Scarborough Charter
National Scarborough Charter on anti-Black racism and Black Inclusion in Higher Education: Principles, Actions, and Accountabilities
About the Scarborough Charter
The National Scarborough Charter on anti-Black racism and Black Inclusion in Higher Education: Principles, Actions, and Accountabilities is a commitment by institutions across Canada to combat anti-Black racism and foster Black inclusion in higher education. The Charter was a co-creation process involving extensive consultations and collaboration with Black communities, academic institutions, governments, political and civic leaders, and activists across Canada. The Charter recognizes the realities of anti-Black racism and includes concrete steps for action and to ensure institutional and cross-sector accountabilities.
The work we have done up to this point represents a start. We see our university’s support for the Scarborough Charter as an extension of a long-term commitment to empowering Black futures. This is work that strengthens all aspects of our campus and every member of our community.
Dr. Ed McCauley
President and Vice-Chancellor
This is a historic moment for Canadian higher education and UCalgary to move from commitment to action. I look forward to working with colleagues across campus and in the broader community to seeing these actions create meaningful change across the post-secondary sector.
Dr. Malinda Smith
Vice-Provost and Associate VP Research (EDI)
UCalgary Report on Progress, April 2024
The University of Calgary prepared a report for the second Inter-Institutional Forum (IIF) co-hosted by the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University. Dr. Malinda S. Smith, UCalgary's vice-provost of EDI, will serve as vice-chair of the second IIF.
This report summarizes some of the initiatives at UCalgary to support Black students, postdoctoral scholars, and academic staff on campus and in the broader community that align with the Charter's four principles and objectives.
- Promoting Intersectional Black Flourishing
- Fostering Inclusive Excellence
- Enabling Mutuality
- Ensuring Accountability
The Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion | UCalgary
National Dialogues and Action for Inclusive Higher Education and Communities
October 2020
2020 Report
Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion
Keynotes and Plenaries
Session Recordings
The Inter-Institutional Forum Business Meeting follows the November 2021 signing of the Scarborough Charter, a historic pledge to fight anti-Black racism and to promote Black inclusion in higher education. The Charter principles and actions address awareness of Black folks in academia, embrace our shared aspirations to address anti-Black racism, promote Black inclusion, and provide a concrete framework for delivering on our stated promise.
Attendees: Presidents, Provosts/VPs-Academic (Chief Academic Officers), and Institutional EDI Leads
May 13, 2022
Community Making and Black Flourishing Through the Scarborough Charter brings together four panels of administrators, faculty, advisors, students, and community activists for discussion. The event is an opportunity to engage with experts, thought leaders and activists on pathways for action on addressing anti-Black racism and promoting Black representation and flourishing in academia.
Attendees: Presidents, Provosts/VPs-Academic (Chief Academic Officers), and Institutional EDI Leads
May 14, 2022
Symposium recording
The 2024 Inter-Institutional Forum of the Scarborough Charter | May 9th + 10th, 2024
The University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University will be hosting the 2024 Inter-Institutional Forum of the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion in Canadian Higher Education.
Bridging Black: Building Connections for Black Flourishing
For the 2024 Scarborough Charter Inter-Institutional Forum, we have chosen the theme - Bridging Black. Our intention is to bridge the gaps in both learning and action and to build better connections between the different stakeholders at higher education institutions - senior administration, faculty, staff, students, and neighbouring Black communities.
Research Excellence
Engaging with various research bodies helps build concrete research supports. We are celebrating Black excellence and boosting equity and inclusive participation.
Studying anti-Black experiences at the university
Dr. Patrina Duhaney is leading a research project that aims to capture student, alumni, staff, sessional instructors and faculty members' experiences of anti-Black racism at UCalgary.
Unearthing the experiences of BIPOC in STEM fields
Dr. Jennifer D. Adams explores the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and racialized students in Western Canada within STEM fields.
