Municipal Diversity Assessment Tool
Welcome to the Municipal Diversity Assessment Tool
The Municipal Diversity Assessment Tool is an adaptation of the proven Diversity Assessment Tool, originally created to support small and medium-sized enterprises, tailored to the context and needs of municipalities and their departments. It is a free-to-use digital tool developed by the Diversity Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University to assess the equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policies and practices of your municipality and help you develop a customized strategy. It is an easy-to-use tool that not only provides recommendations for next steps based on where your municipality is in the EDI journey, but also provides examples of best practices across Canada to help you move forward.
Just complete the questions, and you will receive a customized report by email.
Welcome to the Municipal Diversity Assessment Tool
The Municipal Diversity Assessment Tool is an adaptation of the proven Diversity Assessment Tool, originally created to support small and medium-sized enterprises, tailored to the context and needs of municipalities and their departments. It is a free-to-use digital tool developed by the Diversity Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University to assess the equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policies and practices of your municipality and help you develop a customized strategy. It is an easy-to-use tool that not only provides recommendations for next steps based on where your municipality is in the EDI journey, but also provides examples of best practices across Canada to help you move forward.
Just complete the questions, and you will receive a customized report by email.
What Is Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)?
- Equity means that all people are treated fairly and respectfully. In Canada, the focus of employment equity is designated groups: women, Indigenous Peoples, racialized people and persons with disabilities.
- Diversity reflects differences in characteristics, experiences and perspectives of individuals in a group; this may include race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic class and more.
- Inclusion refers to a welcoming and respectful environment for all people.
Importance of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- An EDIR lens is critical at the municipal level. Local governments are major employers and play a critical role in reflecting and shaping the communities they serve.
- Municipalities are responsible for policies, processes, programs, and community engagement that can profoundly affect the daily lives of residents. Inclusive municipalities stand to gain as a collective and may enjoy potential economic and social benefits, as well as improved trust, loyalty and respect.
80%
Immigrants account for 80% of Canada’s population growth.
30%
By 2036, nearly 30% of Canada’s working age population will be immigrants.
40%
By 2036, nearly 40% of immigrants will belong to a racialized group.
Indigenous youth are the fastest-growing segment of the population.
Women account for the majority of decision-makers for purchasing and almost one-half of the workforce.
The proportion of persons with disabilities is growing with the aging population and evolving definitions.
How Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Benefit Municipalities
An EDIR lens is critical at the municipal level. Local governments are major employers and play a critical role in reflecting and shaping the communities they serve.
Municipalities are responsible for policies, processes, programs, and community engagement that can profoundly affect the daily lives of residents. Inclusive municipalities stand to gain as a collective and may enjoy potential economic and social benefits, as well as improved trust, loyalty and respect.
Though there is an appetite for EDI within municipalities, efforts to embed EDI within municipal operations have often been siloed. Research and consultations have revealed a need for accessible, comprehensive tools and resources to support EDIR adoption across municipal practices. To address this need, we have created various comprehensive EDIR resources, including the Diversity Assessment Tool for municipalities, which will provide municipalities with an EDI scorecard for their municipality or department, recommendations for next steps, and best practice examples from other municipalities.
The Diversity Assessment Tool (DAT) was developed by the Diversity Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University (Formerly Ryerson University) with a range of partners, including SFU VentureLabs, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and Chambers of Commerce across the country, sectoral councils and associations such as the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA), the Black Business Professional Association, and Canadian Aboriginal Business Council. It was designed to support organizations, particularly SMEs, to develop their EDI strategies aligned to their business needs. It has been well-tested and used by over 500 organizations to date, and is now being adapted to help support municipalities in their EDI efforts.
Instructions
STEP 1:
Complete the Municipal DAT questionnaire about your municipality’s practices, policies and processes. There are four sections, with about 110 questions in total.
STEP 2:
If needed, consult with your colleagues or your municipality’s policies and procedures documents to confirm your answers. The Municipal DAT will automatically save your progress as you go.
STEP 3:
After completing the Municipal DAT, you will receive a report via email with your EDI assessment, recommendations and examples of best practices to help you build and advance EDI within your municipality.
FAQs
The Municipal DAT is funded by the Future Skills Centre and is available as a free-to-use resource until March 31, 2027.
You can use the Municipal DAT as many times as you like. Many municipalities like to compare how their scores change over time as they improve their EDI strategy by implementing the recommendations in the report.
The Municipal DAT consists of about 110 questions. This should take about 40 minutes to complete, but can take longer depending on the person and situation.
The Municipal DAT asks questions about the municipality’s overall strategy, including policies, recruitment strategies, pay bands and other components. We recommend that the Municipal DAT be completed by someone in the municipality’s senior management or the head of the human resources department.
The Municipal DAT automatically generates the report based on the answers you submit. You should receive the report in your inbox after several minutes. Please check your junk/spam folder if you have not received it. If you still have not received your EDI strategy report, please email our team at datapp@torontomu.ca for assistance.
With your consent, your responses to the survey will be anonymized and analyzed by the Diversity Institute and used to develop additional tools and programs to benefit EDI in Canada. More information on this can be found in the Consent Form.
Developed in Partnership with
Other resources that support municipalities
Municipal Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Reconciliation Sharing Platform
A searchable database of EDIR resources from municipalities across Canada that addresses internal practices, service delivery and community and business partnerships, that can be adaptable for municipalities with diverse EDIR maturity levels.
2025 Report:
Municipal Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Reconciliation Sharing Platform
The report dives deeper into the reasons that led to the development of the Municipal EDIR Sharing Platform, its various stages of development, and evaluates feedback collected from municipalities about its usefulness.
EN 
FR