The Faculty of Education stands in solidarity with members of our community impacted by the vandalism yesterday at Four Directions. The flags that were vandalized were hung after the racist and homophobic incident at Chown Hall. This violence and discrimination has no place at our University and community. Our Indigenous and LGBTQ2S+ students, faculty, and staff must feel welcome and safe at Queen’s. We will continue to listen and work with our colleagues and students in our ongoing response to this hateful act.

On Tuesday, June 30, the Aboriginal Teacher Education Program (ATEP) was informed that the Indigenous and LGBTQ2S+ flags that hung proudly at Four Directions Indigenous Student Centre had been vandalized. These flags were hung in response to the previous racist and homophobic incident that occurred in a residence on campus last fall. This act of vandalism is not only cowardly but is racist, homophobic, discriminatory, and bigoted.

It is with great sorrow that I learned this weekend about the finding of the remains of the 215 children on Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc on the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. It is another haunting reminder of the cruelty and legacy of the residential school system in Canada.  As a Faculty of Education, we hold a great responsibility to create and lead education about the oppression and brutality of Canada’s treatment of Indigenous peoples and provide learning opportunities about the rich histories and vibrant cultures of Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island.

I am deeply saddened and disappointed that circumstances are such that I need to send again a message about vandalism at Four Directions. The Faculty of Education stands in solidarity with the members of our community impacted by this vandalism. This violence and discrimination has no place at our University and community. Our Indigenous, Black, People of Colour and LGBTQ2S+ students, faculty, and staff must feel welcome and safe at Queen’s. We will continue to listen and work diligently with our colleagues and students in our ongoing response to this hateful act.

I write to express my sorrow at the horrific attack last week where eight people, including six women of Asian ancestry, were killed by a white man. It was an act of misogyny and anti-Asian racist violence. Sadly, since 2020, the Chinese Canadian National Council – For Social Justice (CCNC-SJ) has noted 957 incidents of anti-Asian racism in both Canada and the United States.

Our video titled “Our Beautiful Community” pays tribute to our communities at home, online, and in the city of Kingston. While we all worked, practiced, and supported one another from our individual homes this year, it is touching to realize the collective whole of everyone’s efforts and enthusiasm is far greater than simply the sum of its parts. We hope you enjoy this tribute created by our talented students.

On this one-year anniversary of our first COVID-19 lockdown, many of us are taking a moment to reflect on all that has passed since March 2020. The world has changed dramatically, and we have learned to live with strain and uncertainty in ways that were previously unimagined. 
 

 Sistema Kingston is an intensive after-school music program for children in Kingston that focuses on positive social growth through music. The program, along with all daily activity at Molly Brant Elementary School in north Kingston, had to be quickly switched to an online program earlier this spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 Sidney Pike-Nurse likes to draw, make videos and play viola. “Art flows through my veins,” he says, meaning every word. And thanks to his time with Sistema Kingston, Sidney has been given tools to not only express himself through his art but also learn how to use art as a way of keeping him patient and calm.