UTSU Social Justice & Equity Commission

Our first Social Justice and Equity Commission meeting is today at 5pm at SK702. Check out our team agenda here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DTE4MWSQcAnQArDRdGEdVSt5v27Kc6pmsc2nWrxHJv4/edit?usp=sharing

SJ&E Commission Meeting Mins Form Minutes of the 1st Social Justice and Equity Commission Meeting Wednesday July 12, 2017, 5:00pm Faculty of Social Work, SK 702 Attendance Call to Order The meeting is called to order at HH:MM Approval of Agenda MOTION MOV...

Hello everyone,

We hope you are doing well. Soleiman Faqiri was a diagnosed schizophrenic. While in custody awaiting transfer to a medical facility he was murdered by the guards in a correctional facility in Lindsay, Ontario on December 15, 2016.

We will be assisting our members with the JusticeForSoli: Call-A-Thon. This event will include phoning particular offices together to express our concerns and discontent with the reactions of the Ministry of Community Safety & Correctional Services, in addition to the Government of Ontario. The police have still not pressed charges.

Join us on Thursday, March 2, 2017 for our Call-A-Thon which shall be held from 9:00-17:00 at OISE, room 2281. We appreciate any number of hours that you would be willing to volunteer, so we can get .
Please bring a phone.

Click on the following link, and fill out a short (30 seconds) volunteer form:

https://goo.gl/forms/KdVMjaWeMuUs3KCA2

Justice for Soli Call-a-thon volunteer form First of all I would like to thank you for volunteering your time to help bring Justice for Soli. The short form below is simply to get your contact information, and to find out which ours you will be volunteering so that we have the appropriate materials prepared for you.

Hi Everyone!

General Equity Director applications are available for the 2017- 2018 term!

Hi Everyone,

General Equity Director applications are available for the 2017-2018 term!

http://we.leadnow.ca/er_phonebank_nov_2

Electoral Reform Toronto Action meeting + phone banking As a host, we provide you with the names and emails of your RSVPs so that you can communicate and coordinate your event. By clicking I agree, you consent to only using this information for the explicit purpose of organizing this event with Leadnow.ca. Thanks for protecting your fellow community memb...

Hello Everyone!

Events for University of Toronto Students' Union (UTSU) annual eXpression Against Oppression are available online!

A lot of time went into these events. Please take time to look through them, and hopefully attend!

Events:

"Ban the Burkini Ban: Liberation is Within my Choice"

https://www.facebook.com/events/733420686813307/

"Decolonizing Through Artwork: Mesoamerica Resiste"

https://www.facebook.com/events/1768397486758693/

"Intersections of Identity: Experiences Shared by Q***r Women of Colour"

https://www.facebook.com/events/138827366589930/

"Poetic Resistance"

https://www.facebook.com/events/194154154367097/

"Confronting Anti- Blackness at UofT Town Hall"

https://www.facebook.com/events/1789167744672499/

Hello Everyone,

The Social Justice and Equity Commission on June 30th at 12pm in the UTSU Front Room has been canceled. There will be another date set soon.

On Thursday, November 26 from 7-9 PM, join the University of Toronto Students' Union (UTSU) at Hart House's Music Room as we host poet goddess, rupi kaur + rhythm queen, keerat kaur for an evening of healing, love and empowerment.

Admission is free, but only a limited number of seats are available! To register for the event, click here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/rupi-keerat-on-healing-self-love-empowerment-tickets-19610803441

Event details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1535530076737696/

Rupi & Keerat: On Healing, Self Love & Empowerment On Thursday, November 26 rom 7-9 PM, join the University of Toronto Students' Union (UTSU) at Hart House's Music Room as we host poet goddess, Rupi Kaur + rhythm queen Keerat Kaur for an evening of healing, love and empowerment.

HAPPENING TOMORROW!

Join UTSU and partners for Pride Picnic 2015!

