WLU report calls for action to address racism on campus

A Wilfrid Laurier University report is pulling back the curtains on racism at Canadian university campuses — drawing applause from students in the process.

The e(RACE)r Post-Summit Report, released by Laurier’s Diversity and Equity Office and the Office of Aboriginal Initiatives, comes with five calls-to-action for Canadian university administrators.

It comes after a year of discussions following the e(RACE)r Summit on Race and Racism on Canadian University Campuses, held at Laurier last March.

“I’m hoping that positive changes will come about within the next year or two,” says Natalie Guimault, a masters of social work student at Laurier. “Especially as a visible minority, I can attest that there are some very real issues with racism here on campus.”

Guimault: “I have personally experienced quite a few of what we would call microaggresions — not really direct instances of racism, but little things … I’ve experienced microaggressions in the classroom, just generally feeling silenced when I talk about issues that affect my own community, and just not really having a space or a platform to talk about those kind of issues… and I feel like that is racism in itself. Even though it’s not blatant — you know, ‘I hate black people’ — but not giving them that voice or platform to talk about real issues, it’s having similar effects.”

Two of the driving forces behind the report have been Dr. Laura Mae Lindo, director of diversity and equity at WLU, and Jean Becker, senior advisor for aboriginal initiatives at the WLU.

“We connected really soon after [Lindo] started her position,” says Becker, “because we recognize that the Indigenous issues are very similar to other racialized groups on campus, and that up until she began her position, there was very little focus on those issues for other racialized groups.”

“People started to realize that the experience of racialized, Indigenous, and Black students on any campus in the post-secondary sector was a little bit too eerily similar,” says Lindo. “So now it’s time for us to get to work and figure out how we’re going to make a change.”

The summit brought together over 150 delegates from 19 post-secondary institutions.

“It’s a long time coming,” says Francis Asheri, a business administration and professional communications student at the University of Waterloo and WLU. “And the report is wonderful, but I’ve seen the dark side of racism, and it’s not going to be easy or fun. It won’t be fun.”

“If we don’t talk about the issues around racism, it will just keep happening the way it always has,” says Becker.