Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

On this page:

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Plan
Simon Fraser University Commitment Statement
Strategy for Raising Awareness
Governance
Monitoring Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Concerns
SFU’s Equity Targets & Gaps
Policies and Procedures that Govern Staffing of Canada Research Chairs
Simon Fraser University Canada Research Chairs Equity Committee
Canada Research Chairs Program Utilization Spreadsheet
Canada Research Chairs Program: Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Information
Public Reports

SFU is committed to ensuring that all CRC nominations and recruitment processes follow best practices and adhere to equity requirements.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Plan

View SFU's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Plan

The Tri–Agency Programs Secretariat (TIPS) requires all institutions with five or more chair allocations to develop an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan for the Canada Research Chairs Program (CRCP). This webpage details SFU’s equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives and fulfills TIPS’ public transparency requirements.

This action plan guides SFU’s efforts to sustain the participation of and/or address the underrepresentation of individuals from the four designated groups (FDGs)—women, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples, and members of visible minorities—among SFU's chairholders. The action plan captures our efforts to embed equity, diversity, and inclusion principles into SFU processes and practices within the CRC program and beyond.

SFU is deeply committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion in its policies and practices, evident in the work of the EDI Initiative, SFU’s endorsement of the Dimensions: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Canada Charter, and selection as a pilot institution in the Dimensions program.

Simon Fraser University Commitment Statement

In accordance with the mandate from the Federal Government and the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) Program, Simon Fraser University (SFU) offers this commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion:

Simon Fraser University is an institution whose strength is based on our shared commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion. Diversity is an underlying principle of our Strategic Vision, which pledges SFU to “foster a culture of inclusion and mutual respect, celebrating the diversity reflected among its students, faculty staff and our community.” SFU is committed to ensuring no individual is denied access to employment opportunities for reasons unrelated to ability or qualifications. Consistent with this principle, SFU will advance the interests of underrepresented members of the work force, specifically Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, racialized persons and women; embrace gender and sexual diversity; ensure that equal opportunity is afforded to all who seek employment at the University; and treat all employees equitably. Candidates that belong to underrepresented groups are particularly encouraged to apply.

View SFU’s Employment Equity Policy

Strategy for Raising Awareness

SFU is committed to raising awareness of its commitment to equity and ensuring the university community is aware of the benefits of equity, diversity, and inclusion within the CRC Program and beyond.

The SFU CRC Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Plan communications strategy is guided by SFU’s Strategic Research Plan’s identified challenge of “strengthening civil society by advancing justice, equity, and social responsibility”; CRC Program resource guide: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Best Practices for Recruitment, Hiring and Retention; and the SFU Faculty Association Salary Equity Recommendation Committee’s guiding principle “to advance equity, distributive justice, fairness and high integrity of all procedures and recommendations.”
SFU’s strategy to raise awareness of its commitment to equity within the institution and the benefits of equity, diversity, and inclusion with the CRC Program include:
- creating and publicizing the work of the SFU CRC Equity Committee, whose mandate was to oversee the creation of SFU’s CRC Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Plan;
- communicating equity and diversity objectives of SFU’s CRC Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Plan to all faculty, staff, and students via the SFU Research website and email correspondence to staff and faculty from the VPRI Office;
- holding information sessions for faculty and staff to learn more about SFU’s CRC Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Plan in 2017;
- overviews and detailed processes on all aspects of CRC administration (internal and external), along with training, templates, forms and checklists to assist CRC search committees, and information on equity requirements and best practices; and
- regular communications with faculties and departments to ensure compliance with equity requirements for CRC search processes.
In 2021, SFU launched two new resources to raise awareness:
- The Equity, Diversity & Inclusion in Research webpage. EDI is tightly related to research excellence and research cannot meet the bar to be considered excellent if it not inclusive. The webpage provides context of the Canadian Research Funding ecosystem and resources for incorporating EDI in research.
- The Equity, Diversity & Inclusion in hiring training module. The module was created to help ensure procedural fairness, increase diversity in chairholders and develop diversity competencies. The module is comprehensive and includes an overview of unconscious bias, but also how unconscious bias is applied throughout various stages of the hiring process including: the job advertisement, long listing, shortlisting, interviewing and negotiating with candidates. It was first piloted with CRC search committees and is available to the University community upon request.
In 2023, two initiatives have raised awareness:
- The Equity Compass, which is a strategic framework outlining the focus for SFU’s institutional equity, diversity and inclusion work over the next five years (2023-2028) to help build an SFU where all can thrive. The CRC EDI action plan (2017) was used to inform the Equity Compass.
- The EDI action plan recommended the establishment of faculty mentoring programs. The 2022-23 CRC EDI stipend was used to advance this goal by conducting a needs assessment and internal and external environmental scans. The stipend will also be used to deliver events that enable networking and informal mentorship. A mentorship resources page was also created to support existing mentors and mentees.

