Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Inclusion and Belonging
As a global community, we are currently facing multiple, pervasive, intersecting crises, including the climate emergency, the biodiversity crisis, and widespread socio-economic inequity. These crises are consequences of unfettered capitalism, the ongoing legacies of colonialism, and persistent patriarchy, particularly in ‘advanced,’ Western democracies. These systems uphold and enhance the social position of a wealthy few, while threatening the livelihoods and wellbeing of the majority, particularly marginalizing Black, Indigenous, and other people of colour; members of 2SLGBTQIA+1 communities; those who live with cognitive and physical diversity; and other ‘minorities’.
Our Context
At Junxion we acknowledge our team is composed largely of white people from middle class backgrounds, and that the business is owned and led by two white men. We also operate in both coloniser (UK) and colonised (Canada, US, and elsewhere) lands. This is a complex and important context for our work to pursue social justice and equity, and improve rates of inclusion and perceptions of belonging across the diversity increasingly present in our communities. While we aren’t experts in JEDI, we are committed to avoiding more harm, conveying benefits to stakeholders, and contributing to solutions.
Our Position
Our company envisions ‘an economy remade to serve the common good.’ Principles of justice, inclusion, and belonging are imperative to this vision. We believe our privilege comes with a greater responsibility to help dismantle the systems of inequity.
We care deeply about wellbeing and prosperity for all, and believe JEDI-aligned businesses are more innovative, productive, resilient and profitable2.
Our Role
At Junxion we strive to lead by example by modelling the successful social purpose business, which includes creating a generous3 and accountable4 environment for all. This requires investments of social and financial capital and of time to develop and deepen healthy relationships, identify barriers, understand and develop better practices, and evolve our ways of working, while avoiding being performative or tokenistic.
Like all service-based companies, Junxion’s greatest opportunities for influence and impact are in our work with our clients. We want to be audacious enough to break stereotypes, foreground future generations, and acknowledge the power imbalances within our clients’ organizations. We aim to increase access to our services for those leaders from equity-seeking communities.
Junxion advocates for what we believe in: we want to promote JEDI principles across our network and use our power and privilege to advocate for a more equitable and just future for all. This includes amplifying the voices and bringing more awareness and support to equity-seeking groups.
Our Commitments
During implementation of our 2024-2025 strategic plan, and drawing on validated models and outside expertise, Junxion’s Leadership Team will define the governance, evaluation, and reporting protocols to ensure fulfillment of the following priorities:
Staff
We are committed to cultivating an equitable, generous, and accountable workplace for our staff.
We will:
- Perform regular reviews of our systems, policies, and practices and seek feedback from staff about their experience working at Junxion. This may include contracting specialist advisors.
- Make changes and improvements to our policies and processes based on the findings of our review.
- Develop more inclusive hiring, onboarding, and mentoring processes.
- Provide opportunities for staff training and development.
- Ensure our processes for pay increases and promotion remain equitable, transparent, and performance based.
Clients
We are committed to bringing relevant expertise to our projects, whether through training or contracting to ensure the voices of all stakeholders are heard during our client engagements. We are also committed to exploring how our services are accessible to equity-seeking groups.
We will:
- Explore and discuss opportunities to enhance stakeholder participation throughout our projects, specifically during the Initiation & Planning phase of our work .
- Supportively challenge our clients to include those voices that are often excluded from their planning and processes.
- Enhance accessibility of our services for equity-seeking organizations.
Community
We are committed to advocating for the implementation of JEDI principles into organizations across our entire network. We are also committed to moving from ‘allyship to coalition.’5
We will:
- Advocate for the implementation of policies and practices that support more inclusive and equitable workplaces.
- Provide equitable access to vendor and contract opportunities.
- Implement more intentional strategies for networking to expand our spheres of influence.
- Develop partnerships with networks that support underrepresented groups to which we offer services and through which we connect with interns and employees.
1 ‘2S’ = Two spirit, ‘L’ = lesbian, ‘G’ = gay, ‘B’ = bisexual, ‘T’ = transgender, ‘Q’ = queer (sometimes also means questioning), ‘I’ = intersex, ‘A’ = asexual and ‘+’ = is inclusive of people who identify as part of sexual and gender diverse communities, who use additional terminologies.
2 https://jedicollaborative.com/power-of-jedi/
3 Generosity is a core value at Junxion, which we define as follows: We cultivate value by ‘showing up’ supportively and empathetically, ‘seeking first to understand,’ and focusing on relationships, more than transactions.
4 https://medium.com/@elise.k.ahen/safe-and-brave-spaces-dont-work-and-what-you-can-do-instead-f265aa339aff
5 Emma Dabiri: What White People can do next: From allyship to coalition
