At the Water Institute, we strive to be a global leader in all things water: research, education, innovation and collaboration. While we are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion, recent events have made it clear that this is not enough and that we must and can do more.
We recognize that anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism in our society can result in, among other things, a lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation, limited inclusion in governance and decision-making, and limited opportunities in the University research environment. It is clear that more needs to be done to understand the nature of racism in our societies, the connections between racism and water, and what we can do to address these issues within our own Institute.
This is why we are establishing a Water Institute Anti-Racism Task Force: to examine our own practices related to Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC), to identify opportunities where we can improve, and to propose concrete actions the Water Institute can take to address systemic barriers that have excluded BIPOC communities from our research environment. With this Task Force, the Water Institute aims to take a step forward in embedding anti-racism in our academic culture and operations.
