Throughout the event, more than 20 unique Indigenous artisans, craftspeople and business owners will set up vending stations everyday at 9 a.m. across York’s Keele Campus, clustered around Vari Hall Rotunda, Vari Link and Central Square. A wide range of authentic handmade Indigenous products from bead work, jewelry, leather work, scented candles, paintings, wall art and clothing items will be available.
“We are inviting the entire York community to come and check out the Indigenous Spring Market,” says Christina Da Costa, president of ISAY and graduating student of the BA Indigenous studies and certificate in law and society programs.
The Indigenous Spring Market takes place during the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Week; the Centre for Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion’s Inclusion Week; and spans International Women’s Day on March 8. Together, each of these events serves as a reminder of the contributions made by the many diverse groups that make up the York community, and of the importance of collectively laying foundations for an equitable, sustainable future.
The money raised by the Indigenous market will help support York’s annual All Nations Pow Wow. In prior years, the market and Pow Wow ran concurrently, but ISAY has decided to run each event independently in 2023.
Students peruse wears sold by local craftspeople at the Indigenous Spring Market
“[The market] is a fundraiser for the upcoming All Nations Pow Wow scheduled for Saturday, April 29 at the York Lion’s Stadium,” says Da Costa. “We are bringing back the Indigenous arts and crafts vendors to these spaces where they were set up in the days leading up to the Pow Wow, [that had been] held in the Vari Hall Rotunda for many years.”
This year’s Pow Wow will be the second consecutive event of its kind to take place outdoors – a change made under Da Costa’s leadership – and the first event since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to take place without lockdown restrictions.
A call to Indigenous vendors for the Pow Wow will be released on ISAY’s social channels following the completion of the market fundraiser. Indigenous dancers and dance groups will be able to register to participate up until the date of the Pow Wow. Tickets will not be required to attend the Pow Wow.
For more information on the Indigenous Spring Market and the All Nations Pow Wow visit the ISAY Facebook page and Instagram.
Osgoode alumni establish $1.2M Davies Fellows Award to create positive change in legal profession
Share
Osgoode Hall Law School and Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, one of Canada’s leading law firms, have jointly announced a $1.2-million Davies Fellows Award that is designed to break down barriers to legal education.
The new bursary is created with donations from Osgoode alumni at Davies with matching funds from the law school.
Every year, the bursary will help support one first-year student in the law school’s juris doctor (JD) program who has demonstrated financial need and exceptional promise.
The successful candidate’s personal and professional achievements will include overcoming obstacles related to financial means; racial, cultural, or gender inequalities; mental health; and physical or learning challenges. The recipient will be known as a Davies Fellow.
The award is renewable for the student’s second and third years in the JD program, provided the student remains in good academic standing and continues to demonstrate financial need and exceptional promise.
York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School receives transformative contribution to its No Barriers campaign from alumni working at leading Canadian law firm Davies
“We count among our lawyers at Davies, individuals who have overcome obstacles to achieve excellence in the profession, and we recognize that we have an opportunity to expand access to a legal education to students from equity-deserving groups,” says Osgoode alumna and Davies senior partner Patricia Olasker.
She adds that the initiative reflects the firm’s commitment to creating a more inclusive legal profession by removing barriers that stand in the way of remarkable students. “Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion is a core value of our firm, and the creation of the Davies Fellows Award is an impactful way for us to turn our values into action.”
“I am so grateful for the amazing support our alumni working at Davies have given to this initiative, which will see generous alumni donations matched by Osgoode to help reduce systemic barriers to law school for students from equity-deserving groups who will, in turn, change the face of the legal profession,” says Mary Condon, dean of Osgoode. “The creation of the award is a transformative contribution to the law school’s No Barriers campaign, which aims to make Osgoode one of the most diverse and inclusive law schools in Canada.”
As the first Canadian law school to adopt a holistic admissions policy 15 years ago, Osgoode has been a leader in making legal education more open, inclusive and diverse, the dean adds.
Canadian Writers in Person: Tolu Oloruntoba on poetry and vulnerability
Share
Griffin Poetry Prize-winning poet Tolu Oloruntoba talked about his latest collection of poetry, Each One a Furnace (2022), during his visit to York University for Canadian Writers in Person on Jan. 31.
Oloruntoba said that we need “difficult poetry,” we cannot avert our gaze from what is happening in the world. However, we also need to “protect the tender part of ourselves.”
