Prime Minister Stephen Harper may not face strong opposition in Parliament or from the provinces, but his policies are brushing up against more core legal roadblocks than any of his predecessors faced, wrote The Globe and Mail April 15. “Already, there are signs of pushback from the courts,” said Professor Jamie Cameron of York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School. “It’s no secret that the Harper government is determined to test the limits of its power, for example, with criminal law, refugee law and Internet surveillance.” Read full story.
‘Hidden Homelessness’ in Toronto
Home is not where the heart is for the city’s recent immigrants and refugees, who are struggling to secure affordable housing, reports a study released by the Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS), a research coalition of Toronto-based universities and community partners, wrote The Philippine Reporter April 13. Sponsored refugees are often the targets, bearing the stigma of relying on social assistance and having a large and female-led household, said CERIS Director Valerie Preston, a geography professor in York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and the study’s head researcher. “They [community agencies] felt that until there was a supply of more low cost rentals, the landlords were going to be able to pick and choose on whatever grounds they like,” said Preston. Read full story.
Muslim women slowly breaking sports barrier
Western perceptions of Muslim women often revolve around images of passive figures shadowed by both men and the robes that enshroud them, wrote New American Media April 16. “I find it interesting that other religions – despite their histories of oppressing women – are not seen in the same light as Islam,” said Yuka Nakamura, a professor in York’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science , Faculty of Health, who studied Muslim women’s participation in sports. “Perhaps this is because the image of the Muslim woman has become so emblematic, and the image of the veiled Muslim woman is so vivid.” Read full story.
Yin and yang of choral music: From Shostakovitch to David Mott
York Professor David Mott (Faculty of Fine Arts), a Canadian mystic, a composer, a Zen meditator, a baritone sax virtuoso and a karate master, has written a piece for the Edmonton-based choir Pro Coro, which features the choir alone, with the occasional interjection from Mott on his baritone sax, wrote CBC Radio in a preview of its April 15 edition of Choral Concert.