September 14th – September 21st, 2026
Welcome!
What Is Dis-Orientation Week?Dis-Orientation Week (Dis-O Week) is a six- day event that is paramount to our organization’s mission and values. What began as an activist initiative against Trent administration’s attempts to push for a more neoliberalized school, has now become an annual tradition for OPIRG – an emblem of courage, resistance and student activism against the recklessly violent systems of greed, oppression, and destitution.
Every year, OPIRG Peterborough hosts Dis-Orientation Week as an alternative guide to Trent University and the greater Peterborough community. We aim to equip students and community members with transferable tools they can use to engage with activism, political organizing and social and environmental justice. During Dis-Orientation Week, OPIRG partners with community-based organizations, non-profits, student groups and activists to host accessible events for the Peterborough-Nogojiwanong community.
Dis-O Week strives to render an exciting, interactive ecosystem that strives to encourage thought-provoking conversations, creative DIY and skill-building workshops, fun social gatherings, and active efforts of community organizing, resistance and activist development. It is one of many efforts to incentivize and foster collective action, as well as community and self development!
Feel free to reach out to us at if you have any questions or concerns.
Mikoshin
This year is especially meaningful for OPIRG Peterborough enters it’s 50th year of student activism, grassroots organizing, environmental justice and collective care. Our theme, Mkoshin, is an Anishinaabemowin word that speaks to finding one’s way through trial and error — learning by trying, reflecting, and trying again.
For us, this theme feels like that good medicine. It reminds us that movement is not built through perfection, but through space, humility, courage, and relationship.
Dis-Orientation Week 2026 Events
Download the full schedule here
Monday, September 14
Introduction to Trent Lands and Water
Hosted by: Inwendaamin Oki
11AM – 12:30 PM, in-person @ Camp Kawartha Environment Centre tipi to the Manidoowag A’kiing traditional area tipi by Gzowski College
Walk the Trent Lands with members of Inwendaamin Oki and learn through story, ecology, cerremony, and relationship. The gathering will begin with an Anishinaabe ceremony led by Elder Dorothy Taylor before moving together through the Lands surrounding the Trent Wildlife Sanctuary and Camp Kawartha Environmental Centre.
Ceremony follows its own protocols and timing.
Appartenir à Ma Communauté
Hosted by: New Canadian Centre & OPIRG Peterborough
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM, in-person @ Sadlier House Lecture Hall (751 George St N)
Qu’est-ce qui fait qu’un endroit devient vraiment le nôtre? Dans cet atelier créatif, nous explorerons le sentiment d’appartenance à travers le collage, la conversation, les souvenirs et les lieux qui nous ont façonnés. Les participant·es créeront un collage inspiré de lieux, de personnes, d’expériences et de petits morceaux de chez-soi qui comptent pour eux, tout en partageant leurs trésors cachés préférés à Peterborough. Peut-être un sentier tranquille, un petit café, un banc préféré ou un endroit découvert complètement par hasard. Ensemble, nous découvrirons de nouveaux coins, rencontrerons de nouvelles personnes et réfléchirons à la façon dont une ville devient peu à peu plus qu’un simple lieu où l’on habite — elle devient un endroit où l’on se sent chez soi.
Event happening in French
Killing Us Softly 5: Media Representation of Women
Hosted by: YWCA Peterborough Haliburton
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM, in-person @ YWCA (216 Simcoe St)
A film screening and community conversation about advertising, femininity, beauty, power, and the question: how much has really changed?
Join YWCA Peterborough Haliburton for a screening of Killing Us Softly 4, followed by a community conversation about the ways advertising continues to shape ideas of femininity, beauty, power, and worth.
Tuesday, September 15
Taking up Space: Self-Advocacy, Access, & Navigating Systems
Hosted by: Community Race Relations Peterborough & Centre for Gender and Social Justice
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM, in-person @ Sadlier House Lecture Hall (751 George St N)
Your needs matter. Your voice matters. Knowing how to use both can change the way you move through the world. This interactive workshop will explore self-advocacy and the practical skills that help us communicate our needs, ask questions, set boundaries, and navigate everyday systems with greater confidence. Participants will consider how self-advocacy can support them in spaces such as healthcare, education, employment, finances, and community services. Throughout the workshop, participants will create their own small zine filled with reflections, useful language, strategies, and resources they can carry forward as a personal self-advocacy toolkit.
