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UTSC Race & Faith Dialogue: Questioning the State’s Actions Impacting Minority Religious Groups

29 January, 1-2:30 pm
Academic Resource Centre, AC227 (Behind Lecture hall AC223)
1265 Military Trail

For this student-led discussion, we will be talking about state actions that impact minority religious groups. What is the purpose of state regulations that primarily affect religious minorities? Who are they specifically targeting and why those groups? What is the impact on the members of these minority religious groups and the rest of the society? Finally, how can we as citizens be involved in state processes, especially related to restrictions on religious minorities?

*The event is organized in collaboration with the Equity & Diversity Office of UTSC
**All are welcome! Light refreshments provided.

UTM Race & Faith Dialogue: How Can Faith Communities Challenge Racist Attitudes?

24 January, 3-4:30 pm
North Building, NE4107
1555 Outer Circle Rd.

For this student-led discussion, we will be exploring the question on how faith groups can facilitate racist attitudes and challenge them. We will be discussing how some entities drive members of certain faith communities to generate racist biases and prejudices. For example, how are black Muslims treated differently from Arab Muslims? Or how are Ethiopian Jews treated differently in Israel from the rest of the Jewish community? Most importantly, we will discuss what kind of responses faith communities can provide to counter these attitudes. Finally, we seek to share strategies to challenge these racist attitudes on an individual level.

*The event is organized in collaboration with the Equity & Diversity Office of UTM
**All are welcome! Light refreshments provided.

UTSG Race & Faith Dialogue: Exploring the Intersection of Race & Religion

16 January, 4:30-6 pm
University College Union, Walden Room
79 St. George St (enter through Centre for Drama & Performance Studies)

For this student-led discussion, we will be exploring the intersections of race and religion. How do we define them? How do the phenomena of race and religion overlap? Should the conversation of racism and discrimination based on religion be treated equally, or is it more appropriate to keep them separate? What implications would that have?

*The event is organized in collaboration with the Multi-Faith Centre
**All are welcome! Refreshments provided.

White Supremacy and the Alt-Right: Community Leaders and Our Response to Hate Groups in Canada

Hart House, Music Room, 7 Hart House Circle

With recent attacks on targeted minorities, including the murder several weeks ago of 11 Jews in a synagogue in Pittsburgh, we must look more closely at both historical white supremacy and its manifestations today. Canada is not immune: Reported hate crimes in Canada rose 47% between 2015 and 2016. White nationalist Toronto mayoral candidate Faith Goldy received over 25,000 votes. Why is white supremacy reappearing in Canada? Is it possible for riots like Charlottesville’s to appear in the streets of downtown Toronto? Panelists will discuss hate crimes and the alt-right on a campus, municipal, and national level, as well as community responses from the Jewish, Muslim, First Nations, and Black communities, among others.

Featuring The Mosaic Institute’s former CEO and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Bernie Farber; recipient of the J.S. Woodsworth Award for Human Rights Farheen Kahn; Human Rights Consultant and President of JSpace Canada Karen Mock, Chair of The International Network on Hate Studies and Director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism at UOIT, Dr. Barbara Perry. Other speakers TBD

Dessert reception with pastries, coffee and tea will follow the event to continue the dialogue. Co-sponsored by Hillel UofT, The Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office, the Multi-Faith Centre, and Hart House.

Challenging Islamophobia: How we can be allies when confronted with racism

Do you find yourself wondering “What is Islamophobia”? Have you seen instances of Islamophobia and wondered what you could have done? Do you want to understand more about Islamophobia, and most importantly, do you want to learn how to become an ally in the face of Islamophobia? Join us on November 14th at the Multi-Faith Centre from 5PM-7PM to discuss these questions and issues in a safe, friendly environment!

This session will be led by Rania El Mugammar, an experienced anti-oppression, equity, inclusion and liberation educator and consultant who is unflinchingly committed to decolonization and freedom as the ultimate goals of her work. In addition to working extensively with a range of institutions from enterprises, education institutions and collectives, Rania’s work has also been featured in Canadian media outlets like CBC, Toronto Star and CTV. More information about Rania can be found at http://raniawrites.com

This workshop is a collaboration between the Multi-Faith Centre, Anti-Racism & Cultural Diversity Office, The Muslim Chaplaincy, Muslim Student’s Association, and Discussion of the Quran.

Please register by email multi.faith@utoronto.ca