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George Brown College bolstered its ongoing work in promoting racial equity on Wednesday by joining a Canada-wide alliance of educational institutions in their fight against anti-Black racism by signing the Scarborough Charter.
GBC President Dr. Gervan Fearon signed the charter via a virtual signing event held on November 18 to join more than 30 post-secondary institutions across Canada.
“The Scarborough Charter articulates areas of focus and principles that by signing we are committing to support and promote more inclusive post-secondary educational institutions,” said Fearon in an emailed statement to the Dialog. “The principles outlined in the charter will guide us as we take meaningful action to address systemic racism and build a more inclusive and equitable community in which to work and learn.”
The process of formulating the building blocks of the initiative titled Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion in Canadian Higher Education, was set in motion in the summer of 2020 at the National Dialogues and Action for Inclusive Higher Education and Communities.
A number of universities, colleges and partner institutions took part in the event with the goal of creating concrete, actionable steps to eradicate anti-Black racism from their respective institutions.
The charter was prepared in phases over a year of collaborative and collective work, feedback from students, faculty, staff, senior leadership of partner institutions, sector-wide bodies, Black political and civic leaders and organizations from outside the academic sector.
Fearon, who was the president and vice-chancellor of Brock University at the time of the National Dialogues in 2020, undertook the responsibilities of a member of the Inter-Institutional Advisory Committee of the initiative.
In a statement, Dr. Fearon, now the President of GBC said, “As Canadians, we share the hope of building an inclusive society with institutions that empower all individuals to contribute to their own betterment and to the prosperity of their communities and society at large.”
“The Scarborough Charter speaks to this shared value. It challenges us to think about our own response and role in contributing to an exemplary society that, through its effort and practices, inspires the next generation and the world,” he added.
The charter identifies Black flourishing, inclusive excellence, mutuality and accountability as the four overarching principles in their initiatives and actions.
All participating institutions are called to strategize their individual action plans guided by these four principles.
The charter outlines a number of actionable steps to be implemented in all participating institutions.
These steps are to be implemented in governance, research, teaching and learning, and community engagement at the different participating educational institutions.
Promoting Black student leadership, mentorship, encouragement and sponsorship of Black faculty and staff, reviewing dispute resolution processes and disciplinary measures to redress anti-Black racism – are some of the steps agreed upon by the signatories of the charter, in order to promote intersectional Black flourishing.
The charter also commits to commissioning academically rigorous and community inclusive task forces to conduct independent studies of the histories of slavery, colonialism and racial injustice with a mandate to include recommendations that promote inclusive higher education.
The charter emphasizes on encouraging the emergence of Black and Black Canadian studies programs, while promoting curricular development across academic disciplines that decentres epistemic Eurocentrism.
The charter also calls for providing Anti-Black racism education for all members of the participating universities or colleges.
In order to create more accountability within different systems, the charter stresses on exercising caution regarding systemic inequalities and racial biases that may be perpetuated within artificial intelligence, big data, surveillance and other technological advances.
The charter acknowledges the need for deepening the understanding of technological inequities in all institutions.
Among other steps against Anti-Black racism, the charter mandates collecting specific data on the representation of Black researchers on research teams, in research grant awards, in research chairs and fellowships.
Going forward, each participating institution would determine its own internal requirements for signing the Scarborough Charter.
