https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ivan-Okello-RJS-Feb-8-2021.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\nThe Racial Justice Symposium is open to the public, and features three days of talks and panels from Black leaders and researchers in Atlantic Canada.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s keynote speaker is Dr. Ornella Nzindukiyimana, Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Kinetics at St. Francis Xavier University. Okello says Nzindukiyimana\u2019s work deals with the experience of the Black Canadian community in sports. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the pieces that is not considered so much in the inclusion conversation within Canada,\u201d says Okello.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow, the keynote speaker is Dr. OmiSoore H. Dryden, Chair in Black Canadian Studies at Dalhousie University. Dryden\u2019s research focusses on Black LGBTQI people and HIV vulnerability within Black diasporic communities in Canada.<\/p>\n
Her focus on health issues is timely, says Okello. \u201cSince the pandemic began, we\u2019ve had a lot of information that keeps coming up around the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on the black community,\u201d says Okello. \u201cThere\u2019s no better person to speak to this kind of work than Dr. OmiSoore Dryden.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event also features panels discussions, including a roundtable exclusively for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of colour) communities to share, \u201cstories of resistance and healing\u201d around anti-Black racism.<\/p>\n
Okello says the idea is to, \u201callow a platform where people can bring their lived experiences, and be accepted for what those lived experiences are. And just be allowed to feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
The symposium is offered in collaboration with the Maple League of Universities, including Mount Allison, Acadia, St. Francis Xavier, and Bishop\u2019s. But sessions are also open to members of the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really love to have members of the Sackville community as well join us, because we believe this is a very important conversation that needs to be had on campus, but also in the community,\u201d says Okello.<\/p>\n
You can find\u00a0more information and links to the sessions here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today at noon, the pan-African flag will be raised at Mount Allison university in a virtual ceremony that will kick off the school\u2019s first Racial Justice Symposium. Here\u2019s Ivan Okello, Mount Allison\u2019s Black Student Advisor and Diversity Educator, talking about the event on Tantramar Report: The Racial Justice Symposium is open to the public, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":38084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,221,3265],"tags":[],"radio":[227],"origine":[274,275,277],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38078"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38078"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=38078"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=38078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}