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Faith groups
Recommendation 16:
Improve social cohesion and decreasing social distance
As shown in this report, parallel economic and social systems exist and are pronounced in Chinatown. While there are multiple parallels in existence in all neighbourhoods to a degree, we believe that it is highly pronounced in this neighbourhood due to its demographics, history, and recent changes.
As identified in the Resilient Vancouver Phase One Engagement Report (2018), social cohesion and community connectedness were of key interest to the City. The engagement report explores several reasons as to why there are high levels of social isolation, including the “lack of understanding about Vancouver’s history and cultural heritage.” This cultural blindness contributes to the reinforcement of injustices and inequitable flow of knowledge and resources.
To fully recognize historic ethnocultural spaces and parallel social and economic systems will:
As our findings showcased and we have discussed in our conclusion, integration is not always possible nor is it ideal. Policies should start to recognize these parallels and their histories; measures of social cohesion and social distance both reflect the segregation that we rarely talk about as a city.
There are also UNESCO implications beyond just recognizing and valuing diversity through intangible cultural heritage; “within the context of globalisation, Intangible Cultural Heritage has capital importance as it allows cultural diversity to be maintained through dialogue between cultures and the promotion of respect towards other ways of life.” Intangible cultural heritage, as UNESCO states, will contribute “to social cohesion, encouraging a sense of identity and responsibility which helps individuals to feel part of one or different communities and to feel part of society at large.”
While several actions are discussed in the recommendations to “Addressing Parallel Systems,” we believe that focusing on increasing civic and public knowledge of our history and cultural heritage will result in an emergence of strategies and tactics that will reflect a more equitable reality.
As shown in this report, parallel economic and social systems exist and are pronounced in Chinatown. While there are multiple parallels in existence in all neighbourhoods to a degree, we believe that it is highly pronounced in this neighbourhood due to its demographics, history, and recent changes.
As identified in the Resilient Vancouver Phase One Engagement Report (2018), social cohesion and community connectedness were of key interest to the City. The engagement report explores several reasons as to why there are high levels of social isolation, including the “lack of understanding about Vancouver’s history and cultural heritage.” This cultural blindness contributes to the reinforcement of injustices and inequitable flow of knowledge and resources.
To fully recognize historic ethnocultural spaces and parallel social and economic systems will:
- Meaningfully shift the orientation of policy from “Place-making” to “Placekeeping;”
- Support the maintenance and growth of Chinatown’s social infrastructure as something critical to residents, businesses, and other groups; and
- Broaden the definition of “food assets” to include cultural food assets for their role in ensuring residents have access to healthy, culturally appropriate, and affordable food, along with a place for community identity and social connection.
As our findings showcased and we have discussed in our conclusion, integration is not always possible nor is it ideal. Policies should start to recognize these parallels and their histories; measures of social cohesion and social distance both reflect the segregation that we rarely talk about as a city.
There are also UNESCO implications beyond just recognizing and valuing diversity through intangible cultural heritage; “within the context of globalisation, Intangible Cultural Heritage has capital importance as it allows cultural diversity to be maintained through dialogue between cultures and the promotion of respect towards other ways of life.” Intangible cultural heritage, as UNESCO states, will contribute “to social cohesion, encouraging a sense of identity and responsibility which helps individuals to feel part of one or different communities and to feel part of society at large.”
While several actions are discussed in the recommendations to “Addressing Parallel Systems,” we believe that focusing on increasing civic and public knowledge of our history and cultural heritage will result in an emergence of strategies and tactics that will reflect a more equitable reality.
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Recommendation 34:
Implement name-blind recruiting and hiring practices at both the staff and management levels, and ensure there is no bias, prejudice or discrimination against employees from diverse backgrounds, including Muslim employees, in the entire employment process including onboarding, retention, and promotion.