Dr. Régine King's innovative program of research
Dr. Régine King is the recipient of the 2021 Killam Emerging Research Leader Award. One of UCalgary's most prestigious awards, she has been recognized for her various contributions in research and advancing social change.
Researching epilepsy in infants
Dr. Morris H. Scantlebury, MD, and Scantlebury Lab principal investigator, was awarded a CIHR grant to study the role of acid sensing ion channels in infantile spasms.
How to promote morally courageous behaviour at work
Dr. Tunde Ogunfowora, associate professor and researcher at the Haskayne School of Business, was recently published in the Journal of Organizational Behaviour. Ogunfowora and his colleagues found that ethical role modelling from a leader influences morally conscious behaviour by nurturing employee moral ownership and a sense of obligation to the organization.
Advance anti-racism work in cancer care
Doreen Ezeife and Régine King reflect on promising anti-racism practices for municipalities, and equity and diversity in medicine. O’Brien Institute for Public Health researchers are working to address anti-Black racism, and to promote health, equity, diversity and inclusion in government and health care.
Research team receives funds, New Frontiers in Research Fund
Professor Gideon Christian is the co-principal investigator for a research team exploring immigrant/racialized community mobilization towards empowerment through a community-based health data cooperative.
Qualified immunity: The engine that powers structural racism
Werklund School of Education doctoral student Sam Madesi is researching anti-Black racism invigorated by police brutality with the goal of deconstructing the power structures and social control practices that allow law enforcement agencies to surveil, repress, brutalize and kill members of the Black community.
Featured Research and Publications on Black Studies
In this important book, Harvey Amani Whitfield unearths the stories of men, women, and children who would not otherwise have found their way into written history. The individual lives mentioned come from various points of origin, including Africa, the West Indies, the Carolinas, the Chesapeake, and the northern states, showcasing the African experience in the Atlantic world.
The essays in Nuances of Blackness in the Canadian Academy make visible the submerged stories of Black life in academia. They offer fresh historical, social, and cultural insights into what it means to teach, learn, research, and work while Black. This unique collection contributes to articulating more nuanced understandings of how Blackness is made, unmade, and remade in the academy and the implications for interrelated dynamics across and within post-secondary education, Black communities in Canada, and global Black diasporas.
When a mudslide strands a train, Baxter, a queer Black sleeping car porter, must contend with the perils of white passengers, ghosts, and his secret love affair.
The Sleeping Car Porter brings to life an important part of Black history in North America from the perspective of a queer man living in a culture that renders him invisible in two ways. Affecting, imaginative, and visceral enough that you’ll feel the rocking of the train, The Sleeping Car Porter is a stunning accomplishment.
Carefully built lyric meditations combine beauty and ugliness, engaging with violence and displacement while seeking to build kinship and celebrate imagination. Weaving domestic and international settings, salient observation and potent memory, Umezurike immerses the reader in rich, precise imagery and a community of voices, ideas, and recollections. there’s more navigates immigrant life with a multifaceted awareness of joy, melancholia, loss, and hope.
Fostering Inclusive Excellence
The construction of affirming, accessible spaces is critical to fostering Black belonging and knowledge development. The university encourages Black and Black Canadian studies programs through community outreach, and combatting anti-Black racism through education for all members of the university.
Pathways to Black Flourishing
Future Black Law Students Access
The Black Student Admissions Process (BSAP) was introduced for the Fall 2021 admissions cycle in collaboration with and in response to the UCalgary Chapter of the Black Law Students’ Association (BLSA) Calls to Action released in June 2020. It addresses admissions reform to encourage and increase the number of BIPOC applicants to the law school.
Black Admissions Programs, Medicine
On June 15, the Calgary Black Medical Students’ Association (BMSA) released its Calls to Action to address institutionalized racism in medical education and health care. The Cumming School of Medicine (CSM), in collaboration with the Calgary BMSA, has established a Black Applicant Admissions Process (BAAP).
