Item - 2017.EX27.9

The Executive Committee recommends that:

1.  City Council request the Acting Director, Equity, Diversity, and Human Rights, the Executive Director, Human Resources, the Executive Director, Social Development, Finance and Administration and the Director, Strategic Communications collaborate to regularize the Toronto For All public education initiative into an annual City program that implements two campaigns per year.

2.  City Council request the Executive Director, Social Development, Finance and Administration initiate a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a four-year term to contract a creative agency to execute seven consecutive campaigns for Toronto For All, from 2018-2021, subject to annual budget approval.

Toronto is the most diverse city in the world, a fact celebrated in the City's motto: Diversity Our Strength. Yet, implicit biases, negative attitudes, stereotypes, and prejudices are still present, contributing to discrimination and racism that negatively impact the access to safety, wellbeing and life chances of Torontonians who belong to one or more equity-seeking groups.

The goal of the Toronto For All public education initiative is to generate dialogue amongst Toronto residents in order to create a city that says "no" to all forms of discrimination and racism, including systemic racism. Each campaign is designed to drive awareness of a social equity issue presently faced by Torontonians and to equip the broader public with the knowledge and skills to identify, question, and challenge systemic barriers through a multi-staged conversational approach.

The initiative is a municipal tool that supports the civic resiliency for all Toronto residents. Civic resiliency is the capacity of a group of residents or community to adapt to the evolving complexity and diversity of their social environment by building good relationships and viewing these changes as a strength. The City, as the government closest to residents, must lead public dialogue that can support civic resiliency in all Torontonians.

The initiative is also designed to support customer service improvement efforts across all City divisions by equipping staff to better understand their own biases or stereotypes that may prevent them from providing the best service to Torontonians from equity-seeking groups.

This report recommends regularizing the Toronto For All public education initiative as an annual program with two campaigns per year across a range of media platforms, supported by a learning program for City staff. Media platforms include print and digital transit shelter advertising (TSA) provided by Astral Media, with which the City runs approximately 50 campaigns per year. The next two proposed campaigns will focus on the experiences of Indigenous people and people living with disabilities.