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Building supportive communities: DSU hosts national university queer services conference

- May 17, 2016

Rhiannon Makohoniuk (right) is checked into the conference by volunteer Stevie Fort. (Bruce Bottomley photo)
Rhiannon Makohoniuk (right) is checked into the conference by volunteer Stevie Fort. (Bruce Bottomley photo)

Rhiannon Makohoniuk knows how valuable it can be to learn from people who share similar challenges and triumphs. One such experience for Rhiannon was the 2015 Canadian University Queer Services Conference (CUQSC) at Ryerson University in Toronto.

Naturally, Rhiannon, who is now vice-president, internal for the HÂŝğ­ Student Union, was thrilled when the DSU was selected to host here in Halifax.

“It’s a mix between service providers, student union people, people working within campus pride centres or gender centres, and just community members who are interested,” she says of the roughly 130 people who participated in events and workshops from May 12-15. “The conference brings together people from across the country who are doing this work, specifically on campuses, to get on the same page, share skills with one another and share knowledge

“It’s the first time it’s been held at Dal and the first time in the Maritimes.”

The conference was headlined by DarkMatter, a performance art duo who delivered a performance of #ItGetsBitter, which mixed elements of spoken word, comedy, fashion and nursery rhymes in an exploration of life as a trans person of South Asian descent.

A variety of social events and a comprehensive range of workshops – covering issues from neurodiversity to activism to self-care – rounded out the four-day conference.

“It really covers a wide spectrum,” Rhiannon says. “People can kind of choose their own adventure based on what interests them the most.”

A collective effort


According to Rhiannon, hosting CUQSC required months of planning, with event organizer Tameera Mohamed leading a large planning committee that included members of the DSU, South House, DalOUT and other local post-secondary institutions. HÂŝğ­ 30 to 40 volunteers helped out during the conference itself.

“It’s been an amazing collective effort,” says Rhiannon, who co-facilitated an anti-oppression workshop and led another about transmisogyny.

Rhiannon says CUQSC represents an important learning opportunity for each attendee.

 “There’s this realization you have in these types of spaces that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, because other people are doing similar things in their own communities and on their own campuses,” she says. “Crowdsourcing those skills and that knowledge can really help to build our communities individually, but also the queer and trans community across the nation.”

Rhiannon adds that hosting the conference was a major milestone for the DSU and the university.

“Feminist issues are student issues and so are queer and trans issues, so I think it’s awesome for the DSU to be at the forefront of creating this programming for queer and trans students and opening it up on our campus in a larger way to create national-level dialogues.”