2024 Community Leadership Award Winner: Sayyidah Jaffer

Q&A with Sayyidah Jaffer:

What does it mean to you to receive the Community Leadership Award? 

For me, the Community Leadership Award represents the culmination of many things. It represents the wonderful years I've spent at SFU and the different communities I've been able to discover and contribute to. It represents the sense of unity we've been able to develop within and between the different organizations on campus. It also represents leadership and sometimes stepping out of my comfort zone to take on roles and responsibilities with which I was previously unfamiliar. As I complete my final term at SFU, this award gives me the support and encouragement to continue using the skills I've acquired to give back to the community during my graduate studies and beyond.   

As a community leader, what drives you the most? 

Having grown up in a community from a young age, I quickly realized the importance of surrounding myself with like-minded people who motivate and encourage me to give back. I've often felt that community service wasn't a choice, but rather an obligation. If we are endowed with the privilege and ability to create inclusive and safe spaces for people, then we must do it. For me, it's mostly the work of inspiring people—including my family, friends, advisors, teachers, and colleagues—that drives me to get involved in my communities as much as possible. 

Do you have an anecdote or memory to share? 

As part of two different organizations — the French Conversation Club and the Political Science Student Association — I was able to organize day trips to Victoria. Although these trips were organized with different objectives, they were both extremely memorable days as part of my undergraduate activities. I was pleased to be able to accompany a group of students, visit the BC Legislature, meet other francophone students, attend a MPP Question Period and interact with politicians. Of course, the ferry crossing is also a highlight of these trips! 

You're one of 91 finalists for the McCall MacBain Fellowships. Can you tell us about your journey to get here?  

I completely understand the expression "It's the journey that counts, not the destination." I say that because my journey to being named a finalist has been an extremely rewarding and enriching process. After submitting my written application and receiving the nomination from Simon Fraser University, I was invited to participate in the regional interviews. There, I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with other candidates between interviews. A few weeks later, I was honoured and delighted to receive a phone call inviting me to participate in the final interviews.  

How do you feel about being a finalist? 

I'm very grateful and honoured to have been selected as a finalist. Over the past few weeks, as finalists, we've had many sessions to prepare for our trip to Montreal and the final interviews, which makes the experience very real and exciting. I'm very grateful for the wonderful encounters I've already had the pleasure of making, and I can't wait to meet the other finalists in person very soon!   

Do you have any current projects in the Francophone community that you'd like to talk about? 

I recently attended a public meeting at Simon Fraser University's Student Resource Centre. I was able to meet and talk with several community organizers who are working hard to promote social and environmental justice and to defend marginalized groups. I'm committed to working with Contract Workers Justice to defend workers' rights on campus and advocate for fairer working conditions. In addition, I plan to get involved in organizing events to protect the rights and support migrants (workers and students) in Canada, especially in connection with "Migrant Spring". 

Interview by Vanessa Groult, director of la Fondation des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique, on March 13, 2024