Celebrate York’s outstanding alumni at the York U Alumni Awards show, Nov. 18
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Don’t miss your chance to be part of the 2021 York U Alumni Awards. The awards show, honouring the outstanding accomplishments of four Alumni Award recipients, will be an evening of celebration, networking and entertainment and is open to the entire York U community.
Alumni Shahir Massoud (BBA ’06) and Moboluwajidide “Bo” Joseph (BA ’21) will be your hosts for the evening, which will feature performances by four-time JUNO Award-nominated musician and York student Sarah Slean, students from the York U Gospel Choir and Vanier College Productions along with an appearance by Toronto-based comedian and alumna Hoodo Hersi (BA ’14, BEd ’15) – all from the comfort of your home.
This special event will also include remarks from President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton, York University Chancellor Gregory Sorbara (BA ’78, LLB ’81), Chair of the York University Alumni Board Francesca Accinelli (BFA ’92), and interim Vice-President, Advancement Louise Spencer.
This year’s award recipients include Earle Nestmann (MSc ’71, PhD ’74); Christopher House, C.M. (BFA ’79); Pamela Ohashi (BSc Hons ’82); and Weyni Mengesha (BFA ’05). Click here to learn more about this year’s award recipients.
This event’s premier sponsor is TD Insurance, exclusive provider of car and home insurance for York U alumni, students, employees, and retirees.
York University remembers the fallen
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A small group of students, faculty, course directors and staff at York University who were scheduled to be on the Keele Campus on Thursday, Nov. 11 attended the first in-person Remembrance Day ceremony since the start of the pandemic.
They were joined by a large contingent of University community members who watched the virtual town hall livestream. Both the in-person and virtual audiences gathered to pay tribute to the brave men and women who made sacrifices to ensure our freedom.
At 11am on Nov. 11, 1918, the guns on the Western Front fell silent after more than four years of continuous warfare. Remembrance Day honours the men and women who were killed during the two world wars and other conflicts. Previously known as Armistice Day, it was renamed Remembrance Day after the Second World War.
University community members were led to the flagpole on the Harry Arthurs Common with the playing of the “Call of the Pipes” by pipe major Ian K. MacDonald of the Toronto Police Pipe Band. The ceremony continued with the signing of “O Canada” by the York University Chamber Choir. Both the in-person and online audiences were welcomed to the ceremony by Vice-President Finance and Administration Carol McAulay.
Philip Cote, Young Spiritual Elder offered remarks and sang an Indigenous song to commemorate the occasion.
Remarks were then offered by President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton spoke about the 105th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Beumount-Hamel, which saw more than 24,000 Canadians and Newfoundlanders killed. This year also marks the 80th anniversary of the Defense of Hong Kong, which took place during the Second World War and the 30th anniversary of the end of the Gulf War. It is also the 85th anniversary of the National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother, who is selected annually by the Royal Canadian Legion to represent all mothers who lost children to military service.
Following her remarks, Vice-Provost Students Lucy Fromowitz read the “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” and Captain Mike Ablett, a PhD student in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, offered his remarks about the importance of Remembrance Day. Ana Kraljevic, President’s Ambassador and a Glendon student to read “En Silence” and Captain Mateo Moreno, an Infantry Officer at the Canadian Armed Forces, recited “Act of Remembrance.”
“The Last Post” was played by Brittany Zecha, a York U student musician, which was followed by two minutes of silence after which MacDonald played “Lament” on the pipes and Zecha played “Reveille/Rouse.”
The event continued with the ceremonial laying of the wreaths, and the singing of “God Save the Queen” by the York University Chamber Choir.
The full video of the 2021 Remembrance Day ceremony is available to view and can be found here.
