Supporting EDI In Your Community

“A community built on equity and inclusion is strong, diverse and vibrant. Together, equity and inclusion break down barriers, close gaps and meet the needs of all constituents to ensure positive outcomes across the community.”
National Recreation and Parks Association⁽¹⁾

Reflecting or viewing your work through an EDI Lens provides a new perspective. After exploring this new perspective, the next step is to apply your learnings to change, adapt or create new healthy eating & active living (HEAL) opportunities. This section explores the different opportunities and strategies to apply an EDI Lens to HEAL initiatives within the context of the Healthy Communities Framework.

It is important to remember that applying an EDI Lens looks different in every community. Your actions to improve equity, inclusion, and diversity should reflect the unique people that make up your community. This section will generalize EDI actions and strategies based on commonly marginalized groups.

Community Spotlight

Queerflex: Safe, Affirming, Accessible

In 2019, Queerflex opened in Edmonton’s Pride Centre. Queerflex focused on creating safe spaces for people from the LGBTQ2S+ community to be physically active through inclusive practices and policies.

Policy & EDI

EDI Policy Writing Strategies

Check out the best practices below to learn how to write policies that are equitable and inclusive and how to create an organizational EDI policy.

Adapted from the NRPA, Parks for Inclusion: Guideline for Developing an Inclusion Policy⁽¹⁾

Incorporate an EDI Lens into policy writing by:

Completing an EDI Lens reflection: Enter this process with an open mind and be willing to continue to ask questions even as you complete the steps.
Assessing the communities needs: Understanding a community’s needs may also help inform areas for improved universal design and increased accessibility.
Engaging the community: Create an engagement plan to ensure that all key stakeholders have an opportunity to come to the table. Engagement plans should aim to⁽²⁾:
- Improve your understanding: Put a special effort into including historically marginalized groups or those who may not have many avenues for participation.
- Develop constructive and respectful dialogue: Enter into conversations with curiosity; let the community guide the discussions. Consider how you can approach conversations from a “Doing With” vs. “Doing For” model.
- Raise both the level and quality of community engagement: Not everyone will want or have the capacity to participate in the policy process. However, providing multiple opportunities and different engagement methods is vital to increasing participation. Consider the best ways to reach diverse groups (i.e. how you approach seniors for feedback may be different than how you engage newcomers).

Creating a plan for measurement and continuous improvement
Implementing the policy and ensuring the sustainability of the policy

Adapted from the NRPA, Parks for Inclusion: Guideline for Developing an Inclusion Policy⁽¹⁾

When writing an organizational EDI Policy, it’s important that the policy both addresses the most marginalized and vulnerable groups in your community and that the writing process engages those groups. For example⁽¹⁾:

Racial and Ethnic Minorities Inclusion:
- Ensuring meaningful community engagement to encourage full partner participation in the planning and decision-making process
- Dedicating staff time, resources and funding to participating in learning opportunities and education to explore and learn about the diverse communities that they serve
- Providing programming that is culturally sensitive and inclusive (ex: women-only swim times)
Physical and Cognitive Disability Inclusion:
- Ensuring and providing universal design elements and equipment to parks, recreation centers, swimming pools, nature trails and other facilities
- Offering resources and support not typically available to those with cognitive disabilities
- Designing inclusive programming for those with physical and cognitive disabilities
- Offering programming where people with and without disabilities are equally included and able to interact socially
2SLGBTQIA+ Inclusion:
- Create welcoming and inclusive facilities that provide safety and comfort to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, including universal or single-stall changing rooms and restrooms
- Consider all interactions and uses of park and recreation facilities. Some key opportunities for positive interactions are addressing patrons with proper pronouns or providing inclusive language on program registration materials
- Designing programming that supports and engages 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals, creating a more inclusive and welcoming agency
Newcomer / Immigrant Inclusion:
- Providing social events and learning opportunities for all (both new and established) community members to gather
- Consider the types of interactions and uses of park and recreation facilities. Some key opportunities are hiring staff members that speak languages other than English or providing signage and forms in multiple languages
- Providing programming that is culturally sensitive and inclusive (ex: women-only swim times)
- Intentional collaboration with other community Newcomer services to promote and streamline recreation programming and supports

Downloadable Templates:

Contracts / Leases / Requests for Proposal

Include healthy clauses or mandated percentages of healthy food and drinks within contracts, requests for proposals and lease agreements.

template: healthy options contracts

Inclusion Strategies for Inclusive Policy

Within strategic plans and guidelines for events and programs, include clauses and mandates for inclusion of a variety of ages, abilities, cultural groups and gender orientations.

