Anti-Racism – A cross-institutional initiative at Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Task Force on Anti-Racism Final Report and Recommendations

The Task Force on Anti-Racism is pleased to share its Final Report and Recommendations.

See the press release about the launch of the report here.

Watch the video of the launch event here.

Difficult Conversations: The First Step to Tough Changes in Systemic Racism

By Hayley Montes

In order to properly combat racism, we must first understand and recognize the racist tendencies and beliefs that are often hidden within plain sight and embedded within the foundations of our society. Racism is more than just having prejudices against skin colour and hair type; in fact, racism runs so much deeper than what meets the eyes, and it is systemic. The system, including that in Canada and the United States, was created to benefit certain groups. The fight against racism is not only about checking stereotypes and ending bigoted comments, but also about dismantling a system that was created to oppress and marginalize people.

The system that society functions on capitalizes on the notion that someone must always receive the shorter end of the stick and that someone must always end up at the bottom of the food chain. The term “dog eat dog” world had to have come from somewhere, right? One such example of this issue presented is in the article The Italian American Table, where Simone Cinotto notes how upon their arrival to the New York area, Italian immigrants were viewed as lower class and were often criticized for their cultural practices, mainly to do with their diets. However, when Puerto Rican immigrants began to relocate in the New York area, those same Italian immigrants began to “criticize behaviours for which they had been criticized only a few years earlier” (pg. 84, Cinotto). This example displays the flaw in categorizing human beings into distinct boundaries, as these perceptions are arbitrary and subject to change. Placing humans into different categories only creates a divide among them. No one wants to be left behind or be placed at the bottom; in turn, this results in a snowballing effect of racism and discrimination.

All things considered, racism is a difficult topic to navigate. It is one of those topics that people avoid because it can be uncomfortable, but the truth is, we need to have these uncomfortable conversations in order to move forward and be better than those in the past. While racism and discrimination may not be as blatantly in our face in Canada in comparison to some other places in the world, it is still an issue present right here, right now. In fact, the reason why I refuse to turn a blind eye to this difficult topic, or shy away from having difficult conversations, is because I have experienced and witnessed racism and discrimination firsthand, and so have many of my loved ones. It is not enough to be silent and wait for things to get better. In order to combat racism, we must understand and recognize that racism is not an issue of the past. It is present, and unless we continue to have difficult conversations, it will continue to be an issue in the future.

Works Cited

Cinotto, S. (2013). “The Italian American Table: Food, Family, and Community in New York City.” Retrieved from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt3fh46s

Hayley Montes is a fourth year KPU student majoring in anthropology. In her spare time, she enjoys drawing, baking all sorts of pastries, and reading tarot cards for fun. She is also an avid Canucks fan and hopes to one day become an elementary school teacher. She believes that educating young minds will help aid in creating a better world for all.

BC Government Announces Black Excellence Day

Premier John Horgan, Rachna Singh, Parliamentary Secretary for Anti-Racism Initiatives, and Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Education, have released the following statement in celebration of Black Excellence Day.

KPU Signs the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion in Canadian Higher Education

KPU’s Task Force on Anti-racism is excited to announce that Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) is one of 40 institutions that have signed the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion in Canadian Higher Education, a national plan of action to fight structural racism. The signing ceremony took place on November 18, 2021.

The charter flows from a year-long collaborative process started during the first National Dialogues and Action for Inclusive Higher Education and Communities in October 2020, a two-day national forum focused on anti-Black racism and Black inclusion in Canadian higher education. KPU President and Vice Chancellor Dr. Alan Davis signed the charter for KPU.

At KPU,

We are committed to continue to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives and address all forms of systemic racism on our campuses and in our communities;
We commend the members of the Inter-Institutional Advisory Committee for its dedication and commitment to addressing anti-Black racism and effecting positive change in the higher education sector; and
We believe the Scarborough Charter is a useful resource and tool for our university as we work to advance a more diverse and equitable sector.

