Options were available for different NCC process

Re: “Choice of new boss for New Canadians

Centre questioned,” Oct. 11

What Community Race Relation Committee of Peterborough is talking about is not whether Andy Cragg is or will be competent to do the job but rather that systems are set up for people who look like him to succeed, often at the expense of historically disadvantaged groups.

We as a community need to do better and demand more of the organizations that provide us services.

The NCC could have engaged in a hiring process where they used a special program under the Ontario Human Rights Code, the purpose of which is to “help create opportunities for people who experience discrimination, economic hardship and disadvantage.”

The NCC could have adopted an employment equity perspective in hiring and ensured that they hired an individual from one of the four designated employment equity groups (women, Indigenous people, persons with disabilities and/or racialized persons) but instead the NCC did not adopt nor include an equity or inclusion lens as part of the hiring process and the result is the hiring of Cragg.

The NCC’s mission, values and goals are incongruous with the hiring process that was undertaken. No attempt was made to ensure that the individual at the head of the organization would be more representative of the communities that they serve. This is why we are concerned and disappointed.

This is not a criticism of Cragg or a debate about qualifications — this is about an organization that is meant to provide services to some of the most marginalized and disadvantaged groups replicating systems of power that prevent certain marginalized individuals from advancing into senior positions. Charmaine Magumbe, on behalf of the CRRC board