CMHC reassessing policies to eliminate discrimination

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. acknowledged a lack of diversity in its ranks and its role in past acts of racism on Friday as it pledged to overhaul how it does business.

The federal housing agency said it will re-assess all of its practices through a racialized lens to an effort to eliminate discrimination.

It also used the statement to acknowledge its role in funding the forced resettlement of Black people, most notably from Halifax’s historic Africville and Hogan’s Alley in Vancouver.

CMHC’s decision was prompted by anti-Black racism demonstrations held across Canada and the U.S. after the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed Black man in Minneapolis who pleaded for air as a white police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.

“We haven’t done nearly enough. CMHC must set a high standard,” the agency said in a statement. “We must all stand together with our Black coworkers and the victims of murder, oppression and the systemic racism that exists everywhere.”

Black people make up 3.5 per cent of Canada’s population and 5.2 per cent of CMHC employees.

Those who are Indigenous amount to 4.9 per cent of the national population and 2.4 per cent of the CMHC workforce.

“At CMHC, we would once have congratulated ourselves for our diversity,” CMHC said.

“This is however no achievement when too few of our people leaders are Black or Indigenous — none among senior management. And diversity isn’t enough: it’s where we start.”

Kike Ojo-Thompson, who runs diversity, inclusion and equity consultancy Kojo Institute, said CMHC’s statement seemed like it was written in the voice of someone who really understands the moment the country had been plunged into.

She found it interesting that CMHC was so forthcoming with data around their Black and Indigenous employees, “particularly because their numbers are so low.”

“The first step to an accountability framework and accountability approach is to actually show your data, so that you as well as the community can know what the target is,” she said.

“If you’re low, we know you’ve got to get from zero to three, or three to five, and we’re not going to expect 10 tomorrow … so exposing the data is very helpful.”