Tag: VP Research and Innovation

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New report says 200,000 Canadians experience homelessness each year

a homeless youth

The Canadian Homelessness Research Network (Homeless Hub) and the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness released the first extensive Canadian report card on homelessness called State of Homelessness in Canada: 2013 today in Toronto.

Highlights of the report include:

  • 200,000 different Canadians experience homelessness each year, with as many as 1.3 million experiencing homelessness in the last five years;
  • 30,000 Canadians are homeless on any given night;
      • 2,880 unsheltered (outside in cars, parks, on the street)
      • 14,400 staying in Emergency Homelessness Shelters
      • 7,350 staying in Violence Against Women Shelters
      • 4,464 provisionally accommodated (homeless but in hospitals, prison or interim housing)
  • for most homelessness is a very short, one time experience but between 4,000 to 8,000 are chronically homeless (long-term homeless) and 6,000 to 22,000 are episodically homeless (experience repeated episodes of homelessness over a lifetime);
  • chronic and episodically homeless people (less than 15 per cent of the total) take up more than 50% of the emergency shelter space in Canada; and,
  • homelessness costs the Canadian economy $7.05 billion per year.

“The State of Homelessness provides a starting point to inform the development of a consistent, evidence-based approach towards ending homelessness.” says York University Professor Stephen Gaetz, director of the Canadian Homelessness Research Network. “Our goal in developing this report was to both assess the breadth of the problem and to develop a methodology for national measurement”.

“The State of Homelessness also highlights where there has been some meaningful progress in Canada that proves homelessness is not an intractable problem,” added Tim Richter, president & CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness. “Homelessness can be solved and we have some excellent Canadian examples to follow.”

Among the examples of progress cited in the report are:

  • Vancouver’s 66 per cent reduction in street homelessness since 2008
  • Edmonton’s 30 per cent reduction in overall homelessness since 2008
  • Toronto’s 51 per cent decrease in street homelessness since 2006
  • Alberta’s provincial plan to end homelessness and the 16 per cent province-wide reduction since 2008
  • Fredericton, New Brunswick’s 30 per cent reduction in emergency shelter use
  • The Mental Health Commission of Canada At Home/Chez Soi Housing First project in five Canadian cities
  • Renewal of the federal Homelessness Partnering Strategy, refocused on Housing First

The State of Homelessness also offers six recommendations including:

  1. Communities should develop and implement clear plans to end homelessness, supported by all levels of government.
  2. All levels of government must work to increase the supply of affordable housing.
  3. Communities – and all levels of government – should embrace Housing First.
  4. Eliminating chronic and episodic homelessness should be prioritized.
  5. Ending Aboriginal Homelessness should be prioritized as both a distinct category of action and part of the overall strategy to end homelessness.
  6. Introduce more comprehensive data collection, performance monitoring, analysis and research.

The Canadian Homelessness Research Network (Homeless Hub) at York University is dedicated to mobilizing research evidence to have a bigger impact on solutions to homelessness in Canada.

The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness has been formed to create a national movement to end homelessness in Canada from the community up.

Osgoode Professor Shelley Gavigan’s book wins multiple prizes

The Canadian Historical Association (CHA) has awarded the 2013 CLIO Prize – The Prairies to Osgoode Professor Shelley Gavigan’s book, Hunger, Horses and Government Men: Criminal Law on the Aboriginal Plains, 1870-1905 (Vancouver: UBC Press for the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, 2012).  The prize is given for exceptional contributions to regional history.

Shelley Gavigan 02-03-13_USE THISShelley Gavigan

Gavigan’s book was also one of five books short-listed for the CHA’s Sir John A. Macdonald Prize (awarded annually to the best scholarly book in Canadian history) and received an Honourable Mention.  The awards were announced June 4 at the annual meeting of the CHA in Victoria.

In addition, Gavigan has been informed that the Canadian Law & Society Association (CLSA) will award the book the 2012 CLSA Annual Book Prize “Honourable Mention Award” for “an outstanding contribution to the study of law and society” at its annual meeting in Vancouver in early July.

