StFX Scholar Strike
/On September 9 and 10, 2020, scholars at universities across Canada stepped out of their virtual and physical classrooms to protest racism and police brutality in North America. They paused their teaching and administrative duties, and instead organized marches, demonstrations, and teach-ins in support of a list of demands. Those demands include: defunding the police and redistributing the resources to BIPOC, queer, and trans communities; removing campus police; addressing the underrepresentation of BIPOC faculty at Canadian institutions; and committing to actively “recruit, admit, retain, and mentor” BIPOC students.
The Scholar Strike Canada website states that the concept was inspired by a tweet from Dr. Anthea Butler, who was inspired by the recent WNBA and NBA strike. Dr. Butler’s call for a similar labour action from academics quickly garnered attention, and spurred action in the U.S (her home country) as well as in Canada, where the nation-wide strike was organized by Beverly Bain and Min Sook Lee.
Photo by Addy Strickland
Desmond Cole, a Canadian journalist, author, and activist, gave the keynote to kick off the Canadian strike and teach-ins on September 9. Titled “Abolition or death: Confronting police forces in Canada,” the keynote asked “who is being policed in Canada and why?” The answer is the motivation behind ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, and the driving force behind the fight to abolish the police. Cole spends three minutes of the talk listing the everyday ways in which police violence is perpetuated:
“It’s the arrests and assaults on us that are then documented as assaults against the police … It’s the routine sexual assaults of women by police officers because they know that they can get away with it … It’s the clearing out of homeless encampments during a global pandemic because people who own property don’t want to see homeless people around them ... It’s the thousands of black people in this country who can’t apply for jobs because they have a criminal record for possessing or selling marijuana ... It’s the police intimidation of non-status families, who want to send their kids to school but don’t, because they are scared of being deported.”
Abolition isn’t about money, Cole says; it’s “about our lives.”
Scholars at StFX were quick to join the strike, and support the calls to action. Following Cole’s keynote, dozens of faculty, staff, students, and community members met masked and social-distanced in front of the Coady International Institute. Organized by Dr. Corrine Cash and Dr. Donna Trembinski, the gathering highlighted the voices of people of colour, featuring speeches from Denton Anthony, Tara Reddick, Dhruv Patel, Ornella Nzindukiyimana, and Wendy Mackey. Dr. Cash was very pleased with the turnout, seeing various athletic teams, coaches, and community members out in support alongside faculty and students.
In her own speech, Dr. Cash called for StFX administration to “create a multiracial committee that conducts an audit of all facets of the university to identity racism, discriminations.” She shared that she hopes a study of this kind could be used to inform real action, in the form of a
strategic plan aimed at obliterating racism and discrimination on campus. Dr. Cash encourages anyone who wishes to see the same to email StFX President Dr. Andy Hakin, and let him know.
The event comes at a pressing time for StFX, following the announcement of an increased RCMP presence on campus. A number of the event’s speakers explicitly condemned the school’s decision to allow RCMP on campus, and the province’s decision to involve them in check-ins for isolating students.
Photo by Addy Strickland
Following the speeches, the organizers led a march through campus, stopping to chant “Black Lives Matter” and “no justice, no peace” in front of Dr. Hakin’s office, as well as across from the RCMP station on West Street.
In an interesting turn of events, members of the school’s upper administration, including President Hakin and Academic Vice President Kevin Wamsley, were also present at the march. Donna Trambinski shares that “it was great to see them, but they’re putting into practice policies that are problematic for people of colour on campus.” Attending a march is one thing, but actually doing the work to ensure a safe and equitable campus environment is something else entirely. “It would be really nice to see them do something, and to respond to the problematic announcement of RCMP on campus,” shared Trembinski.
It is evident in their enthusiastic participation that many StFX faculty, staff, and students wish to see an end to racism and discrimination on campus. The question now, is what will it take for that to happen, and how much more of a push do administration need to act?
