Allies to all SickKids communities

“Education is an equalizer.”

– Shahana Arain, EDI Learning Specialist

A strong foundation of core guiding principles, including promoting health justice, adopting equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and accessibility as a collective responsibility, championing human rights, addressing the barriers that come to light, and modeling truth and reconciliation with Indigenous communities, has led to progress across all four strategic directions found in SickKids’ EDI Strategy.  

As the EDI Office fortifies its efforts in activating our EDI Strategy, our focus shifts to the sustaining impact of education in change management. Learning modules and sessions on the foundations of EDI, health equity, and anti-Black racism will be supplemented with opportunities for a collaborative deep dive into complex concepts and frameworks used to inform our day-to-day practices supporting, patients, families, and one another. 

In planning for organization-wide learning, health equity is a key focus as we build the data foundation necessary to advance equity at SickKids, through the collection of socio-demographic and identity information about the SickKids workforce and patient population. Data will be critical to helping answer underlying questions of who we are and how we reflect the patients and families we serve. In partnership with Human Resources, the EDI Office has developed an Inclusive Recruitment Pathway, a comprehensive pathway supported by meaningful learning in unconscious bias, with best practices for the active dismantling of barriers impacting diverse recruitment. The EDI Office continues to actively consult and partner in learning across the organization, including the Pronouns and Gender Identity Initiative, Indigenous Education, and EDI Employee Engagement. 

The hiring of an EDI Learning Specialist is accelerating these education efforts across the SickKids enterprise. Shahana Arain is an educator with 18 years’ experience in various roles and brings to SickKids a diverse skill set that helps inform inclusive design strategies and approaches in learning that are child and family-centred and responsive to Indigenous and human rights.