Tag: Awards

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Provostial fellowships support scholars from marginalized groups

glasses and pen resting on notebook

York University has announced Doug Anderson and Jean de Dieu Uwisengeyimana as this year’s recipients of the Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowships for Black and Indigenous Scholars.

The Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship program seeks to attract outstanding scholars who will push the boundaries of knowledge in necessary ways. With a salary of $70,000 provided each year for a two-year term, award recipients will be able to dedicate their time to pursuing a proposed project, working alongside a supervisor and other mentors.

“This program allows York to promote and develop some of the most exciting, cutting-edge research that will shape the next generation of scholarship, by supporting the remarkable scholars who are producing it,” says Alice MacLachlan, vice-provost and dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. “One theme that emerges from the innovative research being produced by this year’s scholars is connection – whether between learners and the land, or in artificial neural networks – and we are delighted by the connections they will be able to nurture among our dynamic community of researchers.”

While gaining a foothold to begin a career can be difficult in itself, Black and Indigenous scholars face the additional challenges of racism and systems structured to protect others’ privilege. This fellowship begins to address this issue by providing collegial resources, supervision, mentorship and funded time to successful applicants to help them become successful in their chosen careers.

Doug Anderson

Doug Anderson
Doug Anderson

Anderson is completing his PhD in education at York University. His project, “Inaakonigewin Akinomaagegamig,” addresses how Indigenous principles can begin to define and orient the resources in education systems in ways that benefit the work of sovereign Indigenous learning and resurgence in the land.

“I will bring my emerging academic focus under the direction of the Memtigwaake Kinomaage Mawnjiding Advisory Circle, now managing over 20 acres of land in Toronto as a learning space grounded in Indigenous ceremony, sovereignty and laws. This land hosts cyclical, perennial culture and language learning for Indigenous students in ways that are at the core of how learning and site management proceed,” shares Anderson. “I will work to support Indigenous students and partners to have this culture-based learning recognized by Toronto school boards and focus on how the learning can be supported through post-secondary institutions, all in ways defined by Indigenous people and principles. I am grateful for the support of doctors Deb Danard, Steve Alsop, Kate Tilleczek and Deborah McGregor in this work.”

Jean de Dieu Uwisengeyimana

Jean de Dieu Uwisengeyimana
Jean de Dieu Uwisengeyimana

Uwisengeyimana holds a PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Science & Technology of China. His cutting-edge project will focus on developing video-based, biologically inspired, artificial neural networks for dynamic scene understanding. Uwisengeyimana will be affiliated with York’s Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA) program, which aims to advance vision and produce applications that generate positive health, societal, technological and economic impacts for Canada and the world.

“I express my sincere appreciation for the opportunity to pursue a Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at York University, which will allow me to conduct cutting-edge research to develop computational models of visuocognitive tasks,” says Uwisengeyimana. “I will work on this project under the guidance of Dr. Kohitij Kar, a VISTA program core member and faculty member. I appreciate that Dr. Kar is actively interacting with industrial (e.g. Google Brain Toronto) and academic (e.g. the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard) partners to provide me with high-quality networking opportunities to help me advance my career.”

Learn more about the Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowships for Black and Indigenous Scholars at York University by visiting the Faculty of Graduate Studies website.

Collaborative project on global climate modelling wins prestigious supercomputing award

concept of digital technology

Miles Couchman, a York University assistant professor in applied mathematics, Faculty of Science, is part of an international research collaboration featuring a multidisciplinary network of researchers – including applied mathematicians and mechanical, civil and environmental engineers – that has been been awarded a highly competitive 2024 Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) Supercomputing Award.

ork University Assistant Professor Miles Couchman (left) and collaborator Professor Steve de Bruyn Kops (right) in front of the Frontier Supercomputer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the largest supercomputer in the world
York University Assistant Professor Miles Couchman (left) and collaborator Professor Steve de Bruyn Kops (right) in front of the Frontier Supercomputer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the largest supercomputer in the world.

The winning collaborative project looks to better understand turbulence in stratified flows, notably scenarios where a fluid has variable density. One application of particular interest is developing more robust mathematical models for characterizing the turbulence-enhanced mixing of heat in the ocean, a leading area of uncertainty in global climate modelling and a topic of direct importance to global society.

