Varsity Rowing IDEA Spotlight
Varsity Rowing teams across the province are engaged in EDI (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) initiatives and this month we are featuring the involvement and concerted efforts of Queens University.
Emma Shimizu, a 2nd year Queen’s Nursing student and varsity rower, is an executive member of the QSDP (Queen’s Student Diversity Project), a club designed to change the narrative about the university’s lack of diversity by bringing diverse students together through events and conferences. A recent event included a cultural food night for first year students. The event was for BIPOC students and had food from various cultures, bubble tea, and an assortment of cultural music playing. There is also a related podcast that Emma co-runs alongside a colleague. Part of the upcoming programming involves interviewing diverse student athletes from different teams to share their stories.
Emma is also a member of the BSAC (BIPOC Student Athlete Committee). The BSAC is a recent initiative that was created for BIPOC student athlete representatives from Queen’s varsity teams to come together to collaborate on how to make sports at Queen’s more diverse and inclusive. Emma shared that the majority of athletes at Queen’s are not BIPOC, which inspired one of the goals of the committee, to show that there is diversity on the Queen’s sports teams. Other objectives include bringing BIPOC athletes together to create a community where experiences can be shared and members can brainstorm how to create a better understanding and appreciation of diversity within teams.
Emma: “From the committee I have gained lots of insight on what other teams are doing to promote diversity and would like to try and implement some of these things on the rowing team. Some ideas include attending seminars where BIPOC students share their experiences in order to gain perspective and understanding as well as hosting discussions to talk about biases and how we can improve as a team to make things more inclusive. Some other teams have also hosted cultural food nights which I think would be really fun!”
Emma would love to see rowing as a sport become more diverse and believes it begins with each university team taking steps to become more educated and welcoming to BIPOC athletes. Some challenges have included getting everyone on the team on the same page about diversity and inclusivity, which affects some athletes more than others, and at times it is hard to explain the challenges of being a BIPOC athlete on a predominantly white team.
Insights Emma has gained from being on the BSAC is that everyone starts their journey to understanding the BIPOC experience at a difference place and that patience and understanding is crucial in this process. Emma notes these are challenging topics but at the end of the day she believes we can all work together to educate one another and make rowing more diverse and accepting.
Thank you Emma for your dedication and continued efforts to developing, implementing and promoting EDI initiatives at Queens University!
Written By Claire Hutchinson
