A Canadian icon of humanitarianism urged Glendon students to “get your boots dirty” by working in a developing country and experiencing what life is like for 80 per cent of humanity, as he delivered Glendon's annual John W. Holmes Memorial Lecture. Right: Dallaire speaks to a standing-room only crowd in Glendon's lecture hall Lieutenant-General Romeo […]
The Law Foundation of Ontario (LFO) has awarded a Community Leadership in Justice Fellowship to Marian MacGregor, director of Osgoode's Community and Legal Services Program (CLASP). It is one of two fellowships that the LFO announced on Sept. 6. Left Marian MacGregor MacGregor, who will be on a leave of absence from the end of […]
Four years ago, anti-poverty advocate Dennis Raphael published Poverty and Policy in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of Life. Jack Layton, leader of Canada’s New Democrats, wrote the foreword. This spring, Raphael released a second updated and expanded edition featuring the latest figures on poverty, and a new, hefty chapter critiquing all federal and provincial anti-poverty programs. And […]
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 […]
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. […]
The sky in Lawrence Heights is low and the horizon is as wide as it gets in the city; no skyscrapers here. Dennis Raphael and I were walking through the neighbourhood on a chilly day, wrote columnist Joe Fiorito in the Toronto Star Jan. 7: He is a professor of health policy & management in […]
The high level of Type 2 diabetes in the Black Creek neighbourhood of northwest Toronto is imposing tremendous pain and suffering on a largely visible minority population, according to community health workers, researchers and educators who will meet Thursday at a community forum to begin developing an action plan to combat the disease. York's Health […]
What makes us sick? Is it genetics or lifestyle? Is it too many burgers, too much alcohol, not enough exercise? Not according to York Professor Dennis Raphael, who, like the fourth-century BC philosopher Plato, attributes poor health to living conditions. Things like income level and people’s access to food, housing, education, and health and social services, are […]
Despite good intentions, education systems can still succumb to the influence of flawed perceptions of meritocracy, says York PhD candidate Gillian Parekh (BEd '02, MA '09) in a recent winning paper. That means, in at least two parts of the world, governments' prioritization of economic returns can trump students' rights to equitable and quality educational opportunities. […]
The slayings in Flemingdon Park this summer have brought a shadow of violence back to a community where, on the surface, it appeared to have lifted, wrote The Globe and Mail Aug. 3: Flemingdon Park is one of Toronto’s “priority” areas. Census data from 2001 showed that 71 per cent of the 22,000 residents were […]
A growing chorus of Toronto voices, including the director of York’s Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration & Settlement (CERIS), is opposing Ottawa’s plans to change the national census, which gathers in-depth information from Canadians to form public policy, wrote InsideToronto.com and The Beach-Riverdale Mirror July 13: Beginning with the 2011 census, held every […]
Peter Victor, an ecological economist who teaches at York University’s Faculty of Environmental Studies, rejects the idea that economic growth is essential to progress, wrote BC’s Grand Forks Gazette May 19 in an article about replacing the growth economy with a more sustainable model: To prove his point he created a computer model that duplicated […]
Last week was not a good one to be living in the “in-between city”, the term urbanists use to describe areas wedged between the outer suburbs – with their sprawling residential neighbourhoods – and the downtown core of office towers, condos and cultural institutions, wrote Simon Black, a graduate student in the City Institute at […]
Dennis Raphael, a professor in York’s School of Health Policy & Management in the Faculty of Health was quoted in the Aurora Banner's May 8 issue about his report, released April 29, that offers Canadians the opportunity to learn how their living conditions will determine whether they stay healthy or become ill: We’re products of […]
Economic spinoff arguments for transit can be complex, wrote NOW Magazine April 29 in a story about efforts by Toronto Mayor David Miller to save the Transit City plan: If people use their cars less, for example, they may have more cash to spend on clothes or theatre tickets, but there might be less work […]
A report released yesterday by York University researchers offers Canadians the opportunity to learn how their living conditions will determine whether they stay healthy or become ill. Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts shows why these factors are so important for health and documents the state of living conditions in Canada in an accessible […]
Peter Victor, a professor in York University’s Faculty of Environmental Studies, was featured in the Hamilton Mountain News April 22. His recent book, Managing Without Growth: Slower by Design, Not Disaster, argues economic growth hurts the environment and has not eliminated poverty or provided full employment: “We need a new measure of success,” said Victor, […]
Diabetes among South Asian immigrants is on the rise but it’s not a new phenomenon, wrote the Toronto Sun April 19, citing a York University professor. Diabetes risk among immigrants from South Asia is three to four times higher than in immigrants from western European countries, says a study released Monday by the Institute for […]
Despite increased awareness and education, mental health and mental health issues are still surrounded by stigmas for many Canadians. York Professor Megan Davies is helping to challenge prevalent stereotypes and to encourage more dialogue about mental health issues in Canada. She is using her academic research to give students in Grades 7 to 12 the tools and […]
Researchers at York University and the University of Victoria in British Columbia have taken the latest research in mental health and worked with teachers, as well as mental-health-system users and service providers, to create an online curriculum easily used by teachers and grasped by high-school students. Caring Minds: Youth, Mental Health & Community helps young people […]