Conference aims to connect students with activist causes
A two-day conference at the University of Regina is giving activists a platform and students a chance to engage, according to organizers.
Held in the university’s RIC Atrium, information and panel sessions were slated Friday and today. Topics ranged from a dialogue on Saskatchewan’s role in uranium production to training in media relations, including “practice TV interviews.”
Speakers include members of community organizations, local activists and students.
Organizers hope to connect students with locals trying to make a difference on a variety of fronts, said Krystal Lewis, executive director of the Regina Public Interest Research Group (RPIRG), which put on the conference.
“Our end goal is for students to take what they’ve learned here, or get a kernel of something here, learn more about it, and then turn that into some form of community action,” Lewis said.
While the conference was initially an open invitation, some of the speakers were chosen by organizers after hearing students were interested in several specific topics.
“In the future, I think just letting organizations and community groups speak for themselves and have that space is more what we want to focus the conference on.”
Friday featured a session hosted by Colonialism No More activists Michelle Stewart and Prescott Demas. Stewart is also a professor at the university.
The pair shared information about a variety of causes with which they are involved, from their critical views on the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in Victoria Park and “racialized” policing to their support for the family of Colten Boushie.
A petition was passed around for the removal of the Macdonald statue and a hat for donations to the Boushie family. A trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 29 for Gerald Stanley, who is accused of murder in Boushie’s death.
They encouraged anyone interested to get involved in being socially active.
Lewis says the sentiments expressed by Colonialism No More align with those of RPIRG.
Part of the organization’s mandate is to give a platform to communities which have been “marginalized by things like colonialism, white supremacy.”
RPIRG, and by extension the fees paid to speakers ($60-$100 each), is funded almost entirely by fees paid by students of the university, Lewis said.