Addressing Black Inclusivity Within a Canadian Post-secondary Engineering Faculty: a Critical Perspective.

This paper briefly outlines three initiatives that the University of Toronto (U of T) Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering (FASE) has implemented as initial steps as the institution strives to be anti-racist and address Black inclusivity. These initiatives were based within K-12 outreach, race-based data collection and creating opportunities for faculty-wide race-centric dialogue and learning. U of T FASE was compelled to develop and/or enhance such initiatives after an anti-Black racist incident between students was mishandled and criticized by Black student groups. Using critical race theory (CRT) and personal reflection, this paper highlighted several barriers to the implementation and/or success of these initiatives such as time, financial security, perception of institutional policy and/or provincial law, engineering culture and whiteness and/or colour evasiveness. While definitive solutions to these barriers may not be clear, having a designated champion for specific initiatives, addressing discomfort in differentiating race, consistent advocacy to senior administration and the self-empowerment to resource time and effort to such work were identified as key elements to drive initiatives within the context of U of T FASE.