On the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we reflected on and committed to how we—as individuals and as HelloInfo—will support Indigenous communities of Canada. We know we can and should acknowledge and work to reconcile the painful truths of Canada’s history.
We founded HelloInfo so that we could create a progressive organization that prioritizes and lives by the principles of diversity, inclusion, and continuous learning. As a company, we observe the National Truth and Reconciliation Day by pausing our daily work and instead advancing our knowledge of the truth about Canada and Indigenous people and what we can do to advance reconciliation. After this day of research and reflection, we came together as a team to plan concrete steps to increase our understanding of Indigenous issues and the ways we can contribute to reconciliation.
This is what we are doing:
Short term
- Include a diversity statement on our website
- Include a land acknowledgement on our website
- Formalize our diversity and inclusion policy and discuss it with our team
- Investigate Indigenous-owned research firms, and companies that they partner with to promote them on social media or collaborate with
Mid term
- Connect with Indigenous organizations that we can potentially collaborate with and support
- Complete diversity training/Indigenous-awareness specific training
- Interview an Indigenous researcher for a blog post spotlighting a professional in the field
- Develop a guide for team members to provide support on how to address situations when inappropriate comments are made in a work setting or other forums (networking events, social interactions, online, etc.)
- Complete individual self-study on Indigenous topics and share learnings with the team on a quarterly basis during a lunch and learn to facilitate continuous learning and knowledge sharing
- Self-study examples include:
- Courses: University of Alberta’s Indigenous Canada course
- Books: 5 Little Indians, 21 Things You May Not Know About The Indian Act, The Inconvenient Indian, Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
- Events: National Indigenous Peoples Day
- Documentaries: Spirit to Soar, Jordan River Anderson: The Messenger, Colonization Road, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up
- Self-study examples include:
Long term
- Continuous evaluation of HelloInfo’s progress made on the goals outlined and future goal setting (completed on an annual basis)
- Create an Indigenous internship position with the goal of upskilling and workplace development
- Hire a third-party consultant to provide guidance on ED&I and building an inclusive workplace
Ongoing
- When sourcing externally, make sure to include diverse suppliers in the consideration set
- Post open positions on job boards targeting the Indigenous community
HelloInfo is committed to sharing our progress publicly. Every year on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation we will evaluate our progress on the goals we have set and set new goals for the upcoming year.
We are determined to make HelloInfo the absolute best it can be – this initiative is only one of the many ways we are thoughtfully designing the company.
