm wondering if you can tell me why.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): like what about this tool. What characterize, or what characteristics of this tool fit with that anti-racist column?
Rissy Hantke (she/her): How do we know when something like what are some indications that some things in an anti-racism tool.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Kirsten said. I think because it's iterative, and invites and promotes change
Rissy Hantke (she/her): all right. I would, I would add some. I would add to that Kristen, that like that, it's change that is seeking equity. That's change. That's trying to eliminate that hierarchy of. Of of like these racial groupings.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Emily said, there is opportunity for ongoing transformations. Colleen said feedback loop and constant reevaluation processes.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Nice
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and Orpa said it can be a embedded across all policies.
Yeah, Manuela says goes into deeper analysis.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah, analysis is such an important part of
Rissy Hantke (she/her): of anti-racist and anti oppression as a tool
Rissy Hantke (she/her): so for me, like something very key. Here is the focus on power.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and
Rissy Hantke (she/her): if we are like that, that is something that I like. I see across anti racism.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): ideas, and education. If we are assessing and analyzing the power. and where that power st stems from the colonial and historical roots of the power. That's a really important aspect of anti racism work.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I see, Austin said. The more you move to the right of the framework, the more integrated all the factors of the power triangle are changed.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and he said, or reinforced, okay.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): yeah, brilliant thanks for all the engagement today, folks, this is like
Rissy Hantke (she/her): really interactive group of people. And i'm appreciating that a lot. Having taught like a online at the University level, I just will never take for granted again the people interacting it's wonderful. I can see some of your faces. People are typing in the chat. Yeah.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Awesome. Okay. So
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I think one more thing that like, maybe I would like us to pay attention to in this column here about culturally safe
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and anti-racist processes and structures.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): we say anti racist and we oppressive
Rissy Hantke (she/her): intentionally. Yes, it's more cumbersome to have like both of those descriptors in there. But we it's very important that we recognize
Rissy Hantke (she/her): that
Rissy Hantke (she/her): racism doesn't just exist in isolation, and through Becky's presentation we can see that, like that racism and the creation of these racial categories into a hierarchy, enabled colonization, and that these are all like
Rissy Hantke (she/her): linked, interconnected with with patriarchal ways of society operating with capitalism. That's that's also been intertwined in this the fabric of of what's made our society the way that it is.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): And so I just wanna draw attention to intersectionality. And we're not just talking about racism when we are talking about anti-racism. We are also talking about anti-
Rissy Hantke (she/her): anti classism and anti sexism. And we also think about the oppression of homophobia and ableism.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): fat phobia. All of these are so entwined. And so if you, Haven't learned about intersectionality, especially by Kimberly Crenshaw. I encourage you to check out her work on this this concept, this coin, this term that she coined of intersectionality. She has a really brilliant, Ted Talk, if you want like, you know, something in the 20 min range to kind of introduce you to these ideas of
Rissy Hantke (she/her): of intersectionality. But it is really important that when we are talking about race we are racism. We are talking about all of these
Rissy Hantke (she/her): embedded, intertwined oppressions, and we can't just get right of one of those impressions. They're also closely entwined. That and that means we need to be looking looking broadly and keeping a big picture perspective
Rissy Hantke (she/her): when we are seeking to make change in in a the direction of equity.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Okay, so let me check. If I
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I want to make sure we have a lot of time for questions, and I know there was a question that I wanted to circle back to
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Becky. How do you feel about starting questions there or other other. Oh. or maybe do you want to speak to this first?
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): Sure. So we, over the course of the last couple of years, have worked collaboratively on developing the equity indicators framework. And then, when we are working with organizations, we've had the opportunity to pilot the application of this particular tool
with a few organizations. And so we've developed a checklist, and I know that some folks are using the word audit.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): I don't particularly like that word, because it. It's a bit scary, like an audit like you when your taxes are being done, and I guess it's somewhat of the same purpose. But it really is a checklist essentially, and what we have done is divide it into all of
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): the different elements of an organization. So the elements of the organization we ask specific questions. Do you have representation of people of color in leadership, or is your budgeting processes transparent, and have input from people with lived experience?
