Display on campus celebrates diversity of language
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A display at York University’s Keele Campus celebrating International Mother Language Day highlights linguistic and cultural diversity and promotes the protection and preservation of languages.
The display was organized by the linguistics section, with the Linguistics Students Association in the Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics (DLLL) as part of its ongoing World Cultures Celebrations initiative, and runs until March 2. The display is open to visitors during regular business hours and is located at the department’s main office, room 580, South Ross Building, Keele Campus.
The display celebrating International Mother Language Day
The department mounted display in recognition of the diversity in the community and the importance of all languages, and to provide information about the celebration. It allows the community to participate by asking them to include the word for ‘mother’ in their own language on the language trees.
International Mother Language Day has been observed around the world every Feb. 21 since 2000, when it was first adopted by the UN General Assembly as a result of an initiative by Bangladesh. The date was selected to honour those who died in the 1952 Bengali language movement, which was a political movement to have Bengali (Bangla) recognized as an official language of the Dominion of Pakistan.
A closer look at the language trees that visitors can contribute to by adding a leaf with the word ‘mother’ in their native language
As a result of globalization, language loss is an ever-increasing threat. Currently, about 41 per cent of the approximately 7,000 existing languages are endangered. With each vanishing language, speakers lose an integral part of their culture and heritage and scholarship loses important traditional knowledge and an understanding of linguistic possibilities.
Toronto is a city of tremendous linguistic diversity with almost 180 different languages and dialects spoken and about 40 per cent of the population having a mother tongue other than English.
Surveillance society under scrutiny at Criminology and Socio-Legal Studies first annual lecture
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York University’s undergraduate program in Criminology and graduate program in Socio-Legal Studies have collaborated to present their first annual lecture featuring surveillance expert and Queen’s University Professor David Lyon. The free event, open to the public, will take place at 5:30 p.m. on March 17 in room 105 Life Sciences Building at the Keele Campus.
David Lyon
As director of the Surveillance Studies Centre and Queen’s Research Chair in Surveillance Studies, Lyon has been researching surveillance from a sociological perspective for the past 25 years. His research has touched on numerous topics and issues relating to surveillance, including privacy, registration and identification systems, information technologies and the ethics and politics of social sorting. He will reflect on and draw from his lengthy exploration of this research area in a talk entitled “Surveillance yesterday, today and tomorrow: From occasional encounters to constant immersion.”
Beginning from the premise that surveillance is now an unavoidable fact of everyday life, this lecture will explore the massive changes taking place in surveillance worldwide, examining its relentlessness, intrusiveness, pervasiveness and divisiveness, and call for a reassertion of human judgement and democratic participation to challenge and to reshape surveillance towards human flourishing.
The Criminology and Socio-Legal Studies programs plan to collaborate with the Law and Society undergraduate program for next year’s edition of the lecture. This year’s lecture is also sponsored by the Department of Communication Studies.
While the lecture will be of particular interest to faculty and students in Criminology, Socio-Legal Studies, Communication Studies, Law and Society, Sociology, Science and Technology Studies, and Information Technology, those in other departments and members of the community are also encouraged to attend. Light refreshments will be provided.
A list of upcoming events hosted by departments, schools and programs in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies can be found on the faculty’s website.
McLaughlin Lunch Talk Series adds two more events for February
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McLaughlin College invites the York University community to come and listen to interesting speakers as they share their knowledge on a variety of topics, and enjoy a free lunch during the popular Lunch Talks Series. The long-running series continues through February with more events on the calendar.
Students who attend six or more Lunch Talks throughout the year will receive a Certificate of Participation, while those who attend 10 or more will receive a Certificate of Honour.
The talks take place in the Senior Common Room, 140 McLaughlin College, Keele Campus.
Feb. 25 – The SNC-Lavalin Affair: A Canadian Scandal in Global Perspective
Presented by Ellen Gutterman, this event will examine how the SNC-Lavalin affair erupted in a firestorm of political controversy in Canada in February 2019, when former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his close advisers of pressuring her to allow the Quebec-based global engineering giant to negotiate a deferred prosecution agreement, rather than face trial on charges it paid bribes to win lucrative contracts in Libya.
Ellen Gutterman
Looking back on the scandal one year later, the talk will analyse this dramatic episode in Canadian politics against the backdrop of Canada’s international legal obligations to control transnational bribery. These obligations stem from Canada’s multilateral commitments in the global governance of corruption.
