Join student leaders and staff from the Arboretum for a casual conversation about nature.
The theme for this Nature Exchange is: The Nature of the Holidays
Student leaders from the Humber Arboretum's Learning by LeadingTM program will be hosting a Nature Exchange all about snow, reindeer, plants associated with the holidays, and more.
Join the students and Arboretum staff for one final Nature Exchange before the winter break!
This is a free, drop-in event open to all.
No registration is required. You can learn more about the Nature Exchange on the Arboretum website, or simply join the event on December 8 at 2 p.m.
Please note that this event will be recorded and may be shared online after the fact.
Connect with the Humber Arboretum online: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Newsletter
Join the virtual training with Microsoft:
Teams Channels and Files Level 100
November 17 at 10 a.m. – 11 a.m.
https://aka.ms/A-HumberCollege-TeamsChannelsFiles-Nov17
Teams Channels and Files Level 200
December 8 at 10 a.m. – 11 a.m.
https://aka.ms/A-Humber-TeamsChannelsFiles2-Dec8-EN
This is a free, virtual training session with Microsoft. Copy the link in your calendar and join us for an informative session. The sessions will be recorded and will be added to the ITS Video page.
If you have any questions or suggestions, contact stephanie.maggs@humber.ca.
See you there!
This is a free virtual training session with Microsoft. Copy the link in your calendar and join us for an informative session. The sessions will be recorded and will be added to the ITS website.
If you missed Level 100, no worries! Watch the recorded version available on the ITS Video page.
Microsoft Virtual Training - Teams Channels and Files - Level 200:
If you have any questions or suggestions, contact stephanie.maggs@humber.ca.
See you there.
Launching next week, we are pleased to be able to offer a new student-focussed wellness support resource hosted by Humber College post-graduate students enrolled in the Wellness Coaching Program in partnership with IGNITE and Student Wellness & Equitable Learning.
Peer-Led Wellness Groups will be running once a week from October 15 to December 14. Each week, a new topic will be addressed in a 40-minute group designed to generate peer-led discussion amongst students as it concerns various wellness topics.
Below is a list of topics, dates and times as well as the Eventbrite links for our first two groups. Please share with any students or student groups who might be interested in attending:
Peer-Led Wellness Groups - Fall 2021 Schedule
| October 15 | 1 p.m. to 1:40 p.m. | Goal Setting | Register |
| October 20 | 1 p.m. to 1:40 p.m. | Wellness Wheel | Register |
| November 3 | 1 p.m. to 1:40 p.m. | Happiness & Gratitude | TBA |
| November 9 | 1 p.m. to 1:40 p.m. | Forming Healthy Habits | TBA |
| November 18 | 11 a.m. - 11:40 a.m. | Compassion | TBA |
| November 22 (check) | 4 p.m. to 4:40 p.m. | Stress Management | TBA |
| December 2 | TBA | Resilience | TBA |
| December 7 | 1 p.m. to 1:40 p.m. | Growth Mindset | TBA |
| December 14 | 4:30 p.m. to 5:10 p.m. | Nutrition Basics | TBA |
Attend and students could win:
If you have any questions, please reach out to Sean Connors at sean.connors@humber.ca.
Reacquaint yourself with Teams! We’ve all been using Teams to have virtual meetings, but there have been many updates that you might not know about. In this 60 minute session, we will talk about:
Copy the link and paste it in your calendar – no need to register. Just show up!
December 7, 2021
10 a.m. - 11 a.m. EST
https://aka.ms/A-Humber-PPTLive-Dec7-EN
If you have any questions or suggestions, contact stephanie.maggs@humber.ca.
See you there!
As more employees are transitioning back to working on campus, hybrid working arrangements are being considered. For many, this will be their first time working in a hybrid working arrangement. A hybrid working arrangement means that on any given day, team members may be working on campus, remotely, and on different work schedules.
To prepare managers and employees for hybrid working arrangements, detailed training sessions have been developed to support employees and managers in the transition to hybrid working arrangements. Training topics will include Humber’s Remote Working Policy and hybrid working, managing and contributing in a hybrid working arrangement, ensuring well-being while working in a hybrid working arrangement, workplace safety, and technology needs for hybrid working.
The first modules available in the training series are as indicated below. There will be multiple dates for all training sessions from November 2021 until February 2022.
Note: January and February training dates will be announced shortly.
Each training session has a maximum of 60 participants, but additional sessions will be scheduled based on demand.
Employee Training
Contributing in a Hybrid Work Environment (Employees)
This training will provide employees with an understanding of how to manage their work schedule and performance, as well as how to maintain strong communication and collaboration with their team while working in a hybrid work environment.
Well-being for Employees in a Hybrid Work Environment (Employees)
This training will provide employees with an understanding of how to separate work life from home life (set boundaries), manage change, develop coping skills and understand resources available related to well-being.
Workplace Safety in a Hybrid Work Environment (Employees and Managers)
This training will provide employees and managers with details on health and safety standards while working remotely and safety protocols when on campus.
