Pulse Lab Statement of Solidarity

Over the past few weeks, we have witnessed settler-colonial, Islamophobic, xenophobic, and homophobic violence in Canada. The Pulse Lab condemns these acts of hate and violence including the discovery of 215 Indigenous children in mass graves at the T’kemlúps te Secwépemc residential school site on May 27, followed by the discovery of another mass grave site of up to 104 children at the former Brandon Indian Residential School site on June 1. Since then more sites have been announced and agonizingly, more will come.  Indigenous peoples have long known that as many as 6000 children were buried in unmarked graves at residential school sites, often without notice to family members— a fact noted in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report.  As we all finally come to realize the scale of this tragedy, we recognize the work we have to do to end our willful ignorance and listen to the survivors and to First Nations community members. We sit with the grief experienced by the indigenous community and offer our care and condolences. We must contend with Canada as a place with historic and present colonizing practices that require us to be truthful, transparent, and humble as we work to correct our racist individual, social, institutional, and memorializing practices.

We abhor the targeted murders of a South Asian Muslim family in London ON on June 8, and homophobic attacks against a queer community member in Toronto on June 9. Sadly, these examples reflect common experiences of hate and violence experienced in these communities.  Pulse lab stands in firm solidarity with survivors and families of these heinous acts. These acts of brutality reveal that racism, settler-colonialism, homophobia, Islamophobia, anti-semitism and xenophobia are deeply embedded in Canada, and are not peculiar to the United States. Instead, these systems of oppression are a present reality for many people living in Canada.

Pulse Lab is deeply committed to building anti-oppressive practices and justice in health and technology research. Our collaborations, research principles, and deep commitments to inclusion and consent from community co-collaborators manifest a shared goal toward imagining a better future for Canada. Our lab’s pledges toward culture-centred, equity-creating research will be reflected in future practices. We are committed to amplifying Indigenous sovereignty, religious freedoms, and justice-informed approaches to community transformation. Pulse Lab stands in solidarity with Indigenous, Muslim, South Asian, queer organizations at McMaster University and beyond to dismantle networks of oppression.