Job Overview

Basis: Temporary

Location: Lower Mainland, B.C

Salary Range: $78,400.17 - $110,800.21 annually

Starting Salary: $89,140.15 annually

BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner (BCOHRC) exists to address the root causes of inequality, discrimination and injustice in B.C. by shifting laws, policies, practices and cultures. We do this work through education, research, advocacy, inquiry, and monitoring. 

Reporting to the Manager, Engagement, the Engagement Advisor is responsible for implementing a provincial engagement plan at the regional level using a human rights-based approach and decolonizing principles, ensuring alignment with the Education and Engagement department’s and BCOHRC’s strategic priorities. The Engagement Advisor builds and maintains relationships with communities and stakeholders in the non-profit, public, Indigenous and private sectors and builds public access to human rights materials and processes in the province.

Accountabilities:

• Participates in the development, delivery, facilitation and evaluation of a variety of meaningful community engagements (including Commissioner engagements) via different formats and media to support culture change on human rights on a local, regional, or provincial level. This process involves identification of stakeholder needs, impacts and risks according to BCOHRC’s strategic priorities and engagement plan. 
• Conducts stakeholder analyses and maintains stakeholder engagement plans, including associated event plans from inception to evaluation using project planning, International Association for Public Partnership (IAP2) principles, the BCOHRC’s 4Rs for building respectful relationships (reciprocity, relevance, reflexivity and responsibility), and other engagement approaches. This includes pre- and post-event activities such as coordinating introductory meetings, briefings, protocol discussions, stakeholder lists, correspondence and follow-up.   
• Supports implementation of a stakeholder relations management software system to record, standardize and make accessible multiple forms of stakeholder relationship information to BCOHRC staff. This includes regular, consistent, accurate and detailed data entry; analysis of stakeholder profiles, plans, engagements and events; production of reports and updating of stakeholder profiles based on cross-departmental staff contact, media scans and events.
• Works with Public Engagement Coordinator to respond to information requests from the general public and organizations (via email, telephone and in-person visits) about the human rights system in B.C., providing referrals and educational information using trauma informed, decolonizing and intersectional lenses.
• Engages with multiple stakeholders and stakeholder groups across different sectors to build and maintain effective relationships to provide information about BCOHRC priorities and the human rights system in B.C. and to inform BCOHRC’s iterative program planning strategy. 
  
• As needed, participates in the development and facilitation of consultative working groups based on issues related to BCOHRC priorities, projects or emergent issues. 
• Manages and navigates stakeholder relationships with attention to maintaining the independence and neutrality of BCOHRC, and upholding confidentiality.
• Prepares reports and materials relevant to engagement activities for Engagement Team reporting and accountability. 
• Identifies and suggests improvement strategies and best practices, gained in the performance of the work and through research on innovative engagement approaches, that support BCOHRC’s mandate and enhance Engagement team function.
• Using Indigenous and decolonizing methods, engages in a good way with Indigenous stakeholders, communities and governance bodies to build lasting relationships for BCOHRC in general, and in support of the delivery of social justice and rights-based education in particular.
• Supports the Education team in delivering educational sessions on human rights issues.
• Supports the implementation of an internal engagement plan that enables collaboration between departments (operations, communications, education and engagement, research and policy, legal). 
• Provides engagement functions to interdisciplinary projects to ensure alignment across the organization of outreach activities and stakeholder collaboration. 

• Contributes to a strong organizational culture by advising other departments and teams on engagement planning in their respective projects and activities.

Job Requirements:

Education and Experience

• A degree in a related discipline (e.g., social sciences including psychology, communications, political science, sociology, gender and/or women’s studies; community development, international relations) or equivalent.
• Experience with/passion for human rights, equality and justice (for example, through paid/volunteer work or education).
• Experience working in the Lower Mainland, B.C. 
• A combined minimum of three years’ recent* and direct experience, including:
  • Effective stakeholder management including responding to queries, relationship-building, correspondence, tactful and diplomatic communication.
  • Planning, coordinating and delivering engagement, communications, public relations, and/or education events for large and small groups, including logistics and administrative elements of politically, culturally and or emotionally sensitive programming in different venues (digital and in-person).
  • Experience facilitating sessions with complex content and/or difficult issues to a variety of audiences from community, the non-profit, public, private and Indigenous sectors using trauma informed and decolonizing approaches.
• An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
• Successful completion of security screening requirements of the BC Public Service, which may include a criminal records check, and/or Criminal Records Review Act (CRRA) check, and/or enhanced security screening checks as required.