Tolu Oloruntoba
His poetry is about living with anxiety, depression and PTSD, about being a serial migrant (he moved from Nigeria to the US to Canada), about family dysfunction, and about his sense that “something isn’t quite right with how we live in the modern world.”
“Writing poetry is a vulnerable act,” Oloruntoba says. “It makes me feel exposed to have these poems out there, but I feel that talking about dramatic experiences is almost a responsibility because of the stigma around trauma and mental illness. I would like to demystify that and almost make it commonplace. Some people have diabetes. Some people have fractures of their limbs. Some people have broken brains.”
Each One a Furnace (2022) by Tolu Oloruntoba
His own migration and then losing his job soon after arriving in Canada created a “feeling of being cast adrift, of being unmoored,” into which Oloruntoba tapped to write about finches and instability in Each One a Furnace.
“Being forced by a war, by circumstances, by ambition, or by the fact that your country has just been destroyed by decades of dysfunction means you’re cast adrift in the world, it means that you have to migrate looking for ‘food’ and shelter and warmth. You’re looking for a life that holds you, and you have to move from one place to the other. You have to withstand a lot of indignities. … So, with finches, it was a very apt metaphor for having moved around. I’ve been more fortunate than most, but I still felt the sting of being adrift in the world,” Oloruntoba said.
“If poetry can help you see the world in a new way, if poetry can give you empathy, if poetry can help you see the world through another’s eyes, if poetry can give you comfort and insight – it’ll have done its job.”
Oloruntoba hopes his poetry will do its job of transforming how his audience sees the world.
Register for Glendon’s summer tennis camp
Share
The Glendon Athletic Club (GAC) at York University’s Glendon Campus is currently accepting registrations for its 2023 summer tennis camps.
The GAC offers full-day instructional tennis camps for children ages six to 14, taught by certified tennis professionals. Campers will be grouped according to their age and ability and taken through a series of lessons designed to introduce new skills and build on the lessons and experiences from the day before.
A typical camp day includes on-court instruction, round-robin play plus multi-sport activities. Camp fee includes a souvenir and a fresh daily lunch served in our campus cafeteria. The camps run in July and August. Extended care service is also available at an additional cost. Online registration is available on the Glendon Athletic Club portal by clicking on CAMPS.
The Glendon Athletic Club is located at Bayview and Lawrence in North Toronto. The club is a 5,100-square-meter, full-use fitness facility located within Glendon Campus that offers aquatic, fitness and racquets facilities and programs. The GAC is open to York students, staff and faculty, alumni, as well outside community members.
Questions about the GAC’s tennis camps can be directed to Camp Director Aaron Rodrigues by email at arodrigues@glendon.yorku.ca. For registration assistance, email Patria Schaubel at patria@glendon.yorku.ca. Any other questions can be directed to the general email address gac@glendon.yorku.ca.
Memberships can now be purchased online on the Glendon Athletic Club website.
My Secret Life: York environmental researcher, arctic explorer, polar plunge enthusiast
Share
By Joseph Burrell, communications officer, YFile
For York Research Fellow and Environmental & Urban Change Adjunct Professor Mark Terry – whether he’s raising awareness about the health of far-flung ecosystems, or raising funds for environmentalist groups – there’s no such thing as too cold.
With two near-zero degree dives on his record, and a third pencilled into his calendar, Terry doesn’t see himself as a career cold-water swimmer – but considering that his first attempts took place in Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean, respectively, he has more expertise in that field than most.
Mark Terry during his swim in Antarctica
Indeed, his commitment to studying the world’s most remote polar and oceanic biomes is rivalled only by his dedication to the University community. Terry’s history with York spans many decades, beginning with his BA in English and media studies earned from Glendon Campus in 1980. With his career in writing, directing, acting and even stunt driving in films well under way, he eventually returned to York to receive his master’s degree in 2015 and his PhD in 2019. For each, he wrote theses that considered documentary films as catalysts for change.
Between those academic pursuits, Terry found his passion as an environmental documentarian. Never shying away from the hands-on approach, Terry underscored critical points in his films about the rapid warming of the polar ice caps, and the precarious existence of wildlife there, by jumping into the frigid depths himself.
“The first [time] was actually sub-zero temperatures in Antarctica for the film The Antarctica Challenge: A Global Warning. That polar plunge was used as a post-credit scene – long before Marvel started doing it, by the way – to illustrate how warm the water surrounding the world’s coldest continent was becoming,” Terry said. “The Arctic swim was for my most recent documentary, The Changing Face of Iceland.That polar plunge, and the film itself, can be seen on campus at the Nat Taylor Cinema on March 9 at 12:30 p.m.”
