The Emily Carr Faculty Association supports the Scholar Strike and Teach-In (https://scholarstrikecanada.ca/) scheduled for September 9-10, 2020. Professors and students are outraged at the relentless police killings of Black, Indigenous and racialized people in the US and in Canada. We understand that these violent killings result from normalizing white supremacy and that we need to work together to build a culture and society that ends the systemic racism creating the conditions for this constant devaluing of racialized lives.
In the midst of a triple pandemic – corona virus, climate crisis and the systemic racism inflicted by colonization – we realize it is important to work together with honesty, compassion and care for one another, so that we can face the challenges of our times. There are many ways to connect to the larger social movements for justice that we are part of.
Some faculty are attending and encouraging their students to attend public events posted at https://scholarstrikecanada.ca/schedule/
Some faculty will make space in their online classes for a discussion around how to contribute towards building racial justice.
Some faculty are sharing materials on how to address these topics in our different courses.
Some faculty and students may take the days to rest and reflect on these questions in whatever ways are healthy for them.
This is an evolving moment that will be whatever we collectively make of it. We are living through what could be considered growing pains, as we hopefully mature towards a culture that truly respects the lives and lived experiences of Indigenous, Black and racialized peoples.
We respect that faculty and students will do what makes sense for them in their contexts. We voice our solidarity with and gratitude for the people out in the streets refusing to accept unjust violence. We feel not only rage and grief, but also love and care for the ones who’ve been lost and who continue to be endangered by systemic racism. We are grateful to be living on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples, the homelands of the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, Sto:lo, where we strive to become better relatives with the people and the land.
Category: News
We feel a responsibility to show support for our members through these difficult times, specifically non-regular faculty who are facing increased uncertainty and stress. We have created a mutual aid fund by drawing from our Faculty Association savings to distribute up to $50,000 to faculty with the following parameters:
- non-regular faculty who have taught at least one course in two of the past four academic years (2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-2020, 2020-2021).
- non-regular faculty who are experiencing financial stress.
- Maximum of $400 per disbursement.
To apply, simply fill out this editable PDF form, save with your surname added to the file name and email to ecuadfa@gmail.com.
Please note: If a digital signature is not possible, your typed name will do. If you have trouble opening or editing the form, please send a note to ecuadfa@gmail.com. We have tested the form with Acrobat and Preview.
The applications will be reviewed on August 1, 2020. After this point, applications will be reviewed on an ongoing regular basis until the funds run out.
Disbursements will be reviewed by a small committee composed of the Faculty Association executive. All disbursements are confidential, and applicants’ privacy will be protected.
Statement on Anti-Blackness and Racism
The Faculty Association at Emily Carr University of Art + Design joins with millions of people to voice our solidarity with Black and racialized communities in response to the unlawful killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, D’Andre Campbell, and many more Black people. We situate these recent murders in the context of historical and ongoing state-sanctioned violence against Black communities in North America. We acknowledge and feel the pain and anguish caused by these murders and by the repeated denial of justice and human rights to Black Canadians, Americans and people the world over. We assert that Black lives matter.
The Faculty Association commits to dismantling the obstacles that prevent Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Colour from living full lives, and in some cases, from just living. We believe that efforts that focus on individuals, opinions, or points of view may fail to address the root of the problem that faces us. We call on the ECU community to reflect on the issues of anti-Black racism and racialized oppression on a systemic level.
Such an approach must begin with addressing and educating those within our own communities, including ourselves. We recognize that as an institution, ECU perpetuates a culture of anti-blackness and systemic racism. We recognize, with grief, that faculty have contributed to, or been complicit in, normalizing this violence in conscious and unconscious ways. This is further evidence of the systemic nature of what we are fighting, and the structural factors that prevent active change. To this point, many of us have been struggling with the contradictions between our commitments to justice and the institutional norms that have systemically obstructed these commitments.
If we are to address unjust systems, then we need to build communities and support networks grounded in respect, mutual aid, and care for one another across our differences. This includes:
- Recognizing the historic settler colonial attitudes in the nation-building of Canada that pervades to this day, with structural racism practiced implicitly as well as explicitly in its governing bodies and institutions;
- Building curriculum that focuses on the struggles of Black and other marginalized communities, and practicing an active pedagogy of liberation and resistance to these oppressions;
- Practicing intersectional solidarity and recognizing that it takes work and dedicating resources to the dismantling of these unjust systems;
- Acknowledging that this work is done on unceded Coast Salish territories, and we have a responsibility to decolonize and build better relations with one another;
In addition to these actions for which we must hold ourselves accountable, the Faculty Association supports faculty and student agency in actively planning for, and achieving comprehensive equity, diversity and inclusion. The Faculty Association understands that faculty members and students in the Social Justice Working Group (formerly the Intersectional Working Group of the past two years) have long been calling for an open community forum to build the changes we need as a community. We support this open community forum as a crucial first step.
New FA Executive Team
Following the Annual General Meeting held remotely on April 20, the new Executive Committee and Members at Large roles have been assigned.
Co-Presidents – Jay White, Rita Wong
Co-Vice Presidents – Lindsay McIntyre, Alex Hass
Treasurer – Henry Tsang
Secretary – Sunny Nestler
Co-Steward – Jay White, Rita Wong
Members at Large – Ruben Moller, Joe O’Brien, Valerie d. Walker, Keith Langergraber, Arni Haraldsson, Gina Adams
Chris Hethrington and Daniel Drennan ElAwar have stepped down, and we would like to thank them for their service.
