Cardinal Carter Libray, King's University College, 266 Epworth Ave, London, ON 

The Medicines We Carry features intimate portraits of community members interwoven with connections to seven medicines: birchbark, cedar, sage, strawberries, sweetgrass, sunflowers, and tobacco. Through these portraits, Bangishimo disrupts colonial lineages, inscribing Black and Indigenous futurities into public memory, and emphasizing relationships to the land. The exhibit flows throughout the library and can be viewed during library operating hours from October 1 - October 4.

Library hours: Monday – Thursday (8 a.m. – 10 p.m.) / Friday – (8 a.m. – 6 p.m.). 

Vitali Student Longue, King's University College, 266 Epworth Ave, London, ON

ASL Interpreter provided. 

Celebrate the Jewish New Year with some Jewish Rhymes and honey from our local vendors. Learn about the holiday from King's Religious Studies Chair and Professor, Dr. Chaya Halberstam.

Rosh Hashanah for Hebrew Year 5785 begins at sundown on Wednesday, 2 October 2024, and ends at nightfall on Friday, 4 October 2024. Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: ראש השנה), (literally “head of the year”), is the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holidays or Yamim Noraim (“Days of Awe”), celebrated ten days before Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah is observed on the first two days of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. This two-day festival marks the anniversary of human creation—and the special relationship between humans and God, the creator. 

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Vitali Student Longue, King's University College, 266 Epworth Ave, London, ON

When Western Christians think about God, the default image that comes to mind is usually white and male. How did that happen? 

Christianity is rooted in the ancient Near East among people of darker skin. But over time, European Christians cast Jesus in their own image, with art that imagined a fair-skinned Savior in the style of imperial rulers. Grace’s book, When God Became White, explores the historical origins and theological implications of how Jesus became white and God became a white male. The myth of the white male God has had a devastating effect as it enabled Christianity to have a profoundly colonialist posture across the globe. 

Grace’s talk will examine some of the roots of the distortion, and its harmful impact on the world, and show what it looks like to recover the biblical reality of a nonwhite, nongendered God. Rediscovering God as Spirit leads us to a more just faith and a better church and world.  

Q and A to follow.

Click here to register for this event (in person)

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Fanshawe College, 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd, London, ON 

ASL Interpreter provided

Part 1: A Celebration of Deaf Talent and Leadership

Part 2: A Celebration of Student Success

Join us for an inspiring evening that celebrates the remarkable achievements and contributions of two members of the Deaf community. This unique event highlights the dynamic presence of Deaf actors, the mentorship of American Sign Language (ASL) educators, and the leadership of influential advocates.

Following that, refreshments will be served during a short break.

The second half of the evening will feature two inspirational Fanshawe College students who will share their individual stories of overcoming barriers, navigating a physical and virtual student landscape and their personal and professional journey toward success.

Click here to register for this event (in person).

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The Joanne and Peter Kenny Theater, King Student Life Centre, King’s University College, 266 Epworth Ave, London, ON

Join us for a profound and important panel discussion on Countering Islamophobia. This conversation will bring together four insightful panellists and a skilled moderator to address the challenges and impact of Islamophobia in London and explore effective strategies for combating it. 

Our distinguished panellists will share their expertise and experiences, fostering a thoughtful dialogue on ways to promote understanding, inclusivity, and solidarity within our community. This discussion aims to raise awareness, challenge prejudices, and inspire collective action against Islamophobia. 

Your presence and participation are vital as we work together to build a more inclusive and respectful community. 

Refreshments will be provided. 

Prayer will take place at 7:00 p.m. and the panel will begin at 7:30 p.m. 

Click here to register for this event.

Vitali Student Longue, King's University College, 266 Epworth Ave, London, ON

ASL Interpreter provided

Indigenous Cultural Knowledge Keeper, Liz Akiwenzie will talk on the Sacredness of the Original Peoples of Turtle Island. Liz brings her captivating storytelling to King’s and helps us understand her ancestors and how they lived on Turtle Island. 

