OTTAWA (ON), December 16, 2020 /CNW/ – The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) and its members, including 45 from Canada leading mining companies, today issued a statement denouncing all forms of discrimination, racism and sexism and committing to take action to eliminate them in the Canadian mining industry.
“Racism, sexism and discrimination have no place in the mining industry and, as the largest private employer of Aboriginal people in Canadawe recognize that our industry in particular has an important role to play in ensuring that anti-racism policies are in place to ensure responsible and respectful practices,” said Gordon Stothart, President and CEO of IAMGOLD and Chairman of the CMA. “CMA members also strongly recognize that diversity and inclusion breeds success, making the fight against racism both a moral and a business imperative.”
Over the past six months, the CMA and its members have come together to identify and commit to achieving several concrete goals aimed at ensuring that discrimination, racism and sexism have no role in the from Canada mining industry.
“It is important to our organization and to me personally that our workplaces are safe environments where everyone can thrive, regardless of gender identity, race, ethnicity, ability, orientation gender, family status or position within the company,” said Alice Wang, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cameco. “This is a fundamental right of every employee and we are pleased to see MAC taking a stand on this issue.”
The CMA and its members have put this commitment to ensuring that equity, diversity and inclusion are priorities in from Canada mining sector into a formal statement encompassing several actions that received unanimous support during its November Council Encounter. These goals focus on efforts to ensure that the Canadian mining workforce reflects the diversity of Canada and the communities where the industry operates and focuses on a culture of belonging and inclusion.
“Employers have a clear role to play in combating discrimination in all its forms,” said Caroline Chisholm, vice-chairman of the board of the CMA and director of external affairs at Rio Tinto. “We look forward to seeing the industry continue to take concrete steps to drive positive change.”
CMA’s statement in support of improving equity, diversity and inclusion in from Canada mining sector includes a commitment to take company-specific actions in support of the following objectives:
- Reinforce equity, diversity and inclusion in all aspects of workplace culture, policies, procedures and practices.
- Seek to identify, recognize and confront conscious and unconscious biases, as well as individual and systemic racism, sexism, ableism and discrimination.
- Strengthen efforts to increase representation of underrepresented groups, including women, youth, Indigenous peoples, racialized people, newcomers, people with disabilities, and members of LGBTQ2S+ communities in the workforce, mining management, supply chain and boards.
- Demonstrate leadership and share effective and proven tools, resources, practices and lessons learned.
- Improve goals, actions and reporting performance.
“Thanks to MACs Towards sustainable mining program, the industry is implementing a new, updated standard on Indigenous and community relations that aims, among other things, to ensure that management and employees at mine sites are informed of the history of the peoples and receive skills-based training in intercultural competence, conflict resolution, human rights and anti-racism,” said Pierre Graton, President and CEO of CMA. “However, it is clear that our industry still has a long way to go to eliminate racism, discrimination and sexism in all its forms.”
MAC and its members are committed to continually improving its commitment to diversity in the mining industry. A large sample of ongoing projects that support equity, diversity and inclusion in from Canada mining sector can be found here.
“The mining sector has worked in recent years to understand and address the conscious and unconscious biases affecting our traditionally homogeneous, male-dominated industry,” said Leslie Woolcott, Director of Inclusion and Career Development at the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR). “The CMA statement challenges and supports our sector to reflect more diverse perspectives and to become more welcoming, inclusive and respectful of the many communities that make up Canadian society.”
To ensure that a broad and diverse set of mining industry perspectives are incorporated into the statement, MAC has partnered with MiHR, which has created a special Inclusion and Diversity (I&D) committee to to assist in its development. Representatives from DiversitySTEM, Women Who Rock, Unifor and the Waubetek Business Development Corporation joined mining company I&D specialists on the committee.
“A shared commitment is necessary to succeed in advancing equity and creating opportunities to eradicate systemic racism, sexism and discrimination,” said Michelle Edwards, MiHR Council I&D Committee Member and Corporate Director, Global Awards and Culture, Agnico Eagle Mines. “CMA’s statement reinforces this commitment from our industry.”
The mining industry is a major sector of from Canada the economy, contributing $109 billion to the national GDP and responsible for 19% of from Canada total national exports. from Canada mining sector employs 719,000 people directly and indirectly across the country. Industry is proportionally the largest private employer of Aboriginal people in Canada and a major client of Aboriginal-owned businesses.
About the CMA
The Mining Association of Canada is the national organization of the Canadian mining industry. Its members represent most of the from Canada production of base and precious metals, uranium, diamonds, metallurgical coal and mined oil sands, and are actively engaged in mineral exploration, mining, smelting, refining and semi-manufacturing. Please visit www.mines.ca.
SOURCE Mining Association of Canada (MAC)
For further information: Cynthia Waldmeier, Director of Communications, The Mining Association of Canada, (613) 233-9392 ext. 225, 613-894-2128 (cell), [email protected]
Related links
http://www.mines.ca
