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International Humanitarian Law Conference explores terrorism’s effect on the laws of armed conflict

The third annual International Humanitarian Law Conference (IHLC) will explore the topic of how the laws of armed conflict are affected by terrorism.

IHLC posterThe event, sponsored by the Canadian Red Cross, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Glendon School of Public & International Affairs, and Glendon College, will take place on Jan. 22 from 1 to 6pm at the BMO Conference Centre, Glendon Hall.

Titled “Canadian Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Conference: How Terrorism Affects the Laws of Armed Conflict,” the event will focus on the challenges that the issue of terrorism presents to the laws of armed conflict.

As contemporary conflicts involve increasingly greater numbers of non-state armed groups, understanding international rules that apply to diverse terrorist groups/organizations is essential to bringing about their compliance with international law.

This conference, which will be held in English, will bring together experts in the field, academics, representatives from the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement and representatives from the Judge Advocates General’s Office to discuss the challenges, obligations and the applicability of IHL to terrorist  groups and acts of terrorism.

The conference segment runs 1 to 5pm, and will be followed by an informal reception from 5 to 6pm.

To RSVP, visit the Canadian Red Cross website. For more on the event, visit redcross.ca/how-we-help/international-humanitarian-law/conferences–trainings-and-events.

This conference is eligible towards the Law Society of Upper Canada’s (LSUC) CPD requirements as substantive hours only. Note: This program is not accredited for professionalism hours or the new member requirement. Visit lsuc.on.ca for more information.

Bilateral articulation agreement promotes accessibility to postsecondary study programs in French

York University’s Glendon College and Collège Boréal have signed a bilateral articulation agreement with a view to promoting excellence in learning and expanding training opportunities. The agreement also seeks to enhance accessibility to postsecondary study programs in French and mobility between their two institutions.

Glendon College
Glendon College

CollegeBorealEstablished in 1995, Collège Boréal is a French‐language postsecondary training and learning institution dedicated to the development and growth of French communities throughout the province.

It offers a wide variety of services in 35 access centres in 25 communities across the Ontario, and has developed and implemented over 60 articulation agreements with other postsecondary institutions.

“Collège Boréal has been collaborating with nearly 15 postsecondary institutions for two decades to enable students to continue their training and achieve their personal objectives,” says Pierre Riopel, president, Collège Boréal.  “Thus far, more than 60 articulation agreements have been established with the goal of providing greater flexibility and transferability between our institutions.”

Under this agreement, graduates of Glendon’s Drama Studies Program (90 credits or 120 credits) can be admitted to Collège Boréal’s second‐year Stage Management Technician program in order to earn an Ontario College Diploma.

Similarly, graduates of Collège Boréal’s Stage Management Technician program will be able to enrol in Glendon’s Dramatic Arts Program (120 credits) and earn a Specialized Honours BA.

A total of 42 credits will be awarded towards this academic program.

“As Glendon prepares to celebrate 50 years of bilingual academic excellence in southern Ontario, we are happy to work with Collège Boréal to expand the postsecondary program offerings in French,” says Donald Ipperciel, principal and dean, Glendon Campus, York University. “The development of such institutional partnerships with other postsecondary institutions in Ontario, Canada and throughout the world allows Glendon to continue supporting student mobility.”

For more details, visit www.glendon.yorku.ca.

Jean-Gabriel Castel Lecture Series features Osgoode alumnus and McGill Professor Payam Akhavan

Speaking on the topic of cultural genocide, Osgoode alumnus and McGill University Professor Payam Akhavan will be the guest speaker at the annual Jean-Gabriel Castel Lecture.

Payam Akhavan (image: Wikimedia Commons)
Payam Akhavan (image: Wikimedia Commons)

The talk, “Cultural Genocide: Legal Label or Mourning Metaphor?,” will be presented on Jan. 14, from 7:30 to 9pm at BMO Conference Centre, Glendon Hall, Glendon campus.

Akhavan is a teacher and researcher of public international law, international dispute settlement, international criminal law, human rights and cultural pluralism. He has published work on the subject of the prevention of genocide extensively in leading journals and is the co-producer of the documentary film Genos.Cide: The Great Challenge (2009).

His book Reducing Genocide to Law: Definition, Meaning, and the Ultimate Crime (2012) has been met with high acclaim.

Akhavan earned a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, followed by a SJD from Harvard Law School. He has served as chairman of the Global Conference on the Prevention of Genocide, and is a founder of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre, a prosecutor of the Iran People’s Tribunal, a member of the U.K. Child Sexual Abuse People’s Tribunal, and has contributed to the activities of numerous non-governmental organizations and grassroots survivors’ groups.

