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SHIFT Centre for Social TransformationApril 2026 |
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How do we socially transform the world when our cups are so empty? How do we continue to do the hard work of going against the grain towards a system built on care and thrivability? We may feel the urge to recoil and turn inward, though many do not have that option. We may feel too drained to build and nurture community, but community does not simply take from us. It gives back. Sustenance. A salve. Rest and reflection need not be individual pursuits. In fact, they may be more potent when done collectively. Listen to your body. Rest, joy, slowness, reflection—all become acts of resistance. And while they are not the only acts of resistance, they are foundational to liberation and social transformation. |
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Portable Altars as Body Cartographies: Mapping the Sacred Through the Body Tuesday, March 31 2026 @ 5:30 – 7:30 p.m This workshop proposes an interdisciplinary exploration of portable altars as contemporary metaphors for body cartography. Using principles of body cartography, participants will explore the body as territory — as archive of migration, rupture, ancestry, resistance, and survival. From these embodied maps, participants will create small, transportable 'portable altars' that function as counter-maps of lived experience and micro-sites of resistance. My brother, Soleiman: The fatal nexus between incarceration and mental health Wednesday, April 8 2026 @ 6 – 8 p.m. Join us for a screening and a discussion on incarceration and mental health. Please join us for a film screening of 'My Brother, Soleiman,' followed by a panel discussion, and Q&A. This documentary chronicles the 10-year journey of the Faqiri family's pursuit of justice after Ontario provincial prison guards killed Soleiman at the Central East Correctional Centre. Anti-Caste Mobilizing in Canada: Organizing in the Community and the University Friday, April 10 2026 @ 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. A part of Dalit History Month and CSU Migrant Justice Day. Community, Care and Compassion Thursday, April 16 2026 @ 2:30 – 4 p.m. Community Care & Compassion is a program that offers compassionate spaces where students, faculty and staff can come together to share loss, support one another through change, and build caring community. Design your Ultimate Balcony Garden Wednesday, April 29 2026 @ 3 – 5 p.m. Learn all about vertical gardening and optimizing your small balcony space for a productive garden! Empower yourself with new skills to make your ultimate accessible ecological balcony garden. |
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Pathways to Narrative-Building: Journalism, storytelling, and mobilizing media |
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Tuesday, May 5 @ 12-1:30 p.m., LB 145 (SHIFT Centre) In a moment when information and misinformation are moving at a break-neck pace and trust in media institutions is dwindling, how can we challenge dominant narratives and confront current power structures? What does it look like to harness journalism and storytelling for effective knowledge mobilization and social change? Join us for interactive skill-share that will center on practical approaches to sharing knowledge and understanding impact in an ever-shifting techno-cultural landscape. We look forward to digging into narrative-building with you and our special guests:
They will lead discussions on wielding communications for social transformation, in an effort to better equip us to defy power through our stories. |
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University of the Streets Café From labour to rage to rest: How can rest be mobilized as a liberatory practice? Tuesday, April 21 @ 7 - 9 p.m. Drawing from Tricia Hersey’s book Rest as Resistance: A Manifesto, this conversation will explore the meaning and function of rest for Indigenous and Black folks. We will reflect on how rest challenges systems that prioritize productivity in service of capitalism over well-being and consider its role in reclaiming time, space, and dignity. Together, we will ask: can rest become a collective strategy for healing and liberation? |
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Reinventing the research approach: the SHIFT Research & Advocacy Program |
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The SHIFT Research & Advocacy Program reframes the way higher education institutions can do research and who that research is for. WATCH > to gain insight on how we’re helping researchers address community priorities and turn research into socially transformative action. |
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Call for Submissions: Submit now to The SHIFT Journal this special edition "Building Narratives" |
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In this media landscape, many journalists and writers are struggling to change the system both in and outside their field. What are the challenges, opportunities, and potentialities that exist within the contemporary journalism field – particularly in Montreal? How are educational systems supporting or failing the growth of journalism and its’ continued fight to “speak truth to power” in an ever-shifting techno-cultural landscape? Can journalism be “socially transformed”? Deadline to submit: April 14th 2026 at 9:00am |
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Let's stay in touch!
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Version française : |
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Les autels portatifs comme cartographies corporelles : cartographier le sacré à travers le corps mardi, le 31 mars 2026 @ 17h30 – 19h30 Mon frère, Soleiman : le lien fatal entre l'incarcération et la santé mentale mercredi, le 8 avril 2026 @ 18h – 20h vendredi, le 10 avril 2026 @ 15h30 – 17h30 Communauté, bienveillance et compassion jeudi, le 16 avril 2026 @ 14h30 – 16h Créez le jardin de balcon de vos rêves mercredi, le 29 avril 2026 @ 15h – 17h |
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Les voies vers la construction narrative: le journalisme, les récits et mobilisation des médias |
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mardi, le 5 mai @ 12h - 13h30, LB 145 (SHIFT Centre) À une époque où l'information et la désinformation circulent à un rythme effréné et où la confiance dans les médias s'effrite, comment pouvons-nous remettre en question les discours dominants et nous opposer aux structures de pouvoir actuelles ? Comment mettre à profit le journalisme et la narration pour favoriser une mobilisation efficace des connaissances et le changement social ? Rejoignez-nous pour un échange interactif axé sur des approches pratiques visant à partager les connaissances et à comprendre l'impact dans un paysage technoculturel en constante évolution. Nous avons hâte d'explorer la construction narrative avec vous et nos invités spéciaux :
Elles animeront des débats sur la manière d'utiliser la communication au service de la transformation sociale, afin de nous donner les moyens de défier le pouvoir grâce à nos récits. |
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Université autrement: dans les cafés mardi, le 21 avril @ 19h - 21h S’inspirant du livre de Tricia Hersey intitulé Rest as Resistance: A Manifesto (Le repos comme résistance : un manifeste), cette conversation explorera la signification et la fonction du repos pour les communautés autochtones et noires. Nous réfléchirons à la manière dont le repos remet en question les systèmes qui privilégient la productivité au service du capitalisme au détriment du mieux-être, et nous examinerons son rôle dans la réappropriation du temps, de l’espace et de la dignité. Ensemble, nous examinerons les questions suivantes : le repos peut-il devenir une stratégie collective de guérison et de libération? |
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Réinventer l'approche de la recherche : le programme de recherche et d'action collective |
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Le programme de recherche et d'action collective redéfinit la manière dont les établissements d'enseignement supérieur mènent leurs recherches et à qui celles-ci s'adressent. |
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Appel à contributions Envoyez dès maintenant vos articles au Journal SHIFT pour cette édition spéciale intitulée « Bâtir des récits » |
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Dans cet environment médiatique, de nombreux journalistes et écrivains s’efforcent de faire évoluer le système, tant au sein de leur domaine qu’en dehors. |
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Restons en contact !
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