The INCITE program, run by the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), grants 75 computational intensive science projects access to the world’s fastest supercomputers, located at the DOE’s Argonne and Oak Ridge national laboratories, to further innovation across the fields of science, engineering and computer science.

Couchman’s co-project was among 108 total proposals received by INCITE this year from international researchers or research organizations asking for supercomputer access. The evaluation process was highly competitive, with proposals evaluated over the course of four months based on computational readiness, the scalability of a project’s code and algorithms, and more.

Couchman’s team was awarded use of Frontier, the largest supercomputer in the world, in 2024 to perform numerical research simulations, allowing the researchers to simulate turbulent processes with unprecedented resolution, leading to more accurate and universal turbulent models. They hope what they learn won’t just apply to the mixing of heat in water, but how pollutants mix in the atmosphere and more.

The research team is made up of individuals from Duke University, the University of Washington and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in the U.S., as well as the University of Cambridge in the U.K.

Prof recognized for pioneering Black studies in Canada

Andrea Davis

At its Fall 2023 Convocation ceremonies, British Columbia’s Royal Roads University awarded York University Professor Andrea Davis an honorary doctor of laws degree in recognition of her pioneering work bringing Black studies programming to Canadian academia.

Andrea Davis at Royal Roads University’s Fall 2023 Convocation.

A professor in York’s Department of Humanities, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, Davis teaches courses in Black Cultures of the Americas and is the founder and program co-ordinator of the University’s Black Canadian Studies Certificate. Introduced in 2018, it was one of only two university programs of its kind in Canada at the time.

“Black students at York in 2016 were asking for programs that reflected their histories and experiences,” said Davis in a recent interview with Royal Roads University. “They were not really interested in a program about anti-Black racism per se, because those programs are not for Black students; they’re educating someone else. Black students wanted something that could speak deeply to them, about not just their experiences but their thoughts and their ideas.”

Davis took that request and ran with it, and is now continuing her transformative work by developing a Black studies major.

In her 20-year academic career, Davis has worked to advance equity, access and justice in post-secondary education, and has been a fierce advocate for students. An accomplished teacher, she has won teaching awards at the Faculty, university and national levels, including a 2021 3M National Teaching Fellowship. A former Canadian Commonwealth scholar, her research focuses on the literary productions of Black women in the Americas, with a particular interest in the intersections of the literatures of the Caribbean, the United States and Canada. Her work encourages an intertextual cross-cultural dialogue about Black women’s experiences in diaspora.

The doctor of laws, honoris causa, is Royal Roads University’s highest honour, awarded to people who reflect its vision and values and have achieved a significant record of success and community service.

Call for submissions: University-wide creative writing competition

library lounge student with book and pen writing

The annual York University President’s Creative Writing Awards, the Lorna Marsden Prize for Creative Writing in French, the Daniel Whittaker-Van Dusen Prize for Emerging Poets and the Richard Teleky Short Fiction Prize are accepting unpublished and original writing submissions.

The President’s Creative Writing Awards are looking for submissions in four categories: poetry, short fiction, screenplay and stage play. Submissions for the Lorna Marsden Prize for Creative Writing in French are accepted in any of the above creative genres, as long as the work is written in French.

Any undergraduate submissions to the President’s Awards in poetry will automatically also be considered for the Whittaker-Van Dusen Prize. Any undergraduate submissions to the President’s Awards in short fiction will automatically also be considered for the Teleky Prize.

There is no minimum or maximum length requirement in each category, but submissions must fall within the above genres. The awards are not open to novels or opera librettos, for example. Contestants may enter a writing piece in each category but may not submit more than one entry in each category.

The President’s Awards and the Lorna Marsden Prize are open to all full- and part-time York University undergraduate students only. The Daniel Whittaker-Van Dusen and Richard Teleky prizes are open to both undergraduate and graduate students.

The winning entry for the Lorna Marsden Prize, and in each genre for the President’s Awards, will receive $1,000. The Whittaker-Van Dusen Prize carries an award of $1,500 and the Teleky Prize winner will receive $2,000. No prize will be awarded if the judges feel entries are of insufficient merit. The decision of the judges is final.

