Since 2021, we have invested significant resources into transforming our organization. We are pleased to share that, as of June 2025, we have completed all targets set our Equity Roadmap back in 2022. Our work to build a firm anti-racist foundation continues and will remain a priority for our movement. Our new 2025-2030 Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression strategy will guide our work moving forward.
We launched an extensive workplace review and shared the main findings with Board, staff, membership (townhall), our international movement and local media. Key findings were shared on our public website.
We organized restorative spaces for staff following the launch of the workplace review results for processing and healing.
Completed.
We invited former staff to come forward with past experiences at AICES and provided options to guarantee anonymity. Leadership listened to several former staff, their recommendations helped shape our way forward.
Our new organizational values are embedded in 2022-2030 Strategic Plan: Decolonization, Anti-Racism & Anti-Oppression, Allyship & Alignment, Intersectionality & Nuance, Transparency & Accountability, Boldness & Innovation.
Launched ARAO Code of Conduct Policy.
Launched ARAO onboarding guide for all new employees. ARAO goals included in all staff performance appraisals.
Resource guide launched to all employees with ARAO Guide. National Truth and Reconciliation resource guide developed for all staff.
Full policy review completed, with an intersectional lens. 20 new policies and trainings rolled out.
Launched new organizational code of conduct.
Five-year (2025-2030) ARAO strategy finalized.
Completed.
Bi-annual, mandatory all-staff discrimination, harassment trainings and anti-Black racism trainings.
Our Human rights work: ARAO principles applied for all research & campaigns. Decolonial training completed for all campaigners.
Our Fundraising: Regular ARAO and philanthropy trainings. Fundraising team members trained and equipped to address white-saviorism patterns with our supporters.
Our Communications: ARAO principles applied in email marketing and all external communications. Website aligned with Ontario Accessibility Act. Voices of rights holders centered in all public communications.
Our Technology: ITS systems review to increase transparency and data equity.
Our People: Overhauled our Human Resources policies, performance appraisal and onboarding practices. Bi-annual all staff trainings. ARAO resource guide created and incorporated in onboarding process. Redesign of recruitment process, with highly positive reviews from candidates. ARAO goals included and reviewed for all staff and management in annual performance appraisals.
We updated management job descriptions. Harassment and Discrimination policy revised and updated. Leadership trainings completed.
All-staff survey on benefits completed March 2023. Pay equity for unionized staff completed in 2024.
Rolled out updated process including the introduction of SMARTIE goals and building ARAO/Equity reflections in all roles across the organization. ARAO onboarding guide and orientation session for all incoming staff. Cloud-based recruitment program launched for consistent and equitable approach to recruitment including training, tools, and resources to support hiring managers.
We hired Black-led and Indigenous-led firms to lead community consultations on our review our Racial Justice and Indigenous Peoples work. We created and successfully onboarded a new Racial Justice role and revamped the Indigenous rights role. All human rights work has been informed and reviewed from intersectional lens.
Intersectional indicators developed for our human rights impact.
We launched and completed an organizational review and change strategy. Completed a job evaluation process to align leadership competencies.
The Board of Amnesty International Canada (English-Speaking) acknowledges that systemic racism, anti-Black racism, discrimination, and oppressive practices have been operating within our organization. We recognize the pain and harm unduly caused to current and former staff.
We thank racialized staff who, over the years, have come forward with their personal stories and recommendations to move the organization towards a more equitable movement. As we acknowledged in our April 9, 2021, statement, these issues are not new. Much work has been done since, and much more remains to be done to challenge oppression, dismantle the inequitable systems and structures that are entrenched within our organization, and to build racial equity and create a truly inclusive community. The path forward to being an anti-racist organization requires an intentional, purpose- and data-driven approach to bring real change.
We remain resolute and committed to aligning our practices with our mission, to do the hard work, to be accountable and to hold ourselves to the same standards of equity and justice we demand of others.
For several years, past and present staff—particularly racialized staff—at our section of Amnesty International have shared that they have experienced or witnessed racism and other forms of oppression in the workplace.
We deeply regret that these issues were not adequately addressed in the past.
This is unacceptable in our movement. The Board and management take full responsibility for our collective failure to hold ourselves accountable and acknowledge the harm that these practices have and continue to cause to current and former staff.
In 2021, the new leadership of Amnesty International Canada commissioned extensive participatory organizational equity reviews to determine the prevalence of systemic racism, oppression, and white supremacy within our organization. The findings and recommendations from the review, outlined below, informed the creation of an organizational Equity Roadmap, to guide our collective path forward.
In 2022, the extensive, independent organizational reviews we commissioned identified several, long-standing inequities and root causes which exacerbate systemic racism, including the following:
• Acknowledge past harms, practice transparency, and work to restore trust.
• Prioritize a culture that renounces blame and focuses on empathy, improvement, and life-long learning.
• Review, revise, and roll out improved policies.
• Continue improving the recruitment, retention, and advancement of racialized employees through data-driven efforts.
• Clarify expectations, duties, and responsibilities for various roles.
• Establish, articulate, and execute clear organizational strategies and objectives.
• Establish clear strategies and policies for equity, diversity and inclusion and anti-racism and anti-oppression initiatives and clarify new benefits for racialized staff.
• Improve the complaints and investigations processes and ensure adherence.
• Continue revamping training to ensure complaints are consistently triaged.
• Provide regular updates on Equity roadmap progress.
• Encourage a culture of collaboration between teams.
• Engage in comprehensive data collection related to complaints to determine trends and proactively identify areas of improvement.
• Conduct clear and regular training on the policies, as well as on harassment and discrimination generally.
In May 2021 we commissioned an extensive, independent workplace review to diagnose internal challenges and inform the creation of an organizational Equity Roadmap to guide our work forward.
In September 2021 we retained an equity firm to evaluate our organization’s equity policies, and conduct tailored anti-racism training sessions for Management, Staff and the Board.
In September 2020, our Board appointed Secretary General, Ketty Nivyabandi, as the first Black woman to lead the section. With the support of the Board she has driven a renewed vision for the section rooted in equity and feminist leadership practices.
In May 2021, the Board and Secretary General recruited Frida Kruijt as interim Executive Director in May 2021, with anti-racism and anti-oppression (ARAO) and change management expertise to implement immediate steps towards organizational change.
In 2021, we proactively invited Board candidacies from diverse communities resulting in 6 out of 10 Board directors identifying as either Indigenous or racialized.
In September 2021 we launched a series of organization-wide trainings for all staff, Management, Senior Leadership and Board members to build common language and understanding of racism and oppression.
In April 2021 we introduced a series of equity-informed supports for staff:
In 2021 we focused on building robust equity capacity across our teams by:
To better measure, track and monitor equity in our workplace we:
One experience of racism and harm is one too many for Amnesty and the values we uphold around the world. Today, more than ever, we must come together to create a world in which human rights can be enjoyed by all. For this work to be effective and authentic, we must start within, at the heart of our movement and align practice with purpose. I hope you will join us as we work to actively dismantle the residues of white supremacy, racism, and colonialism and inequity within our organization and soar together to more just heights. Thank you for supporting us on this critical journey.
Amnesty International Canada (English-Speaking)
