#ITSTARTS is a public awareness campaign designed to reduce racism and discrimination in Simcoe County. The campaign encourages community members to share educational information through social media posts and in public spaces. In this session, campaign Ambassadors are invited to learn about the concept of white privilege. Ambassadors will be introduced to what it means to have different kinds of privilege in society and briefly reflect on how this concept can be applied to their own lives. Following this discussion, the term "white privilege" will be introduced and briefly outlined with examples.
Event Speaker: Madelaine Khan (she/her), Making Change Speaker, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Consultant
Madelaine holds an MA in Science & Technology Studies from York University.
She is passionate about equity, diversity, and inclusion; she has written on topics such as Enquiry-Based Learning, the intersections between race and gender, and the challenges of large class sizes. Through her private practice as a learning strategist, Madelaine provides a variety of services to students, including tutoring and academic advising, to help students navigate accessibility challenges both in and beyond the classroom. Her work has been published in scholarly journals such as Teaching, Learning & Innovations and Footnotes, and presented at multiple conferences, including those at the University of Guelph and the University of Western Ontario.
In addition to working as a learning strategist, Madelaine works as a professor at Georgian College, where she uses her expertise to facilitate challenging conversations in her classrooms by lecturing on topics such as privilege, intersectionality, decolonization, and medical racism. At Georgian, she has made a commitment to decolonizing her curriculum and has completed the 12-month Decolonization & Indigenization Program, serves as a member of the EDI Working Circle, and often acts as an EDI consultant and curriculum developer on projects, such as the Mnaajidiwin Project.
