Diversity and Inclusion

Ethnicity/race

Ethnic/racial groups are defined by race or colour only, not by country of birth, citizenship or religious affiliation.

• Black (e.g., African, American, Caribbean, West Indian, etc.)
• Indigenous (e.g., First Nations, Métis, Inuk)
• Caucasian/White
• East/South East Asian/Pacific Islander (e.g., Chinese, Fijian, Korean, Japanese, Polynesian, Burmese/Myanmarese, Filipino, Cambodian/Kampuchean, Indonesian, Laotian, Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, etc.)
• Latin/Hispanic (e.g., Central American, North American, South American, etc.)
• Middle Eastern/Northern African (e.g., Afghani, Arab, Armenian, Egyptian, Iranian, Iraqi, Israeli, Lebanese, Jordanian, Palestinian, Syrian, Turkish, etc.)
• Non-Canadian Indigenous (e.g., Indigenous persons whose origins are Central/South American, Australian Indigenous, Maori, Amer-Indian, Mexican, Colombian, Ecuadorian, Peruvian, Chilean, etc.)
• South Asian (e.g., Bangladeshi, Indian (India), Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Nepalese, etc.)
• Mixed race or multiracial (with one parent in one of the groups listed above)

Gender identity

The 519, a City of Toronto agency committed to the health, happiness and full participation of the LGBTQ2S communities, has posted a Glossary of Terms on its website. The glossary contains useful information to facilitate shared understandings when accommodating people in accordance to their gender identity or sexual orientation. A sample of the terms is listed below. Visit the 519’s Glossary of Terms page the read the glossary.

Definitions:

• Cisgender: This term refers to individuals who have a match between the gender they are born as and the gender they identify with.
• Transgender: A person whose gender identity, expression or behaviour is different from those typically associated with their assigned sex at birth.
• Genderqueer/Gender Non-confirming/Gender Variant: A person who does not follow the gender stereotypes of a man nor woman. They may express themselves as “feminine men” or “masculine women” or as androgynous, outside of the categories of “boy/man” and “girl/woman.”
• Two-Spirited: Historically used by some North American Aboriginal peoples to describe a person who identifies as having two spirits (one male and one female) inhabiting a single body. This concept may be understood by North American/Europeans as either gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or a combination thereof.

Disability

From the Ontario Human Rights Code, persons with disabilities are those any degree of physical, mental, sensory, psychiatric or learning impairment, which limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities.

A disability includes:

• any degree of physical disability, infirmity, malformation or disfigurement that is caused by bodily injury, birth defect or illness.
• a condition of mental impairment or a developmental disability,
• a learning disability, or a dysfunction in one or more of the processes involved in understanding or using symbols or spoken language,
• a mental disorder, or
• an injury or disability for which benefits were claimed or received under the insurance plan established under the WSIB

Under the definition of disability under the Ontario Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H. 19, disability may include but is not limited to:

• Physical coordination: difficulty using hands or arms, such as grasping objects or using a keyboard
• Mobility: difficulty moving around from one office to another, walking long distances or using stairs
• Blindness or visual impairment: unable to see or difficulty seeing, but does not include people who can see well with glasses or contact lenses
• Muteness or speech impediment: unable to see or difficulty seeing
• Deafness or hearing impediment: unable to hear or difficulty hearing
• Psychiatric impairment: affects one’s emotion, behavior and coping adaptability. This includes any mental or psychological disorders such as schizophrenia or depression
• Learning disability: affects one’s ability to process or understand information using symbols or spoken language such as  Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Ongoing medical condition: Chronic or large health conditions such as epilepsy, diabetes and arthritis among others.