My Commitment - to my Team and my Community.

As the Artemis Canada team and I have watched the events of the past few weeks, months and now years unfold around us, I’ve been overwhelmed by emotions and a desire to ‘do something’. But, perhaps like many other leaders, I’ve struggled with how to respond. The pause is largely due to a quick realization that I need to educate myself to better understand the experiences, perspectives, and needs of the BIPOC community. I also realize that this isn’t an ‘event’ to respond to and then move on. We need to be thoughtful and serious in our commitment to action and ongoing change.

 

Here is some of what I’ve learned so far. 

 

It is not enough to have an internal and public response, but we must do this. 

It is not enough to have discussions internally to share perspectives, stories, feelings, and thoughts in a safe environment, but we must do this. 

It is not enough to admit that we don’t know enough and to be open and curious in educating ourselves, but we must do this. 

It is not enough to carefully review the work we do, our processes, our results and our plans to identify and remove bias, but we must do this. 

It is not enough to offer our voice and our services to improve opportunity, promote inclusion, and change the future stories of the BIPOC community. But this is what we MUST do.

 

We commit to finding ways to be better allies, to help our clients be better, and to use our voice and our work to be part of the change. We accept that this work is not a short-term project. This is a commitment to make Diversity and Inclusion part of how we operate. We will be critical of ourselves, demanding of our clients, and committed to change even when it is uncomfortable. 

 

Having personally spent 20+ years in recruiting within tech, I accept that I’ve been part of a broken system with entrenched bias and complacency. Tech is a world built and controlled primarily by white men, and with a funding mechanism that reinforces and rewards products that will serve the wealthy majority. As part of this ecosystem, it is easiest to just feed the machine. But success in tech is also determined by the talent. And we see that in this fact there is power and opportunity. 

 

The Artemis Canada team is made up of kind and empathetic individuals. Knowing that change is needed and will make a difference for our community is inspiring and important work.  We’re all leaning into a new future, and are tremendously grateful to those who have offered their insights, resources, and vulnerable stories to help us learn and grow. We ask that you continue to hold us to a high standard, challenge how we work, and push us to be better.

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Kristina McDougall

President & Founder

Artemis Canada