Solidarity rally at UW looks to help students ‘reclaim their space’

Students have rallied at the University of Waterloo (UW) in a show of solidarity with each other as Friday marks one month since an on-campus triple stabbing.

The Student Solidarity Festival was billed as a celebration of ‘unity, friendship, and good vibes’ as students look to reclaim their space, and to shift the narrative surrounding it.

“[We’re] trying to reclaim both the narrative and the space, making the University of Waterloo a safe community for everybody–especially the people who were the target of this attack,” said Shady Roufail, a UW student and member of the English class organizing Thursday’s event.

The ‘festival’ comes just a day before the one-month anniversary of an attack at the school’s Hagey Hall in which two students and a teacher were stabbed by an alleged attacker police say was motivated by hate.

Speaking on The Mike Farwell Show Thursday morning, Roufail said his English class that organized the rally has been focused largely on rhetoric and how it can be used to change peoples’ minds for the better, but also to manipulate for hate.

“It’s a class regarding activism and we just figured, what a better time to put what we’re learning into action than after such a horrific and hate-motivated attack,” he said.

Roufail also went on to say it’s that hatred that tends to dominate discussions in the wake of an attack like the one on campus last month and so this event was also about trying to shift the narrative back in the other direction.

“We can express, through all of us being there, a sense of solidarity amongst ourselves,” he said. “By visualizing how many people are willing to show up for support… we can reclaim our space.”