Friday, June 19, 2020
Located on unceded and unsurrendered Algonquin Territory, the APTPUO represents part-time professors on the campuses of the University of Ottawa.
The APTPUO expresses firm solidarity with those presently fighting for equality and racial justice in the United States, in Canada, and throughout the world. Black Lives Matter. Black, Indigenous, and People of colour (BIPOC) on the Campus of our University and everywhere in the world have long highlighted the systematic racism in our institutions. As recently as last Fall 2019, a Black student was handcuffed and arrested on campus as a result of a carding incident, which is but one example of a discriminatory practice that has long used by authorities in Canada to intimidate and inflict violence on BIPOC. You can read more about the Fall 2019 incident and a similar incident that occured in September of the same year by clicking on the following links:
- ‘Humiliating’: Black uOttawa student handcuffed in campus carding incident
- U of O student carded by security officer in his own residence building
We know from the grievance process that BIPOC are more likely to have their labour rights violated. Anti-black racism, specifically, is witnessed in the classroom, on course evaluations, and in hiring and promotion matters throughout Academia. (See #BlackintheIvory)
We demand that the University of Ottawa collect information on BIPOC full-time and part-time professors on an annual basis and that it makes that information in an aggregate format available to the community. We also demand that administrators and hiring committees receive anti-bias training to address subconscious biases to improve hiring practices. Finally, we demand that the University proactively hire BIPOC part-time professors into secure employment positions until existing inequities are eliminated.