APIRG helps anti-oppression advocacy

APIRG: Your one stop anti-oppression shop.

APIRG (The Alberta Public Interest Research Group) is a non-profit activist organization aimed at helping students organize groups and events centered around anti-oppression. They focus on supporting students’ small, grassroots initiatives by providing money, resources and guidance. Whether a student wants to create a club or plan an event, APIRG is there to help.

“The caveat is that the organizing needs to be involved in our APIRG mandate,” says Outreach Coordinator Nav Kaur. “So it needs to be anti-oppressive, anti-racist and against cultural oppression in a meaningful way. We want students to organize for complex social issues.”

The size and scope of APIRG’s potential service has no maximum or minimum limit — whether that means providing resources for making buttons, or providing funding for a working group or event.

“We’re specifically a resource to help organize students,” Kaur says. “So students do the organizing, but we fund and facilitate students to gain the skills for effective planning.”

But students don’t have to plan an event to get involved. By simply signing up for their mailing list, students can use APIRG to find groups relevant to their interests, or volunteer at events. If a student has a particular cause or interest they want to align with, the organization can connect students to an “active working group” either within or outside of the university.

As accessibility falls into their anti-oppression framework, APIRG strives to make all of their events as accessible as possible. They offer childcare, ASL interpreters and food to ensure that everyone is welcome at their gatherings. If a student is having trouble making their event accessible, APIRG can also provide funding or advice for how to do so effectively.

Last year, APIRG centred most of their funding around anti-racism activities and events. They helped bring Laverne Cox and Angela Davis to campus during a speaker series. For 2015, they are building on their previous theme, but focusing more on identity.

APIRG’s funding mainly comes from the $3.75 that students pay as part of the Dedicated Fee Unit through their tuition. In their efforts to be as transparent as possible, APIRG advertises a month-long period where students can opt-out.

“We fund activist and grassroots things, so we want students to know that if they don’t agree with what we’re supporting they don’t have to,” says Kaur.

Students who want to become involved with APIRG are encouraged to drop by their office in HUB mall, across from Burrito Libre.