The competition results will be announced in the spring, and prizes will be awarded at the annual Creative Writing Awards reception. Names will be published in YFile and on the Department of English and Creative Writing program websites.

The deadline for online submissions is Jan. 5, 2024. For additional information, submission requirements, contest rules and how to apply, click here.

Further questions can be directed to Michelle Anacleto, Creative Writing program assistant, by email at michana@yorku.ca.

Schulich MBA earns top spot in responsible business ranking

Seymour Schulich Building

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at York University’s Schulich School of Business was ranked No. 1 in Canada in an annual global survey focused on responsible business.

In the survey conducted by Corporate Knights, one of the world’s largest circulation magazines, Schulich’s MBA program also ranked 13th overall among the more than 200 global business schools evaluated.

“Schulich is pleased to have once again been ranked number one in Canada,” said Schulich School of Business Dean Detlev Zwick. “We’re proud of our school’s pioneering role in the field of responsible business and our reputation as one of the world’s leading centres of teaching, research and outreach in this area.”  

The Corporate Knights Better World MBA Ranking measured business schools using one main metric: the proportion of core courses from the MBA program that include sustainable development content, from environmental issues such as carbon pricing to social, ethical and diversity issues. There was also a bonus score for the percentage of a school’s recent graduates working in social impact roles or working for social impact organizations.

For more information about the 2023 Better World MBA ranking methodology, visit the website.

Order of Ontario appoints York-affiliated changemakers

Order of Ontario medal (source: Wikimedia Commons)

A total of four individuals with affiliations to York University are among those invested this year with the province’s highest honour, the Order of Ontario.

Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor The Hon. Elizabeth Dowdeswell
Lieutenant-governor of Ontario, Elizabeth Dowdeswell

The four were among 26 new appointments announced by Elizabeth Dowdeswell, lieutenant-governor of Ontario and chancellor of the Order of Ontario.

The Order of Ontario recognizes exceptional leaders from all walks of life and diverse fields of endeavour whose impact and lasting legacy have played an important role in building a stronger province, country and world.

“As chancellor of the Order of Ontario, I am proud to recognize the Order’s 2022 appointees. These remarkable Ontarians demonstrate outstanding merit and excellence in many diverse disciplines, including the arts, science, education, sports and human rights,” said Dowdeswell. “In reflecting the best of Ontario, they inspire the best in ourselves. On behalf of a grateful province, I offer my warmest congratulations.”

The incoming lieutenant-governor, Edith Dumont, will bestow the province’s highest honour to the new appointees in a ceremony taking place on Nov. 27.

The 2023 appointees with York affiliations are:

Dyane Adam, donor and former faculty

A former principal of York University’s Glendon College, Dyane Adam became the first woman and Franco-Ontarian to serve as Canadian commissioner of official languages. She did so from 1999 to 2006, protecting and promoting linguistic duality across Canada. Her bold leadership and determination helped her overcome extraordinary challenges to succeed in writing a report, during her tenure as Chair of the French Language University Planning Board, that would serve as the government’s basis for legislating the creation of the Université de l’Ontario Français in 2018. She has also received numerous awards, including being made Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes académiques de la France and Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Pléiade de l’Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie, and receiving the Golden Jubilee Medal of the Order of Canada in 2013.

Christina Jennings, alumna

Christina Jennings is the founder, Chair and president of Shaftesbury, one of Canada’s largest production companies, and the nation’s only women-led entertainment company. She has helped the province become an important creative hub for original Canadian content, including the widely popular “Murdoch Mysteries,” which she executive produces. A recognized global leader, Jennings was named Playback Magazine’s Producer of the Decade and one of the 20 Most Powerful Women in Global Entertainment by The Hollywood Reporter. She currently serves as the Chair of the Canadian Film Centre Board of Directors, and was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2019.

Arthur Lockhart, alumnus

As a filmmaker, author, teacher and advocate, Arthur Lockhart has transformed the narrative around childhood sexual abuse for tens of thousands of people, turning trauma into triumph. As a professor in the Faculty of Social & Community Services at Humber College, he saw the need for a facility where victims could share their stories in a space of safety and compassion, which led to the creation of the Gatehouse, an organization that provides a safe environment for those impacted by childhood abuse. The Gatehouse opened its doors in 1998, bringing Lockhart’s vision and action, “hear the child, heal the world,” to life. For his work providing training and organizational transformation consultation on the local, national and international levels, he has received numerous awards, including the City of Toronto Mayor’s Community Safety Award.

