Trent has always been a university committed to human rights, equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) – a vision that was reinforced by the University with the establishment of the Anti-Racism Task Force (ARTF) in October 2020.  The University’s focus on EDI through the ARTF and other pan-campus initiatives are emphasized in light of recent world events.

As Dr. Leo Groarke, president and vice-chancellor of Trent, has said, “We are a university community which thinks, discusses, challenges (ourselves as well as others), and acts for a better world. Diversity is our strength.”

The purpose of the ARTF is to make recommendations that Trent can adopt to remove identified barriers and provide a comprehensive move-forward agenda as related to anti-racism issues while celebrating the diversity we have at Trent. The membership of ARTF includes student, faculty, and administrative staff representatives from across the University.

Processes to invite opinions and feedback

As a first step, the Task Force is assessing the current campus environment (learning, living, working) as experienced by racialized and non-racialized students, faculty and staff, to identify Trent’s race-related culture.

“We have recently completed our Campus Climate Survey which received 1,238 responses and we look forward to reviewing that data to further guide our planning,” says Tariq Al-idrissi, ARTF chair and associate vice president of IT at Trent. “We are excited to be moving forward with Open and Closed Listening Sessions with Dr. Kimberly Barrett. Open sessions will include all students, staff and faculty while closed sessions can be requested by any University group. We are in the process of inviting different ethnocultural and racialized groups to engage with us during this consultation.”

The ARTF will come forward with a final report and recommendations in the fall of 2021.

Support and resources available

There are several resources available to students, staff and faculty who wish to talk to someone about these issues. Individuals can contact any of the following:

• Trent Counselling – Peterborough: email counselling@trentu.ca
• Trent Counselling – Durham: email durham@trentu.ca
• Trent Human Rights, Equity, and Accessibility: email tharrington@trentu.ca
• First Peoples House of Learning: email: fphl@trentu.ca
• Trent International: email: international@trentu.ca

There are also several resources available online on the topic of equity, diversity and inclusion, such as:

• Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) - Racism and racial discrimination: Systemic Discrimination (Fact Sheet)
• Dimensions: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Canada Charter
• Equity, diversity and inclusion at Canadian universities - Report on the 2019 national survey
• Community Race Relations: email: racerelations@gmail.com
• Asian Mental Health Collective
• Chinese Canadian National Council on Social Justice
• Self-care readings and resources for People of Colour