Community Safety Week to focus on learning, transparency and collaboration

studenst talking and sitting BANNER

From March 18 to 21, York University’s Community Safety Department will be hosting its annual Community Safety Week. Members of the community are invited to participate through a variety of learning opportunities and virtual events.

The four-day long event features an extended safety video developed in partnership with the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD), a new safety learning hub to support greater access to information, and two virtual events to hear from safety leadership, community partners and experts.

The community safety team at York takes a holistic and intersectional approach to safety that reflects the diverse experiences of the University community and highlights the joint responsibility required to ensure safety across York’s multi-campus network.

The week provides an opportunity to share information about the department’s mission, safety services and offerings while meaningfully engaging with the community.

“Through the Security Services Review, we heard that the community is looking for greater transparency and collaboration, so that’s what we’re aiming for with this year’s activities,” said Orville Wallace, executive director of community safety. “There are opportunities for self-paced learning, an exciting video collaboration with AMPD, a virtual Q-and-A session with the community safety team and community partners, and a panel discussion with dynamic leaders and experts. I’m optimistic that we are well positioned to effect significant change and make a meaningful impact on community safety in the months and years ahead.”

Learn more about Community Safety Week’s featured activities below:

New digital resources

The community safety team has worked with internal and external partners to compile a safety learning hub for year-round learning. The new hub features resources from Toronto Community Crisis, Student Counselling, Health Services, Education and Promotions, and more. The hub will continue to be updated regularly as new information becomes available. Visit the learning hub and start learning today.

In addition to the new collection of resources, the department also has a variety of existing resources that support learning and awareness, including reports and statistics on safety incidents, safety tips and information about the York U Safety App.

Extended video with AMPD students

Last year, the department worked with students from AMPD to create a video as part of its commitment to community safety. The video featured information on the “run, hide, defend” method and was intended to build awareness of emergency response procedures. This year, the video has been extended to include guidance on the “shelter in place” protocol, offering additional information to educate the community about what actions they can take to keep themselves and the community safe in the event of an emergency. Watch the extended video in English or in French.

Q-and-A with department leadership and community partners

For an opportunity to engage directly with safety leaders and partners, the department is hosting a virtual Q-and-A session on March 20 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Wallace will be joined by leaders from the department as well as partners from the community to answer safety- and security-related questions live.

Add the event to your calendar and join.

Panel discussion with community leaders and experts

To foster greater learning and collaboration, the department is bringing together community leaders and experts for a thoughtful discussion about how to adopt and advance a community-centric approach to safety at a post-secondary institution.  

The panel discussion, titled Building Bridges: Advancing a community-centric approach to safety, will take place on Thursday, March 21 from 1 to 2:30 p.m.

Register to attend.

Grant funds York-led household energy insecurity study

Bogota, Colombia historic centre

Godfred Boateng, an assistant professor in York University’s School of Global Health and Canada Research Chair in Global Health and Humanitarianism, has been awarded a grant by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development for a two-year project on household energy insecurity in Colombia.

Godfred Boateng
Godfred Boateng

Valued at $136,899, the grant will support the implementation of Boateng’s Household Energy Insecurity, Health and Sustainable Livelihoods in Colombia (HEINS) project – co-led by Diego Iván Lucumí Cuesta from the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia – between March 2024 and February 2026.

The HEINS study is a continuation of Boateng’s leading work in comprehensively measuring and understanding resource insecurity across the Global South, undertaken at the Global & Environmental Health Lab at York’s Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research as part of his mandate as a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair.

In deciding to study this topic, the York professor observed that measurement of energy insecurity has historically been limited to the macro level – representing a country or region – and has not been widely extended to the household level, particularly outside the Global North. He also noticed there has been little assessment of the relationship between household energy insecurity and health outcomes among women and children in the Global South. As a result, it is difficult to determine how inadequate access to clean and safe energy sources impacts women and children differently in the household. It also becomes difficult to propose strategies to ensure clean energy transitions that effectively target the needs of that demographic.  

Boateng’s HEINS project, which will be conducted in three municipalities in the Choco province of Colombia, will address these issues. It will use a mixed-methods approach to find out whether or not household energy insecurity uniquely impacts disease, socioeconomic and psychosocial outcomes. The project will also produce and validate a scale – one of the first of its kind in Latin America – that can be used to comprehensively assess the impact of household energy insecurity on women, infants and children.

