TOOLKIT FOR
WORKERS AND
WORK SEEKERS
Social awareness:
Demonstrate interactions with others that show respect for, openness to and appreciation of diversity.
You can demonstrate your social awareness through:
- Demonstrating acceptance of and respect for diverse ways of thinking and being
- Showing understanding of, and empathy for, others
- Understanding and valuing Indigenous traditions and knowledge, including the belief in the interconnectedness of everything
- Understanding, valuing and taking pride in the contributions of diverse cultural, ethnic and linguistic groups, including your own, to Canada
- Understanding how culture, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, language, national origin, race, ethnicity and religion affect personal identity and influence lives and opportunities
- Recognizing that privilege, prejudice and oppression are widespread and damaging
- Promoting and demonstrating fairness, social justice, human rights, equity and respect for all
Samantha has been working for 20 years in a community services agency and is now the Executive Director. She has earned the respect of clients, staff, funders and other social service providers in town. A recent change in government, however, has caused her significant concern. She understands that funding is limited. However, the current funding priorities seem to privilege a few high-profile groups, leaving almost nothing for many other people who also really need supports.
Sam hasn’t been sleeping well and is anxious about writing her agency’s upcoming funding proposal. She believes in the work that her agency does and is proud of her team. They are all counting on her to write a winning proposal. On the other hand, a winning proposal, in this case, may have to go against her deeply held values; it would need to focus on providing targeted services that would leave many people in her community even more disadvantaged than they are currently. Sam has called a special meeting of her Board of Directors to express her concerns and to discuss the risks of actively advocating for changes to the terms of the call for proposals.