Webinar focuses on justice and equity for youth at risk of homelessness
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The fifth webinar in the Making the Shift’s “In Conversation With…” series takes place Nov. 16. This webinar will focus on practices towards justice and equity for Indigenous, racialized and LGBTQ2S+ youth experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
While all youth who are homeless experience exclusion, youth who identify as Indigenous, racialized, LGBTQ2S+, or youth at these intersections, are particularly vulnerable to significant systemic and cultural barriers, resulting in a disproportionate risk of becoming homeless. This webinar is an opportunity for researchers, service providers, advocates, and policymakers to learn about preventative interventions and practices that work to address the unique needs of Indigenous, racialized and LGBTQ2S+ youth. Join Kim Kakakaway, training consultant at A Way Home Canada, Clovis Grant, CEO of 360° Kids, and Alex Abramovich, scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and assistant professor at the University of Toronto, for a rich discussion on how to produce positive, inclusionary outcomes for youth at risk of or who experience homelessness.
The webinar will be moderated by Cheyanne Ratman, co-founder & CEO of Ontario Children’s Advancement Coalition and MtS Scholar with Lived Experience Network member.
What can the visual arts teach us about Indigenous history and culture?
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Two Métis artists spoke with York University Faculty of Education Professor Susan Dion, associate vice-president Indigenous initiatives, about how their art educates and invites others to experience their culture and heritage.
Dion, asked Métis artists Marissa Magneson and Jason Baerg about their roles as artists and advocates, and how the visual arts are important in educating others.
Susan Dion
“As an academic in the Faculty of Education and the University’s inaugural vice-president of Indigenous initiatives, there are many important lessons that can be taken from Indigenous artforms, both related to self discovery and celebration of important days of history,” said Dion. “Many Indigenous artists, such as Métis artist Marissa Magneson, use art to signify important moments in Indigenous Peoples’ histories. A good example is Louis Riel Day, which is marked each year on November 16.
“It is an important day for Métis Peoples because Riel well known for his role in the Northwest Resistance, which was a stand against government encroachment of Métis lands. He is also widely considered a hero for defending Métis language, culture and political rights,” said Dion.“Following the defeat at the siege of Batoche, Riel was arrested, convicted of treason and executed. Despite this tragedy, Riel knew that artists would take the lead in the revitalization of Métis history and culture. This is best illustrated by his often-quoted words, ‘My people will sleep for 100 years, but when they awake, it will be the artists who will give them their spirit back.’”
Marissa Magneson, “Medicine Pouch” (@MagnesonStudios) Design by Dylan Miner (@wiisaakodewinini), Beadwork and tufting on leather
York alumna Marissa Magneson’s work is centred around decolonizing education, strengthening community and cultural reclamation. “It is through the arts that I have found my way back to my culture and now I use art to educate and share this journey with others. For many of my ancestors, it was safer to pass as French than admit they were Métis,” said Magneson. “If you could pass as white, you did for the safety and future of yourself and your children. Today I am proud to be Métis. The seeds my ancestors planted within me are now blossoming as I reclaim our culture, languages, traditions, artforms and ways of life.”
Magneson’s medicine pouch is beaded on leather that was sourced from her cousin, John Somosi and includes a design from Métis artist, Dylan Miner. “For me the design represents this phase of awakening that Riel spoke about. As the flower begins to bud, we are reclaiming what was taken, but never forgotten,” said Magneson.
Magneson is a Cree-Métis artist, photographer, educator, and workshop facilitator. An alumna of York University, Magneson has a BFA (honours) degree from York University and an MA in Canadian and Indigenous Studies from Trent University. Her master’s research explores Indigenous methodologies through a decolonial approach centred in beadwork as visual storytelling.
Jason Baerg, “Ispisîhêw ᐃᐢᐱᓰᐦᐁᐤ S” 4 x 5′ Acrylic on Wood, 2021
For Métis artist Jason Baerg, his work draws on work by the late Norval Morrisseau, considered to be the grandfather of contemporary Indigenous art.
Baerg spoke with Dion about one particularly meaningful installation (not shown).