If you are planning to attend this lecture, RSVP to invitation@glendon.yorku.ca.

This lecture, sponsored by Bennett & Gastle P.C., Lawyers, Toronto, will be presented in English.

The Jean-Gabriel Castel Lecture was created in 2004 to honour Professor Jean-Gabriel Castel, an internationally acknowledged jurist and now Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus in international law at York’s Osgoode Hall Law School. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an officer of the Order of Canada. For a decade, Professor Castel taught international law to Glendon’s undergraduate students in the International Studies program.

Prestigious award announced for Glendon Professor Gerald Young

Gerald Young
Gerald Young

A prestigious award has been announced for Glendon College Psychologist and Professor Gerald Young.

The Traumatic Stress Section of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) has accepted and approved Young’s nomination for its Lifetime Achievement Award – the highest level of achievement in the field.

Young will accept the award in Victoria, B.C., during the CPA conference running from June 9 to 11, 2016. He will also be featured as a guest speaker at the event.

His nomination comes after a dedicated career in the field, and follows an announcement earlier this year naming him an American Psychological Association Fellow.

Among Young’s many career highlights, he spearheaded the journal Psychological Injury and Law (springer.com) in 2008. He is also an organizer behind a Psychological Injury and Law conference that took place earlier this year, and he has, in the past, presented at continuing education workshops that run during the American Psychological Association conventions.

Young also organized a panel this summer for another conference in Vienna for the International Academy of Law & Mental Health.

“Psychological injury and law is a challenging yet rapidly growing field of academic inquiry and forensic practice that is marked by a significant adversarial divide,” says Izabela Z. Schultz, psychology professor at the University of British Columbia. “Dr. Young’s most outstanding contribution has been to develop a scientifically and professionally balanced approach to a journal in which board members and publications attempt to be fair, evidence-informed and educational.”

Further to these contributions to the field, Young has also published several books on the topic, including one on malingering in 2014. Currently, he is working on a teaching text on psychological injury and law and a book on causes and determinants of behaviour. His most recent journal articles are on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (2014), the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) (2013) and mental health law and policy (2014).

“Dr. Young is an internationally renowned scholar and a highly respected leader in this new emerging field – an innovator who has been instrumental in putting it together, and a role model for all of us,” says Schultz. “His legacy will be a foundational knowledge published in various journals and books, aside from his many talks and shared ideas that will influence the field for years and decades to come.”

Glendon celebrates 50 years of bilingual academic excellence with a landmark conference

For half a century, York University’s Glendon campus has provided students with a strong bilingual postsecondary foundation in the liberal arts. In 2015-16, Glendon marks a significant milestone by celebrating 50 years of academic excellence, research and innovation.

Lester B Pearson (right) with Escott Reid at the 1966 official opening of the Glendon campus
Lester B.Pearson (right) with Glendon’s founding principal Escott Reid at the 1966 official opening of the Glendon campus

Glendon’s story is steeped in rich history. Glendon was officially inaugurated in 1966 by then prime minister Lester B. Pearson. Led by founding principal and former Canadian diplomat Escott Reid, and equipped with a vision to make it a national institution to educate Canada’s future leaders, Glendon began the often challenging road of striving to be exceptional and unique. Since then, Glendon has seen dramatic increases not only in its size and scope of degree offerings, but also in the quality and impact of its educational and research programs.

Daniel Ipperciel
Donald Ipperciel

“For 50 years, Glendon has borne the who’s who of liberal arts graduates,” said Donald Ipperciel, principal of Glendon. “As Canada’s only bilingual, liberal arts campus with a focus on public life, our alumni – from former federal minister David Collenette and former Ontario finance minister Greg Sorbara (currently York University’s chancellor) to political columnist Chantal Hébert and defense attorney Clayton Ruby – are in leading roles in government, business and non-governmental organizations across the country and around the world.”

Its strong focus on bilingualism in the past five decades culminated in Glendon’s designation as the Centre of Excellence for French-language & Bilingual Postsecondary Education in Southern Ontario. Not only has Glendon demonstrated vision in investing in the future of Francophone and Francophile communities, notes Ipperciel, it has had an impact in mobilizing these communities and has provided opportunities for growth and partnership. Glendon has been a key player in the Francophonie and has taken steps towards placing value upon and promoting the French language in Ontario, from its principle of asymmetrical bilingualism to innovation in teaching French as a second language and research initiatives through the Centre on Language & Cultural Contact.

