Today, Niagara College kicked off Pride Month with the raising of rainbow flags at both the Welland Campus and the Daniel J. Patterson Campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake. An annual tradition held in June, the raising of the Pride flag celebrates NC’s 2SLGBTQQIA+ community, while recognizing the College’s commitment to providing an inclusive and safe learning and working environment for everyone.
“At Niagara College we are committed to creating and maintaining a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, which is an area of focus in our new Strategic Plan,” said NC President Sean Kennedy, who attended the flag-raising ceremony at the Welland Campus. “Raising the rainbow flag is symbolic of the College’s support for the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community and for all members of our NC community.
“Raising the rainbow flag confirms for students that Niagara College is a space dedicated to celebrating and embracing diversity – the importance of this cannot be understated,” said NC Student Administrative Council (NCSAC) President Sam Jemison, who joined Kennedy and other members of the NC community at the Welland Campus. “I have had the privilege to see internally the passion and drive to advance DEI for all individuals at NC, and raising the flag is one of the ways we can show publicly and proudly that NC is committed to maintaining this focus.”
Niagara College was also among the first organizations in Niagara to install rainbow crosswalks at both of its campuses in 2019 thanks to a student-led initiative championed by NCSAC.
L-R: NC Senior Vice President, College Operations Pam Skinner, NC Workplace Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Manager Samah Sabra and NCSAC Director of Community Services Megan Milward raise the rainbow flag at NC’s Daniel J. Patterson Campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake on June 1.
Resources and community events
In celebration of Pride Month, ncLibraries and Learning Commons is highlighting the resources available through the online 2SLGBTQQIA+ Subject Guide, authored by Geoffrey Brown, NC Library Facilitator, User Experience and edited by Kent Reynolds, Library Technician, Maps/Media. The guide captures some of the most recent books, ebooks and streaming videos acquired by ncLibraries that focus on 2SLGBTQQIA+ stories, as well as reference guides and manuals that promote inclusion in the classroom and resources about legal rights in Canada.
As part of the guide, ncLibraries also partnered with Quest Community Health Centre and Pride Niagara to create a fulsome list of local groups that offer support and allyship with the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community.
“The goal was to provide an access point to the resources that would support 2SLGBTQQIA+ students and to act as a gateway to allyship in the greater local community,” said Brown. “One of the greatest takeaways we hope the guide provides is the assurance that ncLibraries is a space and service that supports and is inclusive to all our students.”
Watch for physical displays of some of the featured 2SLGBTQQIA+ resources in the library this June. A recording of “Spilling the Tea: A Conversation with Empress Claudia Silva,” a living library event held in partnership with Pride Niagara in June 2021, is also available through ncLibraries.
This month, NCSAC is also promoting several community events hosted by Pride Niagara including the 9th Annual 2022 Niagara UNITY Awards on June 1 at 6 p.m., and the 9th Annual Pride in the Park and Wrap it Up! Pride Niagara Closing Party, both happening on June 4. Visit Pride Niagara’s Facebook page for details.
