At Pacific Blue Cross, our celebration of Pride season extends beyond the festivities and campaigns in the month of June. Our commitment to supporting the 2SLGBTQI+ (Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, plus) community is centred at the heart of our organizational mission to improve health and wellbeing for all British Columbians. We continuously look for ways to support and empower the community, and we have embedded our learnings in our new DEI strategy, making it a core pillar of our business.

Supporting Pride in our community

Through our ongoing partnership with Pride at Work, we successfully passed an audit that reviewed not only our products and services, but also our internal policies and processes to ensure true representation and inclusion across our organization. As a result of this audit, we:

• Launched a new comprehensive, three-year DEI strategy and roadmap
• Launched “Transitioning Guidelines” to support our transgender and gender non-conforming employees and ensure all employees can be their authentic selves at work.
• Re-communicated our anti racist/anti-discrimination position
• Launched “Inclusive Language Guidelines” for our employees, to promote respect through language that acknowledges and values all individuals, regardless of their background or identity.
• Migrated our internal systems and forms to include four gender options
• Incorporated education around gender awareness into our onboarding process to ensure a culturally safe workplace.

We also offer free, easily accessible eLearning modules on a variety of topics, including Gender Awareness, to members, employers, providers and the wider public.

Locally, we continue to proudly sponsor Burnaby Pride, taking place July 20. Now in its seventh year, Burnaby’s Pride event celebrates the diversity of the local 2SLGBTQI+ community and all those who support them!

If you’re looking to celebrate Pride festivities beyond local events, consider travelling abroad. Read up on three exciting destinations to visit during Pride, and how to ensure your safety while travelling.