2021 March 21st Campaign: Rise Up

Marking the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Initiative Background

The Centre for Race and Culture is pleased to bring together scholars, artists and community leaders to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. In this half-day event, we will host conversations on racism and building collective capacity to achieve equity and social justice in the Canadian context.

Program Outline (12:00 pm — 3:45 pm mountain time)

Roundtable: How to Build Collective Capacity to Achieve Racial Equity (12:00pm – 1:00pm)

In conversation with:

Dr. Jennifer Long, Assistant Professor in Cultural Anthropology, MacEwan University

Irfan Chaudhry, Director, Office of Human Rights, Diversity, and Equity, MacEwan University

Keynote: “Past, Present, Future: Looking to Our Past to Imagine a New Approach to Anti-racism Work in Canada” (1:15pm – 2:00 pm)

Keynote and Q&A with Dr. Christopher Taylor, Department of History and the Arts First program, University of Waterloo

In this facilitated keynote, Dr. Christopher Stuart Taylor will lead us on a journey of the history of race and racism, settler colonialism, exclusion, and xenophobia in Canada. He will leave us with some ‘food for thought’ on the present-day realities of racism experienced by Black newcomers and Canadians. This action-oriented talk will challenge us to confront and challenge white supremacy in our society.

Art for Social Justice (2:15 pm – 3:00 pm)

A Conversation with Dawn Marie Marchand, artist, Paul Roberts, filmmaker, and Abdul Malik, photojournalist and filmmaker.

Art as an Act of Social Change (3:00 pm – 3:45 pm)

Art-therapy, self-reflection and achieving social justice with Dr. Shiva Zarezadeh.

Initiative Funders

This initiative is supported by Edmonton Community Foundation.