A message to the Laurier community for Black History Month

Jan. 23, 2025

Dear Laurier community:

Each February as we pause to mark Black History Month, we are encouraged to reflect on the histories and contributions of Black people nationally and internationally. This year, the theme of “Black Legacy and Leadership: Celebrating Canadian History and Uplifting Future Generations” reminds us that Black histories are not separate from but rather are indelibly intertwined with Canadian histories.

From Black people’s forced arrival as enslaved Africans beginning in the seventeenth century to their more recent arrivals from the Caribbean, continental Africa and elsewhere, they have helped to shape the Canada we share today into a more just and equitable society.

In “Becoming Part of the Town and Gown,” Tedla Desta, a former postdoctoral fellow at Laurier who researched the university’s institutional history as part of the Laurier Legacy Project, traces the Black community in the Kitchener-Waterloo region to the early 1800s and notes the growing number of Black and other racialized international students at Laurier (then Waterloo College and Waterloo Lutheran University) in the 1950s and 1960s. “The Black students of this institution,” Desta argues, “made an indelible impact on both the campus and the community.” 

The persistence of Black people’s “freedom dreams,” indeed, allows all Canadians to work toward the creation of a better world for present and future generations. Understanding that Black freedom cannot be contingent on any other group’s unfreedom, it is also important to acknowledge that people of African descent, whether they are part of a historical or contemporary diaspora, must stand in allyship with the Indigenous Peoples of this land.

My deepest thanks to the faculty, staff and students at Laurier who have organized and planned events to facilitate learning and dialogue throughout the month. I’d like to highlight three of these events organized in partnership with our local communities.

The Beating the Odds Conference (BTO) is an annual event organized by the Black Student Association, a student collective under the Centre for Student Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (CSEDI) at Laurier’s Waterloo campus, with support from the Dean of Students Office and Alumni and Community Engagement. BTO is an all-day conference that this year, in celebration of its 20th anniversary, will host close to 450 local high school students to facilitate access to postsecondary education and inspire them to follow their passions through educational, motivational, and skill-building programming.

EDI Faculty Colleagues, Brantford Campus, in collaboration with Laurier International, the Tshepo Institute for the Study of Contemporary Africa, Laurier Student Services, and Conestoga College are hosting a Black History Month celebration, “Black Resistance: Spreading Black Joy,” on Feb. 13 in the One Market Atrium. The event includes an interactive drumming and dancing session led by Kwashie Kuwor, an anthropo-choreologist and senior lecturer in the School of Performing Arts at the University of Ghana and a visiting professor in Laurier’s Faculty of Music.

Laurier's second annual Black Brilliance Elementary Conference is a partnership with the Waterloo Region District School Board, Tshepo Institute, and Office of the Associate Vice President: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. The conference connects African, Caribbean, and Black-identifying elementary students with Laurier’s faculty, staff and students, helping to foster a sense of belonging and representation and a university environment that is accessible and welcoming.

The Honourable Jean Augustine joins us on Feb. 28 from 2 to 4 p.m. for this year’s first presentation of the Lamine Diallo speaker series, offered by the Office of the AVP: EDI in collaboration with the Tshepo Institute. The hybrid event will include a screening of her documentary,  Steadfast: The Messenger and the Message, followed by a talk. Augustine is a trailblazing politician, social justice activist and educator. She was the first Black Canadian female member of parliament and cabinet minister elected to Canada's House of Commons in 1993. In 1995, she led the federal motion to establish February as Black History Month in Canada. In her political and community life and leadership, she embodied the principles of equity and inclusion and supported the work of advocacy and social justice authentically over decades. 

As we celebrate Black history and the contributions and cultures of Black people in Canada and beyond, and highlight the work of Laurier’s Black faculty, students, staff and alumni, let’s commit to education and action that go beyond a single month. The “anatomy of prejudices”—sexism, homophobia, class and religious oppression, and racism—are intertwined, and we must work collectively to create the kind of world where all of us are free.

Andrea A. Davis, PhD
Associate Vice President: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion