Windsor's public institutions are missing 'crucial voices.' An expert panel will be exploring the issue

The University of Windsor is hosting a panel Friday night on how public institutions can better reflect the region's diversity including through their governance.

"We've known for a long time that public institutional leadership in Windsor is not representative of marginalized identities," said Natalie Delia Deckard, a criminology professor whois part of the panel. "It's a problem when the police services board came out. This was a call to action to organize a broader panel, as for what this means for us as a region."

Last month, city council voted to appointSophia Chisholm, a credit unionexecutive who is white, to theboard of directors for the Windsor Police Service. The move attracted the criticism that anopportunity add diversity to the all-white board had been missed.

LISTEN: Natalie Delia Deckard and Jane Ku join Windsor Morning

The panel's moderatorJane Ku, a professor of women's/gender studies and sociology, said that Windsor is a diverse city and needs to show that within its public governance.

"We're talking about institutions that govern the city, the region. We're talking about the institutions that are supposed to be helping and servicing the communities here so we can live better lives," Ku said.

"We're not focusing on just one issue. This is the catalyst for talking about these issues," Ku said. "We're much more interested in the broader sense of things. We are talking about what we can do as a university and public institution itself. We are living in a community where the university is a big part of the region. So what can we do as an institution? What kind of teachings can we have?"

The panel is called Crucial Voices: The Importance of Representation in Public Institutional Leadership.

The event begins at 7 p.m. Friday at the School of Creative Arts Armouries building, which is on University Avenue East. The event is also going to be livestreamed.

Deckard and Kuwill be joined by colleagues Mita Williams, Emmanuelle Richez, Ronjon Paul Datta and Cheryl Collier on the panel.