*Recent experience is considered within the last five years in order to be current and fluent with existing and emerging approaches, theories and trends particularly in decolonizing methodology.  

Willingness Statement: Frequent Travel May Be Required.

Preference may be given to applicants with the following:

• Applicants who are Indigenous, Black or racialized, people with diverse gender identities or expressions, sexual orientation, and/or people with disabilities. 
• Experience working in or engaging with the private sector; B.C. government ministries; employer, service and tenancy organizations (duty bearers).
• Experience building relationships and/or collaborating on information initiatives with Indigenous groups or communities.
• External partner and collaborator record management and data entry using stakeholder/relationship management software.
• Working in a dynamic, interdisciplinary environment with shifting priorities and tight deadlines.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Knowledge of or interest in rights-based approaches that centre intersectionality and decolonization.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office or related software including Microsoft Teams in planning projects, communicating and record-keeping as well as with customer relations management software (or willingness to learn).
• Strong organizational (time management), analytical, detail-oriented and problem-solving skills in terms of event and stakeholder management.
• Some knowledge of the provincial economic, social, cultural and political context, including relevant and current issues, legislation, research and initiatives. 
• Ability to exercise a high degree of confidentiality, discernment, tact and diplomacy in dealing with issues that could have a significant impact on the image and credibility of the Office.
• Experience with interpersonal emotion regulation and management as well as trauma and conflict management in group situations informed by trauma-sensitive practices.

Indigenous Relations Behavioural Competencies

• Cultural Agility is the ability to work respectfully, knowledgeably and effectively with  Indigenous people. It is noticing and readily adapting to cultural uniqueness in order to create a sense of safety for all. It is openness to unfamiliar experiences, transforming feelings of nervousness or anxiety into curiosity and appreciation. It is examining one's own culture and worldview and the culture of the BC Public Service, and to notice their commonalities and distinctions with Indigenous cultures and worldviews. It is recognition of the ways that personal and professional values may conflict or align with those of Indigenous people. It is the capacity to relate to or allow for differing cultural perspectives and being willing to experience a personal shift in perspective. 
• Empathy is the ability to recognize, understand and directly experience the emotion of another. It involves listening with heart, accepting their message, and staying focused on their experience rather than reacting. It means understanding that the behaviour may be connected to something outside of the immediate situation.
• Sustained Learning and Development means continually increasing your ability to build and maintain respectful and effective relationships with Indigenous people. Central to this competency is appreciating that there are many other cultural understandings of knowledge and ways of working that have legitimacy and deserve respect – and therefore require our continual learning and development, including direct exposure to cultural and community ways.
• Process orientation places a priority on how things are done. It is a willingness to remain open and follow in new directions. It means setting aside mainstream ways of achieving results and instead following culturally respectful processes that also produce results. It is letting go of agendas or the need to control and trusting that the appropriate outcome will emerge from a good journey together. It means accepting that both the use of process orientation and a good relationship are concrete results.

Behavioural Competencies

• Listening, Understanding and Responding is the desire and ability to understand and respond effectively to other people from diverse backgrounds. It includes the ability to understand accurately and respond effectively to both spoken and unspoken or partly expressed thoughts, feelings and concerns of others. People who demonstrate high levels of this competency show a deep and complex understanding of others, including cross-cultural sensitivity. 
  
• Communicating effectively involves good presentation skills (verbal and written), careful listening, problem framing and use of presentation technologies.
• Building Partnerships with Stakeholders is the ability to build long-term or on-going relationships with stakeholders (e.g. someone who shares an interest in what you are doing). This type of relationship is often quite deliberate and is typically focused on the way the relationship is conducted. Implicit in this competency is demonstrating a respect for and stating positive expectations of the stakeholder. 
• Empowerment is the ability to share responsibility with individuals and groups so that they have a deep sense of commitment and ownership. People who practice empowerment participate and contribute at high levels, are creative and innovative, take sound risks, are willing to be held accountable and demonstrate leadership. They also foster teamwork among employees, across government and with colleagues, and, as appropriate, facilitate the effective use of teams. 
• Planning, Organizing and Co-ordinating involves proactively planning, establishing priorities and allocating resources. It is expressed by developing and implementing increasingly complex plans. It also involves monitoring and adjusting work to accomplish goals and deliver to the organization's mandate.
  
