A consultant’s audit has found that the City of Delta is deeply committed to equity, diversity and inclusion.
That’s according to a Delta staff report discussed at council on Monday, Oct. 25.
Council last year agreed to establish the Mayor's Task Force on Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism.
At the same time, council approved retaining a consultant to review Delta's policies and actions related to diversity and inclusion and provide recommendations for improvements, subsequently retaining Veza Global to undertake the audit.
The report to council notes Veza Global undertook a detailed assessment of Delta's policies, actions, and other material, including an external review of city operations, an organizational assessment survey and focus group meetings with staff from all departments.
The findings were used to create the Delta Audit Report 2021 Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI).
“The EDI Audit Report found that the City is deeply committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion and the City's approach ranked as 'championed ' on Veza's equity, diversity, and inclusion maturity model. According to Veza, organizations at the ‘championed ' stage have strong support from their leadership teams and staff for progress on their equity, diversity, and inclusion goals with effective initiatives underway,” the Delta report notes.
Delta’s initiatives include, among other things, a collaborative and respectful partnership approach with Indigenous communities, a change in leadership toward 50 per cent gender representation at the senior staff levels and support for employees, especially through gender transition.
The EDI report contains a series of recommendations to move beyond the ‘championed’ stage to ‘innovation’ including developing a connected inclusive leadership program as part of regular equity, diversity, and inclusion training for management and executive leaders.
The recommendations also includes Delta establishing an operational staff team to incorporate recommendations from the EDI Audit Report and further equity, diversity and inclusion in all aspects of the civic organization.
The Delta report notes work is already underway and a staff team will be established in the coming weeks.
Council agreed to use the audit as a guiding document and for the city’s diversity task force to prepare a work plan to outline the city's actions.
“Much of the work required to keep the City of Delta moving in a positive direction related to equity, diversity, and inclusion is ongoing and some may require additional resources. The first two steps of establishing a work plan and creating an internal staff team to keep the entire organization engaged on equity, diversity, and inclusion will help drive these issues forward and continue to yield benefits to the organization and City,” the staff report notes.
Coun. Dylan Kruger, a member of the task force, said having an audit was a good undertaking as it provided diverse perspectives.
