252 search results for
Racism
Recommendation 5:
Ensure the growth of Black and Indigenous cultural workers into senior positions. Ensure Black and Indigenous staff are given the opportunity to interview for senior positions and foster a practice of hiring from within. Where possible and appropriate provide mentorship to those employees and include explicitly in succession planning.
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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
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Audience:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 43:
End the apprehension of Indigenous children due to poverty or Eurocentric ideas of neglect that stem from a legacy of colonization.
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Recommendation 2:
Encourage greater participation and engagement from all businesses with Chinatown-wide events & festivities.
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Recommendation 13:
Employ credible editorial tools (e.g., Reporting in Indigenous Communities riic.ca) to reduce the continued feeding of anti-Indigenous stereotyping in news headlines and articles.
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Recommendation 23:
Employ both an equity and intersectional lens, for existing and future legislation, regulations and policies in order to promote respect, dignity and fairness, and support diversity and equality for all people in communities across Canada.
Islamophobia at Work: Challenges and Opportunities
Group/author:
Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Labour Congress
Year:
2019
2019
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Recommendation 11:
Embrace a women-centred philosophy in hotels with policies and practices that ensure women’s access and safety in all spaces, especially for Indigenous women and women of colour.
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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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Recommendation 30:
Develop organizational and workplace policies and practices that are fair, equitable and free from discrimination, harassment or retaliation against anyone, including racialized and/or Muslim employees who work for the organization or those who receive services from it.
Islamophobia at Work: Challenges and Opportunities
Group/author:
Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Labour Congress
Year:
2019
2019
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Audience:
Groups affected:
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