Click here to register for this event (in person).

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The Joanne and Peter Kenny Theater, King Student Life Centre, King’s University College, 266 Epworth Ave, London, ON 

5 pm - 5:30 pm - London Kids Community Gospel Choir (LKCGD)

Closing out the first week of EDIDA Awareness Month is a celebration of Black Joy! You will hear the African American-inspired melodies and harmonies with the London Kids Community Gospel Choir! Music will include contemporary and traditional gospel music and songs.

5:30 pm - Words of welcome from the Director of EDID, Jennifer Slay

5:45 pm - 6:15 pm - Saidat!

Saidat is the first black Canadian female children's entertainer, speaker, community leader and artistic director. To this day, Saidat has impacted over 700,000 children and youth across Canada. From a desire to make people smile and a wish to build confidence in the younger generation, Saidat's message of encouragement, self-worth, and community-mindedness is also a motivation for a global audience. She presents a powerful message from the heart "One person can make a difference, together we can change the world!"

Click here to register for this event (in-person).

Click here to register for this event (virtual).

Garron Longue, King’s University College, 266 Epworth Ave, London, ON 

Join us as we celebrate the success of the first week of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Decolonization, and Accessibility (EDIDA) Awareness Month 2024! 

Our end-of-week reception will feature hot food, refreshing drinks, and an opportunity to reflect on the impactful events of the week. This is a chance to connect with fellow community members, share experiences, and continue our commitment to a more inclusive and accessible community. 

Everyone is welcome! We look forward to seeing you there as we wrap up this first week of learning and growth. 

Click here to register for this event 

University Community Centre (UCC), Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON

Join us for Western’s Fall Pride Parade on Monday, October 21, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Univeristy Community Center (UCC) to honour and celebrate the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and allies. We will start the event off on Concrete Beach and end the celebration in the UCC Atrium. The parade will take place around campus and conclude with a delightful afternoon filled with resources, music, dancing, and light refreshments. 

This event is open to all! We extend this warm invitation to participate in showcasing the incredible diversity and intersectionality of our campus community. This extraordinary day is one of many efforts to highlight continued support for Pride at Western.

Click here to register for the event.

Registration is not required but encouraged 

Jeff Preston, Ph.D., is an associate professor and chair of Disability Studies at King's University College at Western University where he teaches classes on disability, popular culture and policy.

Dr. Preston will highlight the use of disability to win Oscars, which has been written about ad nauseam, but what about all the other films that represent disability? Invalid Culture is a podcast that invites disability scholars and activists to explore pop culture-adjacent films that never quite broke through because, well, they’re just awful. Will these films, free from the chains of profitability and Oscar-baiting offer a different vision of disability? Or will they merely (badly) reproduce common tropes of disability? Join podcast co-host Jeff Preston as he shares thoughts on diving deep into the abyss of strange films “about” disability and some of the (sometimes remarkable) crip histories behind these texts that often goes unrecorded.

Click here to register for this event (virtually)

Dental Science Building (DSB 1002), Western University, London, ON, N6A 5C1 

Join us for an enlightening and crucial discussion on the importance of equity in our healthcare system. This session will feature speakers from London Health Sciences Centre’s (LHSC) Indigenous Health and Black Health, and the Director EDIB at St. Joseph’s Health Care (SJHC). It will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Sukhi Bains from the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.

This session will explore the disparities in health outcomes among equity-denied communities and share strategies for promoting inclusivity and accessibility within hospital settings. The speakers will also discuss specific initiatives and efforts underway at LHSC to improve health equity. Through their insights and experiences, you will gain a deeper understanding of the critical role hospitals play in advancing health equity systemically so that all individuals receive the care experiences and health outcomes they deserve

The event will be hybrid and snacks and refreshments will be offered for in-person attendees. To attend in-person in DSB, reserve a spot!

Click here to register for this event (in person)

Click here to register for the event (virtually).

