DEI Calendar for September 2024
As we step into September, we re-dedicate ourselves to elevating awareness around crucial social issues that shape our collective well-being. This month offers opportunities to deepen our understanding of mental health, gender equality, inclusivity, and the importance of reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. We specifically want to highlight the National Truth and Reconciliation Day/Orange Shirt Day, a poignant reminder of the lasting impact of residential schools. This day urges nations to recognize the traumas faced by Indigenous communities and to move towards reconciliation.
DEI Calendar for September 2024
World Suicide Prevention Month:
A month dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of suicide prevention. Emphasis is placed on the role that mental health plays in our overall well-being.
September 10: World Suicide Prevention Day
It provides an opportunity for people to recognize just like mental health, suicide prevention is a long-term effort that should be included in our daily lives, and encouraged through open and safe communications, favourable policy advocacy, and community outreach.
September 22-28: Gender Equality Week
Gender equality is a human rights issue. This week recognizes the impact of gender equality on everyone. People highlight the barriers to gender equality and raise awareness to promote a society that thrives on inclusivity and diversity.
September 18: International Equal Pay Day
Dedicated to shedding light on the global pay disparities across genders, International Equal Pay Day urges nations and organizations to take active measures towards achieving pay equality.
September 19-25: International Week of the Deaf
Celebrated globally, this week aims to recognize the vibrant deaf community and raise awareness of the importance of providing easy access to sign language education to aid in communication. This global movement provides an avenue for embracing diversity, fostering inclusivity, and breaking barriers by promoting understanding and advocating for inclusivity and the rights of the deaf.
September 21: International Day of Peace
This day serves as a universal call for peace, and cessation of all hostilities, and recognizes our individual and collective responsibility to foster peace through acts of kindness, art, sports, or even education.
September 23: International Day of Sign Languages
Set by the World Federation of the deaf to recognize and celebrate the contribution of sign languages, this day seeks to increase their awareness, thus fostering proper communication and inclusivity.
September 23: International Celebrate Bisexuality Day
This day is dedicated to the bisexual community, affirming their experiences, challenges, and contributions, and encouraging societies to acknowledge and support them.
September 30: National Truth and Reconciliation Day/Orange Shirt Day
A poignant reminder of the lasting impact of residential schools, this day urges nations to recognize the traumas faced by Indigenous communities and to move towards reconciliation.
The mention of assimilation, and residential schools brings untold pain and trauma for the survivors who had to silently endure the constant and mysterious disappearance of their friends, colleagues, and loved ones.
These include children who were stolen from their homes and forced into residential schools, children who died from poor sanitary conditions in the residential schools which spiraled into Tuberculosis, and those who were conditioned into the western life amounting to a cultural genocide.
In light of these atrocities, the Orange Shirt Day calls for a reflection on the foundation of the country which is rooted in the lives of the Inuit, Metis, First Nation, and Canadians as a whole, and the inequalities they still face such as discrimination.
We can make a positive difference by educating ourselves on the history of the residential school systemic, supporting survivors by donating, wearing orange shirts, using Indigenous-led resources for informed conversations, researching on Indigenous communities to foster genuine connections, and amplifying your learnings by sharing impactful resources within your network. Let’s remember to act.