A City’s good practice towards the elimination of discrimination

Within the framework of the Canadian Coalition of Municipalities against Racism and Discrimination Ten Point Plan of Action, the City of Lethbridge has established a Community Action plan for the period 2011-2021.

In January 2011, the City released the ‘Building Bridges… A Welcoming and Inclusive Lethbridge: Community Action Plan 2011-2021’. The Action Plan was a direct result of the City’s commitment to the Canadian Coalition of Municipalities against Racism and Discrimination as well as the community forum which was hosted by the City in 2010. During this forum, representatives of the City, several community organisations and members of the public gathered to discuss issues related to diversity and discrimination.

The Action Plan provides a ten year strategy focused on combating racism and discrimination. A long-term action plan involving a wide range of actors is a way to improve effectively the overall situation in the City. Different actors bring their own know-how and competencies towards a common strategy and a commonly identified goal. The impact of such strategy is then multiplied, because all these actors are engaged and can perform in the same direction within their scope of action and for this reason benefit from each other’s support.

The community forum process allowed the community and The Canadian Coalition of Municipalities against Racism and Discrimination Team members to identify 6 areas of focus to form the structure of the Action Plan. The priority areas include: public awareness, engagement of government and organisational officials, capacity building for children/youth, capacity building civic/social organisations and parents, the creation of safe places and the effective delivery of information about resources and support groups, information about the on-going development of the Action Plan as well as support for other work on inclusion.

City Information
The City of Lethbridge is the largest city in southern Alberta and Alberta’s fourth largest city with a population of 74,637 inhabitants. Lethbridge is the commercial, financial, transportation and industrial centre of southern Alberta. Half of the workforce is employed in the health, education, retail and hospitality sectors, and the top five employers are government-based. The only university in Alberta, south of Calgary, is in Lethbridge, and two of the three colleges in southern Alberta have campuses in the city.

Lethbridge has been a member of the Canadian Coalition of Municipalities against Racism and Discrimination since September 2007.

For more information on the City’s programmes, please visit: www.lethbridge.ca/living-here/Our-Community