WE LIP Success Story | April 2023
On March 29th, 2023, WE LIP in partnership with the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Symposium Working Group organized the “Building an EDI Infrastructure in Windsor-Essex Symposium” at the University of Windsor. The event was attended by over 60 people, many representing all public service sectors in the region, including health, education, community services, and more.
This EDI symposium provided an opportunity to unite those in the Windsor- Essex region working in the EDI space and established a community of practice. Doctoral student Ronnie Haidar and Clinton Beckford, Vice-President for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, University of Windsor welcomed everyone to the symposium and established the goal of the symposium as exploring ways to advance EDI values. Robert Gordon, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Windsor also provided opening remarks.
Same and cross-sector table discussions were held, addressing questions such as “What role do organizations and institutions have in contributing to social justice and EDI in the community?” and “How can we work together to advance social justice and anti-racism?”.
A panel discussion was also held, moderated by Irene Moore Davis, President of the Essex County Black Historical Research Society and Manager of Continuing Education at St. Clair College. Panel speakers included Hugo Vega, Director of EDI at the Windsor-Essex Children’s Aid Society, Marium Tolson-Murtty, Director, Anti-Racism Organizational Change at the Office of the Vice-President, University of Windsor, and Sarah Mushtaq, the Director for Equity, Inclusion, Diversity and Anti-Racism at Windsor Regional Hospital.
The panel and group discussion provided an opportunity to unite all those working in the areas of EDI and create practical steps to stay connected to each other and to continue making Windsor-Essex as inclusive as possible.
The event concluded with an open discussion centering around creating an EDI community of practice in Windsor-Essex and a survey was distributed following the Symposium for the purpose of gaining feedback to inform future events.
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