As reports of increased racialized trauma came to the attention of Lieutenant-Colonel Trisha MacLeod (Senior Staff Officer Deputy Commander, Health Services Division (HS Div)), she quickly began reaching out to individuals who could help provide some additional information and form a working group on racism. While MacLeod took the lead, the effort was a collaboration between Health Promotion, which works to support culture change and improving the health and lives of those who work for the CAF, and a diverse and remarkable group of employees and members who were gathered and provided feedback. The group members discussed topics such as power and privilege and unconscious bias, expanding their own understanding to support others along their own journey.
“Amongst the group there was a real desire to see change,” said Amy Doelman, Health Promotion Manager, PSP Southwestern Ontario. “There were people from across health services and a few different support groups. Because we had been able to pull people from different places it was very much a joint kind of community effort. This group was about helping people on their own journey of learning.”
The grassroots working group was established (with support from Chain of Command) in June 2020 out of 32 Canadian Forces Health Services (CFHS) centres in Toronto and London, Ont., where MacLeod was CO. It included CAF and Defence Team members from those cities and then, later, it expanded to include members from Petawawa. The broad purpose of the working group was to examine individual and systemic roots of racism and actively promote an anti-racist workplace.
That led to the development and implementation of workshops, which involved leadership as well, called Anti-Racism Strategies for the Workplace. In June 2021, the first of three virtual workshops were held.
In 2023, this group was officially named the Anti-Racist Community and hosted its first in-person workshop in Petawawa. Initially open to 40 participants, the two-day event drew 60 in total.
“The content of the workshop was to raise awareness about what racism looks like and what to do about it,” said Juannitah Kamera, PSP Manager, Health Promotion. “We wanted to provide a platform within that space for racialized people who had experiences and to share those experiences.”
The first day identified what is systemic racism within society and what it looks like within the CAF, what some members have experienced, what policies are in place and what the working group was hoping to achieve. The second day focused on some of the strategies that could be implemented to instill change within units and how those in positions of power can affect policy.
The workshop provided a number of authentic, raw and emotional discussions that resonated with participants. It was a space for racialized people to share with the group their own personal experiences within the CAF and society, and discuss what could be done.
“Aside from the aha moments that many of the white or socialized white people would have had, it was the validation and normalization for people of colour to finally feel seen and heard,” said MacLeod.
The impact of what took place in the workshop wasn’t lost on those who helped organize it.
“When we came to the end of the second day you could feel a definite shift,” said Kamera. “There definitely was a shift where you had those people who came in thinking there’s no racism and then rethinking it and saying, ‘what can I do, what more can I do?’ ”
The Anti-Racist Community continues to meet on a monthly basis, with an aim to meet weekly, to learn more about promoting anti-racist workplaces. “When you are having these conversations it does take a toll and it’s challenging,” said Doelman. “Having a group of people that you can debrief with and that can help support you is a really big part and the continued learning with this group fills my cup.”
MacLeod said it’s extremely rewarding to see progress being made in terms of awareness about racism and people being willing to get involved to tackle it in the workplace.
“Some of those people are actually leading discussions now and bringing new faces into the group,” said MacLeod
