Our Board of Directors’ Statement on White Supremacy and Anti-Racist Practice
The deaths of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and countless other black people at the hands of the police, along with the protests against racist police systems that we’re seeing in Canada and the United States, has reignited conversations about anti-oppressive and anti-racist practices around the globe. Canada is not immune to racist ideology or presumed white supremacy. If you have not seen racism in Canada, that is likely because the colour of your skin has shielded you from its impact.
It is not enough to “not see colour”.
It is not enough to be “not racist”.
Our country was founded on genocide. It was grown through racism. Racism and colonialism are woven into the fabric of the Canadian mosaic, and the kind of changes that need to happen will not be overnight.
The work of anti-racism is messy, and hard, and uncomfortable. It involves listening, and learning, and sitting with feelings of anger, and sadness, guilt, and futility.
At Anova,
- We stand against racism, senseless violence, discrimination, police brutality and murder committed by police officers.
- We walk with/for the Black Lives Matter movement.
- We will continue to do our own messy work of learning how to do better anti-racist anti-oppressive work.
- We will amplify the voices of Black and Indigenous People of Colour.
- We will work for a future of shared power, of justice and of healing for Black and Indigenous People of Colour.
Our Board of Directors commits to:
- Actively cultivating relationships with our black community and partnering with them to join in their work and inform governance decision making.
- Make concrete changes over the next 12 months to our recruitment, screening and on boarding process to ensure leadership around our board table is reflective of our community.
- Reporting to our community through our Annual Report on our work.