Islamophobia at Work: Challenges and Opportunities
Group/author:
Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Labour Congress
Year:
2019
2019
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Recommendation 5:
Establish cultural knowledge/skills sharing hub that works off of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) Article 14(a), where each State Party shall endeavour, by all appropriate means, to ensure recognition of, respect for, and enhancement of the intangible cultural heritage in society, in particular through:
- educational, awareness-raising and information programmes, aimed at the general public, in particular young people;
- specific educational and training programmes within the communities and groups concerned;
- capacity-building activities for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage, in particular management and scientific research; and
- non-formal means of transmitting knowledge.
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Recommendation 38:
Establish and publicly promote a commitment from leadership, at the top levels of the organization or business, against Islamophobia in the workplace and society.
Islamophobia at Work: Challenges and Opportunities
Group/author:
Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Labour Congress
Year:
2019
2019
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Recommendation 35:
Ensure there is no bias, prejudice or discrimination against employees from diverse backgrounds, including Muslim employees, in wages and compensation.
Islamophobia at Work: Challenges and Opportunities
Group/author:
Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Labour Congress
Year:
2019
2019
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Recommendation 39:
Ensure that the duty to accommodate Muslim employees’ needs concerning religious observance by addressing existing or preventable barriers, for example:
a. Prayers two of the five times a day are during a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday.
b. Washing (ablution) of face, hands, arms, and feet with clean water is required of Muslims before prayer. This can be done in the workplace washrooms, or a place with running water;
c. Friday congregational prayer is about one hour around lunchtime. An employer, in discussion with the Muslim employee, can arrange flexible work hours such as coming in earlier or leaving later on Friday;
d. Fasting during Ramadan is an important practice in Islam. Muslims abstain from food and drink including water from dawn until sunset for one month. An employer, in discussion with the Muslim employee, can arrange:
i. for flexible work hours such as shortening the workday if a lunch break is not taken by the employee; and
ii. for the employee to be exempt from work meetings and events that serve food and drinks during Ramadan.
e. Social and work events celebrating religious holidays of other faiths where alcohol is served may not be comfortable for Muslims. These employees should not be penalized for not participating in such events. Also, a Muslim employee should not be asked to serve or sell religiously offensive (haram) products, such as alcohol;
f. Pilgrimage (Haj) to the city of Mecca, which takes about a week, is required of Muslim adults at least once in their lifetime. Muslim employees may use their vacation days and/or unpaid days to fulfill this rite. The employee and employer should discuss to find available dates and options;
g. Holidays for religious observance and celebration (Eids) happens twice a year. Canadian employers are required by law to give Muslim employees two full days for religious observances in addition to vacation and statutory holidays; h. Clothing and behaviour for Muslims must be modest according to Islam. Muslim men are required to wear loose and non-transparent clothing covering, at a minimum, from their navel to their knees. Some Muslim men wear a small head covering, called a kufi. Some Muslim women wear loose-fitting, non-revealing clothing as well as a hijab, or some a face veil. The employer and Muslim employee may want to discuss workplace dress code exemptions, if necessary;
i. Many Muslim men for religious reasons wear beards. For health and safety reasons in the workplace, employers may require employees with beards to use proper covering such as hairnets or masks;
j. Some Muslims do not practice shaking hands with an unrelated person of the opposite sex as a sign of modesty and avoid any physical contact with members of the opposite gender; and
k. Dietary requirements for Muslims prohibit the consumption of alcohol, pork, and pork by-products according to the Qur’an, Islam’s religious book. Many practicing Muslims will only consume halal meat and poultry slaughtered according to certain standards of slaughter and preparation.
a. Prayers two of the five times a day are during a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday.
