LGBTQ2S+ inclusive workplace training coming for territorial gov't employees
Amanda St. Denis says one of the "gaps" in the territorial government was the lack of training for working with LGBTQ2S+ coworkers and people in the community.
So her department decided to fix it.
"There was nothing we were communicating to our employees specific to this community," said St. Denis, a workforce diversity officer with the Northwest Territories government. "So it was time to do so."
LGBTQ2S+ Inclusive Workplace Awareness Training starts at the end of May. There will be 11 three-hour workshops: nine in Yellowknife, one in Hay River and one in Inuvik.
"I'm hoping we bridge the gap of understanding," said Chelsea Thacker, executive director of the Rainbow Coalition of Yellowknife. The coalition worked with the territorial government to develop its voluntary workshops.
"A lot of people say that they're afraid to ask questions or they don't know any information and they don't know where to find it, so we wanted to make is accessible to everyone," said Thacker.
'Inclusive behavours' and 'how to be an ally'
The workshops are split into six modules covering topics such as "inclusive behaviours" and "how to be an ally" to LGBTQ2S+ people.
One topic up for discussion will be the use of pronouns — how a person prefers to be addressed — such as "he," "she" or "they."
For example, a transgender woman — someone who was assigned male at birth but identifies as a woman — may prefer she/her pronouns.
The workshops will look at ways to "destigmatize" the use of pronouns in and out of the workplace, Thacker said, adding the way to do that is to talk about it.
"Often times we create barriers in front of things by not talking about them," she said. "The more we talk about pronoun use, what that means, what that looks like, how it's different for other people and how it connects to gender … you destigmatize it."
'We're better servers of the community'
St. Denis said the voluntary training sessions are popular. Four workshops are already full, she said. Each session has space for 15 people.
For St. Denis, the training isn't just important for making the workplace a better place for LGBTQ2S+ people, but it's also beneficial to the community more broadly.
"As public servants, [by] understanding the issues around the LGBTQ2S+ community, we're better coworkers, better managers, but not only that, we're better servers of the community and make it safer for people to access our services," she said.
The first training session is May 31 in Yellowknife. The territorial government is also working on training people to continue this kind of workshop into the future.
