Tour participants at the Harriet Tubman Institute
Blackness at York University - A Guided Tour of Resources for Black Students at York University
Clifton Grant, a 4th Year Black Mature Student, led participants through a thoughtfully curated campus tour about the places and spaces at YORKU that predominantly focus on supporting the Black community for the empowerment of Black Excellence at York University's Keele Campus. This event was offered in partnership with the Black Inclusion and Advocacy Committee. If you missed the tour, we compiled the resources and spots mentioned in the tour.
View archive of past Inclusion Week Events
Thank you to all our partners !
Over 204 members of the York community participated in this year's Inclusion Week Events. Congratulations to all our partners who led engaging, thought-provoking and all around empowering events all week. Thank you to everyone who joined us and for making this year's Inclusion Week meaningful. View this year's theme description and key questions.
In-person events included:
- Fidget and Focus: Exploring Neurodiversity Through DIY Fidget Toys – Monday March 3rd, 12-1pm, Keele offered in partnership with The Centre for Sexual Violence Response, Support & Education
- Decolonizing Notions of Empathy – Tuesday March 4th, 10-11:30am, Markham offered in partnership with Residence Life (Markham & Keele Campus)
- Blackness at York University - A Guided Tour of Resources for Black Students at York University - Tuesday March 4th, 12-1:30pm, Keele offered in partnership with the Black Inclusion and Advocacy Committee and curated by Clifton Grant
- Movie Screening: Well Rounded – Wednesday March 5th, 3-5pm, Keele offered in partnership with Student Counselling, Health and Well-being
- What Does Inclusion Look Like to You? – Wednesday March 5th, 10am-3pm, Markham
- The Call-In-Cards for Anti-Black Racism Action: Beyond Anti-Black Racism Training to Transformational Action – Thursday March 6th 11:30am-2pm, Keele offered in partnership with YouthREX.
- Navigating the Paradox of Inclusion in Dialogue: Creating Boundaries So Conversations Can Go Anywhere - Thursday March 6th 2:30-4:30pm, Keele
Hybrid/Online events included:
- The Great Tit is a Bird and Unsafe Space – Monday March 3rd, 4-5pm, Keele hosted in partnership with Sensorium (AMPD) and led by Ar Ducao, director of “The Great Tit is a Bird” and Connected Minds/Sensorium Artist-in-Residence
- Centering youth cultural identities through participatory research: Learnings from Asian-Canadian youth engagement through Readers Theatre – Monday March 3rd, 10am-12pm organized in partnership with the Office of Women's Health Research Chair in Mental Health (OWHC) and is moderated by Nazilla Khanlou, Professor and Women's Health Research Chair in Mental Health, School of Nursing, Faculty of health
- Orienting Towards Allyship I – Monday March 3rd, 2-3:30pm
- The Ecology of Allyship 2 – Wednesday March 5th,10-11:30am
- The Paradox of Dis/Ableism and Access: A Conversation – Thursday March 6th 10am -11:30am organized in partnership with The Teaching Commons and Student Accessibility Services Watch the recorded podcast
- The Paradox of Accommodation in a Disabled and Disabling World – Friday March 7th, 11am-12pm Watch the video
- What the F(emme)?! A Playful Guide to Sex, Gender & Pronouns – Friday March 7th, 1-2pm offered in partnership with The Centre for Sexual Violence Response, Support & Education
Videos
Day 4: March 6 Online
The Paradox of DisAbleism and Access
This discussion and episode of Praxis Makes Perfect explores the contradictions, controversies and challenges of the dis/ableist systems in which we work, study, and live. It tackles issues like bridging the gap between our dis/ableist biases and systems, allyship and the expansive possibilities of a truly inclusive co-existence. This session was conducted in partnership with The Teaching Commons and Student Accessibility Services and hosted by Carolina Ruiz (CHREI Senior DEDI Advisor for Education & Communication).
Day 5: March 7 Online
The Paradox of Accommodation in a Disabled and Disabling World
Accommodating disability is vital to removing barriers in everyday life for disabled people/ people with disabilities. However, there are many paradoxes within the accommodation process including how disability is conceptualized, how systemic barriers are reinforced or dismantled, and how accommodation can bring about in/exclusion. This fireside chat featured Marian McGregor and Roberto Lattanzio in conversation to explore the nuances, strengths, and flaws in our legal and policy frameworks that seek to uphold our right to disability accommodation. This session was hosted by Mikaila Greene (CHREI Senior Case Advisor) and organized by CHREI in partnership with Enable York for Inclusion Week 2025
Theme Description
The Paradox of Inclusion is that it involves boundary-setting but also risk-taking.
Within Decolonizing, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (DEDI), the term inclusion can be simultaneously so broad it becomes meaningless, and so narrow its practice becomes yet another form of exclusion. Much like the term diversity, inclusion can ring hollow, performative, and corporatized when social and political contexts and power dynamics are ignored. This Inclusion Week 2025, we invite the community to reflect on the paradoxes of inclusion, what we think we know, what we need to unlearn, and what we need to build fresh, and to join activities that can help build our collective skills in and a robust and engaged practice of inclusion.
Key Questions
- How are boundaries necessary in making inclusion more meaningful?
- What is the role of discomfort, taking risks and accepting failure in the practice of inclusion? How do we build those skills at York?
- What are the skills and conditions we need to carry out genuine dialogue, especially when we disagree?
- What, if any, shifts are necessary to move beyond stuckness?
- What might our discourses around “safety” prevents us from accomplishing? How can we (re)define safety to be inclusive?
Photo Gallery
Day 1 March 3: The Great Tit is a Bird and Unsafe Space, Sensorium (AMPD)
Day 1: March 3 Fidget & Focus: Exploring Neurodiversity through Fidget Toys, 12-1 PM 305 York Lanes
Day 2: March 4 10-11:30 AM Decolonizing Notions of Empathy: Redefining Empathy - Decolonizing Care & Challenging the Paradox of Inclusion in Academic Spaces, MK 4050 Markham Campus
Day 3: March 5 Well Rounded: Movie Screening & Panel, 3-5 at the Nat Taylor Cinema, Ross N102
Day 4: March 6 The Call-In-Cards for Anti-Black Racism Action: Beyond Anti-Black Racism Training to Transformational Action 11:30-2PM York Lanes
2025 Inclusion Week Posters
