Last week, Mediacorp’s Canada’s Top 100 Employers project announced the winners of the annual Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for 2022. Providence Health Care is proud to be selected as a Canadian employer to receive this designation.
The annual competition recognizes the nation’s leaders in creating inclusive workplaces for employees in a variety of areas, including programs for employees from five groups: Women; Members of visible minorities; Persons with disabilities; Indigenous peoples; and people who are two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, or intersex (2SLGBTQI+).
To determine the winners, the project reviewed the diversity and inclusiveness initiatives of all employers that applied for the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project. Providence Health Care was included on the list this year for its various initiatives and programs that promote equal opportunities and a work environment where all employees feel respected and recognized.
In its reasons for selecting Providence, the project recognized our work in formally embedding Reconciliation into Providence policies, practices, programs and services; our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation; creation of an Indigenous Wellness and Reconciliation (IWR) Department, to ensure that Indigenous initiatives are Indigenous-led and Indigenous-informed. PHC has also developed and launched its first-ever Indigenous Wellness and Reconciliation Action Plan (IWRAP).
We are committed to continuing to ensure every employee receives training in Indigenous cultural safety and to developing a mentor scheme for researchers and physicians.
“There is a clear shift in conversation and a desire to address challenging issues, like anti-racism and reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous peoples, head on,” says Kristina Leung, Senior Editor of the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project.
The launch of the IWR Department marked a significant milestone for PHC in our dedication to delivering the highest standard of care to support improved wellness outcomes for BC First Nations, urban Indigenous, Métis and Inuit Peoples in BC; and support our ongoing work to actively address anti-Indigenous racism and embed the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) 94 Calls to Action, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and In Plain Sight into the fabric of Providence Health Care.
The honour of being recognized as a top diversity leader in Canada is another motivator for our senior leaders – and PHC’s staff, physicians and volunteers of all diverse cultures, beliefs and backgrounds – to recommit even stronger to forging a better way forward.
What’s key is having a formalized plan and strategy for unlocking opportunities and making true diversity and inclusion a reality. That includes a deep dive into determining where the inequalities lie, a willingness to act from the top down and a shift to meaningful representation at every level.
The full list of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for 2022 was announced today in a special magazine co-published with the Globe and Mail. Detailed reasons for selection for each of the 2 winners were released by the editors today and are accessible via the competition homepage.
