As early as Friday, June 7, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) may be on strike. While negotiations are ongoing, it is important for us to be prepared for the potential impact on students and staff.

If you normally commute to campus by TTC, please speak with your supervisor about how to proceed if there is a TTC strike. Leaders should be flexible when possible, given the possible disruption.

If required, we would urge you to plan alternate transportation for Friday. Carpooling, cycling, and utilizing other public transit services are some alternatives to consider. The TTC union has indicated that Wheel-Trans will continue to operate in the event of a strike.

It is important to stay informed through official TTC communications and news updates to update your travel plans accordingly. For information regarding TTC services, please visit the TTC website.

Humber campuses and locations will be open and student services will continue to be available. Sufficient parking will be available at North and Lakeshore campuses should those who normally commute by transit decide to drive or carpool.

We will continue to monitor the situation and will provide any relevant updates to the community.

An assembly of faculty, support staff, students, and administrators, Humber College Council (HCC) is Humber’s collective employee voice, making suggestions to Humber College’s President as it relates to long and short‐term institutional priorities.

At its sixth meeting of the academic year, College Council welcomed an update on Humber’s International Student admissions process and Humber’s draft EDIB Roadmap. 

HUMBER’S INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ADMISSION PROCESS

Information presented by Drew Ness, Dean, International.

International students are an important and valued part of the Humber community, enriching the learning environment with their unique experiences and perspectives. On January 22, 2024, the Federal government announced a national cap on international study permit applications for a period of two years - in 2024, the cap is 364,000. This is having an impact throughout the Ontario post-secondary sector, and across the country. Humber is concerned about its impact on students and their communities. 

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) also announced a series of changes to the requirements international students must meet to be able to secure a study permit. All applications for a study permit must now include a letter of acceptance (LOA) and a provincial attestation letter (PAL). Every institution enrolling international students, including Humber, has a limited number of PALs available to grant to applicants to apply for a study permit. Humber wants to ensure that every Humber applicant that is given a PAL completes their enrolment process, including applying for a study permit. To do this, Humber launched a new process. For more details on Humber’s admissions process, visit: https://international.humber.ca/provincial-attestation-letter.html

HUMBER’S DRAFT EDIB ROADMAP

Information presented by Yasmin Razack, Dean, EDIB

Humber has established a new Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. The work of the former Office of Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion in terms of processing human rights complaints remains within People(s) and Culture, under the Legal team and is now named the Office of Harassment and Human Rights.

The new EDIB office is working on Humber’s next EDIB strategy and roadmap: Building Connections. The current draft was a result of substantial consultation and input from Humber’s EDI Taskforce and a firm specializing in addressing workplace inequities, All Things Equitable. The team is currently tabling the draft plan with the Humber community to ensure its focus areas and areas of action resonate with them. HCC reviewed the draft plan and provided feedback to the EDIB team. Building Connections is expected to be launched this fall.

NEXT HCC MEETING

The next Humber College Council meeting will be held in September 26, 2024 (TBC). HCC will host its in-person retreat on June 12, 2024 at the Lakeshore campus.

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS? For questions or comments about HCC meeting highlights, contact regan.mancini@humber.ca. For supporting materials, meeting minutes, or opportunities to provide feedback, please visit the College Council website or contact shovani.samalia@humber.ca.

The Postsecondary Education Standards Development Committee (PESDC) 2022 Final Report identified nine barriers to access.  Biweekly, ALS will be doing a deep dive into the barriers and recommendations identified.  

The recommendations were founded upon principles that accessibility efforts should be proactive, that all areas of an institution have a shared responsibility in promoting access and that students need to navigate a transparent and seamless system. 

This week’s focus is on awareness and training barriers. 

• Accessibility and inclusion are constantly evolving. Ongoing training is needed to ensure knowledge is current. The report recommends accessibility training be renewed every three years for all postsecondary employees. 

• The report outlines additional training recommendations for specific audiences. 

• Training for educators and librarians to include their responsibility in procuring accessible equipment and course content material, the accommodation process as outlined by the Ontario Human Rights Code, and the impact of selecting teaching materials late for students with disabilities. 

• Training for administrators and leadership in postsecondary to include system-level barriers to accessibility and the impacts of policy decisions, the impact of staffing decisions (i.e. late hiring and sessional staff) for students with disabilities in the impacts of lack of funding for additional accessibility training.  

The full report is available

Visit our ALS Information for Faculty website to learn more about accommodating students with disabilities. 

Please email us at accessible-learning@humber.ca with suggestions for key accessibility-related topics that you would like us to address through the Communiqué.

The Centre for Innovation in Health and Wellness offers virtual and in-person meditation sessions.  

Students, staff and faculty are all welcome to attend.

Register for a session by going to cihw.online/mindfulness.