Inclusive Community at Okanagan College

Careful, collaborative approaches to conferences, events, workshops, and other modes of gathering establish engagement, dialogue, cultural learning, active listening, and mutual respect as our community norm, so that everyone’s experiences and capacities add richness and value to belonging at OC.

Intentional focus on what and how we learn and teach supports everyone in the community to grow and contribute to our culture of inclusion, through curriculum and universal design for learning, professional development, targeted supports, and community-engaged learning. 

Strategic initiatives and partnerships within OC and in Community trial innovations, build academic, professional, and industry networks, and mobilize knowledge to advance evidence-based, relational, participatory approaches to inclusion, so that our strengths as a post-secondary applied research institution guide us and our partners.

We embed our commitments to inclusive community, rooted in equity and accessibility, into our systems, processes, and practices; we have protocols for ensuring inclusion-focused leadership guides our work; and we have mechanisms to remove barriers and address concerns, so that we hold ourselves accountable for our actions.

Okanagan College's Board of Governors recognizes that a strategic focus on equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice is essential to the well-being of the College and all its members.

Our mission is to transform lives and communities. We are committed to imbuing the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice into every corner of the College and thus into every possible aspect of how we can fulfill that mission.

We are committed to educating ourselves on what and how we can do better by being vulnerable and through our continuous commitment to learn, unlearn, and re-learn. We are persistent in planning how we can build upon the steps taken in the past and present. The Board commits to embrace the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion and social justice in its deliberations and decisions and through the process of appointing members to the Board. 
 

As a college serving learners in the regional and beyond, OC has always been committed to transforming lives and community. In more recent years, our activities have increasingly supported our values of transformative inclusion. This work was formalized in 2021 with the creation of our first Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (EDISJ) Project Group. 

This EDISJ Project Group worked to develop a baseline picture of the range of experiences of OC students and employees, by conducting anonymous surveys and by requiring departments to conduct self-assessments on equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

From 2022 - 2025, our efforts were overseen by an EDISJ Steering Committee, while working groups advanced concrete initiatives in five areas identified as high priority.

• Policy and Procedure: draft the new Inclusive College Community policy (approval Jan 2026?)
• Learning and Development: included anti-bias mechanisms and self-identification processes into recruitment and hiring; organized employee learning opportunities
• Anti-Racism: created new Anti-Racism web page with resources and reporting tools
• 2sLGBTQQIA+: represented OC at Kelowna Pride Festival, 2024 and 2025
• Strategic Planning: supported the development of the Inclusive Community Plan

With the Inclusive Community Plan approved in summer 2025, the structure of how we organize our work has shifted to enable us to focus on our four strategic pillars and to embed equity, inclusion, and accessibility into institutional processes.

Employees can access support through the College’s Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP). 

Students can access support through the following:

• Visit the Counseling Services page to book an appointment with a Counselor at OC.
• 24/7 mental health support is available via Province's Here2Talk.
• The KUU-US Crisis Line Society provides a First Nations and Indigenous specific crisis line available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, toll-free from anywhere in British Columbia: 1-800-588-8717, kuu-uscrisisline.com.