Our learning community is outraged by an incident in downtown St. Catharines in which a Niagara College student was the victim of a serious assault that appears to be motivated by homophobic hate.
We at Niagara College reject hate, discrimination and violence in all its forms, whether it’s on our campuses or in the broader community. While this incident did not occur on campus, we re-affirm our commitment to fostering an inclusive and accessible environment where all members of our college community feel safe, welcome and respected.
We stand in firm support of our student and the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and we have offered any resources and support to him that we can provide. We also recognize that many members of our College community may be affected by this incident, and we encourage them to seek support through Student Health and Counselling Services (students) or the Employee and Family Assistance Program (employees).
As a place of teaching and learning, we have both an opportunity and a responsibility to fight hate and discrimination and advance equity, diversity and inclusion through educational and engagement opportunities inside and outside of the classroom, and our College and student leadership teams continue to collaborate on this important work.
We also remind our students, employees and visitors of our shared responsibility to identify and address racism, discrimination and hate whether on our campuses or in our community – if you see something, say something.
