Canada's Best Diversity Employers (2025) - Flipbook - Page 38
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CANADA’S BEST DIVERSITY EMPLOYERS (2025)
For Saskatoon, diversity and wellness are closely tied
a smudging ceremony was held
in council chambers for the first
time.
“One recent initiative was to
improve our self-declaration
campaign by giving employees
more options in how they tell
us about their whole selves in
addition to the equity groups
identified by the Saskatchewan
Human Rights Commission –
choosing to describe themselves,
for instance, as members of the
2SLGBTQIA+ community and of
particular ethnicities,” says Mack.
The City of Saskatoon helps organize, and participates in, the annual Rock Your Roots event celebrating
Indigenous culture and heritage.
W
hen Ola Farah, now
an interior design
consultant with the
City of Saskatoon,
moved to the prairie city from
Toronto a decade ago she found
a community becoming ever
more diverse – and a municipal
government embracing the
change. As did Farah when she
became an employee in 2021.
“I’m so much more involved
in community events than I was
before – some, like Rock Your
Roots, a celebration of Indigenous
culture and heritage, I wasn’t
even aware of – because the City
promotes them internally as well
as externally,” says Farah. “I never
participated in the Pride Parade
until I was an employee of the
city.”
Saskatoon’s goal is to bring
miyo-pimâtisiwin, Cree for
“the good life,” to residents and
workers alike, says Chelsey Mack,
director, HR shared services.
“We are primarily focused on
the employee experience when
it comes to reconciliation, equity,
diversity, and inclusion (REDI),
but we also do a lot of work with
community organizations to help
bring diverse people to us,” Mack
says.
For that reason, Saskatoon is
updating its website so that people
with visual impairments can listen
to the City’s posted content. “We
know that one of our areas for
opportunity is to enhance our
recruitment of individuals with
disabilities, so we have established
a community partnership
with SaskAbilities Council
which has helped us to create
a more inclusive and equitable
workplace,” says Mack.
“At the City we want our
employee population to reflect
the residents that we serve every
day and have our community see
themselves in our organization.
Every year we get better at that.”
The City’s REDI initiatives are
wide-ranging and ongoing, Mack
says, from seeing more women
in Saskatoon’s higher positions
to hosting a Reconciliation Town
Hall for City employees where
At the City
we want
our employee
population to reflect
the residents that we
serve every day and
have our community
see themselves in
our organization.
Every year we get
better at that.”
— Chelsey Mack
Director, HR Shared
Services
“The data collected was useful
but what was more important
is that people feel safe enough
in the workplace to share that
information.”
And it was not simply to help
their own causes, adds Farah. “As
much as I hesitate as a minority
person to open myself up by
participating in stuff like that,”
Farah says, “I did it because I want
to make other people feel more