CFI awards two York researchers $241, 677 in research infrastructure

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has awarded York University $241, 677 in infrastructure funding to support the research of two professors. 

suzanne-tankYFILESuzanne Tank (right), professor in the Department of Geography, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, will receive $135,148 in funding to support the development of a laboratory to support research in further understanding how the permafrost thaw currently occurring across the North affects the way that land and freshwater environments are linked to one another.  The project will also examine the implications of this change for the northern carbon cycle, overall water quality, and the accessibility of northern lands for development and societal uses. The new CFI infrastructure will act synergistically with equipment already in place to create a unique facility that will serve as a nucleus for meaningful collaborations within York, across Ontario and Canada, and with international partners. This work will enable significant skills development for numerous Ontarians, and have direct implications for northern infrastructure and the well-being of northern residents.

GEORGEzyFILEGeorg Zoidl (left), professor in the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health, and the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Canada Research Chair in Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience, will receive $106, 529 in funding to examine the fundamental processes of communication between nerve cells. Zoidl’s lab investigates communication at specialized cell contacts, the Electrical Synapses, with the aim of elucidating how dysfunctional communication at these synapses can lead to significant disorders including, but not limited to epilepsy, stroke, or inflammation.  Collectively, the research infrastructure acquired will allow understanding of key areas affected by malfunctions of electrical communication including learning and memory deficiencies and disruptions of the visual system.

“I am delighted that CFI has decided to invest in the work of Professors Tank and Zoidl,” said Robert Haché, vice-president research & innovation. “CFI’s investments in state-of-the-art infrastructure at York will support the exceptional work of our leading researchers.”

Gary Goodyear, minister of state (science and technology), made the announcement on June 5.  York’s projects were part of a $47.7 million investment, which provides Canadian researchers with the necessary tools to carry out a range of frontier research. The funding supports 234 research projects in Canada.

A complete list of CFI recipients is available on the CFI website.

Governor General’s Gold Medal winner unlocking mysteries of immune system

Bhargavi Duvvuri (PhD ’12), winner of this year’s gold Governor General’s Academic Medal, is nothing if not dedicated to unlocking and mapping the mysteries of human immune diversity in the context of immunodeficiency and autoimmunity.

She is striving to discover further ways to understand the complex mechanisms of autoimmune disorders with interdisciplinary approaches so that diagnosis and treatment can be better tailored.

The gold medal is awarded for outstanding academic excellence at the graduate level and is the most prestigious award BhargaviDuvvurithat students in Canadian schools can receive. The medal will be presented on behalf of the Governor General by York University, along with a personalized certificate signed by Governor General David Johnston.

Bhargavi Duvvuri

While at York’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science in the Faculty of Health, Duvvuri researched why and how some regions of antibodies mutate and not others, and whether the immune system reacts to DNA changes over a person’s lifetime. It does. But then why does the immune system sometimes overreact, creating an autoimmune disorder? She is working on that answer. Already, this multiple award-winning graduate has pinpointed important areas for further study under the direction of her PhD supervisor, York University Professor Gillian E. Wu.

In her PhD years alone, she published 11 research articles in peer-reviewed journals. She has previously won a York President Susan Mann Dissertation Scholarship given to encourage and assist outstanding students in their final year of doctoral study. In addition, she has received two Ontario Graduate Scholarships and travel fellowships from York University, the Canadian Society of Immunology and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Duvvuri has a master’s degree in biotechnology from India and received a junior research fellowship through the Indian Council of Medical Research. She chose kinesiology and health sciences at York University for its interdisciplinary research focus. With her interest in immunology and bioinformatics, she also chose Wu, a reputed immunologist, and is glad she did.

“The major strength throughout my PhD has been my supervisor because she allows me to be independent and to try my own ideas, to test my own ideas,” says Duvvuri. “So that’s how I ended up having 11 publications, not just from my PhD, but I was also able to do most of my research collaborating across York and with other universities.”

Duvvuri is now conducting her postdoctoral research in the area of childhood arthritis at the Hospital for Sick Children with funding from the Arthritis Society. “I do similar research there as I did at York, only broader,” she says.

The same year she graduated from York with the necessary grades to win the Governor General’s Academic Medal, Duvvuri also became a Canadian citizen. It was a good year, she says.

Without any other close family in Canada, Duvvuri credits her husband, Venkata Duvvuri, a York alumnus, with being a source of support for her throughout her studies. As a young mother working on her PhD in a foreign country, she says it has been crucial to her success. Their young daughter Anasuya, who was one month old when Duvvuri started her PhD, was a frequent visitor to the University, making studying at York a family affair.

“I’m very honoured to receive this award,” says Duvvuri. “It’s like proving myself here in my new home, but they’re also celebrating in India.”

