Q: What is DiverseCity: The Greater Toronto Leadership Project?
A: DiverseCity: The Greater Toronto Leadership Project is the combined work of the Toronto City Summit Alliance and The Maytree Foundation. This project is a group of initiatives led by a steering committee of prominent individuals who recognize the value and potential of diversity in leadership for the region’s social and economic prosperity. They have come together to support and develop solutions that will address the under-representation of ethnic and racial groups in leadership positions in the GTA.
Q: What do you mean by “leader”?
A: The DiverseCity Project has defined leaders as people who work or volunteer in public, private or voluntary sector positions that:
- are symbolically important to a city in the GTA, or to the region of Toronto as a whole;
- give them influence in the decision-making arena; and/or
- provide them with decision-making powers within their organization, their sector, or across sectors that allow them to make decisions which affect people living in the city.
Leaders may include: executives, political representatives, board members and senior public servants.
Q: Who are the under-represented ethnic and racial leaders?
A: For the purpose of the DiverseCity Project, under-represented ethnic and racial leaders include some visible minorities as defined by the federal Employment Equity Act and as used by Statistics Canada. This term refers to any person who is non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour. For example, a person may belong to a visible minority if they are:
- Chinese
- South Asian (e.g., East Indian, Pakistani, Punjabi, Sri Lankan)
- Black (e.g., African, Haitian, Jamaican, Somali)
- Arab/West Asian (e.g., Armenian, Egyptian, Iranian, Lebanese, Moroccan)
- Filipino
- South East Asian (e.g., Cambodian, Indonesian, Laotian, Vietnamese)
- Latin American
- Japanese
- Korean
This project may also reach out to individuals who do not consider themselves visible minorities but who belong to an ethnic group that research has indicated is under-represented in leadership positions. This would include immigrants.
Q: Does your project address the under-representation of Aboriginal Peoples?
A: This project is focused primarily on visible minorities and under-represented ethnic groups.
Aboriginal Canadians are not visible minorities (as defined by the Employment Equity Act). Aboriginal peoples have their own history and experience of exclusion which is unique from that experienced by immigrants and their descendents in Canada. Looking at the issues of ethnic groups as separate from aboriginal groups is consistent with the practice of many other organizations. For example, Statistics Canada’s Ethnic Diversity Study does not include aboriginal peoples. A separate survey has been created called the Aboriginal Peoples Survey.
While the DiverseCity Project does not explicitly seek to address the under-representation of Aboriginal people in this project, it does welcome the participation of Aboriginal people in the DiverseCity onBoard and DiverseCity Fellows initiatives.
Q: Women, Gays and Lesbians, Disabled People, and Aboriginal Peoples are also under-represented in leadership positions in the GTA. Why are they not a focus of this project?
A: The DiverseCity Project partners and steering committee strongly believe that the leadership of the GTA should reflect the populations of the GTA in every way. However, for the purpose of this project they have chosen to focus on the under-representation of ethnic and racial groups.
This project may serve as a model for work that addresses other types of under-representation. The DiverseCity Project leadership would be happy to share the learnings of their work with those who are working to further enhance the diversity of the region.
Q: How do we know that some ethnic and racial groups are under-represented in leadership?
A: While a comprehensive study of diversity in leadership of the GTA has not yet been undertaken, research that is currently available suggests that visible minorities and some ethnic groups are under-represented in leadership positions in the public, private and/or voluntary sectors. For more information, please see work prepared by The Conference Board of Canada and the Diversity Institute which is available on the DiverseCity project website.
Q: Does this project discriminate against Caucasian Canadians?
A: Absolutely not. The DiverseCity Project is about providing equal opportunity to all people in the region of Toronto.
The principle of providing opportunities to disadvantaged groups is found in legislation which protects Canadians against discrimination. For example:
Part I of the Ontario Human Rights code protects all people in the province of Ontario from discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, family status or handicap.
Part 14-1 allows organizations or employers to create special programs “designed to achieve or attempt to achieve equal opportunity of that is likely to contribute to the elimination of the infringement of rights under Part I.”
Section 15 of The Charter of Rights and Freedoms states that “Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.” This “does not preclude any law, program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are disadvantaged because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.”
Q: Is this a project about the City of Toronto or the GTA?
A: The DiverseCity Project is about the GTA as a whole, but some initiatives may target particular municipalities or particular regions within the GTA.
The initiatives will each specify whether they are focused on:
- City of Toronto.
- Region of Toronto – the Census Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Canada.
- Greater Toronto Area – the planning area which includes the City of Toronto, Regional Municipalities of York, Halton, Peel and Durham.
Q: What will success look like, and how will it be measured?
A: By 2010, the DiverseCity Project will have changed the leadership landscape in the following ways:
- 300 senior level executives will have created new networks across ethnic and racial groups;
- 75 rising leaders will be equipped to collaborate across sectors to address pressing civic challenges;
- 500 leaders from under-represented ethnic and racial backgrounds will be appointed to agencies, boards and commissions;
- 90 diverse leaders will be ready to participate in political processes as candidates and campaign managers; and
- 300 diverse leaders will be identified to speak to the media on a range of issues (not just diversity).
In addition, it is hoped that this project will encourage broader societal change. This project will articulate the social and economic importance of leadership diversity for the GTA and will measure the extent to which the public, private and voluntary sectors reflect the diversity of the population.
