Burnaby Public Library Wrestles with the Costs of DEI

Burnaby Public Library plans to end three employee inclusivity groups by the end of the year.

The groups, each made up of fewer than a dozen employees, recommend policies, initiatives and training to make the library more inclusive for racialized, trans and Indigenous staff and patrons.

In an email to staff, chief librarian Beth Davies said the groups will have three months to wrap up ongoing work while the library reviews how it funds equity work.

The groups’ closure comes amid a growing backlash against workplace inclusivity issues — a backlash Davies says has nothing to do with the library’s decision.

“We don't want to jump on some anti-woke bandwagon,” Davies told The Tyee. “We've made some strides, but we've still got a huge way to go, so inclusion is still really a big focus for us.”

Still, some employees are disturbed by the news. Morgan, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their employment, is a member of the library’s trans inclusion working group.

“The political climate right now is very scary for trans people,” Morgan said. “It feels like a really horrible time to put a pause on this work.”

Meanwhile, Camellia Bryan, associate business professor at the University of British Columbia, said the library’s decision may have eroded employees’ security.

“Programs like these can be safety signals,” she said. “When they’re gone, you might feel less safe in that environment.”

Bryan added the closures underscore a sea change in how Canadian organizations fund inclusivity initiatives.

Burnaby Public Library currently has three inclusivity groups: one for trans inclusion, one for anti-racism and one for Indigenous initiatives. Chief librarian Davies said they were formed between 2018 and 2020.

“In 2020, everybody was having this reckoning that we were a library that didn't reflect the community we served,” Davies said. “We needed to do a lot of work internally to look at what inclusion looks like.”

For example, the trans inclusion group ensured the library switched to trans-inclusive washroom signage and made pins displaying employee pronouns available to staff and contributed to organization-wide training on gender diversity.

Employees are given time during work hours to meet and implement changes approved by leadership.

But Davies said those hours aren’t currently tracked and the library doesn’t include the inclusivity work in its budget.

Morgan estimates group members spend up to eight hours per month on the work. Half of that time is regular meetings — some groups meet once per month for three hours, and some hold two two-hour meetings each month.

Davies did not disclose how much these initiatives cost the library but said it’s a problem “at a time when there’s a lot more scrutiny on budgets.”

“We can't sustain it in the way that we've been, and we want to be clearer on what it is that we need to do and how staff can be involved in that,” Davies said.

Last month she told the working groups to wrap up ongoing work, or identify which initiatives need to continue. The groups would stop meeting by the end of the year, and the library would start to review how to continue its equity work.

“We have been directed by the city to reduce costs that do not directly impact public service,” Davies said in the email, adding the library will look at different models for supporting equity work.

Davies told The Tyee that this change does not mean the library is done with inclusivity work.

“We're trying to bake this into the way we do business — rather than have it be an ad hoc group — and then actually fund it properly,” Davies said.

Morgan said the change came as a surprise. They said the trans inclusion group had just added new members and started planning for the coming year.

Currently the working group consults with the library on educational programs and book lists, they said, and runs the library’s booth at Burnaby Pride. While some of these projects will continue, Morgan said shutting down the working groups means members might not get to participate.

“I am very angry and upset and disappointed,” they said. “I feel like the rug was pulled out from under us.”

Morgan said the working groups are also a space for staff from these communities to meet each other, find allies and contribute to their organization.

“It will eliminate a certain sense of community people have,” Morgan said. “It also takes away an opportunity for people to get leadership experience that they might not otherwise be able to.”

Morgan added they believed the library planned to continue inclusivity work but that it wasn’t clear why the groups had to stop their work in the interim. They added that many current working group members won’t want to participate.

“They've lost the trust of people who have been doing this work for a long time,” Morgan said.

UBC’s Bryan said the groups had wide value.

“Just showing that you're invested in these programs, it signals that you can think about identities, you can talk about them,” Bryan said. “Having these groups can also be a space for people to express how they're feeling and feel heard.”

Cutting these groups often makes employees feel less safe in their workplaces, Bryan said.

Byran said that while many organizations prioritized inclusivity in 2020, the tide has turned against equity work.

“That pressure has been removed,” she said. “If anything, there's pressure in the opposing direction.”

Many Canadian organizations are reconsidering how they fund equity — or rolling back inclusion work altogether.

This year, e-commerce company Shopify ended its programs supporting Indigenous and Black entrepreneurs.

Last month, the federal Conservatives launched a petition against funding government programs and research projects with diversity, equity and inclusion — often called DEI — principles.

“End DEI,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in an X post about the petition.

Bryan said the anti-DEI push can mean leaders often don’t recognize inclusivity work as integral to a company’s success.

“DEI initiatives are sometimes some of the first things that organizations cut when there's a decline in the economy,” Bryan said. “Sometimes organizations don't realize the benefits these programs are actually having and the impact on employees.”