Equity Action Plan

The Equity Action Plan now encompasses UVic’s employment equity program, which falls under the jurisdiction of BC's Office of the Human Rights Commissioner. The current program is approved from September 2022 through September 2027. It carries new strategies in recruitment and retention, a plan for greater employment equity data collection and the right to conduct limited and/or preferential hiring searches for underrepresented populations. 

Best practices to support employment equity

1. Get informed

Learn more about Indigenization, anti-racism initiatives, sexualized violence prevention, gender diversity, disability and accommodation, and mental health support and fair hiring.

2. Become a bias buster

Learn about unconscious bias, its impacts and how to overcome it. See Bias Resources.

3. Inclusive vision

Work with your team to create a shared vision of inclusion. Build an inclusive vision: Inclusive statements (PDF)

4. Integrate best practices 

Draw on resources to support all stages of hiring, assessment and employment. Factor equity into every decision you make. See Hiring resources

Make a standing item on equity, diversity and inclusion at your meetings.

5. Build community

Plan an event focused on equity, diversity and inclusion. Steps for community building (PDF)

6. Become champions

Create and support an equity committee in your unit.

Embed practices of equity, diversity, accessibility, inclusion and dialogue throughout the university community so that all members feel welcomed, valued and supported to achieve their highest potential. - University of Victoria Strategic Framework, strategy 1.2

 

Better Data Project

Embedding employment equity is not only the right thing to do but needed to attract and retain people with the knowledge, perspectives and skills to achieve excellence. Given the importance of this work, UVic is excited to begin work on the Better Data Project which aims to build ethical data governance practices that have consistent collection of disaggregated data to address barriers to equity across the UVic community.  

Launched fall 2022, the Better Data Project will start by building a community-informed data governance structure in consultation with campus leaders and subject-matter experts. Following it, the project has two phases to improve the collection of self-identification, demographic data across campus.

Phase 1 will be a redesign and relaunch the Employment Equity Survey to establish a baseline understanding of the make up of employees at UVic. Key trends in representation will be shared with the community through an interactive, live data dashboard. Phase 1 of the project will be important in forming new hiring goals and evaluating on-going initiatives to increase equity on campus.

Phase 2 of the project will involve the development and distribution of an equity census for UVic students. By enhancing the self-identification options available to students, Phase 2 aims to address known gaps in UVic’s current self-identification data collection and management practices. These gaps include a limited representation of diverse groups (options limited to Indigenous identity and gender identity) and an inability to identify and analyze intersectional identities.  

Both phases of the Better Data Project will provide the campus community with an opportunity to self-identify across a range of identities to provide UVic with an understanding of who makes up our community. Importantly, the work is guided by key equity data collection principles set forward by topic experts and guiding policy documents (e.g., the Grandmother Perspective). The revised Employment Equity Survey and the Student Equity Survey will launch in fall 2023/winter 2024.

View our current employment equity data