“With this grant, my team and I will advance current scholarship on the adverse effects of household energy insecurity in Latin America,” said Boateng. “It will produce a novel instrument for identifying energy insecurity hotspots, which will serve as recruiting points for a longitudinal study that examines the effect of energy insecurity and indoor air pollution from conception through the first two years of life.”

Ultimately, the goal of the project is to generate scientific evidence to develop sound, scalable technologies and strategies to ensure equitable clean energy transitions across the Global South. Through this study, Boateng and the Global & Environmental Health Lab, in partnership with Lucumí Cuesta, will advance research that promotes equitable access, good health, human development and environmental sustainability.  

Program offers support for open, respectful dialogue at York

calumet-students-cherry-blossoms5

York University’s Office of the Vice-President Equity, People & Culture (EPC) has developed a new way to help York community members engage with complex issues – and with each other: the Supporting Open & Respectful Dialogue (ORD) Program.

Now accepting applications, the ORD Program offers financial and logistical support to students, staff, and faculty members who are trying to develop conversation and connection across differences. Laina Bay-Cheng, interim vice-president of EPC, explains the goal of the program as “giving a boost to grassroots initiatives – whether led by students, staff and/or faculty colleagues – that can help people talk, listen and learn together, even if they are on different ‘sides’ of an issue.”

The ORD Program provides small amounts of funding along with administrative and logistical assistance for developing flyers, advertising events, booking rooms and more, depending on what suits an initiative and the organizers’ vision. “The University may not have lots of financial resources right now, but we can – and should – still be resourceful. EPC is happy to use our networks, our access and our logistical know-how to lighten the load for those leading an initiative,” says Bay-Cheng.

The ORD Program is already offering support to two initiatives, both promoting thoughtful discussion and consideration of the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

The first, Bridging the Gap, is led by Israeli Jewish and Palestinian Arab students and alumni, with vital support from Professor Randal Schnoor. “It is so important to offer a safe space for respectful dialogue on these contentious issues,” says Schnoor. “There is a great appetite for this among students on our campus.”

Bridging the Gap was founded in 2019 by Palestinian and Jewish students Leena Muti, Hilly Adler and Noam Sibony. “For me, Bridging the Gap is a space where I can be unapologetically myself, yet be exposed to people with completely different experiences than my own, which are unapologetically theirs,” says Sibony. “It is a space where my Jewish, Arab, Palestinian, and Israeli peers and I can reveal our mutual humanity to one another in hopes of building a shared future together here on campus.”

The second supported project is a faculty initiative: the Open Office Hours series, which draws on the substantive and pedagogical expertise of professors Thabit Abdullah, David Koffman, Amila Buturovic and Schnoor.

“Thabit and I have been colleagues and friends for years. Our life experiences have been quite different. The areas of our professional expertise barely overlap. And there are some significant differences between how we each understand the current awful war in Israel-Gaza, its reverberations here in Canada and on our campus, what brought us to it and what might bring us out of it,” says Koffman. “But we share in common more important things: a commitment to slow thinking, depolarized learning, deeply humanist ethics and civil dialogue. We’ve been meeting regularly since Oct. 7 to talk. With the encouragement of York’s Religious Studies program, we’ve opened up our dialogue space to anyone who wants to enter.”

About the Open Office Hours series, Buturovic says: “Open Office Hours are an opportunity not just to hear what professors have to say about the challenges on campus or dispense advice but also a safe forum to help understand the multiple ways this crisis is experienced and, hopefully, overcome through open and honest conversation. It is a way to learn as much as a way to process one’s views and emotions.”

The Bridging the Gap and Open Office Hours initiatives get to the fundamental purpose of the ORD Program: creating opportunities for people to develop the skills, knowledge, and relationships required to fully consider challenging ideas and issues. Both Bay-Cheng and Provost Lisa Philipps, whose office co-sponsors ORD, see the capacity for openness to new ideas and respect for people with differing views as essential ingredients for a healthy university community.

“Students need openness and respect in the classroom and for their careers after York, scholars need it to engage in constructive scholarly discourse, and staff members need it to experience an affirming and equitable workplace culture,” says Bay-Cheng.

