During this past year, we all bore witness as minority groups and their allies around the world rose to give voice to their pleas for equality and justice. We as Canadians are certainly not immune to similar injustices. As educators, we have a responsibility to take pause and reflect on our own practices — both personally and within our institutional operations — and act to shape an inclusive and supportive environment to work and learn.

Whenever OPSEU members gather, we welcome all peoples of the world. Your local executives work to represent all members of local 417 including women, racialized minorities, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ2S+ community. As such, we are hopeful that the recent EDI + Belonging Task Force initiative by SLC will illuminate opportunities for us as an institutional community to further develop in these areas. For us to be successful as a community, the Task Force needs your help.

The EDI + Belonging Task Force is organizing a series of “Courageous Conversation” virtual listening tours for students, faculty and staff. These sessions will provide an opportunity for the SLC community (especially those from designated equity groups such as women, racialized minorities, LGBTQQ2S+, Indigenous peoples, and persons with disabilities) to share views on: their experiences, opportunities and challenges of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) at SLC and a vision of how the College can improve in these areas.

The full schedule can be found here: