Inclusion Conference Offers In-depth Analysis On Positionality

The conference also provided several workshops on topics such as: reimagining community spaces, bridging the access gap to healthcare and inclusive practices for aging populations.

Pogorzelski told the crowd that inclusion must occur at individual and structural levels working together to highlight and utilize each citizen’s equitable assets.

“We have a vulnerable population in this community and when we host festivals we need to look at engaging them and giving them jobs. Often times we just plan and these people become invisible.”

He also advocated for the elimination of generalization and stereotyping.

“You often hear oh ‘that group’ did something and you then homogenize the homeless population. Doing this undermines the complete diversity of the population and each individual’s attributes and ability to giving back to the community.”

The conference’s first keynote speaker Ahmed “Knowmatic” Ali:, an artist and youth worker presentation “I am your neighbor,” painted an image of inclusion centered around acceptance and charity.

“Racism is a systemic thing and the systems create more racism than individuals do. I want to remind people that although we have different religions and skin colours there is only one race and that is the human race.”

The second keynote speaker, Tanya Pace-Crosschild, Executive Director of Opokaa’sin and sessional instructor at the U of L presented “Reconciling as a Community,” a lecture which spoke towards educating the community on Blackfoot history, and working through generational internalized oppression and complacency.

Pace-Crosschild noted that promoting inclusivity starts in the home with what families teach their children.

“We need to create that awareness in education around our Indigenous history. Our elders often tell us that when we make a decision we should think about seven generations ahead and think of that impact.”

She ran a few trivia questions on Blackfoot history and residential schools with few participants answering correctly.

This exercise led into Pace-child’s closing comments where she stated that “reconciliation must not solely be at the hands of Indigenous people but by everyone. “

Local cartoonist Eric Dyck captured the entire conference within a comic strip that weaves the common themes of the event.

The comic is set to be released in the near future.

by Charlotte Morritt-Jacobs - (@morrittjacobs on Twitter)

Inclusion Conference Offers In-depth Analysis On Positionality

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