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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

Equity Events

#LetsTalkEquity Book Club 

Join our Student Engagement and Equity team for our book club! The book club will run virtually bi-weekly and will encourage thought-provoking discussions about relevant real-world experiences and issues. The last novel we read was A House Without Windows by Nadia Hashimi. 

Check back soon for the next #LetsTalkEquity Book Club!

Attend the anti-racism and classism training workshops and learn how to understand tactics that will help you to deal with racism and ways to identify it. You'll foster a healthy conversation about systemic barriers, culture and diversity. Additonally, these workshops raise awareness of classism and the different resources Ontario Tech and the Durham Region community provide. It is an opportunity for you to learn and understand the different aspects of classism, racism and ways to identify the signs of a person dealing with classism.

Check back soon for workshop dates!

#WeGetConsent awareness week

The #WeGetConsent campaign happens annually in both the fall and winter sememsters and aims to spread the message of consent across our campus. 

Consent is as easy as FRIES:

Freely Given
Reversible
Informed
Enthusiastic
Specific

Consent is an active, direct, voluntary, unimpaired, and conscious choice and agreement to engage or continue in sexual activity. Consent to one act does not mean consent to another.

Consent:

  • Is never assumed or implied.
  • Is not silence or the absence of no.
  • Cannot be given if the person is impaired by alcohol or drugs, or unconscious.
  • Is required regardless of the parties’ relationship status or sexual history together.
  • Can be taken back, either through words (e.g. saying no) or body language (e.g. pushing someone away).
  • Can never be obtained through threats or coercion.
  • Cannot be given if the other person abuses a position of trust, power, or authority.

We invite you to make a pledge to take action to contribute to ending sexual violence and creating a culture of consent. 

Submit your CONSENT CULTURE PLEDGE

Every year, members of the university community come together to recommit their pledge to end sexual violence by focusing on preventing behaviours and attitudes that perpetuate sexual violence, such as apathetic bystanders, denigration of women, excusing those who commit sexual violence, sexism, strict gender roles, trivialization of sexual violence, victim-blaming and more.

Some examples of pledges that promote a positive message:

  • To acknowledge sexist attitudes and behaviours when they arise.
  • To always ask for consent.
  • To believe victims and survivors.
  • To challenge victim-blaming.
  • To educate myself on how to have conversations about consent.
  • To educate others if they joke about rape.
  • To learn more about campus resources for victims and survivors.
  • To respect a victim or survivor's choice to report or not report an incident.
  • To see myself as an empowered bystander and intervene when appropriate.

We would like to turn the narrative about sexual violence away from one that places the blame on the survivors. This narrative may sound like one that:

  • Tells people not to wear revealing clothing.
  • Tells people to not to walk alone at night.

Our narrative needs to focus on promoting messages such as:

  • Don’t commit sexual violence.
  • We all have a role in ending this.
When we change the way we think, discuss and react to sexual violence, we help create a community focused on preventing sexual violence.

16 Days of Activism begins on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until Human Rights Day. 

During the campaign we promote educational awareness of the impact of gender-based violence on communities, particularly marginalized communities and host a series of in-person and virtual educational sessions to engage the community, and focus on practical solutions we can take in addressing this issue to promote inclusion and belonging on campus.

There will be opportunities to join the conversation on our social media platforms. Follow us on Instagram  @yesmeansyesatdc and @otstudentlife for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence content. Learn more about 16 Days.

Content warning: We recognize that our audiences are people with lives, histories, and struggles that we are not privy to. As such our events will mention different forms of sexual violence, including sexual assault, sexual harassment, and murder. Please prioritize your health and well-being and take the space that you need for each event. Find resources and support for Durham College and for Ontario Tech.

Disclosure training: Supporting survivors of sexual violence 

The goal of this workshop is to develop effective and supportive responses to victims and survivors who disclose having experienced sexual and/or domestic violence to best maintain that individual's dignity and well-being. Learn more about upcoming training and register through the Student Life Portal. 

This workshop provides information on:

  • An overview of sexual and domestic violence and consent.
  • Advice on how to effectively support someone who has disclosed, e.g. what to say, and things to avoid saying.
  • Referring to appropriate support.
  • What happens after a referral.
  • Confidentiality and limitations.
  • Navigating the university's resources on sexual violence prevention.
  • Understanding how to support yourself after a disclosure.
  • Support services available for staff and students who receive disclosures.

Check back soon for upcoming dates!

If you are interested in having this workshop brought to your department or group or are a staff or faculty member that would like to attend, please email equity@ontariotechu.ca.

Man|Made is a Program facilitated by Durham Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC). This program is open to anyone who identifies as male who wants to engage in the discussion of consent, male allyship, and to promote awareness about violence against women.

Check back soon for upcoming dates!

Study with Pride 

In collaboration with Ontario Tech EngiQueers, Student Engagement and Equity will be hosting Study with Pride! All 2SLGBTQIA+ students and allies can come together, support each other and create a community of belonging.

Check back soon for upcoming dates!