Equity & Judicial

Equity

Equity Office


The Equity Officer is available to students, staff, and faculty. The fundamental objective of the Equity Office is to prevent discrimination, sexual harassment, and personal harassment from occurring.

The Equity Officer's Roles and Responsibilities are:

  • Take reasonable steps to protect the health, safety, and security of any member of the University community in relation to the Harassment & Discrimination Policy.
  • Receive, investigate, and resolve complaints by informal resolution, mediation, or formal complaint.
  • Provide and promote programs that raise campus awareness of the nature of, and problems associated with, discrimination, sexual harassment, and personal harassment and educate those in positions of responsibility in the objectives and implementation of the policy.

Acadia University's Policy Against Harassment & Discrimination

  • The purpose of the policy is to provide and maintain a learning and work environment free from discrimination, sexual harassment, and personal harassment. These behaviours are demeaning and degrading.
  • All members of the University community have the right to learn and work in an environment free from discrimination, sexual harassment, and personal harassment.
  • The University and all members of the University community share responsibility for ensuring that the work and learning environment of Acadia is free from discrimination, sexual harassment, and personal harassment.

"The better we understand how identities and power work together from one context to another, the less likely our movements for change are to fracture." — Kimberle Williams Crenshaw


News

The residential school system was created by the Canadian government and administered by the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. These institutions had the objective of "educating" Indigenous children while forcing and indoctrinating them into Euro-Canadian and Christian ways of life.

This time last year, I was writing a piece for Juneteenth with the murder of George Floyd so fresh and seemingly tangible – as if I had been there and I was asking myself “What even is freedom?” I scolded myself then and said that freedom is what my ancestors fought for, freedom is what I have. Today, a year later, I realize that my ancestors fought for much more than this.

On Wednesday, January 27, 2021 join your Acadia Community as we mark the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This day is an international Memorial Day commemorating the tragedy of the Holocaust that occurred during the Second World War. It commemorates the genocide that resulted in the deaths of 6 million Jewish people, by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

Thirty-one years ago, fourteen young women were targeted and killed because of their gender in a mass shooting at l'École Polytechnique de Montréal (December 6, 1989). This hate crime led Parliament to designate December 6 as The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women.

Today, November 20, 2020 is International Trans Day of Remembrance. On this day communities across the world hold vigil and commemorate trans and non-binary individuals who have died because of transphobia and anti-trans violence. In 1998 a Black trans woman, Rita Hester was murdered, just two days before her 35th birthday. Ever since, November 20th has been a day to pay respect and remember transgender and gender-diverse victims of anti-trans violence.

Equity Officer Polly Leonard

Polly Leonard - Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Officer

 Show Up, Your Guide to Bystander Intervention (PDF)

 Watch our "Equity, Diversity and Inclusion 101" Webinar

 Policy Against Harassment and Discrimination

 Gender Inclusive Washrooms

Contact

Polly Leonard, MSW RSW (she/her/hers)
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Officer
Bancroft House, Room 103
Acadia University
Wolfville, NS, B4P 2R6

equity@acadiau.ca
t. 902.585.1298

Instagram: @acadiauniversityequity

Looking for the Coordinator of Black and Indigenous Student Support?

 Email Janique Ellis Panza