Belonging and Inclusion
Indwell strives to create communities of belonging and inclusion for all.
Our Commitment
Our supports, services, and employment are open to people from every creed, race, ethnicity, sex, ability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Indwell strives to engage with and create diverse communities; we actively identify and remove barriers that prevent people from accessing and participating in our services and organization.
Commitment in Action
Community Standards
The Community Standards are boundaries and behaviours that we seek for our communities. They address discrimination of any kind.
These standards communicate the type of community we would like to be and how to hold each other accountable to that. The Community Standards apply to staff, tenants/residents, volunteers, students, community partners, and guests alike.
Policies
As an organization, we have policies that support our statement of inclusion. Our policies are tangible ways that we embed our commitment to inclusion and belonging for all. Within these policies, there are specific steps and processes that we take to maintain and grow in our commitment to creating and upholding safe spaces.
DEI Training & Development
At Indwell, we recognize that each person comes to this work with a varying level of experience in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. As an organization, we are dedicated to equipping our staff in their ongoing learning and development. It is our hope that our staff have the tools needed to become active participants in building a workplace of belonging and inclusion for all.
Racial Justice Committee
The Racial Justice Committee (RJC) is comprised of staff from the BIPOC community and allies cross-regionally. The mandate of the RJC is to explore where racism is impacting our organization, holding a responsibility to advocate for racialized individuals and educate our communities. We seek to inform policies and procedures that aid to address discrimination and inequity. We hope to create a culture that celebrates diversity with authenticity and a safe space for people of all races, both as an employer and a housing provider.
Indwell’s Commitment to Indigenous Peoples
Indwell is committed to being a part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, and to act on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. We humbly enter into this space to listen, learn, and seek justice with Indigenous peoples. We will do this by working in friendship and partnership with organizations who represent Indigenous People.
Together, we will seek to provide homes and cultural supports for Indigenous people who live in Indwell communities. While Indwell seeks to identify and remove barriers to housing for all people, we are acutely aware that urban Indigenous people in Canada are eight times more likely to experience homelessness than non-Indigenous people. As a Christian charity that develops and operates high-quality supportive affordable housing, Indwell has a special opportunity and responsibility to respond to the urgent need for housing for urban Indigenous people.
Indwell recognizes that Indigenous homelessness is complex and can be traced back to historical trauma, oppression, racism and discrimination. We acknowledge that Indigenous homelessness is not simply a lack of habitation but encompasses worldviews that include individuals, families and communities isolated from their relationships to land, water, place, family, kin, animals, culture languages and identities (Aboriginal Standing Committee on Housing and Homelessness, 2012). We will continue to work with organizations that represent Indigenous peoples to provide housing and supports that recognize their history, culture, and sense of home.