The Glendon campus community now looks toward the next half century. Continuing its tradition to encourage students and faculty alike to embrace the bold, the innovative and the independent mind, Glendon has broadened the scope of its offerings. It has extended its mandate by infusing liberal arts thinking into professional programs such as translation and conference interpretation. This year, it launched new science programs in biology and psychology, as well as a Certificate in Law & Social Thought. Beginning in Fall 2016, Glendon will be offering new professional programs in business and communications.

“The global citizens of tomorrow are the leaders who will help meet the world’s most urgent challenges, and they’re getting their start, right here and right now, at Glendon College,” added Ipperciel. “By nurturing an appreciation of intellectual inquiry and a capacity for critical thought and clear expression, we are preparing our students for leading positions in all walks of life.”

The Glendon Centre of Excellence offers a modern gateway to the historic campus
The Glendon Centre of Excellence offers a modern gateway to the historic campus

Glendon will launch its 50th anniversary celebrations on Dec. 3 with a conference of the Glendon Chairs of Québec Studies, titled “Québec-Ontario: Where do we stand today?” After 400 years of francophone immigration to Quebec and Ontario, the conference will explore the challenges and opportunities faced today, as well as reflections for the future. Speakers include: Jean-Louis Roy, academic, journalist and diplomat; Bruno Ramirez, history professor at Université de Montréal; Daniel Salée, political science professor at Concordia University; Simon Langlois, sociology professor at Université Laval; Nicole Lemieux, chief representative from the Bureau du Québec à Toronto; and Kelly Burke, assistant deputy minister in the Office of Francophone Affairs.

For more details and to register, visit glendon.yorku.ca/quebecontario.

The Flickr slideshow offers a glimpse into the original Glendon Manor located at the heart of the campus.

Glendon announces the recipients of the 2015 Principal’s Research Excellence Awards

Graphic showing different research terms
Graphic showing different research terms

Two Glendon researchers have been honoured with 2015 Principal’s Research Excellence Awards. Professor Joanna Robinson from the Department of Sociology has been selected as the recipient in the emerging scholar category, while psychology Professor Anne Russon has received the award in the established scholar category. The Principal’s Research Excellence Awards are given annually to recognize full-time faculty members who have made an outstanding contribution to research in the past three years.

“Along with teaching and learning, research is a significant source of credibility and prestige for Glendon,” said Donald Ipperciel, principal of Glendon. “Professors Robinson and Russon are exceptional researchers whose work has deeply impacted Glendon and York communities as well as at the national and international levels.”

Joanna Robinson
Joanna Robinson

Robinson, an expert in environmental politics, climate change and social movements, has made extraordinary contributions since her arrival at Glendon three years ago. Her first book, Contested Water: The Struggle against Water Privatization in the United States and Canada, published by MIT Press, received positive reviews by leading researchers in the field. Her research examined local social movements against water privatization, looking closely at battles for control of local water services in Stockton, Calif., and Vancouver.

Robinson has also authored three articles and four book chapters, including a comparative study on environmental-labour coalitions and green jobs in the United States and Canada. She is the principle investigator of a three-year SSHRC Partnership Development Grant examining workers in traditional carbon-intensive sectors and the transition to a low-carbon economy.

“It is an honour to have my work recognized with the Principal’s Research Award,” said Robinson. “The Glendon community has been very supportive and I am inspired by the students, faculty and research community. I look forward to continuing my research on the green economy, inequality and climate change, and advancing our understanding of these critical issues.”

Anne Russon
Anne Russon

Russon, the recipient of the Principal’s Research Excellence Award in the established scholar category, is a world-renowned psychologist and primatologist. Since 1989, she has been studying intelligence and cognition in ex-captive Bornean orangutans rehabilitated and released to free forest life and, most recently, wild orangutan behaviour and ecology. Her research in the fields of primate intelligence, behaviour and ecology has been widely published. In the past three years, her publication record includes a co-edited volume, four articles in top-tier journals and six book chapters.

Russon is the author of several acclaimed books, including Orangutans: Wizards of the Rainforest, Reaching into Thought: The Minds of the Great Apes and The Evolution of Thought: Evolution of Great Ape Intelligence. She holds external research funding from NSERC, as well as private zoos. According to Dr. Shumaker of the Indianapolis Zoo, “It would not be an exaggeration to state that Dr. Russon’s research defines the literature.” Russon has also popularized her research findings in The New Yorker and National Geographic.

“Over my many years of working at Glendon, my departmental colleagues and the Glendon community as a whole have been exceptionally supportive of my research,” said Russon. “So I am especially pleased to receive the Glendon Principal’s Research Excellence Award this year, since Glendon’s support has been such a major contributor to my research success.”

The awards will be presented in March 2016 at the Glendon Celebration of Excellence event.

