Events

Visit the art installation at the Student Life Centre on Tuesday, February 28^th from 10 am to 8 pm or Wednesday, March 1^st from 10 am to 5 pm which showcases student-survivor descriptions of clothes they were wearing during an experience of sexual violence.

Sponsored by Engineers Canada, The Decolonizing and Indigenizing Engineering Education Network (DIEEN) is hosting an interactive session where attendees will hear from Indigenous engineers and engineers-to-be from across the country that we now call Canada. Whether in school or the workplace, presenters will recount their journeys in the engineering profession, what support they (want to) receive, and how they make space to be themselves in engineering. This session is a starting point in bridging the gap that seems to exist between students and working professionals in Engineering.

After hearing the stories of each of the speakers, attendees will be invited to join breakout rooms of two of the speakers to participate in talking circles and gather in community.

A discussion of the promise and peril of POC video game character voice acting, focusing primarily on the connections of Black male anger and Black fatherhood in God of War through the voice work of TC Carson and Christopher Judge, contextualized against the audio Brownface of two voice POC women characters in Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves.

The Women in Engineering Committee, in collaboration with the National Society of Black Engineers, will be sitting down for a fireside chat with Ajoa Mintah, UWaterloo Chemical Engineering graduate and owner/founder of Four All Ice Cream. We will be speaking with Ajoa about her journey as a black, female entrepreneur. Participants will have the opportunity to ask Ajoa about her experience and journey from engineering student to business owner. Register now for this exciting event! 

Celebrating National Indigenous History Month, the library is screening Beans, a 2020 Canadian drama film directed by Mohawk-Canadian filmmaker Tracey Deer.

In 1990, two Mohawk communities enter into a 78-day armed standoff with government forces to protect a burial ground from developers.

Tekehentahkhwa, who goes by the nickname "Beans", is a bright preteen who lives in Kahnawake, a Mohawk reserve. She is encouraged by her mother, Lily, to try to apply for a prestigious, predominantly white school in Montreal, something her father opposes.

The film won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Picture at the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021, along with the John Dunning Best First Feature Film Award It was nominated for the Prix Iris for Best Screenplay at the 24th Quebec Cinema Awards in 2022

Celebrating National Indigenous History Month, the library is screening Slash/Back.  The 2022 debut feature from Iqaluit-raised director Nyla Innuksuk, Slash/Back packs a vivid and thrilling punch, as a girl gang in Pangnirtung, Nunavut is left to fight off a supernatural apocalypse. Employing strategies from their favourite horror movies, weapons from their kitchens, and power from their friends, the girls must battle a mysterious alien force to save their home. Slash/Back presents a promising young cast and a vibrant portrait of resilience, friendship, and what it means to fight for community. Join their journey of rebellion, self-discovery, and re-appropriation!

In June, the Waterloo Public Library, in honour of Indigenous History Month, invites and encourages you to appreciate the rich culture and heritage of Indigenous peoples, while learning more about the atrocities that Indigenous communities have faced and continue to face today.

Discover Indigenous History Month reading suggestions, programs, educational resources and community events.

September 23, 2023 marks the 20^th anniversary of the United College (formerly St. Paul’s University College) annual Pow Wow. This year is the inaugural collaboration on this celebration between the Waterloo Indigenous Student Centre (WISC) and the University of Waterloo Office of Indigenous Relations (OIR).

The Indigenous Speakers Series is honoured to present Dr. Niigaan Sinclair, professor, writer, and activist who holds the Faculty of Arts Professorship in Indigenous Knowledge and Aesthetics at the University of Manitoba. 

With recent waves of layoffs, high-profile workplace harassment cases, and a notoriously short career length for gender minorities and people of colour, the transition of new workers into the game industry involves navigating a spate of barriers to equity and success that have been understudied in academic research. The First Three Years is an ongoing longitudinal study of graduates of game programs in Canada and the United States, following the journey of 207 students as they move into the game industry. In this workshop, our research team will summarise the primary challenges students have identified in their game programs. This summary includes equity and diversity issues inherent in common curricular practices such as the efficacy of capstone courses and internships, the inclusion of crunch-like practices in the classroom, the systematic failure to inform students of actual workplace conditions, and the mismatch between student preparation and industry hiring practices. Afterwards, participants will address whether/how these problems manifest in their own institutions, and what solutions might improve equity outcomes for students seeking careers in games.

This event is part of the “ADE for Game Communities: Enculturing Anti-Racism, Decolonization, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (ADE) in Games Research and Creation” series from the ADE Committee of the Games Institute, University of Waterloo, and is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.