As for his preferred swimming spot, Terry would choose Antarctica over the Arctic because the latter requires jumping from a ship into deep, cold water – a dangerous feat even for experienced professionals. Antarctica, on the other hand, allows for easy wading across its icy shoals, plus “there’s the added bonus of swimming with playful penguins.”
For his next bone-chilling stunt, Terry will join the Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s (RCGS) Polar Plunge fundraiser for the “Canadian Geographic Explore” podcast.
Terry, an RGCS Fellow, takes his plunge from Sunnyside Beach on March 6at noon. Although the approaching end of winter means warming air temperatures, Terry explained that early March is when Lake Ontario’s historical average water temperature is actually at its coldest. Even with his prior experience, he admitted that taking the plunge is “always a little bit stressful.”
The annual event is sponsored by Canadian Geographic Magazine and features a cast of high-profile environmental researchers, reporters and politicians diving into icy waters across Canada to raise money for polar research and knowledge dissemination.
The Royal Canadian Geographical Society and Canadian Geographic present: #RCGS Polar Plunge: Be Bold. Go Cold. With Mark Terry
Some of Terry’s fellow plunge participants are already well known to him from having collaborated on projects in the past. Others participating include: Catherine McKenna, former federal minister of the environment and climate change; Perry Bellegarde, former chief of the Assembly of First Nations; David McGuffin, CBC foreign correspondent; among others.
“When Catherine McKenna was [a federal minister,] we met with youth groups at COP24 to listen to their demands for policy participation and to showcase their films in my ongoing research project, the Youth Climate Report – now a digital database of more than 700 films on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),” Terry said. “She was, and still is, a true environmental champion.”
In light of the continued success of the Youth Climate Report, in which Terry played a pivotal role, the United Nations recognized the “Geo-Doc” film format with a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Action Award in 2021. Around that time, York also formally acknowledged the importance of the SDGs by integrating them into its University Academic Plan 2020 – 2025.
Terry identified the enthusiasm for filmmaking and environmental research, fostered in him throughout his time at York, as the primary motivator driving his work with the RCGS College of Fellows. “There are many exceptional members of the College of Fellows,” he said. “I am proud to be among their ranks.”
“I’ve crossed the Northwest Passage with them and their work was presented in a film I made called The Polar Explorer. Its premiere at COP16 in Cancun led to a new resolution addressing rising sea levels,” Terry added. “It’s a mutually beneficial relationship.”
Do you have a “secret life” or know someone else at York who does? Visit the My Secret Life questionnaire and tell us what makes you shine, or nominate someone you know at York.
Join Glendon Community Conversation, March 14
Share
La version française suit la version anglaise.
Dear York community,
I am pleased to invite you to join me for the York University Community Conversation: Glendon Campus on Tuesday, March 14.
The event is the first of a two-part series of conversations that will be held at Glendon and Keele campuses. Students, staff and faculty are welcome to join me in a conversation about how we can work together to drive positive change in areas such as:
contributing to high-quality, accessible education,
creating a more sustainable and equitable future for our local and global communities, and
Registration for the in-person event is limited to facilitate a meaningful dialogue. Please register early to avoid disappointment, indicating any questions, accessibility needs, notes or comments using this form.
The York University Community Conversation: Glendon Campus will also be livestreamed via YouTube. A separate viewing room will be set up in Lecture Hall YH A100 and light refreshments will be provided at both physical locations. Masks are not mandatory but are strongly recommended.
You can also find preliminary details for the forthcoming Community Conversation: Keele Campus below.
Access the Community Conversations YouTube livestream link on the Community Conversations website or by clicking the link above.
The latest community updates, resources and answers to frequently asked questions can always be found on our newly updated Better Together website.
I look forward to meeting with members of our community and learning more about how we can work together to drive positive change.
Sincerely, Rhonda L. Lenton President & Vice-Chancellor
Joignez-vous à moi le 14 mars pour une conversation au sujet du campus Glendon et de l’Université York
Chère communauté de York,
J’ai le plaisir de vous inviter à vous joindre à moi pour la Conversation communautaire de l’Université York : campus Glendon le mardi 14 mars.
