Anti-Bias Policy

Anti-Bias Policy

   

The following is a short excerpt from our program’s policy, approved in December 2018. For the complete policy or more information about how this policy informs our work, please email our team at [email protected]

Related to racial bias and racism:

It is important to note that racism and racial bias are present not only in views and biases held by individuals but also embedded in systems and structures within which we all operate. The Ontario Human Rights Commission reminds us that “racism differs from simple prejudice in that it has also been tied to the aspect of power, i.e. the social, political, economic and institutional power that is held by the dominant group in society.” Because many aspects of racial bias are enacted at a systems level, and are endemic to the most basic systems that structure our society, good intentions and inclusive, anti-racist attitudes on the part of individuals are not sufficient to eliminate the experience of racial bias and discrimination for racialized persons.

This policy is an attempt to formally address the persistent and, in many ways, unavoidable effects of racial bias and discrimination that negatively affect all people living in Canada regardless of background. Even if we are lucky enough to avoid contact with violent and outright discriminatory racist attacks, as products of a society where racism is persistent and endemic, racism, racial bias and discrimination may still be enacted by people who consider themselves to be “allies” to racialized people and also by people who are themselves racialized, either within their own communities or between racialized groups. This policy acknowledges that racial bias can have a damaging effect both for clients in terms of impacting their quality of care and health outcomes, and on racialized clinicians in terms of their sense of safety and potential for heightened levels of fatigue and potential burnout compared to their “white” counterparts.

 Acknowledgement of implicit bias:

  • The providers working in the MATCH Program acknowledge that regardless of individual racial or ethnic identity, and regardless of deeply held anti-racist core beliefs and good intentions, all clinicians are capable of speaking and acting in a racially biased manner that may negatively impact clients or colleagues.
  • The providers working in the MATCH Program acknowledge that race has no biological basis but that as a social construct, race has profound social, economic and personal effects on racialized people and that racial categories often intersect with other aspects of identity (gender, sexuality, age, disability, citizenship or immigration status, language, religion, etc.) to create layered and increasingly difficult to navigate forms of discrimination.
  • The providers working in the MATCH Program endeavour to actively work to undo racist and racially biased assumptions in care and in interpersonal and interprofessional interactions and in the systems we work within.

Related to Heterosexism and Heteronormativity:

This policy is an attempt to formally address the gap between overt discrimination and the often more subtle (but no less damaging) effects of heterosexism, heteronormativity and cisnormativity. We acknowledge that heterosexism, heteronormativity and cisnormativity may be expressed by people who consider themselves to be “allies” to the 2SLGBTQI+ community, and may also be expressed by people who are members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community. This policy acknowledges that expressions of heterosexism, heteronormativity and cisnormativity are not always associated with the belief that heterosexuality is “superior” or “moral,” but that as products of a cisnormative, heteronormative, heterosexist society, we are all prone to make heteronormative and cisnormative assumptions and are all capable of erasing or ignoring queer identities in clinical and non-clinical settings and that these assumptions and this implicit bias can have a damaging effect both for clients in terms of impacting their quality of care, and on queer clinicians in terms of their sense of safety and potential for heightened levels of fatigue and potential burnout compared to their “straight” counterparts.

Acknowledgement of implicit bias:

  • The providers working in the MATCH Program at SRCHC acknowledge the presence of implicit bias, and that regardless of personal sexual orientation or gender identity, and regardless of core beliefs related to 2SLGBTQI+ people that may be positive and well-intentioned, all clinicians are capable of speaking and acting in heterosexist, heteronormative or cisnormative manner.
  • The providers in the MATCH Program endeavour to actively work to undo heterosexist, heteronormative and cisnormative assumptions in care and in interpersonal and interprofessional interactions and in the systems we work within.