“We know that community-driven initiatives encourage connections and conversations that underpin a wider culture of well-being,” says Philipps. “The projects and programs we’ll be able to support can create a greater sense of inclusion and safety on our campuses, and that’s what makes learning possible.”

Virtual information sessions about the ORD Program have been scheduled for Tuesday, March 19 at 4 p.m. and Wednesday, March 20 at noon, should interested applicants have any questions. Additional information sessions will be scheduled in the upcoming months.

Details are available on the website, along with the application form: yorku.ca/vpepc/strategic-priorities-initiatives/respectful-dialogue.

York researchers appointed new, renewed Canada Research Chairs

innovation image

The Government of Canada has issued a new Canada Research Chair (CRC) appointment to York University Professor Godfred Boateng in global health and humanitarianism, as well as renewed the Chairs of three other faculty members – Ethel Tungohan (Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies), Isaac Smith (Lassonde School of Engineering) and Steven Connor (Faculty of Science).

The CRC program facilitates world-class research at Canadian universities, boosting their global competitiveness, while also providing training opportunities for the next generation of highly skilled personnel through research, teaching and learning.

“From global health to migration policy to planetary science to neurophysiology, York University faculty are at the forefront of research excellence in their respective fields,” said Amir Asif, vice-president research and innovation. “I extend my sincere congratulations to our four new and renewed Canada Research Chairs whose impactful work benefits the lives of both Canadians and people around the world.”

Learn more about the new and renewed chairholders at York:

Godfred Boateng
Godfred Boateng

Godfred Boateng, Canada Research Chair in Global Health and Humanitarianism
Boateng is an assistant professor in the School of Global Health, director of the Global & Environmental Health Lab and a faculty fellow at the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research. He is also the principal investigator on a new project called “Retooling Black Anxiety” in the Greater Toronto Area.

As a CRC, Boateng will address global health priorities by focusing on anticipatory, instead of reactionary, approaches. Notably, he will look to further understand the synergistic epidemics of food, water, energy, and housing insecurity and their compounding effects, as well as the impact of environmental degradation and changes in climatic conditions on the health of older adults in sub-Saharan Africa and Canada.

Ethel Tungohan
Ethel Tungohan

Ethel Tungohan, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Canadian Migration Policy, Impacts and Activism
With her CRC renewal, Tungohan, an associate professor in the Department of Politics in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, will build on her work assessing the interconnections between policies, everyday lived experiences and social movement organizing.

She will continue to look at the impact on migrant workers, Canadian discourse, and policies on immigration, labour, and occupational health and safety in the pre-pandemic, pandemic and post-pandemic era.

Isaac Smith
Isaac Smith

Isaac Smith, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Planetary Science
Smith, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering in the Lassonde School of Engineering, will use his CRC renewal to investigate aspects of ice and climate on Mars and other parts of the solar system, including Pluto and Triton, Neptune’s moon.

The research is unique to York University and aims to advance knowledge of Mars’ climate and ice-related processes, in addition to performing glaciological modelling on icy worlds in the outer solar system.

Steven Connor
Steven Connor

Steven Connor, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in the Synaptic Basis of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Connor, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology in the Faculty of Science, will use his CRC renewal to focus on investigating how specific brain proteins facilitate the transmission of information between brain cells. The research aims to further understand how those proteins influence neural circuit function and activity, and how they can result in autism-like behaviour when compromised. Connor and his research team will also explore the restorative effects of reversing molecular changes linked to the loss of certain brain cells.  

York prof’s exhibit explores life, work of social justice advocate

Cover of "Take Me, Take Me," a novella by Colin Robinson, edited by Andil Gosine

York University Professor Andil Gosine has curated a new exhibit called The Plural of He, exploring the life and work of the late Colin Robinson (1961-2021), a Trinidadian American poet and social justice advocate. It launches March 15 and will run until July 21 at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in New York City, the world’s only dedicated 2SLGBTQIA+ art museum.

Andil Gosine
Andil Gosine

Gosine, whose academic focus is environmental arts and justice, recently told Trinidad and Tobago Newsday that although he had a professional relationship with Robinson that included consulting on various projects, he was surprised to learn he had been named the literary executor and custodian of Robinson’s archives. Before Robinson died, the pair discussed the idea of an exhibition inspired by the artist’s life’s work, and Robinson expressed enthusiastic support of it.

