Congratulations to GRSJ undergraduate student Sagorika Haque on receiving a Student Leadership Award. Sagorika was named an Outstanding Student Leader in the UBC Community and Beyond.
Sagorika works in three global social justice issues: climate change, equity and inclusion, and migrant and women workers rights and welfare. She is among UBC’s core organizers for Climate Emergency Week, the Sustainability Hub and the Women’s Centre. She also co-curated the Climate Catharsis at the AMS Hatch Gallery, with an opening reception and symposium of research and poetry.
An international student from Bangladesh, Sagorika raises awareness on the plight of garment workers, mostly rural women who migrate to work in crowded unsafe factories in urban centres, best magnified in the collapse of the Rana Plaza in Dhaka killing and injuring thousands of women producing cheap fast fashion for American and Canadian outlets such as Joe Fresh, H&M, among others. In March 2023, she organized an international webinar at the Simon Lee Global Lounge Centre with two Bangladeshi leaders in the Ready-Made Garments sector (Ara Rowshon, Ismet Jain of Awaj Foundation) and two academics (Nazveen Khan and myself), who spoke to 30 participants in Vancouver and Dhaka, an event recorded for sharing with attendees and other transnational solidarity organizers. Sagorika supports Awaj Foundation, which raises awareness on the issues facing garment workers, trains workers on their rights and responsibilities under national and international legal frameworks and builds their capacity to take leadership and negotiate for better working conditions.
Congratulations Sagorika on this well-deserved recognition.
