THUNDER BAY -- Dozens of students and community members walked in silence Friday to protest online racist attitudes in Thunder Bay.
Created in 2015 by the Native Child and Family Services students at Confederation College, the Stand Up Against Racism' event was a response to racially motivated Facebook posts targeting the city’s Aboriginal population.
Campaign leader Ashley Nurmela explained that the walk is the community’s way to respectfully challenge racism in Thunder Bay.
"Our goal is to be the voices for the many who feel they do not have one, who have lost their voice, or who cannot stand up on their own," the second-year Native child and family services student said in a release.
"It affects me on a daily basis. It's not just Facebook pages that are the problem, it's people feeling the need to say something racist, prejudice or just awful in general about another race."
Last year, red and white T-shirts were sold at cost in support of the silent protest.
"This year, we are selling them for a profit and the profits are going back to the students here at Confederation College for September," she said.
The money will cover the cost of a bursary for Aboriginal students entering into the college system, students helping other students.
In an effort to help spread the Stand Up message even further into community, Lakehead University will host a Kairos Blanket exercise on April 22 in the Agora Circle on campus.
It’s an interactive learning experience teaching Indigenous rights history.
The exercise was constructed in response to the 1996 Report of the Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.
"The report recommended education in Canadian-Indigenous history as one of the key steps to reconciliation," Nurmela added. "It covers over 500 years of history in an hour-and-a-half participatory workshop.
"That's how the Stand Up campaign is going to transition to the university."
Nurmela hopes to see the campaign continue to grow in the future.