“‘Copper and Red Thunderbird’ is a tribute to Norval Morrisseau (Copper Thunderbird) and my Spirit Name Mihko-Pihêsiw Napîw (Red Thunderbird),” said Baerg. “I was given my second Spirit Name, Mihko-Pihêsiw Napîw (Red Thunderbird), by Elder Raymond Ballentine from Pelican Narrow First Nations, which is in the vicinity of my homeland and where I was raised in Prince Albert. In the ceremony, he mentioned that he sensed Norval’s energy around and gifted me the name.
“The central repeating pattern in the installation is a quote from a Norval Morrisseau Thunderbird painting,” explained Baerg. “I used the positive and negative space of the wingspan of one of his compositions to create a laser cut out used in the installation, and the four suspended paintings.”
As an artist, Baerg is committed to the goal of supporting Métis self-determination and its advancement in the arts through forms of gathering, knowledge sharing, research and advocacy. He brought together a group of Métis artists, curators, writers and educators and formed the Shushkitew Collective to build capacity, and to support intergenerational dialogue and learning, while concurrently activating the visioning of Métis futurities. In reference to the Shushkitew Collective Baerg writes, “We engage with the concept of manâwewin to speak to the precious resources we need to sustain our bodies, our communities and our creative spirit.”
Baerg is a registered member of the Métis Nations of Ontario and serves his community as an Indigenous activist, curator, educator, and visual artist. He graduated from Concordia University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, a Master of Fine Arts from Rutgers University and is enrolled in the PhD program at Monash University. Baerg teaches as the assistant professor in Indigenous Practices in Contemporary Painting and Media Art at OCAD University. Exemplifying his commitment to the community, he co-founded The Shushkitew Collective and The Métis Artist Collective. Baerg has served as volunteer Chair for such organizations as the Indigenous Curatorial Collective and the National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition. As a visual artist, he pushes digital interventions in drawing, painting and new media installation.
To see more of Magneson’s work, visit her on Instagram: @MagnesonStudios / @MarissaMagnesonPhotography or through her website at marissamagneson.com. To see more of Baerg’s work and to learn more about his exhibitions and advocacy, visit his website at jasonbaerg.ca.
York U in the news: Rogers saga, democracy and more
Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change launches ‘FRACTURE’ exhibitions of student artwork
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York University’s Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change (EUC) has launched FRACTURE, a multimedia collection of new graduate and undergraduate students’ artworks, curated by Andil Gosine, EUC professor and co-ordinator of the Faculty’s Environmental Arts and Justice program. The exhibitions will be presented throughout the 2021-22 academic year.
Kafia Abdulkader’s Laughing Black film premiere on Friday, Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. Inspired by topics explored in a summer course on cultural production works, the film uses laughter, from a Black female perspective, to censor the systemic white gaze upon the brown body.
The works incorporated in FRACTURE illustrate themes taught in a summer course on social and environmental crisis, particularly the moments that emerge in the resulting fractures and fissures of ongoing social institutions and processes.
The series kicked off with recent master of environmental studies graduate Amber Williams-King’s series of collage works, which were produced during her time at EUC. Recently published in PREE literary journal, you can find Williams-King’s collages hanging in the ZigZag Gallery in the Health, Nursing and Environmental Studies (HNES) Building on York’s Keele Campus. Williams-King recently received the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean’s Michael Baptista Essay Prize for her paper titled “When Palm Trees Break: The Fractured Horizons of Black Caribbean World-Making in the Midst of Crisis.”
Up next in the series is Kafia Abdulkader’s Laughing Black film premiere on Friday, Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. Inspired by topics explored in a summer course on cultural production works, the film uses laughter, from a Black female perspective, to censor the systemic white gaze upon the brown body. Register for the event here.
Aja Moore and Farida Abdelmeguied will welcome the new year by presenting their works on Friday, Jan. 14, 2022. Presenting an excerpt on her thesis followed by a mindful meditation, Moore will examine the theme of nature, particularly invasive plants and their unconscious and unbiased destruction of native land. Continuing the theme of spoken word, Abdelmeguied will perform a set of poems that explore the transformative stages of grief.
