Centre for Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion adds to its summer workshop lineup

With the recent news of the 215 children found in a mass grave in Kamloops, B.C., and the Islamophobic hate crime in London, Ont., the mourning, loss and injustice can feel paralyzing.

For those looking to continue their journey to create a more equitable and inclusive York University, the Centre for Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion (REI) is offering a series of new workshops over the summer to enhance knowledge, deepen skills and promote belonging.

These workshops will all count toward the Respect, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (REDI) Certificate of Completion. Workshop topics include:

• Reconnaître et aborder le racisme (en français), 21 Juin, 14h00
  Cet atelier aidera les participants à comprendre comment se manifeste le racisme, et quels sont ses impacts. Les participants découvriront des stratégies visant à éliminer les obstacles aux espaces inclusifs et s’exerceront à interrompre les commentaires racistes.
• Dialogue Across Difference, in partnership with Student Community and Leadership Development (SCLD), July 21 at 11 a.m.
  Through a series of engaging activities and reflection exercises, participants will identify personal limitations to engagement in dialogue across differences and what they need to engage in meaningful conversation though respectful dialogue without the intention of persuasion. They will develop personal strategies to manage emotions in order to hear the humanity of someone’s lived experiences.
• Orienting Yourself to Allyship, in partnership with SCLD, July 22 at 1 p.m.
  Participants who take part in this workshop will deepen their understanding of allyship in a personal and institutional setting, practice active allyship and develop strategies to have brave conversations.
• The Construction and Maintenance of Systemic Racism, Aug. 17 at 1:30 p.m.
  This workshop takes a deep dive into the roots of ideas of race and racism, its manifestations in the building of Canada as a country, and how those roots have formed and show up in the systems within which we live and work today. This session is very content heavy, and is designed to complement other anti-racism sessions with some history and context, but will not provide a comprehensive history of Canada, nor of anti-racist movements or successes. We recommend this workshop be taken in conjunction with others in the REDI series.

Workshops will be held from June to August and are open and free to all members of the York University community. To register, and read more about what’s on offer, visit the Summer 2021 REDI© Professional Development web page for the REDI series and Understanding Racism: A Guide for Students, Faculty & Staff for the anti-racism REDI series. The workshops will be delivered on Zoom, with materials presented on screen as well as delivered orally. Automated live transcript will be enabled, and captions (where possible) will be shown on videos. Participants will be offered several opportunities to participate via annotation, chat, large group discussion and breakout rooms.

These workshops are not in and of themselves the end goal of inclusion. They are designed to be part of the journey – participants will be encouraged to take the learning outside of the session and apply the acquired skills on an ongoing and imperfect basis to actualize a more inclusive York. In line with York’s own vision of the future (as articulated in the University Academic Plan) and plans for an anti-racist institution (as outlined in York’s Framework to Address Anti-Black Racism), these sessions will complement the ongoing work within the University to address concerns of systemic discrimination and exclusion.

As always, REI continues to offer customized training to departments, units and teams that need more in-depth discussion around equity-related issues. The REDI workshop series offers a helpful foundation for any team interested in engaging in more in-depth work, and we encourage all members of the York University community to participate in REDI first if they are interested in department-specific workshops. This is not a prerequisite; however, we at REI have found that participants are able to reap greater benefits from customized sessions if everyone has previously participated in REDI and therefore has a basic understanding of human rights, equity and inclusion.

Courtesy of YFile.