At the Green Party of Canada, we are committed to being true allies for change. We have a responsibility to speak out against injustice, and do the important work of dismantling systemic and institutionalized oppression. It is not enough to remain neutral. This is our commitment to being actively anti-discriminatory.
- We have appointed a member of staff in the Executive Director’s Office to lead our efforts to promote diversity in the Party at large. We will support their work with a Party-wide audit of our processes to identify and dismantle systemic oppression within the Party.
- We have enlisted support from experts to facilitate anti-discrimination, anti-oppression, anti-racism, anti-colonialism and inclusion training for Federal Council and other governance bodies, staff, leadership contestants, and their teams. This will begin in July 2020.
- We will strictly enforce the Members’ Code of Conduct in order to create and maintain safe spaces. We will not tolerate violations, will call out discrimination when we see it, and will take all appropriate actions to address misconduct.
Since the federal election, we have reached out to candidates who experience systemic discrimination and oppression through intersections of race, disability, gender, sexuality, age, religion, socio-economic disadvantage or other statuses. We heard their stories of the additional barriers they confronted, the harsh public scrutiny they faced, and the burden they carried of constantly justifying their identities. We acknowledge that as a party we did not do enough to support them. We will do better moving forward.
At this time, we are in the midst of a leadership contest. We are incredibly fortunate to have such a diverse slate of contestants. This is not only a cause for celebration, but a responsibility. We renew our commitment to making the Green Party of Canada a safe space for contestants and their teams, and ensure that no one is treated unfairly simply because of who they are.
The Leadership Contest Authority will apply the rules and guidelines of the Contest through the lens of intersectionality, with the understanding that they have a responsibility to foster an equitable and fair contest.
During the leadership contest, the Party will make available or reimburse reasonable costs of psycho-social support or therapy to contestants and/or members of their teams who face attacks based on their race, ability, gender, sexuality, age, socio-economic or other status.
The Party will not hesitate to call out hatred and discrimination when we see it, and we will stand in solidarity with any contestants or campaigns who are targets of hatred or discrimination.
While we are making progress, we must go further, faster. This work must be done in partnership with communities. We want to hear your voice. Please send your feedback and ideas to diversity@greenparty.ca.
Thank you to those who called us out on our failures, and those who keep pushing us all forward to an equitable society. We will keep striving to do better.
Signed,
Jo-Ann Roberts
Interim Leader
Prateek Awasthi
Executive Director
Jean-Luc Cooke
President
On behalf of the Green Party of Canada