City Unveils Diversity Policy Plaque

The City’s Diversity Policy has become a permanent fixture at City Hall following its unveiling this afternoon at Tom Davies Square.

The policy will be displayed to emphasize the importance of inclusivity for all, as a result of a motion brought forward by Mayor Brian Bigger and supported by City Council.

“Our diversity brings us strength. We are smarter, more innovative, more compassionate and more successful when we are able to draw on the experiences of different walks of life,” said Greater Sudbury Mayor Brian Bigger. “The Diversity Policy emphasizes our ongoing commitment to ensure acceptance, inclusion and equality for every resident of Greater Sudbury. By respecting, valuing and celebrating our differences we contribute to a safer, healthier and more vibrant community.”

The policy was developed by the Newcomer, Immigrant and Refugee Advisory Panel, which was established to provide advice to City Council on strengthening support in the community. The panel has fulfilled its mandate and ended with the last term of Council. The Local Immigration Partnership will continue to work with newcomers in the community with support from the City of Greater Sudbury.

"It is very important that all of our residents feel that the policy includes them,” said Ward 9 Councillor Deb McIntosh, Co-chair of the former Newcomer, Immigration and Refugee Advisory Panel. “The Diversity Policy plaque is a concrete declaration that everyone is accepted in our community. We celebrate our diversity as it contributes greatly to the quality of life we enjoy in our city.”

The Diversity Policy will be permanently installed at all municipal facilities in the coming weeks. The plaque includes artwork by local artist Sarah King Gold and includes the following Diversity Policy statement:

Equality and inclusion are fundamental human rights for every individual, as prescribed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Ontario Human Rights Code. Throughout our City, we support diversity in all of its forms, including but not limited to age, disability, economic circumstance, marital status, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and gender expression, race, religion, and sexual orientation. Leading by example, we aspire to make diversity a core and abiding strength of the City of Greater Sudbury.

Our strength is found in our differences and we strive to embrace diversity in all that we do.

Our mission is best fulfilled when we honour diversity as a value and a practice. In doing so, our community will attract and retain the most talented and skilled people to the City of Greater Sudbury, and this will benefit our economy and our quality of life. Achieving diversity requires  an  enduring commitment to human dignity and inclusion that must find full expression in our organizational culture, values, norms and behaviours.

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Update: March 15, 2019

The concept of a diversity policy for the City of Greater Sudbury was first advanced by the City's Diversity Advisory Panel and Chair Leonard Kim. The Diversity Advisory Panel worked over many months to develop the content, scope and audiences for the Diversity Policy and statement to ensure clear intentions and direct connection to human dignity, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Ontario Human Rights Code. 

Following these efforts, the Diversity Advisory Panel presented the Diversity Policy and Statement to Council who adopted it unanimously in May 2014.

The policy was then taken on by the Newcomer, Immigrant and Refugee Advisory Panel, which was established to provide advice to City Council on strengthening support in the community. This panel worked to develop the artwork and layout of the Policy to engage audiences and display publicly in municipal facilities.