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So it divides the the framework into different sections, and ask specific questions about each one of those
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): departments for each one of those levels in terms of those not levels, but each one of the different areas in terms of the performance criteria. So we do this, you know, for organizations and and with organizations
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): for them to really get an idea of. Where are we? And the checklist. I think, asks very specific questions that gives an accurate representation of where organizations are. We sometimes find that organizations think that they are a little bit further ahead than they actually are in terms of what their actual processes are.
So we started to to do this, to engage with organizations who are interested in
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): mapping where it is that they are just to be able to get a sense of
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): how you organizations, who have, you know, publicly endorsed the truth and reconciliation calls to actions, for example, or organizations who are interested in. Where are we?
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): You know, getting a baseline of. Where are we starting in our journey here? So we, we, you know, have a limited capacity. We still are a very small organization at the anti racism network, but would like to invite, you know, organizations
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): to be in touch with us if they would like to be able to
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): if they would like to be able to, you know, go through the equity indicators with their own organizations, to be able to perform a bit of a mapping exercise, and then we can provide, you know, recommendations based on the outcomes of this checklist in this evaluation
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): as to how to move successfully through the framework within an organization. I just want to. I I just want to invite folks to be in touch with us if you're interested, but also understanding that we we we are somewhat limited in our capacity as well.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): still a fairly new and a young organization, but really excited about being able to offer this, you know, as a tool to be applied with this actually racist expertise.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So I believe that you know Natasha has our contact information. So if anybody is interested to please be in touch with Natasha, and then intern with us.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): If if there is one thing that I wanted to come back to, I think it was colleen that put in the chat about the tipping point.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and I think that that is a really really important question to be able to ponder and to discuss, and really actually to dialogue about.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): Because I think that there is, you know, when we're looking at social change theory, we educate enough people, and there will be, you know, systemic change. So
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): it it it is that question of do our institutions and systems educate us or do is the education that we bring into our systems and institutions
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): the change. So it's that chicken and an egg type of a thing.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): But
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): the forces of the status quo are extremely strong.
So at this point, in terms of a tipping point, and like I said, this is an interesting question, you know, to dialogue about is that? How? What will it take in order to? I mean, we know that it takes education, it takes awareness, it takes leadership.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): It takes, you know, information. It takes deliberate political will to be able to create transformative change. So where that? That this is why this question, I think, is so fascinating. Is that.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): How do we, then.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): you know, understanding that social change theory that we need to either bring in enough people in an organization we need to provide enough education. We need to be able to have the power and the authority within the organization to deliberately move in that direction. And you know, we
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): that, I suppose, is, you know the question that colleen is posing. Where does that need to happen? Where?
