Notice Board

The University of Lethbridge is proud to stand alongside the 2SLGBTQ+ community to celebrate Pride Month. This year’s theme is Building Resilience Through Community and Collaboration, which focuses on harnessing the collective strength of all our communities to move towards creating meaningful spaces of belonging that honour the many voices and stories of our 2SLGBTQ+ students, employees and the community at large.

Pride Month is a celebration of the strength, resilience and diversity of the 2SLGBTQ+ communities, as well as an acknowledgement of 2SLGBTQ+ history, and a continued recognition of the achievements of queer and trans individuals and groups. We encourage you to take the time to explore the Pride Month web page and the many activities taking place this month, including our Progress Pride Flag raising event on Tuesday, June 24, at 11 a.m. in the SU Ballrooms. This month also serves as a call to action to continue our collective work to support and cultivate safe spaces of belonging for queer and trans individuals.

What can we do as a collective and what can you do personally to make our campus welcoming and inclusive to all? It starts by creating spaces for accountable conversations — even conversations across differences — to discuss and address the systemic inequities that continue to impact the lives of the ULethbridge 2SLGBTQ+ campus community, which have become ever more apparent in recent months.

Fostering belonging goes beyond everyday actions or physical signs and symbols welcoming 2SLGBTQ+ individuals. It is taking active and meaningful steps to hold spaces for accountable and respectful conversation. It is using pride flags, buttons or posters as a signal of greater action: that all individuals within a space should prioritize utilizing language and behaviours that affirm a person’s identity and autonomy. It is learning and using a person’s chosen name and recognizing some individuals utilize different pronouns and respecting that choice. It is calling in when we witness unwelcoming behaviours and becoming an active ally.

Our work at the University continues as we will announce, for the second year, the recipient of the VandenHoek Schlachter Pride Award, which provides support for 2SLGBTQ+ students and those who advance equity and inclusion for 2SLGBTQ+ communities and individuals. This award was made possible through a generous donation from two ULethbridge alumni — Kurt Schlachter (BSc ’00) and Jason VandenHoek (BMgt ’05) — who established a first-of-its-kind endowment fund in 2023. This fund will allow us, yet again, to continue to remove barriers for all students.

As we recognize Pride Month and celebrate the strides that have been made, it is important to remember how much farther we must go to achieve a society that is truly just and accepting of all. Together, through community and collaboration we create a university where all diverse students feel welcome and grow.

Martha Mathurin-Moe
Blackfoot name: Aka-isam-o’too “Arrived a long time ago”
Vice-Provost, Accessibility, Belonging & Community

Dr. Digvir Jayas
Blackfoot name: Ikkayiinnii “Fast Buffalo”
President & Vice-Chancellor