B!KE x OPIRG PTBO – BIKE GIVEAWAY!
Hosted by: B!KE & OPIRG PTBO
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM, in-person @ Sadlier House Parking Lot (751 George St N)
OPIRG Peterborough and B!KE are teaming up to get more people rolling around Nogojiwanong with 16 free refurbished bikes—10 reserved for Trent students and 6 for community members.
This giveaway is specifically for folks who do not currently have access to a bike and cannot reasonably afford to purchase one. Bikes will be matched as best as possible based on rider height and fit.
Pride Beading Workshop
Hosted by: Trans Peer Outreach
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM, in-person @ 466 George St N
Come bead your own pronoun pins! Celebrate your pride and learn about traditional Indigenous beading practices from local artist Crys Wintjes.
Hosted by Trans Peer Outreach at CMHA HKPR as a part of the 2026 OPIRG Dis-Orientation Week, this is a great event to learn something new, connect with community, and learn about local queer/trans spaces.
B!KE – Film Night and Shop Tour
Hosted by: B!KE Community Bike Shop
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM, in-person @ B!KE (293 George St N)
Two wheels, a few short films, some snacks, and good conversation. Join us for an evening of short films and documentaries exploring bikes, cyclying, community, and the many ways people move through a city. After the screening, stick around to talk about bikes, meet other riders, share stories, and connect with local cycling culture. Food will be available, and there may even be a little something from your local bike shop waiting for you.
Wednesday, September 16
How to get things for free: Dumpster Diving 101
Hosted by: Sunny Malik
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM, in-person @ Sadlier House Lecture Hall (751 George St N)
A larger conversation about food waste, access, and the systems that determine what is considered valuable or disposable.
This workshop is a part of OPIRG’s 2026 Dis-Orientation Week it will introduce participants to dumpster diving while opening a larger conversation about food waste, access, and the systems that determine what is considered valuable or disposable.
Water and the Trent Lands: An Introduction
Hosted by: Inwendaamin Oki
3:00 PM – 4:30 PM, in-person @ Camp Kawartha Environment Centre tipi to the Manidoowag A’kiing traditional area tipi by Gzowski College (1 Gzowski Way)
Please note that this event will be broken into two segments, effectively occurring twice but at different times to accommodate various schedules during the day.
This tour will introduce students at Trent to the landscapes and waterways around Trent campus with whom we share space and are engaged in a relationship with. The theme is activism in support of the wildlife and natural areas on campus, with a focus on the role of water in supporting the nature area systems.
The event will start with a ceremony in the tipi space led by Elder Dorothy Taylor, where water teachings and other teachings about spirit will be shared with participants. After the ceremony, participants will be given the opportunity (and instructed) to make tobacco (semaa) ties to be placed around the Trent lands with intention to honour water.
Once semaa ties are made, participants will be led on a walk of either the TVG area or near the Otonabee where it runs through campus. On these walks, participants will be educated on the importance of both the TVG space and the River as they relate to human relationships with the natural world on campus. Participants will also be encouraged to tie their semaa ties to locations of personal value during the walk.
The walk will end back at the tipi area and participants will be welcome to some refreshments and light snacks.
Trent Vegetable Gardens 20th Anniversary Celebration
Hosted by: Trent Vegetable Gardens
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM, in-person @ 2120 East Bank Drive
For the past 20 years, our organization has served as a vibrant community hub connecting people around food issues, social justice, and Land stewardship. We stand on the shoulders of giants who laid this foundation, carrying forward their invaluable wisdom and the lessons learned through our shared successes, challenges, and failures.
Decolonizing Education: Reflecting on Trent in Bolivia’s Study Abroad
Hosted by: Global Justice and Development Studies & Trent Student Association for Global Development Studies
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM, in-person @ Bata Library Film Theatre (BL 103), Bata Library, Trent University (1600 W Bank Dr)
A documentary screening of ‘Uma: A Water Crisis in Bolivia’. This documentary tells the story of three Andean indigenous communities in the highlands of Bolivia who are fighting to protect their water from diversion and contamination amid a national water crisis.
