Fall 2023 Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training at the ACC
Diversity, safety, equity and inclusion are an integral part of our culture at the ACC and also part of our 2022-2025 strategic plan.
With this in mind, the ACC implemented a comprehensive, club-wide Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training course throughout the fall of 2023. The training was offered to all members through their local section, and was aimed specifically at volunteers (trip leaders, section executives, board and committee members) and staff members.
Overall, 73 members attended eight training sessions spread over 10 weeks, in groups of 10-20 people. The sessions were focused on providing the tools to create safe and inclusive spaces, as well as common language to facilitate ongoing conversations about diversity within the club. (A detailed description of the contents of these sessions is provided below.)
What’s next?
The club is implementing the following initiatives to pursue our strategic commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion:
DEI resource person
Using the dei@alpineclubofcanada.ca email, you can ask questions, seek support or raise concerns relating to diversity in the club. If you're looking for help finding adaptive sport accommodations, reviewing wording on a trip post for your section, getting connected to club resources, or just have a general question, we are here to support you!
Inter-section forum
We have launched a discussion forum where members can discuss DEI topics across the club, allowing trip leaders to discuss how to run inclusive trips, and to share their learnings amongst the sections. Members can also share and discuss resources and articles within this forum. This is a great place to discuss any challenges or successes you have had with diversity initiatives in your community/section.
If you are an ACC member and are looking to join the forum, please reach out to dei@alpineclubofcanada.ca.
Section support
The national office is committed to ongoing support of all local sections of the ACC in achieving their diversity goals. Over the next few months, we will be developing resources, templates and FAQs that will allow for new sections or sections that wish to revisit their approach to access diversity and inclusion materials as easily as possible. Our goal is to minimize the demands on volunteer time so that the sections can do what they do best, running trips for members!
A detailed overview of our DEI training sessions
Week One: Unconscious Bias and Human Rights
Our first session focused on the recognition of personal bias and how it manifests in each of us, learning how bias is built, and how it can lead to us acting on stereotypes. We reviewed our Canadian Human Rights and how we at the ACC can be aware of our personal biases and ensure that each person that comes in contact with the ACC will be treated with respect and dignity.
Week Two: 2SLGBTQIA+ Foundations
Participants engaged with queer identities and terminology as well as current events and politics affecting 2SLGBTQIA+ folks in Canada. We answered the question, “Why is The Alpine Club of Canada doing DEI work?” and helped participants understand why this is a project worth engaging in.
Week Three: Legality and Disability
In this two-part session, a guest facilitator discussed terminology covering communities experiencing disability and made suggestions for language, actions, and resources to serve this community better. Then we dealt with legal requirements around human rights protections in volunteer and professional settings as well as the legality of ameliorative programming.
Week Four: Microaggressions Part One
Building on our first three sessions, our fourth session began by understanding how bias and our approach to queer, racialized, and disabled communities can sometimes result in microaggressions. Our first session on microaggressions focused on how biases become microaggressions, the different types of microaggressions, and working through common scenarios that the ACC may have had to work through.
Week Five: Microaggressions Part Two
This session was specifically focused on understanding and addressing queer microaggressions. This session began with a discussion of pronoun usage, gendered greetings, and other common queer and transgender microaggressions. Additionally there was space provided for reflections based on challenging content from week four that needed more discussion, in particular on race and belonging.
Week Six: Pronouns and Inclusive Language
In this reflective session, participants were invited to engage with more transgender identities and then unpacked the language around many talking points related to transgender individuals. We considered how even small word changes can have dramatic effects.
Week Seven: Unpacking the Knapsack
In this session we focused on intersectionality and understanding how different components of our individual identities can confer both power and privilege or marginalization and discrimination. Participants were encouraged to reflect upon their own privilege in different social contexts and discuss possibilities for recognizing and mitigating situations that create marginalization.
Week Eight: Creating a Safe Space
In the final session, participants were first introduced to theories of culture and cultural change. They were then given a framework for creating inclusive spaces and invited to practise and discuss. Discussion, review, and reflection finished up the journey.
Get involved
Want to learn more about the ACC’s DEI initiatives, or get involved at your section? Please reach out!