Manager Training
Well-being for Managers in a Hybrid Work Environment (Managers)
This training will provide managers with an understanding of how to respect boundaries set by their team, manage change, support their team with developing coping skills and understand resources available related to well-being.
Remote Working Policy and Hybrid Work (Managers)
This training will provide managers with details on the application of the remote working policy and explain hybrid work at Humber.
If you have any questions about the training, please contact oe@humber.ca.
Humber College will be hosting the second annual Student Success & Engagement Wellness Event, Ways to Wellness, on Monday, December 6, 2021, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. This event will raise awareness about on-campus wellness services, resources and support available to students.
Event details and logistics can be found in the attached media kit.
Should you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out to us.
Humber PRC Media Relations Committee
SSE Wellness Event
National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women
Monday, December 6, 2021 - 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The Centre for Human Rights, Equity & Inclusion (Centre) is pleased to invite you to its Equity and Inclusion Dialogue series for the 2021-2022 academic year. Online registration is now open for this event. View the flyer for event details. Limited seating available.
Full listing of the Centre’s 2021-2022 Equity & Inclusion Dialogue series
Panel Description
Building Skills to Make a Positive Difference
Together we can change the world but sometimes it can be difficult to know where to begin. Our theme for this event is about building skills to make a positive difference, whether it's with your friends, your community, or the world.
Panelist Bios
Yamikani Msosa B.A., M.A. (they/them or ze-hir)
Yamikani is a black genderqueer Malawian arrivant-settler currently living within the Dish With One Spoon wampum treaty territory, who grew up on Algonquin Territory. Yami is an anti-violence educator, support worker and movement based facilitator, they love building containers for connections to be forged, and holding space for individual, community, and systems transformation. Their lens to the anti-violence liberation movement is intersectional and centers disability and healing justice organizing.
Yamikani has held positions such as Black Academic Success and Engagement Coordinator at Humber College and Vice-Chair of Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centre. Yami currently sits on the eQuality Project Advisory and is featured in Violence Interrupted: Confronting Sexual Violence on University Campuses with Jane Bailey and Suzie Dunn.
In 2017, Yami founded Seeds, a yoga program that centers the needs of survivors of sexual violence. You can learn about about hir work at www.yamimsosa.com.
Melissa Simas MSW (she/her)
Melissa Simas is a graduate of the Master of Social Work Program at Ryerson University. She is an advocate for promoting women’s rights and the social inclusion of people with disabilities. This is evidenced by her work as a volunteer with the Strengths-Based Parenting Initiative (SPIN) and the Women with Disabilities Action Awareness Group at Vibrant Healthcare Alliance. For the past nine years, Melissa has held the position of Program Coordinator with the Expanding the Reach: Outreach to Women with Disabilities program at Scarborough Women’s Centre.
Seán Kinsella: MEd (they/them/he/his)
Seán Kinsella (ê-akimiht nêhi(y/th)aw/otipemisiwak/Nakawé/Irish) is Centennial’s first Director, the Eighth Fire, a position that was envisioned and developed through the collaboration and leadership of Indigenous community members, Traditionalists and members of both the Aboriginal Education Steering Committee and Aboriginal Education Council.
Seán is migizi dodem (Bald Eagle Clan) and also identifies as two-spirit/queer/aayahkwêw and is descended from signatories of Treaties 4, 6 and 8. They were born in Toronto, on Treaty 13 lands and grew up in Williams Treaty territory. Seán has a Masters of Education from the University of Toronto (OISE) and previously served as a contract faculty member in what was called Centennial’s First Peoples stackable credential in addition to working full-time in Student Affairs for 14 years.
Seán previously served as a Co-Executive Director for the Peel Aboriginal Network Indigenous Friendship Centre and in 2019 won an IDERD Award at the University of Toronto recognizing their work towards anti-racism in particular based in the use of land-based ceremonial learning opportunities for students, staff and faculty to disrupt usual patterns of learning about Indigenous history. Seán is also a traveled speaker and keynote and has presented internationally at conferences and served as a Board member and Chair for several professional organizations and Communities of Practice. Learn more about Seán.
Sharing Knowledge
Humber College and the University of Guelph-Humber (the College) is committed to providing an accessible learning, working, and living environment for the Humber community. It is the College’s goal to create a community that is inclusive of all persons and supports all members of the community in an equitable manner. In creating such a community, the College aims to foster a climate of understanding and mutual respect for the dignity and worth of all persons.
December 3: International Day of Persons with Disabilities
City of Toronto: International Day of Persons with Disabilities(IDPWD)
About IDPWD
The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPWD) in 1992. It is an international, annual observance intended to promote understanding of disability issues and the importance of the dignity, rights, well-being, and integration of people with disabilities in all aspects of life.
Virtual Event – December 3, 2021
This year the City of Toronto will co-present a virtual event with Toronto Public Library to celebrate the stories, lived experiences and inclusion of people with disabilities through showcasing their contribution to the arts.
