The DSBN is committed to embedding equity in all aspects of the education system, which includes supporting student voice. The first DSBN Student Equity Conference: Rise Up! Students Leading the Change was held at the Niagara Falls Conference Centre on May 4, 2023. The intent was to create a space where all students felt valued, respected, and supported, and where everyone could work together to create a more equitable and inclusive education system through elevating student voice.
This event brought together secondary students from across the DSBN to discuss ways to address issues of inequity and to inspire action and change to build a more inclusive community in schools. This conference provided a platform for students to exchange ideas, learn and identify inequities and develop practices of healing and advocacy, as well as an opportunity to network with other students across the DSBN to potentially collaborate and work together on prompting change within their schools.
Through interactive sessions, students engaged with knowledgeable facilitators who have relevant lived experiences to the workshop themes. The themes include addressing anti-oppression and discrimination, understanding racial equity, intersectionalities, justice and systemic barriers and experiences faced by communities that are marginalized by the system.