2020 in Review: Reflections on Our Pandemic Year

To members of our community,

As this complicated and tumultuous year comes to a close, there is much to reflect upon. While our public programming has been limited to the virtual world for the time being, we look forward to welcoming our communities back to in-person programming in Fall 2021. This has been a year of profound upheaval that has included the COVID-19 pandemic, protests over pipelines, Indigenous sovereignty, Black Lives Matter and an ongoing opioid crisis that has resulted in an unprecedented loss of life. All this has happened against the backdrop of a heightened anxiety brought on by the unfortunate rise of authoritarian populism around the world.

More than ever, it is important to engage with one another in dialogue and debate in the spirit of what a university ought to be, alongside the communities we are situated in. We are committed to bringing you relevant programming that excites, inspires and provokes important conversations as we enter our 10th anniversary year for SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement. We will continue to program in the three areas of 1) social and environmental justice, 2) arts, culture and community and 3) urban issues.

We wish you a restful holiday season to recharge your batteries and look forward to the possibility of new, inspiring times ahead to rekindle the spark of being alive with one another, to usher in new times and to think together what a coming community might be.

Best wishes,

Am Johal
Director, SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement

2020 HIGHLIGHTS

One Book One SFU: Esi Edugyan and Omar El Akkad

As part of our ongoing partnership with SFU Library, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement co-presented the 2020 edition of One Book One SFU. This year’s book was Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black. In January, we welcomed Edugyan to the Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema. Edugyan was in conversation with author and journalist Omar El Akkad. The recording from this special presentation can be found in our Knowledge Democracy A/V Gallery.

Speak My Language: Celebrating Our Stories

Our Office’s close proximity to Vancouver’s Chinatown lends itself to collaboration with the community. We helped to host Speak My Language: Celebrating Our Stories at the SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts with Yarrow Intergenerational Society for Justice. This storytelling event celebrated the efforts of Chinese youth who collaborated with seniors from Chinatown. Together, these teams created audio documentaries of the seniors’ lived experiences navigating the BC healthcare system. These stories are available for listening on the Yarrow website.