b. Washing (ablution) of face, hands, arms, and feet with clean water is required of Muslims before prayer. This can be done in the workplace washrooms, or a place with running water;
c. Friday congregational prayer is about one hour around lunchtime. An employer, in discussion with the Muslim employee, can arrange flexible work hours such as coming in earlier or leaving later on Friday;
d. Fasting during Ramadan is an important practice in Islam. Muslims abstain from food and drink including water from dawn until sunset for one month. An employer, in discussion with the Muslim employee, can arrange:
i. for flexible work hours such as shortening the workday if a lunch break is not taken by the employee; and
ii. for the employee to be exempt from work meetings and events that serve food and drinks during Ramadan.
e. Social and work events celebrating religious holidays of other faiths where alcohol is served may not be comfortable for Muslims. These employees should not be penalized for not participating in such events. Also, a Muslim employee should not be asked to serve or sell religiously offensive (haram) products, such as alcohol;
f. Pilgrimage (Haj) to the city of Mecca, which takes about a week, is required of Muslim adults at least once in their lifetime. Muslim employees may use their vacation days and/or unpaid days to fulfill this rite. The employee and employer should discuss to find available dates and options;
g. Holidays for religious observance and celebration (Eids) happens twice a year. Canadian employers are required by law to give Muslim employees two full days for religious observances in addition to vacation and statutory holidays; h. Clothing and behaviour for Muslims must be modest according to Islam. Muslim men are required to wear loose and non-transparent clothing covering, at a minimum, from their navel to their knees. Some Muslim men wear a small head covering, called a kufi. Some Muslim women wear loose-fitting, non-revealing clothing as well as a hijab, or some a face veil. The employer and Muslim employee may want to discuss workplace dress code exemptions, if necessary;
i. Many Muslim men for religious reasons wear beards. For health and safety reasons in the workplace, employers may require employees with beards to use proper covering such as hairnets or masks;
j. Some Muslims do not practice shaking hands with an unrelated person of the opposite sex as a sign of modesty and avoid any physical contact with members of the opposite gender; and
k. Dietary requirements for Muslims prohibit the consumption of alcohol, pork, and pork by-products according to the Qur’an, Islam’s religious book. Many practicing Muslims will only consume halal meat and poultry slaughtered according to certain standards of slaughter and preparation.
Islamophobia at Work: Challenges and Opportunities
Group/author:
Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Labour Congress
Year:
2019
2019
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Recommendation 29:
Ensure employers, management and employees understand their obligations under the Canadian Human Rights Act to Muslim employees in the workplace and to create a fair and healthy workplace free from discrimination, harassment, prejudice and bias. Provide resources to ensure that racialized and/or Muslim employees know their rights in the workplace.
Islamophobia at Work: Challenges and Opportunities
Group/author:
Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Labour Congress
Year:
2019
2019
-
Category and theme:
Audience:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 5:
Engage and educate members about the dangers represented by the Islamophobic far-right political movements.
Islamophobia at Work: Challenges and Opportunities
Group/author:
Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Labour Congress
Year:
2019
2019
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Category and theme:
Audience:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 46:
We call upon the parties to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement to develop and sign a Covenant of Reconciliation that would identify principles for working collaboratively to advance reconciliation in Canadian society, and that would include, but not be limited to:
- Reaffirmation of the parties’ commitment to reconciliation.
- Repudiation of concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples, such as the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius, and the reformation of laws, governance structures, and policies within their respective institutions that continue to rely on such concepts.
- Full adoption and implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework for reconciliation.
- Support for the renewal or establishment of Treaty relationships based on principles of mutual recognition, mutual respect, and shared responsibility for maintaining those relationships into the future.
- Enabling those excluded from the Settlement Agreement to sign onto the Covenant of Reconciliation.
- Enabling additional parties to sign onto the Covenant of Reconciliation.
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Recommendation 15:
Development and application of an Equity Framework
UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) calls for the “[adoption of] a general policy aimed at promoting the function of the intangible cultural heritage in society, and at integrating the safeguarding of such heritage into planning programmes.”
