Deepening PAD participation in entrepreneurship

Deepen equity in service delivery by and to PADs

Recommendation 35: The Ministry of Citizens’ Services should establish governmental desks or offices that are competently staffed to support People of African Descent businesses and facilitate their relations with the Government.

Deepening PAD participation in entrepreneurship

Deepen equity in service delivery by and to PADs

Recommendation 36: The Ministry of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour should unequivocally support entrepreneurs of African descent through dedicated avenues for skills, products and business promotions. Amongst key measures recommended, the Government should commit to sourcing a reasonable proportion of governmental purchases and contracts from PAD businesses.

Improving support for Black businesses and owners

Deepen equity in service delivery by and to PADs

Recommendation 37: The Ministry of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation must commit to creating dedicated and adequate funding pathways, including grants and concessionary loans for business owners of African descent, that are less complex to access and have clearer criteria than the federal-level Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund under the Black Entrepreneurship Program. Considering historical and structural risks and biases People of African Descent businesses have to contend with, It is also critical for these programs to reduce or attenuate emphasis on collaterals by Banks.

Improving support for Black businesses and owners

Deepen equity in service delivery by and to PADs

Recommendation 38: The Ministry of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation should invest in advisory, consulting, and mentoring services for People of African Descent businesses accessing loan programs. This should come through both a centralized funding stream through People of African Descent business organizations and a separate stream directly accessible by People of African Descent business owners.

Improving support for Black businesses and owners

Deepen equity in service delivery by and to PADs

Recommendation 39: The Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Division at the Ministry of Attorney General should provide dedicated funding to social entrepreneurs and not-for-profit businesses of African descent to enhance market diversity using the National Ecosystem Fund of the Black Entrepreneurship Program as a model. This is critical in promoting micro-businesses participation in the economic life of BC and to foster their growth.

Improving anti-racism accountability systems in K-12 education

Implement policy and legislative safeguards for PADs

Recommendation 42: The Ministry of Education must develop, in conjunction with educators and psychologists of African Descent, the necessary competencies and toolkits for contextually interpreting the evaluations and assessments of educators and principals of African Descent by students and reviewers, respectively. This is critical as a de-contextualized review system could reflect anti-Black racism and discrimination that in turn affects the professional and career chances of educators of African Descent.

Deepening representation in schools

Increase the recruitment of PADs

Recommendation 44: The Ministry of Education must prioritize the training, recruitment and retention of more mental health and career counselors of African Descent for BC schools.

Deepening representation in schools

Increase the recruitment of PADs

Recommendation 45: The Province must support and require BC schools to prioritize the recruitment of Black educators, principals, and administrators. It is critical to design and implement teacher education programmes that target students of African Descent and attract them to the teaching profession in BC. Programs such as UBC’s Indigenous Teacher Education Program can be adapted to suit the needed contextualized training for future educators of African Descent. Implement targeted incentives to attract Black students to teaching such as grants, tuition reimbursement and Black-centred mentorship and skill development programmes.

Deepening representation in schools

Deepen equity in service delivery by and to PADs

Recommendation 47: The Ministry of Education must provide educators of African Descent with the needed emotional and material support as they face navigate racist structures and institutions. This includes dedicated support to Black professionals within BC’s education sector to run their solidarity and mentorship programming. Also, it is critical for the Province to design and support training programs for educators of African Descent on how to effectively deal with the racism they will encounter from students and peers. The program must be led in design and implementation by educators with lived anti-Black racism experiences as an unreflective program can be retraumatizing.

Deepening representation in schools

Support PAD professional development

Recommendation 48: The Ministry of Education must support the professional growth and retention of educators of African Descent through dedicated training on leadership, career advancement and succession planning.