Scarborough Charter

colourful graphic with the words Scarborough Charter in the center

In November 2021 Queen's became a signatory to the Scarborough Charter.

The Scarborough Charter On Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion in Canadian Higher Education was created following the 2020 National Dialogues and Action for Inclusive Higher Education and Communities. In November 2021, Principal Patrick Deane signed the Scarborough Charter, committing Queen's to implementation of the Charter's various action items and to full accountability to a sector network of signatory institutions.

Since the release of the PICRDI report almost five years ago, the university has made some noteworthy progress. The Human Rights and Equity Office, Human Resources, Division of Student Affairs, and the Office of Institutional Research & Planning have worked together to identify gaps in representation across campus, specifically considering disaggregated statistics on Black community representation.

Areas of Focus The Charter Implementation Framework is oriented around four broad themes articulated in the Scarborough Charter:

Black Community Representation and Inclusion

Research

Teaching, Learning, and Student Success

Community Engagement

The Scarborough Charter builds on work already in progress, such as the Declaration of Commitment to Address Systemic Racism. Support is still needed for career progression and retention of Black managerial, administrative and support staff. While hires of underrepresented staff and faculty have increased, the institution struggles with retention. Furthermore, representation of Black faculty in tenured positions and research and leadership roles is low. We need to partner to redress Black underrepresentation within Tri-Council research grant selection and recognition practices. We also need more education on anti-Black racism for all community members while we build internal capacity for supporting Black flourishing on campus. Finally, while we have gathered data on the experiences of Black students, we need also to collect data on the climate for staff and faculty and to disaggregate that data in order to address the particular challenges faced by Black staff and faculty members.

Anti-Black racism is just one type of racism experienced on our campus. The Black community at Queen’s is an integral part of our diverse campus community and reflects a component of a broader EDII commitment that is central to the mission, vision and values of Queen’s and imperative to the future success of our institution.

Read the Scarborough Charter

Implementation

Working Groups have been formed to focus on the priorities identified by the Scarborough Charter. During Spring and Summer 2022, the Working Groups will meet regularly and work on environmental scans, with the goal of engaging the Queen's community in a consultation process during Fall 2022.