Template: inclusive policy sample wording

Examples of HEAL EDI Policy

Content Acknowledgement: The following information has been adapted from planH Supporting Equity in Planning and Policy⁽³⁾

Healthy Food Environments / Healthy Eating:

Food security and food sovereignty are two key indicators that examine equitable access to healthy, affordable, safe, culturally appropriate and dignified food sources⁽³⁾. Applying an EDI Lens to Healthy Food policy should consider how all neighbourhoods and citizens access, harvest, process and share their food. Below are some policy examples of Equitable Healthy Food Policy⁽³⁾.

During community programming and/ or events, create food policies that require the availability and affordability of:
- Healthy options
- Options that meet various dietary requirements (ex: vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free)
- Culturally appropriate options (ex: Halal, Kosher, Traditional Indigenous Food/ mother food)
Create food policies that encourage local vendor or farmer partnership and/or local sourcing of food
Build strategies that preserve funding and resource allocation to local food production and food knowledge sharing (ex: urban agriculture/ community gardens, traditional Indigenous hunting programs)

Create advocacy groups or work with local/ provincial/ federal government to:

Develop zoning permits to ensure that healthy food vendors are available and accessible in every neighbourhood
Increase the amount of land zoned for agricultural and food processing use (ex: community gardens, urban agriculture, farmland)
Create food retailer policy and/or forms that reduce barriers for local and diverse people to open food establishments
Expand the knowledge of Indigenous hunting, fishing and gathering rights as established through treaties

Active Living / Recreation:

Apply an EDI lens to examine how policies and organizational guidelines can remove barriers to access both formal and informal recreation and active living opportunities in the community.

Create an organizational EDI policy that ensures the rights of all community members to access recreation and active living opportunities through your organization/ community
Develop sliding scale policies that enable community members to access recreation and active living opportunities for free or for reduced pricing depending on income
Commit to providing inclusive active living programming that is:
- Culturally sensitive
- Adapted for physical and mobility challenges
- Designed to create opportunities for newcomers to integrate with long-term residents
- Safe for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community

Create advocacy groups or work with the local, provincial and federal governments to:

Create a City or Community EDI Policy that protects and ensures that all citizens have the right, ability and safety to access and participate in public recreation and physical activity opportunities
Use zoning to connect all neighbourhoods to greenspaces and recreational services and facilities
Dedicate funds for updating or creating new recreation facilities in underserved neighbourhoods
Create priorities for safety within parks, greenspaces or recreation facilities. Everyone should feel safe when accessing these places
Create policies that reflect the stewardship and connection to the land that Indigenous People may have. Use the policies to reinforce their rights to access land for traditional food acquisition and recreation
Commit to updating recreation and park spaces/ facilities to be universally designed or able to be used by all

Further Your Understanding

Check out these resources for more guidance and learning on EDI and its impact on recreation and HEAL activities:

Health Inequities in Canada Video by The Public Health Agency of Canada⁽⁴⁾
Canadian Women in Sport eCourses⁽⁵⁾
- Gender Equity Lens
- Keeping Girls in Sport
Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion’s EDI Toolkits⁽⁶⁾
planH Supporting Equity in Planning and Policy Action Guide⁽³⁾

Key Considerations

Coming soon.

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
Dundee Partnership. Strathmartine: Community engagement action plan. Strathmartine: The City; 2008. [cited 2022 Jan 12]. Available from: https://www.communityplanningtoolkit.org/sites/default/files/EngagementR2.pdf
planH. Supporting equity in planning and policy: Local government action guide for healthy communities. [report on internet]. The organization; c2020 [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from: https://planh.ca/sites/default/files/equity_action_guide.pdf
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
Canadian Women in Sport. [Internet]. E-learning; c2022 [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from: https://womenandsport.ca/learning-opportunities/e-learning/
Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. [Internet]. Toolkits; c2022 [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from:https://ccdi.ca/toolkits/

Places & EDI

Healthy Places for All: Best Practices

When creating healthy community places, it’s important to consider how they can be built or designed to improve equity. Below are some aspects to consider when designing healthy places within an EDI context.

