The University of Alberta community acknowledges the pain, grief, anger and fears of our students, faculty, and staff as we witness the recent events in the United States and Canada. We condemn anti-Black racism and stand with Black communities in demanding justice and progress on equity for racialized members of our society.
We do not have the luxury of viewing these events as something that only happens elsewhere. Members of Black, Indigenous and other racialized communities within Alberta and Canada regularly experience incidents ranging from microaggressions to outright violence. The recent events have starkly reinforced the urgency of the work needed to eliminate systemic and societal racism whose legacies and presence continue to shape Canadian and American society.
The U of A is committed to uplifting the whole people. That includes our work and efforts to ensure equity, diversity, and inclusion are woven into the fabric of everything we do, and to support important research on intersectionality to understand and remove barriers. We will continue to listen to racialized and Indigenous members of our community to better understand your experiences, acknowledge the barriers, and act on our responsibilities to bear witness and work to help end systemic racism and discrimination. We all have work to do to transform our communities and close the gaps of inequity, and we commit to doing our part.
David H. Turpin
President and Vice-Chancellor