ANTIGONISH: The Town of Antigonish has signed the Leadership Accord on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which would see the town’s employees, if all goes to plan, become more diverse.
Councillors signed the accord during their regular council meeting on Sept. 20 and Mayor Laurie Boucher told The Reporter, the accord is an exciting project spearheaded by Electricity Human Resources Canada.
The Leadership Accord on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is a public commitment to advance, integrate and prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in organizational policies, processes, and culture.
“We’re looking at different things, we want to commit to governance of practices of organizational policy,” Boucher said. “We want to make sure a lot of groups are represented, we want to make sure that when a job is posted, and certain skills are needed, it’s posted in places that wouldn’t normally be posted, so everybody gets a chance to see it.”
The mayor said advertising job postings more widely to include members of underrepresented groups will also encourage minorities to apply for the positions they have within the town.
When someone new moves to the area, someone who could be highly qualified or specifically trained, oftentimes they simply aren’t aware of what jobs are available to them, Boucher said.
Speaking on the benefit of increasing the diversity of the workplace, Boucher highlighted how people are constantly learning from one another, and a more diverse workforce is essential to the future, of not only their community, but the province and the country.
“There’s a number of groups underrepresented in every community,” she said. “And I think it’s up to us, to make sure that we are doing our best effort to include anybody.”
Boucher added a more diverse Antigonish would actually attract more newcomers to the area, not only immigrants from other countries, but newcomers from other communities and other provinces as well.