Scarborough-Charter-ENG-final Download

La-Charte-de-Scarborough-FR-Download

KPU News Release: KPU signs Scarborough Charter to fight structural racism

University of Toronto Scarborough Charter information site

Faculty of Academic and Career Preparation (ACP) Release Letter of Support for Taskforce on Anti-Racism

FACULTY OF ACADEMIC & CAREER PREPARATION ANTI-RACISM STATEMENT
The Faculty of Academic and Career Preparation (ACP) at KPU fully supports the mandate of the KPU Taskforce on Anti-Racism (TFA).
The Faculty of ACP affirms its commitment to recognizing and addressing all forms of racism and ethnic oppression. The Faculty of ACP faculty, staff and administrators are united in the pursuit to end racial and ethnic bias and to empower our students towards this collective goal.
The Faculty of ACP is also committed to creating an environment that respects the dignity and civil rights of all persons, particularly those from groups that have experienced discrimination and persecution, for it
recognizes that intolerance and prejudice decrease the possibility of reaching one’s full potential.
We acknowledge that regardless of one’s own race or ethnicity, individuals are at various points along an anti- racist journey. We also understand that bias can be unconscious or unintentional and that racism is the combination of social and institutional power plus racial prejudice. Identifying these two specific forms of oppression and disparate outcomes does not automatically mean that those involved intend negative impact; therefore, conversations about them require courage, respect and compassion, and may not always be or seek to be comfortable.
We acknowledge the historical legacy of exclusion and marginalization in higher education, which has led to a social system in which white people enjoy structural privilege over other ethnic groups, on both a collective and an individual level. We affirm our responsibility to continuously learn about and disrupt systems of privilege, inequality, and oppression, and to reform our programs, policies, pedagogy, and practices in accordance with this responsibility.
WE STAND COMMITTED:
1. To affirm explicitly and in united solidarity our identity as an anti-racist academic unit.
2. To explore and examine implicit bias and systemic advantage/oppression both at the individual level and institutionally, such that our anti-racism commitment be reflected in the life and culture of The Faculty of ACP through our policies, programs, and practices as we continue to learn about racism and ethnic oppression.
3. To develop and implement strategies and best-practices that dismantle racism and ethnic oppression within
all aspects of our faculty, university, community and society.
4. To help the KPU community identify and challenge discrimination and marginalization of any sort. Institutional policies and practices deserve particular scrutiny, including but not limited to the recruitment and retention of students; the recruitment, hiring, retention, and professional development of a faculty and staff; curriculum and pedagogy; health and other student support services; and overall campus climate.
5. To identify, discuss and challenge issues of race, color, ethnicity and the impact(s) they have on students, faculty, and staff members.

6. To create a community where every member is respected, and can speak, work, teach, and learn free from intolerance or harassment.
7. To educate ourselves on the issues of linguistic discrimination and micro-aggressions and to work to eradicate them from our own classrooms.
Adapted from:
The School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. (n.d.). Anti-Racism Statement. Retrieved May 28, 2021, from https://socialwork.uncc.edu/about-us/anti-racism-statement
Reed College. (2009, November 28). Reed College Diversity Statement and Reed College Anti-Racism Statement. Reed College Office for Institutional Diversity. https://www.reed.edu/institutional_diversity/diversity-statement.html

Criminology Faculty Commit to Reconciliation

Signatories of the letters below respond to the unmarked graves located at residential schools, commit to individual and collective action, and call upon the Members of the Surrey City Council to revisit and reconsider the January 2021 decision to reject a motion to begin meetings with an Indigenous land acknowledgement.

Statement_215-and-our-Response_June-10 Download

Reconciliation-and-Land-Acknowledgement_Letter-to-City-of-Surrey_June-18 Download

KSA Provides Letter of Support to Anti-Racism Task Force

To the Task Force on Antiracism,
I am writing to express the support of the Kwantlen Student Association for the work of the KPU Task Force on Antiracism (TFA). KPU has one of the most racially diverse student bodies in BC, and race and racism continue to be an important daily issue on our campuses and in our communities.
This work is especially timely as the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts have highlighted structural racism within our society. Poorer, minority communities have frequently been harder hit, and many workers who are forced by circumstance or economics in to more dangerous work are people of colour. Other universities have relied on third-party exam proctoring software which, in addition to invading privacy, does not reliably recognize students of colour, and either flags them for cheating or locks them out of exams. Before and during the pandemic, there has been a growing examination of the roles of socially powerful institutions in enacting and justifying systemic racism in our society. While issues like these start off campus, their impacts to the teaching and learning environment are huge.
The KSA commits to working with the TFA to help KPU take tangible and bold steps to fight racism on campus and in society.
Sincerely,
Jaya Dhillon
Vice President, University Affairs

