qathet Regional District’s (qRD) board will consider adoption of an anti-racial discrimination and anti-racism policy.
At the October 23 committee of the whole meeting, Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said the proposed policy is already enshrined in provincial legislation.
“I like the policy but I’m also wondering if this is even necessary because the province has bigger hammers than we do and their legislation spells it out,” said Gisborne. “I prefer to defer to the entity with the bigger hammer. The province has it already spelled out in multiple pieces of legislation.”
qRD communications advisor Shelley Termuende said she believed the intention of this policy is to ensure the regional district is visibly in alignment with provincial legislation.
“Essentially, it is just creating a positional statement for the qRD,” said Termuende. “It’s just an additional opportunity for us to show we understand, should it be necessary.”
Electoral Area A director Jason Lennox said the law is thankfully clear now. He said in the staff report, there was an acknowledgement form to be signed, and by reading it, he thought it might be for staff and the regional board.
Termuende said policies such as this do have the scope that includes the regional board.
“I don’t think it would hurt to have the board as signatories and I can direct that question for greater detail to the chief administrative officer,” said Termuende.
Gisborne asked if it would be more appropriate to have separate acknowledgements from board and staff, based on wording in the acknowledgement.
Electoral Area D director and committee chair Sandy McCormick said the comment had been noted.
Chief administrative officer Al Radke said the acknowledgement would form part and parcel of the policy, if adopted. He didn’t believe a second acknowledgement for board members would be necessary.
“It’s pretty universal,” added Radke.
The policy is based on a template received from law firm Lidstone and Company, which released a policy template for the purpose of giving local governments a foundation from which to develop their own anti-racial discrimination and anti-racism policies.
The committee recommended the board adopt the anti-racial discrimination and anti-racism policy at a future meeting.
According to a staff report, the regional district, as an employer and local government, has an obligation to ensure employees, elected officials, volunteers, students and contractors are treated equally, regardless of racial identification.
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