On the second anniversary of his murder, ACTA is remembering George Floyd, whose death was a catalyst in the summer of 2020 for mass global protests against racism. The travel advisor association is using the moment to launch new diversity initiatives for the industry.
"The death of George Floyd made all of us stop and think about our own values and how organizations can work towards helping to remove system barriers," said ACTA President Wendy Paradis.
ACTA, along with other travel and tourism businesses has signed the Black North Pledge, an initiative created to engage corporate Canada and motivate businesses to act on removing systemic barriers negatively affecting the lives of Black Canadians along with Indigenous individuals, and People of Colour.
Another commitment was to create a diversity and inclusion committee to explore and address ways ACTA can support the removal of barriers internally and throughout the sector.
The group says one of its Diversity and Inclusion committee priorities in 2022 will be to continue to build awareness.
"We are finding that there are still many of us in the Canadian travel industry who are not fully aware that there are significant barriers in the industry -- and for travellers -- who may experience challenges because of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender expression, or disability status," said Paradis.
"Our goal is to slowly and steadily create more awareness through education. There is no quick fix, and ACTA is committed to working diligently in promoting a more diverse and inclusive industry."
ACTA currently offers several training modules which are available online. Additional training courses will continue to be added throughout the year. Current modules include:
-- Unconscious Bias
-- Respect and Inclusion in the workplace
-- Canadian Indigenous Culture Training: The Truth & Reconciliation Edition
-- LGBTQ2S+Diversity and Inclusion Training for Workplaces
ACTA's next initiative to build awareness will be the creation of a video in the coming weeks where members of its D&I Committee will discuss some of the challenges of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) travellers face on a day-by-day basis and how professional travel agents can enhance their travel experience.
"Diversity and Inclusion will also play a significant role in ACTA's September 2022 Canadian Travel Industry Summits taking place in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver and I invite Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, LGBTQ2S+travellers and individuals with disabilities to reach out to me at [email protected] if you would like to become involved," Paradis said.
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