- The President
- About Joy
- Priorities
- Conversations
- Statements
- 2022
- Dr. Yabome Gilpin-Jackson named SFU’s first Vice-President, People, Equity and Inclusion
- Chris (Syeta’xtn) Lewis joins SFU in advisory role on Indigenous Initiatives and Reconciliation
- A World of Difference: How universities must evolve in a post-COVID world
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- SFU: What's Next?
- Celebrating National Indigenous Peoples day
- Please join us for the annual appreciation BBQ
- SFU begins process to become Living Wage Employer
- Staying engaged in an increasingly polarized world
- SFU: What's Next? - Message from the President to Faculty and Staff
- SFU: What's Next? - Message from the President to students
- Search Announcement: Provost and Vice-President Academic
- Statement from the VP, PEI: Addressing Racism and Hate at SFU
- 2021
- Welcome new SFU students
- UPDATED Jan. 6: My response to Dec. 11 event in SFU dining hall
- Celebrating Black History Month
- The University’s Role and Contributions to a Just Recovery Over the Next Decade
- Inspired by meetings with SFU Faculty and Staff
- Looking forward to Summer and Fall
- Opinion: This is why SFU is backing the Burnaby Mountain gondola
- External Review of December 11, 2020 Event
- Facing the future with hope
- President's statement on TransMountain Expansion Project and support for a fire hall on Burnaby mountain
- The road ahead
- Stronger Together: SFU, the pandemic and lessons for a better future
- SFU to observe moment of silence at 2:15 PM today
- Taking action: Reconciliation at SFU
- Join SFU President Joy Johnson for a tour of Burnaby campus
- Message from the President: Residential school findings
- Dr. June Francis appointed Special Advisor to the President on Anti-Racism
- My response to the open letter from SFU faculty and staff
- Resources and ways to support scholars in Afghanistan
- BC Vaccine Card
- Masks required on all SFU campuses, vaccine card required for residence, athletics, dining, events and others
- Vaccine declaration and follow-up screening at SFU
- Return to campus planning updates
- Welcome Back
- Work to review contract vs. in-house cleaning and food services
- National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
- SFU and SFSS united in commitment to climate action
- Inclusion benefits us all
- Moving forward with kindness
- SFU commits to full divestment from fossil fuels
- Safety on SFU's campuses
- Thank you!
- Temporary shift to remote learning January 10 – 23, 2022
- 2020
- Statement on academic freedom
- Welcome back faculty and staff
- Welcome back students
- Statement on scholar strike
- Reflections on my first 30 days
- Taking care of ourselves, taking care of each other
- Equity, diversity and inclusion commitments
- Statement on SFU's Athletics Team Name Change
- Finding connection in times of adversity
- Wishing you a safe and restful holiday break
- Op-ed: SFU helping drive social, economic innovation in time of crisis
- 2022
- President’s Distinguished Community Leadership Award
- Strategic Plan
- Approach
- How to participate
- What we're hearing
- April 4, 2022: Updates and reflections
- April 19, 2022: Updates and reflections
- SFU: What’s Next? phase one results now available
- Research assistants shape SFU: What’s Next? analysis
- SFU: What’s Next? – Message from the President to Faculty and Staff
- SFU: What’s Next? – Message from the President to Students
- Search announcement: Provost and Vice-President Academic
- SFU: What’s Next? Phase 2 results now available
- Executive
- Executive Searches
- Contact
The power and purpose of remembrance
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” - George Santayana
Memory is a powerful instrument, capable of evoking severe anguish and soothing relief, sometimes in the same instance. The price for keeping memories alive can be high, but the price for forgetting them can be infinitely higher.
It may be tempting, for example, to take for granted the entitlements we enjoy as Canadians – such as freedom of speech, the right to vote, and the right to practice our religion and culture.
Remembrance Day reminds us that these and other rights and freedoms were hard-won by generations before us, and calls upon us to remain vigilant in our efforts to protect them.
While we associate Remembrance Day with the last century’s World Wars, the values and ideals fought for during those conflicts remain as relevant and important today as ever.
We need only look to the rise of nativism and authoritarianism around the world to be reminded of the continuing threat posed by the forces of racism, oppression and xenophobia.
Even in Canada, much work remains to counter prejudice and discrimination, and to repair the damage inflicted on Indigenous peoples by the residential school system and other vestiges of our colonialist past.
Memory can be our moral tutor. Recalling and recognizing the wrongs of the past can enable us to heal old wounds and empower us to build a brighter future.
For these reasons and more, remembering is a powerful thing — it draws something from the past and makes it relevant to the present and the future.
So this Remembrance Day we dare not forget our predecessors who struggled and died to protect our freedoms. Let us honour them by renewing our commitment to protect the rights for which they fought, and by strengthening our determination to make further progress in advancing justice for all.