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Learn about the Anti-racism Strategy and the work the City is currently doing for this initiative.
At the City, we believe everyone who lives here is an Edmontonian, that every Edmontonian deserves to call this place home. Anti-racism is the active, ongoing strategy and process that seeks to identify and eliminate racism by changing systems, institutions, policies and attitudes that perpetuate racism. At its first meeting after the 2021 election, Edmonton City Council directed City Administration to develop a comprehensive anti-racism strategy. On February 22, 2022, Council approved the City’s Anti-racism Strategy.
The Anti-racism Strategy brings our community together to improve equity, end poverty, eliminate racism and make clear progress toward Truth and Reconciliation. We acknowledge that this is complex and multifaceted work and are developing a number of different approaches to address that complexity head on. Together, we will create a City - a home - where every individual, in all their unique diversity, belongs.
For additional information on anti-racism, view Resources.
The creation of an internal, high-level Anti-Racism Office within Administration.
Administration is currently looking at options for what an anti-racism office could look like to fulfill the mandate put forward in the strategy- challenge racism, developing a culture of anti-racism, embedding anti-racist action into all processes within Administration, and acting as a collaborative partner with the Independent Anti-Racism Body to co-create a long term Anti-Racism Strategy and Plan for Edmonton.
To support the UN International Decade for People of African Descent proclamation and advance its Anti-Racism Strategy, City Administration is working with Edmonton communities to co-create an Anti-Black Racism Action Plan. This action plan is driven and guided by Edmonton’s Black communities and their needs, and supported and facilitated by the municipal government of Edmonton.
Community engagements held between December 2022 and March 2023 resulted in the What We Heard report, which summarizes the experiences and input shared with the consultants at the time of report submission. Those experiences and voices then shaped and informed the creation of the containing community’s recommendations on how the City of Edmonton can build equity, address racism and create an anti-racist corporation and city.
Guided by these recommendations, Administration is accelerating implementation of the Anti-Racism Strategy. Current actions to address the strategy include:
In addition to this work, the first diverse fellowship for Council was recruited this year, which saw youth from racialized and Indigenous communities placed with Councillors in May-June of this year. The goal was to:
Additional work focused on internal systems at the City are also underway.
Thank you to everyone who provided their time and voices to inform the Anti-Black Racism Action Plan and its recommendations.
We are committed to providing safe spaces that welcome Black communities in Edmonton to share their voices and to applying an Afrocentric lens and approach throughout our anti-racism work.
The City is continuing to advance work on the Municipal Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Calls to Action and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG2S+) Calls for Justice files with early recommendations and requests for funding going forward to Council this fall. We continue to work closely with the Indigenous community while we establish actions and commitments to both of these responses.
The City has established funding to support capacity-building and other needs as identified, to strengthen grassroots Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) led organizations. Empowering the work of BIPOC led organizations helps influence other organizations in Edmonton to create anti-racism strategies and policies, connecting them to the city’s long-term Anti-Racism Strategy and Plan to eliminate racism in our community.
For more details on these programs and their status, please visit:
Additional funding will be available based on recommendations of the Anti-Racism Independent Body Advisory Board.
The Anti-racism Advisory Committee’s mandate is to raise awareness and catalyze action on racism and anti-racism in Edmonton, and provide advice to Council regarding community perspectives on issues relating to racism, including, but not limited to: diversity; discrimination; hate and extremism; racial equity; anti-Black racism; racism against Indigenous Peoples; xenophobia; Islamophobia; antisemitism; and the lived experiences of persons of colour. They are governed by the C18970 Bylaw.
The International Decade for People of African Descent Proclamation
On August 29, 2022, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi made a special proclamation re-committing the City of Edmonton’s support for the UN International Decade for People of African Descent. The recognition, justice and development of people of African descent articulated in the Declaration support the City’s ongoing corporate commitment to eliminate racism in our community in all of its forms.
Anti-Racism Strategy - Report
Attachment 1 - Context of Report from the perspective of the Anti-Racism Advisory Committee with BIPOC Youth and members of the BIPOC Community
Attachment 2 - Brief History of Racism in Alberta
Attachment 3 - Glossary of Key Terminology
Attachment 4 - Municipal Scan of Canadian Cities
Attachment 5 - Anti-Racism Strategy
Attachment 6 - Intergovernmental Levers
Thought Leaders Comments