We commit to collaborate and work with BIPOC designers and corporations. We commit to align ourselves with local organizations that would provide us with opportunities to work with and mentor youth in under-served communities. We commit to transparency in our plan to do so. We commit to listen, to pay attention, to learn, and to do all that we possibly can with the privileges that we possess. We commit to being held accountable to our values in the pursuit of accessible and equitable design, free from embedded oppression. We challenge developers and prospective clients to showcase their alignment with our values. We commit to encourage our clients and designers to create layered strategies for inclusive and respectful evolutions of our neighborhoods as new construction is proposed. We at RAW are confronting architecture and design’s complicity in systemic racism; we commit to, and we demand, change.
We at RAW pride ourselves on being one of Toronto’s most vibrant and progressive design studios. We acknowledge that our position as designers is one that is intrinsically tied to access and privilege, and with that comes certain responsibilities. In light of the recent global protests against racism and discrimination, sparked by a long list of racial injustices that include the murders of George Floyd, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and many others, it is critical that we recognize that systemic racism is not confined to any one nation or industry. Individuals who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) face systemic racism in Canada every single day, and it is our obligation as Canadian designers and fellow human beings to do our part in rectifying these issues.
In the ongoing fight against racism, we commit to change.