Cet événement est le premier volet de deux conversations qui se tiendront sur les campus Glendon et Keele. J’invite les membres de la communauté étudiante, du personnel et du corps professoral à se joindre à moi pour discuter de la manière dont nous pouvons travailler ensemble pour apporter des changements positifs dans des domaines comme :
contribuer à un enseignement accessible et de qualité
créer un avenir plus durable et plus équitable pour nos communautés locales et mondiales
L’inscription à l’événement en personne est limitée afin de faciliter un dialogue constructif. Veuillez vous inscrire rapidement pour éviter toute déception, en indiquant vos questions, besoins d’accessibilité, notes ou commentaires à l’aide de ce formulaire.
Conversation communautaire de l’Université York : campus Glendon sera également transmise en direct sur YouTube. Une salle de visionnement sera installée dans l’amphithéâtre YH A100. Des rafraîchissements seront offerts aux deux emplacements. Le port du masque est recommandé, mais n’est pas obligatoire. Veuillez trouver ci-dessous les détails préliminaires pour la prochaine Conversation communautaire sur le campus Keele.
Si vous désirez soumettre une question pendant la webémission, veuillez envoyer votre question dans un courriel à conversations@yorku.ca.
Autres renseignements :
Accédez à la diffusion de la conversation communautaire sur YouTube sur le site des Conversations communautaires ou en cliquant sur le lien ci-dessus.
Vous trouverez les dernières mises à jour, ressources et réponses aux questions fréquemment posées sur notre site Web Mieux ensemble.
J’ai hâte de rencontrer les membres de notre communauté et d’en apprendre davantage sur la façon dont nous pouvons travailler ensemble pour apporter des changements positifs.
Sincères salutations, Rhonda L. Lenton Présidente et vice-chancelière
Dragons’ Den, Chat GPT inspire Schulich’s Future of Marketing course
Share
The Schulich School of Businessat York University envisions a new future of marketing with an innovative new course for undergraduate students.
David Rice
The recently announced course is the first university curriculum focused on the future of marketing, and it aims to challenge students to research, create, implement and evaluate innovative marketing plans using emerging digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI).
The course will be taught by David Rice, associate professor and area coordinator in marketing, and LinkedIn Learning expert Martin Waxman. Schulich undergraduate students can look forward to a revolutionary class which will encourage them to stay ahead of the curve in the rapidly evolving marketing landscape.
“In the future of marketing course, students will be challenged to think outside the box and envision innovative marketing strategies, which they will then bring to life using state-of-the-art AI-enabled tools,” said Rice.
Students will learn cutting edge AI-based applications and get the opportunity to use generative AI like GPT-3, DALL-E and others in real-world marketing campaigns. The topics covered in the class include the use of augmented and virtual reality, the Metaverse, NFTs, Web3, the Internet of Senses, foresight thinking and synthetic media – to name a few. To wrap up the course, students will present their innovative campaigns in a boardroom format, similar to Dragons’ Den, to leading marketing executives and futurists.
The official launch date for the future of marketing course is yet to be announced. To read more news from the school, see Schulich’s featured updates page.
Osgoode RedDress Week honours murdered and missing Indigenous women
Share
As third-year law students Megan Delaronde and Annika Butler recently wrote out the stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, one fact became painfully clear: the Canadian justice system has not solved the vast majority of cases.
Butler, the co-chair of the Osgoode Indigenous Students’ Association (OISA); Delaronde, OISA’s director of cultural and community relations; and a group of other volunteers, wrote out 300 of the stories for OISA’s “RedDress Week” (Feb. 13 to 17), posting them throughout the main floor of the law school along with a number of red dresses. They selected stories from thousands of cases chronicled in a database maintained by the Gatineau, Que.-based Native Women’s Association of Canada.
“There are stories that I have written out that will stick with me,” said Delaronde, a member of the Red Sky Métis Independent Nation in Thunder Bay, Ont.
She and Butler, a member of the Mattawa/North Bay Algonquin First Nation, pointed to examples like a nine-month-old baby girl who died in foster care – no charges were ever laid – or 20-year-old Cheyenne Fox of Toronto, whose three 911 calls just prior to her 2013 murder went unanswered.
“I think a lot of the time this problem stays abstract for people who aren’t Indigenous,” said Delaronde. “One of the things we were hoping to accomplish with our names wall was to show the vastness of this problem and for people to understand that these aren’t just names. Many of them were mothers and the vast majority of these cases have gone unsolved.”