Virtual event via Zoom 

Dr. Andrew B. Campbell (DR. ABC) is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in Leadership for Racial Justice in Education in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning (CTL) at the University of Toronto – Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). 

This session will engage participants in exploring how traditional leadership ideas around equity and inclusion in some cases, must be challenged, reimagined, or developed to foster brave, safe, and inclusive environments. This is an engagement where we encourage leaders to begin with self-awareness and examination of their readiness level, evaluate their present practices, and look intentionally at working with moral courage, empathy and care to disrupt inaction and performative advocacy which has become commonplace in many spaces. It is hoped that participants will leave not only motivated and inspired but also with practical tools to enhance their leadership lens to work at fostering a culture of belonging for all. Together, let’s challenge existing norms and empower leaders to align their styles with the values of EDI, racial/social justice and anti-oppressive practices.

Click here to register for the event (virtually) 

Virtual event via Zoom  

Information on this event is coming soon - stay tuned!

The Beaver Dam, Med-Line Student Commons, Huron University at Western, 1349 Western Road, London, ON, N6G1H3

Join us on November 1st (Medline Student Commons in the Frank Holmes Centre, Huron University) for a student panel showcasing the project, Our Roots in Activism: Finding Agency and Allyship in Histories of Anti-racist Mobilization in Canada. Three student researchers will share their work for the project in an informal panel discussion moderated by project co-investigators Drs. Nassisse Solomon and Nina Reid-Maroney. Lunch is provided!

About the project: Our Roots in Activism is a Knowledge Synthesis project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). By bridging academic and community knowledge, we seek to enhance modern anti-racist education, policy, and practice. Community organizations and activists play a pivotal role in informing the state of antiracist history in Canada and can aid us in shaping a positive path to an anti-racist future for Canada.  

Please click here to register by October 24th to reserve your spot.  

Streamed virtually on October 4, 2023.

In recent years, organizations have committed to increasing opportunities for diverse employees to be successful in the workplace. It is imperative that employers consider neurodiverse people among the other equity-deserving groups. Population studies tell us that 1 in 5 people are neurodiverse! These folks have unique ways of interpreting and interacting with the environment and people around them with impacts on thinking, learning, emotional regulation, and behaviour. Now is the time to identify how organizations, leaders, and colleagues alike can support neurodiverse people in the workplace with departmental policies, routine practices, and person-specific strategies. This presentation and the accompanying toolkit offer concrete ideas to put into practice in YOUR workplace.

Click here to view the recording of our previous EDID Awareness Week 2023 event

Streamed virtually on October 4, 2023

Rising to prominence in the late 20^th century, the term “special needs” animates early efforts to integrate disability within education, be it the IDEA Act (1990) in the US or the “Special Education” system in Ontario. While the term itself has slowly fallen out of favour, it’s ideological rot has left current accessibility efforts on shaky ground. Rooted in personal and professional experience, this presentation considers how our accessibility efforts built on a hegemonic binary of mainstream versus “special” students will almost assuredly fail to result in genuine inclusion and asks: What if Western conceived of disabled people not as having “special needs” but human rights?

Click here to view the recording of our previous EDID Awareness Week 2023 event

Dr. Magdalena Kubow gives a powerful presentation on Antisemitism, the Holocaust, dangers of Holocaust denial, and the importance of recognizing genocides that have taken place globally. How will education and remembering move us forward so that history will not repeat itself?

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Bio:  Dr. Magdalena Kubow received her PhD in history from the University of Western Ontario in 2015. Her dissertation is titled “Contemporary Reactions to War and the Holocaust with a Focus on The Role of the Polish-Language Press in North America from 1926-1945.” She turned her dissertation into a monograph with McFarland & Company Publishing. Her book is titled "Poland and the Holocaust in the Polish-American Press 1926-1945" (released July 2020). She has attended conferences and workshops in Washington (US), Warsaw (Poland), Kent (England), Yad Vashem (Israel) and is an EHRI Fellow (Jewish Historical Institute - 2017). Dr. Kubow has many interests and publications including: “The Solidarity Movement in Poland: Its history and meaning in collective memory” (The Polish Review, Vol. 58, No. 2, 2013); "Kanada: The Effect of The Canadian Jewish News and Survivors on the Memory of the Holocaust" (Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History, Vol. 19, No.3, 2013 – Published April 2014); and "Polish-Jewish Relations as Reflected in the Pages of the Republika-Górnik 1926-1930"(The Polish Review, Vol. 62. No.1, 2017). She currently works at Brescia University College as the Writing Centre Manager and as a part-time instructor.

