ViMLoC members Maha Kumaran, Allan Cho, and Jian Wang presented at the Saskatchewan Libraries Association Conference on May 3, 2019. Their presentation touched on many aspects of diversity in Canadian librarianship, particularly from their own visible minority perspectives. The topics revolved around statistics and demographics of visible minorities, recruitment, retention, feelings of exclusion, attrition rates of minority librarians, along with mentorship, needed support systems, and conferences. The authors also engaged the audience by enquiring the latter about their engagement with minority colleagues, especially through mentorship, and their thoughts on diversity in librarianship. The presentation concluded with information about April Hathcock’s experience at ALA and how Canadian colleagues would react if something like this were to happen here. The audience responses were practical and indicated a need to do more to support minorities in Canadian librarianship.

Here are the presentation slides if you want to learn more:
Supporting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in our Canadian Libraries