“As leaders of the Ontario Green Party, we stand firmly against racism, sexism and antisemitism in all forms.
We’re deeply dissatisfied by Annamie Paul’s painful experience as leader of the Green Party of Canada. Annamie’s election as the primary Black Jewish woman to guide a serious Canadian political party was a historic milestone, with great potential to attract more under-represented Canadians into public service. Unfortunately, what happened may do the contrary.
The Ontario Green Party is set to tear down the systemic barriers including anti-Black racism that many Ontarians and Canadians proceed to face in politics. We’re a completely separate entity from the federal party with a distinct organizational culture and governance structure.
We all know there may be more to do to make the Ontario Green Party a secure, inclusive and welcoming organization for people of all backgrounds. The Ontario Green Party actively recruits diverse candidates, through our Take The Lead recruitment campaign, and we set funds aside to assist them campaign. We’re committed to doing more with our candidates, riding associations, Provincial Executive and membership.
Meanwhile, we earnestly hope that the federal party finds a strategy to rebuild and refocus on its key goals, especially the urgent commitment to planetary health that our two parties share.”
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The Ontario Greens are taking concrete steps to combat systemic racism, sexism and antisemitism in our party, including:
- Implementing a Secure Spaces Policy and Member Code of Conduct that is not going to tolerate racism, sexism, antisemitism or one other type of hate.
- Making a Diversity & Inclusion Fund that gives initiate funding for equity-deserving candidates.
- Launching our Take the Lead candidate recruitment initiative to recruit equity-deserving candidates.
- Conducting a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) survey to offer an understanding of our current membership and how we will improve to raised reflect the varied voices of Ontario.
- Providing ongoing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training for Ontario Greens staff, Provincial Executive and riding associations.
