‘Nothing’s neutral:’ How 2 Canadian employers reframe DEI as equity and belonging

At George Brown Polytechnic and Thales Canada, DEI work is less about hitting compliance targets and more about building workplaces where people can succeed regardless of their identity and feel like they belong, according to HR leaders at each organization.

For Jennifer Grant, a key lesson in this space is that “nothing's neutral” — conversations are shaped by structures, practices and policies through a very singular lens: often male, white, able-bodied, English and Christian, for example.

“If that is true, then when we're thinking about something, we have to ask ourselves: ‘Who are we missing? Who's not been in this conversation? Who's not thinking through this?’” says the associate vice-president of anti-racism, equity and human rights at George Brown.

“And so how do we make sure we're taking care of one another? It's through widening that lens, creating a larger container so all people can be at the table to actually create the solutions that we want in order to see the changes.”

For Christine Clarkson, HR director at Thales Canada, the motivation is deeply personal. As a mother and stepmother of four children, including two who are visible minorities, one who is gender-neutral and one who has a social anxiety disorder, she says she often thinks about the challenges they’ll face as they enter the workforce.

“It’s really about creating that work environment that helps them thrive.”

Starting with equity

At George Brown, the hallways are “blessed with diversity,” says Grant, so it’s about making sure people feel they belong and can succeed in that environment.

And the work is intentionally framed as EDII — equity, diversity, inclusion and Indigenization, she says.

“That's a specific strategic move in terms of, really, one, separating it from an American context and bringing it into the Canadian context — in Canada, we more generally use the term EDI as opposed to DEI; and two, because it actually situates the conversation from a different lens — it starts with equity.”

That’s about creating greater access while reducing more barriers, both for staff and students, says Grant.

“When we're working with, particularly, folks who have been historically disenfranchised, marginalized, disproportionately impacted by really colonial policies, the intention of EDII is to move away from that and to really focus on ‘How do we ensure that people are getting the opportunities that are based on their potential and not on their identity?’”

Not a compliance exercise

Thales Canada, which employs about 1,400 people across the country, positions DEI within a broader corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy focused on “building a safer, greener and more inclusive world,” according to Clarkson.

She says this approach is structured around three pillars — society, planet and people — with diversity “woven into the people pillar” and aligned directly to corporate strategic objectives.

“The company doesn't see DEI as a compliance exercise [but] rather more of an enabler, and it’s a source of innovation, creativity and long-term performance,” says Clarkson.

She adds that the emphasis on inclusion is reflected as early as onboarding materials, where new employees are told, “We want to create a place where you belong” and are encouraged to come forward with ideas and concerns.

Equity audits of employment

As part of its EDII efforts, George Brown Polytechnic, which has roughly 3,000 full-time staff, has been scrutinizing its efforts through a year-and-a-half Employment Systems Review (ESR) that is nearing completion. The institution brought in an external consultancy to review employment-related policies through an equity lens for “areas of strength, but also areas of growth or gaps where we can do better,” according to Grant.

“Are they serving that purpose of ensuring access and reducing barriers? That’s the easiest way for me to think about equity.”

Beyond the Employment Systems Review, Grant says they often conduct equity audits on individual policies and plans when departments ask for feedback, looking for gaps and opportunities.

“We're not looking for perfection, but we’re looking to move the needle, and to get further and closer,” she says, adding she’s “not under any delusions” that George Brown will have an environment where no inequities happen.

“I do believe progress is as important, if not more important, than perfection.”

Focus on inclusive hiring

One outcome of the ESR is an Inclusive Hiring Toolkit that is intended to support hiring managers so that, even outside the HR function, they can “hire in a more consistent, equitable way,” says Grant, with guidance on building representative panels and casting a wide net for applicants with diverse lived experience, education and ways of thought.

“What we've seen is inconsistencies in ways that we create panels, that we seek applicants, et cetera. This helps to standardize that or at least give some guidelines to support people to create more consistency,” she says.

“These are ways that we want to bring in as many people in here that represent the students that we support every year.”

Grant says the HR talent acquisition team already applies standardized practices, such as using rubrics, asking all candidates the same questions, and providing “clear scoring so that folks are not biased,” while eliminating irrelevant “gotcha” questions in favour of those relevant to the role.

Similarly, Thales has rolled out unconscious bias training and workshops to all people and project managers across the business, with sessions that go beyond concepts to include open discussions around what biases they see in the workplace, says Clarkson, “and collectively how we can, as leaders, create that environment where everyone feels welcome?”

