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Getting Started with an EDI Lens

What is an EDI Lens?

An Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Lens is a systematic tool that enables the intentional incorporation of EDI principles into daily practice. In other words, it is a series of reflective questions that help us see a new perspective. We must intentionally apply the Lens, approaching it with openness and readiness to learn.

Using an EDI Lens can look like(1,2):

  • Learning about community demographics
  • Checking our assumptions
  • Identifying unconscious bias
  • Examining the role of power and privilege in one’s life
  • Thinking about the experience of a marginalized group differently
  • Asking questions about inclusion and;
  • Exploring intersectionalities

Looking Through an EDI Lens

Content Acknowledgement: The following information has been adapted from the City of Ottawa & City for All Women Initiative’s Equity & Inclusion Lens Handbook (1)

To begin looking through an EDI Lens, go through the following steps and answer the reflective questions either alone or with your team. It’s important to note that these steps, and their questions, are meant to be a starting point. Each person and community are different and may require additional questions and exploration.

Enter this process with an open mind and be willing to continue to ask questions even as you complete the steps.

Step 1: Consider your diversity

Take the time to reflect on diversity. Recognize the multiple factors that impact service delivery, policies, programs and community engagement. 

When exploring diversity, it’s essential to recognize the role of intersectionality. Intersectionality considers how social diversity such as race, class and gender, sexuality, and disability do not exist separately or in isolation from each other. Instead, it assesses how diversities affect one another and can create different modes of oppression. 

Within an EDI Lens, Intersectionality is looking at how the combination of identities can negatively impact certain people or groups more intensely than others. Looking through this lens, we can more effectively remove barriers and create beneficial HEAL initiatives(3). 

“Ultimately, achieving the goal of health equity demands that we acknowledge our shared responsibility to create and sustain healthful living and working conditions and environments, and the shared benefits that we can all enjoy when those conditions are in place”  – Government of Canada(4)

Reflection Questions:

Consider asking the following questions to help enhance your time reflecting on diversity:

  1. What social factors influence your life experiences? ex: gender, sexual orientation, Indigenous heritage, age, education, race/ethnicity, length of time in the community, geographic location, marital/family status, disabilities, place of origin, language, income etc. 
  2. What “isms” or overarching systems of power indirectly or directly impact you? ex: racism, discrimination, heterosexism, sexism, classism, ethnocentrism, transphobia, ageism, homophobia, ableism etc. 
  3. In which areas of your life have you experienced advantages? Disadvantages?                         
  4. How can you use your experiences to understand and become an ally for people experiencing exclusion in your work?

  1. What social factors influence the life experiences of the community? ex: gender, sexual orientation, Indigenous heritage, age, education, race/ethnicity, length of time in the community, geographic location, marital/family status, disabilities, place of origin, language, income etc. 
  2. What “isms” or overarching systems of power indirectly or directly impact the community? ex: racism, discrimination, heterosexism, sexism, classism, ethnocentrism, transphobia, ageism homophobia, ableism etc.,
  3. What factors have provided advantages to the community? Disadvantages?

Step 2: Check your assumptions

“When we question our own ideas, we can open up to new ways of understanding.”

City of Ottawa(1)

Checking assumptions can be an uncomfortable process. Be open to learning and approach these questions with courage and kindness. Remember: we all have biases. It’s how our brains naturally categorize information. By being aware of our biases and assumptions, we can begin to understand and positively change the ways that we serve the community(5).

Reflection Questions:

1. What explicit or implicit biases do you have about: gender, race, ability, socioeconomic status, age, etc.?

2. What roles do you attribute to people based on: gender, race, ability, socioeconomic status, age, etc.?

3. What assumptions take place in your communities’ HEAL initiatives?

  • Who is participating?
  • How are they participating?
  • How are they benefiting?
  • How do or don’t they know opportunity/initiative?
  • How will the initiative impact the community?
  • What does success look like?

Step 3: Ask about inclusion

Create space to intentionally consider inclusion in the planning, implementation and evaluation process. To help identify areas for improvement, reflect on some common ways that people or groups are excluded(8):

  • Resources are only available in small print or one language.
  • Videos do not include closed captioning. 
  • Oral communications lack an interpreter such as American Sign Language.

Engagement processes lack either quality or quantity of opportunities for people with different backgrounds to provide feedback and share concerns.

There are physical barriers such as:

  • A lack of ramps or doorways 
  • Reception areas that do not accommodate people in wheelchairs
  • A lack of universal or single-stalled bathrooms and,
  • A lack of access to recreation facilities 

There is a lack of:

  • Diverse programming (i.e. women-only swim times or older adult recreation programs)
  • Accessibility-equipment during programming
  • Staff training to accommodate people with different needs

There is a lack of diversity or representation in facility staffing, or there is a lack of cultural events.