On June 23, the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students (APUS) along with the University of Toronto Students' Union (UTSU) Woodsworth Inclusive (WINC), and our campus partners would like to invite you to Pride Picnic 2015! This free event features food, music, games, prizes, and more! To RSVP, check out: https://pridepicnic.eventbrite.ca/

Date: June 23, 2015
Time: 12 - 3 pm
Venue: Woodsworth College Quad (119 St.George St)

If you have any questions, accessibility requests, or want to volunteer with us, please contact [email protected].

https://www.facebook.com/events/420873474750104/

Pride Picnic Join APUS and partners for Pride Picnic 2015! On June 23, 2015, the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students (APUS) along with the University of Toronto Students' Union, Woodsworth Inclusive, and our campus partners would like to invite you to Pride Picnic 2015! This free event features f…

As today marks National Aboriginal Day, let us acknowledge the sacred land on which the University of Toronto operates. This land has been a site of human activity for 15,000 years. It is the territory of the Huron-Wendat and Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. The territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes.

The meeting place of Toronto is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work in the community, on this territory. We can never work to end systematic and institutional violence if we do not center the narratives of Indigenous people in our collective decision-making for social justice and equity. As settlers on the Credit River, we directly benefit from the colonization and genocide of the Indigenous people of this land. In order to engage in resistance and solidarity against the injustices inflicted on the Indigenous people of this land, it is imperative we constantly engage in acts of awareness and decolonization. Today and everyday, we must pay our respects to Indigenous elders, both past and present, and to any of those may be here with us today: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

In order to actively participate in resistance and decolonization, let us never forget the imprints of state-sanctioned violence and terror that continue to perpetrate the Indigenous communities of Canada today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpvMwbWSTBw

"We owe the Aboriginal peoples a debt that is four centuries old. It is their turn to become full partners in developing an even greater Canada. The reconciliation required may be less a matter of legal texts than of attitudes of the heart."

Canada's Cultural Genocide The findings of a 6-year-long Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that Canada committed “cultural genocide” against its aboriginal population for over ...

Last night, a white gunman entered Emmanuel AME Church, a historic Black church and opened gunfire, ending nine innocent lives. This white supremacist announced to the crowd that he was there, "to kill Black people.”

The victims:

Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45, mother of three, reverend, and high school track coach.

Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41, was also a state senator in South Carolina.

Cynthia Hurd, 54, worked at the public library for 31 years and was serving as the manager at St. Andrews Regional Library since 2011.

Twanza Sanders, a 26-year-old recent graduate of Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina, and had most recently been working at a barber shop.

Myra Thompson, 59, was the wife of reverend Anthony Thomspon, who is a vicar at Holy Trinity REC.

Daniel L. Simmons, 74, was a ministerial staff member at the church.

Ethel Lee Lance, 70, had worked at the church for more than 30 years.

Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor, 49, a minister and a mother of four daughters. She sang in the church’s choir and spoke at the pulpit with Rev. Pinckney, the Post and Courier reported.

Susie Jackson, 87, was a member of the Eastern Light Chapter No. 360 Order of the Eastern Star, according to a community activist on Twitter.

The UTSU is both deeply saddened, horrified and angered by this blatant act of racism. This act of terrorism is a mere indication of the repulsive reality of racism and discrimination that rampantly exists within North America-- one that especially forges injustices on Black lives. We must take it upon ourselves to look into the lives of people like Walter Scott, Kaleif Browder, Renisha McBride, and the countless other victims of systematic and overt racism and not let their lives end in vain. It is our moral obligation as human beings that we actively challenge the various levels of racism that pervade our minds, our communities, our campus, our city and our nation.

To all those students who belong to the Black community and are suffering, the UTSU stands in solidarity with you. If there is any way we can be of service to your mind or soul, please do not hesitate to come by VP Equity Sania Khan's office in order to channel your feelings, thoughts, emotions.

With peace, love, and light,
The UTSU Executive

As the two year mark passed (on April 24th) since the Rana Plaza Disaster in Bangladesh, John Oliver's latest segment raises awareness on sweatshop labour/child labour, the impacts of the dangerous working conditions many Bangladeshis are forced to work in, and what we can do about it!

If you find this segment interesting, and want to know how you can help, please join us:

This WEDNESDAY April 29th from 6:00PM-7:30PM
Main Activity Hall - Multi-Faith Centre

Where we will have speakers to address this issue, followed by a screening of "Rana Plaza: Victims of Fashion"

More information can be found at the event link: **
https://www.facebook.com/events/391474254373740/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdLf4fihP78

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Fashion (HBO) Trendy clothes are cheaper than ever. That sounds great for the people who buy them, but it's horrible for the people who make them. Connect with Last Week T...