Assignment: Setting/Organizational Culture
A city community centre in Winnipeg provides a range of after school activities, including several youth programs focused on "troubled" youth. The area is comprised of a large white population, which is the population the centre has traditionally served. There are also a substantial number of underserviced Indigenous community members in the area. Issues of addiction, violence, poverty and homelessness affected both the white and Indigenous youth in the area, but city officials were particularly worried about the rise of Indigenous youth gangs that had started to expand.
The management and most of the staff in the agency are white and primarily women, about a third of the management staff are male.
Regarding hiring practice, the Executive Director works with the managers to determine what positions need to be filled at the centre. When an opening is identified, they invite the centre's Program Coordinators to make recommendations from the staff they oversee.
I. Main Players
1) Nathan:
A. Is Indigenous and a certified Child and Youth Worker. Both of his parents are of Cree ancestry and he spent some of his childhood on reserve. Many of his family members remain on reserve, although his immediate family now live in the city.
B. He has been hired part-time to do outreach to the Indigenous youth.
C. Nathan would like to become a full-time employee.
D. Nathan has some traditional Indigenous methods of community engagement he feels would help all kids in the community, but especially those who are of his background
E. Nathan doesn't want to only do ethno-specific work because he has many ideas for programming and wants to develop in his career
2) Sarah:
A. Is White Anglo-Canadian, the Program Coordinator and Nathan's immediate supervisor.
B. She has been with the agency for many years and has built a successful youth program with the more established white population.
C. She believes strongly that it is the agency's responsibility to meet the needs of the Indigenous population of the area though she herself does not feel very comfortable around these kids.
a. Give an example of systemic discrimination from the case. Make sure you explain why this is systemic discrimination.
3) Kevin:
A. Is a white Anglo-Canadian, a full-time youth worker and is also a member of Sarah's team.
B. He is interested in the traditional methods of conflict resolution and bringing groups together
C. Kevin and Nathan have developed a good friendship. They have had many conversations about racism and colonialism in the community and the agency.
II. The Situation
Recently there was an opening for a full-time Child and Youth Worker. Nathan applied and didn't get the job. He was told his experience was too narrow, because he had only worked with Indigenous youth. He requested a meeting with Sarah, who was part of the interview team, and asked what he could do to get broader experience. Sarah told him he was doing an excellent job and that "since more of your young people are getting into trouble with the police and beginning to form gangs, we're going to need full-time workers like you soon." When Nathan pointed out that he really wanted the experience of working with a broader spectrum of youth, she reluctantly agreed to assign him to an additional project, stressing, "You know you were hired to work with your own community."
Nathan was assigned to work with his friend Kevin on a project involving high-risk white youth who had formed a gang in the area. Kevin had been running the project over the past 6 months and had established a level of trust and openness with the group. The first time Nathan joined Kevin in a program meeting it was a disaster. The kids acted up, calling Nathan racist names. Nathan was not entirely surprised, given the historic friction between the white and Indigenous youth in the community. Kevin, however, was completely taken aback by the overt racism. He had worked hard with the group to develop norms of interaction that included respectful behaviour.
Kevin told Nathan that he was sorry, but, given where the kids were at, it would be better for him to drop out of the project in order to give it a better chance of working. Nathan protested, but Sarah supported Kevin and Nathan was taken off the project.
The following day, Nathan contacts the Human Rights Tribunal to issue a complaint, claiming that he was discriminated against because his skills and experience were not being recognized.
Task
A. List two dimensions of diversity that impact this scenario. Use examples from the case to substantiate your selections. How does intersectionality play a role in this case?
B. Why is it that Indigenous youth were viewed to be particularly "at risk" by city officials? What factors may contribute to the disparities in education and employment among Indigenous Canadians relative to white Canadians?
C. What recommendations do you have for this organization to remedy this situation? Use course concepts to explain why these steps would be helpful.