The Michael Ondaatje Reading Series presents David Bezmozgis

The Michael Ondaatje Reading Series will present award-winning author and acclaimed filmmaker David Bezmozgis on Nov. 24 from 4:30 to 6:30pm at York’s Glendon campus, Senior Common Room.

David Bezmozgis
David Bezmozgis

The series is sponsored by Ondaatje, who taught English literature for a number of years at Glendon, and by Glendon’s Department of English. It brings contemporary Canadian writers and poets to Glendon to read from their recent work and discuss the writing process. The lectures are free and open to the public.

Bezmozgis gained recognition on the CanLit scene in 2004 with his collection Natasha and Other Stories. The book of seven stories won the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for First Book as well as the Toronto Book Award. It also ranked in the top 10 of Amazon.com’s best books of 2004 and was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award, the LA Times First Book Award and the Canadian Governor General’s award for fiction

Stories from Natasha and Other Stories were anthologized in the The Best American Short Stories 2005 & 2006, and in 2010 Bezmozgis was included in the The New Yorker’s “20 under 40” issue.

In 2011, he published his first novel, The Free World, which was also met with unanimous critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the prestigious Scotiabank/Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Award and the Trillium Prize. His second novel, The Betrayers, was published in 2014 and won the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction and was shortlisted for the Scotiabank/Giller Prize.

As accomplished as he is in literature, Bezmozgis has recently turned his sights on film. After graduating from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, he wrote and directed his first feature, entitled Victoria Day. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009, and in Canada the film received a Genie Award for Best Original Screenplay. His second feature film, an adaptation of his story Natasha, will be released in 2016.

Bezmozgis is a MacDowell Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, a Dorothy & Lewis B. Cullman Fellow and a Radcliffe Fellow. Born in Riga, Latvia, he now resides in Toronto.

For more details on the event, contact Patricia Munoz at ext. 88175.

Pan Am Games CEO Saad Rafi will deliver 2015 John Holmes Memorial Lecture

Saäd Rafi
Saäd Rafi
Saäd Rafi
Saäd Rafi

Saäd Rafi will share his experiences leading the Toronto2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games when he delivers the 2015 John Holmes Memorial Lecture at York University’s Glendon campus on Oct. 27.

The chief executive officer of the TO2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games’ organizing committee will present his lecture “Sport as a Springboard for Improved International Relations: Insights from the Pan Am Games”  at 7:30pm in A100, Centre of Excellence, Glendon College.

The lecture will be presented in English, and advance seating is required for the event through invitation@glendon.yorku.ca.

Rafi joined the TO2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games’ organizing committee as chief executive officer in January 2014, steering the direction of the world’s third largest international multi-sports Games.

He came into the role after a lengthy career in Ontario’s public and private sector, where he was successful in delivering large-scale transformation, change management and project management.

Before taking charge of the 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games, Rafi served as deputy minister of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Between 2010 and 2014, he administered an annual budget of $49 billion – the largest health budget in Canada – and oversaw one of the most significant system transformations in Ontario’s health-care sector.

During his 25-year career, he served in three other different deputy minister roles. He also built a successful advisory practice in infrastructure and project finance while he was a partner with Deloitte and Touche, LLP.

The annual John Holmes Memorial Lecture at Glendon honours the late John W. Holmes, Canadian diplomat, writer, administrator and professor of international relations at Glendon from 1971 to 1981. Holmes was a tireless promoter of Canada both at home and abroad in political, diplomatic and educational circles. He also participated in the founding of the United Nations and attended its first General Assembly in 1945.

John Holmes

John Holmes
John Holmes

Shortly after his death in 1988, a memorial fund was set up at Glendon under the leadership of Professor Albert Tucker, principal of Glendon from 1970 to 1975 and chair of the Department of History at the time, to create a series of annual lectures sponsored by Glendon’s International Studies program in Holmes’s honour.

The first John Holmes Memorial Lecture was delivered by Sir Brian Urquhart, former undersecretary general of the United Nations. Other distinguished speakers have included former prime minister of Canada Kim Campbell; former deputy secretary general of the United Nations Louise Fréchette; Canadian ambassadors Geoffrey Pearson and Anne Leahy; author John Ralston Saul; retired Supreme Court Justice Peter deCarteret Cory; and former deputy secretary general of Amnesty International and Glendon alumnus Vincent del Buono (BA Hons. ’72), among others.

Admission to the lecture is free, but seating is limited so reservations are recommended.

RSC names three York U professors to the College of New Scholars, Artists & Scientists

Royal Society of Canada logo

The Royal Society of Canada (RSC) has named three York University professors to the College of New Scholars, Artists & Scientists.