There is a lack of accessible transportation or accessible parking spaces.

Reflection Questions:

1. Who is not included?

2. What could contribute to this exclusion?

3. What can you do differently to ensure inclusion?

  • Cost or free reduction programs
  • Timing of program or event
  • Type of programming
  • Different marketing / promotions
  • Community involvement in the process
  • Inclusive language (ex: gender-inclusive greetings)

Developed by the City of Ottawa and City for All Women Initiative, the Community Snapshots (9) are short booklets that help you to learn more about the people who may face exclusion. Community Snapshots are available for Indigenous Peoples, Francophones, 2SLGBTQIA+, Immigrants and more. These booklets are not all-encompassing. They may not cover every group that could face exclusion, and groups may identify themselves beyond what the booklets capture.

Step 4: Apply to your work and be an Ally

An integral part of exploring an EDI Lens is how to action the learnings to be an ally. Being an ally is committing to(1): 

Listening
Being aware of our advantages and disadvantages and how to use them to make a difference
Checking assumptions to unlearn biases and stereotypes
Standing and walking beside others
Speaking up against hurtful comments or insulting actions, rather than waiting for others to point it out
Taking steps to make workplaces and services inclusive, safe and welcoming
Helping others to understand discrimination and exclusion
Avoiding the trap of “knowing what is good for them” and instead encouraging community leadership
Sharing power
Committing to ongoing learning
Listening some more

Further Your Understanding

For more guidance and learning opportunities on equity, diversity and inclusion and how it impacts recreation and HEAL activities, check out these resources:

Continue Exploring People

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People

People
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People

People

Icon for Supporting EDI In Your Community

Explore the different opportunities and strategies to apply an EDI Lens to HEAL initiatives within the context of the Healthy Communities Framework.

Supporting EDI In Your Community
Icon for Supporting EDI In Your Community

Supporting EDI In Your Community

Explore the different opportunities and strategies to apply an EDI Lens to HEAL initiatives within the context of the Healthy Communities Framework.

Icon for EDI – An Indigenous Context

Intentional consideration is required to ensure that Indigenous People experience both equity and inclusion within the community.

EDI – An Indigenous Context
Icon for EDI – An Indigenous Context

EDI – An Indigenous Context

Intentional consideration is required to ensure that Indigenous People experience both equity and inclusion within the community.

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EDI Definitions

EDI Definitions
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EDI Definitions

EDI Definitions

  1. City of Ottawa & City for All Women Initiative. Equity & Inclusion Lens Handbook. [report on internet]. Ottawa; The City & Initiative; 2018 [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from: https://www.cawi-ivtf.org/sites/default/files/publications/ei-lens-handbook-en-web-2018.pdf 
  2. The University of British Columbia. [Internet]. Intentional Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Decision-Making; n.d. [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from: https://equity.ubc.ca/resources/activating-inclusion-toolkit/intentional-equity-diversity-and-inclusion-decision-making/ 
  3. The City of Vancouver. Getting our house in order: The City of Vancouver’s Equity Framework. [report on internet]. The City; 2021 [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from: https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/equity-framework.pdf
  4. Government of Canada. [Internet]. Key Health Inequalities in Canada: A National Portrait – Executive Summary; November 2018 [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/science-research-data/key-health-inequalities-canada-national-portrait-executive-summary.html 
  5. The University of Colorado [Internet]. Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion 101; 2020 [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from:https://www.ucdenver.edu/offices/equity/education-training/self-guided-learning/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-101#ft-question-yourself-1 
  6. Harvard University. [Internet]. Project Implicit; c2011 [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/index.jsp 
  7. Abdulrehman, R. [Internet]. Lead with Diversity: Bias Outside the Box; c2021 [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from:https://leadwithdiversity.com/testbias/ 
  8. National Recreation and Park Association. Parks for Inclusion: Inclusion guidelines for developing an inclusion policy. [report on internet]. The Association; n.d. [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from: https://www.nrpa.org/siteassets/Inclusion-Guidelines-for-Developing-Policy.pdf 
  9. City of Ottawa & City for All Women Initiative. [Internet]. Equity and inclusion lens; Diversity Snapshots; n.d. [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from: https://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/creating-equal-inclusive-and-diverse-city/equity-and-inclusion-lens#message-city-manager 
  10. Public Health Agency of Canada. Health Inequalities in Canada. [internet]. 2019 June 4 [cited 2022 July 8]. Video: 3 min 40 sec. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMkBUXJLW9g
  11. Canadian Women in Sport. [Internet]. E-learning; c2022 [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from: https://womenandsport.ca/learning-opportunities/e-learning/
  12. Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. [Internet]. Toolkits; c2022 [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from:https://ccdi.ca/toolkits/