The Office of the Rector Equity Partnership Grant has been distributed to three equity groups on campus. 

The Queen’s Black Academic Society (QBAS), Levana Gender Advocacy Centre (LGAC), and the African Caribbean Student Association (ACSA) each received a portion of the $1,800 set aside for the grant.  

The grant was established as part of an effort to increase aid for Queen’s QTBIPOC and accessibility communities. Applications for the grant included stated commitments from student groups to promote anti-oppression and anti-discrimination initiatives. 

“The initiative speaks for itself, but the real highlight will come when all of the [student group] initiatives themselves are coming to fruition,” Rector Sam Hiemstra told The Journal.

Hiemstra didn’t specify how much of the grant was allocated to each recipient.

LGAC plans to use the funds from the grant to fund an Indigenous beading workshop series hosted by Queen’s alumni and former Editor in Chief of Queen’s Journal of Indigenous Studies, Rachel Agnew. 

“This funding helps us support ongoing organizing efforts by students and community members. We try to provide barrier-free funding and logistical support for student projects that often need those two things to get off the ground,” LGAC wrote in a statement to The Journal. 

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LGAC said they were able to provide 20 Indigenous students with access to the workshop, which is set to begin in a few months. 

For QBAS, the funds received from the grant will go toward the club’s annual conference. Although the conference won’t be held in person this year, QBAS said it still “seeks to make [its] conference impactful to all those who will attend.”

“The Equity grant will be used by our conference team to ensure that we secure and appropriately compensate the vast knowledge and contributions our keynote speakers make to our conference each year,” QBAS President Catherine Haba wrote in a statement to The Journal. 

“The valuable information, experience and resources QBAS tries to impart to self-identifying Black students who attend our conference would not be possible without the wisdom and example our keynote speakers bring to our conference.”

ACSA did not respond to The Journal’s request for comment in time for publication.