STEP – Support to Entry Program
The CSM recognizes the academy’s historic exclusion and discrimination against people who identify as Indigenous, Black, racialized minorities, 2SLGBTQ+, persons with diverse abilities and those facing financial barriers. STEP is designed to address barriers that equity-deserving groups encounter when preparing to enter medicine and related studies.
Dr. Wanda Thomas Bernard Leadership Scholarship
The Dr. Wanda Thomas Bernard Scholarship is one of three new Faculty of Social Work awards for Black students initiated by the Faculty of Social Work’s Anti-Black Racism Task Force.
Scholarship honours legacy of advocacy, action & excellence
Announcing the Dr. David Este Graduate Scholarship for Black Faculty of Social Work graduate students. Among his many accolades as an educator, Este was recognized with the Canadian Association of University Teachers’ Lee Lorch Award for excellence in teaching, research and service.
Rhodes Scholarship for 2022
Alumna Nicole Mfoafo-M'Carthy is 1 of just 11 Canadians to receive Rhodes Scholarship for 2022. The Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest and possibly most prestigious international scholarship program, enabling outstanding young people from around the world to pursue a postgraduate degree at the University of Oxford in England.
Postdoctoral Awards for Indigenous and Black Scholars
Congratulations to the recipients of the Inaugural recipients of Provost’s Postdoctoral Awards for Indigenous and Black Scholars for 2021.
UCalgary alumni inspires Black females to pursue law career
Storme Mckop says there were two main reasons for her starting the BLSA chapter. The first reason was to build a community and have support from other students with similar experiences. When she started the chapter, there were only five Black law students in all three years at UCalgary Law, and she was the only black student in her second year.
UCalgary alumni blazes trail for Black female lawyers
There are many reasons for someone to want to pursue law. For Patricia Sealy, LLB’98, the first Black woman in Alberta to receive a Queen’s Counsel (QC) appointment, the reason was simple: helping people.
Dr. Tito Daodu-First Black Woman Pediatric Surgeon in Canada
People who draw on their own experiences to make the world a better place for others are invaluable and Dr. Oluwatomilayo (Tito) Daodu is a poster girl for such people. She had a rough childhood and as the first Black female pediatric surgeon practicing in Canada at the Alberta’s Children’s Hospital Foundation, she wants to make surgical care accessible to all.
Dr. Umezurike is Brittle Paper’s 2021 Academic of the Year
Umezurike stands out in his ability to straddle the worlds of academia and mainstream literary culture. He supports fellow writers through published book reviews, interviews, and event curation. He delights readers with literary fiction, poetry, and children’s stories, having published 10 books.
Mirabelle Harris-Eze wins award for best student writing
Second-year student Mirabelle Harris-Eze has been awarded the JSD Tory Writing Award from the Windsor Review of Legal and Social Issues. The prize is presented to the two best student submissions to the journal.
NLNG Prize for Literary Criticism winner 20/21 Dr. Umezurike
- ’Self-Publishing in the era of military rule in Nigeria, 1985 – 1999′, Journal of African Cultural Studies (Volume 32, Issue 2, 2020)
- ‘Postcolonial Ogres in Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s Wizard of the Crow’, Postcolonial Text (Vol 13, No 2 – 2018) – available to read online here
- ‘Land of cemetery: funereal images in the poetry of Musa Idris Okpanachi’, Tydskrif vir Letterkunde (55, 2 – 2018) – available to read online here
Calgary Black Chambers' Achievement Award for STEM
STEM
An individual who excels in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math and who is creating opportunities for Black community members to get involved and join the field
2022 Winner: Dr. Jennifer Adams
Calgary Black Achievement Awards 2022 - Medicine
Medicine
An individual practicing in the Medical field works to improve the lives of their patients, their students, and research in the field.