Listen to Professor Michael Lynk’s rich experience on International Human Rights, including the birth of human rights, the rise of international human rights law and its importance in the world today.

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Bio: Michael Lynk is Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Law, Western University, where he taught from 1999 to 2022. He taught courses in Canadian labour law, Canadian constitutional law and Canadian and international human rights law, and he has written widely in these areas. In 2016, he was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council for a six year term as the Special Rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory.  In this capacity, Professor Lynk delivered regular human rights reports to the United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.

In this narrative experience, co-created with undergraduate students studying in the Arts and Humanities, we explore the historical and contemporary settings that foster poverty and reduce freedom in both local and global agri-food systems. We continue with some of the ways that poverty segments opportunity, choice, and progress; thereby limiting the collective potential of humanity. Exemplary agri-food thinkers whose visions and actions have made a difference in the world are discussed in order to offer hope for a way forward together. We conclude by re-imagining our agri-food future, with a call to action where each member of our human family can reach their full life's potential. 

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Dr. Peggy O'Neil's bio: I grew up in the daisy filled meadows of my family’s farm, near Ontario's West Coast. When not in the fields or barn, I looked for the meaning of life—across time, place, and circumstance--- in classic mythology, Black history, Indigenous legends, and Irish folklore. Against the days and seasons of my poetic life, commodity-based living, 20% interest rates, penny auctions, and farm foreclosures, cast its shadow on my family and community. My father's childhood friends, who he walked beside, snow, rain, or shine, during WWII rationing to a one room school house miles from home, lost their farms. The horizons that they knew were replaced with the walls of small, rental apartments in the city. To survive, those still on their farms cleared land, industrialized operations, and took on more debt. One way or another, families fell as surely as the sun set to how fast and how cheap food could be produced. I have learned that these chapters of my life do not belong to me. They are shared the world over. Even so, today, families and farmers across humanity toil for the pages not yet written on, for their way of life, for freedom of thought, and for our future. My life's work is to stand alongside them, to see that this moment is only a difficult chapter and not the end of the story.

Listen to a powerful talk with Dr. Roula Hawa as she shares her knowledge and research on Health Equity and the various disparities that are a reality for so many. She will be sharing two examples from her work with vulnerable communities: locally in London and from other spaces across Ontario. In this presentation, we will unpack what “health is a human right” entails and will explore how nurturing resilience and enhancing wellbeing will help present solutions forward.

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Bio: Dr. Roula Hawa is Associate Professor and Academic Coordinator of Family Studies and Human Development at Brescia University College at Western. She received her PhD in Leadership, Higher and Adult Education at OISE, the University of Toronto. Roula’s background includes over 15 years of teaching, leadership experience and curriculum development. She is the recipient of the 2023 Award for Excellence in Teaching at Brescia and the 2020 Adelaide Hoodless Award for Excellence in Family Studies Education in Ontario.

A racialized immigrant woman, Roula is a passionate educator and researcher who brings a deep commitment to social justice and an interest in mobilizing research and innovating university-community partnerships. Her research is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, and CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network, and engages communities using critical feminist, anti-colonial and anti-oppression frameworks to inform equitable and culturally relevant practice and policy. Roula brings vast educational and community leadership, including serving on a number of committees such as the London Homeless Coalition, Women's Priority Working Group, President of Arts Researchers and Teachers Society—Special Interest Group of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies—President of the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education, and Associate Editor at Progress in Community Health Partnerships, Johns Hopkins University Press.

