About Safe Harbour

The Safe Harbour: Respect for All national diversity initiative is being implemented in BC by AMSSA – an province wide association of member agencies supporting diversity in BC. Safe Harbour emerged in 2004 due to the dedication of one of AMSSA's member agencies in Nanaimo, the Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society and their Action for Diversity team.

AMSSA has partnered with 20 not-for-profit immigrant settlement and multicultural agencies - Community Organizers - who invite local businesses, financial institutions, municipal government offices, not-for-profit agencies, libraries, community policing, and public institutions to participate.

Community Organizers deliver the free, two-hour Safe Harbour: Respect for All workshops to organizations, inviting them to sign on to the three key commitments. Participants return to their workplace to share their knowledge with their colleagues through a Participant's Workbook and other resources. They designate their workplace as a Safe Harbour-certified Location with the window decal and a certificate.

Key Points - Safe Harbour: Respect for All

• Safe Harbour: Respect for All is about demonstrating leadership in understanding the importance and benefits of diversity in the workplace and in the community.
• Businesses and agencies are encouraged to counter racism and hate and build an inclusive and respectful society through their commitments to Safe Harbour.
• Safe Harbour Community Organizers provide a resource to local businesses and agencies to better understand the needs of newcomers and multicultural community members and make referrals to settlement services when necessary.
• Safe Harbour helps prepare employers to recruit and retain an increasingly diverse workforce, including immigrants and refugees.
• Businesses and organizations participating in Safe Harbour are making socially-responsible decisions and will draw in diverse customers/clients who wish to see their values reflected in the places where they do business.
• Safe Harbour-certified locations help create a welcoming community to facilitate the full participation of diverse community members in our society.

How Businesses & Organizations Benefit

Through building a relationship with their local immigrant settlement, multicultural, or another community-based agency, participating businesses and organizations may gain:

• improved customer service and customer satisfaction
• increased awareness about the value of diversity
• proactive steps to address discrimination and harassment
• steps towards developing cultural competency
• a brand that signifies trust to diverse audiences

How Communities Benefit

Neighborhoods, towns, and cities benefit from the commitment made by various
businesses and agencies to create a network of inclusive environments for people of diverse backgrounds. Creating welcoming environments is good for business and good for the community.

Did You Know…?

• In Canada, members of racialized groups earn 28% less than white people.
• Inequitable hiring practices, e.g. denying a customer service job to a person with an accent based on the assumption that customers will not want to interact with them is a form of systemic or institutionalized racism.
• Filtering out candidates for a job based on their name is also a form of systemic racism.
• Assuming that a person who is not white was not born in Canada and does not belong here, e.g. "So where are you from?" is a form of individual racism.

Photo: Service BC centres are coming on board across the province!