Our Mission, Vision and Values
Mission: To provide support and advocacy by and for those marginalized by systemic violence by cultivating meaningful relationships, political education, and anti-oppressive organizing
Vision: To act as a reliable support to those building and sustaining movements that tear down systems of violence and replace them with equitable and just communities
Values:
Anti-Oppression - LSPIRG challenges manifestations of violence with attention to the colonial systems and ideologies that enact and perpetuate this violence. We acknowledge that our anti-oppressive organizing must dismantle the ongoing colonization of Turtle Island.
Movement Building - LSPIRG strives to meet people and their communities where they are to provide support, knowledge, and resources that build their capacity for political engagement. We engage in this difficult work because we believe in the ends we seek to achieve.
Prefigurative Politics - LSPIRG is committed to forms of organizing and personal relationship that reflect the future society we are hoping to create through our work.
Self-Care / Community Care - LSPIRG encourages its members to engage in behaviours and politics that validate and honour their well-being and health. We also acknowledge that this work cannot just happen individually. We understand and honour the importance of community care and supporting and showing up for each other.
Environmental Justice - LSPIRG aims to address the ways in which capitalism, resource extraction and colonization impact the land, air, and water. We stand for climate justice and supporting Indigenous communities and land defenders who are speaking out against the ongoing destruction.
Activism - LSPIRG provides its members with the skills to self-organize and engage in actions that advance their political objectives.
Education - LSPIRG facilitates the building of skills and political analysis among members through inclusive and anti-oppressive pedagogies.
Partnerships
LSPIRG has formal partnerships with Wilfrid Laurier University, the Students’ Union and the Graduate Students’ Association, governed by Memorandums of Understanding. We also officially partner with Laurier’s Centre for Community Research, Learning and Action (CCRLA) and Martin Luther University College.
Plus, we often partner with departments on campus like the Centre for Student Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, the Indigenous Student Centre, Consent is Golden and the Sustainability Office. Off campus, we partner with organizations such as Young City Growers, the Sexual Assault Centres and the other PIRGs across Ontario.
We partner with individuals, departments and clubs on certain projects as well, like how we collaborated with Ocean Miller, Association of Black Students Executive, in producing a film called ROOTS, about the ups and downs of being Black in predominantly white spaces.
Resources offered at Laurier Students’ Public Interest Research Group include:
Non-profit Volunteer Opportunities (including Board of Directors experience)
Funding Opportunities
Community
Free Radical Library
Tools For Community Building
Cozy Space for Hangouts / Meetings
Social & Enviro Justice Events