The screening will be followed by a 30-minute facilitated discussion of some of Trent in Bolivia´s students and associated faculty from Bolivia. This event will showcase the Study Abroad program´s goals which are to expose students to Indigenous, feminist and grassroots Latin American organizing.
Thursday, September 18
Embracing Failure – A Radio Conversation 92.7FM
Hosted by: Trent Radio
10:00 AM – 11:30 PM, Tune in at 92.7 FM on the radio or online
Tune in for a live radio conversation bringing together voices from Trent University and the broader Nogojiwanong/Peterborough Community. Through a moderate panel discussion, guests will share their experiences, perspectives, and knowledge connected to the evening’s theme, creating space for thought, dialogue, and reflection.
We’re going to dive into the last 20 years of PARN, specifically the point of the available of better antiretroviral treatment, and tie PARN’s work, messaging, and way of being still works to chasing away HIV-related stigma. We will tie in the role of post-secondary institutions, grassroots outfits, employment of people with lived experience, and bureaucratic bullshit in to how the struggle continues while the purpose of PARN remains steadfast.
Art & Activism – Mkoshin Printmaking
Hosted by: OPIRG Peterborough
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM, in-person @ Sadlier House Lecture Hall (751 George St N)
This hands-on lino printmaking workshop invites participants to explore art as a tool for expression, solidarity, and collective action. Together, we’ll learn the basics of lino cutting, look at the history of printmaking within social movements, and consider how handmade art can carry messages, build connections, and make political ideas. Participants will create a finished print of their own, with the option to make work in solidarity with Grassy Narrows.
Take Back the Night
Hosted by: Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre
5:00 PM – 9:00 PM, in-person @ Sadlier House Lecture Hall (751 George St N)
Join KSAC and community partners for an evening of solidarity, community, and protest with Take Back The Night 2026! Stay tuned for this year’s theme and schedule announcements!
Join us in person on Thursday September 17th from 5pm to approximately 9pm in the Peterborough Square Courtyard (124 Water St., Peterborough). This year we’ll have poster making, poetry slam time, a self defence demonstration, and our march! Stay tuned to this page for more details as we continue planning
Friday, September 18th
Harvesting Courage
Hosted by: Peterborough Green UP
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM, in-person @ The Community Orchard (the intersection of Reid St. and McDonnel St. along the TransCanada Trail)
Learn about the successes and obstacles of setting up Community Fruit Orchards on public land. Public orchards challenge the idea that food must be scarce or privatized. But many people still hesitate to pick fruit—even when it’s meant for community use. That hesitancy comes from colonial property systems, fear of judgment, and uncertainty about what’s ‘allowed.’
During this workshop, we will collectively come up with solutions to these issues while strengthening our own fruit tree skills. We will also paint stakes that help indicate to the community when a tree’s fruit is ready to harvest and reflect on how we can normalize shared abundance.
Please direct questions to
The Arabian Brew Bar: A Coffee and Tea Tasting Event
Hosted by: TASA
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM, in-person @ Trent University Student Centre, Freedom Lounge (1680 West Bank Drive)
This event will be an interactive cultural experience that allows participants to explore the diverse traditions of Arab hospitality through a station-style coffee and tea tasting event. Each TASA member will host a designated station representing a specific region or country, where authentic Arab traditional tea or coffee will be served, along with accompanying snacks such as dates and biscuits.
At each station, participants will learn about the beverage’s history, origins, ingredients, flavours, and the cultural significance behind preparation and serving traditions. Attendees will receive a tasting passport that will guide them through each station. They can record their impressions and explore different drinks at their own pace while learning about the drink’s history from the student hosts.
Eco-Grief Cafe
Hosted by: Celestial Healing & Des Mathews
2:00 PM – 5:00 PM, in-person @ Gathering Space in Gzowski College (ENW102, 1 Gzowski Way)
The Eco-Grief Cafe are “for-us, by us” (QTBIPOC) youth-led community-based interventions curated by Celestial Healing and Des Matthews (through Land Love Liberation @landloveliberation613), that supports youth in navigating eco-grief. These intimate gatherings seek to transform emotional overwhelm into civic engagement by centering healing, land connection, and cultural practice as foundations for climate justice.
