Social Justice and Solidarity Week

Social Justice and Solidarity Week (SJSW) at Laurier is an annual event that will showcase work from in and around the Laurier community that promotes notions of equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization, with a particular emphasis placed on advocacy, solidarity efforts, human rights and social justice issues that have implications locally, nationally, and/or globally.

These are very important and much-needed conversations. In offering a wide variety of events and programming to educators, students, community leaders and members and front-facing practitioners, this annual event can provide a space where individuals can come together to engage in meaningful conversations and share insights about works-in-progress with the hopes of further developing our collective capacity to self-reflect, collaboratively theorize, and courageously build.

The weeklong series of events will take the form of various interactive workshops and sessions, panels and plenaries, keynote/featured speakers, podcasts, arts, books, and craft displays, where attendees have the opportunity to access information, resources, plan, strategize and engage around issues of social justice that impact people’s experiences and opportunities locally, nationally, and globally.

Although some events will be open and accessible to anyone interested in attending, the target audience will be mainly members of the Laurier community (e.g. faculty, staff, students, alumni).

2021: TREATY RECOGNITION, #LANDBACK, AND 'RECONCILIATION'

The inaugural Social Justice and Solidarity Week of 2021 will centre local voices, scholarship, and activism surrounding land reclamation initiatives along the Haldimand Tract and across Turtle Island. SJSW opens with an exploration of historical commitments and the histories of how they were breached, leading to Haudenosaunee land becoming the city of Brantford. Central to any conversation about #LandBack within academic spaces is the positionality of the university as a settler colonial institution and its implication within the processes of land theft and appropriation. SJSW ends with a call to action to settlers on the Haldimand Tract and beyond to work in meaningful allyship that leads to concrete steps towards liberation and sovereignty. Participants in SJSW will come away with an understanding of allyship as an ongoing humble process of healthy and reciprocal relationship-building rather than a singular destination or finitely obtainable goal.

The inaugural launch will take place from Oct. 25 to 29, with the overarching theme of “Treaty Recognition, #LandBack, and 'Reconciliation'." This series of virtual events is designed to provide opportunities for members of the Laurier community to engage, learn, and reflect on issues tied to Treaties Recognition Week (Nov. 1 to 5, 2021) which was passed by the Ontario legislation in 2016 in an effort to rebuild trust and relationships with Treaty partners and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples.

For more details, please check the event website.