This afternoon, I was informed of the incident of vandalism at the Four Directions Indigenous Student Centre. This is the second incident of its kind in less than a month. The tipi, a gathering place for Indigenous students and staff, was slashed. This news, taken in combination with events from earlier this month is truly distressing. However, it is important that we call out these incidents for what they are – racist acts of violence - that will not be tolerated by anyone within our Faculty or at Queen’s.
The Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) stands in solidarity with the Indigenous community at Four Directions and at Queen’s. We vehemently condemn the actions of those responsible. We support and will continue to support Indigenous people within our faculty.
We are aware that we have a lot of work to do to make our faculty a more inclusive and culturally safe space. Incidents such as these reinforce the importance of this work and we commit to continuing to fight against racism, intolerance, and hatred.