CALT Statement in Support of the Black Canadian Studies Association (BCSA) and Against Racial Profiling and All Forms of Anti-Black Racism

We, the Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT), express our full support for the Black Canadian Studies Association (BCSA) statement, issued on June 4, denouncing an incident of racial profiling and anti-Black racism against a Black graduate student member of BCSA during Congress 2019 at UBC.

As an association with many members engaged in equality and anti-discrimination research, education and advocacy on a daily basis, we condemn all forms of racial profiling, anti-Black racism and discrimination. We are deeply concerned about the apparent failure of Congress/Federation of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSSH) to appropriately respond to this incident. We should note that we are aware of numerous other incidents in which Black people and other racialized people are assumed not to belong in academic spaces, and are accused of theft. Despite the unfortunate regularity of such occurrences, this is an issue of extreme importance that calls for urgent action. We support the demands set out in the BCSA statement, which we reproduce below. We urge the FSSH to immediately address the BCSA demands and to give the highest priority to implementing measures to support and promote racial equality and inclusion at Congress that engages academic attendees, Congress staff and local partners, vendors and service providers.

1. The Federation immediately issue a public response acknowledging this incident, asserting zero tolerance for racial profiling and all forms of anti-Black racism, and a commitment to work with the BCSA to ensure that Congress is a welcoming space and experience for our members;
2. Ensure delivery to the two accusers involved, a letter that will be prepared by the BCSA in response to this incident;
3. The mention of anti-Black racism be added to the theme of Congress 2020: Bridging Divides (for example, Bridging Divides and Confronting Anti-Black Racism);
4. If the BCSA remains a member association of the Federation, the waiving of the association’s fees for Congress 2020.

We are pleased to release the Call for Proposals for the 2019 CALT conference, to be held as part of the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities at UBC, 5-7 June, 2019.  DON'T WAIT ... Deadline for proposals is Tuesday 20 November