Creating Space: BIPOC Voices Across the Maple League

Description:
BIPOC employees across higher education institutions in Canada play a vital role in creating inclusive, equitable, and culturally grounded campuses, yet many continue to navigate unique challenges related to representation, workload, and belonging. In this one-hour co-hosted session, we will expose some of the challenges and offer strategies for supporting and affirming space for Black, Indigenous, and other racialized faculty and staff to thrive in academic spaces. Through guided discussion we will invite participants to reflect on workplace culture, identity, leadership pathways, and community care. The session will also highlight opportunities for cross-campus mentorship and collective advocacy within institutional networks. Whether you are new to your institution or a long-standing member of the community, this session invites you to engage in meaningful conversation to build relationships, and contribute to an ongoing vision of equity and empowerment across higher education institutions.

Bios:
Danai Bélanger (she/her/elle) is a Zimbabwean-born, trilingual (Shona, English, French) higher education leader and equity practitioner who currently serves as Vice-Principal, Student Affairs at Bishop’s University. With 17 years of experience across five provinces, she has worked at the intersection of student services, immigration advising, and community-building, drawing on her background as one of Canada’s earliest Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants. Danai holds an MEd in Diversity Education from UBC, where her research examined the role of post-secondary leaders in fostering belonging and resilient campus communities.
As a Black woman and immigrant, Danai brings lived experience that informs her approach to equity-driven leadership, policy development, and advocacy for marginalized students and staff. She has contributed to national conversations on bias, inclusion, and student wellbeing through advisory committees, training for law enforcement, and cross-institutional collaborations.
Foroogh Mohammadi is a faculty member in the Sociology department at Acadia University, Canada. She is a qualitative researcher focusing on the sociology of migration, space, place, racialization, boundaries, home, and belonging. In her research, Foroogh investigates how immigrants shape communities of belonging and forge a sense of home in their communities across the Atlantic Canada region and Ontario. She has published in the Space and Culture, Qualitative Sociology Review, and Contemporary Sociology journals and has been the co-organizer of the Qualitative Conference since 2021. Foroogh strives to amplify the voices of marginalized groups in decision-making processes by centring their experiences in her research, teaching, and community service. Foroogh is an active member of various academic societies, such as the SSSP (Society for the Study of Social Problems), where she is a co-chair of the Critical Race and Ethnic Study Division, CSA (Canadian Sociological Association), where she is a co-chair of the Equity Issues Subcommittee, and SSSI (Society for the Study of Symbolic Interactions). She has also been a member of the Anti-Colonization and Anti-Racism committee in the Acadia Sociology department and the Employment Equity Committee at Acadia University, where she contributes to navigating the institution toward creating a more equitable working condition and educational environment for everyone.