Message from Melissa Farrell, President St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton

St. Joe’s embraces the values of Dignity, Respect, Justice and Responsibility. We must ensure that we live those values.

Racism, prejudice and discrimination will not be tolerated. We are committed to doing better, and to make progress on building an inclusive, equitable and fair healthcare system and community.

At St. Joe’s, we together developed our Strategic Plan which calls for us to “develop an equity, diversity and inclusion strategy to support our people, physicians, patients and families.” It is our goal to collectively create this strategy inclusive of our people, our patients and our community.

Being accountable means taking action, and our first action is the establishment of an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council and a series of consultations. We don’t know what the answers are, but we believe that moving forward requires listening to the guidance of diverse voices, representative of our team members and community. The intent of the Council and consultations is to examine St. Joe’s in what some will find an uncomfortable light, to hold difficult conversations, to validate and to take action where needed. Do our policies, our hiring practices, and our actions address racism, do they address inclusion, and equity for everyone?

Here at St. Joe’s, it’s always been, and continues to be an honour to serve our community, every member of our community. We can and we will do better standing together, and working together, for change.

For questions, please contact DiversityCouncil@stjoes.ca.