How do we, truly.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): you know, create organizations
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): that are not just transformed by the people that are coming in them, but then actually educate
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): the staff. And and you know, citizens or residents who are interacting with that system.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): How do we get to that type of a turning point where we we have tipped the scales enough? How do we? How do we do that. And I think that that's really the question that we're grappling with.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): I wanted to acknowledge your question and Collea, and I guess I wanted to. You know, clarify that this is really what we're. This is really, you know, the the work that we are wanting to engage with.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): I really appreciate that question.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): We also talked about like
Rissy Hantke (she/her): the change coming from the bottom up and from the top down.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I think that both are so important, and I think that
Rissy Hantke (she/her): for an organization. It's it's gonna be a lot more efficient if the the people at the top are really on board with with moving towards anti-racism, change and and learn it and on board with learning what it is and putting in that work.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): But yeah, I think I think it really needs to be like both from the bottom up and from the top down
Rissy Hantke (she/her): in organizations. I put a note in the chat here inviting you all to join the anti racism network mailing list.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): The anti-racism network is not an incorporated entity. We are a network we are a coalition. Anyone is welcome. We're based in Saskatchewan but certainly we have people joining from we are. We're meeting currently. We've been meeting over Zoom
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and have people joining from across Saskatchewan. And so, if if you would like to stay informed about what we're doing, what's what's going on with us. Then I invite you to sign up for our mailing list to stay in touch.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Cassie said. Okay, there was a question, I think, from Pam earlier on that I want to come back to.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and Kathy also mentioned about the equity detour, so I will find that link. So Pound's question is about efficacy or not of the ee. A. For this work, and i'm not sure that I know what ee a means. So i'm wondering, Pam, if you could
Pam Poverty to Prosperity Huron Perth, Ontario: rephrase that question or it's the Employment Equity Act right? So I don't know how familiar people are with it. But it was an act that was
Pam Poverty to Prosperity Huron Perth, Ontario: instituted in 1,984, and it it it has some. It has some limitations, because it basically applies to federally, federally regulated industries, employers with
Pam Poverty to Prosperity Huron Perth, Ontario: more than 500 employees and so forth. But it's currently under undergoing a
Pam Poverty to Prosperity Huron Perth, Ontario: a review, and just to be clear that the 4 designated groups in the Employment Equity Act to to transform again Again, this is a an a numbers approach to increasing equity. A women indigenous people, people of color and people with disabilities, and it's had, you know, some mixed success
Pam Poverty to Prosperity Huron Perth, Ontario: over the years, but it is a. and it's also. you know.
Pam Poverty to Prosperity Huron Perth, Ontario: Go, get. If we're going to throw quotes out here, you know we will. The masters tools ever dismantle the master's house I don't know. But at the end of the day part of the problem with the Employment Equity Act is is limited application, but also lack of enforceability. But getting back to your question about the tipping point
Pam Poverty to Prosperity Huron Perth, Ontario: and about numbers. There's been a number of frameworks around the Employment Equity Act that look at this systems culture numbers approach that that you've been speaking about. So part of my
Pam Poverty to Prosperity Huron Perth, Ontario: question is that, does it? Does something like
Pam Poverty to Prosperity Huron Perth, Ontario: an enforceable more all-encompassing employment Equity Act have the possibility of redressing
Pam Poverty to Prosperity Huron Perth, Ontario: some of the inequities, particularly in in the paid workplace.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): Personally, I can respond to that pound. Personally, I don't believe that it does.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): I think that the real issue is about worldview. And when we're talking about, you know, I I, that you know, is a way of being able to enforce, I guess, even though there's very limited, enforceable kind of mechanisms. But it's still actually conforming to colonial World view.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): It is still a colonial organization that developed that we that the the the, the the act. and when we're looking at a human rights perspective, I believe that it is very effective
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): if there were those enforceable mechanisms when we're looking to reconciliation, I think it's important that we recognize that treaty treaty rights are not human rights.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So there is both that needs to be done, but that employment, equity, I believe, still, is more of a numbers game than it really is to institute, transform, to change.
