Ocean Brands acknowledges that racism exists in Canada. It lives in our institutions, our schools, our policing, and within our company.
Over hundreds of years, racism has denied Black, Indigenous and People of Colour the same opportunities enjoyed by white people. Depending on the colour of your skin alone, your experiences of everyday life in Canada will be different. Ocean Brands is committed to becoming an anti-racist company. We will not tolerate racism in any form. As a company we will move beyond being passive non-racist bystanders and become anti-racist allies to black, indigenous and people of colour. As a company we will contribute to dismantling persistent systemic and structural racism embedded in Canada.
Commitment to learning
We are committed, at all levels of the organization, to ongoing learning about racism. This will help us see more clearly the deliberate policies and actions we must take in dismantling persistent systemic and structural racism embedded in the company. We are committed to consistently improving and developing the cultural competency of every employee. We will leverage, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) training offered by external companies, and through our own JEDI tactical team. We will also add new materials and resources related to anti-racism and cultural competency to a shared site accessible to all staff. We will glean insights from our annual JEDI employee survey, prescribed reading, and working with other companies in Canada that are committed to anti-racism.
We have a bias for action
As members of the B Corp community we have a bias for action and creating real impact for our stakeholders. Our stakeholders include our employees, our communities, our customers, our suppliers, and our shareholder. We will do this first and foremost though the introduction of policy. Ocean Brands anti-racist policies will emerge from a deep understanding of allyship and a desire to end racism in all its forms. Our policies will be added to our employee handbook and where applicable include the appropriate training. As we mature in becoming anti-racist allies, we will endeavor to inspire anti-racist allyship in the broader community to dismantle persistent systemic and structural racism in Canada.
Ian Ricketts
President