At a high level, we recommend that the City of Vancouver develop an equity framework to better include and understand the needs of Vancouver’s existing and growing diverse populations. The topics discussed in this report do not exist in a vacuum, but rather have complex intersectionalities, which can only begin to be understood from a framework of equity. For example, conversations about contributing to Chinatown’s character must be rooted in an understanding of the cultural blindness of orientalism and racial stereotyping.
The equity framework would apply to all aspects of municipal governance, such as services, outreach and engagement, decision making, hiring, and other key functions of the City. Multiple forms of equity, such as gender, race, disability, and economic, should be taken into account.
This framework would include a holistic recognition of culture (beyond Arts & Culture) and from there, approach policy-making and implementation through a culturally appropriate lens. As discussed in our Vancouver Chinatown Food Security Report (2017), we recommend that the City recognize the importance of culture and enact culture as the 4th pillar of sustainability. Similar equity-based approaches can be found in UNESCO’s definition of Intangible Cultural Heritage where culture “is recognized as such by the communities, groups or individuals that create, maintain and transmit it—without their recognition, nobody else can decide for them that a given expression or practice is their heritage.” This speaks to the self-determination approach where a healthy community is one that has the right and the ability to shape their own present and future.
This equity framework will be critical in our collective work to further define Chinatown’s intangible cultural heritage—a key part of the community’s bid for a UNESCO designation. UNESCO states that intangible cultural heritage “has capital importance as it allows cultural diversity to be maintained through dialogue between cultures and the promotion of respect towards other ways of life.” The phrasing “other ways of life” comes from principles of recognizing that diversity is beyond a settler-centric celebration of perceived differences; it’s about meaningfully working alongside diverse people towards empowering their autonomy and actualization.
This gives credence to the understanding that there should be more emphasis put towards the community’s right to self-determine their future. Further work will need to be completed to design a tangible and measurable framework that covers the various forms of disparities that our communities face and hold.
UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) calls for the “[adoption of] a general policy aimed at promoting the function of the intangible cultural heritage in society, and at integrating the safeguarding of such heritage into planning programmes.”
At a high level, we recommend that the City of Vancouver develop an equity framework to better include and understand the needs of Vancouver’s existing and growing diverse populations. The topics discussed in this report do not exist in a vacuum, but rather have complex intersectionalities, which can only begin to be understood from a framework of equity. For example, conversations about contributing to Chinatown’s character must be rooted in an understanding of the cultural blindness of orientalism and racial stereotyping.
The equity framework would apply to all aspects of municipal governance, such as services, outreach and engagement, decision making, hiring, and other key functions of the City. Multiple forms of equity, such as gender, race, disability, and economic, should be taken into account.
This framework would include a holistic recognition of culture (beyond Arts & Culture) and from there, approach policy-making and implementation through a culturally appropriate lens. As discussed in our Vancouver Chinatown Food Security Report (2017), we recommend that the City recognize the importance of culture and enact culture as the 4th pillar of sustainability. Similar equity-based approaches can be found in UNESCO’s definition of Intangible Cultural Heritage where culture “is recognized as such by the communities, groups or individuals that create, maintain and transmit it—without their recognition, nobody else can decide for them that a given expression or practice is their heritage.” This speaks to the self-determination approach where a healthy community is one that has the right and the ability to shape their own present and future.
This equity framework will be critical in our collective work to further define Chinatown’s intangible cultural heritage—a key part of the community’s bid for a UNESCO designation. UNESCO states that intangible cultural heritage “has capital importance as it allows cultural diversity to be maintained through dialogue between cultures and the promotion of respect towards other ways of life.” The phrasing “other ways of life” comes from principles of recognizing that diversity is beyond a settler-centric celebration of perceived differences; it’s about meaningfully working alongside diverse people towards empowering their autonomy and actualization.
This gives credence to the understanding that there should be more emphasis put towards the community’s right to self-determine their future. Further work will need to be completed to design a tangible and measurable framework that covers the various forms of disparities that our communities face and hold.
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