Student unions have banded together to address ongoing racism on the University of Ottawa campus following a Sept. 14 carding incident with Wiliston Mason.
A student and community advisor with the university’s residence department, Mason was stopped and asked to provide identification by a security guard when entering his residence building. Mason said his key pass was proof he was a student and had access to the building, and he even pointed to a photo of himself on the wall, part of a collage that included student-staff community advisors, but the guard was persistent.
The university updated its security policy following a similar carding incident with student Jamal Koulmiye-Boyce in June this year, discouraging arbitrary ID checks, but for Mason, his experience with campus security was proof the policy is not being implemented.
Since the incident, the university has issued a statement saying it is aware of the incident and that the private security officer employed by a firm contracted by the university is no longer allowed on campus.
According to Mason, the university’s response so far is not enough.
“I think it’s unacceptable,” he said. “It wasn’t until Oct. 1 that the president held a press conference where he acknowledged it.”
“It shouldn’t take an external investigator to come and do a whole report in order for the university to believe students.”
– Wiliston Mason, residence community advisor at University of Ottawa
Mason also said the university has been unclear about the actions it has taken.
“I know, for example, they talked about the guard being banned. I found out later that it was only a temporary ban, but it seemed as though it was a permanent ban,” he said.
“We don’t really know what’s going on. We hear about it during press releases, or we hear about it in the media, but we aren’t really consulted directly in regards to these things, and so, I really wish the university really worked with us.”
In response to the press conference held by university administration, University of Ottawa Student Union (OUSU), the Black Student Leaders’ Association (BSLA) and Recognized Student Governments (RSG) issued a joint letter Oct. 8 to demand further action, including an apology from university administration, implementing anti-oppression and anti-racism training for all university staff, including professors, employees and Protection Services, and developing a policy that enforces accountability measures.
Jason Seguya, student life commissioner with UOSU, said one of the demands student unions at the university are making is for a collaboration with the university administration to address racism on campus.
“The reason why we’re really pushing for that response and that space to collaborate is so we can move onto the next steps of implementing every one of the changes,” he said.
Seguya added that collaboration with the university administration will help speed up the process, and help move from acknowledging racism on campus to addressing it.
For Mason, student unions stepping in and calling on the university administration to address racism on campus has helped him feel supported.
“I feel like the support I’ve gotten and the validation of these experiences has really come from the student unions,” he said.
“It’s different when one person is saying it, that there’s an issue with this policy and there’s an issue with how we’re going about things. I think it’s even more powerful when a whole group of people bring up the same issue to the president.”
Since the letter from student unions, more than 100 professors from the Association of Professors at the University of Ottawa (APUO) signed a letter supporting the demands put forward by OUSU, BSLA and RSG.
“As teachers, we have a commitment to uphold a learning environment where all students feel safe, supported, and able to challenge themselves in the classroom,” the letter says. “It would therefore be in violation of this duty for us to not add our voices to those of students calling for an end to anti-black racism on campus.”
In an email statement to CBC, the university said it welcomes the letter from student unions and president Jacques Frémont met with representatives from the union to establish an open dialogue.
According to the statement, the investigator of the carding incident is also working on the second part of her mandate which involves a review of Protection Services’ policies and procedures, the report for which is expected to be completed in November and will be made public.
Photo by Spencer Colby.
