Laurier Legacy Project Recommendations

The recommendations are long-term and ongoing, and will require partnership with faculty, students, staff, alumni and supporters. Any members of the Laurier community who are interested in pursuing or advancing any of the recommendations in partnership with the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion are invited to do so. For more information, contact avpedi@wlu.ca.

Recommendations Related to Sir Wilfrid Laurier

1. Continue research on Sir Wilfrid Laurier and his legacy through ongoing archival research, including consulting the following sources:
   1. House of Commons discussions and debates.
   2. Newspaper sources, including political, ethnic, and mainstream papers.
   3. Oral history sources and research findings from community-based research organizations impacted by Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s policies, such as the Chinese Canadian History Project, the Black Loyalist Centre, and the Ontario Black History Society.
   4. Interviews with community members living with legacies of Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s policies, especially university community members.
2. Mobilize findings from postdoctoral fellowship research:
   1. Signage around the Sir Wilfrid Laurier statue on the Waterloo campus and his other imagery on both campuses (QR code).
   2. Artistic displays and interpretations of his complex legacies in equity-deserving communities.
   3. Integration of research findings into employee training, first as a module within the university's antiracism onboarding module.
3. Foster student engagement with existing research findings and mobilize students in ongoing research about Sir Wilfrid Laurier.
   1. Create an experiential learning course and undergraduate research apprenticeship to continue research and knowledge mobilization associated with the Laurier Legacy Project.
4. Coordinate university community-led community conversation about the namesake of the university informed by research undertaken as part of the Laurier Legacy Project.

Recommendations Related to Wilfrid Laurier University

1. Provide opportunities for the university and external communities to listen and learn about the history of Wilfrid Laurier University and calls to action for reparative justice.
2. Support ongoing research into the institutional history of Wilfrid Laurier University, particularly for students and faculty in the Laurier community.
3. Develop further opportunities to expand existing research on the history of Wilfrid Laurier University.
   1. Establish an experiential learning course to facilitate research and knowledge mobilization.
4. Establish financial aid and scholarships for students from communities that have been historically marginalized by and within Laurier.
5. Establish recruitment and retention initiatives that target staff and faculty impacted by histories of harm and oppression at Wilfrid Laurier University and its campus communities.
6. Mobilize findings from research about Wilfrid Laurier University’s previous students to inform the implementation of the alumni-facing recommendations of Laurier’s Strategic Plan for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI):
   1. Recommendation 4.1 of Laurier’s Strategic Plan for EDI is to co-create an EDI alumni committee that can explore ways that boards and executive committees can be more diverse and reflective and identify any changes needed to existing policies and practices so as to meet principles of equity, diversity and Inclusion.
   2. Recommendation 4.2 of Laurier’s Strategic Plan for EDI states that while striving to always maintain strict confidentiality of personal information, WLU’s Alumni Association (WLUAA) must begin collecting, analyzing, and reporting on demographic alumni data on an ongoing basis that can be used to gain a better understanding of the group’s composition.
   3. Recommendation 4.3 of Laurier’s Strategic Plan for EDI is to provide more opportunities for engagement among equity-deserving groups within the WLUAA by offering supports and resources, developing mentorship and bridging programs for incoming/current members, creating spaces where BIPOC alumni can convene, share experiences, and network, or facilitating the formation of different ‘affinity groups’ within the broader collective.
   4. Recommendation 4.4 of Laurier’s Strategic Plan for EDI is to develop strategies that not only help to ensure diversity of the WLUAA membership is reflected in executive, leadership, and committee positions but also in the advertising, programming, and promotional content that is created and disseminated.
7. Create opportunities to support continued high-risk and sensitive research on the history of Wilfrid Laurier University through the formation of a non-precarious researcher position.
8. Establish a Black Studies program that would support scholarship in Black studies, local Black history, and the history and legacies of anti-Black racism at Wilfrid Laurier University and its campus communities. Scholarship and courses from Black Studies should be provided as mandatory offerings across academic programs at Laurier.
9. Adequately resource EDI units and EDI-adjacent supports, staff, and initiatives at Wilfrid Laurier University. Adequate resourcing ensures the success of this work.
10. Support the Office of Indigenous Initiatives in Indigenous-led programming.
11. Expand the audit of Wilfrid Laurier University’s past policies through an EDI lens, which the Laurier Legacy Project’s critical institutional history researcher initiated.
    1. All university policies and programs should undergo regular audits using an equity lens.
12. Create a Laurier Legacy research centre with a visitor centre.
13. Respond to histories of harm and oppression uncovered through the critical institutional history research undertaken by the Laurier Legacy Project through reparative measures, which could include:
    1. Initiatives that promote student and staff mental health.
    2. Acknowledgement of histories of harm and oppression through sharing of research findings and memorialization.
    3. Financial compensation and other forms of reparation (such as formal apologies and memorialization) for individuals and communities impacted by histories of harm and oppression perpetuated by Wilfrid Laurier University.
    4. Undertaking a plan for decolonial institutional reform.