Safe - A safe environment is a positive space that promotes consent-based participation and all participants' physical, emotional and social development and well-being. It is free from abuse, maltreatment, misconduct, bullying, harassment and hazing, and involves treating all participants with dignity.
Welcoming – A welcoming environment has a culture that ensures everyone involved in, or participating in, your sport is made to feel actively encouraged, included, and valued. It involves actively seeking to understand and remove barriers to full and meaningful participation and bridges the gap for people who may have previously felt excluded. These changes help to ensure that your sport is seen as more appealing to potential participants.
Inclusive – An inclusive environment is one where people have both the feeling and reality of belonging, where they can participate in ways that are meaningful to them, and where the activity contributes to them reaching their full potential. It involves understanding, accepting and respecting diversity and actively involving people from the diverse groups represented within the community. Relevant and appropriate policies and services are developed and implemented, and there is an organizational commitment to eliminating barriers.
Equity – An equitable organization allocates resources, programs and decision-making in ways that result in similar opportunities and benefits to all participants. An equity lens recognizes that decisions need to account for unequal barriers to sport and leadership, in order to ensure that everyone has access to the full range of opportunities to achieve the social, psychological and physical benefits that come from participating in and leading sport and physical activity. Creating equity sometimes requires treating some people differently to ‘level the playing field’ (e.g., assisting individuals who face additional barriers to obtain equipment, training education, or other programs and services).
Diversity – Diversity refers to the broad spectrum of demographic characteristics of members of Canadian society, including, but not limited to, sex, gender identity, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, economic means, ability, age, religion and education. Welcoming diversity not only acknowledges and respects differences but also recognizes the worth of every individual and their value to their communities and society at large.
Intersectionality – Intersectionality refers to the various forms (Social stratification) of how we describe ourselves such as age, economic status, race, sexual orientation, and religion. Ability and gender, for example, do not exist separately from each other but are interwoven and linked together.
Unconscious bias – Unconscious bias refers to social stereotypes about certain groups of people from outside their own conscious awareness. Everyone holds unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups, and these biases stem from a tendency to organize social worlds by categorizing.
Allyship – when a person of privilege seeks to support a marginalized group or individual.
