Equal treatment that brings about an equality of results and that may, in  some instances, require different treatment. Sometimes equality means   treating people the same, despite their differences, and sometimes it means treating them as equals by accommodating their differences. Formerly, it was  thought that equality only meant sameness and that treating persons as equals meant treating everyone the same. We now know that to treat everyone the same may operate counter to equality. Ignoring differences  may mean ignoring legitimate needs. 

From TMU Dimensions Action Plan

 Equity is a foundational value that underwrites the institutional actions to  ensure the fair treatment of all members of the university community. As a  principle, condition, process and outcome, equity is rooted in human rights  and the inviolability of human dignity. It is integral to the legal principle of justice and the ethical principle and practice of fairness. As a practice, it  requires identifying patterns of inequities and making changes to systems, cultures and processes that obstruct members of the university community from achieving their full potential. It underwrites proactive efforts to cultivate a research, teaching, learning and working environment in which people of diverse identities, backgrounds, knowledge systems and ways of knowing can flourish. As a remedy based on human and legal rights, equity enables proactive measures and reasonable accommodation necessary to: identify structural, systemic and cultural barriers; ameliorate discrimination, unfairness and disadvantage; and ensure equitable pathways and  opportunity structures for women, Indigenous peoples, visible/racialized minorities, persons with disabilities and LGBTQ2S+ in all spheres of academic  life.  We value the fair and just treatment of all community members through the creation of opportunities and the removal of barriers to address historic and  current disadvantages for under-represented and marginalized groups.  

Source: Recruiting & Hiring Diverse Faculty Guidelines

From:  TMU Dimensions Action Plan

This refers to access and opportunity unrelated to ability that require  proactive ameliorative measures. They are identified in the federal  Employment Equity Act as Federally Designated Groups (FDGs). A concept  that is used interchangeably with

“federally designated groups” and “equity  groups,” EDGs have come to replace “equity-seeking groups” by placing an  emphasis on equity as deserved. EDGs include, but are not limited to:  women, visible/ racialized minorities, Indigenous peoples, persons with  disabilities and LGBTQ2S+ persons who are recognized as groups of people  marginalized or constrained by existing systems, structures, policies, processes and practices, and who are made to feel they do not belong or do ot deserve equity as a right. They should not bear the undue burden of “seeking equity” and they should not be made to feel that they experience it  as a privilege from the generosity of those who have the power to recognize  it and hence the power to deny it (equity-denied groups).  

Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) tracks the representation,  recruitment and retention of the following six equity-deserving groups:  women; racialized people; Black people; First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples; persons with disabilities and 2SLGBTQ+ people. These are groups that have been historically and persistently under-represented, disadvantaged and discriminated against in education and work  environments in specific types of fields or occupations. 

Source: Diversity Self-ID

From: TMU Dimensions Action Plan