Safer Space Policy

Recognize that the violence of colonization is not confined to solitary events, but is an ongoing process that continues to impact Indigenous peoples. For example, Indigenous people and cultures face a continued push for erasure and assimilation and we challenge the Canadian nationalism that reinforces the celebration of colonization.

E.g., don’t use the word ‘gay’ as an insult or use gay, queerphobic, biphobic, or panphobic slurs.

E.g. don’t use words such as ‘tranny’ and ‘trans’ or use transphobic or gender-based slurs (unless using it as a reclaimed word to describe yourself).

E.g., Don’t use words such as ‘slut’ or ‘bitch’ (unless you are using it as a reclaimed word to describe yourself). Remember that people of all genders can perform all tasks. Remember that there is nothing wrong with a person of any sex being ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine.’

In practice, this means listening and responding to Indigenous led calls to action locally, provincially, nationally, and globally.

We must be cognizant and combat how Anti-Black racism results in increased cultural appropriation, exclusion, erasure, stereotyping, targeting, gaslighting, violence, murder, and genocide for Black people and communities. We must also be vigilant on how centuries of anti-Indigenous and anti-Black racism inform and perpetuate discrimination against other people of colour, and be vigilant about addressing these systemic issues at a personal, interpersonal, and structural level.

E.g., be mindful of your class privilege and do not assume resources that are accessible to you are accessible to everyone.

We must be moving in a direction where our work prioritizes the voices, experiences, and initiatives from Indigenous peoples, Black peoples, Peoples of Colour (BIPOC). Taking an intersectional approach and thinking about how compounding experiences of oppression can increase exclusion, we must also look at prioritizing peoples with various gender expressions, presentations and identities, peoples with various sexual orientations, disabled peoples/peoples with disabilities (visible and invisible), peoples navigating mental health concerns (diagnosed and undiagnosed), addiction(s), and/or navigating recovery processes, peoples with no and/or precarious immigration status, survivors of/peoples with experiences of sexual violence, domestic violence, stalking, emotional abuse, ritual abuse, or physical abuse, poor people/low-income peoples, peoples with no and/or precarious housing, sex workers, peoples who use drugs, incarcerated peoples and peoples with criminal records, pregnant peoples, parents, and caregivers, fat peoples, peoples across age cohorts, and peoples from a wide range of cultural and faith backgrounds.

E.g., Ask for consent before touching anyone. Accept ‘no’ for an answer. Do not pressure others to engage in behaviours that they are not comfortable with.

Our work must align with the values that ensure that, as well as having access to abortion, everyone has the right to have children under the conditions they want to have them and raise them in a safe and healthy environment. This means that reproductive justice is deeply connected to other forms of justice, including decolonization, racial justice, prison and police abolition, immigrant justice, environmental justice, economic justice, disability justice, among many others.

Increasing accessibility for disabled and non-disabled folks requires that we meaningfully examine the following elements in our organizing:

● Physical spaces (e.g. entry/exit, navigation, washrooms, access to water)

● Signage

● Languages/ translations options

● Providing food and water

● Sensory environment (e.g. flashing lights, loud noises)

● Ensuring access to a sharps container and narcan/ Naloxone

● Presence of security

● Options for a quiet environment, if needed

● Option of mental health supports, if needed

● Proximity to public transit

● Providing childcare/caretaking

● Timing (start time & end time) and dates of events

In doing social, economic, and environmental justice work, we cover a wide range of topics that can be triggering. Within meeting spaces, we encourage people for both their mental and physical needs to take breaks, stand up, and move around as needed.

Some people’s needs and schedules may come in conflict with others, and it is through discussion that we can best find a solution that works for everyone.

If a safety need or consideration is brought forward, it will be handled in accordance with the processes outlined in this process, and kept confidential to those whom it concerns. If the person with the concern chooses to file an OPIRG Brock Incident Report to the OPIRG Brock Accountability Committee, they can choose to do this.

However, working under a model of multi-step transformative justice that allows for recovery and repair means that the emotional and physical safety needs of those harmed will be prioritized as a means of preventing and/ or minimizing harm.

OPIRG Brock calls for the full decriminalization of sex work as well as rights, safety, and respect for all sex workers. All types of labour under capitalism, including sex work, is the selling of one’s skills, knowledge, and body.

This includes the ability to self-prescribe abortion, estrogen, testosterone, and birth control and access these resources for free. We do not believe in gender policing, including any form of transmedicalism, trans-exclusionary radical feminism, or transphobia, and are committed to these forms of discrimination and judgement within our activism, events, team education, and community partnerships.