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The week

5 Days of Action is an annual, week-long event aimed at amplifying the work groups, units and organizations (on- and off-campus) are doing to create a more diverse, inclusive and equitable campus and community throughout the year. It is open to students, staff, faculty, and community members.

This past year, it was held from November 14-18, 2022. Each day of the week represented a different call to action; Monday to listen, Tuesday-reflect, Wednesday-dialogue, Thursday-engage, and Friday-take action.

The week was led by Equity and Human Rights with supportive partners in the Faculty of Fine Arts, Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, Music Students’ Association, The Transgender Archives, Co-op and Career Services, CanAssist, Human Resources, Sierra Club BC, iMPACTS: Collaborations to Address Sexualized Violence on Campus research project, Intercultural Association of Greater Victoria, City of Victoria, EY Design Studio, Ambit Gender Diversity and more.

Equity and Human Rights recognizes that people often feel unsure of where to access training related to equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-oppression, and decolonization or they do not have the time to do so. So, leading up to the event, organizers worked with university leaders and instructors to consider new ways to build capacity for employees and students to participate. These strategies include offering students course credit, working with instructors to offer a 5 Days of Action session within class times, and working with supervisors to encourage staff to attend events rather than doing other work.

The numbers

Many different groups in the wider Victoria community joined the week by hosting events. There were in-person and online workshops, art events, drop-in spaces for dialogue, and even an online curated list of things to read, watch, and do throughout the week if you were not able to participate in the larger events.

The 2022 week included 44 separate events, 16 more than 2021. A record-breaking 550+ people registered for the events of the week including a significant increase in student participation. The true engagement numbers for the week may be greater as many students, staff and faculty members participated in the week by engaging with the activities set up at a booth in front of the library or events that did not track registration.

Learn more

Equity and Human Rights will be holding 5 Days of Action again this upcoming fall. If you are interested in participating in the planning committees or have an event you’d like to include in the week, reach out to daysofaction@uvic.ca

Updates on the 2023 event will be posted on the 5 Days of Action webpage this spring.