Many of the postings on the wall did not carry a name. “A lot of the names of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) we don’t know,” said Butler, “but we still wanted to hold a place in our hearts for them.”
She noted that official statistics kept by police underestimate the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada compared with records kept by the Native Women’s Association and other Indigenous organizations and communities.
Osgoode Indigenous Students’ Association members, from left: Megan Delaronde, Hannah Johnson, Sage Hartmann and Annika Butler.
OISA’s “RedDress Week” this year was the most extensive in the club’s history. Inspired by Métis artist Jaime Black’s 2010 art installation, “The REDress Project,” Red Dress events are typically held in May to raise awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous women. But because the academic year is usually over by May, Delaronde said OISA decided to schedule the event in February.
She said the timing seemed appropriate considering one of the latest reminders of the continuing tragedy – the recent murders of four Indigenous women in Winnipeg: Rebecca Contois, 24; Marcedes Myran, 26; Morgan Harris, 39, a mother of five children; and a fourth unidentified woman who has been named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman.
“We wanted to ramp it up this year so we poured our hearts into it,” said Delaronde.
The group also organized a trivia night event that raised almost $1,000 for the Native Women’s Association of Canada.
Butler and Delaronde said that OISA’s first-year reps Sage Hartmann (Red River Métis) and Hannah Johnson (Secwepemc Nation) also played a key role in organizing the event, with support from OISA members Levi Marshall and Conner Koe, Osgoode’s student government and Osgoode’s Office of the Executive Officer.
Past and future OISA events
In September, OISA organized a special event for Orange Shirt Day (also known as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation), with guest speakers and Osgoode alumni Deliah Opekokew (LLB ‘77), the first First Nations lawyer to ever be admitted to the bar association in Ontario and in Saskatchewan; and Kimberly Murray (LLB ‘93), who serves as the federal government’s special interlocutor on unmarked graves at former residential schools. In March, it plans to organize a Moose Hide Campaign Day. The Moose Hide Campaign is a nationwide movement of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians from local communities, First Nations, governments, schools, colleges/universities, police forces and many other organizations committed to taking action to end violence against women and children.
LA&PS Learning Design Lab a resource for WIL
Share
By Elaine Smith
After launching a new 6.0 credit placement course for Human Rights & Equity Studies (HREQ) students, Maggie Quirt can attest to the effort required to create a work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunity.
Anita Lam
Maggie Quirt
“This course benefitted significantly from the expertise of the LA&PS Learning Design Lab (LDL),” said Quirt, who was an associate professor in the Department of Equity Studies during the course development phase. “As an instructor, I needed ideas and tips for how to teach a bit differently.”
The Learning Design Lab (LDL) is an initiative designed by the LA&PS Teaching and Learning team, under the guidance of Anita Lam, associate dean, teaching and learning, to support and advance teaching and learning in LA&PS. Collaborating with the LA&PS Office of Experiential Education, the first iteration of the LDL workshop series focused on exploring strategies, tools and best practices for incorporating work-integrated learning in different teaching contexts.
By bringing community partners into conversations about course activities or assessments, instructors and teaching assistants can help students build stronger connections to various partners and communities, as well as strengthen student engagement with course material.
“We’ve always had a very large faculty group in LA&PS that is interested in experiential education, everything from guest speakers to field trips,” said Irene Seo, experiential education co-ordinator. “We decided to reach out to interested faculty and provide this as an additional resource to explore the strategies, tools and best practices for incorporating another type of EE: work-integrated learning.
“We wanted to walk through the entire process, supporting practical skills with pedagogy and research, so combining EE and T&L resources was very helpful.”
Sarah Debbek
Sarah Debbek, an instructional designer with the T&L team, added, “It was an amazing opportunity to learn what each of our teams is doing and see how our work ties together.”
Approximately 70 faculty altogether attended the workshop series. Many were new to WIL, while others were seeking to improve their skills. The four-session workshop featured four aspects of WIL:
Design: tools to elevate student engagement;
Facilitation: how to identify partners;
Delivery: how to prepare students and partners; and
Assessment: framework for assessments.
The EE team focuses on the structure of placements and works closely with faculty to oversee the WIL agreements once their WIL courses launch, to ensure student safety while on the job. However, Seo notes that many of the faculty hold the keys to finding placements for their students, since they have existing relationships in the field that they have developed over time.
Quirt created her WIL course while on sabbatical, giving her the necessary time to identify potential partners.