Each grief café is spiritually intentional, curated for QTBIPOC youth to process the emotional realities of living through climate crisis, displacement, genocide, burnout, many isms (i.e. racism), and collective uncertainty, together. The gatherings are approximately 3-4 hours long, with up to 25 youth participants at each event, blending meditation, conversation, a tea ceremony, cultural practices (i.e. yoga), knowledge sharing and community care.
The flyer image is designed by Nia @studiobabycupid
This specific grief café during DIS-O week is open to all QTBIPOC + allies including white Queer/Trans folx. If you have any questions around whether or not this space is for you, please email
Spin it back – Connecting through Sound
Hosted by: BLM Nogojiwanong
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM, in-person @ Artspace Peterborough (378 Aylmer St)
A listening circle exploring Black diasporic music, memory, place, and the songs that connect us to one another.
This music-based gathering invites participants to listen, reflect, and connect through Black diasporic music. Together, we’ll explore how songs carry memory, culture, identity, and a sense of place.
Participants will choose from a menu of music and conversation prompts, sharing the stories, feelings, and memories certain songs bring forward. At its heart, this event is about the ways music travels with us—across generations, communities, and geographies—and how it can help us remember, relate, and find connection with one another.
Saturday, September 19
Free Market Giveaway and Vegan BBQ + Red Tent
Hosted by: OPIRG Peterborough, The Free Market & Food Not Bombs Ft. Red Tent
11:00 AM – 4:00 PM, in-person @ Sadleir House on the Lawn (or indoors if it’s raining) (751 George St. N)
OPIRG Peterborough and The Free Market welcome everyone to come over to the Sadleir House lawn to swap, donate, and collect any gently used clothes, books, and small household items!
As we face a climate crisis alongside increasing economic inequity, we believe this is one way to collectively challenge capitalism and nurture sustainability by reducing items that might head into landfills and sharing with our community.
Food Not Bombs will also be on the lawn providing free and delicious vegan BBQ and there will be music from a DJ as well!
Don’t forget to stop by the Red Tent by Moon and Bloom, It’s an inclusive, intersectional, educational space for folks of all ages, stages, and genders to learn about menstruality. Topics often include: menstrual cycle anatomy & physiology, period care, birth control pros/cons, nutritional care for menstrual cycles, and cyclical living.
*If you are unable to attend on Saturday, but would like to donate to the Free Market, please email to set up a time to drop off your items.
**No registration is required! Come early if you want the most selection!
Sunday, September 20
Sound & Story Yoga Ceremony
Hosted by: Des Mathews
10:00 AM – 12:00PM, in-person @ Trent Student Center, Event Space
This event/ceremony will include gathering with tea and sharing yoga mythology/stories behind the shapes we take in the physical practice of yoga. Participants are encouraged to savour rest. Optional movements/asana and breathing exercises/pranayama will be taken, which aids in nervous system regulation and co-regulation. Participants will then have the choice to continue moving or lay in stillness while being guided through yoga nidra/yogic sleep – the state in between wakefulness and sleep. A singing bowl, chimes and steel tongue drum will be used to enhance the experience. The intention of this practice is to embrace magic and possibility, and to aid in restoring to one’s inherent nature in order to move forward with action.
OPIRG Supermarket Tour
Hosted by: OPIRG Peterborough, hosted by Madison Mäe Adsetts
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM, in-person @ Sadleir House on the Lawn (or indoors if it’s raining) (751 George St. N)
Come see Peterborough the way students know it best: through a grocery cart with one questionable wheel. We’ll hop between local stores, compare prices, figure out which bus actually gets you there, uncover student discounts, and share food supports and money-saving tricks that make the weekly grocery run hurt a little less. Along the way, we’ll talk honestly about food access, transportation, and why groceries somehow cost $47 when you swear you only bought hummus and bananas.
Come hungry for knowledge, bargains, and possibly snacks.
Meet at Bata Loop, and take a guided bus trip downtown to a couple grocery stores.
Thank you Dis-Orientation Week Sponsors!
We would like to extend our appreciation and gratitude to our valued sponsor, the Trent Central Student Association (TCSA), whose support enabled us to continue working with amazing community who share our collective aspiration towards global advocacy and environmental and social justice.
