On May 10, 2021, I attended the CBA session entitled Unconscious Bias: Stories from Real Life & Practical Tips to Move Forward. An impressive trio of speakers, Koren Lightning-Earle of Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge, Navdeep Kaur of Gittens & Associates and Candace Thomas, Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General, Nova Scotia, together with moderator Kamaljit Lehal of Lehal Law, told their stories and shared their personal reflections.
Unconscious biases (sometimes called implicit or cognitive biases) are social stereotypes concerning groups of people formed outside someone’s own conscious awareness.[1]
Lightning-Earle described a compelling series of examples from her life where she encountered unconscious bias. One particularly memorable incident she spoke of occurred when she was a keynote speaker at a professional function. She briefly left the event and when she returned, an organizer questioned her right to be there. Lightning-Earle spoke with candor about how she has responded to these affronts depending on the circumstances, sometimes through silence, sometimes confronting and calling out, and sometimes focusing on addressing the systemic issues underlying the conduct.
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