“I began with my own contacts and followed leads from other professors, but there was a certain amount of cold calling,” she said. “Some connections for the placements were obvious, like Human Rights Commissions and the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. For equity studies, it wasn’t always as clear cut, but lots of equity, diversity and inclusion work is being done by local libraries and anti-racism organizations.
“Two of my students are working with Parents Against Racism Simcoe County (PARSC), a volunteer group of parents who intervene to educate school administrators about the consequences of racist behaviour in general and anti-Black racism in particular.”
The Learning Design Lab (LDL) is an initiative designed by the LA&PS Teaching and Learning team, under the guidance of Anita Lam, associate dean, teaching and learning, to support and advance teaching and learning in LA&PS
The T&L team is most concerned with the pedagogical aspect of the placements, helping faculty design assignments and meet learning outcomes. Debbek said the questions she answers most often relate to WIL assessment, which requires collaboration with industry partners.
“Faculty need to think about how you assess skills that students develop in the workplace,” she said. “We want them to design an assessment that is easy for partners to complete, and we also want them to decide whether students will do a self-assessment.”
Quirt believes it’s crucial for her 23 students to assess their experience critically.
“From a pedagogical perspective, it’s still an academic course,” she said. “It’s important that students reflect on the work experience in a meaningful way and consider how to apply what they’ve learned in other contexts.”
She requires her students to submit two assignments that explore the “four Rs” of critical reflection: reporting, relating, reasoning and reframing. She promotes an LDL suggestion that the students keep a logbook/field notes about their daily tasks so they can review their experiences and reflect on them more fully.
Quirt finds that her students are thriving in their placements, and is delighted.
“Students have been asking about work placements for years,” she said. “We owe it to them, especially since this is an interdisciplinary program; it can be challenging to understand the multiple employment pathways available post-graduation.”
Meanwhile, the LDL partners have received a lot of feedback about their workshop series and are hoping to repeat it in Spring 2023.
“It’s important for us to cover the topics faculty have identified as necessary and we’ll collaborate to ensure all the subject matter is included,” said Seo.
Debbek added, “We’ve collected data and feedback from instructors and hope to improve the workshops.”
Meanwhile, they’ve made the resources from the workshop series available online so course instructors – and, as a result, their students – can benefit.
Centre for Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion hosts York’s annual Inclusion Week
Share
The Centre for Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion (REI) has announced the details of its annual Inclusion Week, for which this year’s theme is “Reclaiming the Social Justice Roots of EDI.”
Inclusion Week 2023 runs from March 6 to 10 and features a host of engaging activities, such as keynote addresses, fireside chats, multimedia interactive events and a variety of workshops. These events are presented in collaboration with: Amnesty International YU; Athletics & Recreation; Schulich School of Business; Student Community and Leadership Development (SCLD); The Centre for Sexual Violence Response, Support & Education; and Assistant Professor Jessica Vostermans’ graduate class in critical disability studies.
Kike Ojo-Thompson
Throughout the week, keynote speakers Kike Ojo-Thompson and York honourary degree recipient Mark Tewksbury will address topics of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within the university context. Fireside chats will engage panelists such as Susan Dion, associate vice-president, Indigenous initiatives; Remi Warner, director, Human Rights Services at Toronto Metropolitan University; Rania El Mugammar, artist and anti-oppression activist; and Vostermans, on the challenges and opportunities of EDI work and social justice imperatives.
Melissa Theodore, EDI institutional initiatives advisor in REI, says, “We hope to offer a variety of opportunities to learn and reflect about equity and inclusion and its ties to social justice throughout the week.
“It’s important to remember that even when universities commit to DEDI or EDI, we must be mindful that universities embody contradictions because they are embedded in broader society,” she adds. “Our hope is that having earnest conversations about the valuable work of pushing for decolonization, equity, diversity and inclusion, can help us ensure that the work we do in furthering equity and inclusion continues to be relevant, meaningful, thoughtful and always intentional.”
Other events throughout the week include an alternative campus tour, REDDI workshops, a community of practice, an art installation and more.
“We’re hoping to use a walking tour of the campus to highlight some of the ways universities can manifest the physical inclusion/exclusion of certain community members – especially during the current housing and cost of living crisis,” says Terrence Hamilton, an organizer of the alternative campus tour.
Inclusion Week offers the chance for all staff, students and faculty at York to reflect upon systemic and organizational anti-racist change.
For more information and event registration, click here.
