Student Resources & Support Services EDI Framework
As an academic institution providing post-secondary education, we must plan through an EDI-informed lens. We are pleased to present snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓ Langara’s first equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) framework, our three-year roadmap (2024–2027) to achieve a better-supported, more equitable, and inclusive community at Langara. The EDI framework represents the voices of Langara’s diverse community and is informed by the community and their responses to the survey, focus groups, employee engagement sessions and interviews.
Langara is proud to have students and employees with so many diverse identities and intersecting backgrounds, shaped by factors such as culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and ability. This diversity makes our college both stronger and more resilient and better connects us to a rapidly changing world.
As a community, we must ensure that every action we take is grounded in and guided by principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion. Through these efforts, we aim to promote social justice and equity on our campuses and within our wider society, while actively working to dismantle the systems that continue to disadvantage equity-deserving groups in our community. In Langara's EDI framework, some of these actions are immediate and urgent, while others will be carried out over the medium and longer term and sustained into the future.
The four themes
We have highlighted four essential themes, each of which are supported by key actions that will be implemented over the coming years.
The first stage of this plan is about strengthening governance for EDI and answering the following questions:
- Who’s responsible for which actions?
- Who leads?
- Who implements??
- Who informs the work?
Knowing each of our roles will help us track our progress over time, and how we ultimately measure success. The intention is that a stronger system of EDI governance will allow us to transform culture and structures across the whole of the College, resulting in deeply embedded and long-lasting change
Broad goals
- Create a governance structure to embed our efforts across the college culture and structure.
- Clearly define who leads the work, who implements it, and who communicates it to students and employees.
- Establish an advisory committee with students and employees that will be a core of this governance structure.
- Develop and establish metrics and key reporting structures for tracking and reporting progress over time.
- Increase leadership competency around EDI by engaging leaders across the College in workshops and coaching opportunities to hone their inclusive leadership skills.
The EDI Roadmap
This roadmap outlines key milestones and initiatives as we develop this strategy. It outlines our current activities, future goals, and desired outcomes across the three project phases.
Our destination
This 2024–2027 EDI framework strives to build a culture of inclusivity at Langara College, but to realize our vision, it is essential that we collaborate with our community. We understand that it will take leadership, humility, and honesty to accomplish everything outlined in this framework, but we believe that the outcome of our collective efforts will be transformational.
Change will not happen overnight, but our vision will be a reality when:
- We have a governance structure that supports our EDI initiatives and programming.
- Our leadership across the College reflects the diversity of our employees and students.
- We have safe and diverse spaces in which to discuss, report, and address any EDI-related opportunities and issues.
- We have relationships and partnerships that holistically and fully support our EDI goals and actions.
How do we know when we are there?
This is a journey without a fixed destination. The world will continue to evolve, and so will we. But we will know our culture has meaningfully transformed when every individual feels safe, valued, and supported to fully express all aspects of themselves and their unique and individual identity.
