The Equity, Inclusion, and Human Rights (EIHR) Branch aims to uphold the principle of equitable access to appropriate services for all Edmontonians, regardless of their identity factors, including but not limited to race, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, citizenship, age, and ability.
This is aligned with the EPS’ commitment to cultivating a diverse, inclusive and equitable culture that contributes meaningfully to achieving the EPS vision: the creation of a forward-thinking police service which strengthens public trust by addressing crime, harm and disorder.
The EIHR Branch recognized that as an integral part of a safety and well-being ecosystem, we had the opportunity to identify and deliver better outcomes to all Edmontonians. With this recognition came the responsibility and desire to engage with Edmontonians to learn what they thought of us and ask for their input on solutions going forward.
In September 2020, the EPS facilitated listening sessions and used online mechanisms (through commitmenttoaction.ca) to engage with a diverse cross-section of community members, partners and stakeholders. During this process, our service has been implementing change from introducing recruit experiential learning shifts to providing service-wide bias awareness training and launching the “Know your Rights” campaign. There is much work yet to be done.
Full results of our findings can be found in the Community Feedback Report which was presented to the Edmonton Police Commission and made available to the public on November 18, 2021. In early 2022, an Implementation Roadmap will be released which will identify recommendations, strategies and actions we will be taking across the organization to effect change.