{"id":30217,"date":"2021-10-28T17:27:38","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T21:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=30217"},"modified":"2021-10-28T17:30:12","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T21:30:12","slug":"vaccine-debate-spills-into-diversity-inclusion-plan-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/vaccine-debate-spills-into-diversity-inclusion-plan-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"Vaccine debate spills into Diversity & Inclusion Plan talks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Can a workplace that requires employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 truly be an inclusive one?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was the question posed to consultants last week as Aurora Council considered a number of recommendations in a draft Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Action Plan for Town Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As The Auroran reported last week, the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Action Plan is being considered for implementation to ensure the municipal public workplace is reflective of the community it serves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes putting safeguards in place to ensure \u201cunconscious bias\u201d of any kind is not a factor in the hiring process and ensuring workplace training is inclusive and conscious of various needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the plan is still yet to go before the Town\u2019s Anti-Black Racism and Anti-Racism Task Force for their review and input, Council weighed in on the draft plan and the actions contained within it last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am excited for the groundwork being done here and the ability to continue to build upon and grow the culture of our organization because I think it is so essential,\u201d said Councillor Michael Thompson, adding he was looking forward to input from the Task Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This enthusiasm was shared by Councillor Sandra Humfryes who said not only was the \u201ctiming\u201d right to bring this forward but so was the content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to do this,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is so important now more than ever and the more we can train and learn and really have those values, those visions, [and] the mission values understood. This is very, very important and all these areas are very important for us to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Rachel Gilliland was also supportive, adding that setting out core values and laying it out for staff and Council members alike to follow was important as well. In implementation, however, she asked how technology would play a part on achieving the goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, consultant Dr. Nafeesa Jalal said that technology will be particularly important in the hiring process to ensure \u201cunconscious bias\u201d is not a factor in new hires at Town Hall. One such example is programs that remove factors like name and gender from the application process so candidates are evaluated on merits alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Jalal noted further that Council needs to consider courses of action for employees who \u201caren\u2019t in line\u201d with the principles of the plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe as an organization need to set our standards to define who we are at the Town of Aurora,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we say we\u2019re an anti-racist organization, then we\u2019re an anti-racist organization. If someone comes into our organization or already exists in our organization who is okay with racism, we have to be very clear in saying we appreciate and value you as a person, but this is not going to be acceptable. I think as soon as you, as a Town, an organization, define yourself to say, \u2018We stand for diversity and inclusion, we welcome people with diverse backgrounds because that is who we are as Canadians\u2026\u2019 we are going to say everyone has a voice at the table regardless of who you are and what you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoes everyone within the organization feel we are a fair organization? Sometimes we feel we\u2019re a fair organization, but when we speak to people they might have different opinions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But will municipal employees who are now required to get vaccinated against COVID-19 without a valid reason for exemption have different opinions on how \u201cfair\u201d Town Hall is? That was a question that Councillor John Gallo, who was one of three Council members earlier this month who argued against mandatory vaccines for all municipal employees, wanted answers to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn terms of equity and inclusion, the Town of Aurora recently put in a policy to mandate that staff provide personal medical status regarding their vaccination,\u201d said Councillor Gallo. \u201cIf you don\u2019t, ultimately you could be fired. In terms of equity and inclusion, how do we, I guess, bridge that gap?… Reading the report and listening to you (Dr. Jalal) I had difficulty bridging that gap.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the recent mandate was not something Dr. Jalal said she considered in her recommendations, she provided her opinion based not only in her role as a consultant, but in her role as a person with a doctorate in Public Health, working on the front lines of the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe importance of vaccinations is commonplace to all of us,\u201d she said, adding that she was wearing \u201cboth hats\u201d while addressing the question. \u201cThe human rights piece comes in where some people might not be able to take vaccines because of medical history\u2026 if you have a policy if someone is able to provide you a medical record to say they are not, for medical reasons, able to take the vaccine for issues that they would have, then we may have to consider that. We may have to say the vaccination policy is required from everyone at the Town with the exception of A, B, C, D and that exception for A, B, C, D is where we incorporate our fairness piece. We want to be fair to everyone, so we can\u2019t have a blanket approach that everyone is vaccinated or else they are not going to be working at the Town if they have reasons that are valid for not having a vaccine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe two big grounds from a human rights perspective that have been allowed in terms of the vaccination, one is the medical status of people. If you have a medical condition that does not permit you to take the vaccine and you have a medical record to support that, that has been respected by institutions and all bodies that are now requiring a mandatory vaccination. The second one has been on religious grounds. If people are coming to you with the religious ground to say our religion does not permit a vaccination, we have seen a smaller number of this, but it still existed and it still continues to exist, so that is another ground in terms of the human rights side where people can come to you and say, \u2018Well, we work at the Town and we would like to continue to work with the Town. We have a religious restriction on which we\u2019re unable to take a vaccine.\u2019 The equity piece really comes into the piece of fairness. Are we being fair with our policies? If we have a vaccination for all policy, of course the exemption has to exist for people who are not able to take the vaccine. We cannot fire someone when they are not medically able to take the vaccine. We can\u2019t fire someone when they say they belong to a religion or a faith that does not allow them to take the vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Councillor Gallo said he wasn\u2019t \u201centirely sure\u201d that the vaccine policy aligns with those principles, Mayor Tom Mrakas said that valid exemptions are part of the policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that it is about providing health and safety for all our employees while being fairer, equitable and inclusive,\u201d said Mayor Mrakas, adding he would like Dr. Jalal\u2019s opinion on the policy in full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe talked about culture and we have heard it around the table with culture, and how do you change culture?\u201d he continued. \u201cI love the fact that the number one on the list is commitment from the top and I think it is so important that people need to understand culture does not change unless there is that commitment from the top. Ultimately, I believe diversity and inclusion strategies are not just simply a task on a list, to be completed and forgotten about. They should be and will be an integral part of our community, woven into the fabric of our community, as we go forward towards a more positive, inclusive future\u2026I am excited about us moving forward in the direction we are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong>
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can a workplace that requires employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 truly be an inclusive one? That was the question posed to consultants last week as Aurora Council considered a number of recommendations in a draft Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Action Plan for Town Hall. As The Auroran reported last week, the Diversity, Equity & […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-7Rn","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 09:07:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30217\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}