Ajay Virmani, government body member and donor

Ajay Virmani is president and CEO of Cargojet, Canada’s largest cargo airline, which he formed in 2002. Starting out as as window washer, he rose to be recognized as a Globe and Mail Report on Business Top CEO and 2020 Strategist of the Year and an Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young, and honoured with a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame. In fewer than 20 years, he has overseen the growth of Cargojet, making it the largest overnight air cargo airline servicing both domestic and international markets. Furthermore, he founded the Virmani Family Foundation, which has become one of the most significant charitable organizations in Ontario – a benefactor to multiple women’s shelters, hospitals and health-care initiatives. He has also served on York University’s Board of Governors.

York alum, faculty among Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100

Group of diverse women entrepreneurs

Seven York University alum and one faculty member have been recognized as female leaders in Canada who work to build positive change and empower others. The women are recipients of the WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards for 2023.

WXN is a Canadian national organization that celebrates the advancement of women. Launched in 2003, the Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards celebrate the incredible accomplishments of Canada’s top female executive talent as well as their organizations and networks.

The 2023 winners will be celebrated in person at the 21st annual Top 100 Awards Gala, hosted at the Fairmont Royal York Toronto on Nov. 30.

The Top 100 Awards span the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, with the winners selected by WXN’s Diversity Council of Canada. The awards are presented to remarkable women in 12 categories. York recipients earned awards in five of those categories.

Below are this year’s winners and the categories for which they were recognized.

Amex Emerging Leaders

This award recognizes women between the ages of 30 to 40 years, who have been targeted for successive leadership positions within their organizations and have a proven passion for learning and innovation.

Rochelle Atizado
Rochelle Atizado

A master connector, Rochelle Atizado is senior advisor, partnerships and special initiatives at the United Nations Foundation and leads social impact partnerships with purpose-driven companies, creative community, civil society, young people and the UN to propel the sustainable development goals forward. Atizado is also a UN published writer. A Filipino Canadian hailing from Toronto, Atizado holds a bilingual masters of public and international affairs from Glendon College, York University. Having worked in Canada, Switzerland and the U.S., Atizado is now based in New York City.

Brittany Straitton
Brittany Straitton

Brittany Straitton is a dynamic leader with retail experience that spans merchandising, marketing, financial planning and replenishment. As vice-president of forecasting, replenishment and planning at the Canadian Tire Corporation, Ltd., Straitton is responsible for the correct timing of the $11-billion flow of goods from vendors to Canadian Tire stores at the right quantities. Passionate for promoting diversity and inclusion, she was one of the founders of CTC’s Families Employee Resource Group. Straitton holds an honours BBA from Brock University and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University.

Compass Rose Entrepreneurs

This award recognizes women who own and operate thriving businesses.

Lisa Melchior
Lisa Melchior

Lisa Melchior, a Schulich School of Business alumna, has been a successful private equity investor for more than 25 years and has global investing expertise in enterprise software. Melchior is a thought leader in her sector and has sat on numerous public and private boards across North America and Europe. She is the first woman in Canada to launch a private equity fund, as she is the founder and manager partner of Vertu Capital, a technology private equity fund supporting the growth of the Canadian tech ecosystem.

Professionals

This award recognizes women who are professionals in practice and play a leadership role within their organizations.

Poonam Puri
Poonam Puri

A full professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School, Poonam Puri is an internationally recognized scholar of corporate law, corporate governance and capital markets regulation. She is the York Research Chair in corporate governance, investor protection and financial markets. Co-founder and director of the Osgoode Investor Protection Clinic, she chairs the board of directors of Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto and serves on the board of the Canada Infrastructure Bank and Colliers.

BMO STEM

This award recognizes women in STEM roles who are challenging the status quo for knowledge and female empowerment.

