Questions are being developed by humans. We have to vet those questions. We have to ask, “Are there inherent biases in the way we're asking the question, or the words we're using as part of the question? Is that the understanding that we're trying to get at?” We need to talk to IRCC staff who are racialized, or communities through focus groups, and say, “This is our intent. Is that what the question is asking?” I think we need to look at that. Maybe there are certain words within that context that have inherent biases that are not necessarily picked up by us, because there's some privilege where we're standing, as opposed to someone who is receiving that question and not understanding it in the same way we do.
I'll give you an example. When we say to our clients, “We're doing an intake with you”, some of our clients will look at us and say, “Are you going to make me eat something—like, ingest something?” I have to say, “No, no, it's a process of filling out an application form so that you understand that we collect data.” Sometimes language doesn't translate in other cultures in the same way that it would translate for us, such as our understanding of where we're at within that system or within the sector, for example. It's a simple example but a really clear one of how language fails to translate effectively into different languages.
