Message from the dean

Dear colleagues, students, staff, friends and supporters,

As we are approaching the end of this year, it is worthwhile to reflect briefly on what we have all experienced and lived through over the past twelve months. While I would normally want to use this space to talk about the amazing accomplishments of our Faculty of Community Services, to brag a little about my wonderful colleagues and our excellent students, I want to instead focus on what really matters. This year, we were challenged to find new ways of caring – for each other, for the land we live and work on, and for the communities in which we find belonging and identity. Sometimes we did this well; at other times, we were challenged to look out for one another, and we must be humble enough to recognize our own failings, individually and collectively.
 
Many of our colleagues, students and friends experienced a great deal of loss, not always due to the pandemic, but always in the context of a pandemic that has shaped our lives in major ways. I want to take this moment to honour those who were lost to us and to acknowledge the pain experienced by those amongst us. Sometimes it is easy to get caught in the operational details of navigating this pandemic, but this cannot take the place of grieving with our friends and colleagues and supporting their journey of remembrance and sadness.
 
The words are silent, but our hearts are with you.
 
As the year ends, many of us seek resolutions for the coming year. These range from the trivial to the comical, and from the very serious to the transformative. I support everyone in pursuing what is important to them. I also want to encourage everyone to resolve once again to care, and to move into 2022 with determination to make care visible to those around you and to your communities. We will face more challenges in the months ahead. No one prepared us to face these challenges and our success in facing them with dignity and courage relies on how we are with each other every day. In the Faculty of Community Services, we have always declared our commitment to community, and especially to equity, respect for diversity, truth and reconciliation in the context of our violent past that extends into the present. Our researchers and our students will undoubtedly carry forward these commitments. They will tackle the wicked problems of our time, including mental health, anti-racism, livable cities, housing that offers dignity to everyone, and justice in the true sense of the word.
 
But we need more than that moving forward. Beyond the words, we must demonstrate that we can walk the talk. We must demonstrate care within all our social relations, across communities of commonalities and communities of difference. Every moment matters. Every gesture matters. Everyone matters.
 
We end 2021 wounded but still standing. Let us start 2022 with a determination to heal. Even in the presence of a tough and seemingly unsatiable virus, I believe we can heal, but we will need each of us and all of us to care.
 
I want to wish everyone a restful holiday, filled with the love of those we miss, the joy of those around us, and the courage to move forward within and across communities.

Sincerely,
Kiaras Gharabaghi
Dean, Faculty of Community Services