Victoria Granova
Victoria Granova

An alumna of the Schulich School of Business, Victoria Granova is an industry leader, educator and passionate advocate for diversity and gender inclusion in the cybersecurity industry. Granova is a PhD student researching human-centric cybersecurity at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Cybersecurity Research Lab. She is also an instructor at Queen’s University, Toronto Metropolitan University and York University teaching enterprise cybersecurity and financial data privacy. Outside of teaching, Granova is a security technical program manager at Amazon Web Services (AWS), managing global vendor security, as well as the founder of CyberToronto, an edtech startup.

Women of Courage, presented by Richardson Wealth

This award recognizes women who champion Canada and its values across a diverse range of causes, with courage and compassion, even as it means risking their careers, reputations and, sometimes, their lives.

Domanique Grant
Domanique Grant

Domanique Grant, an alumna of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, leads Grant Creativity Inc., a BIPOC-owned, female-led Canadian social enterprise dedicated to increasing access and development for equity-seeking groups through wellness and entertainment-based programming. Her music has been at the forefront of some of the largest global movements of our time. Through Grant Creativity Inc., her work as a social entrepreneur includes founding The Imagine Summit, Canada’s first visualization, mental wellness and professional development summit. The Imagine Summit supports youth and entrepreneurs from underserved communities.

Lily Pourzand
Lily Pourzand

Lily Pourzand came to Canada as an asylum seeker from Iran at age 24 after graduating from law school. She continued her education in women’s studies and graduated with an LLM in feminism and law from Osgoode Hall Law School. Through her work as a director of programs for violence against women shelters, she provides services to women, children, immigrants and has become a leader in Social Services in York Region. Since 2021, Pourzand began to share her life experience in the media to shed light on women’s challenges and braveries.

Lisa Raitt
Lisa Raitt

An alumna of Osgoode Hall Law School, Lisa Raitt joined CIBC Capital Markets in January 2020, after careers in the public and private sectors. Her focus is on senior client coverage and business development with clients in the energy, infrastructure and industrial sectors. Previously, Raitt was the president and CEO of the Toronto Port Authority. She was elected into the House of Commons in 2008, and held three senior portfolios. Raitt was the deputy leader of the Official Opposition and the Conservative Party of Canada. She is currently the vice-chair and managing director, global investment banking at CIBC Capital Markets, as well as the co-chair of a Coalition for a Better Future.

About the Women’s Executive Network (WXN)

WXN (Women’s Executive Network), a member-based organization, is North America’s No. 1 and only organization that meaningfully propels and celebrates the advancement of professional women at all levels, in all sectors, and of all ages. WXN delivers this advancement through training, events, mentoring, networking and award and recognition programs for members and partners. WXN operates in Canada and the U.S.

Glendon School of Public and International Affairs director earns recognition from NATO

gold star award on a blue background

Glendon College’s new director of the Glendon School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA), Susan Pond, has been recognized by the NATO Security Force Assistance Centre of Excellence (SFA COE) with the prestigious title of senior Fellow.

The award recognizes the relationship Pond developed with SFA COE in supporting its strategy and related products for the NATO Alliance and Partners.

Susan Pond accepting her award as a NATO SFA COE senior Fellow.
Susan Pond accepting her award as a NATO SFA COE senior Fellow.

Senior Fellow is an honorary title awarded to highly distinguished senior experts who have forged positive connections with the NATO SFA COE and are committed to supporting its activities and projects on a continuing basis. 

The NATO SFA COE is a multinational entity that provides expertise contributing to the development and experimentation of concepts and doctrines, and also conducts education and training activities for instructors, mentors and personnel belonging to other Nations.

The organization states its mission is “to improve effectiveness of the Alliance in promoting stability and reconstruction efforts for conflict and post-conflict scenarios through related lessons learned, education and training analysis, development of concept and doctrine activities” as well as “to provide a unique capability to Alliance, NATO Nations and NATO Partners in the field of SFA.”

The award was presented to Pond by Col. Matteo Luciani, director, and Maj. Ludovica Glorioso, legal advisor from NATO SFA, while on a visit to Glendon College, where they also met with Principal Marco Fiola and Professor Francis Garon, as well as students from Glendon’s Masters in Public and International Affairs (MAPI).  

The presence of Luciani and Glorioso at the Glendon Campus was a follow up to the signature earlier this year of a Letter of Cooperation (LOC) between NATO SFA and Glendon.