2022 Winner: Dr. Kannin Osei-Tutu
UCalgary signs Jon Cornish, CFA, as 15th chancellor
Jon Cornish’s passion for supporting others, promoting inclusion, and building a better Calgary made him ideal for this key volunteer leadership position at UCalgary. Jon Cornish was voted Chancellor-Elect on April 21 and will officially take over the position on July 1, 2022. Chancellor is the university's most senior volunteer role, and the person appointed to the position acts as an ambassador for the facility.
The Black Student Admissions Process (BSAP)
Outgoing BLSA president, Keshia Holloman-Dawson, reflects on the achievements and highlights of the BLSA and the BSAP. In June 2020, Holloman-Dawson assumed leadership of the BLSA, where she and two other Black law students wrote the Calls to Action and started all initiatives.
Psychology Clinic, free therapy program for Black community
The University of Calgary Psychology Clinic and Kalonji are hosting a series of Let’s Talk! Black Mental Health workshops this summer, the next one being held July 5, live on Zoom. Workshop topics include a discussion of the challenges that affect the mental health of Black Albertans and how to access mental health services in Calgary.
New downtown pop-up creates dynamic space for Black youth
UCalgary faculties collaborate to promote racial and equity justice and create an inclusive space for Black youth on Stephen Avenue at the Calgary Design Clinic, which will be converted into a space for the Black Youth Summer Leadership program.
UCalgary Team Teaching Award honours Social Work professors
Dr. Régine King, PhD, and Dr. Patrina Duhaney, PhD, of the Faculty of Social Work (FSW) have been recognized as outstanding contributors to teaching and learning for their course, Africentric Perspectives in Social Work (SOWK 555.55). The course was developed as part of FSW’s commitment to social justice, equity and anti-racism.
2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize - The Sleeping Car Porter
Dr. Suzette Mayr has been named the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner for her novel, The Sleeping Car Porter. The announcement was made at a black-tie dinner and award ceremony in Toronto. The Scotiabank Giller Prize is Canada's most prestigious literary prize, recognizing excellence in Canadian fiction.
Black tech entrepreneur event series celebrates diverse perspectives and future leaders
A new events series is giving Black Albertan tech entrepreneurs a chance to pitch their businesses to investors and connect with peers in the industry. Its first event saw seven Black tech leaders pitch their ideas to a packed crowd of investors and peers, with competitors pitching for cash prizes and business support to help advance their companies.
Celebrating innovation in equity education at the Cumming School of Medicine
A new portfolio set to advance health equity, inclusion and anti-racism within the medical school. The portfolio was created to advance health equity, inclusion and anti-racism within the medical school and to action the school’s social accountability mandate externally.
UCalgary English prof hopes to spread awareness about migrant challenges through poetry
Dr. Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike, winner of the 2021 Provost Award for Indigenous and Black Scholars, was inspired to write his new book, there’s more, after reading news reports of immigrants and refugees dying while trying to get to a new home.
Science student wins Ted Rogers Future Leaders Scholarship
The third-year neuroscience student is making his mark not only academically at UCalgary, but also in his community. Igoniderigha has been recognized for his outstanding achievements in community leadership and academic excellence by winning the prestigious Ted Rogers Future Leaders Scholarship, valued at $26,800.
UCalgary student recognized by McCall MacBain Awards
Ganiyat Sadiq received an Alberta Regional Award valued at $5,000 for use at any public university in Canada. Sadiq has advocated and shown leadership on issues ranging from anti-racism activism and gender equality to anti-Islamophobia activism.
People of the Brutal + Messy History of Slavery in Maritimes
The story of slavery in Canada is often distorted by an American narrative or told as a collective experience. A UCalgary scholar gets specific by meticulously detailing the lives of hundreds of enslaved people in the Maritimes. Their stories were collected by Dr. Harvey Amani Whitfield, PhD, for his book, Biographical Dictionary of Enslaved Black People in the Maritimes from the University of Toronto Press.
CW record and Dinos claim team bronze
Dawn Richardson Wilson broke a school and conference record to headline a strong final day of action by the University of Calgary Dinos track & field team from the 2023 Canada West Championships, hosted by the Saskatchewan Huskies inside the Saskatoon Field House.
