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The Diocese of New Westminster was the first diocese in the Anglican Church of Canada to offer a one-day dismantling racism training for all licensed clergy. However, the Diocese recognizes the ongoing need and wants to explore deepening its commitment and engagement with anti-racism work. Recent events have highlighted how much more is needed in all social institutions to address systems of oppression and racism, and the church is no different. Accordingly we have reached out to Natasha Aruliah, Facilitator, Consultant, Educator and Coach in the areas of Social Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Organizational Change to offer a pilot program that will explore anti-racism in greater depth.

The class consists of a series of sessions to increase awareness, knowledge and skills around anti-racism to complement and deepen the diocese’s commitment to dismantling racism that already exists with the one-day training. Those who are chosen to participate will be included in one of two cohorts of 12 people each. Each cohort will meet once a month online for two hours starting in January 2021 and running through to June 2021. Before and between sessions participants are expected to read, reflect on specific questions and write in their journals (about one hour per week over 4 weeks).

The sessions will cover language and essential concepts in critical race theory and J.E.D.I. (Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) work. We will then explore social location and identities of marginality and privilege, including concepts of internalized oppression, intersectionality, white privilege and white fragility and other concepts related to privilege and marginality. The final sessions will consider how the concepts apply to the Anglican Church, allyship, solidarity and action. These sessions will have a strong focus on the individual, personal awareness and the change needed to support equity and diversity initiatives within organizations. The aim of the sessions is to collectively have agreement and understanding about the work of anti-racism and to develop responses to be anti-racist.

Note: Participation in a cohort is NOT a substitute for the requirement to complete the Diocesan Dismantling Racism training.

Facilitator: Natasha Aruliah

Natasha is a Facilitator, Consultant, Educator and Coach in the areas of Social Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Organizational Change.

The meeting dates and times are:

Cohort 1– Tuesdays 2 – 4pm – Virtual—Draft Topics
Session 1 - Jan 12 Language and essential concepts
Session 2 – Feb 9 Neuroscience, bias, white fragility and emotional resilience
Session 3 - March 9 Intersectionality and complex identities
Session 4 – April 6 Power, privilege and white supremacy culture
Session 5 – May 4 White saviourism, paternalism and performative allyship
Session 6 – June 1 Allyship, solidarity and action

Cohort 2 - Thursdays 2 - 4pm - Virtual - Draft Topics

Session 1 - Jan 14 Language and essential concepts
Session 2 – Feb 11 Neuroscience, bias, white fragility and emotional resilience
Session 3 - March 11 Intersectionality and complex identities
Session 4 – April 8 Power, privilege and white supremacy culture
Session 5 – May 6 White saviourism, paternalism and performative allyship
Session 6 – June 3 Allyship, solidarity and action

If you are interested in participating in this pilot project, you will need to submit a brief application to do so. In that application, you will have the opportunity to speak about why you’re interested in doing this work at this time, how you’re likely to put the training into use and which cohort you wish to participate in.

Anyone who signs up for one of the cohorts must commit to attending all the sessions and doing all the work outside of the sessions. 

Here is a link to the APPLICATION

Applications will be curated by Reverend Tellison Glover