COVID-19: Government Support Resources
Federal Support
Employment Insurance
The Government of Canada is taking immediate, significant and decisive action to help Canadians facing hardship as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
If, as a sessional, you have taught 630+ hours over the last 52 weeks you are eligible for EI.*
One 3-credit studio course = 112 hours
One 3-credit academic course = 140 hours
To apply for EI, contact our Payroll department directly to request a Record of Employment (ROE). Turnaround time is pretty quick.
* It is possible to get approval for higher number of hours. There are occasions where people can report higher numbers that accurately reflect what was actually worked.
EI Application:
https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-regular-benefit.html
CERB
If you have stopped working because of COVID-19, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) may provide you with temporary income support. The CERB provides $500 a week for up to 16 weeks.
CERB Application:
https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/cerb-application.html
Provincial Support
https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2020PREM0013-000545
BC is the only province so far to provide financial relief to renters. The Temporary Renter Supplement will pay up to $500 per month (for 4 months) directly to landlords on behalf of workers who qualify for the federal CERB.
Temporary Rental Supplement Program:
Other broad-based BC measures include free bus trips in Metro Vancouver via TransLink and the rest of BC Transit operations across the province.
Find the benefits relevant to you
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/coronavirusbenefits
Get information on what’s available to: those who have lost income; renters and homeowners; families; seniors; students; businesses; Canadians abroad. There’s also a personal finance section with information on tax and utility bill deferrals. This guide provides the basic benefit information you need to apply for subsidies.
This includes:
- Who can apply
- Date available
- How to apply
- Links or phone number to make a claim
If you have any questions or additional support resources, please leave a comment below or email ecuadfa@gmail.com
COVID-19: Info + Updates for Staff + Faculty
Some principles and guidelines for teaching through an unprecedented and interrupted semester – adapted from this article: www.chronicle.com/article/Nobody-Signed-Up-for/248298
1. Nobody signed up for this.
- Not for the sickness, not for the social distancing, not for the sudden end of our collective lives together on campus.
- Not for an online class, not for teaching remotely, not for learning from home, not for mastering new technologies, not for varied access to learning materials.
2. The humane option is the best option.
- We are going to prioritize supporting each other as humans.
- We are going to prioritize simple solutions that make sense for the most.
- We are going to prioritize sharing resources and communicating clearly.
3. We cannot just do the same thing online.
- Some assignments are no longer possible.
- Some expectations are no longer reasonable.
- Some objectives are no longer valuable.
4. We will foster intellectual nourishment, social connection, and personal accommodation.
- Accessible asynchronous content for diverse access, time zones, and contexts.
- Optional synchronous discussion to learn together and combat isolation.
5.We will remain flexible and adjust to the situation.
- Nobody knows where this is going and what we’ll need to adapt.
- Everybody needs support and understanding in this unprecedented moment.
Tuesday Feb 11, 11:30am to 12:30pm The Working Studio, which is located in the atrium in the east end of the 2nd floor. Emily Carr University Wheelchair accessible.
In 2018, student Terra Poirier became concerned with the under compensation and lack of job security faced by most of her instructors and decided to make labour issues at Emily Carr University the focus of her graduation project.
She created a photographic installation outside the president’s office to draw attention to the lack of work space for sessional instructors (underpaid contract faculty), and she created the artist book “Non-Regular: Precarious academic labour at Emily Carr University of Art + Design” in collaboration with 26 instructors and other artists (published by UNIT/PITT Projects). The project earned local and national media attention and was launched to a standing-room-only audience.
Unfair labour practices continue to be a concern at ECU. Join Poirier for a talk on her process and motivations, and a discussion of what students can do to educate and mobilize on these issues.
The facebook event is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/489350455297849/
Books will be available at a discounted rate for students.
This talk is presented by the ECU Faculty Association as part of their The Work of the Work faculty exhibition which runs until February 14: https://www.facebook.com/events/1490533891104861/
Emily Carr University is on unceded Coast Salish territories, specifically the lands belonging to the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
The theme of this exhibition—which features work by Emily Carr University of Art and Design instructors—focuses on the relationship between labour and creative practice, inspired by “the challenging working conditions faculty face at this institution.”
- January 31–February 14, 2020
- Opening: Thursday, January 30th 4:00 – 7:00
- Emily Carr University, 2nd Floor
Organizers are still looking for more faculty contributors to include images of your studio and projects that you are working on. There will also be a working studio where you can create work in person for any duration while the show is up. Get in touch with Alex Phillips <bphillips@ecuad.ca> for more info and to participate.
https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/02/04/Emily-Carr-Faculty-Art-Zing-Employer/
Happy New Year
We would like to wish all faculty a happy new year!
The big news here is that Collective bargaining at ECU has begun! Not only is this a time to reflect on all the work we put into our various roles as members of the Faculty Association, it is also a time for action. Some important things we are focusing on in this round of bargaining are Right to Available Work, Compensation, and Teaching Load.
Join us at the monthly Faculty Association meeting to hear updates in person and let us know if you have questions.