The College’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Working Group was established to consider issues of racism, systemic discrimination or bias that may be present within the College’s regulatory structures, and the larger psychology profession. The Working Group is committed to reviewing College processes through an equity, diversity and inclusion lens and advocating for change as necessary. This work will occur from the inside out, first looking inward at the College’s internal processes and then turning its attention outward to the larger professional community.
The EDI Working Group has begun to develop and prioritize a list of goals and actions to be pursued. An overarching goal is to ensure that everyone involved on the College Council, its Committees and staff consider equity, diversity and inclusion in every decision made; that everyone is asking, “how does this action reflect and support our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion?”. A major first step will be to provide training to the College leadership as well as those involved at the Committee and staff levels. The Working Group believes it is vital that equity, diversity and inclusion is reflected throughout the College and modelled by the Council, Executive and the Senior Management Staff.
Prompted by the work of the EDI Working Group, the College has begun a review of its documents and posted information. The Standards of Professional Conduct, 2017 have been revised to ensure gender neutral language and the question related to gender identity in the renewal form is now more inclusive and reflective of the College membership. Further revisions will take place as current documents are reviewed or new ones developed.
The next meeting is scheduled for mid-May.
Donna Ferguson, Psy.D., C.Psych.
Chair, EDI Working Group