Security features
Signage, wayfinding, lighting
Transportation options
Cleanliness

BIPOC & 2SLGBTQIA+
Age-friendly
People with disabilities
Families, pets, wildlife

Cost of programs, equipment, facilities
Signage, wayfinding, lighting
Walkability & rideability
Universal design

Multi-use spaces
Weather-related spaces

Examples of HEAL EDI Places

Ready to start building healthy Places that promote and support EDI? Check out some of the examples of actions below.

Healthy Food Environments That Support EDI:

Food security and food sovereignty are important indicators that examine equitable access to healthy, affordable, safe, culturally appropriate and dignified food sources⁽¹⁾. Applying an EDI Lens to healthy food environments should consider how all neighbourhoods and citizens access, harvest, process and share their food. Below are some actions to create healthy food environments that support EDI.

Built Environments:

During public events, ensure that healthy food options are available and that drinking water is accessible and available for free (ex: fire hydrant water fountains or water trucks)
Ensure that there are diverse food options (vegetarian, vegan, Kosher, Halal) that represent the diversity of attendees at public events

Green Spaces:

Design community gardens with raised beds to allow easy access for people in wheelchairs
Work with diverse groups to share traditional agricultural, food gathering and land stewardship practices
Work with local community members to develop food maps to identify and connect citizens to publicly accessible edible berries and fruits. Consider providing maps in multiple languages, with easy-to-understand images and writing

Designing and developing EDI places, especially in built environments, requires time, support and advocacy from governments. Focus on advocating and working with local/ provincial/ federal governments to create EDI Places.

Built Environments:

Offer healthy foods at a similar or cheaper price than unhealthy food options in public spaces such as recreation facilities, community centres and municipal buildings
Use zoning policies to build or redesign neighbourhoods to increase access to healthy food vendors, farmer’s markets and community gardens

Green Spaces:

Work with marginalized communities to grow, identify and harvest culturally significant and appropriate food sources

Places that Support Active Living and EDI:

To create active living places that enable everyone to participate, design safe, inclusive, accessible and adaptable spaces. Below are some actions that may build inclusivity in recreational and active living spaces.

Built Environments:

Provide sufficient and secure bicycle storage on-site such as bike racks or sheds
Include ramps or pathways near stairwells and building entrances to accommodate adapted modes of transportation like wheelchairs
Collaborate with marginalized groups to explore the active transportation modes they prefer and how to support their use

Green Spaces:

Provide wayfinding and park signs in multiple languages and large text
Work with local community members to participate and lead park revitalization, clean-ups and greenery design and maintenance
Work with local communities and organizations to share green space facilities

Built Environments:

Provide sufficient and secure bicycle storage on-site such as bike racks or sheds
Include ramps or pathways near stairwells and building entrances to accommodate adapted modes of transportation like wheelchairs
Host discussions with diverse and marginalized groups to identify barriers to active transportation, recreation facility or green space use. Collaborate with these groups to develop strategies and plans to address barriers
Build or update recreation infrastructure:
- In neighbourhoods with no access/ amenities
- With inclusive language, gender-inclusive or single-stall bathrooms

Green Spaces:

Commit to updating, building or revitalizing park and outdoor play equipment in under-served neighbourhoods
Work with residents in under-served communities to design and reimagine park and under-utilized spaces
Host public meetings to gain multiple perspectives on how to improve green spaces
Design park and green spaces to have benches, seating areas and outdoor gathering and cooking spaces
Design parks with plenty of lighting, garbage and recycling disposal and restroom facilities

Further Your Understanding

Check out these resources for more guidance and learning on EDI and its impact on recreation and HEAL activities:

Health Inequities in Canada Video from the Public Health Agency of Canada
Canadian Women in Sport eCourses⁽³⁾
- Gender Equity Lens
- Keeping Girls in Sport
Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion’s EDI Toolkits⁽⁴⁾

Key Considerations

Coming soon.

planH. Supporting equity in planning and policy: Local government action guide for healthy communities. [report on internet]. The organization; c2020 [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from: https://planh.ca/sites/default/files/equity_action_guide.pdf
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
Canadian Women in Sport. [Internet]. E-learning; c2022 [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from: https://womenandsport.ca/learning-opportunities/e-learning/
Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. [Internet]. Toolkits; c2022 [cited 2022 July 8]. Available from:https://ccdi.ca/toolkits/

Partnerships & EDI

Coming Soon.

Continue Exploring People

People

Take Action! Supporting EDI in Your Community