Instructors across the disciplines think of their assignment expectations as a mundane aspect of academic life. Listen in on a discussion about the barriers multilingual students face in meeting these expectations, the ways in which linguicism overlaps with racism to create disadvantage for some students, and the pressure the standard expectation of "critical thinking" puts on international students to acquire a selfhood that is rewarded in the North American context.

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Bios: 

Rama Eloulabi is a PhD student in Social Psychology at Western University. She received her MSc in Social Psychology and the Collaborative Graduate Specialization in Migration and Ethnic Relations at Western University, and received her BA in Psychology and Human Rights and Ethnic Studies at York University. She has occupied several research positions across several universities and non-profit organizations, and is currently working as a graduate student assistant on a research study in partnership with multiple Local Immigration Partnerships across Southwestern Ontario examining the experiences of discrimination of immigrant and racialized community members across the region.

Dr. Victoria Esses is Principal Investigator of the Pathways to Prosperity Partnership, a national alliance of university, community and government partners dedicated to fostering welcoming communities and promoting the integration of immigrants in Canada. She is also Professor of Psychology and Director of the Network for Economic and Social Trends at Western University. Her research focuses on immigration policy and practice, including public attitudes toward immigration and cultural diversity; promising practices in settlement and integration; factors promoting the settlement and integration of immigrants; and the measurement of community welcome-ability, immigrant needs, and immigrant outcomes. As a volunteer, Victoria is the Research Liaison for the London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership and serves as Chair of its Welcoming Communities Work Group. She is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

Huda A. Hussein is currently the Project Manager for the London & Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership, a position she has held since 2009. After a fulfilling career as an assistant professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Aden in Yemen, she moved to Canada with her family and began a career aimed at serving the needs of families in London Ontario. Huda has over 20 years of experience working with families with young children, ten of which have focused on immigrant families specifically. Her work includes developing two resources for service providers to enhance their welcome-ability of immigrant families and one for newcomers to connect them to available resources in their new community. Her current work as Manager at LMLIP focuses on identifying barriers for integration as well as opportunities for success; this work involves working with various sectors in the community, including ethno-cultural and faith groups to maximize better outcomes for newcomer immigrants. Huda is passionate about creating a more welcoming region for all immigrants - a region that counts on diversity as its strength. Huda was awarded the Leading Women Building Community Award by the Province of Ontario in 2009. In 2011, she was recognized by the government of her country of origin, Yemen, for her role in empowering women in her new home, London Ontario.

Instructors across the disciplines think of their assignment expectations as a mundane aspect of academic life. Listen in on a discussion about the barriers multilingual students face in meeting these expectations, the ways in which linguicism overlaps with racism to create disadvantage for some students, and the pressure the standard expectation of "critical thinking" puts on international students to acquire a selfhood that is rewarded in the North American context.

Watch this session

Bio: Vidya Natarajan teaches Writing and coordinates the Writing Program at King’s University College, London. Her research and creative writing focus on Writing pedagogy in relation to racial, gender, caste, and disability justice. She recently co-edited a special section of Discourse and Writing/Rédactologie with contributions from the 2021 CWCA/ACCR conference, and a special issue of The Peer Review on changing writing centre commonplaces in response to anti-oppressive frameworks.

Understanding the nuances of birth control from an EDI perspective. Birth control is incredibly complex physiologically, not to mention any added layers of intersectionality. This workshop will explore all the ways birth control is making strides for EDI and where contraceptives are lacking and how they can improve from an EDI lens. 

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Bio: Dallas is the Founder and CEO of Reya Health. She is a Reproductive Rights and Sexual Health Activist and Speaker, sought after globally for workshops, events, and keynotes in policy change and leadership in these topics. Dallas has her Bachelor of Commerce from the Sauder School of Business and has since spent her career in activism and innovation. Through StartUp Canada Women, she coaches marginalized entrepreneurs on business plan strategy and sits on the board of Femtech Canada, an organization that supports women’s health innovation in Canada.