The talk will highlight the attempt to use a deferred prosecution agreement in this case, as: an instance of international diffusion of legal practice from the United States; and, a legal strategy to avoid the political and financial costs of anti-corruption enforcement. It will conclude with some lessons from the SNC-Lavalin affair for the theory and practice of global governance, generally, and for Canadian foreign policy in the 21st century.
Gutterman is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Glendon College, York University. Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of international relations theory, international law, and global politics, with a specific interest in the global governance of transnational crime and corruption. Her research articles – on transnational advocacy, legitimacy, compliance, norms, extra-territorial enforcement, and other issues in the global governance of corruption – are published in such journals as Foreign Policy Analysis, Review of International Studies, Osgoode Hall Law Journal, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, European Political Science and elsewhere.
This event runs from 12 to 1:30 p.m.
Feb. 26 – UN World Day of Social Justice
This event is a panel presentation to Commemorate UN World Day of Social Justice, including panelists:
Richard W. Phidd is a (retired University of Guelph 1972-2005), professor, Public Administration and Public Policy, fellow adjunct professor, McLaughlin College, York University 2005-20. Phidd has authored several studies on public sector organizations and policy-making issues in Canada since the early 1970s.
Jennine Rawana is currently the Head of Calumet College and a faculty member in the Clinical Developmental Program in the Dept of Psychology at York University. She is also an executive member of the LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research at York University and a supervising psychologist at the York University Psychology Clinic.
Barbara Jackman is an immigration lawyer who has specialized in the protection of the human rights of migrants and refugees, including arguing before the Supreme Court of Canada on test cases, such as Singh (1985) where the court recognized that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms applied to non-citizens, not just citizens. She has been recognized by a number of communities and Canada by being given an Order of Canada.
James Simeon will moderate the event. He is head of McLaughlin College and an associate professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration (SPPA), Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, York University. He is a member-at-large of the Executive of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS) and a past President of CARFMS.
This event is co-sponsored by the Office of the College Head, McLaughlin College, Centre of Public Policy and Law, Centre for Refugee Studies and the Department of Sociology.
This even runs from from 12 to 2 p.m.
To see a previously published story on the Feb. 27 event, see this YFile story.
Second annual Health and Society lecture to examine storytelling, the soul and Anishinaabe ‘word bundles’
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Anishinaabe Elder and artist Rene Meshake and Métis scholar Kim Anderson will perform music and share art as part of their presentation for the York University Health and Society program’s second annual lecture. The free event, titled “Injichaag: Storytelling and the Soul of an Indigenous Artist,” will take place at 1 p.m. on March 4 in room 519 Kaneff Building at the Keele Campus.
Injichaag: My Soul in Story
Meshake and Anderson will share material related to their recently launched book Injichaag: My Soul in Story. Meshake will play the flute and share his visual art and poetry, while Anderson will read and talk about the book, relating how history, story and Anishinaabe “word bundles” are significant in terms of health and society.
Described as “more than a memoir,” Meshake and Anderson’s book shares Meshake’s stories, poetry and “word bundles” that serve as a dictionary of Ojibwe poetics. The book follows Meshake’s life from his early “bush university” years being raised by his grandmother in northwestern Ontario, through his experience in the residential school system and subsequent decades of struggle and healing, to his sobriety and career as an artist, musician and writer. Meshake’s artistic vision and poetic lens provide a unique telling of a story of colonization and recovery. The material is organized thematically around a series of Meshake’s paintings and is framed by Anderson, Meshake’s “Odaanisan” (adopted daughter).
Meshake is a storyteller, visual and performing artist, award-winning author, flute player, multimedia artist and a recipient of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. By blending Anishinaabe and English words into his performances, he communicates his spiritual heritage and poetics. His education includes Anishinaabe oral tradition, language, arts and culture. Meshake studied creative writing at the School for Writing at Humber College. He has an active online presence as a “Funky-Elder.”
Rene Meshake and Kim Anderson
Anderson is a Métis writer and educator, working as an associate professor in the Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition at the University of Guelph. She holds a PhD in history and is a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Relationships. Anderson has written about Indigenous mothering, Indigenous feminism, Indigenous masculinities and Indigenous knowledge in urban settings, and has an evolving interest in arts-based and land-based methods of research.
York University’s Health & Society program provides students with a toolkit for understanding health and illness, both as lived realities and as reflections of larger social, cultural and political processes, on a scale ranging from the interpersonal to the international. The program focuses on the kind of practical knowledge gained from experiential learning and seeks to combine this with the development of rigorous critical analysis. Taken together, the courses that comprise a Health and Society degree give students a truly comprehensive understanding of health.
