The Project

ACSLPA has acknowledged that systemic discrimination and racism are real and present in Alberta and has committed to taking action to address these issues. Although ACSLPA aims to always be fair, objective, and unbiased this does not preclude the existence of unconscious, unacknowledged, or unintended discrimination or racism.

To this end, ACSLPA is launching a project to address systemic racism and discrimination with the following main objectives:

  • Engage members who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), subject matter experts, and others to listen to their experiences and perspectives and develop deeper learning and understanding for individuals in the organization.
  • Undertake a comprehensive review of ACSLPA’s requirements, systems, processes, policies, and practices to identify real or perceived instances of systemic discrimination or racism either caused by, perpetuated by, or left unaddressed by ACSLPA.
  • Attempt to qualitatively assess the issues identified in order to determine the impact, support progress towards solutions, and prioritize actions.
  • Identify solutions and actions in priority sequence in a manner that assists the organization to plan and execute resolution within budget and resource constraints. Particular emphasis is placed on building lasting system changes to allow this work to continue as a routine part of ACSLPA’s work after the project has concluded.
  • Adopt quick and effective solutions early-on and iterate towards better solutions as these become available. Remain flexible and adaptive, learning and developing new tactics as they become available rather than waiting for a perfect solution or adhering rigidly to a plan that is inferior to new options.

How to Become Involved

ACSLPA is forming a taskforce made up of regulated members who have lived experiences as racialized persons dealing with racism and discrimination, who have experience or training specific to addressing racism and discrimination, or who are passionate about their profession and about addressing systemic discrimination and racism within the professions of audiology and SLP.

The taskforce will act in an advisory capacity to the project by:

  1. conducting a series of targeted reviews of ACSLPA systems, policies, and requirements (including the Code of Ethics, Standards of Practice, guidelines, and advisory statements) to assess the current situation,
  2. outlining current issues and opportunities,
  3. evaluating which issues and opportunities merit fixing and which ones are actually fixable
  4. assisting in formulating and prioritizing a set of possible solutions to the current issues and opportunities
  5. reviewing and providing feedback on work completed to address priority issues identified in 4, above.

In addition to the work of the taskforce, ACSLPA members who participate will have an opportunity to provide input into meaningful change within their profession, share their experiences and insights, learn more about ACSLPA’s operations and systems, deepen their understanding of racism and discrimination and how it can be addressed, and engage in rich discussion on important issues with professional colleagues.

ACSLPA would love to hear from you regarding involvement on this task force. Please contact Susan Rafaat at deputyregistrar@acslpa.ca with expressions of interest by Monday, August 17th.

Please include some background about yourself (discipline, number of years of experience, areas of expertise, current employment setting) and a brief description of why you are interested in this opportunity.