Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

Introduction

Red River College Polytechnic is Manitoba’s largest institute of applied learning and the province’s only polytechnic with more than 22,000 individual registrants in over 200 full-time and part-time programs. These programs are offered throughout Manitoba at eight campuses. In addition, the College employs over 2000 people across the province making it one of Manitoba’s largest employers.  

RRC Polytech is committed to promoting equity and diversity, while fostering a culture of inclusion where all our students and staff feel valued, respected and included.  We are committed to developing a learning and working environment that is welcoming, accessible, respectful and engaging for all individuals. We are proud of the work we are doing in support of this goal, and to be recognized as one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers nine years running.

We believe diversity is one of our greatest strengths and makes us stronger and drives innovation, but we also believe we can and must do more to expand and enhance initiatives supporting our College community, as well as to acknowledge and celebrate the unique differences that makes Red River College Polytechnic so special. 

The Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy will support the expansion and embedding of diversity and inclusion practices into our College culture and catalyze change.  In the coming years we will work towards this objective through the development of innovative policies, programming, initiatives and strategies. 

Vision

• To build an Equitable, Diverse and Inclusive College culture. 
• To enhance and promote knowledge and literacy of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. 
• To build a workforce that is representative of the available regional labour force. 
• To remove barriers to access and establish systems, policies and practices that support the success of our College communities’ employment and academic goals. 

EDI Pillars

In executing our vision, we built action plans focused on the following five pillars. Our actions took both the student and employee experience into consideration.  

1. Recruitment and Selection is the attraction, selection and promotion of candidates for jobs within an organization. RRC Polytech is committed to ensuring that employment decisions are based on skill and ability, and that qualified applicants and employees have equal opportunities for employment. In addition, we are committed to creating opportunities to grow our diverse workforce and evaluate our employment processes for the removal of biases and barriers. 
2. Training and Development is the process of imparting knowledge, skills, and concepts while influencing changes to attitude, culture and status quo. Effective organizational training develops the human capital of a company while helping employees succeed in their roles. RRC Polytech is committed to providing training and development opportunities that is accessible, relevant and inclusive to all staff (and students where applicable) while promoting the understanding and literacy of diversity related topics. 
3. Retention and Engagement is the ability of an organization to retain the engagement of its workforce and talent over time. We are committed to building an engaging, inclusive and rewarding environment where all employees are empowered and set up for success. 
4. External Partnerships and Outreach is to build meaningful relationships with external organizations/partners to further support and compliment the successful delivery of our EDI goals. 
5. Student Success is to create learning opportunities to meet the current and emerging needs of students, employers, and communities.

2019/2022 Strategic Implementation Plan

This strategy was designed to span over 2019 and 2022. During Fall 2019, we had a college-wide Self-Identification campaign planned to obtain demographical equity data of students and staff to benchmark our current representation. After this data was gathered, we met with various departments and program areas to develop departmental EDI action plans. 

The action plans were focused to drive conversation around the five EDI pillars identified above. In these plans, we outlined concrete EDI goals along with established timelines for all stakeholders. 

Supplementary to this strategy, the College has an existing Accessibility Plan published in compliance with the Accessibility for Manitobans Act, 2016. During this period, we revisited this plan to provide further support and direction for its successful execution. 

Beginning 2022, we have been reporting on progress made and re-evaluating both the EDI strategy and the Accessibility Action Plans for future sustainability. To further support the strategy/action plan renewal, the College recently launched another self-identification campaign to inform next steps and initiatives.

EDI Corporate Action Plan

RRC Polytech has developed an EDI Corporate Action Plan to support the expansion and embedding of EDI practices into our corporate culture and to catalyze change. In the coming years, we’ll work towards accomplishing the objectives outlined in this plan and update the plan as action items are completed and new actions are identified. 

Learn more about our EDI Corporate Action Plan ›

EDI Departmental Action Plans

To further expand and embed EDI, RRC Polytech has developed EDI Departmental Action Plans. These departmental action plans are championed by the department/program area leadership teams and reflect further actions to advance EDI across all areas and within all programs of the College.  

Learn more about our EDI Departmental Action plans ›

Diversity Champions

To support the development and implementation of the EDI Corporate and Departmental Action Plans and to be ambassadors for advancing EDI within the College by helping share information, raise awareness, actively participate, engage feedback and inform current and future EDI events and initiatives, RRC Polytech has developed a Diversity Champion Network to help effectively and sustainably lead these initiatives.

Learn more about our Diversity Champions Network ›