• Analytical Thinking is the ability to comprehend a situation by breaking it down into its components and identifying key or underlying complex issues. It implies the ability to systematically organize and compare the various aspects of a problem or situation and determine cause-and-effect relationships ("if...then…") to resolve problems in a sound,  decisive manner. Checks to ensure the validity or accuracy of all information.
• Flexibility is the ability and willingness to adapt to and work effectively within a variety of diverse situations, and with diverse individuals or groups. Flexibility entails understanding and appreciating different and opposing perspectives on an issue, adapting one's approach as situations change and accepting changes within one's own job or organization.
• Initiative involves identifying a problem, obstacle or opportunity and taking appropriate action to address current or future problems or opportunities. As such, initiative can be seen in the context of proactively doing things and not simply thinking about future actions.  Formal strategic planning is not included in this competency.
• Self-Control is the ability to keep one's emotions under control and restrain negative actions when provoked, faced with opposition or hostility from others, or when working under stress. It also includes the ability to maintain stamina under continuing stress. 
• Seeking and using feedback involves knowledge and skills of seeking and using feedback from other to improve one’s performance and authenticity. This requires active listening and modeling personal change in order to foster trust in the whole organization. 
• Organizational Commitment is the ability and willingness to align one's own behaviour with the needs, priorities and goals of the organization, and to promote organizational goals to meet organizational needs. It also includes acting in accordance with organizational decisions and behaving with integrity.  
• Teamwork and Co-operation is the ability to work co-operatively within diverse teams,  work groups and across the organization to achieve group and organizational goals. It includes the desire and ability to understand and respond effectively to other people from diverse backgrounds with diverse views. 

For more information on competencies, see:

• Competencies in the BC Public Service
• BC Public Service competencies list
• Indigenous relations behavioural competencies

Additional Information

• This posting is for one (1) temporary, full-time position. 
• This position is for a 12-month parental leave coverage, with the possibility of an extension.
• This competition is open to applicants with experience working in the Lower Mainland, B.C. The successful candidate may be required to occasionally travel within the province.  
• The successful candidate must be able to function effectively and with flexibility in a dynamic environment with shifting priorities and tight deadlines.
• This position is excluded from union membership.
• An eligibility list may be established to fill future temporary and permanent vacancies. 

Equity and Diversity

We are striving to build a diverse team that has lived experience with human rights. To complement the diversity of the BCOHRC team, preference may be given to applicants who are Indigenous, Black or People of Colour, people with diverse gender identities or expressions, sexual orientations, and/or people with disabilities.

It will greatly assist us with screening if you refer in your application to these stated preferences. Recognizing the impacts of discrimination, we ask for a brief statement only, to the degree you feel comfortable sharing. One of our guiding principles is to operate in a trauma-informed manner and thus, it is your choice whether to volunteer information. We will hold your application in strictest confidence, sharing it only with the hiring panel.

Indigenous identity statement: In responding to the impacts of colonization in Canada, First Nations, Inuit and/or Métis people are encouraged to apply.  

Conflict of Interest

BC’s Human Rights Commissioner is an independent officer of the Legislature. This independence lends credibility to our work, gives us the widest scope possible to make effective change, and ensures that the perspectives of a broad range of marginalized people are a meaningful part of our processes and are amplified to decision makers and duty bearers through our work. Avoiding real, perceived and potential conflicts is necessary for maintaining BCOHRC's reputation for independence. This could mean that successful candidates may be requested to step down from governance or leadership positions such as boards or engagement in other activities that could result in an actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest.

Application Tips

• Initial screening will be based on the education and experience qualifications specified in the job profile. 
• This position is for a 12-month parental leave coverage, with the possibility of an extension.
• This competition is open to applicants with experience working in the Lower Mainland, B.C. The successful candidate may be required to occasionally travel within the province.  
• The successful candidate must be able to function effectively and with flexibility in a dynamic environment with shifting priorities and tight deadlines.
• This position is excluded from union membership.
• An eligibility list may be established to fill future temporary and permanent vacancies. 

Next Steps

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to the next stage of the hiring process, which may include the following: 

• • Screening Interview and/or written assignment
  • Interview

The hiring process may take up to 2 months to complete after the posting's closing date. Our hiring team will inform all candidates of the status of your application regardless of the outcome.