Other events hosted by York’s Health and Society program are listed on the program’s website.
Carrianne Leung talks about writing friendship and community rather than the ‘immigrant story’
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On Feb. 11, the 2019-20 Canadian Writers in Person Lecture Series presented author Carrianne Leung, reading from her collection of short stories That Time I Loved You. York University Teaching Assistant Dana Patrascu-Kingsley sent the following report to YFile.
Carrianne Leung visited York University on Feb. 11 as part of the Canadian Writers in Person reading series. She talked about her collection of linked short stories, That Time I Loved You.
Carrianne Leung
Set in 1970s Scarborough, That Time I Loved You is about “settlement in the suburbs,” said Leung. She remarked that Scarborough is often portrayed in the media as a criminalized and racialized space, and she wanted to portray it how she remembers it being when she was growing up there.
Leung said she did not want to write ‘immigrant literature’ about a new immigrant overcoming adversity and making it in Canada. Instead, she said “I wanted to portray what it means to be together—all of us in this space. I wanted to talk about surprises and the kind of friendships that form among people here.”
The book’s beginning was when Leung wrote a story titled “Grass,” which she thought initially would grow into a novel. She said that she was then “inspired by the way stories can produce different gazes of events,” and ended up writing a collection of linked stories instead. “When you’re writing, you can’t dictate the form. The story will show you the form.
“I’m the kind of writer who discovers while writing,” Leung said. “When I’m writing, I don’t often know what will happen. The characters dictate what happens.”
That Time I Loved You allows the reader to get close to a number of characters and get a glimpse into their lives in a Scarborough new subdivision with its promises and its hidden sadness.
The next writer to visit York as part of the Canadian Writers in Person reading series is E. Martin Nolan with the collection of poems Still Point, on March 3.
Readings are free and open to any member of the public. For more information, contact Professor Leslie Sanders at leslie@yorku.ca or Professor Gail Vanstone at gailv@yorku.ca. All readings are held Tuesdays from 7 to 9 p.m. in room 206, Accolade West Building, Keele Campus.
New Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change created to address world’s most pressing issues
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Environmental change and urbanization represent two of the most critical challenges facing people and the planet. The world’s awareness of the need to develop sustainable solutions is vividly illustrated by the massive global Climate Day of Action protests that took place in September 2019 ahead of the United Nations Climate Action Summit. The climate action saw youth take to the streets to raise their concerns about environmental degradation, the injustices facing humanity, and the uncertainty of their future.
Universities are uniquely positioned to advance knowledge of and solutions to the issues posed by the climate crisis, degradation of nature and the rapid growth of cities. In response, York University is taking a leadership role to advance teaching and learning, research and scholarship, and multisectoral engagement in environmental and urban realms by bringing together the expertise housed in the Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES) and the Geography program in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies to create a new Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change.
Envisioned to be an international leader in critical and innovative urban, environmental and geographical knowledges and skills, the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change will focus on advancing sustainability and justice. In 2019, both the Board of Governors and the Senate of York University approved the proposal for the new faculty, which will formally come into existence on Sept. 1, 2020 with new curricular offerings planned for Sept. 1, 2021.
Rhonda L. Lenton
“Students today are simultaneously faced with a competitive and dynamic global knowledge economy and a series of existential social and environmental challenges. The Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change combines the historical excellence of our environmental studies and geography programs with a renewed commitment to innovative teaching, scholarship and experiential learning. This interdisciplinary and collaborative approach will help society tackle its most complex challenges while training the leaders who will put solutions into practice,” said President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton.
Current and future students will have unprecedented opportunities to explore and learn from global thought leaders in geography, urban and environmental studies within a new faculty that fosters interdisciplinary approaches spanning and connecting biophysical sciences, social sciences, and the arts
Alice Hovorka
“The Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change will champion interdisciplinarity through curricular programs and scholarship,” said its inaugural Dean Alice Hovorka. “The new faculty will draw together scholars from geography and environmental studies as well as from across York University, building on existing synergies and encouraging collaboration in teaching, research and engagement activities.”
Field-based and experiential learning opportunities will further enhance students’ understanding of biophysical processes and social issues. Undergraduate students will have opportunities to pursue majors and minors in new programs that include bachelor’s degrees in global geography, urban studies, environmental science, sustainable environmental management, and environmental arts and justice. Masters and PhD programs in Geography and Environmental Studies will offer advanced study and application in these topical areas. Programs will feature hands-on, community-engaged learning locally, for example at York’s Maloca Garden and woodlot sites, regionally through field courses at Bruce Peninsula and within the Greater Toronto Area, and internationally at the York University Las Nubes EcoCampus in Costa Rica. Programs will also highlight work- and research-based placements connecting students with non-governmental organizations, industry, and government partner to help guide their career paths.
