Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accessibility (IDEA)
Our Commitment
At the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, we know we are Better Together, and we commit to fostering an inclusive community that advances equity and accessibility, celebrates diversity and prioritizes relationships.
Our north star is to empower the business community to advance a prosperous Calgary. We know our Calgary community – and our business community – can only thrive if we make space for everyone, and actively invest in the success of all communities.
Resources
- Alberta's Premier EDI Workplace Resource | GEDI Hub
- HR Inclusive Policy Toolkit | GEDI Hub
- Canadian Diversity & Inclusion Online Training | Diversity Institute
- Educational and Inclusion Guides | Canadian Center for Diversity and Inclusion
- “Where Are You REALLY From?” – What is a Microaggression? | Center for Race and Culture
- Women’s Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub
- Inclusivity at Work: The Heart of Hard Conversations | Podcast by Aiko Bethea and Brene Brown
- The Role of Senior Leaders in Building a Race Equity Culture | The Bridgespan Group
- Canadian Coalition of Municipalities Against Racism and Discrimination (CCMARD) Toolkit | Canadian Race Relations Foundation
- Accessible Design Standards | City of Calgary
- Barrier-Free Design Guide | Government of Alberta
- Resources to improve workplace inclusion and diversity | Canada Media Fund
- Beyond Diversity: An LGBT Best Practice Guide for Employers | Pride at Work Canada
- Alberta Women Entrepreneurs Association – Fostering connections and empowering women entrepreneurs, the AWE network offers a rich online community for like-minded professionals.
- Axis Connects – Axis Connects brings together organizations and companies advancing gender diversity in business to foster collaboration and collective impact.
- Calgary Food Bank – The Calgary Food Bank's vision is for a hunger-free community, fighting hunger and its root causes because no one should go hungry.
- Calgary Newcomers Guide – Calgary Newcomers Guide offers collaborative support to address challenges & celebrate milestones in the settlement journey.
- Canada's 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce (CGLCC) – CGLCC empowers and connects 100,000+ businesses, fostering diversity & growth in the 2SLGBTQI+ community.
- Canadian Equity Consulting – Canadian Equity Consulting helps organizations build the capacity to reflect on, understand, and respond to the rich diversity within our society.
- Centre for Newcomers – Centre for Newcomers is a non-profit immigrant settlement agency offering services & language training for newcomers in Calgary.
- Centre for Sexuality – Centre for Sexuality is a community-based organization delivering programs & services to support healthy sexuality across the lifespan.
- Deaf and Hear Alberta – Deaf and Hear Alberta works to ensure society can hear, understand, accept, and warmly include Deaf and hard-of-hearing people.
- Gateway Association – Gateway supports people with disabilities and their families and fosters more inclusive communities.
- Inclusive Concepts – Inclusive Concepts delivers two unique IDEA courses that are meant to educate and inspire participants.
- Neil Squire Society – Neil Squire Society uses technology, knowledge and passion to empower Canadians with disabilities.
- Prospect Human Services – Prospect hires talented, creative people. Joining our team means you get to make a difference in people's lives.
- SafeLink Alberta – SafeLink Alberta works to reduce the harms associated with sexual activity and substance use through education, non-judgmental services and programming.
- Shift Accessibility Contractors – The team at Shift Accessibility is dedicated to transforming living spaces to make them not only functional, but beautiful.
- Sinneave Family Foundation – Sinneave works with individuals, communities, and organizations across Canada to reduce barriers and enhance opportunities in education, employment, and housing for Autistic youth and adults.
- The Calgary Foundation – The Calgary Foundation facilitates collaborative philanthropy by making powerful connections between donors and community organizations for the benefit of Calgary and area.
- The Canadian Institute of Natural & Integrative Medicine – Cinim is an integrative health and research institute, creating evidence-based mental health programs that help people live happier, more fulfilling lives.
- Trellis Society – Trellis Society provides wraparound housing, mental health, social and community services for people from all backgrounds, including those with complex needs.
- WCG Services – WCG is a leader in the development and delivery of employment and rehabilitation services.
- WTAL Canada – WTAL seeks to equip women with the tools necessary to excel in career, business, marriage, finance, personal development, socially and otherwise.
- CAN WiN/Open Door Group – The CAN WiN program operated by Open Door Group helps employers meet workforce needs by connecting job seekers with disabilities to accessible employers.
