The Residential Construction Council of Ontario announced it’s moving ahead with a roundtable of employers — including staffing firms — and other interest groups in order to address racism in the construction industry.
“Our construction industry consists of an incredibly diverse, multi-racial and multi-cultural workforce and we will not tolerate any acts of racism,” said Richard Lyall, the group’s president. “We were appalled at racist acts that occurred recently on construction sites and decided to spearhead this effort to bring about meaningful changes to deal with the problem.”
The roundtable includes employers, unions, employment agencies, educators, organizations representing contractors, the provincial and municipal governments, and the health and safety sector.
First meeting of the roundtable was on Oct. 15 to establish ground rules. Quarterly meetings have also been established.
Incidents this summer giving rise to concerns about racism include the discovery of nooses at construction sites.