Summer school is in session for future vision researchers

Twenty-four students from Canada and the United States are taking part in a week-long vision science program at York University designed, in part, to recruit top graduate students to York University’s Centre for Vision Research.

The internationally renowned CVR is comprised of a core group of 30 scientists in the Department of Psychology, the School of Kinesiology & Health Studies in the Faculty of Health, the Departments of Biology and Physics in the Faculty of Science, and the Department of Computer Science in the Lassonde School of Engineering.

Twenty-four students from schools across Canada and the United States are at York University this week to take part in the Centre For Vision Research summer school
Twenty-four students from schools across Canada and the United States are at York University this week to take part in the Centre For Vision Research summer school

“We are interested in promoting the Centre for Vision Research to these high-calibre students who may be potential graduate school applicants in the following year,” said York psychology Professor Jennifer Steeves, who organized the summer school with her colleague Richard Murray, also a professor of psychology in York’s Faculty of Health.

Third-year undergraduate students from universities spanning coast to coast, from Memorial University of Newfoundland and the University of British Columbia are joining six students from across the United States, including Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Southern California. Students were selected from over 100 applicants from around the world.

The program curriculum reflects the diverse on-going research projects at the centre, including studies on the visual perception of light, shape and objects, the neural circuitry of visual memory and attention, as well as applied topics in virtual reality, robotics, visuomotor interfaces and clinical aspects of vision.

“We wanted to find students that would fit the whole span of disciplines we have at the Centre for Vision Research, from computer science to psychology, to kinesiology and more,” added Steeves.

“Students will be hands-on participants in CVR laboratories, studying a wide range of topics, including how we interact with and manipulate objects in our environment, how we recognize faces, and how we see in three dimensions,” said Steeves.

Many of the sessions will highlight research and technology that most undergraduate science students will not have been exposed to before. One such piece of equipment is York’s Tumbling Room. The Tumbling Room lab is an 8-foot cube resembling a typical room except that it can be rotated around a stationary subject or a subject can be rotated within the stationary room. By manipulating various visual and gravitational cues, students will be able to quantify subjects’ perceptions of their own orientation.

Students will have the opportunity to experience a brain scan in the new MRI facility in the Sherman Health Science Research Centre. They will observe cutting-edge brain stimulation technology that can transiently interrupt mental processing, allowing a better understanding of how the brain works.

In the 3DFlic lab, students will participate in a state-of-the-art stereoscopic 3D lab which is aimed to push the boundaries of the experience and technology of 3D film.

The Vision Science Summer School is now in its seventh year. It is funded by a training grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s CREATE program and several vice presidents’ and dean’s offices at York University.

The summer school is running this week, June 3 to 7, in Lassonde 3033 as well as in various CVR labs across York’s Keele campus.

Passings: Professor Ian Howard, a pioneer in vision research

Ian Porteus Howard, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus and founder of York University’s Centre for Vision Research, was diagnosed with inoperable cancer a few weeks ago and died on June 1. He was 85.

Prof. Howard was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, in the North of England in1927. His father was a foundry worker from Warrington and his mother had been a weaver in the Rochdale cotton mills. He attended Ulverston Grammar School in the United Kingdom, but left school at the age of 16 and worked for several years in industrial chemical laboratories, while studying chemistry and biology at night school.

He entered Manchester University in 1948 to study chemistry and biology but changed to psychology and physiology during his second IanHowardyear, obtaining a BSc in psychology in 1952. He then worked at Durham University in the Northeast of England as a research assistant in the newly founded Psychology Department. In 1953 he was appointed lecturer.

He married Antonie (Toni) Eber in 1957 with whom he had three children, Ruth, and twins Neil and Martin. Prof. Howard was a visiting associate professor in the Department of Psychology at New York University in 1965, the year he obtained a PhD from Durham University. He published his first book, Human Spatial Orientation, with W. B. Templeton in 1966.

He came to York University in 1966 with the intention of building a concentration of people interested in vision. Prof. Howard was promoted to full professor in 1967 and was chair of the Department of Psychology, from 1968 to 1971. During that time he recruited several visual scientists and continued to be influential in attracting more to form the York Vision Group. The group became an official York Research Unit under the title the Centre for Vision Research in 1992. In 1988, together with David Martin Regan, Prof. Howard founded the Human Performance Laboratory of the Institute for Space and Terrestrial Sciences. This was an Ontario Centre of Excellence with its headquarters at York University. It was later renamed the Centre for Research in Earth and Space Technologies (CRESTech).

