medicineman said:
BTW, about half the coppers in my town are minorities, and about a third of the EMS here are as well.
Brad Sallows said:
>In the town you live in, how many minority cops / firefighters / EMS are there?
How old are you? In Canada and the US, public and private employers across wide swaths of professions and occupations have been actively working to recruit various "minorities" under pressure from governments at all levels since at least the 1970s. (My memory only goes back that far.)
There were no women, and only five visible minorities, on the job when I hired on. None were in Communications ie: Call Takers and Emergency Medical Dispatchers - EMDs ( because you first had to work in Operations back then ).
It was, and still is, the largest municipal EMS operation in Canada.
When approached in public by a citizen about Diversity ( or lack of ), I did not argue. But, I encouraged them to put in an application to the Paramedic college of their choice.
Since then, the department has come a long way in achieving Diversity. From 2006:
"Twenty-five of the 46 paramedic recruits are women, as are nine of the thirteen new EMDs."
http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=af71df79b2df6410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD&nrkey=15552D6A7792CEC18525718E00734C7A
An explanation from the ( now President ) Secretary - Treasurer of the Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ Association, I.A.F.F. Local 3888:
"It was at this event that I was approached by an Afro-Canadian male in his 40’s who complained that, by viewing the members we had in attendance at Union Station, it was clear to him that we do not reflect the community. The man was upset and was very articulate at getting his point across. I listened patiently to him and I acknowledged what he was saying. I was fortunate to be familiar with the TFS hiring process and was able to assure him that the suggestions he was making were already implemented within the Toronto Fire Service. I explained to him that, regardless of the fact that the TFS has thousands of applicants each year, we still have a Recruitment Division and their primary goal is to get candidates to apply that reflect the community. I also explained that women and visible minorities, once qualified, are placed in their own group and that each class hired would require 50% from that group and 50% from the white male group. I further explained, that usually after the first class, the visible minority group is exhausted. We discussed the changes toward hiring out of the community colleges and the fact that their representation of visible minorities currently is low and that if the TFS continues down that road then it will be a new challenge for our recruitment outreach program to see higher numbers apply to the colleges. I went over the courses the TFS offers and the assistance they provide to individuals trying to join the Fire Service.
The discussion then turned to how we treat out visible minorities. While I was careful to state that I did not want to speak on behalf of individuals and their experiences, I was more than willing to share my own experiences. I was open and honest and I think he sensed that I was being sincere. The conversation took about 20 minutes but his attitude from the start of it to the end had drastically changed for the better. He was very appreciative and told me he felt a lot more comfortable with how the TFS was working toward being reflective of the community it serves."
https://www.torontofirefighters.org/wp-content/uploads/firewatch/Spring2009.pdf
Page 8.