HHS Board of Directors adopts the BoardShift Inclusivity Charter

Hamilton Health Sciences’ (HHS) Board of Directors is pleased to announce the adoption of the BoardShift Inclusivity Charter.

Through this charter, the Board affirms our commitment to advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) at HHS, and to creating governance opportunities for Indigenous, Black, and racialized leaders, through inclusive practices, and fostering an equitable and diverse working environment.

The BoardShift Inclusivity Charter outlines eight key commitments:

1. We commit to challenging ourselves and our habits as leaders by continuously questioning ourselves and our processes to ensure that we include voices that have been historically excluded from the Board.
2. We will work to establish a board culture that is open and inclusive of new perspectives by creating an environment where board members from all backgrounds can comfortably share perspectives and take part in governance activities.
3. We commit to building transparency and accessibility in our board recruitment processes by clearly articulating key requirements, skills, experiences and priorities to remove ambiguity for candidates. We acknowledge that traditional recruiting practices reinforce the exclusion of diverse candidates.
4. We will review our bylaws with an inclusion and diversity lens annually to prioritize change that creates space for diverse voices.
5. We will customize onboarding for new directors by designing an onboarding process that enables each new member to become a strong contributor to the board.
6. We will create anti-racist and anti-oppression policies across the organization and monitor the effectiveness of anti-racism and anti-oppression practices throughout the hospital and at the board level.
7. We will set up clear and measurable targets to create a diverse and inclusive board by building a board that reflects and welcomes the communities our hospital serve, and by enhancing the representation of individuals or groups whose voices have historically not been heard.
8. We will review our commitment to the BoardShift Inclusivity Charter annually by evaluating our delivery on the Charter commitments to ensure our organization is on track to achieve long-term inclusive governance.

The BoardShift Inclusivity Charter is a result of the collaboration between HHS, CivicAction, and the CivicAction Leadership Foundation. The CivicAction Leadership Foundation is dedicated to building leadership capacity by preparing and empowering the next generation of leaders. It provides free leadership programs that open doors, minds, and opportunities for thousands of diverse leaders in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

Rob MacIsaac, HHS’ president and CEO, is the Chair of CivicAction and sits on the Board of Directors of the CivicAction Foundation.

You can read the full Board Inclusivity Charter online.