Collaborations of Care

Foundation of humility and curiosity: We commit to continual learning and growth in our awareness of patterns of oppression and practices of liberation and care. While we honour and acknowledge our own and each other’s experiences, knowledge, wisdoms, and values that we bring into this shared space, we will not have an answer to every question that emerges, there’s no fixed path out of the problems we experience or witness. We embrace an orientation in curiosity, and patience with the feelings of not-knowing, to make space for emergent possibilities we did not previously imagine.

Right to opacity: From the Martinique philosopher and poet, Édouard Glissant, this value affirms that each person is a universe – encompassing layered histories and ever-evolving complexities. It affirms the refusal to measure people against fixed colonial hierarchical ideals, and therefore the right not to be fully known, explained, or reduced to labels, in our webs of lived experiences, identities, beliefs, abilities, strengths, and challenges.

Awareness of our own assumptions: We agree to make space for what cannot be fully known, through an orientation in curiosity when our own assumptions emerge, examining the internal and external contexts they might be shaped by, and not imposing them upon others or even our own encounters. Understanding that each of us has the capacity to harm, heal, and do better, we agree to practice acknowledging when we are wrong, confronting our assumptions, and making changes in how we show up in order to stop or prevent harm. 

Choice as the basis of self-care and collective care: This value affirms that each of us is at-choice, today and always. We acknowledge that participation is required for both students and instructors alike in an education setting, based on the choice that every student and instructor has made to be here for the acquisition of knowledge, skills and credentials, and/or to teach, share skills and maintain employment. At the same time, everyone is at-choice for their level of participation based on their evolving needs, to take care of themselves, to pause when they need rather than override their bodies if they need a break before one is offered. We also acknowledge that there can be a diversity of shifting, overlapping, and conflicting needs, roles and expectations in this space, and we agree to engage in discussions and collaborations to support each other in co-creating a shared space for learning and belonging.

There are multiple truths: We acknowledge that life is complex and there is more than one way of being, knowing, and doing. No one owns the truth: there are always parts of a topic that we don’t know. What we can know, understand and even imagine are always partial and situated, shaped by our particular social positions, experiences and contexts. We agree to practice being curious about what lies outside of our knowledge and imagination.

Accountability for self-responsiveness and self response-ability: We agree to be here in our self-sovereignty, with our own boundaries, limits, capacities, and responsibility. We each can choose to say yes, no, maybe, and change our minds, and we are each responsible for holding our own needs, assumptions, values, beliefs and reactions. This is an educational space and does not provide psychotherapy. No student is ever required to take on a viewpoint or do an activity that they don’t want to do. The instructors are not required to fulfil every request that a student makes. No one is required to be perfect. We agree to make space for mistakes in the spirit of learning and for being humyn. We agree to make space for accountability and responsibility, to practice identifying power dynamics, addressing hurtful or harmful actions, and requesting support in resolving conflicts and transforming unhelpful or harmful patterns that arise in our shared space.

Let ourselves and each other speak and think in drafts: The process of learning requires us to explore and examine ideas that may challenge our beliefs, perspectives and even values. We agree to make space for trying on ideas, exploring contradictions, and speaking without committing, knowing that we don’t have to change our minds about something unless we’re truly ready. We therefore also agree to not reduce or fix others or ourselves to one moment in time, acknowledging and honouring that the ongoing transformation and growth of each person are infinitely more complex than a single interaction.