Elevate Equity is Toronto's first Trans-led organization promoting employment equity for Black, Indigenous Trans and Non-binary communities of colour.
We envision a world where Black, Indigenous Trans and Nonbinary communities of colour are thriving in every industry across Canada and beyond.
Elevate Equity aims to become an innovation hub. An environment where young leaders, and visionaries come together to nurture personal and professional aspirations with community and kin.
Elevate Equity innovates the relationship between employers and employees by prioritizing racialized trans and non-binary people at the heart of our programming, Trans Solidarity Education, and advocacy work.
We collaborate with community members, employers and industry leaders by implementing transformative practices that ensure trans-affirming, anti-racist, and intersectional environments are upheld across all sectors across the GTA.
Honouring the land on which we live and work on:
We value the work of contemporary caretakers; Anishinabee, Mississaugas of the Credit (Treaty 13), Haudenosaunee, Wendat, Cree, and Seneca, as well as migrant workers who work on the land and provide sustenance to our communities.
We recognize that doing trans inclusion and decolonial work on this land is a meeting place for diasporic and refugee trans identities. We carry various and complex lived experiences as migrant/newcomer, and diasporic First Nations peoples.
Practicing decolonization in the workplace:
We acknowledge that the work we have committed to at Elevate Equity has not been widely practiced inside of institutional or corporate settings. We recognize the ways in which punitive systems have crossed-over to influence grassroots organizing and community work.
We value our commitment to continue unlearning harmful practices that promote disposability, punitive measures of ‘accountability’, and communication styles/abilities. We recognize that this work will require innovative practices from traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples.
Committing to anti-racism best practices daily:
We work from an understanding that there is a ladder of oppressions that systematically positions each of us at different levels of responsibility. With this understanding we know that in order to honour our Black Trans community and kin we must actively disarm the anti-Black structures under which we live and work inside of.
In practice, this looks like upholding a foundation of an active anti-racist environment in order to prioritize the success and retention of Black Trans community members inside and outside of Elevate Equity.
Naming the oppressive structures under which we operate:
We recognize that we are working inside of structures that affect each of us in varying capacities and severity. As a group of disabled, differently-abled, and or diversely abled trans and nonbinary people we hold ourselves and each other accountable in creating accessible content and platforms.
We are cognizant that this has not been widely practiced in any sector across the country and we are committed to actioning this work intentionally with the limited resources available to us.
Honouring who is present and who is not:
Elevate Equity is led exclusively by Trans and Nonbinary people. We are a combination of Black, Indigenous and racialized nonbinary people, trans women, and trans men. Through our commitment to include the varying experiences of the mosaic that makes Trans and Nonbinary people we recognize we cannot represent every trans person’s experience.
