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So what happened in Parliament today, happens in all other institutions including the Public Service every day. Black and Indigenous people & POC who have the courage to call out incidents of systemic racism get punished while the white colleague is rarely held to to account 1/
This leads to further trauma because when you find the strength to speak no one listens to you. No one is held to account and you still have to work with the person who is engaging in #AntiBlackRacism and #AntiIndigenousRacism, harassment and bullying 2/
When no one listens or when nothing is done you doubt yourself. Your mental health, well being is affected. you lose your voice. You don’t speak up when an offensive remark is made or when you see racism. you suffer in silence. and if you dont report it, then it isnt counted /3
So what happens is the racism continues. The bully gets away with it. They get promoted. You don’t. You don’t speak up cause no one will listen and you don’t want to be “blacklisted”. Then you begin to ask is this the right job for me /4
Am I really not meeting my job expectations? When in all honesty, WE are more than capable, qualified to do the work. We over perform when given the task. We just need to be treated fairly and be supported with equity and space show why we were hired in the first place 5/
So let’s talk about barriers to inclusion. Let’s talk about bias, we can call it unconscious bias if you wish but since it’s so pervasive I’m beginning to think it’s bias by partial choice as well as not being aware 6/
Let’s ask who gets language training and who doesn’t. Pull up the stats. Let’s ask why the hallways of work by the fancy boardrooms and big offices have no images of BIPOCs on the wall? After so many decades? Why is senior leadership so homogenous? representation matters / 7
Speaking at meetings is always “unnerving” at times but imagine speaking and looking around the table and no one else looks like you? GBA+ that and ask the BIPOC speakers who are women or LGBTQ2IA if there isn’t just a bit of adding preparing that goes into speaking up 8/
Why? Cause as you’re speaking you are also asking yourself why is everyone else here all white. Why is everyone else so old/young? I’m i the first policy advisor who is also BIPOC saying why not look at the issue a different way? Is this perspective so “different” 9/
And so you give the points and you get buy in because you are persistent and as I said before qualified :) and you deliver on the idea and you get the team award but not the individual awards. Someone else usually one who doesn’t look like you gets celebrated for your idea 10/
You don’t give up though, you keep on working, doing the job well but still having to face the bully and lack of representation from earlier, still having a mark on your file for calling out racially driven behaviours, still self doubt, still dealing with traumas 11/
Working in spaces with Anti-Black and Anti Indigenous racism is so taxing. Different folks experience it differently but BIPOCs experience it. That’s it. Period. If nothing is done to stop the harm in it’s many manifestations then the workplace will never be inclusive 12/
But you love your job and believe in what you do, so you keep on. You celebrate national public service week but not really cause you know from your own and your fellow BIPOCs work experiences not everyone gets celebrated that week or any day 13/
So to circle back to the 1st tweet, those who speak up are just a fraction of who experience it cause many don’t/can’t/won’t speak up for fear of more punishment or career stagnation 14/
But it is imperative those with agency intentionally act and engage in anti-racism to dismantle colonial legacies. Many have been doing this work for a long time. Respect to all the brave ones who spoke up over the many years. We have a chance now to re-imagine what we have 15/
We owe it those who came before, the colleagues with us now and the new hires, the ones who watch CPAC, all those young Black, Indigenous and other Persons of Colour who want to solve the public policy challenges Canada faces. We have to act now. Thanks for listening.
