We want to acknowledge the significant global events affecting members of the Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) communities and that racism is happening right here in our own community. We stand in solidarity with the BIPOC communities – we are here, we are listening and we’re trying to do better.
At Pillar, addressing racism and xenophobia is core to our mission. We will continue as an organization to apply an anti-racism approach to our work while recognizing that the urgency of present events requires the leadership of BIPOC communities inside and outside of our membership and network.
We are now taking the time to reflect, learn, listen, examine ourselves, and how systems work to prop up oppression. We will continue to adapt our own role in this work while we also commit to updating resources to help our membership and community recognize and combat racism in Canada and elsewhere – while this is not an exhaustive list please find a few suggested resources here.
We call on the sector to collectively use our voices and actions to look at our organizations for structural inequities that exist and collectively commit to removing these inequities that continue to create racism. Our organizations have an essential role in creating a safe, just, and equitable community for all.