New Sun by MES grad Amber Williams-King is a collage that was produced during her time at EUC. An exhibit of Williams-King’s work is currently on display in the Zig-Zag Gallery on the Keele Campus
On Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, current undergraduate student Ruth O’Sullivan will present her exhibition of handmade outfits and refurbished garments. Motivated by the themes of rupture, change and Professor Gosine’s work around gender, O’Sullivan’s work is representative of her personal relationship with identity and sexual identity.
Fatemeh Gharibi and Alireza Gorgani Dorcheh will continue the series on Friday, Feb. 11 at 3 p.m. with a film premiere. Continuing the theme of identity and sexual orientation, the new immigrants from Iran delve into those as well as themes of oppression, freedom, and navigating Western society and its ideologies.
FRACTURE will culminate with theEco-Arts Media Festivalin March 2022, which will include films by Jess Ross and Snjezana Pruginic, and a sculpture exhibition by Maria “Flora” Gomez.
FRACTURE is a companion and prelude to everything slackens in the wreck, an exhibition curated by Gosine for the Ford Foundation Gallery in New York, which is scheduled to open in spring 2022.
“I am so impressed by Amber’s and Kafia’s work as thinkers and creators. They epitomize the best aspirations of our program, to do work that is meaningful, complex, deeply engaged – and makes a difference in the world. I can’t wait to share the other works ahead of us, which provoke us to reflect on and provide routes for us, in the midst of this fracture,” saidl Gosine.
Emily St. John Mandel on authoring a gripping story with interesting characters
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Emily St. John Mandel visited Canadian Writers in Person at York on Oct. 26 to talk about her latest novel, The Glass Hotel (2020). York University teaching assistant Dana Patrascu-Kingsley sent the following report to YFile.
Cover of The Glass Hotel
Author of five novels, including Station Eleven (2014), Mandel was born on Vancouver Island, has lived in Toronto and Montreal, and is now living in Brooklyn, New York. Her writing has received numerous awards. The Glass Hotel was short listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and selected by Barack Obama as one of his favourite books of 2020.
The novel revolves around a Ponzi scheme, inspired by the 2008 real-life collapse of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. “That was a 65-billion-dollar fraud. But what really caught my attention is that it required a staff. I found myself thinking about the sense of camaraderie that one feels going into work with a job that you care about and a sense of a shared mission. I was thinking how much stranger and more intense that would be if your job was perpetuating a massive crime… It was the scale of the crime and the staff that grabbed my attention,” Mandel recalled.
Mandel explained that in writing this book, she was thinking of the cruelty of capitalism as it’s practiced in the United States. “The flipside of that kingdom of money is the shadow country, these people who have really fallen through the cracks of capitalism,” she said.
In The Glass Hotel, Mandel explores through an array of fictional characters the motives and psychology of people who get involved in a Ponzi scheme, those who participate in orchestrating it, and those who end up losing everything. The narrative lines are complex and intersect in interesting ways as we move from character to character.
“For this book I thought that every section should relate in some way to the idea of money, whether that’s about trophy wives, or the office staff, or Olivia’s despondency when she loses everything. And that it should also relate in some way to ghosts or the idea of hauntedness: the literal ghosts in the prison, the idea of a counter life (the idea that your life is haunted by the ghosts of the life you didn’t lead), and then you have these decisions and moments that haunt individual characters (Paul is haunted by the choice he made in a club in Toronto where he gave somebody bad E, Vincent is haunted by the death of her mother),” said Mandel.
In The Glass Hotel, there is a fine balance between a complex plot and fascinating characters. The writer explained, “If you don’t care about the characters, you don’t care about the story, no matter what’s going on. But at the same time, I want to write books with the strongest possible narrative drive. That’s the balance I’m always trying to strike.”
Akriti Bhatnagar
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Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA student Akriti Bhatnagar receives the Franklin and Sasarman Simard Scholarship
York University and Oak Valley Health to advance medical education and health research in York and Durham regions
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On Friday, Nov. 12, York University and Oak Valley Heath announced a local health partnership aimed at advancing innovative medical education and research collaboration opportunities as well as improving the health and health care of citizens in Markham, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Uxbridge and beyond.