Mark Jurdjevic, professor of history at Glendon College; Kristin Andrews, professor of philosophy; and Fuyuki Kurasawa, professor of sociology in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, have been named members of the college. In total, the RSC named 48 new members to the College of New Scholars, Artists & Scientists. The presentation of this cohort will take place on Friday, Nov. 27, at the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, B.C.

Jurdjevic
Mark Jurdjevic

A social historian of ideas, Jurdjevic studies the political and intellectual history of early modern Europe. His books and articles have shown how abstract ideas became powerful agents of social and political change in the Italian Renaissance. Collectively, his scholarship excavates a dramatic and illuminating moment in a much larger debate about the relationship between the humanities, active conceptions of citizenship and robust democracies.

“This appointment to the RSC College of New Scholars is a testament to the breadth and quality of Professor Jurdjevic’s scholarship,” said Christina Clark-Kazak, associate principal, Research and Graduate Studies, Glendon College. “We are proud of his achievements and his ongoing contributions to enriching Glendon’s liberal arts mandate.”

Kristin Andrews
Kristin Andrews

Andrews has been instrumental in developing the field of philosophy of animal minds. Her interdisciplinary work in the philosophy of psychology demonstrates evolutionary continuity between human and other animals in ways that challenge human uniqueness claims based on supposedly human-unique cognitive capacities. This prize-winning research has received international attention among scholars and in the popular press, and has practical policy consequences about how we should treat other species.

Kurasawa
Fuyuki Kurasawa

Through his pioneering work on the culture and politics of global civil society, Kurasawa has contributed substantially to research on cross-cultural analysis, human rights and humanitarian crises, and the impact of new technologies on public understanding of global problems. The recipient of several national and international distinctions, he is an inaugural York Research Chair in Global Digital Citizenship and a sought-after bilingual media analyst.

“Congratulations to Professors Andrews and Kurasawa on their remarkable achievement,” said Dean Ananya Mukherjee-Reed of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. “Membership in RSC’s College of New Scholars recognizes the significant contributions they have made to their respective fields, even at this early stage in their careers. They are among our emerging research leaders.”

Together, the members of the college will address issues of particular concern to new scholars, artists and scientists, for the advancement of understanding and the benefit of society, taking advantage of the interdisciplinary approaches fostered by the establishment of the college.

“The college is Canada’s first national system of multidisciplinary recognition for the emerging generation of leaders,” said RSC President Graham Bell. “Together, the members of the college will be in a position to provide guidance on issues of importance to Canadians, and to promote Canadian achievements in the arts, humanities and sciences around the world.”

For more information, visit the RSC website.

Memorial to celebrate former Glendon principal David McQueen

David McQueen
David McQueen

A memorial celebrating the life and career of Professor David McQueen (1926-2015), former principal of Glendon College, will take place on Sunday, Oct. 18, from 1:30 to 3:30pm in the Senior Common Room, Glendon campus.

David McQueen
David McQueen

McQueen spent 24 years with Glendon College, joining the faculty in 1969 as a professor of economics after a lengthy career with the Bank of Canada.

Soon after his arrival at Glendon, McQueen was appointed chairman of the Department of Economics by Scott Reid, the college’s first principal.

“He quickly became a very established member of the faculty,” says Professor Emeritus Albert Tucker, another former principal of Glendon College. “He was a very competent economist.”

Tucker, who became principal in 1970, recalls McQueen being one of the most “mature and balanced” people traversing a challenging time at the University.

At that time, he said, Glendon faced difficulties being accepted as a bilingual college. Then, in 1975, McQueen confronted those challenges when he became Glendon’s third principal, and the first bilingual principal.

“Every principal after him has been bilingual,” noted Tucker. “There was a very close relationship between the principal and the deans [at the Keele campus], and David was very well respected and accepted.

“He was a very important principal of Glendon. He established the need for the principal to function bilingually.”

McQueen served as principal until 1980, and following that returned to teaching full time.

“David was highly respected by his students,” said Tucker. “He had a good sense of humour, he loved his popular music and he was in touch with the student leadership at Glendon. He made an impact on his students.”

One student in particular, said Tucker, thrived under McQueen’s tutelage and went on to become the head of the Canadian Bankers Association.

After retiring in 1993, McQueen relocated to Uxbridge, Ont., where he took an interest in landscape, photography and preservation efforts related to the Oak Ridges Moraine.

McQueen will be honoured with some words from colleagues and admirers, including former principal Kenneth McRoberts and current Principal Donald Ipperciel.

Those who would like to share some words at the memorial should contact Alison McQueen at amcqueen@stanford.edu.