Through celebration of the holidays and observances of all Canadians and Americans we can ensure that citizens from all communities across Canada and the US are represented in our culture. #CelebrateEverything provides a list of 10 significant cultural celebrations and observances that we can acknowledge, learn from and….celebrate! These 10 holidays and observances are umbrellas that cover all communities in one way or another to ensure we are including everyone. It is a sure-fire way to support those from marginalized ethno-cultural communities towards greater inclusion and equity, but also gives us the gift of becoming more informed and educated about our neighbours, truly creating community and, changing “them”, into “us”.

Research about bias, the root of most racism, confirms that a majority of people across Canada and the United States are more likely to believe that people who are White are local and people of color (those from the global majority) are foreign. We also know that biases tend to promote stereotypes of xenophobia and even see some groups of people from ethnocultural communities as more likely to be challenging of “Western values”. The core problem is we do not see some people as a part of our local communities. Changing these biases means redefining who we see as part of our community and the holidays we celebrate as a part of local community reflects who we truly see as local. If we don’t #CelebrateEverything, people who should be neighbors and friends are forced to give up their community and cultural holidays to adopt those from Christian or Eurocentric based traditions or prioritize the holidays of a majority over their own. As a result they are not included in a society and local culture that should be theirs, and this develops a hierarchy between people and cultures which none of us want.

By integrating the list of holidays provided by Lead with Diversity Inc. that reflects  ALL Canadian and American communities into your annual organizational, corporate and community calendars, you begin to #CelebrateEverything and lead the shift towards  adjusting biases and seeing people of color and those from cultural communities as a part of you local community, because… they have always been!

This is achieved through redistributing social capital of celebrating holidays such as Christmas or similar “Western holidays” (based on White, Christian, or Europocentric traditions) to acknowledge all people and communities that make up a broader more diverse and dynamic modern society we live in today.

This is valuable to both internal functioning of inclusive workplaces, but also serves as valuable to the community those organizations and businesses are a part of and do business with. And when it comes to your most valuable asset, be it students, volunteers, staff, or your customers, research confirms that inclusive workplaces produce 83 percent uplift in productivity and innovation¹. Businesses in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural inclusion were also 36% more likely for increased profitability than companies in the bottom quartile², suggesting inclusion not only improves team functioning, it improves marketing and sales. In schools and workplaces, improved ethnic and cultural inclusion also improves prosocial behaviors³. The icing on the cake is that you gain all this while being a community leader, improving true inclusion in your organization, classroom and larger community.

Most importantly, #CelebrateEverything allows your community and workplace to be self-reparative through celebration and positive psychology. It promotes conversation, learning and growth through simple foundational understanding that helps us see community in people we otherwise believed were different from us. Though ongoing education and training are always important, learning about each other through celebration helps us focus on the positive, while sustaining justice through equality building a truly multicultural workplace and community.

Here’s an example of what employees who work one of our partners had to say about their organizations commitment to #CelebrateEverything.

“Something that Folklorama is doing that I truly value and inspires me in the workplace is our commitment to #CelebrateEverything. It’s part of overall employee wellness.”

Our goal is simple: Build a community of like-minded individuals, organizations and educational institutions who will empower and widely share the concept of inclusion through #CelebrateEverything. By signing up to be a part of this powerful and growing initiative, you will be recognized as a formal partner of #CelebrateEverything and have access to the following benefits to promote the message of true equality, inclusion and multiculturalism: