NHL drive for diversity, inclusion takes strides: executive

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This article was published 16/11/2022 (1084 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A work in progress. A journey, not an event.

That’s how Kim Davis, senior executive vice-president of social impact, growth initiatives and legislative affairs for the NHL, described where the league currently resides on the scale of being “culturally available.”

Davis, who has spearheaded the NHL’s encouraging drive for diversity and inclusivity since she was appointed to her position in 2017, hosted a youth event Wednesday at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg.

She spoke to the group about disrupting discrimination and building a culture of inclusion in sport.

“The youth of this country and, indeed of the world, are the future leaders,” Davis said in a 15-minute scrum with media.

“And if we don’t start shaping their views and their expectations, and minimizing their cynicism around what’s possible, then we aren’t going to prepare our organizations, our institutions and our society more broadly for the future.”

On Thursday evening, Davis will deliver a keynote speech at the annual Friends of the CMHR gala.

The mid-week stop-in was a timely one, coming on the heels of the NHL releasing its first report on diversity and inclusion.

The 24-page document, unveiled mid-October, outlines the effort the professional hockey league has made to increase its representation of women and people of colour, where it stands, and the progress it has made.

One survey revealed 83.6 per cent of its workforce (league, its clubs and employees) demographic is white. In comparison, the next closest ethnic group is Asian, at 4.17 per cent, with 3.74 per cent of employees Black.

Davis noted the NHL has made significant strides in the way of increasing its female representation, as 36.81 per cent of its demographic identify as such.

“That was a baseline,” she said of the novel report.

“I said to our organization that you can’t hold yourself accountable to what you don’t know. And so we have to lead with the facts, we have to put metrics in place and have broader society hold us accountable to hitting those metrics… This is a way of being open and transparent about the ways in which we’re trying to make our sport more open, welcoming and accessible.”

That’s where “cultural availability” comes into play.

The term, coined by Davis, refers to understanding an experience through the lens of the minority, rather than using a personal lens (which can be fogged by biases and stereotypes) to try to understand issues. Davis said she believes cultural availability is one of the keys to the NHL taking a major step in the right direction.

“I think that we now know that it’s a thing, right? I think when I introduced this concept of ‘cultural availability,’ it was something that people weren’t quite sure what it was,” Davis said.

“When we started putting texture under it and describing what that means and how you have to show up differently in different communities because of those cultural nuances, that helps you gain trust in those communities. Then people started getting it and I see a lot of our clubs leaning into that.”

Kevin Chief, senior adviser on community development for True North Sports and Entertainment Ltd. (owner of the Winnipeg Jets), hosted Wednesday’s session with Davis.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to be satisfied (with the diversity in the league). One of the things that we’re starting to see and understand is the absolute power in partnerships,” he said.

“We’re at our best when we (celebrate diversity) through the voices of children, youth and our elders. And I think that’s the approach True North has taken and I continue to think that’s the right approach.”

Davis said she has recognized the efforts made in the NHL’s smallest city.

Among them, TNSE was the first organization to enact an arena ban on headdresses, a sacred symbol to the Native American culture. It also made the Jets and Manitoba Moose the first clubs in the NHL and AHL, respectively, to include an Indigenous land acknowledgment before home games.

“I like almost everything that they’re doing here… I know (TNSE chairman) Mark Chipman and I know not only the influence he has in this market as a leader — well before any of the social unrest and any of the issues that we are now experiencing globally — but because he’s just been open and vulnerable and honest, even in those moments of great difficulty,” Davis said.

“I think they have learned a lot about the ways in which they need to make sure that they are culturally available to different communities and I see them leaning into that in a much more intentional way.”

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jfreysam