Demand for career professionals in environmental and urban realms has outpaced that of the rest of the workforce. Governments around the world are now placing an emphasis on regulation and public policies focused on sustainability and smart cities, requiring that organizations rethink their practices. New positions for environmental, urban planning and sustainability experts are needed, and the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change will be uniquely positioned to meet this increased global demand for trained professionals. According to a 2018 Eco Canada Job Posting Trends Report, anticipated job growth leading into 2025 will be seen in careers in natural resource management (15 per cent increase), waste management (15 per cent increase), urban planning and development (13 per cent increase), energy management (12 per cent increase) and environmental health & safety and water quality (seven per cent increase).
Some of the potential career positions available to the inaugural graduating class of 2025 include chief sustainability officers, regulators and analysts; energy entrepreneurs, auditors and consultants; environmental lawyers, advocates and diversity educators; environmental scientists, geoscientists, technicians and specialists; and, urban planners, social service administrators and infrastructure directors.
Schulich dominates the first week of the NSSE survey
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From Feb. 10 to March 31, thousands of first- and fourth-year York University students are taking part in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), or “Nessie”. Through NSSE, they’ll be able to contribute their insight and have input into York University’s future direction.
To add an element of fun to the survey and to encourage participation in the survey, NSSE organizers at York University challenged the individual Faculties (except the Faculty of Education and Osgoode Hall Law School) to compete for the NSSE Cup.
Faculty results published for the survey’s first week shows that students in the Schulich School of Business are leading the challenge, with the Faculties of Environmental Studies and Science in second and third place. (The NSSE Champion Cup was won in 2014 and 2017 by the Schulich School of Business.)
Above: A graph shows the progress of the NSSE Survey. The Champion Cup standings show the Schulich School of Business in first, the Faculty of Environmental Studies in second place and the Faculty of Science in third place
The Faculty with the highest participation rate will win the NSSE Champion Cup and bragging rights until the next survey.
The online survey, which takes about 15 minutes to complete, allows students in their first and final years of a four-year degree to offer their insight into what York University does well and what it could improve. It will be used to determine how much time and effort students put into educationally rewarding activities and to what degree York University facilitates this involvement.
Updates on the progress of the survey and the NSSE Champion Cup will be published every Monday in YFile.
McLaughlin College celebrates first-year students with inaugural Freshers Concert
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Performers and some of the students who attended the concert
McLaughlin College celebrated its first-year students with inaugural Freshers Concert on Feb. 6. “Fresher” is a British term for a first-year student and the Fresher’s Concert is one of several new extracurricular initiatives at McLaughlin College created to enhance and to enrich the first-year student experience and college life for all students.
The concert was planned and organized by a team of McLaughlin’s first-year students who came together to form the McLaughlin College Music Society, which is dedicated to supporting, organizing, and promoting musical activities for the benefit and pleasure of all members of the McLaughlin community.
Czarina Puri performs as part of the Freshers Concert
The Freshers Concert program featured two talented first-year students at McLaughlin College: Czarina Puri, who is currently a sociology major; and Otiona Oputu, a criminology major. Puri played the piano and performed two numbers: Billy Joel’s “Vienna” and “Man in a Movie” by the band DAY6. While Oputu sang two songs: “Never Enough,” from the movie The Greatest Showman, and “Rise Up,” by Andra Day.
“Both performers gave marvellous performances that left the audience wanting even more. It was an auspicious start to the Freshers Concert that will be held as an annual college event,” said McLaughlin College Head, James Simeon, who noted the concert provided an opportunity for first-year students to showcase their musical talents and abilities beyond their respective fields of study.
Otiona Oputu performs at the Freshers Concert
“McLaughlin College has a remarkable musical foundation and history,” said Simeon. “Our very first Master, as he was then called, of McLaughlin College, George Tatham, was not only a distinguished geographer and academic administrator, by profession, but, also a highly accomplished pianist.
“During his day, Master Tatham invited the Department of Music to be housed in McLaughlin College and provided a number of practice music rooms, each equipped with its own piano, for students to play their instruments and to practice their music,” said Simeon.