Managers also receive competency-based behavioural interview training to keep the focus on job requirements, she says.

Indigenous the ‘I’ in EDII

This year, Thales Canada also made Indigenous cultural awareness training mandatory for all employees, not just managers, to deepen appreciation of the history and “potential cultural differences,” says Clarkson, and to support Thales’ push toward level-three certification with the Partnership and Accreditation in Indigenous Relations (PAIR) program.

She says this work is part of a broader effort to look “beyond just the gender” side of DEI to include Indigenous communities, persons with disabilities and neurodiversity.

“I would say that really a lot of our focus is educating and giving [people] the tools and recognizing biases and ensuring that the processes are fair.”

Indigenization is also included in George Brown’s EDII efforts so the institution can move on commitments tied to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), and that means building bridges with Indigenous staff, students and communities, says Grant, acknowledging the college is on lands shaped by the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Haudenosaunee, Wendat and others.

“Multiple nations have built this environment that we get to benefit from… It makes sense that we are constantly thinking about how we reconcile with these communities who have also been disenfranchised through colonial systems.”

Leaders on the hook: performance assessments

At George Brown, leadership accountability is another key element to moving EDII forward, according to Grant.

“[They] are the ones who set the culture, they set the strategy, they set operational directions,” she says, which is why EDII is embedded into leadership performance assessments.

“Thinking about equity, thinking about access, thinking about accessibility, belonging — if you don't have leaders cognizant, aware and thinking about that, we're not going to move this work forward.”

Leaders are “incentivized” to move in that direction, says Grant, “and then [it’s about] looking at their outputs to say, ‘Are they consistent with those values that we’ve talked about?’”

Every leadership interview includes at least one question about equity and belonging showing up in their work and how they bring that lens into their spaces, she says: “We have to model it from the top-down.”

Canadian HR Reporter is now accepting entries for 5-Star Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Employers 2026, an annual recognition celebrating organizations that are setting the standard for inclusive workplaces.

Women in leadership: early pipeline-building

At Thales, women’s representation in senior leadership continues to rise year after year, but the organization treats this as “a journey rather than a race,” according to Clarkson.

The company has set “aspirational targets” as part of its CSR strategy, including a commitment that by 2030, 25 per cent of senior management roles will be held by women, along with additional targets to ensure women are represented in management communities, she says.

“We started focusing on ‘OK, how do we start building our female talent pipeline at all levels in the business?’ And so we also have regular reporting in terms of ‘How many candidates are we pulling in? How are we interviewing?’” says Clarkson.

“The perspective is that, obviously, if you track metrics, it really identifies the gaps, it ensures we're all working towards the same thing.”

To support progression, Thales runs an International Women’s Mentoring Program at the global level, pairing members of executive committees with high-potential female talent. Each year, about 100 mentor–mentee relationships are formed to “increase their readiness for senior-level promotion,” she says, and build networks across countries.

Clarkson adds that the company is also moving upstream to build a broader STEM pipeline, for example, by sponsoring a hackathon for high school students at the University of Ottawa: “We are realizing that… it's a journey and it's our responsibility to help build the pipeline.”

Getting people involved

Within Thales, Clarkson says one of the challenges is making sure that topics such as neurodiversity and ageism aren’t reduced to “one-offs” that people forget. One tactic has been to send calendar invites to all employees, which led to events drawing over 150 people simply because the session appeared in their calendars and was scheduled over lunch when people could easily join.

Events are also designed to be interactive rather than purely lecture-based, with formats such as a TED Talk with open discussions.

“It’s not just about awareness but having people share their stories, offer suggestions… [to] get people talking about it and keep the conversations going,” she says.

Tips are also provided to managers on how to raise these topics in team meetings and a dedicated SharePoint site suggests trainings, books, articles and other resources, according to Clarkson.

How to handle pushback

As for potential pushback against DEI initiatives — as seen south of the border — Clarkson describes Thales’ overall approach as “humanizing DEI,” in moving away from a narrow focus on employment equity categories and hiring targets.

“There's lots of press about DEI around the metrics and stuff. And yes, we do that because that is important to us. But that is not the root core of why DEI is important,” she says.

“If we really frame that as our intent — we just want to create a place where we all belong and we all play a role in that — it really changes the mindset of the traditional DEI.”