Media releases

• Virtual event, weeklong display to remember missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people

  Thursday, February 10, 2022 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 10 February 2022 – R0016

  Red dresses will be hung throughout the campuses of Brock University and Niagara College next week to remember missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people.

  The REDress Project, an annual initiative that sees red clothing displayed in public spaces, began as an art installation by Métis artist Jamie Black at the University of Winnipeg in 2011. It has since been replicated in communities across Canada, including at Brock University and Niagara College in recent years.

  The empty red dresses are meant to signify the loss of thousands of Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit, lesbian, gay, trans, bisexual, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual (2SLGTBQQIA) people over the past 40 years to colonial violence.

  Robyn Bourgeois, Brock’s Acting Vice-Provost, Indigenous Engagement, and a team of volunteers will hang the dresses throughout the University’s main campus on Sunday, Feb. 13, where they will remain on display for the next week.

  A display of dresses from the Dramatic Arts wardrobe department at Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) will also be set up at the downtown arts school as well as the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre (PAC) on St. Paul St. The MIWSFPA is partnering with the PAC on the initiative, sending seven red dresses that will be used by PAC staff to create a display in the Performing Arts Centre’s first-floor windows.

  Bourgeois said hanging the dresses on Brock’s main campus will be a very personal experience.

  “As someone who narrowly survived this violence, it’s excruciating to see these dresses hanging on campus,” she said. “It’s a painful reminder of how many Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people have been stolen from our communities. At the same time, I feel hope, because there was a time in the last 20 years when few people outside of Indigenous communities were aware of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

  “This annual event is the Brock community’s collective acknowledgment and commitment to addressing this violence. That’s significant.”

  In addition to encouraging people to hang red dresses where they can, Bourgeois and Brock’s Aboriginal Student Services team are also inviting the community to a virtual event Monday, Feb. 14 at 6:30 p.m. on Microsoft Teams.

  The panel discussion will include Bourgeois and Jennifer Moore Rattray, who served as Executive Director of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which delivered a final report and 231 Calls for Justice to the Prime Minister and Premiers in June 2019.

  There is no admission charge for the event, which requires advanced registration through Eventbrite, but donations will be accepted for Abbey House, a residence for Indigenous women who are experiencing crisis in their lives.

  Bourgeois said the panel will highlight the ongoing nature of the REDress initiative.

  “Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people continue to disappear and be murdered across this country,” she said. “Until this ends, we need to continue to demand justice and fight for our lives. The more people who are aware of this violence, the more likely it is that meaningful social change will happen.”

  Also in conjunction with REDress Day, Brock’s Schmon Tower will join Niagara Falls and be illuminated in red on the night of Monday, Feb. 14. Red dress earrings and keychains will also be available for sale in Brock’s Campus Store, with all proceeds going to Aboriginal Student Services.

  Lianne Gagnon, Niagara College Director, Student Services, said she was proud that Brock and Niagara College could partner on the REDress initiative.

  “It’s only by shining a light and providing information that we can take steps to expose the truth of the violence,” she said. “That’s why we feel it’s so important to educate our students and staff about the violence perpetrated against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, in the hope of eliminating it.

  “As post-secondary providers in Niagara, we are proud to stand with our partners at Brock and take a lead role in informing our communities to end the violence, and work towards a more diverse and inclusive future for all.”

  Bourgeois hopes that as non-Indigenous community members take in the displays and the virtual event, they will keep their Indigenous friends in mind and commit to working as allies going forward.

  “First, realize that most Indigenous women and girls you know have likely experienced some form — and likely multiple forms — of violence,” she said. “Believe them, acknowledge their trauma and hold space for them.

  “While Indigenous women and girls have been at the forefront of efforts to address this violence, we need non-Indigenous allies who will stand with us. We don’t need rescuing — we are strong and resilient. What we need are non-Indigenous folks willing to work with us to demand justice and end this violence.”

  Further information about the REDress project and registration details for the Feb. 14 virtual panel are available on Brock’s REDress website.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University [email protected] or 905-347-1970 

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  Categories: Media releases

• Local winery partners with Olympic athletes, Brock co-op students

  Thursday, February 10, 2022 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 9 February 2022 – R0015

  When a Canadian athlete celebrates their performance at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing with a glass of wine, there’s a good chance the grapes their drink was made from will have been pressed by a Brock University student.

  As the Official Wine Partner of the Canadian Olympic Team, Pilliteri Estates Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake will be the exclusive wine poured at all Canadian Olympic events. But the winery is also a key partner of Brock’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) and regularly hosts Oenology and Viticulture students for their co-op work terms.

  Fourth-year Bachelor of Oenology and Viticulture student Claire Findlater completed her co-op work term with Pillitteri in early 2021, where, in a first-of-its-kind program, she helped to make Icewine — a product Canadian winemakers are famous for.

  Though the wines are regularly served internationally, it was the knowledge that they would be consumed by Olympians in Beijing that had Findlater feeling particularly proud of her efforts.

  “There’s a big element of pride to have had a part in a product that’s being served at the Olympics,” she said. “To see someone drinking our wine would be surreal, and it allows for such cool and unique recognition of a product I had a part in creating.”

  Along with providing the wines for Canadian athletes at the Olympics, Pillitteri also contributes $1 from each bottle sold in its Team Canada Olympic Wine Collection to support Canadian athletes through the Canadian Olympic Foundation.

  Findlater said it was no surprise to hear the winery was supporting athletes’ development, just as they had supported her along her winemaking journey.

  “Pillitteri has been a place that I know helps others when they can,” she said. “They have helped me develop the skills I needed to pursue a career in the wine industry, just the way their funding helps Olympians hone in on their skills. It’s so great to see how they support those mutually beneficial relationships.”

  Jamie Slingerland, Pillitteri’s Director of Viniculture, said the partnerships are in line with the winery’s goal to give back.

  “Relationship building is very important to us through community involvement,” he said. “Contributing to Team Canada and the education of Brock Oenology and Viticulture students has given us that personal involvement.”

  Having employed eight Oenology and Viticulture students in the last year alone, Slingerland knows they feel just as excited about the Olympic partnership as he does.

  “I think they beam with a bit of pride,” he said. “They know they are part of that Olympic process and that wines they helped to make are being consumed in a part of the world that everyone is watching.”

  CCOVI has been working with Pillitteri for more than a decade on wine research projects funded by both the industry as a whole and the winery itself.

  CCOVI Director Debbie Inglis said the partnerships and the research produced have been beneficial to everyone involved.

  “These research results not only benefit Pillitteri, but they are also shared with the broader grape and wine community for everyone’s benefit,” she said. “Through these projects, students are trained on state-of-the-art equipment and research techniques used to address industry issues. At the same time, they get the opportunity to interact with industry members directly, which allows them networking opportunities that lead to employment opportunities once they have graduated.”

  Inglis said the chance for students to feel connected to a world-renowned event like the Olympics was an added bonus to the longstanding partnership.

  “It illustrates to the students, first-hand, how connected our wine industry is in Ontario on a global scale,” she said. “Opportunities to be involved with making Icewine that will directly support the Olympics are few and far between. We are so fortunate to have this relationship with Pillitteri and the unique, global, one-of-a-kind Icewine co-op experience for our students, as it gives them real-life, hands-on experience they cannot get anywhere else in the world for a product that has international prominence, and is featured as part of the Olympic sponsorship from the Niagara region.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews: 

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University [email protected] or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases