Apathy into Action: Exploring Issues and Organizing Actions is RPIRG’s Annual Social Justice Conference at the University of Regina.
Every year, sessions are organized over a number of days to engage students and the community in current issues impacting Regina and the U of R. The goal of the conference is to introduce or provide information about these issues, as well as to equip students and community members with the skills needed to organize around these issues.
All sessions are FREE and open to students and the public!
The 6th Annual Apathy into Action will take place January 17th-19th, 2013!
Thursday January 17th: LI 215 (Language Institute, Theatre on the 2nd Floor)
10:00 a.m.- Being an Activist Right Now in Regina- Dr. Marc Spooner
What does it mean to be an activist in Regina right now? What issues are we facing, both here in our community and globally? This session will welcome us to Apathy into Action by giving us a sense of where we are as a society and how we might begin to move forward for change.
11:30 a.m.- Harvesting the Local Food System: The Regina Community Food Assessment- Regina Community Food Systems Steering Committee
The Regina Community Food Systems Steering Committee is currently beginning work on a comprehensive Community Food Assessment for the city of Regina. This assessment will examine a broad range of food-related issues and resources in order to inform actions to improve community food security. In this interactive session you will learn more about this process as well as be able to give your input.
1:00 p.m.- Education, Immigration, and Social Justice- Dr. Michelle Stewart and members of WUSC
Refugee and immigrant rights are currently under attack in Canada and abroad. Through recent legislation within Canada as well as a global campaign to make the ‘other’ seem dangerous and untrustworthy, basic human rights and equality are not being respected. This session will discuss both recent legislation changes facing immigrants to Canada as well as the World University Services of Canada (WUSC)’s campaign for refugee rights and refugee education.
2:30 p.m.-Poverty and Health in Saskatchewan- Dr. Ryan Meili and members of SEARCH
Saskatchewan, a booming province economically, is still dealing with poverty and health issues. This session will first give an overview of what exactly is happening in Saskatchewan and how these issues are connected, and will then discuss how a student initiative, Students’ Energy in Action for Regina Community Health (SEARCH), is working to combat these issues here in Regina.
4:00 p.m.- The Fransaskois: Trials and Tribulations -Francoise Sigur-Cloutier, President of the Assemblee communautaire fransaskoise, and Francine Proulx-Kenxle, consultant, Fransaskois militant, and mother
The experience of Saskatchewan’s francophone community can quite aptly be described as a long struggle for survival in hostile territory. Recognition is one of the fundamental challenges that the French speaking community in Saskatchewan has dealt with and still faces today. Throughout the 20th century, the Franco-Canadian population of Saskatchewan fought for basic services that would safeguard its existence. Today, as society and the world moves toward globalization, pluralism and diversity, the Fransaskois seek to promote the French language, Francophone culture and the Fransaskois identity as a viable, inclusive, edifying and rewarding community choice.
Friday January 18th: College West 113
9:30 a.m.- The Gender Binary or Why You Shouldn’t Give a Shit if I Don’t Shave- Karli Jessup and Leah Keiser, UR Pride
Join the UR Pride team to take part in an interesting and often hilarious conversation about gendered experience, (re)negotiating stereotypes of gender, and the challenges of individual expression. Topics of conversation will include: gendered grooming rituals, the body as a site of personal activism and empowerment, human curiosity, and intervention into the binary itself (GASP). This conversation welcomes a broad range of respectful viewpoints and experiences, and will thrive with the input of concerned community members such as you!
10:30 a.m.- Common(s) Rights: Our Community Pastures- Naomi Beingessner, RPIRG
The federal government has passed responsibility for Saskatchewan’s community pasture lands back to the provincial government, walking away from decades of conservation stewardship. These natural wonders now stand threatened: the Saskatchewan government has announced its intention to sell these lands and throw this heritage jewel under the blade of energy and other development. To learn more and to get involved, come out to this session.
11:30 a.m.- Austerity and the Corporatization of the University- Dr. Emily Eaton
Over the past few decades, universities in North America have become increasingly corporatized. Education has been redefined as ‘job training’, universities have been remodeled along corporate lines, and research has been oriented toward business interests as opposed to being for the good of society. These moves pose a danger to the public interest and to the historical goal of universities: a place for education and discussion in order to better understand the world around us, not just to get a job.
12:30 p.m.- Lunch Break
1:30 p.m.- The Idle No More Movement- Sylvia McAdam, Co-Founder
Idle No More needs no introduction; it has swept both politics and the media over the past month. As a movement which seeks to rectify the long-broken relationship between the Canadian government and the Indigenous peoples which first inhabited what is now known as Canada, this movement is powerful and has the potential to substantially alter these relations to finally adhere fully to treaty promises and to equality of all peoples.
2:30 p.m.- Corporate and Political Connections in Saskatchewan- Dr. Simon Enoch, Director, CCPA Saskatchewan Office
In conjunction with the Community Research Unit and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, RPIRG collaborated on a recently-finished report entitled “Mapping Corporate Power in Saskatchewan”. This report seeks to identify networks of corporate power in the province by documenting the inter-locking relationships between corporations, industry and trade associations, advocacy groups, policy institutes, universities, political parties and government itself.
Saturday January 19th: Research and Innovation Centre 209 and College West 113
Choose one of the following full-day training sessions. Sessions will run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break. Lunch will be provided for registrants. Please register in advance by emailing info@rpirg.org.
1. Effective Organizing (morning) and Facilitation Training (afternoon) with Tracey Mitchell, RIC 209
Effective Organizing: There is a lot of enthusiasm in our communities for building a better world. We sometimes fail to match that enthusiasm with effective tools and processes for getting what we want. Ineffectiveness often leads to frustration and even causes many people to stop working for social change. This crash course in effective organizing will give you a foundation for building effective & growing movements.
Facilitation Training: Working with people is hard and providing effective leadership and guidance to help groups accomplish goals can be even harder. This workshop builds on the tools learned in the Effective Organizing session to help you guide successful collective processes and workshops.
2. Anti-Oppression Training with Sheelah McLean, CW 113
What is the dominant story of nation building in Canada? How does this story take shape in the various symbols and narratives that produce our identities as Canadians? How does this story continue to play out in our institutions? What can we do as community members and educators to disrupt the grand narratives that reproduce systemic oppression? This session will use discussion and interaction to unpack and unlearn- a first step in building anti-colonial theory! Sheelah McLean is also a co-founder of the Idle No More movement- who better to learn about anti-oppression from?
See you there!
