Welcome to the Schulich Community of Support for EDI-D Initiatives

Hello,

We would like to welcome you to the newly formed Community of Support from the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization (EDI-D) at Schulich and express our gratitude for your willingness to join. You are receiving this message because you have either volunteered and/or been identified as a key contact person for your respective department/unit for work related to EDI-D through our call for participation sent out over the summer.

As we begin this journey together, our goal is to foster collaboration, share valuable resources, support community initiatives, and connect a robust network of individuals who are currently and/or interested in working in this space. This is meant to be a value-add for you, not asking more of you, we hope to make things better and less onerous as we know the amount of labor this work requires is often unseen and undervalued. Please know that your dedication and commitment to advancing principles of EDI-D is valued immensely and we hope this community will function to support the work you are doing currently and hope to do in the future.

Key Updates and Upcoming Plans:

1. High Yield Resources - We want to ensure that you are aware of some key resources that can enhance your teaching and EDI efforts, including:
   • Western EDI’s training and certificates
   • The CPD (Continuous Professional Development) EDI Checklist for educational planning, implementation and evaluation
     
     
   • The Council on Reforming Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for Trainees (CREDIT) have produced a remarkable project called "Inclusive Science 4 All." It is an exemplary model of the transformative work we aspire to achieve through our community.
     
     
   • The Inclusive Leadership offering from Western - A new workshop as part of Western’s Excellence in Leadership program 
     
     
   • Western Research has a robust team for Knowledge Mobilization, Impact and EDI-D and are here to support all levels of faculty researchers.
     
     

2. Truth and Reconciliation – the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) is September 30^th and will be observed by Western University on September 29^th, 2023. We encourage you to explore and participate in the programming being held at Western and our broader region. Have a look at the scheduled events through the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, including The Nature of Healing - Film Screening and Q&A with Survivors of Mohawk Institute. We also encourage you to explore the educational resources developed by and shared with us by Western faculty in the Indigenous Teaching and Learning Series to help facilitate long-term change in the work we do at Schulich.
   
   
3. New EDI-D Website Coming Soon We are currently developing a dedicated EDI-D website, which will serve as a central hub for information, education, training, tools, resources, and collaboration opportunities. This platform is intended to support the entire School to create awareness and a shared understanding of these principles and tangible issues related to them. Currently, we have divided the website into four major categories of knowledge sharing and resources based on the Schulich Strategic Plan. (The image displayed at the beginning of this email is a screenshot capturing the banner on our homepage.)
   
   

1) Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (general resources inclusive of but not limited to Gender, 2SLGBTQIA+, Accessibility, Trauma and Violence Informed Care, EDI in Research, Bias/Microaggressions, Structural Determinants of Health)

2) Anti-Racism (general resources inclusive of but not limited to Anti-Black Racism, Anti-Indigenous Racism, Anti-Semitism, Anti-Asian Racism, Anti-Muslim Racism and Islamophobia)

3) Decolonization (understanding the distinction of Decolonization from EDI, sharing of resources developed by Indigenous peoples to further our understanding of what decolonization and reconciliation mean in the work done at Schulich)

4) Social Accountability (Linking to regional health partners, public health units, community resources, amplifying the work being done at Schulich to demonstrate accountability to our region and beyond)

We will be sending out a separate email when this site is launched, but if there is anything you would like to share on the site, please feel free to send us the information at EDID@schulich.uwo.ca.

4. Meet Seidy Rayo, Coordinator of EDI We are happy to introduce Seidy Rayo, our newly hired Coordinator of EDI. She is here to support the Office of EDI-D and the Schulich community in this work. Please feel free to reach out to her with any questions or concerns.

In closing, we are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead and the positive impact we can create together. Your contributions and engagement are foundational to advancing this work at Schulich and we thank you for your time.

We look forward to working with you and if you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to reach out to us at EDID@schulich.uwo.ca

Warm regards,

Seidy Rayo | Coordinator, EDI
Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization
Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry
Western University
Clinical Skills Building, Rm. 3730
London, ON, Canada, N6A 5C1
e. seidy.rayo@schulich.uwo.ca
t. 519.661.2111 EXT 88660