Events

Please join us on December 4 from 10 am to 11:30 am as we mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in commemoration of the 1989 École Polytechnique Massacre.

December 6 marks the anniversary of the murder of 14 women engineering students at l’École Polytechnique de Montreal in 1989. Since then, the day has been declared The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada. Every year the U of T community commemorates the national tragedy and also reflects on the many ways all women continue to experience gender-based violence—from missing and murdered Indigenous women, transgender women, and the broad spectrum of women from vulnerable populations.

This year’s virtual event will take place on December 4 and is titled “Actions within the Intersections: Past, Present and Future”. It will feature a fireside chat with U of T students, staff, and faculty discussing the most relevant issues in gender-based violence and their intersections. This is an opportunity to share the concrete actions we can take in our communities to question, call out, and combat acts of gender-based violence.

RSVP by November 5 to uoft.me/realtalk

You’re invited to a night of Real Talk with engineering alumni about the intersection of engineering skills and social change. Equip yourself with knowledge that can help you make decisions about when to act for social change versus when to step back, learn how to find your way when you want to contribute your engineering skills but don’t know how, and better understand how engineers can strike a balance between supporting others and empowering themselves to lead.

This night will offer:

• Tools and take-aways from working alumni that you can use as you decide on and a plan a course to contribute to social justice initiatives with engineering skills and expertise.
• Find out how engineering alumni have empowered themselves,
• The hard lessons they’ve learned about social change work, how they’ve adjusted their approaches and persevered
• The power of deep listening
•  A chance for you to plot your own steps towards empowering yourself and others in the face of overwhelming projects for systemic change, including preliminary learning.

Join us for a talk and Q&A with John Desjarlais (P.Eng., MBA) and Matthew Dunn (P.Eng., M.Sc.) as they discuss the connections between engineering and Indigenous peoples through design and ethics.

John Desjarlais is Nehinaw Métis from Kaministikominahiko-skak. John is the General Manager at Great Plains Contracting and the President-Elect for the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan (APEGS).

Matthew Dunn is Dene and a citizen of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. Matthew is the Senior Strategic Officer, Indigenous Engagement at the University of Saskatchewan.

John and Matthew are also the co-Presidents of the Saskatchewan Professional Chapter of the Canadian Indigenous Science and Engineering Society (.caISES).

Read an interview with the panelists in the U of T Engineering News.

Part of the Towards Inclusive Practices Series (TIPS) hosted by the Engineering Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Action Group.

5:30 p.m. – Virtual event opens
5:40 p.m. – Disruptors & Dilemmas panel
6:40 p.m. – Q&A
7:00 p.m. – Event ends

Learn about the panelists and register for the event here.