Join us online on Friday, December 3rd from 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. by phone or online.
This event will be English captioned and ASL interpreted. If you require other accessibility supports to join this event, please contact accessibility@toronto.ca.
How to Join
Webex link: https://toronto.webex.com/toronto/j.php?MTID=m8c3e9c7b6d3a2e52b2fd19c3a0d0bf4b
Event number: 2451 338 7172
Event password: IDPD (4373 from phones)
Join by phone: 416.915.6530 (Canada Toll)
Access code: 245 133 87172
United Nations – International Day of Persons with Disabilities
What disability means
A disability is a condition or function judged to be significantly impaired relative to the usual standard of an individual of their group. The term is often used to refer to individual functioning, including physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive impairment, intellectual impairment, mental illness, and various types of chronic disease. This usage has been described by some disabled people as being associated with a medical model of disability.
Persons with disabilities, “the world’s largest minority”, have generally poorer health, lower education achievements, fewer economic opportunities and higher rates of poverty than people without disabilities. This is largely due to the lack of services available to them (like information and communications technology (ICT), justice or transportation) and the many obstacles they face in their everyday lives. These obstacles can take a variety of forms, including those relating to the physical environment, or those resulting from legislation or policy, or from societal attitudes or discrimination.
People with disabilities are at much higher risk of violence:
Inclusive society and development
Evidence and experience shows that when barriers to their inclusion are removed and persons with disabilities are empowered to participate fully in societal life, their entire community benefits. Barriers faced by persons with disabilities are, therefore, a detriment to society as a whole, and accessibility is necessary to achieve progress and development for all.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) recognizes that the existence of barriers constitutes a central component of disability. Under the Convention, disability is an evolving concept that “results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.”
Accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities are fundamental rights recognized by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and are not only objectives, but also pre-requisites for the enjoyment of other rights. The Convention (Article 9, accessibility) seeks to enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life and development. It calls upon States Parties to take appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to all aspects of society, on an equal basis with others, as well as to identify and eliminate obstacles and barriers to accessibility.
Facts & Figures
Humber Is Committed to Individuals with Disabilities
The College supports and facilitates the accommodation of individuals with disabilities. Accommodations ensure that individuals with disabilities have access to all the opportunities that the College offers. Humber will work to eliminate or minimize the adverse effects of all forms of barriers.
The College is committed to supporting the goals of the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). The College will continue to establish policies, practices and procedures which are consistent with the accessibility standards established under the AODA, to identify, remove and prevent barriers to people with disabilities3,4. The goal is to become a barrier-free environment in the activities of the College including the learning, working and living environment.
Achieving the above stated goals depends on the participation of each member of the College community including students, faculty, staff, alumni, volunteers, and guests. Each of these parties has a role in creating an equitable and inclusive environment, as well as in the accommodation process and the identification, removal, and/or reduction of barriers. The consultative relationship among members of the College community is based upon a shared desire for an open, supportive learning, working, and living environment and a shared respect for individual rights and dignity.
Resources:
City of Toronto. (2021, November 30). International Day of Persons with Disabilities. City of Toronto. Retrieved November 30, 2021, from https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/festivals-events/international-day-of-persons-with-disabilities/.
United Nations. (2021, November 22). Background | International Day of Persons with Disabilities. United Nations. Retrieved November 29, 2021, from https://www.un.org/en/observances/day-of-persons-with-disabilities/background.
Humber College. (2020, September 1). Accessibility Policy. Retrieved December 1, 2021, from https://humber.ca/legal-and-risk-management/policies/human-resources/accessibility-policy.html.
Humber College. (2018, December 11). Human Rights Policy. Retrieved December 1, 2021, from https://humber.ca/legal-and-risk-management/policies/human-resources/human-rights-policy.html
This document is available in an alternate format upon request.
Humber’s 2018-2023 Strategic Plan commits the college to building a healthy and inclusive community by establishing and implementing an institutional EDI framework and strategy that addresses the needs of both students and employees. As part of that commitment, Humber is setting up a group for its employees who identify as white and/or as having white skin privilege to explore and dismantle white supremacy.
At its root, The Unlearning Circle aims to provide a space for white people to examine how they have been conditioned by their whiteness and how it shows up in their own thoughts, feelings, and experiences, and within their institutions. This group will work to help members unpack whiteness ideology and unlearn it.
Please join the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Taskforce at the upcoming virtual launch for this group:
Date: December 2
Time: 2 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Location: MS Teams
The agenda includes remarks from Christopher Whitaker, President and CEO; Lori Diduch and Jason Hunter, EDI Taskforce Executive Sponsors; Ian Crookshank, EDI Taskforce Co-Lead; and a video from The Unlearning Circle’s members.
Interested in unpacking white supremacy and privilege, how it is upheld, and learning about new ways of being and seeing the world? Join The Unlearning Circle by reaching out theunlearningcircle@humber.ca.