U of O's response to carding not enough, students say

Student groups at the University of Ottawa say their school's response to carding on campus does not go far enough to combat systemic racism.

The University of Ottawa Student Union, the Black Student LeadersAssociationand more than a dozen other student groupspublishedan open letter Mondaydemanding theuniversity provide greater transparency around its anti-racism work, and calling for more collaboration with students in tackling racism.

• U of O student faced carding confrontation despite new policy
• Race played role in U of O carding incident, investigator finds

"A lot of the measures that were introduced by the University of Ottawa ... didn't include consultation from folks who wanted to contribute to that conversation ... [and] also proved to be inadequate as there was a second carding incident that took place not too long after," said signatory Jason Seguya.

More consultation on anti-racism policies needed at University of Ottawa, groups say

5 years ago

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Jason Seguya and Jamal Koulmiye-Boyce say they're asking the university to increase consultation with the community to create new policies to fight racism on campus.

Race was a factor

Last week, the university released its official report examining acarding incident that took place inJune involving studentJamal Koulmiye-Boyce.

Koulmiye-Boyce was skateboarding on campus when he was stopped by security staff who askedfor his identification. When he couldn't produce it they followed him andeventually arrestedhim.Anindependent investigatorhired by the universityfound race played a rolein the incident.

Koulmiye-Boyce saidhe's relieved his experience with racism was validated by the investigator's findings, but the universityneeds to address all the demandsexpressed in Monday's open letterif it wants to create a safe space for racialized students.

"[The demands] really work in tandem and they're interconnected," Koulmiye-Boycesaid."One really builds on the other. You can't have consultation without proper accountability ... and you can't have proper accountability without proper consultation."

The university created a special committee to advise presidentJacques Frmonton ways to combat racism and promote diversity, butKoulmiye-Boyce said more members of the community should be on board.

"The university must really work with the community to make these calls and also be completely transparent in how they're coming to conclusions they've drawn," he said.

Data collectionkey

In September, U of O student Wiliston Mason was carded by a security guard who demanded to see his identification as he entered his university residence where he lives and works as a community adviser.

Mason said even though the university implemented a new security policy, it doesn't fully protect students from being targeted by security officials.

"[The new security policy]is not sufficient as we can clearly see from the incident that took place with me on Sept. 14, just two weeks after that policy came out," he said.

• U of O issues new security policy after carding incident
• End carding at University of Ottawa, student group urges

Mason said it's critical for the University of Ottawa to track instances of racism on campus if it wants to understandthe scope of the problem.

"If we don't have the data if we don't have some evidence to show that this is happening we aren't necessarily taken seriously and that shouldn't be the case," he said.

Rochelle Smith, who also signed the open letter, said the university needs to documentinstances of anti-black racism if it wants to have a clear understanding of how to properly tackle the issue.

"[Black students] experiences aren't validated unless there's data to back that up or unless it's confirmed by an investigation. So, it's just important that we have that data to collect to see who's being targeted on campus," she said.

The open letter also calledfor all faculty and staff totake anti-racism training.

2nd report coming in November

In a emailed statement to CBC, the university said it received the letter and welcomes"student engagement on this very important issue."

The university saidFrmont "met last week with representatives of the student union ... to discuss best ways forward and an opendialogue has been established between the university and student groups."

The university said the"investigator is now working on the second part of her mandate. She has been asked to review the Protection Services policies and procedures and their application more broadly and report on their impacts on racialized community members."

That report is expected tobe completed in November and will be made public.