Music is part of the DNA of McLaughlin College, said Simeon, noting that music goes back to the 1968 founding of the college at York University. Over time, McLaughlin College has attracted celebrated Canadian jazz pianist, Oscar Peterson, a former Chancellor of York University, and Canadian jazz vibraphone player, Peter Appleyard, among many others.
“The time has come to revive and to continue our college’s exceptional musical heritage,” said Simeon. “This is why McLaughlin College has supported the establishment the McLaughlin College Music Society, that not only planned and organized the Freshers Concert but is supporting other musical activities at our College. In addition, we are also supporting our McLaughlin College Community Choir (MCCC). They have already given three public performances and are looking to hold two more performances before the end of the winter term.”
All students at McLaughlin College and York University are welcome to participate in any of these new initiatives, said Simeon. For those who are interested in getting involved with the music society or community choir, no auditions or any previous musical experience is required.
Aquatic Research Group Seminar to explore the factors shaping urban ecosystem services
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Carly Ziter
Editor’s note: Today, the room number for this event was changed to 140 HNES Building.
The next event in the 2019-20 Aquatic Research Group (ARG) Seminar Series features Concordia University Assistant Professor Carly Ziterpresenting a talk titled “Thinking beyond the park: landscape structure, land-use history and biodiversity shape urban ecosystem services.” It takes place on Monday, Feb. 24, at 12:30 p.m. in room 140 HNES Building, Keele Campus. The seminar will be followed by a free lunch at 1:30 p.m. All members of the York community are welcome to attend.
The pan-Faculty ARG Seminar Series, organized by biology Professor Sapna Sharma in York University’s Faculty of Science, brings top ecologists from across the province to York to talk about their research in aquatic ecology and what’s causing stress in our waterways.
Professor Ziter grew up in southern Ontario, in a house surrounded by fields (usually corn, sometimes soy), punctuated by small woodlots. In her mind, this mix of farmland, housing and forest wasn’t an “ecosystem,” it was just where she walked the dog. Now, she realizes that these human-dominated landscapes are hard at work providing a multitude of ecosystem services we rely on, and she’s fascinated by how we can manage these areas better. When she’s not busy researching the intersection of landscape structure, biodiversity and ecosystem services, she can be found enjoying the great outdoors, knitting or at the pottery studio.
Ziter has a PhD (2018) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an MSc (2013) from McGill University and a BSc (2011) from the University of Guelph.
Here’s a look at the rest of the ARG Seminar Series lineup:
March 11: Professor Karen Kidd (McMaster University), “Local through global influences of human activities on mercury in aquatic ecosystems.”
The ARG includes researchers who focus on aquatic science from the Faculties of Science, Engineering, Environmental Studies, and Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. The seminar series is designed to engage this multidisciplinary scientific community at all levels, including graduate and undergraduate students, both at York University and in the wider aquatic science community.
Uzma Jalaluddin talks about the first Muslim romance published in Canada
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A stack of books
On Jan. 28, Uzma Jalaluddin came to the Canadian Writers in Person reading series at York University to talk about her novel Ayesha at Last.
Uzma Jalauddin at a recent signing of her book Ayesha at Last. Image: Wikipedia
Jalaluddin told the audience that one of the reasons she wrote Ayesha at Last, a book that is “unapologetically Muslim,” is that she wanted to tell a different Muslim story about love and community. “When you have few stories told about marginalized communities, you see the same story again and again. You don’t have diversity,” she said.
Ayesha at Last, a Muslim romantic comedy, tells a different story. It is “the first romance about Muslims published in Canada,” the writer says. In it, Jalaluddin deconstructs the idea of what Muslim masculinity looks like.
When a friend pointed out to her that she was re-writing Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Jalaluddin was at first a bit surprised, but then she decided to lean into it, as “not a lot of people know about Muslims, but a lot of people know the tropes of Pride and Prejudice.” This ended up making the book appeal to a wider range of people.
Carrianne Leung is coming to the Canadian Writers in Person reading series on Feb. 11, to talk about her book That Time I Loved You.
Readings are free and open to any member of the public.
For more information, contact Professor Leslie Sanders at leslie@yorku.ca or Professor Gail Vanstone at gailv@yorku.ca. All readings are held Tuesdays from 7 to 9 p.m. in room 206, Accolade West Building, Keele Campus.
Jennine Rawana is currently the Head of Calumet College and a faculty member in the Clinical Developmental Program in the Dept of Psychology at York University. She is also an executive member of the LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research at York University and a supervising psychologist at the York University Psychology Clinic.
