SP0272: Dent ma communauté

The purpose of the Dent ma communauté project is to :

• Eliminate and reduce systemic barriers;
• Increase the representation of diverse communities, in particular Black and Indigenous communities;
• Provide resources and support student initiatives in line with the University’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusivity.

The requested financial support will be matched with Faculty funds to:

1. 2021: Recruit a project administrator to coordinate the Dent ma communauté project and to assist in various related activities.
2. 2021: Recruit an outreach administrator to develop and implement an outreach strategy to encourage the training of underrepresented students in dentistry and thus support the Black Student Admission Pathway in collaboration with SACE and the Admissions Office of FMHS. The rationale for this collaboration is that the students in the Dentistry and Medicine programs have a common core curriculum and similarities in the admission process.
3. 2021-2022: Identify systemic and local barriers toward diversity in the Faculty of Dentistry. A survey and qualitative interviews will be conducted.
4. 2021-2022: Support the McGill Dental Inclusion Program (MDIP); This is a non-profit mentorship program led by the students of the Faculty of Dentistry and is aimed towards students from marginalized populations (Black, Indigenous, low SES, other visible minorities). We will financialy support students to implement an e-mentorship program. The aim of this program is to inspire, motivate, and encourage students from underrepresented populations to pursue a dental career. The program will be run in collaboration with the Academic Immersion in Healthcare (AIH) program and Indigenous Health Professions program. The topics will focus on essential skills that will allow the mentees to have higher chances of getting admitted to the dental program in the future. The immersive aspect includes workshops and presentations to introduce the students/mentees to the program and incite interest. Promotion will incorporate social media platforms, an official MDIP website (not Faculty EDI website), and video production (informative/promotion). The separation between the EDI’s website and the MDIP is considered essential since they have different objectives and target different audience. The Faculty website provides Faculty EDI initiatives, action plans and tools for Faculties and public while the MDIP website is designed for high school key stakeholders, students and their parents.
5. 2021-2022: Organization of events and workshops that support EDI at the Faculty of Dentistry.

We will, furthermore, build research capacity for a new tenure track professor at the Faculty of Dentistry.