Titled after one of Robinson’s poems, The Plural of He features five newly commissioned works in which the artists – Llanor Alleyne, Leasho Johnson, Ada M. Patterson, Devan Shimoyama and York University doctoral student Natalie Wood – drew inspiration from materials encountered in Robinson’s archives: activist ephemera, carnival costumes and calypso music, letters, an unfinished novel, newspaper columns and poetry. Through their explorations of Robinson’s work, the artists discovered continuity between their lives and his, echoing and extending his pursuit of connection, community and justice.

“Because community building was so important to Colin,” Gosine explains, “I wanted connection itself to be the pulse of the exhibition: what resonated with me as I went through the archives? What resonances could I find between the artists and Colin in our conversations about the project? What resonances with the materials did the artists feel in their encounters with the archival materials?”

An undocumented migrant in the U.S. throughout the 1980s and 90s, Robinson became a powerful force in New York City’s queer, HIV/AIDS and feminist movements. He co-founded the historic New York State Black Gay Network and the Audre Lorde Project, and was director of HIV prevention at non-profit organization Gay Men’s Health Crisis. He was also a member of Other Countries, a literary collective for Black, gay men, and he published provocative essays in landmark anthologies, academic journals and newspapers.

Porky was loud by Devan Shimoyama.

His work continued when he returned to the Caribbean in 2006; there, he co-founded the critically important 2SLGBTQIA+ organization CAISO (Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation) and served as its “director of imagination.” A collection of Robinson’s poetry, You Have You Father Hard Head, was published in 2016, five years prior to his untimely passing in 2021.

Lauded as a godfather of the 2SLGBTQIA+ movement by many fellow activists, Robinson can be remembered by his writing, which he considered a form of activist performance. Each of the exhibit’s commissioned works engages a specific part of his archives to reveal different dimensions of his person.

“I want audiences for The Plural of He to encounter Colin in the fullness of his humanity,” says Gosine, whose book Nature’s Wild: Love, Sex and Law in the Caribbean details Robinson’s work. “When we get to know someone, we are privy to pieces of them, usually in non-linear fashion. We might learn about a hobby, their state of mind, their sense of humour. I want the experience of walking through this space to mirror the experience of getting to know a new friend.”

With this goal in mind, each new artwork in the exhibition is accompanied by short essays in which key figures in Robinson’s world reminisce about their connections with him in various contexts, from editing his weekly newspaper columns to dealing with heartbreak.

Public programming for The Plural of He will include readings of Robinson’s poetry and publications connected to the show. A limited release of a newly published novella rescued from Robinson’s archives – Take Me, Take Me, edited by Gosine, with cover art by Shimoyama – will be available for purchase, as will a catalog featuring each artist in dialogue with a major contemporary Caribbean writer.

For York University community members interested in the exhibit, York’s EcoArts initiative and the Centre for Research on Latin America & the Caribbean are co-hosting a local event on March 20 at 12:30 p.m. called The Plural of He: From Archives to Art, featuring Gosine and Wood in conversation and readings from Take Me, Take Me. The event will take place on the eighth floor of Kaneff Tower on York’s Keele Campus.

For more information about the exhibit, visit the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art’s website.

The future of disease diagnostics explored at Lassonde

A modern research hub at York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering is focusing on scientific innovation to transform the future of disease diagnostics.

Picture state-of-the-art technologies, busy researchers wearing white lab coats and futuristic, artificial intelligence-powered tools with capabilities beyond imagination. That is the Laboratory of Advanced Biotechnologies for Health Assessment (LAB-HA).

“LAB-HA’s mission is to develop wearable biomedical devices for early detection of burdensome diseases,” says Razieh (Neda) Salahandish, director of LAB-HA and assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science.

Early detection of diseases plays a key role in improving patient outcomes and care. Unfortunately, many diseases are diagnosed through complex and invasive processes requiring expensive equipment and facilities. LAB-HA is committed to changing this reality by creating cost-effective, non-invasive and convenient solutions.

It does so through a wide-ranging approach. “Our work applies all kinds of scientific methods in a multidisciplinary approach to disease diagnostics,” says Salahandish. “There are many different scientific disciplines required to support our research. We have chemists and computer scientists working alongside electrical, software, computer and mechanical engineers.”

