February 7, 2022 Equity Priority Group Descriptions This document has been updated as of February 7, 2022. Download the Equity Priority Group Descriptions as a PDF Calgary Arts Development has adapted these priorities and descriptions from the Toronto Arts Council’s Equity Framework. We are grateful to the Toronto Arts Council for their work in this area. The descriptions provided below are iterative and we acknowledge that they are imperfect and may not be reflective of how individuals or groups might identify themselves. We welcome any feedback. We will be engaging with the community this year to further interrogate, develop, and improve upon the equity priority groups and their descriptions. We also want to acknowledge intersectionality which recognizes how an individual may face multiple types of overlapping barriers, oppression or discrimination based on gender, age, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, physical or cognitive abilities, and many other characteristics. Rather than being defined solely based on one characteristic, intersectionality reinforces that we are complex human beings with a multitude of identities that define and influence us. We will consider each application within their own context with this understanding. Current equity priority groups are listed below in alphabetical order: 2SLGBTQIAP+2SLGBTQIAP+ refer to individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming, transsexual, queer, intersex, asexual, pansexual or two-spirited. We recognize that this acronym is iterative and not exclusive. There are other gender and sexual identities that may not be listed within this description.BlackIndividuals who are Black.Deaf Persons, Persons with Disabilities & Persons Living with Mental Illness Deaf persons include individuals who are culturally-Deaf, deaf, or have hearing loss, as well as those who identify as hard-of-hearing, oral-deaf, deaf-blind or late-deafened. Persons with disabilities and persons living with mental illness include individuals with physical, psychosocial or learning disabilities that may be long-term, temporary or fluctuating and may or may not be apparent. We acknowledge the social model of disability views disability as a consequence of environmental, social and attitudinal barriers that prevent people with disabilities from fully participating in society, as opposed to the medical model of disability that focuses on an individual person’s so called physical or mental limitations. Adapted from the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s definitions of models of disability.IndigenousIndividuals who are First Nations (Status or Non-status), Métis or Inuit.Persons of ColourPersons of colour include individuals of African, Asian, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and mixed racial descent. Mixed racial descent refers to individuals who belong to more than one ethnic or racial group, including one of the aforementioned groups. We acknowledge that persons of colour is an umbrella term for a diverse spectrum of racialized peoples with unique identities who have experienced vastly different historical disadvantages and barriers to participation in Canadian society and the arts sector. We recognize that the term lacks nuance and can flatten difference and oversimplify complexities, contributing to erasure of these unique identities.
