is defined as feelings of attraction for the same sex, for the opposite sex or for both sexes, and does not require sexual activity or intimacy.

In generic terms, the failure to speak out or act, thereby causing harm to individuals or groups by maintaining silence or lack of action.  The term may also refer to the omission of minority groups from the media, educational or religious curricular  materials and from cultural and political foci.  The effects of sins of omission may be similar to the actual commission of blatantly hostile acts or even covert racist or sexist acts.

A concept premised upon the belief that each individual and group within society is to be given equal opportunity, fairness, civil liberties and participation in the social, educational, economic, institutional and moral freedoms and responsibilities valued by the society.

An Aboriginal person who is designated an "Indian" by the Indian Act, determining who can or cannot receive various rights or benefits conferred by the Act.

A fixed mental picture or image of a group of people, ascribing the same characteristic(s) to all members of the group, regardless of their individual differences. An over-generalization, in which the information or experience on which the image is based may be true for some of the individual group members, but not for all members.  Stereotyping may be based upon misconceptions, incomplete information and/or false generalizations about race, age, ethnic, linguistic, geographical or natural groups, religions, social, marital or family status, physical, developmental or mental attributes, gender or sexual orientation.

The institutionalization of discrimination through policies and practices which may appear neutral on the surface but which have an exclusionary impact on particular groups, such that various minority groups are discriminated against, intentionally or unintentionally.  This occurs in institutions and organizations where the policies, practices and procedures (e.g. employment systems - job requirements, hiring practices, promotion procedures, etc.) exclude and/or act as barriers to racialized groups. Systemic discrimination also is the result of some government laws and regulations.

Usually meant as a liberal attitude toward those whose race, religion, nationality, etc. is different from oneâ??s own. Since it has the connotation of â??put up withâ??, today the term acceptance is preferred. That is, through anti-racism and equity work we aim to counter intolerance, but to achieve acceptance for all.

(sometimes shortened to trans) people are those whose psychological self ("gender identity") differs from the social expectations for the physical sex they were born with. To understand this, one must understand the difference between biological sex, which is one's body (genitals, chromosomes), and social gender, which refers to levels of masculinity and femininity. Often, society conflates sex and gender, viewing them as the same thing but they are not.

Fear or hatred of transgender people; transphobia is manifested in a number of ways, including violence, harassment and discrimination.

Transsexual refers to a person who experiences a mismatch of the sex they were born as and the sex they identify as. He or she sometimes undergoes medical treatment to change their physical sex to match their sex identity through hormone treatments and/or surgically. Not all transsexuals can have or desire surgery

Term adopted by contemporary North American Aboriginal peoples to refer to those who embody both the male and female spirit. The term is inclusive and can refer to both sexual orientation and/or gender identity or expression. Therefore, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and heterosexual trans-people may all refer to themselves as two-spirited. Terms such as "berdache" have a colonial origin, and "gay" and "lesbian" are, to many, Eurocentric and culturally irrelevant to Aboriginal two-spirited people.

Term used to describe non-dominant groups who are not White. Although it is a legal term widely used in human rights legislation and various policies, currently the terms racialized minority or people of colour are preferred by people labelled by others to be "visible minorities"

An unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers, their cultures and their customs.