Algonquin’s Pride Centre is a step closer to becoming a reality—although that reality is still far off.
The Student Association is taking steps to implement the creation of a centre for LGBTQ students on campus, and have started preliminary research on what is needed for the idea to get off the ground.
“We want to find the format that works for us the best,” said Sara Grainger, president of the SA. “We don’t want to assume anything with what people will want and not want.”
Chris Turgeon, a second-year animation student in the LGBTQ community, disagrees.
“Just go ahead and do it,” he said. “Ask for forgiveness, not permission.”
Turgeon said that it would take too long to do the research.
“You have people who are willing and able to do this,” he said. “It doesn’t need to take so long.”
The research that has been conducted so far has consisted of looking into the kinds of services that the centre would be aiming to provide, such as counselling, and informational resources.
“We want to make it so that it’s open and that it’s somewhere anyone can go to, not just people who identify as LGBTQ,” Grainger said.
The campaign to get an LGBTQ centre on campus has been ongoing, with a petition started last year to get a centre approved. This year, the SA has put it on their list of priorities, although not very high.
The centre has been placed on the Board of Governors’ ‘end priorities’, meaning that while it is on the Board’s ‘to-do list’, it is not as high as other endeavours that the Board hopes to achieve.
These include the Health and Dental plan and the creation of a new Athletics & Recreation Complex.
The decision has been met with controversy.
“We already have a gym,” Turgeon said. “Just make the (Pride) centre. It doesn’t look good on (the SA), because obviously they don’t care.”
While the centre may not be high on the SA’s list of priorities, it is something that they want to work toward.
“A lot of people say that it shouldn’t be a big discussion. We should just have one,” said Grainger.
Turgeon agrees, but for different reasons.
“I’m sure there’s no other centre that needs this much research,” he said. “It’s only because it’s LGBTQ, so obviously they’re going to take forever on it.”
Algonquin is one of the few campuses in Ottawa that doesn’t have a Pride Centre. Grainger says a lot of the college’s LGBTQ students end up going to Carleton University or the University of Ottawa and taking advantage of the facilities there.
“It’s time for a Pride Centre on campus,” she said. “Everyone else is showing their support, it’s time that we do too.”
Tomas Kolafa, the SA’s vice president, agrees.
“My hope would be that all groups find a positive space, so they will feel like themselves, and they can be a part of our Algonquin society and community.”
Turgeon believes that the sentiment comes too little, too late.
“They could have done this so much sooner. Do we just not matter?”