“These meetings with NATO SFA COE representatives allowed us to further discuss the role of Glendon’s School of Public and International Affairs, in support of the development of an education hub, as well as a unique summer internship opportunities for MAPI students at the SFA Centre of Excellence in Rome,” said Pond. 

Pond was recently at the offices of the Italian delegation to the United Nations on Oct. 31, where she was given the opportunity to speak about York University and Glendon College, as well as the University’s role in support of ongoing research. Previous to her role as director, Pond served Glendon as a senior Fellow where she taught graduate students and provided expertise on defence and security issues. She also served in several leadership roles at NATO for more than three decades.

The Glendon School of Public and International Affairs is preparing for an exciting year of programming, beginning with the Glendon Global Debate event “Arctic security, are we ready for the future?” on Nov. 29.

Professor to honour Canadian wartime nurses

Remembrance Day wreaths

Andrea McKenzie, associate professor and Chair of the Writing Department in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies at York University, has been asked by the Western Front Association (WFA) to place a wreath in honour of Canadian nurses at the Cenotaph in London, England, in Nov. 11 ceremonies honouring veterans of the First World War.

Andrea McKenzie
Andrea McKenzie

The Cenotaph is a war memorial unveiled in 1920 as the United Kingdom’s national memorial to the dead of Britain and the British Empire of the First World War. In 1946 it was designated to include the fallen from the Second World War. The memorial has become a central location for the annual services organized on Remembrance Sunday – the U.K. equivalent of Canada’s Remembrance Day – where crowds gather to observe two minutes of silence, and wreaths are laid by distinguished representatives to honour the fallen.

The invitation to place a wreath honouring the role of Canadian nurses during the First World War is, in part, a recognition of McKenzie’s ongoing work and expertise around the subject. In the past, McKenzie has provided articles and presentations to the WFA – both in person and virtually – on the sometimes little known or unrecognized role Canadian nurses played in the conflict. It was a 2018 event at the National Army Museum in London that first drew WFA organizer’s attention to McKenzie’s work, and led now to the invitation to place a wreath in this year’s Remembrance Sunday’s ceremony.

Following the ceremony and the laying of her wreath, McKenzie will read a poem to dignitaries at the Guards’ Chapel in Westminster as part of a service to commemorate veterans who served during the First World War, those who were lost in the war and those who mourned them.

McKenzie’s ongoing work has also included numerous publications and lectures about Canadian nurses’ experiences during the First World War in Canada and Europe. She is also the author and editor of War-Torn Exchanges: The Lives and Letters of Nursing Sisters Laura Holland and Mildred Forbes (UBC Press, 2016), a book of letters written by Canadian nurses during the First World War.

New book explores Toronto’s Bloor Viaduct bridge history

Black woman reading book

Paul McLaughlin, an award-winning writer and course director at York University’s Writing Department, has released The Suicide Magnet: Inside the Battle to Erect a Safety Barrier on Toronto’s Bloor Viaduct, which details the history of the barrier and the citizen volunteers who advocated for its existence.

Paul McLaughlin
Paul McLaughlin

From 1918 to 1997, Toronto’s Prince Edward Viaduct (more commonly referred to as the Bloor Viaduct) was once considered the second most used suicide bridge in North America. During that time frame nearly 500 individuals used it to end their lives.

McLaughlin’s new book recounts the story of how a group of volunteers led by two citizens – Al Birney and Michael McCamus ­– underwent a six-year journey to advocate to help those with mental health challenges, and push Toronto’s City Hall to fund and construct a suicide barrier on the bridge.

The Suicide Magnet is the latest achievement for McLaughlin in an award-winning career that has spanned more than four decades of writing and teaching. He is the author of several books, numerous magazine articles, several plays, and has also worked as a broadcaster and producer at CBC Radio. He has been teaching writing – currently third- and fourth-year courses in the Professional Writing Program – at York University since 2006. His most recent book, published in 2022, was an extension of his teaching called Asking the Best Questions: A comprehensive interviewing handbook for journalists, podcasters, bloggers, vloggers, influencers, and anyone who asks questions under pressure.

For more information about The Suicide Magnet, or to secure a copy of McLaughlin’s new book, visit Dundurn Press.