Championing for Change from the Ground Up

By Suelan Toye

Anti-poverty issues. Better access to health care for rural communities. Harm reduction. First Nations rights.

These are just a handful of issues that some 60 students from a wide cross section of disciplines – from social work to civil engineering – are hoping to learn more about and effect social change in this year’s Jack Layton Leadership School.

Running over two days during the university’s Reading Week, participants will work closely with faculty and community members to engage in social issues through storytelling, creative workshops, panel discussions, lectures and community tours.

“I am heartened to see the overwhelming interest from students across the campus,” said Professor Ken Moffatt, who holds the Jack Layton Chair and is the organizer of the workshop. “I hope this program will help students find their own voice and express their own needs for justice.”

The social work professor also says it is important for students to learn about social justice during their time at university.

“Students learn about knowledge and concepts that are related to power, whether it’s conscious or not. I think social justice sheds light on how people can use this knowledge and power to bring about change. However, social justice is also not just focused on changing others, but changing ourselves.”

Tara Farahani, who is an Artist-in-Residence in the Faculties of Arts and Community Services and one of the presenters in the School, agrees. She hopes to help students draw on their lived experiences to pave their way towards becoming leaders.

“A lot of times when we enter the academic sphere, we don’t see our lived experience as something of value in a leadership role. I think for me, it is a leadership opportunity that speaks to that lived experience and amplifies it more.”

For Victoria Atteh, a third-year international Arts and Contemporary student from Nigeria, drawing on her own personal experience to start her own grassroots organization to help the Nigerian diaspora culture thriving in Toronto is the main reason why she enrolled in the workshop.

 “Not everyone has the natural instinct and self-confidence to be a leader. However, they have the heart for it and care about the people around them. That is something I’m interested in learning about.”

Learn more about the Jack Layton Leadership Program and register by Feb. 11: ryerson.ca/jack-layton-chair/leadership-school (opens in new window)