Professor Neda Salahandish and student researchers working in LAB-HA
Professor Neda Salahandish and student researchers working in LAB-HA

Researchers at LAB-HA include both undergraduate and graduate students who help lead and support complex research projects and activities, enhancing their academic experiences and technical skills.

Many of LAB-HA’s projects are also conducted in collaboration with leaders in the health science industry, including the University Health Network and St. Michael’s Hospital, as well as startup companies, elevating research impact and capabilities.

Among LAB-HA’s initiatives is a smart contact lenses project. With support by the Lassonde Innovation Fund, the lab is working with the Department of Mechanical Engineering to fabricate smart contact lenses – wearable devices that can non-invasively collect patients’ tears and examine the presence of biomarkers – to support the early detection of various eye diseases and improve patient outcomes.

In another project under review by the Alzheimer Society of Canada, LAB-HA is developing smart goggles that can help diagnose and monitor the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Though there is currently no gold-standard technique for clinical and non-invasive detection and monitoring of Alzheimer’s disease, electrical activity in the brain, which can be measured using an electroencephalogram (EEG) test, has been associated with the presence of the disease. Less-explored indicators of the disease include various representations of eye and iris movements, which can be examined using eye movement tracker cameras.

The clinical relevance of these eye movements, EEG signals and iris responses in Alzheimer’s disease will be determined in a first-of-its-kind biomarker discovery initiative establishing a correlation between Alzheimer’s disease and these features.

LAB-HA will use this knowledge to develop smart goggles with embedded cameras for eye tracking and iris response measurements as well as extended electrodes for scalp EEG acquisition. Results will be analyzed using machine learning methods and retrieved on a portable device like a mobile phone.

Another research initiative at LAB-HA, currently in its early stages, focuses on the development of wearable devices that detect inflammatory biomarkers associated with cancers and chronic inflammatory conditions. This work, funded by a Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant, has the potential to expedite chronic inflammation diagnoses, which are the root cause of many diseases. These research efforts can also help reduce the need for time-consuming investigational procedures.

Learn more about LAB-HA on the lab website.

Passings: Alexander Murray

A field of flowers at sunset

York University Professor Emeritus Alexander Lovell Murray died peacefully at home on Feb. 11 at the age of 95.

Alexander Lovell Murray
Alexander Lovell Murray

Before beginning his career in academia, Murray pursued his interest in urban and social change over the course of his post-secondary and graduate studies, including a bachelor of arts at McMaster University, a master of arts at King’s College London and a doctor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania.

After completing his degrees, Murray settled in Toronto with his wife, Laura, whom he met when he was 15 and was married to for 70 years. There, Murray became a faculty member at the then-new York University, where he co-founded both the Department of Urban Studies and Faculty of Environmental Studies (now the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change).

“I fondly remember Alex Murray, the ‘(Gentle)Man in Black’ with his fashion sense and aversion to colour, and his commitment to inquiry,” said Murray’s former colleague Lewis Molot, a York University professor emeritus and senior scholar. “He shall be missed.”

In his personal life, Murray loved the outdoors, cooking and welcoming friends and family into his home. Conversely, his working hours were spent trying to solve many of society’s biggest problems, from homelessness to food insecurity. He generously donated his time, skill and experience to philanthropic causes close to his heart, taking on leadership roles within the Toronto Chapter of the Community Planning Association of Canada, the National Housing Subcommittee of the Canadian Council on Social Development, Grey County’s Grey Association for Better Planning, the Canadian Council on Human Resources in Environmental Industries and the Toronto Food Policy Council.

In recognition of the late professor’s many hours of volunteer service and four decades of contributions to the South Rosedale Residents’ Association, the park across the street from Murray’s Rosedale house, where he and his wife lived since 1963, was renamed the Alex Murray Parkette in 2010 – a meaningful tribute from the City of Toronto that will symbolize his legacy for years to come.

A celebration of Murray’s life will be held in the spring.

York University’s Centre for AI & Society is pioneering research for a connected future

Graphic of artificial intelligence and society

In a bid to spearhead socially conscious artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives, the Centre for AI & Society (CAIS) aims to bridge the gap between technological advancements and societal needs.

