The Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) at Concordia is a resource centre for student and community research and organizing. They strive to raise awareness and support grassroots activism around diverse social and environmental issues. Their work is rooted in an anti-oppression analysis and practice. The Quebec Public Interest Research Group seek to make campus-community links and inspire social change through engaging, inclusive and non-hierarchical approaches.
QPIRG Concordia is committed to being inclusive and accessible to all. They are actively opposed to all forms of discrimination and oppression. QPIRG is a volunteer-driven, student-funded, non-profit organization that is independent from the Concordia administration and student unions. Both students and community members are welcome to make use of their space and resources as well as participate in QPIRG projects
The Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) at Concordia has been an important link between campus and the community on issues related to social and environmental justice and progressive social change. From their origins in Canada in the early 1980s, PIRGs have provided a forum and training ground for students and non-students alike to become critical and engaged community participants.
QPIRG at Concordia started in 1981 as a club funded by the student union. QPIRG’s popularity grew until a student referendum in 1989 determined that QPIRG would be funded by a student fee levy. In 2010, Concordia graduate students voted in a referendum to become members of QPIRG Concordia as well. QPIRG Concordia is an autonomous group on the Concordia campus, with both student and community membership.
In the 1980s and ’90s, QPIRG, like other campus-based social justice groups, was active in solidarity with human rights movements in Central America, campaigns for nuclear disarmament and global peace, opposition to apartheid in South Africa, feminist and anti-racist organizing, GLBT rights, consumer activism, and environmental justice.
The Quebec Public Interest Research Group provide community access to computers, the Internet, word processing software, and creative programs such as Photoshop and In Design. They offer workshops on many issues, and occasionally they are for things like (‘how to use Photoshop / In Design / etc.).
ERA was pleased to provide this organization with two computers and one laptop. These devices will go towards their workshop. They will be used by the community to improve their computer skills.
If you would like to learn more about this organization, please go to their website here.