By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

free to attend

National Workplace Inclusion Forum goes Oct. 14 & 21

Oct 13, 2021 | 10:31 AM

The Red Deer Local Immigration Partnership (RDLIP) is one of a dozen similar organizations across Canada to have organized a national conference on workplace inclusion this month.

The groups want to use their platform to call on businesses to step up their diversity, equity and inclusion commitments, and in the meantime, use the conference to offer skill-building opportunities.

The National Workplace Inclusion Forum is virtual and free to attend on Oct. 14 and 21.

“In order for our economy to thrive again, we need to support our community to flourish first,” says Ezgi Sarioglu, RDLIP manager. “The pandemic highlighted workplace issues such as exclusion, discrimination, and systemic racism, but it also revealed how much the success of the economy relies on workers, and it is not impossible for us to change these issues for the better of the employees and employers alike.”

Workshops will include discussion about cultural awareness, workplace accommodations, institutional bias, intersectionality and inequality, racism in the workplace, and more.

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It will also be headlined by big names, including representatives from Starbucks, Tourism HR Canada, and IKEA.

“We can take lessons from the big leaders of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and apply that to our own communities,” adds Sarioglu. “That’s why it is important for small centres and local organizations like us to be part of this national collaboration.”

RDLIP, alongside several partners, have spent the last couple years developing a Workplace Inclusion Charter. Sarioglu says they are working with champion employers to launch the program soon.

For more information on the National Workplace Inclusion Forum, visit www.inclusioncharter.ca.