Osgoode certificate helps businesses improve equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace

Businesses that can weather the ongoing storm surrounding equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace will emerge stronger, according to employment lawyer and human resources consultant Laura Williams.

After a brief period of virtual public consensus in favour of EDI initiatives, Williams, the program director for the Osgoode Certificate in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace, says that dissenting voices have become louder in recent years – especially south of the border, where some major corporations such as Walmart and Ford have backtracked on commitments to measure or improve diversity in their workforce and supply chains. Meanwhile, one of incoming Vice President JD Vance’s final acts in the U.S. Senate was to  introduce the Dismantle DEI Act, with the stated aim of eliminating all federal DEI programs.

With that backdrop, Willams says many HR professionals should expect to face internal pushback when promoting their own initiatives touching on equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The Osgoode certificate was designed with that in mind.

“The intended focus of the program is on dealing with EDI in the current climate of backlash that we’re experiencing,” she says. “There are a lot of countervailing winds, but organizations have to push through and past to get their EDI initiatives on a solid footing.”

“If they don’t address equity issues, then they will find themselves dealing with attrition, retention and engagement challenges in a labour market where it is already tough to attract the talent they need,” Williams adds.

Over more than a decade in practice advocating for some of society’s most marginalized, Wade Poziomka a human rights and employment lawyer who sits on the advisory board for the certificate program, says that he has noticed EDI issues moving up the priority lists of businesses and other organizations.   

“Human rights and EDI tend to go hand in hand,” he says. “In my view, everyone gains when they focus on EDI and grow a great workforce that incorporates people who wouldn’t otherwise have been working for them. It’s important from a social perspective.”

Still, Poziomka says that anyone who is unconvinced by the social argument for cultivating a more inclusive workplace should be swayed by the commercial case.

“Even if you don’t care personally about EDI, it’s important from a business perspective,” he says. “When employees are surveyed on these issues, they consistently report that a fair and equitable workplace is one of those things that they care most about.”

Carey Calder, a member of the Osgoode certificate’s advisory board, is chief operating officer of Indigenous Financial Solutions, and the founder of Nakanagis Inc., where she provides innovative solutions for Indigenous communities and businesses.

Her firm has also worked with a variety of organizations to support efforts such as reconciliation action planning and retention strategies. She says the certificate program can be an invaluable tool for HR professionals seeking to get themselves up to speed on the laws and strategies that influence and contribute to their own equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives.

“It’s aimed at people who are in decision-making roles who can influence the culture of the business, so that they can take what they have learned and actually implement it in their workplace,” Calder says.

Michelle Grocholsky, another member of the Osgoode certificate advisory board, dates her interest in EDI issues back to the school playground during her kindergarten days.

“I’ve always been interested in why certain folks and people are cast as outsiders and why others are seen to be safe and likeable, which makes them more likely to be treated as though they are insiders,” says Grocholsky, the founder and CEO of Empowered Equity Diversity & Inclusion Consulting.

Channelling that curiosity into an undergraduate degree where she researched Islamophobia and gender discrimination, Grocholsky went on to earn a masters in in industrial and organizational psychology with a focus on inclusive work teams, before putting her training into action in a diversity coordinator role at BlackBerry creators Research in Motion.

Over two decades in the field, Grocholsky says the focus of many Canadian organizations’ EDI efforts have switched from largely reactive attempts to avoid discrimination to a more proactive approach, with one very obvious Inflection point: the racial justice outcry that followed the murder of George Floyd.

“The catalyst there was that employees were asking for action. It was not a top-down, but a bottom-up movement from customers and workers in the younger generation, catalyzing CEOs and executive teams to start putting money behind equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace,” she explains.

Jason Murray, an advisory board member for the Osgoode certificate program, says that momentum has waned in recent years, forcing those in EDI roles to sharpen their advocacy skills.

After more than a decade in executive search, he founded his own firm in 2020, specializing in inclusive and diversity recruitment.

“The EDI work I do is something that has weaved through my entire career, from my lived experience as someone who is black and part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community,” says Murray, the president and managing partner of BIPOC Executive Search.

“The acronym ‘EDI’ might evoke discomfort for some, leading them to question its relevance or utility. However, even if we were to remove ‘EDI’ from our workplace and societal vocabulary, the essence of this work will persist as it has for millennia,” he adds. “From the fight for women’s suffrage, to protecting 2SLGBTQ+ individuals from workplace discrimination, to eliminating racial restrictions that were put onto Black communities over the first half of the 20th century when Black learners tried to secure access to postsecondary programs in this country, the progress we celebrate today is rooted in EDI efforts. And there’s still more work to do and be done, with or without the acronym.”

 In addition to HR professionals, people and culture managers, lawyers and others whose work touches on employment or human rights law, Murray says senior executives – including chief operating and chief administrative officers, all the way up to the CEO – would benefit from attending the certificate program.

“I know they have so much coming at them at that level, but it is worth making the time so that they can come up with strategic plans for the organization in the area of EDI,” he says.

Now in its second year, the Osgoode Certificate in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace fulfills a growing demand for Canadian content in the sector among HR professionals, according to Grocholsky.

“I get a lot of calls from people asking where they can go to learn about EDI and most often they’re looking at courses with a U.S. focus,” she says. “It’s great to be able to point them in the direction of the Osgoode program, because the way the law is applied is quite different here. It’s also beneficial to hear about matters that are particular to Canada, so that they can be educated about how to make, for example, Indigenous or Francophone employees feel included at work.”

According to Williams, organizations that are serious about their commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace should not expect any quick fixes.

“One of the things that they are not always adequately thinking through or planning for is that EDI implementation within the workplace is a very intensive change management exercise. If you’re going to be initiating change of this magnitude, it requires some internal recalibration, as well as addressing the external environment,” she says. “The certificate program is providing attendees not only knowledge, but also the strategies that you need to keep in sharp focus when deciding to implement EDI or course correcting EDI initiatives that have stalled due to resistance.”

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