Equity
Refers to the guarantee of fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for students, faculty, and staff at every stage of educational and career development.
Employment equity principles, policies, and practices enable equitable access, representation, opportunities, and meaningful participation of socially diverse people-from the federally designated and other equity-seeking groups such as women, members of visible minority groups, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQ2S+ people.
York University acknowledges that there are historically underserved and underrepresented populations. We recognize that policies, practices, informal processes, and language created by and for particular groups of people, with a default norm in mind, produce structural barriers that limit access and inclusion for other individuals and groups.
Taking equity as a guiding principle means that the university will respect and value the differences of our members by actively identifying and removing barriers, including structural barriers, to ensure that historically excluded groups have the same opportunity to fully flourish at York University.
Diversity
Diversity refers to the presence of difference and variety of personal experiences, values, and worldviews that arise from difference of culture and circumstance. Such differences include race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, age, class, religion and spirituality, geographic and international, and more. Within universities, diversity also encompasses difference or variety in education, perspectives, opinions, heuristics, disciplines, faculties, skills, and learning opportunities.
York University supports and encourages diversity through the identification and removal of barriers and biases, and the creation of workplaces and learning environments that are free of harassment and discrimination. We affirm and celebrate diversity at York.
Inclusion
Inclusion means that we value and cultivate full and meaningful engagement of historically and structurally excluded individuals and groups in a healthy and affirming climate.
Inclusion refers to enabling all individuals on our campuses to fully enjoy the opportunities the university has to offer, and to have all equity-seeking groups meaningfully represented in all aspects of university life and decision-making roles university wide.
Inclusion is “the active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity — in people, in the curriculum, in the co-curriculum, and in communities (intellectual, social, cultural, geographical) with which individuals might connect — in ways that increase one’s awareness, content knowledge, cognitive sophistication, and empathic understanding of the complex ways individuals interact within value systems and institutions” (Association of American Colleges and Universities, AAC&U).
Inclusion establishes an environment in which all individuals and communities are able to thrive in authentic ways. Moreover, an inclusive and welcoming climate embraces differences so that all people can fully participate in the university’s opportunities.
York University is committed to the advancement of inclusion — the act of creating environments where individuals feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued.
Social Justice
Social justice serves as the conceptual foundation for York University’s[DP1] [AG2] commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The institution recognizes its responsibility to examine traditional power structures and to address unfair treatment of any university constituent within these structures. Moreover, York intends to educate and empower all members of the community to think critically about systems of marginalization and oppression. This includes a deeper understanding of privilege and the need for all in the community to work toward equity and fairness in the pursuit of transformation of lives, professions, and societies.
Intersectionality
An intersectional approach to equity, diversity, and inclusivity begins from the understanding that the different vectors of social diversity, (race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, nationality, religion, language, age, etc.) do not exist separately or in isolation from each other. Instead, the various vectors of social diversity are interwoven and affect each other.
Intersectionality focuses on how multiple, interwoven vectors shape social belonging, cultural representations, social and political institutions, as well as the material conditions of our lives in ways that are not reducible to any singular vector or social category.
Initially developed by women of colour seeking to understand how their existence and experiences of marginalization could not be reduced to gender or racial categorization alone, today we understand that everyone’s life is shaped by intersecting social categories.
Intersecting social categories play a role in exclusion and shape social, political, and material marginalization and dominance. Experiences and systems of persistent social inequality cannot be understood without an intersectional framework.
We will respond with understanding the unique lived experiences and barriers faced by different equity-seeking groups and recognize the importance of considering both intersectional and disaggregated issues and needs of these differently marginalized groups.
Indigeneity
We will respond with understanding the distinct rights and entitlements of Indigenous peoples, Indigenous ways of knowing & being, and recognizing the primacy of education, relationship-building, and reconciliation in advancing Indigenous priorities.
Reconciliation refers to a process of building and sustaining respectful, ethical relationships between Indigenous peoples and the rest of Canada based on mutual understanding and respect.
Reconciliation embraces new projects and processes arising out of our response to, but not limited by, the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action.
The development of this work takes place against the backdrop of Indigenous treaty relationships and Canada’s constitutional and human rights obligations.
Human Rights
We will maintain the University’s commitment to human rights and reflect this in our work and practices. We will work to identify root causes of discrimination and bring forth ideas of how to bring about broad, systemic change where possible.
Every person, by virtue of being human, is entitled to certain fundamental rights regardless of race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religious beliefs, gender, gender identity and gender expression, physical disability, mental disability, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, age, political beliefs, and any other protected ground as amended over time. Each person is entitled to a life of dignity, equality, and respect, free from discrimination, harassment, and bullying.
Anti-Racism
Anti-racism is about taking proactive steps to fight racial inequity. It differs from other approaches that may focus on multiculturalism or diversity because it acknowledges that systemic racism exists and actively confronts the unequal power dynamic between groups and the structures that sustain it.
Anti-racism involves consistently assessing structures, policies and programs, and through monitoring outcomes, ensuring they are fair and equitable for everyone.
Anti-racism actively examines the power imbalances between racialized people and non-racialized/white people. These imbalances play out in the form of unearned privileges that white people benefit from and racialized people do not. We will endeavour to practice anti-racism in our work by identifying systems of power and privilege at the university to understand how they affect the lived experiences of people of colour and Indigenous peoples who work and study on our campuses, and consequently how we can make change to create a more equitable community.