Panelists discussed the disproportionate impacts of climate change on Black communities and the need for more People of Colour in leadership roles at a conference on Jan. 28 at the National Gallery of Canada.
The event marked the second day of the “Afrofuturism: Reimagining Climate Change from a Black Lens” conference, hosted by the Black Students of Public Affairs Association (BSPA).
Daniel Stewart, foreign service officer at the U.S. Department of state, said during the panel discussion studies have shown communities of colour disproportionately suffer from environmental pollution.
“Marginalized communities tend to live in places that are more vulnerable and prone to the worsening impacts of climate change including flooding, urban heat waves and other impacts of pollution,” he said.
Stewart reflected on a report by the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People and Clean Air Task Force that suggests Black people are 75 per cent more likely to live in fence line communities—those close to oil and gas refineries—and suffer the negative health effects of greenhouse gas emissions such as asthma and cancer.
“President Biden laid out his plan for environmental justice, issued executive orders that required all U.S. federal agencies to prioritize environmental justice, making it a whole government effort,” Stewart said.
Diane Watson, program director at Nokia Digital Trust, touched on the lack of diversity in leadership roles. She said while some companies are fairly diverse in terms of staffing, when it comes to upper management it’s primarily white people taking up those positions.
“How is it then that racialized folks are seen just to do the ‘factory work’ and the managerial work is left,” she said. “We need more of us in leadership.”
From Jamaica, Watson said she grew up with a different perspective on what it took to rise through the ranks in the workplace.
“I came from a view that once you do your work, it will be recognized,” Watson said. But here in Canada, she added, race influences who succeed.
Watson encouraged young Black women to speak up in workplace conversations.
“It’s all about making connections and not feeling afraid to bring your voice up in a situation,” she said. “Don’t sit back, because you need to gain that confidence in order to become visible, to be heard.”
The conference also included two workshops on how to foster leadership skills and mobilize change through policy.
“I’ve always been pushed down the law route but I’m personally not a fan of our legal system,” said Sydney Narain, a second-year public affairs student at Carleton University. “I believe it’s very corrupt, so I hope to learn how to rewrite the laws as a policy maker rather than work within the system.”
Fariba Al-Hassan, BSPA’s co-founder and co-president, said the association hopes to provide students with more opportunities to network and use their voices.
“I really hope students know that they can take a small idea and make it into something bigger,” she said. “As long as you have that drive, that passion, and people around you who are willing to support you, anything is possible.”
Featured image by Claire Hutcheon.
