UW community members gathered at the pride flag re-raising ceremony at the H lot on June 1 to with speeches and event booths to kick off Pride month and Indigenous History month. Both the Intersex-Inclusive Progress flag and the Two-Spirit Pride flag were raised during the ceremony.

The event began with introductory remarks from Christopher Taylor, UW’s associate vice president of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism (EDIR). “While there is always more work to do, our coming together today reaffirms our individual and collective commitments to the safety, equity, and inclusion of 2SLGBTQIA+, including 2STNBGNC+, students, staff, and faculty,” Taylor said to the crowd at the ceremony.

UW President and vice-chancellor Vivek Goel then took the stage to deliver his final Pride month speech as President. “I want to say that it has been a privilege to serve this community. I’ve seen firsthand the commitment, compassion, and determination that define Waterloo at its best,” Goel said. “There’s still more to do, but I am confident this work will continue with the same purpose and care that has brought us so far.”

Second year peace and conflict studies student and Waterloo Indigenous Student Centre participant, Shay Harold, then spoke to the audience. Harold is a Two-Spirit member of the Muskrat clan with family from the Dokis First Nation, commenting that Pride month is a reminder of how “pride is a protest of all the systemic barriers that Indigenous people and queer people have faced throughout history and time.” Harold then led a drumming performance with several musicians that accompanied the re-raising of the Intersex-Inclusive Progress and the Two-Spirit Pride flags.

The ceremony concluded with speaker Rhea Green sharing her experience as a 76-year-old Indigenous woman returning to her studies at UW after 55 years. When Green was a UW student in 1971, no Indigenous ceremonies or sacred fires were held, and the Office of Indigenous Affairs did not exist. “I’m continuing my education journey, as I was told [that] ‘as an Indian, you’re not worthy.’ Well, goddammit, I am worthy!” Green exclaimed. She expressed her desire in being the tóta, meaning “old mother” in Mohawk, that supports all Indigenous students on campus.

Celebrations continued after the ceremony as attendees lined up for ice cream and Hawaiian shaved ice at the venue. Attendees also lined up for giveaways and resources provided at event booths stationed by partner organizations, like the Glow Centre, the Waterloo Indigenous Student Centre, the Queer-Trans Alliance, and EDI-R .While Pride month is a time for many to celebrate, biology student Ameiya Anupam commented that “it’s important to have events, not only during Pride month, but in general as well that support queer students.” Glow Centre marketing executive Remi Chort also expressed the importance of queer community and solidarity as he found a place to belong at UW through the Glow Centre. “What Glow has taught me is that finding your community is the most important thing to life… pride, to me, is not only having this community, but be willing to fight with and for it,” he stressed.