Prof. Howard’s initial research, starting in the late 1950s, investigated perceptual ambiguity, visual-motor co-ordination and eye movements. When he came to York, he researched several aspects of spatial orientation, including vection, induced motion and torsional and vergence eye movements. He retired from his teaching appointment at York University in 1993 to become a senior scientist with CRESTech when he became interested in stereoscopic vision. He continued to work on human spatial orientation, sponsored by grants from NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine (DCIEM).

He leaves an impressive legacy of original scientific discoveries, as well as several highly influential books, including Human Visual Orientation (1982), Binocular Vision and Stereopsis (1995 with Brian Rogers), Seeing in Depth (2002, 2 volumes, with Brian Rogers) and most recently Perceiving in Depth (2012, 3 volumes, with Brian Rogers). The Centre for Vision Research hosted a Festshrift for him in 2001 the proceedings of which were published as Levels of Perception (2002), edited by York psychology Professor Laurence Harris, director of the Centre for Vision Research, and Professor Michael Jenkin of York’s Lassonde School of Engineering.

In addition to his professional interests, Prof. Howard had a lasting interest in belief systems of all kinds. He was a confirmed atheist and sceptic about all things supernatural and most things political. He enjoyed reading history, listening to classical music, walking, especially in the English countryside, woodworking and sculpting, and composing games for which he was famous. Some of these novel games were tried out at the regular, famous parties that he and Toni hosted at his house and in his condo in Sarasota, Florida, where he was a well known figure at the annual ARVO conference.

He is survived by his wife, Toni, his three children and seven grandchildren. He will be greatly missed.

A memorial service will be arranged shortly. For details, contact 905-889-0157 or martinhoward@sympatico.ca.

York grad student among Ontario Women’s Health Scholars Award winners

York kinesiology and health PhD student Kara Hawkins is one of eight outstanding women at Ontario universities being awarded more than $165,000 to improve the health of women through the 2013-2014 Ontario Women’s Health Scholars Awards. Hawkins received the award for her work on the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease.

Hawkins uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to compare the brain structure and function of women at increased genetic risk of Alzheimer’s disease with “age-matched” healthy individuals or controls. Hawkins tracks the two groups as they perform exercises using a novel cognitive motor integration assessment tool. She hopes the research will produce a behavioural measure for the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease and provide insight into the underlying brain changes Headshot_KaraHawkins-187x300associated with the very early stages of this disease.

Kara Hawkins

Her research combines both practical and theoretical experience with neuropsychology, which is inspired by her past work experience gained with the neuropsychology department at Baycrest, a geriatric research and care centre located in Toronto.

The Women’s Health Scholars Award comes as she enters the home stretch of her research project and at the end of three years of funding she received from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. “It’s motivating,” she said, “and not just for me, but for others as well.”

Administered by the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), the awards were established in 2001 to ensure Ontario attracts and retains pre-eminent women’s health scholars who excel in the creation of knowledge about women’s health and translate that into better health outcomes for them. The awards are valued up to $22,000 each.

“We are proud of the many talented women scholars at Ontario universities devoted to improving the lives of women by getting to the root causes of their unique health care issues,” says Alastair Summerlee, chair of COU and president of the University of Guelph. “The important work they do contributes to healthier lives for women around the world.”

The awards were announced May 30.

Researcher receives CIHR catalyst grant to screen for depression using e-health

A research project screening patients for mental health, especially depression, using e-health technology has earned a York Faculty of Health researcher a recent one-year Canadian Institutes of Health Research catalyst grant for e-health innovations.

Professor Farah Ahmad, the co-principal investigator with Cliff Ledwos, director of Primary Health Care and Special Initiatives at Access Alliance Multicultural Health & Community Services, and her team received $89, 933to follow up on the results of a pilot project that saw computer tablets being used to break down barriers to often undetected mental and social needs of refugees. (See the Sept. 7, 2012 issue of YFile.)

“We are developing and evaluating a user-friendly, touch-screen, multi-language Interactive Computer-Assisted Screening (iCAS) tool for FarahAhmadcommon mental health conditions, including depression,” says Ahmad of York’s School of Health Policy & Management.