From Waste to Wealth
Tinuke Chineme, MSc’18, a PhD candidate in environmental design at the UCalgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, implements a black soldier fly biowaste treatment method in Tanzania that empowers women and could positively impact human health and the environment.
Ebenezer Belayneh
Inaugural Black Scholars Reception celebrates vision, courage and inclusive excellence
Energy and joy filled MacKimmie Tower conference rooms as the inaugural Black Scholars Reception: Celebrating Vision, Courage, and Inclusive Excellence at the University of Calgary was hosted by Dr. Malinda Smith, vice-provost and associate vice-president research (equity, diversity and inclusion).
The event gathered Black scholars, faculty, staff and students in a meet-and-greet with UCalgary senior leadership and deans for an afternoon of connection, networking and celebration.
Influential community leaders honoured at the 2023 Calgary Black Achievement Awards
Honoured at the June 9 ceremony were Dr. Malinda Smith, PhD, UCalgary’s vice-provost and associate vice-president research (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) and a professor of political science; Dr. Charles Odame-Ankrah, PhD’15, an air quality research chemist with the Faculty of Science; Sinit Abraha, BA’23, a recent political science graduate; and Ezeoha Santiago, BComm’23, a member of the Dinos basketball team.
- Dr. Malinda Smith - Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honour of the evening
- Dr. Charles Odame-Ankrah - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Award
- Ms. Sinit Abraha - Youth Achievement Award
- Mr. Ezeoha Santiago - Sports & Athletics Award
Calgary Black Chambers
Initiatives at UCalgary
The university's commitment to the four principles of the Charter apply to several areas and structures at all levels of the institution from within and beyond the community.
African Studies
The minor program is important to UCalgary’s commitment to African Studies. UCalgary was one of the first institutions in Canada to offer a minor in African Studies 30 years ago. Course offerings increased in number after Faculty of Arts students developed a successful proposal in 2021 for a grant from the Student’s Union Quality Money Program
Indigenous and Black Engineering Technology PhD Project
This partnership, known as the Indigenous and Black Engineering and Technology PhD Project (IBET), will provide financial support and foster a supportive, respectful community for its fellows. The IBET PhD Project is intended to foster equitable and inclusive research environments to increase the presence of Indigenous and Black academics in STEM.
Provost’s Postdoctoral Awards for Indigenous and Black Scholars
The Provost’s Postdoctoral Awards for Indigenous and Black Scholars are an integral element of the University of Calgary’s commitment to creating and supporting Equitable Pathways to produce the next generation of diverse researchers and community-engaged scholarship.
UCalgary African Studies program set for significant growth
A proposal - developed by fifth-year Economics and Global Development Studies student Ebenezer Belayneh and second-year Sociology student Prudence Iticka - has led to a $400,000 grant from the Students' Union Quality Money Program to develop the African Studies program.
'Everybody benefits from learning about Africa': U of C students advocate to expand the African Studies program
For more than two decades, only two African studies courses have been available at the U of C, and for the past decade, they've been taught by just one professor. Students say they hope an expansion of the program would mean more classes and more teachers.
The expansion of the African Studies program is now a reality
The funding will now open new opportunities for the entire UCalgary community and will provide a more in-depth understanding of African culture, community and traditions that have been historically overlooked through the new courses that will become available starting the 2022-23 academic year.
Dimensions: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Canada
The University of Calgary is proud to have endorsed the Dimensions: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Canada charter and selected to be part of the Dimensions pilot program.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Research and Teaching Awards
The University of Calgary Research and Teaching Awards Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Plan was developed to embed a foundational commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) to identify and nominate candidates for external research and teaching excellence awards.
EDI Data Hub
To achieve an equitable, diverse, and inclusive university, critical demographic data must be collected, and efforts to identify and close the diversity gaps must be tracked.
