By: Jeremy Hatt
On August 6, 2020, the Membership Committee of the Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club held a meeting at Brunet Park specifically to address diversity and inclusivity in the Club. The meeting was held outdoors and socially distanced in accordance with Covid-19 guidelines. In the wake of several significant events in 2020, including a historical civil rights movement and renewed exposure of racism and discrimination in the scientific community, the Club felt that it was important to address these issues.
Eight ECFNC members met to discuss strategies for the Club to aspire towards inclusiveness of members of all races, genders, ages, religions, identities, abilities, and experiences. The agenda for the meeting included introductions, purpose of the meeting, a quick review of discussions that had already taken place among the Membership Committee and the Executive, open discussion and brainstorming, and coming up with tangible tasks for the Club to start implementing. The discussion was wide-ranging and robust and the Committee will devote time from every meeting to this discussion.
Attendees of meeting on diversity and inclusivity at Brunet Park. Left to Right: Lindsey Kiss, Jessica Middleton, Aileen Petrozzi, Ellen van Wageningen, Carl Maiolani, Giovanni Abati, Jeremy Hatt, and Andy Paul (not pictured)
One of our first tasks was to write a Statement on Diversity and Inclusivity, which is now on the Club’s website under the “About Us” section. Here is the Statement in full:
The Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club (ECFNC) stands against racism and any other form of discrimination. In light of events in 2020, including a historical civil rights movement and renewed exposure of racism and discrimination in the scientific community, ECFNC is committed to taking action to address diversity and inclusivity in the Club.
ECFNC believes that all people should feel safe, welcomed, and encouraged to join the Club and attend its meetings and events. ECFNC is committed to improving representation and opportunities that benefit all racialized groups, Indigenous Peoples, genders, LGBTQ+ communities, and differing abilities. Windsor-Essex County is a culturally and racially diverse region and ECFNC commits to evolving our practices to reflect this to better serve the community and pursue our core objectives:
- To promote the appreciation and conservation of the diverse natural heritage of Essex County and the surrounding region
- To promote opportunities for members to become acquainted with and better understand their natural environment
- To promote the identification, preservation, maintenance and restoration of natural areas
- To cooperate with and support other organizations with similar objectives
ECFNC will work toward increasing its outreach to a wider range of groups and communities, adding field trips that include accessible natural areas, expanding the Club’s speaker program, field trips, and publications to include more voices from a wide range of perspectives and experiences, and finally, to get feedback from underrepresented communities as well as from members on how we can continue to improve the Club.
ECFNC welcomes your thoughts, experiences, and suggestions. Please email us via the Club’s website at https://www.essexcountynature.com/contact-us/.
The Membership Committee has begun to put a list of contacts together of other groups and organizations that we can reach out to as well as a list of accessible parks and trails to include in future field trips. The Committee has also updated its Terms of Reference to incorporate diversity and inclusivity into its purpose and goals. The new Terms of Reference are published in full at the end of this article.
We also encourage anyone in the Club with feedback or ideas or an interest in partaking in this initiative to contact the Club via our “Contact Us” page – https://www.essexcountynature.com/contact-us/.
Finally, the Membership Committee has started to put together a list of links of articles and videos that mostly pertain to events that took place this year in the nature/science community. We encourage members to read and watch them. Many of the links relate to Black Birders Week, which sparked a social media movement detailing Black experience in science. Although these articles are geared towards birding, much of the experiences and lessons can be applied to other activities in nature as well.
- Christian Cooper Shares Joys and Challenges of Birding While Black
- The Toxic Intersection of Racism and Public Space by Brentin Mock
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-26/amy-cooper-exposes-green-space-s-race-problem
- Meet the hikers who say the great outdoors is for everyone by Ash Abraham
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/free-bipoc-hike-1.5788021?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar
- “This has been a really taxing time for people of colour”: Meet the stylish group introducing Torontonians to the Zen world of birding by Courtney Shea
- ‘Black Birders Week’ Promotes Diversity and Takes on Racism in the Outdoors by Jillian Mock
https://www.audubon.org/news/black-birders-week-promotes-diversity-and-takes-racism-outdoors
- Meet Two of the Founders of #BlackBirdersWeek
- Studying sparrows and launching a movement in support of Black scientists (CBC Quirks & Quarks)
- A Movement to Make Birding More Inclusive and Accessible by Tom Foster
https://www.audubon.org/news/a-movement-make-birding-more-inclusive-and-accessible
- Intersectionality of Nature Access, Equity, and Biodiversity
- Saving the planet means listening to Indigenous peoples: Wade Davis
The Membership Committee of the Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club
Revised Terms of Reference – Sept. 2020
Current members: Jeremy Hatt (Chair), Lindsey Kiss, Carl Maiolani, Aileen Petrozzi (Board Member and Liaison), Ellen van Wageningen (Membership Secretary and Board Observer)
Purpose
· To recommend strategies to increase active membership in the club
· To identify ways of transitioning new members into the club
· To promote social interaction between club members
· To suggest improvement in club procedure with a view to improving the overall effectiveness of the club and minimizing individual member workloads.
· To solicit feedback from members regarding their experience within the club and their suggestions for improvement
· To use knowledge of the membership base to solicit member participation in club committees and activities
· To recommend and pursue strategies to ensure the club is inclusive and welcoming to members of all races, genders, ages, religions, identities and experiences.
Membership
· Membership on the committee is open to all club members whose dues are paid up to date
· There are no formal restrictions on the number of members but it is acknowledged that for the group to be effective the total of members should be kept small to encourage participation
· It is hoped that membership on this committee will reflect the makeup of club members as a whole
· There is no formal period of membership on the committee required and members can step down from the committee at any time and for any reason
Accountability
· A member of the committee, usually the Membership Secretary or Board Liaison, should report regularly to the Executive Committee regarding any significant recommendations and findings
· A member of the committee should also provide a report to the general membership of the club regarding its activities at the annual general meeting
Meetings
· The committee will meet as needed and most often in an informal setting
· The chair will organize and facilitate the meetings and act as its secretary as needed
· Agenda topics will be submitted by any member of the committee
· Notes of meetings, agendas, and sundry ideas will be shared by email
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