Students from several Ontario universities held protests last week in response to anti-black racism on campus.
Ryerson University and the University of Ottawa (U of O) were among some of the schools that responded to a “Day of Action” called by the University of Missouri (Mizzou) on Nov. 18.
Students at Mizzou began protesting anti-black racism in October, with one student launching a hunger strike in early November. The president of the university resigned on Nov. 9 after he was criticized for poorly handling racial discrimination on campus.
Vanessa Dorimain, the vice-president of university affairs at the U of O student federation (SFUO), organized a rally at the university.
She said roughly 35 students marched around U of O to speak about what it’s like to be black on campus.
“It was more people than I expected . . . It was more of a last minute organization that we tried to do, just because we were finding out other universities were participating. We were like, ‘that’s great, we should get on top of this, we should show solidarity,’” she said.
Dorimain said black students at U of O drafted a list of demands for the university, including equity training for all U of O staff, a racialized student centre, a black studies department, and a “therapist of colour.”
“We truly believe that in order for us to talk about our trauma and [discrimination] on our campus, we would like to talk to somebody who could also relate to that, and who wouldn’t dismiss our feelings and invalidate them,” she said.
The demands also included a mandatory course dedicated to oppression and consent, and free education for all black and Indigenous students.
Dorimain said U of O did not respond to the demands.
“There was a letter of solidarity from the University of Ottawa for what happened in Paris, but there wasn’t anything for what was going on with the University of Missouri or with Syria,” she said. “I just really wish that the University of Ottawa would take up more initiatives to be in solidarity with racialized minorities on our campus.”
Rajean Hoilett, the chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students—Ontario (CFS), helped organize the protests at Ryerson and the University of Toronto. He said the rallies were a response to “overt instances of anti-black racism” on campuses.
“The rally was meant to take up space as black students on campus, and to begin to actually talk [about] our experiences as black students on campus experiencing racism,” he said.
Hoilett said about 75 students showed up to the protest at Ryerson, to push for “a culture on campus that better supports black students.”
He said the university hasn’t responded to the protest, but the Black On Campus organizing committee is currently drafting demands.
Hoilett added there is a lack of black faculty representation and discussion around black history on Ryerson’s campus.
“I think [the protest] speaks to the pressing issues of anti-black racism on our campus, and how that’s contributed to a feeling of isolation amongst black students,” he said.
