Note: This article was originally published in our Summer 2020 edition of our On Call newsletter, and has not been updated.
Over the past several weeks, the College, its staff, and Council members have had constructive and necessary conversations about systemic racism, specifically anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism. During these conversations, we have discussed and acknowledged that the systemic racism we are seeing around the world also exists here at home in our province and our profession.
We know that systemic racism is deeply rooted in the systems of our society and that health care and health regulation are not exempt. We also know that we must make actionable changes within our sector and the system at large to dismantle the inequities that currently exist and make sure that we do not create new inequities in the future. The College is committed to seeking out change, to listening and learning from members of the Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour (IBPOC) communities and to actively participate in these needed conversations within the sector.
As a Council, we recognize that we do not control the makeup of our Council membership, but we can continue to encourage the government to re-examine its public appointments process, as well as the legislated elections process of professional members, towards the implementation of a competency-based appointments process that favours diversity and skills. We are also committed to creating new systems of participation and engagement from the IBPOC community to help us examine our work prior to decisions being made.
As a College, we recognize that we do not have the internal expertise to lead this needed change on our own. We need help to recognize, understand, and challenge our ways of governing and administering systems that may be racist or inequitable at their core. We will engage with experts and learn from those with lived experience to build a plan forward.
As a regulator of midwives, we must widen our lens and examine our responsibility to dismantle and decolonize the systems that exist in our society and to actively seek help to broaden our perspective as an organization.
We look forward to using the On Call newsletter to provide updates on our work.
Sincerely,
Claire and Kelly