Dates of significance:
- Upcoming event | Confluence YYC: International Women's Day (March 19, 2025)
- Upcoming event | Confluence YYC: IDEA (2025 date TBD)
- Event Recap | Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Forum (April 10, 2024)
- Event Recap | Engagement Forum: Talking about mental health (May 16, 2024)
OUR ACCESSIBILITY OFFERINGS
The Calgary Chamber is located in the Ampersand (112 4 Ave SW), a physically accessible building that includes barrier-free washrooms, ramps or elevators throughout the building, including to the Chamber office, Conference Center, parkade, coffee shop and food vendors. The Calgary Chamber office meeting rooms and office space are accessible. We do not have accessible washrooms on our floor; however, barrier-free washrooms are located just behind our elevator bank (East Tower) on the main floor.
OUR INCLUSION, DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND ACCESSIBILITY STRATEGY
We commit to being a welcoming, inclusive and safe community for our staff, volunteers, partners and businesses. As the hub for business, we seek to bring members along on our journey, using our convening power to build bridges and share resources to advance equity and inclusion across our business community. We will also use our platform, as the leading voice of business, to amplify and celebrate diversity within Calgary business and advocate for systemic change that improves our society for generations. This strategy will work in tandem with the Chamber’s economic reconciliation work.
We recognize that as the central node for business and commerce since 1891, with a long and storied history that parallels much of Calgary’s history, we have access to power including through our networks, voice and influence. As such, we commit to intentionally advancing equity within our community. Further, as we continue to progress this work, community involvement, input and communication will be critical.
Our journey
The Calgary Chamber embarked on our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) journey in 2021, establishing a cross-departmental staff committee that worked to advance our DEI journey, integrating a diversity lens into much of our work, building relationships within more diverse communities and launching initiatives like a DEI forum.
While our staff team brought a diversity, equity and inclusion lens, in many cases, our work was not formalized or institutionalized. We decided to add a focus on accessibility and bring accountability of our Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) work under an Executive Leadership Team member to bring structure, accountability and consistency to our work.
We looked inward to understand our own gaps as an organization and engaged with diverse members of the business community and other organizations focused on diversity within business to understand where we could have the greatest impact. We have also worked with other organizations to understand best practices, particularly in a Calgary context, a Chamber context, and a business context. We spoke to our members to understand how the Chamber could serve them and what resources we could provide that would help advance their own journeys.
We reignited our Staff Working Group, with representation from each department to ensure we prioritize inclusion, equity, diversity and accessibility throughout everything we do, acknowledging every part of an organization is key to meaningfully advancing this work.
With all these inputs, we distilled our strategy into three key priorities:
- Developing an internal culture and organizational processes that reflect our commitment to IDEA;
- Connecting members with resources as they seek to advance their own IDEA-related work; and
- Using our voice and platform to amplify others and advocate for an inclusive economy.
We tested this and received feedback from the Chamber’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Sub-Committee of the Board of Directors, composed of subject matter experts. After updating our strategy, the Chamber’s Board of Directors approved the strategy.
And in March 2025, we announced RBC as our Inclusion Pillar Partner. This partnership is a pivotal step forward in advancing this strategy and reinforces our dedication to fostering a more inclusive and supportive business environment.
As we continue to learn, and as the needs of our community evolve, this strategy will evolve to reflect our current context and new understanding. As such, the strategy will be reviewed and updated to reflect the context, learnings and capacity.
Our impact
- Our events and panels consistently profile the diversity of our business community. We show up across the city; engage with all sectors and sizes; and amplify a breadth of perspectives, backgrounds and lived experiences in our work. Our events almost always occur at physically accessible spaces, and we provide additional accessibility resources, such as closed captioning, upon request.
- We have updated our hiring and employment practices to ensure the Calgary Chamber is an inclusive and welcoming place to work – right from the application process. We are continually improving our hiring processes to eliminate bias and recruit people from communities we haven’t always shown up in.
- We share resources, information and educational opportunities and community events on our website, helping our business community advance their own IDEA journeys. We’ve built a calendar of significant dates to help organizations understand key events and religious holidays that may be relevant to their staff and stakeholders.
- We host an annual Mental Health Forum and an Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Forum that are increasingly well attended by our membership and business community.
- We’ve shared our own journey publicly, with the hopes of helping others learn from and navigate their own journeys. While we haven’t always gotten it right, we’ve learned lots along the way.
- Our Calgary Chamber team shows up for our communities – on big events like the Pride Parade and Calgary Black Achievement Awards, and behind the scenes through quiet connection, advocacy and support.
- We celebrate and amplify the exemplary work of diverse business community members, including through our Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Award, as part of our Small Business Week Gala. We’ve highlighted three finalists and a winner each year since 2019.
- We consistently bring an equity lens to our public policy and advocacy work, knowing the economy can only thrive if people thrive. From our work on housing to public transit and affordable utilities to labour market changes, we consult with and consider the impacts of our advocacy on diverse communities.
The Inclusion Pillar Partner is supported by:
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