Farah Ahmad

Four million (12 per cent) Canadians experience a major depressive episode in their lifetime. Yet, people experiencing depression delay seeking care and clinicians detect only 50 per cent of cases. This is alarming considering the availability of effective care for depression, says Ahmad.

“The iCAS screening will be completed by patients during their waiting time and the tool will generate tailored messages for both patients and clinicians prior to the medical visit. The tool will also assess patients’ social context to assist in pathways to care.”

To this end, interactive computer-assisted screening for depression has the potential to optimize existing practices and improve the quality of care by meeting the needs of patients by addressing social sensitivity and language proficiency and clinicians who are facing time constraints.

For evaluation, a mixed-method approach is planned with usability testing, pilot randomized trial and qualitative interviews with clinicians, says Ahmad. “The randomized trial will evaluate the impact of the iCAS on the process-of-care, compared to usual care, in increasing clinician detection of depression, which is the primary outcome, but also, the enablement of the patient to cope with illness.”

Although, the current project will focus on English and Spanish versions of iCAS, the aim is to expand the tool in the future to multiple community health centres and to diverse language groups.

“We anticipate that system-wide diffusion of an effective, efficient and acceptable iCAS system would create capacity to measure mental health and identify trends at the population level, while allowing comparisons by jurisdictions, communities and social conditions to inform health policy,” says Ahmad. “An evidence-based loop would be created to enhance front-line health-care quality, as well as population health.”

York professor reaches 60-year milestone in research funding

With a career that spans more than 50 years and more than $12 million in scientific research funding, York Professor Gordon Shepherd has received another five years of funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to support for his work in upper atmospheric science.

ShepherdOfficeProfessor Emeritus of Space Science Gordon Shepherd in his office 

This grant will be used to continue his research in advancing the knowledge of Earth’s thermosphere dynamics with new analyses of the existing data set collected from 1991 to 1997 and the extended Wind Imaging Interferometer (WINDII) data set collected from 1998 to 2003. The extended data are currently being processed with funding from the Canadian Space Agency, making one full 11-year solar cycle of WINDII data available for the first time.

“The WINDII instrument,” Shepherd explains, “is unique in its ability to study winds occurring at altitudes of 80 to 300 kilometres above the Earth. By analyzing the HadfieldShepherdGarneauwind circulation in the upper atmosphere, it will aid in understanding thermosphere dynamics, such as atmospheric tides and the response to solar activity, including climate change and the effects of global warming.”

Canadian astronauts Chris Hadfield (left) and Marc Garneau (right) with Shepherd following the awarding of the John H. Chapman Award of Excellence by the Canadian Space Agency in 2003

At 82 years old, most people would be retired and away from academia, but not Shepherd. He feels there is more work to be done. As an active researcher, celebrated author, renowned speaker and champion for space science, Shepherd’s notable work includes:

    • conceiving ways of employing optical interferometry for studies of the Earth’s atmosphere, its airglow and its aurora borealis;
    • flying these devices into the aurora on sounding rockets launched from Churchill, Man.;
    • being principal investigator for the Red Line Photometer, launched on the Canadian ISIS-II satellite in 1971, for studies of the red daytime aurora;
    • leading the WINDII conception, development, flight operations and scientific analyses of the data, now to include the extended data set;
    • currently leading the development of a stratospheric wind instrument; and
    • co-authoring, with Agnes Kruchio, Canada’s Fifty Years in Space (2008).

“Although, as of May 1st, I’m now a member of the Lassonde School of Engineering,” Shepherd says, “forty-four years of my NSERC research were conducted within what is now the Faculty of Science.” Shepherd says he is grateful for the support he received for his research during his years in the Faculty of Science.

WINDII installation 2aThe Canada/France WIND Imaging Interferometer (WINDII) instrument (Principal Investigator Gordon Shepherd) being lowered onto NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite in 1991

As the end of the new funding in 2018 approaches, he’ll have had 60 years (1958 to 2018) of continuous federal government funding. It is clear that the work of Shepherd and his many students and colleagues is important and is making a significant contribution to Canadians and the world.

Prof unveils ‘Mothers Project’ research, looking at parenting children with disabilities

In Canada, more than 202,000 (or 3.7 per cent) of children under the age of 15 have one or more disabilities, with 96 per cent of their care provided by their mothers. Just what kind of barriers do these mothers face, especially as immigrants? What works and what doesn’t when raising a child with disabilities in Toronto?