“CAIS is one of the founding organized research units of Connected Minds, which unites research on neuroscience, AI and technology to foster a healthy and just society,” says Professor James Elder, the York Research Chair in Human and Computer Vision, who co-heads CAIS. “It is particularly important in generating novel and beneficial technologies that will improve quality of life in Canada and elsewhere, but also in understanding how these disruptive technologies can best be integrated into society in order to minimize risk and maximize benefit for all.”

The centre combines various disciplines, including behavioural and neuroscience studies, computational modelling, statistical analysis and computer vision design. The objective is to not only advance fundamental perception science and AI but also hold implications for urban mobility, social robotics and sports analytics.

The origins of CAIS sprung from York University’s strategic vision, outlined in its 2018–2023 Strategic Research Plan, which identified AI integration into society as a crucial area for development. To make that happen, Elder collaborated with Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Pina D’Agostino to form and lead a task force to evaluate York’s AI landscape and chart a course for future research development.

Their findings, published in the report “Fostering the Future of Artificial Intelligence,” laid the groundwork for CAIS, which officially launched in July 2022, uniting faculty members from diverse backgrounds and Faculties.

Guided by Elder and D’Agostino, CAIS’s mission extends beyond academic discourse. The centre aims to foster a sense of community among researchers engaged in AI and society studies while promoting dialogue through lectures and conferences on critical issues such as technology and democracy, and disability considerations in AI. Most recently, it co-organized the latest iteration of the Bracing for Impact conference, in addition to the latest entry of its monthly CAIS talk series.

Looking ahead, CAIS recently announced its inaugural advisory board and intends to expand its seminar series while hosting additional conferences, and involving more trainees, including graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

These efforts and more align with York University’s broader institutional goals under the interdisciplinary, $318.4-million Connected Minds initiative, which is currently investigating how emerging technologies, such as AI, are impacting and transforming society.

As AI continues to evolve at a rapid pace, CAIS remains committed to driving innovation while ensuring responsible AI deployment. By fostering collaboration, dialogue and cutting-edge research, the centre aims to shape a future where AI serves as a force for positive societal change.

Adds Elder, “Our systems approach places emphasis on how AI technologies operate when embedded in real-world contexts, interacting with humans and other technologies. Our research focuses on AI systems that address societal priorities in health care, smart cities and sustainability, and that are fair, explainable, reliable and trusted.”

Study looks at LGBTQ2S+ workplace discrimination in Canada

LGBTQ rainbow BANNER

A York University research team from the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) that researches lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, Two-Spirit and others (LGBTQ2S+) has released a study highlighting the state of workplace discrimination in Canada.

As much as Canada enjoys a reputation as a progressive country friendly to LGBTQ2S+ people, it is not perfect.

Workplace discrimination against sexual orientations, identities and expressions still exists. One York research team sought to seek out to what extent.

“There has not been much empirical evidence to show where we are at in Canada. We are quite happy to have sought an opportunity to gain better understanding of the current state of LGBTQ2S+ workplace discrimination,” says Professor You-Ta Chuang, who leads the project.  

Through a three-stage project titled “Act Up: From managing LGBTQ2S+ identity to changing workplace discrimination” that is funded by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council, Chuang and his team pursued a project that surveyed 4,205 participants to further understand the prevalence of workplace discrimination against LGBTQ2S+ employees in Canada and how they cope.

The study found that while discrimination against LGBTQ2S+ employees in Canada is declining slightly, its prevalence is still in line with a recent survey by advocacy organization Egale Canada, which showed that 72 per cent of Two Spirit, transgender and non-binary (2STNB) survey participants had experienced workplace discrimination.

The York study found too that perceived discrimination was above the national average in six provinces and territories, with the highest levels in Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

In terms of how participants responded to discrimination, the study found that more than half spoke up when they experienced discrimination, typically by addressing it or suggesting improvements to workplace inclusivity.

Those in Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario and Nova Scotia were found to be most likely to speak up and participants in Alberta and Nunavut were least likely.

The study marks the completion of Stage 1 of the Act Up project. Summer 2024 will see the beginning of Stage 2, which will involve a study examining which emotion regulation strategies used by LGBTQ2S+ employees help them cope with and stand up against workplace discrimination. Stage 3 will then look toward sharing findings with academics in communities to help realize Act Up’s ultimate mission.

“We hope to increase awareness of LGBTQ2S+ workplace discrimination and to see more people (both LGBTQ2S+ employees and allies) are able to speak up against workplace discrimination,” says Chuang.

