MPL continues to serve an increasingly diverse population in one of the fastest growing municipalities in North America. Between 2011 and 2016, the visible minority population increased by 83% representing 41% of the total population. As a unionized environment, the vast majority of our staff are long-serving and remember the one branch system that served a homogeneous population of 20,000. Our goal is to ensure MPL is representative and effectively meeting the needs of the diverse communities we now serve.

MPL’s internal staff team guided the process of an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion survey to capture current workplace experiences as well as internal and external consultations with members of the BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+ and differently abled communities to better understand their unique experiences and perceptions of MPL. The combined results will help inform the necessary redevelopment of polices and practices, currently in place with a view to effectively removing any barriers to equity and inclusion, for all communities.

MPL’s IDEA plan will provide all employees with the tools to increase self-awareness of intercultural competency, whilst providing a clear understanding of the organizational commitment to equity and diversity by remedying organizational policy and practice gaps. All of this is being done to ensure that MPL retains its acknowledged status as the most inclusive space in Milton whilst ensuring that we actively build on that status by evidencing our commitment to IDEA and anti-racism on more than just a superficial level.