Justice, Equity, Diversity, Decolonization and Inclusion Working Group

The Justice, Equity, Diversity, Decolonization and Inclusion (JEDDI) Working Group, under the direction and with the support of the Board, is responsible for undertaking work and providing recommendations to assist in the advancement of the Institute’s broad objectives to enhance understanding, build capacity, and implement actions related to justice, equity, diversity, decolonization, and inclusion.

Current activities: Formed in 2024, the Working Group develops and recommends to the Board a scope of work and plan to engage external expertise to assist the Institute in undertaking a JEDDI review / assessment of the Institute and the planning profession in British Columbia and the Yukon.

Click here to read about this Working Group's work (excerpt from current PIBC Annual Report).

JEDDI Review Project Overview 

Our landscape

Our communities - many of them growing across BC and the Yukon - have increasingly diverse needs and face increasingly complex, overlapping challenges. As planners, we have the positions, vision, and skills to support these challenges and our communities, from climate action, to affordable housing, to healthier and accessible spaces, to enhanced mobility. 

Yet, the increasing need for planners - and its level of representation from our province’s diverse communities - is impacting our ability to continue supporting our communities. 

Our strategic priorities

Within PIBC’s new 2025-27 Strategic Plan, one of the priorities is to Enhance Member Value, Engagement & Recruitment, with planned efforts to “diversify the membership and reach new audiences, ensuring the Institute remains vibrant, inclusive and future-ready.” These efforts also support one of the other priorities to Pursue Justice, Equity, Diversity, Decolonization, Inclusion & Accessibility (JEDDIA).

About this project

This work is being led by the Justice, Equity, Diversity, Decolonization, and Inclusion (JEDDI) Working Group in partnership with RADIUS SFU and Live Educate Transform Society. It is working towards the following objectives found within PIBC’s strategic priorities:

• Broaden and diversify member recruitment;
• Support planners in career development;
• Improve member certification process;
• Become an Institute that embraces JEDDIA principles.

The final recommendations will be submitted for PIBC’s review and action in early 2026. Informed by a file review and engagement, the emerging recommendations will aim to: 

• Objective 1: Expand equitable opportunities within PIBC for recognition (i.e. PIBC awards), training (i.e. PIBC events and conference, Continuous Professional Learning program), and career advancement, particularly benefiting planners from equity-deserving* backgrounds within PIBC
• Objective 2: Foster a safe and inclusive PIBC to attract and retain historically marginalized and underrepresented planners, including those from Indigenous, Black, racialized and equity-deserving* backgrounds, complementing the recommendations from the Planning Practice and Reconciliation Committee and Sa̱nala’s 2023 report on Exploring Pathways for Indigenous Planning Membership
• Objective 3: Identify equitable changes within the planning designation process to increase representation among planners in BC 

PIBC is also undergoing several projects to expand and equip professional planners to achieve its strategic vision, from assessing the current and future state of planning, to exploring what the Professional Governance Act could mean for planners, to work toward reconciliation in planning and exploring alternate pathways for Indigenous planners. 

This work is intended to complement and support the ongoing and concurrent PIBC projects, and not duplicate.

Opportunities for input

We invite you to share your input in our online survey [https://www.surveymonkey.ca/r/XK3XP6J], open until midnight on Sunday, November 16.

If you would like to share your experiences in a focus group, you can reach out to Ilhan Abdullahi (she/her, Engagement Lead from RADIUS SFU) at iabdullahi@radiussfu.com. Honouraria or structured CPL units are available to participants to recognize their contribution and time.

There are limited spots available and we are aiming to hear from those historically underrepresented in planning. While we may not be able to accommodate all who are interested, we want to thank you for your willingness to participate and share.

Some important notes and definitions

When we say representation, we are speaking to planners and PIBC members coming from a diversity of backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences that make up our communities across BC and the Yukon - including socioeconomic, migration, race, gender.  

*When we say equity-deserving, we are referring to groups that experience collective barriers, including attitudinal, historical, social and environmental barriers, and who have been persistently and historically marginalized. These groups include Indigenous, Black, racialized, 2SLGBTQ2IA+, and people with visible and invisible disabilities. By explicitly naming Indigenous and Black communities, we offer a conscious statement that explicitly honours the specific history of colonialism and enslavement and ongoing racism on this land and avoids subsuming unique barriers and experiences.

As this project is exploring inclusion in PIBC and the planning profession, it’s difficult to talk about inclusion without talking about exclusion. This may be triggering or evoke a trauma response for those who experience one or intersecting forms of marginalization.  We encourage you to seek support from trusted individuals, networks, or resources that feel right for you.

Current Working Group Members: