Tubman Institute hosts Africa conference; topics include latest uprisings in North Africa

An upcoming Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS) conference at York – Africa Here; Africa There – will look not only at Africa of the past, but discuss recent and ongoing issues, especially those in North Africa, says conference co-organizer  and York history Professor José Curto. The conference will take place Thursday, May 5, from 8am […]

Glendon Professor Raymond Mougeon co-investigator on $2.5- million francophone project

Linguistics and language studies Professor Raymond Mougeon, director of Glendon’s Centre for Research on Language Contact (CRLC), is a co-investigator on a seven-year, $2.5-million project to examine 400 years of family histories to see how language has shaped communities and cultures. Funded through the Major Collaborative Research Initiatives program of the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of […]

Professor Robert MacDermid shares last-minute insight on interpreting polls

Elections Canada requires the publishers of public opinion surveys during elections to publish some facts about the methodology, so readers can gauge how reliable the poll is, wrote Global Television News online April 28: Anyone transmitting the results of a poll has to include the name of the sponsor and the company that did the […]

City Institute researcher Simon Black on urban youth and the federal election

Which party speaks for urban youth this federal election? Over the past few weeks, media commentators have pointed to two important trends, wrote Simon Black, a graduate student researcher at The City Institute at York University, in the Toronto Star April 28: Polling suggests young people favour the Greens, Liberals and New Democrats: parties that […]

Fine arts professors' plays pack a political punch

Faculty of Fine Arts professors are bringing three plays to Canadian stages this week – each packing a political punch. The thought-provoking plays tackle the Rwandan genocide, the Canadian election and the untraceable ghost population of the city of Whitehorse. A catalyst for dialogue and healing is York film Professor Colleen Wagner’s Governor General’s Award-winning play The Monument. […]

Biology student Lincoln Best's research helping Mt. Revelstoke National Park to save native bee species

The Three-spot Mariposa Lily is an understated three-petalled white and yellow flower indigenous to some areas of the Columbia Basin. Like all living things, it’s part of the intricate and complex web of life that sustains us all, wrote B.C.’s Revelstoke Times Review, April 12: Recent research by biologist Lincoln Best, [a graduate student] at […]

Professors Gaetz and Winland: Family largely ignored in Canada's response to homeless youth crisis

The role of family in ending youth homelessness is largely ignored in Canada, according to a report released yesterday by York University, though there is evidence that family reconnection works in Australia and the United Kingdom and in one exceptional program in Toronto. Some 65,000 young people are homeless or at risk of homelessness across […]

Professor Rod MacRae co-authors study that finds organic farms are more energy efficient

Organic farms can be more energy efficient than conventional farms that mass produce crops using unsustainable practices, a surprising result from a study co-authored by a York University professor. Researchers analyzed 130 studies to compare the energy use and global warming potential of organic versus conventional farming. They concluded that organic farms were more energy […]

Professor Lisa Philipps notes one string attached to Harper's family tax cut plan

Income-splitting for families with dependent children under 18 is a huge policy initiative for Stephen Harper’s majority-hungry Conservative party, wrote the Financial Post March 28, in a story outlining the details of the plan. So huge, you wonder why it wasn’t the centrepiece of last week’s dead-on-arrival federal budget. But the Family Tax Cut plan […]

Osgoode Professor Lisa Philipps: Fiscal favours are eroding Canada's tax system

With Tuesday’s budget, the federal government continued its love affair with tax expenditures, those special breaks that target tax relief to select causes or groups, wrote Lisa Philipps, professor in York’s Osgoode Hall Law School, in the Toronto Star March 23: Like many Liberal budgets before them, every one of the Conservative budgets since 2006 […]