Queer Ontario's Response to Attack at University of Waterloo

[Nick Mulé]

Hi Everyone,

Below is a statement Queer Ontario is issuing on the recent disturbing attack that took place at the University of Waterloo:

Queer Ontario sends its support to the professor and students injured or present in the recent disturbing incident in which they were attacked in a Gender Studies class at the University of Waterloo.  All students should be free to study, regardless of the subject matter, which upholds values of academic freedom.  This act of violence targeting issues of gender identity and expression is designed to instil fear and is an attempt at silencing progressive perspectives that challenge traditional notions of the sex and gender binary.  Statistics show an uptick of intolerance and hatred towards the 2SLGBTQI+ communities in Canada (https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230322/dq230322a-eng.htm).  

Acts such as this do not happen in isolation by an individual with an agenda of hate, but rather stems from ongoing systems of homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, racism, and colonialism.  Numerous examples both historically (1989 massacre at École Polytechnique in Montreal) to more recent incidents including Catholic school boards refusing to raise the Pride flag, fascists attempting to shut down drag storytime and abolitionist events, as well as legislative attempts south of the border and here (see New Brunswick Policy 713: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/ccla-new-brunswick-national-florida-lgbtq-safety-1.6892590).  A punitive carceral response is a limited one at best.

Queer Ontario calls upon all educational institutions and legislative bodies to make concerted efforts to address systemic forms of homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, racism, and colonization by increasing education on all these fronts and stopping attempts at legislating harm towards targeted groups.

Nick

Nick Mulé

Member at Large,

Queer Ontario