Flags lowered to honour children of Kamloops Indian Residential School tragedy

KPU President Alan Davis released the following statement:

Colleagues,
Like you, I have been deeply saddened and appalled by the discovery of the remains of 215 children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. We stand together with Indigenous community members at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and beyond as we hear of the awful news out of Kamloops.
At Kwantlen Polytechnic University, we work, study, and live in a region south of the Fraser River which overlaps with the traditional and ancestral lands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and SENĆOŦEN speaking peoples, including the Kwantlen who graciously bestowed their name on this university.
We offer our sympathy and solidarity to the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, to all those who survived residential schools and to all the Indigenous peoples of Canada.
Today, we have lowered the flags at all our campuses until further notice in honour of every child found buried at Kamloops Indian Residential School. Further, we invite you all to join our colleagues in Teaching and Learning who will be holding a 2 minute 15 second period of silence at 2:15 p.m. today.
On the eve of National Aboriginal History Month, it is important for those of us who are settlers on this land to do more than simply acknowledge the profound loss of life. Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani, Associate Vice President, Teaching and Learning, has recommended reading the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, if you haven’t already, as well as BCcampus’ Pulling Together Guides for Indigenization of Post-Secondary Institutions for instructors, front line staff, or administrators.
Our Indigenous Advisory Committee is meeting tomorrow and we will keep you appraised of any further initiatives arising out of that discussion.
We recognize that the news coming out of Kamloops will be devastating for many and there are resources and supports available to you, including:

Indian Residential School Crisis Line (24/7 telephone support) emotional & crisis supports for former Residential School students 1-866-925-4419
KUU-US Crisis Services (24/7 support) 1-800-KUU-US17 (1-800-588-8717) 1-833-MÉTIS-BC (1-833-638-4722) Adult/Elder: 1-250-723-4050
Hope for Wellness (24/7 telephone and online) Mental health counselling and crisis intervention for Indigenous peoples 1-855-242-3310 Online chat:http://hopeforwellness.ca
Kids Help Phone (24/7 telephone and text support) Professional counselling, information and referrals for youth 1-800-668-6868 or Text “First Nations” “Metis” or “Inuit” to: 686868
Fraser Health Crisis Line (24/7 telephone support) Crisis intervention counselling, emotional support and information on local services 1-877-820-7444 or 604-951-8855
Foundry Health and wellness supports, services and resources for youth aged 12 to 24 In-person: https://foundrybc.ca/get-support/find-a-centre/

Sincerely,
Alan Davis, PhD
President and Vice Chancellor

BCGEU Writes letter of Support for TFA

On behalf of members of the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) working at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU), I am writing in support of the university’s commitment to addressing racialized discrimination in our workplace and, to that end, establishing its Task Force on Anti-Racism (TFA).
BCGEU members have stood up against racism and hate time and time again. We’ve marched in the streets, passed resolutions at our conventions to support a more equitable and inclusive world, taken political stands in support of Indigenous solidarity on several campaigns including Site C and Wet’suwet’en, created equity-deserving groups, and even helped end Thomson Reuters’ contracts with the US’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through our union’s shareholder advocacy program.
At KPU in particular, BCGEU members are active in the newly created Employment Equity Committee that has been struck to help recommend initiatives targeting groups outlined in Canada’s Employment Equity Act.
In short, we’re committed to working to fight racism in our workplace.
The BCGEU looks forward to learning more about the TFA’s work and working directly and collaboratively with the TFA in our shared commitment to fight racism: learning about and addressing the barriers that Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) employees face at KPU, implementing policy changes and employment practices that are centred on anti-racism, and improving language in our collective agreement that reflects what we learn as a result of our

efforts, and both acknowledging and building on the efforts of staff who have worked for decades already to address racism at KPU.
Sincerely,
Trina Whitsitt
Bargaining Unit Chairperson Kwantlen Polytechnic University