Definitions of Designated Groups

The following definitions of the four groups designated for Dalhousie's Employment Equity through Affirmative Action Program are based on information provided by Human Resources Canada.

Aboriginal Peoples

Aboriginal Peoples are those in the North American Population who identify themselves as:

• The Métis
• The Inuit
• First Nations or North American Indians which include status, treaty or registered Indians, as well as non-status and non-registered Indians;

Persons with a Disability

Persons with a disability are persons who have a long term or recurring physical, sensory, mental, psychiatric or learning impairment, and who:

• consider themselves to be disadvantaged in employment by reason of that impairment, or
• believe that an employer or potential employer is likely to consider them to be disadvantaged in employment by reason of that impairment.

Dalhousie employees self-identify as belonging to the Persons with a disability designated group using the following categories:

• Coordination/Dexterity (e.g,. cerebral palsy)
• Blind/Visual Impairment
• Speech Impairment
• Non-visible physical impairment (e.g., hemophilia)
• Development/Mental Impairment (e.g., Downs Syndrome)
• Mobility Impairment (e.g., need to use a wheelchair)
• Learning disability (e.g., dyslexia)
• Deaf/Hearing Impairment
• Psychiatric Impairment (e.g., severe depression)
• Other disability: please specify

Words with Dignity as provided by the Dalhousie Student Accessibility Fund

Language use is changing as persons with disabilities claim their individual and collective rights to participate fully in society. Dated and disparaging words are being replaced with precise, descriptive terms which have specific meanings that are not intervhangeable. Persons with disabilities are asking, just as women and racially visible groups are asking, that the media use respectful terms in writing about them.

Racially Visible People

(also referred to as 'Visible Minorities')

Racially visible people (or members of visible minorities) refers to individuals, other than North American Aboriginal people, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour. This definition is not based on citizenship or religion.

Dalhousie employees self-identify as belonging to the racially visible designated group using the following categories: 

• Black (e.g., Nova Scotian or of other origin)
• Chinese
• Japanese
• South Asian (e.g., East Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi)
• Southeast Asian (e.g., Burmese, Cambodian, Laotian, Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese)
• West Asian and Arab (e.g., Afghani, Armenian, Egyptian, Iranian, Iraqi, Israeli, Lebanese, Jordanian, Palestinian, Syrian, Turkish)
• Filipino
• Korean
• Latin American
• Other (including mixed ancestry; please specify)

Women

The designated group of women includes Aboriginal women, women with a disability, racially visible women, able-bodied, and white women. Employees may self-identify with more than one designated group.