To begin this project, a quantitative survey of 3,000 Canadians, both English- and French-speaking, from the AskingCanadians panel was created. This allowed us to determine among the working population the proportion who identified as LGBTQ2, and from there which group they specifically identified as belonging to.
A sample of those who identified as LGBTQ2 in the initial survey were then invited to take part in a ten-minute, one-on-one qualitative interview with CRIS by Delvinia – an AI-enabled virtual moderator – to explore their experiences in the workplace.
In the interviews, CRIS asked participants to describe their workplace, and to share whether they had felt any stigma or discrimination based on their LGBTQ2 identity. If they had, they were prompted to describe what they had experienced and share what, if anything, they had done about it.
Often the stigma or discrimination that participants experienced was related to general insensitivity around stereotypes, language and jokes. Some of the stigma or discrimination that participants had experienced was more implied, taking the guise of another issue that they felt impacted their career advancement. Leadership was identified as a key factor in setting the right example in terms of appropriate language and behaviour in the workplace.
For those who hadn’t experienced stigma or discrimination, their reasoning as to why fell primarily into two camps. First, some felt it was because their workplace was truly inclusive. Second, others felt it was only because their LGBTQ2 identity was unknown. Thanks to CRIS and the use of layered questioning such as this, it was possible to uncover the reasons behind participants’ actions and feelings.