At OPIRG we recognize the value of working in solidarity with other groups in the Guelph community to build stronger movements for social change. One of the ways we do this is through our campus and community partnerships in order to reach a greater audience, to benefit from the skills and knowledge of others, and to live out our values of cooperation and diversity of tactics.
Current Partners
Community Partners
- Truth and Reconciliation Circle – Guelph: TRC Guelph is an informal collective organized along indigenous principles and forms of governance that is dedicated to the enacting, promotion, and education surrounding the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions Calls to Action within Guelph and the wider community. Please see the TRC Calls to Action (link)
- 40 Baker: 40 Baker Street is home to Abbeyfield Houses Society of Guelph and it’s projects–including Freshstart Housing Centre, Our Place Youth Centre, Our Shelter Network, and the Baker Street Art Gallery–along with other separately incorporated charitable organizations such as Ed Video, Chalmers Community Service Centre, Room For Us (Wellington) and Matrix Affordable Homes. For more, please see: http://www.mytown.ca/
Campus Partners
- Aboriginal Students’ Association: The Aboriginal Students’ Association provides a culturally supportive environment for self-identified Aboriginal students and strive towards academic excellence by balancing cultural, social and spiritual aspects of life.
- Guelph Black Students’ Association: The Guelph Black Students’ Association (formerly known as the C.J. Munford Center), established in 1994, functions as a resource center for diverse and minority students on campus. The association focuses on issues of diversity, race, and other significant factors relevant to the lives of students of colour, and tries to encourage the inclusion, respect, and education of the beautifully unique and present black and minority faces on campus.
Becoming a Partner
Below is a sample Partnership Agreement, displayed in Google Docs Viewer:
For more information, email Brad (organizational@opirgguelph.org)
Past Partners
The Guelph Film Festival: GFF is a major annual event which features a selection of global documentaries, short videos, visiting directors, panel discussions plus programming for children. The programming focuses on social justice, the environment and our community.
Transition Guelph: Their mission is to encourage, inspire, and support people in the community – government, businesses, civil society and individuals – to work together, become involved in building that resilience and social cohesion while reducing their reliance on fossil fuels.
PAY MORE GET LESS: A campaign on fighting tuition fee increases and program cuts, and demanding more public funding for education to ensure quality and accessibility.
Festival of Moving Media (FOMM): FOMM’s mission is to present a major, annual cultural event for Guelph and surrounding communities. The festival features moving media that celebrates art and ideas that inform people, and which move them to act locally and to think globally about ecological, political, economic, or social issues.
Wellington Water Watchers: Wellington Water Watchers (WWW) is dedicated to the protection, restoration and conservation of drinking water in Guelph and Wellington County. Their work
rests upon three pillars: Educate. Advocate. Celebrate.
The Guelph Student Mobilization Committee (GSMC): GSMC was created in the summer of 2012 by a group of students inspired by the Quebec Student Strike. The committee engaged in student consciousness raising about student fees and debt through class talks, tabling, rallies, and larger discussions.
Idle No More: We worked with Idle No More in Guelph (a collaboration of various community groups focused on doing the work of Indigenous Solidarity, Native Sovereignty and Settler Accountability).