Accountability

Click here to read our statement on sexual violence in the music industry.

CiTR 101.9FM and Discorder Magazine strive to create a space to work, volunteer and learn in which respect, equity, opportunity, and belonging are valued and upheld.

We acknowledge that oppression operates at both the personal and systemic level, and that it continues to prevent members of our community from engaging with the organization.. As an organization founded under colonialism, our actions and history have reflected an affinity of systemic racism and discrimination, internalized bias, and the perpetuation of colonial narratives that cause harm to Indigenous communities— non-exclusive to the Musqueam land we occupy — and to the Black and POC members of our community.

One of CiTR & Discorder’s missions is to provide low-barrier opportunities for our community to learn and create media by way of storytelling, journalism, conversation, and more. Beyond our mission, we also provide opportunities in non-profit work, arts administration, leadership opportunities, and management. Our intent has been centred on equality and objectivity, something that we recognize now to be inaccessible and catering to different forms of privilege. 

As an organization with an intention to uplift our community – and specifically, members who are marginalized by way of their race, gender, sexual orientation, and economic status – we are committed to examining and dismantling structures of oppression, starting with the legacy of white supremacy and colonization at CiTR & Discorder. Thus far, we are placing our focus internally, with our staff, Board, and student leadership taking part in anti-oppression training and education to undertake this process in a comprehensive and meaningful way. Going forward, we intend to shift towards equity; offering our community  access to our resources and opportunities in ways that are not tokenizing, partial, or exclusive to people who benefit from privileges granted to them by colonialism and white supremacy.

Click here for resources and more information on our policies.

Goals

We have set the following goals to in pursuit of realizing this intention:

  • CiTR & Discorder’s Membership, staff, and leadership accurately reflects the range of groups that form our community; 
  • CiTR & Discorder’s membership, staff, and leadership actively helps people come to CiTR in their fullest identity;
  • CiTR & Discorder will regularly update and improve equitable access to opportunities;
  • Our processes for leadership selection promotes equitable representation in our membership and leadership;
  • Our governance and policy creation processes will be clearly outlined,  executed, and shared in an accessible way so that all participants can contribute in a manner free from obstacles, barriers and oppression;
  • Ongoing and regular training for staff and leadership in anti-oppression and decolonizing practices;
  • Clear channels for feedback and communication within our membership and with community at large, including options for people to provide feedback anonymously;
  • an effective process for resolving concerns and complaints that may arise from members’ experience of unfair, inequitable or oppressive treatment;
  • An effective and regular review process for all policies and protocols.

Actions

Some of the above goals are new, while some have been ongoing. We have identified the following steps moving forward. An update on these actions’ progress will be communicated every three months. 

  1. Development and review of policies and practices that deepen equity goals;
  2. An evaluation of our organization and policies by an outside consultant ;
  3. Development of processes to apply said policies;
  4. A community feedback period for the policies developed
  5. Development of a strategic plan that will include a list of steps that need to be undertaken to achieve these goals; 
  6. Weekly decolonial learning in the form of workshops, resource sharing, and organization-wide reflection;
  7. Respond to the Truth and Reconcilation’s calls to action (#86).

These goals and actions might shift as we learn new ways in which to be accountable to the community and to our mandate, and we will continue to refine our processes as we work and foster justice and equity in all that we do at CiTR & Discorder. This is forever ongoing work — fraught with logistics and emotion — and we appreciate your patience and are eager to engage as we endeavour to unlearn and relearn together. We welcome your feedback and critiques, and we will listen.