This content was created by Xtra’s branded content team alongside TD, separate from Xtra’s editorial staff.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on many people in varying degrees and, for LGBTQ2S+ communities, it exacerbated already existing issues. As a longstanding supporter of diversity and inclusion, TD launched the Forever Proud Silver Round: a collection piece available on its website. With 100% of the proceeds going to Rainbow Railroad, a Canadian charitable organization that helps people facing persecution based on their gender and sexual orientation with emergency relocation, this round speaks to foundational beliefs that have been growing at TD for 25 years.
Back in 1994, TD became the first financial institution in Canada to provide its employees with benefits for same-sex spouses, an important step towards inclusivity that would help to define its policies both within the organization and its approach to the LGBTQ2S+ communities it serves. In the years since, TD has formed relationships with LGBTQS2+ communities across the country, including Montreal’s Fondation Émergence, a non-profit organization which fights against homophobia and transphobia which most recently helped combat isolation within elderly communities during the pandemic. TD is also presenting the third annual TD Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award through the Calgary Chamber of Commerce to recognize local small businesses that are leaders in diversity and inclusion.
The TD path towards inclusion hasn’t always been without its bumps in the road, though. When TD first sponsored Toronto Pride in 2005, the bank saw many customers choose to bank elsewhere, though these losses did not alter its course one bit. According to Al Ramsay, the Associate Vice President, LGBTQ2+ and Black Customer Segment at TD, inclusion was the only way forward. They stood firm in their values, but were disheartened to see that so many customers were upset by their support for the LGBTQ2+ community. Nonetheless, TD was very clear on where they stood when it comes to inclusion.
TD now supports over 100 Pride festivals and more than 150 LGBTQ2+ initiatives and grassroots programs across North America. Ramsay, who also sits on the board of Rainbow Railroad, says creating the Forever Proud Silver Round with proceeds benefiting the organization was a no-brainer: “We were very adamant that all net proceeds from [the Round] should go to a non-profit. [We chose Rainbow Railroad because of the great work that they do and because, we believe, it serves the greatest need helping to save lives within the LGBTQ2+ community.]” From the time it was founded in 2006, Rainbow Railroad has helped over 1,600 people to live without the fear of persecution, and for Ramsay and his colleagues, that is something more than worth fighting for.
Though TD has made great strides in supporting these communities in the last two-and-a-half decades, there’s still plenty of work to be done on the long road to inclusion. “We see this as a never-ending journey about how we look at diversity and inclusion […] Our work will never be done until […] everybody and every group within the LGBTQ2S+ family have the same freedoms everyone else has,” says Ramsay.
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