Training

The Centre for Race and Culture has developed a series of educational workshops and free open-access resources for service providers and the general public in Edmonton, Alberta under the name Unmasking Micro-inequities. This project supports participants to learn ways to hold themselves and others accountable when faced with everyday moments of discrimination—specifically micro-inequities—in their own lives and workplaces. We define micro-inequities as subtle, indirect, and often unintentional practices or behaviours that communicate bias or prejudice against members of marginalized groups, making them feel belittled, excluded, disrespected, or disadvantaged. These discriminatory acts occur across power dynamics, impacting members of marginalized groups such as women, 2SLGBTQ+ folks, people with disabilities, religious minorities, and persons living in poverty. By learning about the interplay between macro- and micro-level inequities, participants will learn why micro-inequities are not small or insignificant, but harmful. Together, we will explore the various forms of micro-inequities and the power dynamics that inform them, along with strategies for recognizing and meaningfully responding to incidents of micro-inequities. Educational content will include definitions, up-to-date theory, and a broad range of examples and stories, all contextualized to the realities we face in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Using an engaged approach, opportunities for self-reflection, sharing experiences, discussion and action-planning will be woven throughout the workshops and resources. 

We will learn: 

• What micro-inequities and microaggressions are;  
• How to recognize and unmask them;   
• Why and how they are harmful; and, 
• Strategies for intervening in them (as bystanders, allies and targets) 

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We are delighted to bring back Bridging the Intercultural Gap: An Instructor-Led Online Course!

This course will equip the participants with practical tools to reflect on their interactions, apply strategies to challenge cultural bias and discrimination, use intercultural practices to guide their work, and create a more inclusive environment where people from different cultural backgrounds feel valued and respected.

 BTIG is now ongoing, and participants will have until the end of December to complete the course. Please fill out a form below if you or your team are interested in completing the BTIG Online Course.* For more details about the team registrations, please contact us at: consulting@cfrac.com

The course is self-paced, requiring participants to complete modules and attend two virtual meetings. The times of the meetings will be decided based on the availability of the participants.

*If you have signed up for a team, you do not need to fill out an individual form.

Info Session – Bridging the Intercultural Gap: Online Course

This interactive workshop will focus on tools to recognize, articulate, understand, examine, challenge, and change workplace practices with the lens of using curiosity, collaboration, and conversation as a response and reinforcing that learning organizations use these moments (of potential constructive conflict) as learning opportunities. Supervisors and employees will consider their separate but interconnected roles in creating and maintaining inclusive workplaces. Participants also will have the opportunity to apply these concepts in the context of their personal life in addition to their work, as we know that the ‘person’ and the ‘worker’ are one and the same, and that there are no clear boundaries between what we bring to work and what affects us in environments outside of the workplace. In this workshop, participants will:

• Gain a deep understanding of key concepts around diversity, inclusion, and equity
• Learn how to apply the EDI framework to build stronger and more productive teams
• Work in groups on goal setting around creating and maintaining an inclusive and effective organizational culture

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A micro-inequity is a behavior, a subtle form of discrimination where a person is singled out, devalued, overlooked, or ignored due to their accent, ethno-racial identity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic class, disability, or membership in a minoritized group. Micro-inequities have negative impacts on workplaces and the wellbeing of individuals and communities. In this workshop, participants will have a good understanding of micro-inequities, the way they impact individuals and workplaces, how to identify and respond to such behaviours, and how to implement preventive strategies. Focusing on education as the key to promoting inclusion and respect, the workshop’s main objectives to enhance the capacity of participants in addressing and challenging discrimination and inequity include:

• Raising awareness around micro-inequities
• Support skill development in the area of anti-discrimination to mitigate and intervene in instances of micro-inequities
• Promoting inclusive communication skills and service delivery
• Leading to new behaviors including reducing discriminatory habits and attitudes

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This training aims to empower the participants by focusing on mobilizing anti-racism knowledge and providing tools for prevention, intervention, and meaningful ally-ship. Participants with varying levels of experience and knowledge of bias, discrimination, and racism will be able to work through the material at a level that is meaningful to them. They will deepen their understanding of racism and its history, how it impacts communities and workplaces, how to support racial equity. After participating in this training, participants will be able to:

• Develop a common understanding of the concepts related to race, racialization, and racism
• Understand the history of racism and current realities in the international and national contexts
• Recognize the impacts of racism on an individual, institutional and societal level and the importance of anti-racism education
• Gain experience with tools for responding to situations of racial discrimination
• Learn anti-racist strategies to support racial equity in policies and practices

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Taking an intersectional approach, this workshop will help participants to build their understanding of bias and practice steps that can be taken to limit the impact of unconscious biases on our decisions and behaviours. Participants will enhance their self-awareness of their own biases, build understanding of their social conditioning, and examine behaviour versus intention in professed values and daily behaviours. Through case studies and interactive exercises, participants will identify their biases and assumptions, and learn how strategies to mitigate biases at the personal and organizational levels.  After participating in this training, participants will be able to:

• Understand and define the concept of unconscious bias
• Recognize personal and organizational biases and the way they impact our behaviours, interactions, and decisions
• Identify and use tools and strategies to mitigate their personal and organizational biases

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This workshop will examine the concept of culture, the effect culture has on one’s personal and professional life, as well as the role that our cultural norms and expectations play in our interactions with others. It will equip the participants with practical tools to reflect on their programs and services, apply strategies to challenge cultural bias and discrimination, practice intercultural communication to create a more inclusive workplace where colleagues and clients from different cultural backgrounds feel valued and respected. In this session, participants will:

• Explore culture, cultural norms, and the way our own cultural lens influences our work
• Understand our cultural biases and the way they can lead to discrimination
• Understand intercultural practice in the context of social inclusion and equity
• Use culturally informed practices to guide their interactions for effective intercultural communication

Check back for upcoming dates.