Pam Poverty to Prosperity Huron Perth, Ontario: Oh, I completely agree with you. I just wanted to to to raise it, because
Pam Poverty to Prosperity Huron Perth, Ontario: sorry. It is a mechanism that is available, but it is particularly ineffective, which was sort of my question. But I wondered if you thought there was any kind of legislation that would that would actually have an impact positive impact.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): I think that that still remains to be seen. I think it's somewhat interesting that you know
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): More and more. Racism claims have been brought to human rights.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): But racism is typically been very difficult to prove.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): especially systemic racism. But more and more we are seeing cases come before the courts
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): that organizations are being held accountable there, I don't believe, are enough examples of that, and there are not enough mechanisms that are timely and efficient
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): to be able to hold organizations to account, because we know that systemic racism in every single structure in every organization is very, very historically rooted and psychologically entrenched.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So I think, moving towards that. And and perhaps you know in to to further your question. P. The more it is that we do in terms of a tipping point, the more individuals that we have within organizations
that are requesting accountability from organizations specifically to do with discrimination and systemic discrimination, then the more mechanisms there will be to hold organizations to account for what we know is already going on.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): But what currently exists I don't, I don't believe, is very effective now
Pam Poverty to Prosperity Huron Perth, Ontario: could not agree more.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): There's something to about
Rissy Hantke (she/her): in in the literature and critical whiteness studies
Rissy Hantke (she/her): There's writing about how like I think it's Zeus Leonardo writes about how whiteness shifts to protect itself.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): And so, even when
Rissy Hantke (she/her): E, even when there, there is maybe efforts to address this with with yeah initiatives or or even legislature, there's ways that.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): like whiteness, will still find its way of
Rissy Hantke (she/her): operating or co-opting language to
Rissy Hantke (she/her): continue the exploitation and oppression. That that is kind of like our baseline status quo.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): That sounds really discouraging. This sounds like an unsolvable problem, but I do like I do have a lot of hope.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): despite like learning about how how whiteness will like have these self protective mechanisms to keep itself intact.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): even though that's the case. I I yeah, I feel a lot of hope when it comes to anti racism, methodology, pedagogy, and like just anti racism, education, and transformation. Because I've I've seen, like
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I've seen people make really amazing changes and and make steps in directions like not that that that anyone's crossed a finish line of like being in the state of anti racist, but that that there's a lot of work that's gone in that direction.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and really important
Rissy Hantke (she/her): steps. So to me, even though there's there's a lot of complexity. This is still like a very hopeful.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): a very hopeful approach to to change what what? I've what I've seen, what keeps me going like in in anti racism work?
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Were there more questions in the chat that I've missed? Or do you have questions that you'd like to bring up? Now feel free to put them in the chat or feel free to unmute at this point. That's a good time to unmute, too.
Pam Poverty to Prosperity Huron Perth, Ontario: you know I I I would love to ask another question, you know, because
and I work together all the time. So, at the risk of like
Colleen CC | she/her: interjecting our current workload back in, and I do like this is a poverty reduction group. And so I wonder if we couldn't if we couldn't pose a question really, specifically about poverty that maybe you could reflect on if people would entertain that
Colleen CC | she/her: it's so. The idea of the power angle that you showed. We talk a lot about outcomes in this work. and quite often we're talking about outcomes that are like over representation, over representation of indigenous people in in the justice system all of these pieces, and we often create responses or planning around those pieces that show up as outcomes.
Colleen CC | she/her: I'm always. And you both know this because we work together, and i'm always kind of talking with this. We we always. I'm interested in backing that conversation up and talking about one of the flip side of that. Why are we seeing over representation? And what is it that there is under representation in the economy?
Colleen CC | she/her: And what are the legacy? People that have created a purposeful exclusion of indigenous and people of color in Canada from a experiencing the the best whiteness of the economy that has created the legacies that we see through privilege, through intergenerational wealth, transfer all over.
Colleen CC | she/her: So I wonder if you wouldn't like, maybe reflect on the fact that we spent a lot of time talking about overrepresentation, but not a lot of those.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): Well, and I think it it. It speaks very clearly, actually calling in to that. And the simple answer, you know, really is that poverty is inextricably, inextricably linked to racism, and the origins of racism were specifically designed
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): for unequal, unequitable wealth of distribution and access to resources, and in Canada specifically indigenous people were dispossessed of the land and the resources for the purposes of colonization
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): to extinguish our title to the land in the United States.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): Black folks were identified as being inferior, or they were constructed as being inferior for the purposes of exploiting their labor.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): So understanding racism as the context for poverty as an outcome is imperative.