Governance

To oversee the development of the Action Plan, SFU established a CRC Equity Committee comprised of members from faculty, administration, the SFU Faculty Association, and staff.

The committee’s objectives were to oversee the creation of all required elements of SFU’s CRC Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Plan, which included:
- data collection on all current Canada Research Chairholders and applicants;
- meeting the CRC Program’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Public Accountability and Transparency Requirements; and
- SFU’s CRC Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Plan.
The committee met monthly and established a governance plan that included:
- contracting the services of an external equity advisor;
- appointment of a project lead to set timelines, organize meetings, manage deadlines, and liaise with equity advisory to design and create deliverables for consideration of the committee;
- committee consensus on materials and deliverables related to SFU’s CRC Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Plan; and
- final approval and oversight from the Vice-President, Research and International and Vice-President, Academic, on all documentation related to this initiative.

Oversight of the CRC program at SFU, including allocation of chairs and and monitoring of equity targets, falls within the Vice-President, Research and International portfolio; final approval of chair allocations requires Executive approval.

Monitoring Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Concerns

A person who believes that they have experienced discrimination, harassment based on a prohibited ground of discrimination, sexual harassment, or personal harassment can direct their complaint to SFU’s Human Rights Office. Learn more about the procedures for complaints and answers to frequently asked questions.

SFU’s Associate Vice President Research oversees the Canada Research Chair Program and is responsible for monitoring and responding to equity, diversity, and inclusion concerns in relation to the Program. Javier Tavitas, (javier_tavitas@sfu.ca), Equity in Research Lead, Institutional Strategic Awards, is SFU’s first point of contact for bringing such concerns forward to the Director of Institutional Strategic Awards and to the AVP Research.

SFU’s Specialist of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Faculty Relations is responsible for:

receiving equity, diversity, and inclusion related complaints from academic staff to prioritize and reassign or involve other service departments such as the Human Rights Office or the Sexual Violence Support & Prevention Office
providing conflict resolution support to affected parties and collaborating as needed with other departments and stakeholder groups such as union representatives, Human Resources, and other Faculty Relations staff
working collaboratively with Safety & Risk Services to prepare formal reporting to WorkSafeBC on bullying and harassment complaints
providing consultation and advice on individual workplace conflicts and complaints of bullying and harassment, including providing coaching and support on conflict resolution and investigations when needed
conducting exit interviews for academic staff resigning or retiring, and developing and maintaining an impartial interview process
bringing complaints and concerns to the attention of the Executive Director of Faculty Relations and to the Vice President Academic and Provost, where appropriate.

SFU’s Specialist, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion - Human Resources is responsible for:

receiving equity, diversity, and inclusion related complaints from non-academic staff to prioritize and reassign or involve other service departments such as the Human Rights Office or the Sexual Violence Support & Prevention Office;
providing conflict resolution support, as needed;
bringing complaints and concerns about equity, diversity and inclusion to the attention of the Director of Labour Relations and the Associate Vice President, Human Resources where appropriate; and
supporting the work of SFU’s Human Resources staff in relation to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

SFU’s Specialist, EDI, VP Academic, Strategic Initiatives works in collaboration with Human Resources, Faculty Relations, the Office of the Vice-President Research, and others across the institution to provide support for advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion.

SFU’s Equity Targets & Gaps

Designated Group	Target (Dec 2022)	Representation (Dec 2022)*	Meeting Target?	Gap (# of Chairs)**	Target (Dec 2025)	Target (Dec 2027)	Target (Dec 2029)
Women and gender minorities	11	21	YES	none	13	15	17
Racialized individuals	5	14	YES	none	6	7	7
Persons with disabilities	2	-	-	-	2	2	3
Indigenous peoples	1	-	-	-	1	1	2

* Cell counts less than 5 are withheld to protect the privacy of chairholders
** If the number of chairs needed to fill the gap is fewer than 0.5, the cell indicates N/A

Policies and Procedures that Govern Staffing of Canada Research Chairs

The Canada Research Chairs (CRC) program provides the university with the opportunity to recruit world-class scholars across all research disciplines.

More information:

Simon Fraser University Canada Research Chairs Equity Committee

The CRC Equity Committee was created in 2017 for the purpose of drafting SFU’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan for the Canada Research Chairs Program. The Committee was comprised of:

Faculty Representatives: Lesley Shannon, Nathalie Sinclair
Faculty Relations: Doug Thorpe-Dorward, Catherine Stoddard
Simon Fraser University Faculty Association: Ronda Arab
Major Projects Office: Theresa Burley
External Advisor: Grace Wong Sneddon

SFU's CRC advertisements

SFU's active and archived advertisements for internal, external and emergency retention CRCs can be found here.

Researcher Resources