York grad a model for his Jane-Finch pupils

In the ninth of a 12-part series on “Generation Next”, The Globe and Mail profiled Troy Fraser, who grew up poor in the Jane-Finch area and went to York University. As a Grade 1 teacher in the same area, Fraser understands the powerful imprint he can leave. “Even in Grade 1,” he said, “these kids know that I went to university. They know I went to York. They know that this is a place that is accessible to them. I still say, ‘When you graduate from high school,’ and ‘When you go on to postsecondary’, so that it’s not foreign to them.” University was always a prospect for Fraser, reported the Globe June 26. He was enrolled in a program that pairs Jane-Finch students with York University faculty and he would later land a York scholarship that covered his tuition for the first few years.

In a June 26 story about Japan’s demand for improved labelling on American beef exports and on Japanese officials touring Canadian feedlots and meat processing plants to observe the integrity of the processes, the Edmonton Journal quoted Daniel Drache, a political economy professor at Atkinson’s School of Social Sciences. He said Japan is just putting health concerns ahead of commerce, and that’s what Canada should be doing, too. It’s short-sighted to focus on the politics of mad cow disease, he said. “There’s a real problem that hasn’t been resolved to the satisfaction of the Americans or the Japanese – the security of supply.”

In a June 26 feature about Simone Snowdon’s fight to prove the innocence of her brother, convicted murderer Romeo Phillion, the National Post said she danced for joy when Osgoode Hall Law School’s Innocence Project took on his case. Snowdon could dance again if Phillion – in jail for 32 years for the murder of an Ottawa firefighter in 1967 – were to be granted bail at a June 26 hearing, reported the Post. Snowdon had sent out details of her brother’s case to “anyone who would listen” until it was taken up by York’s Innocence Project, an organization that specializes in cases of the wrongfully convicted. “That was the nicest day. I danced. I’m not young, but I danced. I was so happy. At last, someone believed,” she said.

In an attempt to gain global recognition and more students, the University of Ottawa’s executive masters in business administration (EMBA) program is tentatively exploring an alliance with a US program to enhance its EMBA students’ perspectives, reported The Ottawa Citizen June 26. This is happening just as York University’s Schulich School of Business recently established a joint program with Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Stan Shapson, York VP research and innovation, is a member of the York Technology Association’s new board of directors, reported Metroland community newspapers June 25. YTA aims to enhance the growth and reputation of technology companies across the Greater Toronto Area.