so. The purpose of the reason that we have policy that is built is to entitle those folks who were deemed superior or
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): entitled to access to wealth and intergenerational wealth building.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): whereas and it was very clearly seen in the development and in the history of colonization in Canada, that certain people were deemed entitled to wealth at the expense of other people, and we see that very clearly in our legislative policies.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): currently, contemporarily and historically
Rissy Hantke (she/her): colleen. I like that. Your question. I mean your Your question makes me think of that power triangle, and sometimes we focus in on the outcomes
Rissy Hantke (she/her): to the exclusion of the other corners of that triangle, and so
Rissy Hantke (she/her): like to me, like Becky's response, is really getting at shifting the discourses and
Rissy Hantke (she/her): really contextualizing the discourses in order to debunk the harmful like inferiorizing discourses that are so prevalent, but like
Rissy Hantke (she/her): something that I really love, I mean, I've I've taught that
Rissy Hantke (she/her): framework in undergrad classes and keep returning to it, and keep finding new ways of understanding it and use it, using it like it's. It's the gift that keeps on giving, really. But I love looking at that triangle as
Rissy Hantke (she/her): 3 categories of opportunities to disrupt oppression. So yeah, we can be focusing on the outcomes and addressing the outcomes. And maybe those are band aid solutions, and we need to get to the wound.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and the wound is happening at the policies and practices level where the where the action is happening. But those those actions wouldn't be happening if the the discourses, the narratives, the false beliefs, were debunked
Rissy Hantke (she/her): so like, I think that it there there needs to be efforts and change at that educational level, to
Rissy Hantke (she/her): to change beliefs, to change understandings and to provide like history and yeah connection to like our our our context.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): and there needs to be interventions addressing like to to change the policies, to change the practices that are happening. So like I see that triangle as like breakable in 3 spots.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): So there's and and like. I think
Rissy Hantke (she/her): we are all suited towards different different interventions and different actions. And and so maybe you're not a teacher. Maybe you want to be addressing the outcomes and trying to mitigate the outcomes. Or maybe you're a policy person, and you want to be like focusing in on that and on that
Rissy Hantke (she/her): policies and practices.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): But I I mean, I think, like everyone's needed, and everyone has skills in in different areas of that triangle.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): I see Sharon's question in the chat Here should we consider an integrated approach to address poverty that always
Rissy Hantke (she/her): needs to consider anti racist approaches, and I I would say that's so important like they're just so closely entwined.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah, the exploitation we could talk about like the exploitation of Chinese laborers to build our railroad across Canada. At the same time the Chinese head tax was enforced, so that the Chinese laborers weren't able to bring
Rissy Hantke (she/her): family members over like these, these these histories of like intergenerational policies that have led to poverty or like this, so racist. And if we're not
Rissy Hantke (she/her): acknowledging that then we're not looking at the whole picture.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Yeah, Cassie, I hope that my my
Rissy Hantke (she/her): perspective on that power triangle give some ideas about making those shifts. And yeah.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Oh, I see our 1 min warning here in the chat. Wow! Question! Time goes so quickly.
Rissy Hantke (she/her): Thanks. All for your thoughtful questions and and a great discussion here.
Natasha Pei: It felt like time went quickly. And this workshop Thank you so much, Becky, and receive for putting this together, and for every to everyone for participating in. I think a really good, meaningful way.
Natasha Pei: I put in the chat box earlier, and just as a reminder, we shared the framework and really appreciate you walking us through it, but it's not for sharing. So if you do have, if you do know of somebody that you think would be interested, just put them in touch with Becky and Racy.
Becky Sasakamoose (She/Her): and there can be some education around using the framework as well.
Natasha Pei: So with that, my closing announcements are.
Natasha Pei: lunch is half an hour.
Natasha Pei: so take a break. I hope if you're able to stand up, take a walk around, be outside. If you're able to be, there is a take a break tab back on house space. So there's music there. They're stretching suggestions.
Natasha Pei: You can go and interact with people, so it's up to you. And then when you come back at 2, 45 Eastern, or whatever the time it might be for you click on the workshops tab at the top, where you saw this round of workshops round 2. We'll start at 2 45, and just click into the the one you want to choose next.
Natasha Pei: So thank you all. Have a wonderful rest of your day, and I hope to see you with the next workshop.
Natasha Pei: Bye, bye.