Equity, diversity & inclusion

Towards better EDI

At Providence Health Care, we realize that we live in a society where system-level barriers, biases and unfair treatment continue to limit the rights and opportunities of certain people and communities. This is why we created a dedicated Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Team in 2020.

The EDI Team helps Providence on its path toward addressing inequality in our society and organization. The EDI Team also supports PHC employees and medical staff with individual journeys toward equity, diversity and inclusion. We do this through education, awareness and meaningful discussion.

The EDI Team is working across the organization to create an equity, diversity and inclusion strategy. This strategy has dedicated resources. It will include an action plan for all aspects of our organization as a care provider and a workplace.

Our four aspirations

The EDI Team developed and is guided by four aspirations. Each aspiration aims to improve different aspects of the way we deliver care. From the people we hire to our efforts in the community, we aspire to be inclusive of every individual.

They are called “aspirations” to acknowledge Providence is not yet free of prejudice and biases. We hope these aspirations clearly say that we work daily and with intention to create a more inclusive and equitable environment.

Providence Health Care will have a reputation as an "Organization of Choice" because it champions anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion.
Diverse staff will be visibly leading at every level.
Patients and families will receive care that respects their dignity and responds to their cultural, linguistic and socio-demographic needs to ensure high quality outcomes every time.
Providence Health Care staff will demonstrate ongoing learning and growth in anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion.

It's our responsibility now as people who have privilege and have the ability to change things to start rebuilding this new post-pandemic world… one of the things we can we can do is address those structures of inequity, power, racism + colonialism.

Fiona Dalton, CEO, Providence Health Care

Milestones

Fall 2023: Providence-wide EDI survey results
January 2024: Drafting of EDI Action Plan
April 2024: Begin implementation of EDI Action Plan

Definitions

At Providence we define equity, diversity and inclusion in the following ways:

The goal of treating everyone the same way ignores the fact that people can differ in their abilities, resources and experiences. Those differences — if we ignore them — tend to become barriers and we end up promoting privilege. When we treat people equitably, we acknowledge and respond to differences so they don’t become barriers.
Diversity refers to groups of people that are identified by inherent characteristic such as race/ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. These groups are identified in Canada’s and BC’s human rights codes. Another way of thinking about diversity is 3D Diversity – the diversity of each of us, based on our inherent diversity, our experiential diversity and our thought diversity.
Inclusion refers to the experience of diverse staff in the workplace. Is everyone always treated respectfully when they come to work? Can diverse staff feel confident that their work day will be free from racist or discriminatory comments and behaviours? Do diverse staff feel they can speak up, share the full range of their experience, knowledge and thoughts?

Questions?

Do you have a question about equity, diversity & inclusion at Providence Health Care? Contact the EDI team at edi@providencehealth.bc.ca

Towards better EDI Copy link to this section

Our four asp​irations