The province is looking to create an anti-racism training program for policymakers and other high-level B.C. government officials.
According to a public request for proposals last updated Thursday, Feb. 11, the ministry of the attorney general is seeking a contractor to develop this training for roughly 60 senior-level public servants and Crown corporations, as well as to redesign the province’s method for gathering reports on how other agencies are combating “systemic, institutional, structural racism.”
The call for bids to look at racism inside Legislature halls comes as Premier John Horgan has pledged to develop anti-racist legislation.
“Heightened awareness of issues of systemic, institutional and structural racism faced by Indigenous, Black and People of Colour (IBPOC), has highlighted the need for public servants to increase their understanding of how these issues can manifest themselves in province policies, programs and services and what strategies and practical steps can be taken to begin to address them across province ministries and Crown corporations.”
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Under the Multiculturalism Act, all provincial ministries and Crown corporations are required to submit a summary of their efforts to adhere to and advance the policies of the act by May 31 of each year. The chosen contractor will need to devise a revised reporting template for B.C. agencies.
Other requirements include providing clear definitions of systemic, institutional and structural racism that can be understood by a range of learners and is backed by data that highlights disparities between minorities and white British Columbians.
The province already has policies in place to recruit diverse talent and require ministries to view all policies and programs through an intersectional lens, and the new program is required to compliment these existing frameworks.
The maximum budget for the program is $250,000. The anti-racism learning module and reporting template is expected to be delivered between July 1 and Nov. 30.
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