Immediate Actions

Immediate change and ongoing action

Early engagements with Black, Indigenous and other racialized staff, students and faculty uncovered immediate and swift steps towards ending racism in all areas at the University of Waterloo. Ongoing collaboration, conversation with, and leadership from Black, Indigenous and other racialized community members are driving additional actions, and long lasting and meaningful change.

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Updates on action to date

Recruitment and hiring

Among many other actions, efforts led by staff, faculty and students have begun, including work related to the hiring of Black and Indigenous faculty for the upcoming academic year, as we work toward building a faculty complement that represents the communities we serve. 

Work has also begun to implement a system that diversifies applicant pools for employees and addresses barriers in recruitment and hiring for Black, Indigenous, and other racialized individuals. In addition, a plan for the safe collection and use of race-based data has been set in motion to help us better understand the Waterloo community and reflect on next steps to improve representation.  

Membership in the National Centre for Faculty Development and Diversity

Waterloo has joined more than 230 other institutions as a member of the National Centre for Faculty Development and Diversity, an independent professional development, training, and mentoring community for faculty members, postdocs, and graduate students.

New curriculum and educational content

Progress has been made in developing new curriculum and educational content. For example, work has begun to develop and launch a Black Studies Program with the first curricular offerings in September 2022. The AVP, Academic and the Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion Office is developing a non-credit anti-racism module.

Cultural events and spaces

To better reflect and celebrate the diversity on our campuses, a proposal for Indigenous spaces has been developed to serve cultural, social, and scholarly needs of our Indigenous colleagues and students. 

In February we held our first successful PART event celebrating Black History Month, which included a panel discussion, music by a local artist, and a keynote presentation by Kitchener Centre MPP Laura Mae Lindo.

Supporting Black, Indigenous and other racialized students

To better meet the needs of our student community, a full-time Counsellor, dedicated to the needs of Black students has been hired. 

The hiring process for a Senior Manager, Anti-racism Response is currently underway, focusing on supporting individuals who may have experienced racism and developing a university-wide process for reporting, investigating, and responding to complaints.

Anti-racism efforts are also underway within our faculties:

• Faculty of Arts

  Several anti-racism initiatives are being implemented across departments in the Faculty of Arts. For example, the English Language and Literature department created an Anti-Black Racism Action Plan Working Group, which is engaging in activities that review pedagogy through an anti-racism lens.  In addition, Renison University College formed an anti-racism committee last year, led by Kathy Hogarth.  Its Social Development Studies department is also developing strategies to recruit more students from equity-deserving groups. Finally, the Philosophy department conducted a review of its speakers for colloquia and events, with the intention of examining the diversity and representation of these speakers, and making improvements to these line-ups.




• Faculty of Health

  The School of Public Health and Health Systems created an Advisory Group, made up primarily of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as alumni, to generate recommendations that address oppression and strengthen efforts towards equity, diversity, and inclusion. A report of recommendations that placed emphasis on barriers faced by Black, Indigenous and other racialized peoplesand individuals with disabilities has been developed.




• Faculty of Engineering

  The Faculty of Engineering has announced an Indigenous and Black Engineering and Technology Momentum Fellowship. “This prestigious Fellowship will provide financial support of $30,000 per year for 4 years for University of Waterloo recipients. This funding support ($25,000 from faculty and $5,000 from faculty supervisor) will allow the recipient(s) to pursue advanced degrees and undertake both traditional and/or non-traditional areas of research without incurring financial hardship.

  IBET Momentum Fellowship is intended to support Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Inuit and Metis) and Black researchers in achieving their rightful place and respected inclusion in academia at the University of Waterloo. 

  The School of Architecture established a Racial Equity and Environmental Justice Task Force to identify areas of concerns around equity and environmental justiceand to determine how best to offer specific supports for marginalized students, staff and faculty.




• Faculty of Environment

  The Faculty of Environment is conducting unit-level and program-level curriculum reviews to include decolonization, Indigeneity and inclusivity. Additionally, all advertisements for faculty appointments incorporate new language on equity, diversity and inclusion, and equity training is now mandatory for all members of departmental advisory committees on appointments for faculty members.

  The Faculty of Environment, its Departments/Schools, and its members, have organized a number of events during the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., the From Environmental Racism to Environmental Justice event) to raise awareness of and engage our community in discussions of Black, Indigenous and other racialized peoples and social justice issues.




• Faculty of Math

  The Faculty of Math formed a Math Racial Equity Committee (MREC), consisting of faculty, staff and students who spearhead and coordinate racial equality work across the Faculty. EDI guidelines were also developed for faculty hiring, and an EDI advocate was added to each Strategic Plan implementation group to ensure racial equity is considered in the faculty’s strategic planning. 

  Faculty members have also partnered with the Faculty of Engineering and initiated the Indigenous and Black Engineering and Technology (IBET) Momentum Fellowship, mentioned above.




• Faculty of Science

  The Faculty of Science held a virtual Anti-racism Town Hall to listen to the Waterloo Science community share their experiences, ideas and suggestions for future change. This led to the formation of a Science Anti-Racism Taskforce (SART). Being grounded in the experiences of Black, Indigenous and other racialized peoples in the Faculty of Science, the SART focuses on issues and problems related to racism, and will make recommendations aimed at creating policies and procedures to eliminate racism in all its forms, and foster a culture of equity in the Faculty of Science.

The Water Institute

The Water Institute (which is aligned with the Faculty of Environment) established an Anti-racism Taskforce and presented a number of recommendations to address racism and its connections to water. As part of this work, the Institute supports an interdisciplinary Collaborative Water Program where students are introduced to Indigenous traditions. This program has led to projects like the Grand Expressions exhibit that captures the perspectives of Indigenous youth in a culturally appropriate and relevant way.

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Timeline of action

As our work and engagement continue to evolve, many of the approaches reflected below are in progress, are being considered and are being validated through the efforts of the PART working groups. 

Last Updated: August 6, 2021

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