Mosaic Transit Group

Mosaic is responsible for leading and delivering the community benefits program during the construction of the Finch West LRT line in northwest Toronto. The program delivers a full range of jobs, employment supports, outreach and community engagement activities and actively seeks ways to maximize its procurement spend in the community it serves.

“MTC reviews hiring policies, practices, and procedures on regular basis to ensure we continue to be inclusive in our hiring practices and work culture. For example, when online interviews became more prominent during the COVID-19 pandemic, all candidates who required support or accommodation were provided with alternative methods for interviewing, safely and quickly. 

• Using our website, newspapers, community partners and notice boards, along with online tools to spread information regarding open positions. 
• Ensuring job requirements, descriptions and job ads are inclusive. 
• We work with agencies and community partners to help identify candidates from underrepresented areas of the community.
•  We do not proceed to “Offer” stages unless the candidate pool is inclusive and diverse.
• Our job fairs are regularly attended by the community we work in, which is composed of a variety of different races and backgrounds

Mosaic implemented a Diversity & Inclusion policy committing the organization to: 

• Actively identify and challenge individual or systemic acts of any form of discrimination and promote diversity & inclusion in the workplace.
• Equip management and employees with the knowledge and skills to recognize and challenge discrimination in our workplace. 
• Ensure that any employee’s, or stakeholder’s report of discriminatory treatment will be investigated and the employee or stakeholder will be protected against reprisals.

We constantly review our processes, procedures and activities across all departments to make sure we are achieving our objectives and make amendments as required to ensure continuous improvement based on feedback, ideas and suggestions from employees 

We continually monitor and assess Mosaic Transit Group policies, practices, and procedures on a regular basis to ensure they reflect the organization’s commitment to Diversity & Inclusion. 

Employee performance reviews include a “Being an Effective Team Member” as a Key Performance Indicator to support creating and maintaining a respectful workplace. Employees are asked how they contribute to positive change in the workplace and integrate these new ways of working into their assigned duties. 

Leadership is very clear that employees at all levels are responsible for creating and maintaining an inclusive work environment. The inquiries are parts of weekly team meetings and annual employee reviews.

Mosaic has allocated more than $14 million on a wide variety of procurement activities within the Finch West area, which strengthen Diversity & Inclusion at Mosaic and throughout the community. This past quarter included more than $1.2 million paid to local shops, contractors, and vendors in the area. 

“Mosaic prides itself to procure local services from small businesses. They are typically operated by the minority community or new Canadian citizens who are trying to build businesses locally through hard work and determination.

Everything from sprinkler installation companies, concrete contractors, signage designers and printers, publishers, and graphic designers, as well as excavators, are just some of the local businesses that Mosaic is happy to support and do business with.

Examples include hiring Michael Fayehun a local videographer/photographer from F10 Studio to film, photograph and edit content for the Finch West LRT’s construction. Our team also supports another locally owned business for our video and printing production purposes as well, Clover Printing. We forged a strong business friendship with the shop’s owner, Taik Jun Kim. He recently informed us that without our consistent use of their services and informed Mosaic that we were the reason they were able to stay in operation during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Mosaic also proudly supports local minority clothing operators and designers, including Michael Jazz. We partnered with his clothing line to procure and produce more than 800 hats and toques for Mosaic employees. Any time Mosaic has an event that involves food, we always secure a local vendor from the Finch West community! We are proud to shop and buy local and support the people in the area which we serve. Our events almost always include our local Imperial Coffee Service vendor, who is located just a few blocks away!

Our support and partnership choices always incorporate whether the business is locally owned and operated, supports Diversity & Inclusion policies, including hiring, and environmental consciousness. Therefore, we opted to work with Warren’s Waterless Printing, who checks all three boxes, and advocates and implements environmentally friendly printing practices. 

Mosaic also has a great professional relationship with the Downsview Advocate, a community newspaper that seeks to develop the civic fabric of the neighborhoods by fostering community dialogue and promoting civic participation. We regularly advertise in the paper, be it construction progress, community updates or job postings. This is another example of Mosaic’s strong support for Diversity & Inclusion initiatives throughout the community.

We offer apprenticeships, assistance with resume writing, attend job fairs and reach out to schools in the community to hold seminars to promote a career in the skilled trades. We also actively contribute to the community through community clean up days, planting trees, donating to local food banks and provide meals to youth in challenging circumstances, including this past December, when we donated a holiday meal to a homeless youth shelter in the Finch West community.”