That was the focus of a recent Café Scientifique – Mothers Speak Up! On Parenting Children with Disabilities: Implications for Mom’s Wellbeing and Social Support, sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Gender CafeScientificand Health at the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. It was also where York nursing Professor Nazilla Khanlou, principal investigator of the Mothers Project, presented the preliminary findings of her team’s research.

Panellists at the Café Scientifique, from left, Charmaine Williams, Gail Jones, Sheilla Jennings, Sharon Smith, Yana Skybin and Nazilla Khanlou

The Echo Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research in York’s Faculty of Health Khanlou shared the project’s research summary, Voices of Immigrant Mothers of Children with Disabilities: Availability and Use of Social Support, with more than 50 mothers, service providers, family advocates, students and researchers. The full report is expected to be ready this summer.

Khanlou opened the café by reading a letter of greeting from the Minister of Children & Youth Services Teresa Piruzza, followed by an overview of the Mothers Project, a panel discussion and an open forum where participants could share their own stories. Mother after mother did just that.

The goal of the Mothers Project, says Khanlou, is to understand the perceptions of social support among immigrant mothers of children with disabilities and to inform services and social support for these mothers. It is important that policy makers and planners know that coordinated service and care for these mothers is needed, says Khanlou. As part of the research, interviews were conducted with 30 immigrant mothers of children with disabilities and 27 service providers, mainly from the Greater Toronto Area.

CafeSciFrom left, Mahdieh Dastjerdi, Alexis Buettgen, Sadora Asefew and Nazilla Khanlou

The findings point to several barriers to service, including language, financial, availability and accessibility, coupled with long wait times, transportation, isolation and discrimination, as well as disjointed and dispersed services. “It is disheartening to learn that these barriers have not changed much over the years,” says Khanlou. When information and services were coordinated and available under the same roof, however, mothers spoke of the ease of accessing them.

The panel discussed many of the same barriers that arose in the research, derived either from personal experience or from what mothers told them in the course of their work. The panellists were: Sheila Jennings (MA ’11), a lawyer, PhD candidate at York’s Osgoode Hall Law School and the Mothers Project coordinator; Gail Jones, director of community support at Kerry’s Place Autism Services; Yana Skybin, a YMCA settlement counsellor in Barrie; Sharon Smith, originally from Trinidad and a mother of three adult children; and Charmaine Williams, associate dean, academic, at the University of Toronto. For bios, click here.

CafeSci2From left, Meghan Saari, Nazilla Khanlou and Wajma Soroor

Jennings told café participants that women sometimes felt they faced conflicting information from both their country of origin and Canada about what documentation was needed, and this hindered their access to services. Some mothers also said government-run ESL programs that enforced strict attendance policies made learning English difficult, as they often needed to be absent from class to attend to their disabled child.

“Such a policy is a barrier for immigrant mothers to employment, ultimately,” says Jennings. “A question that arises for me is whether ESL programs adequately accommodate immigrant mothers with children with disabilities, and if not, what can be done to change that.”

Several women said they are “disabled by proxy”, as they face isolation from other mothers because of societal uncertainty about how to communicate about disability. Participants and panellists also described accessing government service as one of their most difficult barriers. “I’m a social worker and I’m supposed to know how to get through the bureaucratic processes, and I don’t know,” said Williams.

Discrimination based on the degree of disability, language skills or cultural, is another issue for these mothers, says Smith. Skybin agreed, saying, “If you even have a bit of an accent, they treat you as if you have a disability yourself or are uneducated. It isn’t an equal conversation.” Jones said the system isn’t made for those whose first language is neither English nor French. “As service providers, we need to do better,” said Jones. “We need to have staff education so that we are more aware of cultural differences and nuances.”

Difficulties extended to medical services. Skybin said she had difficulty finding a doctor to perform the appropriate tests when one of her children showed signs of developmental delay. The doctor told her, “He’s fine. You just need to learn to parent better.”

Skybin also described how cultural differences played a role. She said she would go to her children’s school and question the teachers in a very direct way typical to her in Ukraine. “I’m not there to chat. I’m there to talk about my child.” But this made others less likely to help as her directness rubbed them the wrong way. She didn’t understand what was expected culturally in Canada, though she thinks it shouldn’t have been a barrier to service in a multicultural country.

“The school system is a one of the areas where parents feel their children don’t get the support they need,” says Khanlou.

For more information, see the preliminary findings of the Mothers Project or visit Nazilla Khanlou’s website.