International Women’s Day: including all women in positive change

International Women's Day banner

La version française suit la version anglaise. 

On Friday, March 8, York University celebrates International Women’s Day.

Every year, International Women’s Day celebrates the contributions of women around the world, giving focus to issues such as gender equality, violence against women and reproductive rights. This year’s theme, #InspireInclusion, reminds us that women’s rights vary significantly by country and intersect with other factors such as age, race, ethnicity, religion, class, ability, gender identity and expression.

Positive change must address the inclusion and rights of all women, and York University is a powerful advocate for advancing gender equality as reflected in our Times Higher Education Ranking as a top-ranked university in Canada – and 5th in North America – for our impact towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of gender equality.

All across the University, York scholars, staff and students continue to make a difference in the lives of all women:

  • by generating and circulating knowledge, including through academic programs, research and creative activities across our Faculties and organized research units such as the Centre for Feminist Research;
  • by spotlighting women’s leadership, including the upcoming 5th Annual Women & Girls Leadership and Sport Conference hosted by York University Athletics & Recreation;
  • by promoting women’s safety, such as helping to develop the iHEAL app to support women experiencing partner violence and abuse;
  • by advocating for reproductive health, such as the upcoming discussion Reclaiming My Body, hosted by the Centre for Sexual Violence Response Support & Education; and
  • by expanding women’s economic prospects, including through ELLA, YSpace’s entrepreneurship and innovation hub dedicated to women-led ventures.

We invite you to participate in International Women’s Day by exploring the initiatives above or finding your own way to support the inclusion and rights of all women.

Thank you. Merci. Miigwech.

Rhonda L. Lenton
President & Vice-Chancellor      

Laina Y. Bay-Cheng
Interim Vice-President, Equity, People & Culture


Journée internationale des femmes : inclure toutes les femmes dans les changements positifs

Le vendredi 8 mars, l’Université York célèbre la Journée internationale des femmes.

Chaque année, la Journée internationale des femmes souligne les contributions des femmes du monde entier en mettant l’accent sur des questions comme l’égalité de genre, la violence à l’égard des femmes et les droits liés à la procréation. Le thème de cette année (#InspireInclusion) nous rappelle que les droits des femmes varient considérablement d’un pays à l’autre et se recoupent avec d’autres facteurs comme l’âge, la race, l’ethnicité, la religion, la classe, la capacité, l’identité et l’expression de genre.

Les changements positifs doivent viser l’inclusion et les droits de toutes les femmes. L’Université York se fait la championne de l’égalité de genre et elle occupe d’ailleurs le premier rang au Canada, et le 7rang en Amérique du Nord, du classement Times Higher Education pour l’objectif de développement durable des Nations Unies « égalité entre les sexes ».

À l’échelle de York, les universitaires, le personnel et la population étudiante ne cessent de faire changer les choses dans la vie de toutes les femmes :

  • en générant des connaissances et en les faisant circuler, notamment grâce à des programmes universitaires, des activités de recherche et de création au sein de nos facultés et de ses unités de recherche organisées, comme le Centre for Feminist Research;
  • en mettant en avant le leadership des femmes, notamment lors de la 5e conférence annuelle sur le leadership et le sport des femmes et des filles organisée par le Département de l’athlétisme et des loisirs de l’Université York;
  • en contribuant à la sécurité des femmes, notamment avec le développement de l’application iHEAL pour appuyer les femmes victimes de violence conjugale;
  • en défendant la santé génésique, par exemple lors de la discussion Reclaiming My Body, organisée prochainement par le Centre d’intervention, de soutien et d’éducation contre la violence sexuelle;
  • en élargissant les perspectives économiques des femmes, comme avec ELLA, le centre d’entrepreneuriat et d’innovation de YSpace consacré aux entreprises dirigées par des femmes.

Nous vous invitons à participer à la Journée internationale des femmes en explorant les initiatives ci-dessus ou en trouvant votre propre façon d’appuyer l’inclusion et les droits de toutes les femmes.

Merci. Thank you. Miigwech.

Rhonda L. Lenton
Présidente et vice-chancelière      

Laina Y. Bay-Cheng
Vice-présidente intérimaire de l’équité, des personnes et de la culture