Community Engagement
We are developing equitable pathways for access to higher education for Black students through community partnerships with Black-led organizations.
Student Communities
BE-STEMM 2023
Platinum sponsor UCalgary supports the objectives of the BE-STEMM 2023 Conference. Both locally and nationally, now is an opportune time to promote excellence in STEMM by Black Canadians.
Black History Month - Ours to Tell
This theme represents both an opportunity to engage in open dialogue and a commitment to learning more about the stories Black communities in Canada have to tell about their histories, successes, sacrifices and triumphs.
Taking Action Against Anti-Black Racism
Universities have a major role in responding to anti-Black racism, systemic racism, and racial violence. The resources on these pages aim to disrupt a single story of the Black experience shaped by stereotypes and a deficit narrative.
A snapshot of Representation of Black Scholars
The University of Calgary is committed to data transparency. Data is collected via an expanded Employment Equity Census and a Student Equity Census and shared via the EDI dashboard and EDI infographics. The UCalgary also draws on Census and other higher education statistics.
Adapted from Universities Canada. EDI at Canadian Universities
Adapted from Universities Canada. EDI at Canadian Universities
Note: Where groups do not equal 100%, respondents are accounted for in more than one group
Statistical Profiles of the Black Population in Canada
- A socioeconomic portrait of Canada's Black population
Statistics Canada. 2020. February 25 - Canada's Black population: Education, labour and resilience
Statistics Canada. 2020. February 25 - Results from the 2016 Census: Education and labour market integration of Black youth in Canada (Martin Turcotte)
Statistics Canada. 2020. February 25 - Diversity of the Black population in Canada: An overview
Statistics Canada. 2019. February 27 - Canada's Black population: Growing in number and diversity
Statistics Canada. 2019. February 6 - Blacks in Canada: A Long History (By Anne Milan and Kelly Tran)
Statistics Canada. 2004. Spring - Experiences of discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic Statistics Canada. 2020. September 17
- Canada up Close: What We Can Learn From Disaggregated Data Statistics Canada. 2020. September 10
Visit Statistics Canada’s Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics for more information.
Media
Governance Hack Episode #2 - The Unsettling University Governance Project
Governance Hack with Handel Kashope Wright
Guests - Dr. Malinda Smith and Dr. Wisdom Tettey
August 2, 2023 | The Unsettling University Governance Project
How colleges and universities can support Black flourishing
by Alexa Battler | University of Toronto Scarborough News
May 18, 2022
2 min. read
‘Believe us when we bring stuff up’
By Nathan Bawaan | The Ubyssey
May 15, 2022
3 min. read
UBC, 1st ever forum-Scarborough Charter on anti-Black racism
By Ashley Moliere | CBC News
May 14, 2022
3 min. read
A pledge to fight anti-Black racism, promote Black inclusion
by Ron Fanfair | RON FANFAIR
December 20, 2021
5 min. read
Universities, colleges pledge to address anti-Black racism
by CBC News Canada
December 18, 2021
2 min. read
Scarborough Charter shows effort to deal with anti-Blackness
by Tayo Bero | University Affairs
December 02, 2021
3 min. read
Scarborough Charter-rise inclusion, ensure Black flourishing
academica group
November 22, 2021
1 min. read
Univ + colleges sign charter to address anti-Black racism
By Maan Alhmidi | The Canadian Press
November 18, 2021
3 min. read
UCalgary signs Scarborough Charter
Calgary Eyeopener with David Gray, Angela Knight
Guest - Dr. Malinda Smith
November 18, 2021 | Signing the Scarborough Charter
Scarborough Charter on anti-Black racism and Black inclusion
by Universities Canada
November 18, 2021
2 min. read
National dialogues anti-Black racism action, accountability
by Advancement Staff | UToday
September 23, 2020
4 min. read
Yukoners join dialogue, anti-Black racism - higher education
by Yukon University
September 21, 2020
2 min. read