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Violence against women1 is a pervasive and persistent problem, but too often it is an invisible problem. In family and community conversations, silence hangs over this topic, even though it touches the lives of most women and people who care about women.2 The reasons for this are complex, but stigma and backlash are among the reasons women do not speak out.3 Both the likelihood of experiencing violence and the risks of speaking out are intensified for women experiencing multiple forms of structural marginalization, especially disabled women, LGBTQ+ people, women, young women, and Indigenous women.4  The fact that violence against women most often occurs in private settings – “behind closed doors” – also contributes to its invisibility. With the loss of social supports and stay-at-home orders, the increase in violence directed towards women and girls during the COVID-19 pandemic has been called a “shadow pandemic” by researchers and advocates.5

In 2019, the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership (CRP) was launched to bring together a diverse community of partners to act on the recommendations set out by the 2018 Indigenous Circle of Experts We Rise Together Report. The partnership represents a seven-year program of work hosted by the IISAAK OLAM Foundation, the Indigenous Leadership Initiative and the University of Guelph. 

The purpose of celebrating and acknowledging this day is to build stronger, more inclusive communities for people with ASD. For instance, strategies to promote inclusive environments include making public playgrounds accessible, having support in place at educational settings, promoting diversity in the workplace to include these individuals, along with many more.  

A statement from the Anti-Oppression Rainbow Gender & Sexuality Diversity Cluster:

A new report published this week provides the findings of research conducted to assist Employment and Social Development Canada in identifying good or best practices and lessons learned from the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.

Conducted in partnership with the DisAbled Women’s Network of Canada (DAWN), this research helps us better understand how diverse people with disabilities in Canada have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of government COVID-19 measures on diverse people with disabilities in Canada.

Join researcher Dr. Laura Pin and panelists including Member of Provincial Parliament Mike Schreiner on Thursday, March 18, 2021, at 7 p.m. for an engaging and interactive conversation about the impact of COVID-19 on those living on low income during the first months of the pandemic. The panel also includes community leaders, and representatives from the Guelph-Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination, Services and Housing in the Province, and A Way Home Canada.

We published our Winter 2021 newsletter! Check it out by clicking here!

The Centre is focused around anticipating and responding to the changing needs of families, livelihoods, and living environments through research, teaching, and knowledge sharing. We are excited to share the projects our team have been working on, news, upcoming events and more with you through our newsletters.

The Guelph Black Heritage Society (GBHS) is a community cultural and spiritual gathering space, providing resources and services to empower the community to connect to our Black history, present & future. A team of Univeristy of Guelph students had the opportunity to work with the GBHS. Below, one of the students from this team, Kamrani Doray, provided us with a blog post on the project and its importance to the community.

Last year the Live Work Well Centre’s Sexual and Diversity Cluster held a workshop on consensual allyship where participants learned different perspectives and practices of allyship. Thomas Sasso, who co-founded the Sexual and Gender Diversity research lab, held everyone’s attention with a mix of sincerity and humour. Sasso addressed the assembled participants with ease by drawing on personal anecdotes and academic research. 

Each year the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences holds a conference meeting that brings together over 70 different academic associations to the same location. It offers a great opportunity to meet other scholars, policy makers, and practitioners to learn about research happening in a variety of fields, including the Canadian Disability Studies Association, the Canadian Sociological Association, and the Sexuality Studies Association to name a few. A past undergraduate research assistant at the Centre had the pleasure of attending this conference and shared her experience with us. The student took the opportunity to ask them what living and working well means to them.