REWIND:  Diversité d’Abord

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Data that exposes a difficult reality for racialized people in Quebec’s community sector.

In a hybrid format on Thursday, September 19, 2024, the Centre for Community Organizations (COCo) presented the research report Diversité D’abord: Racism in the Nonprofit Sector in Quebec, at Centre St-Pierre. 

In a welcoming atmosphere, 176 people, including 96 online and 80 face-to-face participants, were able to explore the partial results of the Diversité d’Abord research published in July 2024. With authors Emily Yee Clare and Kira Page, attendees were able to reflect further on racialized people’s experiences of racism in Quebec’s community sector. 

Diversité d’Abord is a large-scale research project launched by the Centre for Community Organizations (COCo) since 2017, made possible in part by the Government of Canada, the Government of Quebec and the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation. From this project comes the research report in which we disclose data and testimonies from those most affected by this problem, and reflections on organizational practices, biases or behaviors that amplify experiences of racism for racialized people in the nonprofit environment. The data presented in the research was collected from 252 people through two online surveys targeting community workers of all racial backgrounds in Quebec, and 5 focus groups with racialized community workers.

 

 

A Series of Shocking Observations

  • Overqualified and undervalued, racialized women had the highest level of education of all comparison groups. However, they are the most likely to be relegated to temporary or contract positions, and are also the most likely to have their qualifications and training called into question.
  • Racialized women are over-represented in part-time contract positions. This is a clear example of structural and systemic racism in Quebec’s non-profit sector, which becomes even more striking in the context of their overqualification. This form of structural racism has a direct impact on poverty levels, wealth accumulation, home ownership and so on – all factors that contribute to exacerbating the racial wealth gap in Canada and Quebec.
  • Racialized women in the community sector suffer racial microaggressions disproportionately to racialized men.This pushes them to leave the sector, and this phenomenon has increased over the last three (3) years.
  • Racialized women – especially black women – are both hypervisible and, paradoxically, asked to become invisible. When they occupy positions of leadership, this is often accompanied by an increase in the racism they face, rather than protecting them from it. And although they occupy positions of power, racialized women are still victims of significant discrimination, often more intense.
  • Data collected for the report also shows that racialized leaders are under-represented in leadership positions: 10.84% of racialized respondents held leadership positions.
  • The majority of racialized managers identified themselves as Black, and 30.46% of white respondents held leadership positions.However, it should be noted that these data represent retention rates over the three years preceding the year of data collection, which was several years ago.

 

Moving Forward

This event was an opportunity to share COCo’s learnings from the project and the writing of the report. In person, participants had the opportunity to ask the authors questions, explore how to discuss the report with their team and to network. It was a great space for capturing data, validating and amplifying the experiences of racism of the racialized people in the room. COCo received positive feedback and interesting contributions for the future.

COCo is currently working to raise the necessary funds to publish the full results of this research.

We are also considering how best to continue the courageous discussions on the impacts of racism within the non-profit sector in Quebec.These are not conversations that can be launched lightly; they require time and preparation to ensure the safety of all, but especially of those most affected by the topic.

The Diversité d’Abord research report presentation event was a great success!

COCo would like to thank everyone who attended the Diversité d’Abord research report presentation for their interest, their contributions, and especially for their support in promoting the research findings. 

COCo encourages the nonprofit groups to use the research report in their workplaces to open a dialogue on racism in our sector. 

If you would like to share your reactions and thoughts on the research report, COCo invites you to do so via this research report survey or via info@coco-net.org. If you weren’t able to attend the event, you can watch the video of the event available on our COCo Facebook page here or on our Youtube channel here.

 

For more information on Diversité d’Abord research, please contact us at info@coco-net.org. We publish our research piece by piece. Take a look at our first two chapters:

 

To find out more about this project and download the full report, visit our website: 

https://coco-net.org/diversite-dabord

 

Article : Stéphanie Darbouze Lamarre and Janie Janvier

Photo credits : Emmanuella Photos

Research report credits:  Lead researcher, Emily Yee Clare.

The report was co-authored by Emily Yee Clare and Kira Page.

Senior data scientist: Alexandra Heggie.

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