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Official statement condemning racial injustice (click here for PDF):

Dear colleagues and comrades,

Alongside the Canadian Association of Geographers, the American Association of Geographers, and the University of Calgary, UC Cities unequivocally condemns the continued injustices against people of colour in the United States, most recently observed in the police murder of George Floyd. As urban scholars concerned with social, racial, and institutional justice, we stand with people of colour and indigenous people across the globe in their struggles for equality, recognition, and (quite literally) life. We recognize that these struggles are not new, and are relationally connected on a global scale.

We believe in promoting and defending ideas that we hope will make our cities better places for all their inhabitants, through our research, teaching, mentorship, and advocacy. We can always do more, and we encourage our multiple audiences to resist intersectional racism in all its forms. Please find resources and ideas of how to help here, and in addition to on-the-ground organizing and activism, please consider donating to one of the many organizations battling intersectional oppression. For example, see ACORN Canada, Showing Up For Racial Justice, Idle No More, Southern Poverty Law Center, National Bail-Out, Minnesota Freedom Fund, Dignity & Power Now, NAACP, and the ACLU. As well, please consider supporting the local and regional organisations active in your city.

Moving forward, we pledge to do better at building systems of justice, inclusion, and empowerment. Black lives matter now and always.

The UC Cities Executive Board