WHAI Statement on Anti-Black, Anti-Indigenous, Anti-Asian Racism, and all forms of Racism
The Women and HIV / AIDS Initiative (WHAI) is deeply committed to dismantling systems
of white privilege, white supremacy and
anti-Black, anti-Indigenous, anti-Asian racism and all forms of racism. WHAI stands firmly against all forms of oppression and believes that creating inclusive, welcoming communities is a step toward ensuring a more just and equitable world. Anti-racism and anti-oppression frameworks are foundational to our work on HIV and gender equity, where we see a significant overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous cis and Trans women, 2-Spirit and Non-Binary people impacted by HIV.
The WHAI Provincial Office team continues to devote time and space to reflect deeply and actively engage in strengthening our approach to this work. We seek to build upon systems of accountability as we move forward with the following commitments, which are woven into our annual workplan:
• Dedicating time to collectively reflect on the impacts of racism and white supremacy within our lives, professional roles, team, and the communities we work with, and to identify and enact strategies towards change within our work.
• Prioritizing time to engage in professional development and training to learn about the unique ways that anti-Black, anti-Indigenous, and anti-Asian racism and other forms of oppression have manifested historically and continue to impact communities today.
• Creating tools, resources and capacity building strategies that are rooted in anti-racist, decolonial and feminist knowledge and practices.
• Advocating for race-based data to be included in and inform all levels of WHAI work.
• Ensuring the organizations, businesses, consultants, and partners we work with reflect the communities we serve and share a commitment to dismantling white supremacy and racism and all forms of oppression.
• Advocating for and actively engaging in the creation of systems of leadership that are founded in community, collaboration, and collectivity that aim to dismantle
white supremacy and all forms of racism, oppression, exclusion, and violence.
• Ensuring that our Initiative’s objectives, workplan and evaluation processes enact anti-racism values and practices.
• Working alongside ASO sector partners, networks and workgroups to strengthen structural strategies to rupture systems of racism.
These commitments will be reviewed by the Provincial Office staff team every 6 months to ensure accountability and identify strategies to strengthen our work. There is much work to do, and we are dedicated to ongoing learning and changemaking. Please reach
out if you would like to discuss our commitments.
You can read more about WHAI’s approach to ABR work in the Rupturing Anti-Black Racism: Planning and Facilitation Guide.