Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Training

2SLGBTQ+: Refers to Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer people, but is not limited to the groups listed. 2SLGBTQ+ is only one nomenclature for the community, and there is a rainbow of definitions used in today’s culture.

Diversity: The unique experiences, perspectives and identities — both visible and invisible — that we all bring to campus as human beings.

English as additional language learners (EAL): Language learners who speak more than one language and are now learning English as an additional language. Use this term instead of English as a second language learners (ESL).

Equity: Ensuring everyone has a fair chance to access, participate and succeed in all that SAIT has to offer. This does not necessarily mean treating everyone equally or the same. The principle of equity acknowledges that systemic barriers exist and that action is needed to address historical imbalances in order to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to realize their full potential.

Equity-deserving groups: Communities that experience barriers to participation at SAIT, including women, Indigenous peoples, people with disabilities and/or disabled people, racialized people, 2SLGBTQ+ people, English as additional language learners/speakers and people of diverse faiths.

Equity-focused teaching: A tool which ensures equity-deserving student groups have equal access to learning, feel valued and supported in their learning, experience parity in achieving positive course outcomes and share responsibility for the equitable engagement and treatment of all in the learning community. It recognizes that systemic inequities shape all students’ individual and group-based experiences of social identity and produce vastly different relationships of power in and outside of the classroom, which impact students’ learning and success. 

Inclusion: The intentional process of creating a campus culture where all people are welcomed, respected and feel as though they belong. An inclusive culture is one in which people feel comfortable being their authentic selves openly and that their unique contributions are valued.

Inclusive learning environment: A space wherein instructors practice equity-focused teaching and in which students feel comfortable being their authentic selves openly and their unique contributions are valued.

Intersectionality: The complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination combine, overlap or intersect, especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups.

People with disabilities and/or disabled people: Refers to someone who has a long-term or recurring physical, mental, sensory, psychiatric or learning condition, activity limitation or participation restriction.

Describing the disability community involves both person-first language and identity-first language. Person-first emphasizes the person, not the individual’s condition (e.g. person who is blind). Identity-first focuses on the disability, allowing the individual to self-identify as they choose (e.g. Blind).

Privilege: Unearned access to social power based on membership in a dominant social group.

Racialized people: An umbrella term to describe people of colour who experience barriers based on their race (who are not Indigenous) in a Canadian context.