York University President Rhonda Lenton was joined by Jo-anne Marr, president and CEO, Oak Valley Health, and Mayor of Markham Frank Scarpitti, at Friday’s virtual signing event to celebrate this partnership and discuss the shared vision for the future.
“Since establishing its Faculty of Health in 2006, York University has been steadily expanding its leadership in health education and research offered through programs and organized research units that build on our distinct interprofessional and interdisciplinary approach to keeping more people healthier longer in their communities,” said Lenton. “We are pleased to partner with Oak Valley Health to further enhance the future of medical education and the training of the next generation of world-class health professionals as we work together to create healthier and more equitable communities. We also appreciate the ongoing support of Oak Valley Health and local government leaders as we continue to advance our plans for a School of Medicine that will build on our strong foundation and innovative community collaborations to drive positive change both locally and globally.”
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is a three-year agreement that sets out strategic areas of engagement and co-operation. These areas include: future medical education partnerships; development of research capacity and opportunities between faculty and health care professionals and other hospital staff; clinical placements and experiential learning opportunities for students; continuing education and development for health care professionals and other hospital staff; health and wellness partnerships including clinics, community health initiatives, public and community education, global health initiatives and special events; information systems integration partnerships including learning management systems and test systems, and other mutually agreed educational or research programs including CIFAL York, to be housed at Markham Campus opening Fall 2023.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with York University and working towards a shared goal – providing meaningful learning opportunities to the future health care professionals and leaders in our region. By working together we will create even more opportunities for clinical placements, continuing education, information systems integration and many more initiatives,” said Marr. “This partnership plays a foundational role in Oak Valley Health’s academic strategy. It is our goal to continue fostering a collaborative and inclusive environment where our people will continue to grow and never stop learning.”
“The City of Markham strived to attract York University’s new Markham Campus to build on our community’s capacity for innovation and research. Now, more than ever, we appreciate the need for collaboration between healthcare providers and relevant partners,” said Scarpitti. “Oak Valley Health has demonstrated its strength in providing on-the-ground healthcare while advancing important clinical trials. Congratulations to both York University and Oak Valley Health on this agreement which further strengthens medical education and research in Ontario.”
Oak Valley Health is one of Ontario’s leading community health systems. Across its two hospitals, Markham Stouffville Hospital (MSH) and Uxbridge Hospital (UXB), as well as a Reactivation Care Centre (RCC), Oak Valley Health provides high quality, patient-centred care to more than 474,000 patients each year. It offers diagnostic and emergency services and delivers clinical programs in acute care medicine and surgery, addictions and mental health, and childbirth and children’s services. Oak Valley Health is part of the Eastern York Region North Durham Ontario Health Team (EYRND OHT).
Can you make the month? Try this virtual poverty simulator tool
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As part of the York Cares United Way campaign, community members are encouraged to challenge their perspective on poverty using an online simulator created to help Canadians understand the experience of living in poverty.
The York Care United Way Campaign supports local agencies that provide assistance to those living in poverty (image: United Way)
As York staff and faculty members continue to work together to raise $150,000 for the United Way Greater Toronto as part of the York Cares United Way campaign, community members are encouraged to challenge their perspective on poverty.
Living on a limited budget is tough, and for those living in poverty, making the month can be a difficult challenge. MaketheMonth.ca is an online tool that helps Canadians understand the experience of living in poverty. It is the first online poverty simulator in Canada and is designed to offer a unique way to engage, build empathy and raise awareness about the complicated issues related to poverty in local communities such as housing, mental health, food security, child poverty and employment.
The tool challenges participants to ‘make the month’ on a limited budget and is meant to offer a glimpse into the challenging decisions that people living with limited resources can face in their daily lives. Participants engage in a virtual situation where they are asked to make difficult choices and can see the resulting challenges for those living in poverty.
Try MaketheMonth.ca on your own, with family, or colleagues at work, and see if you can make the month. To make this into an interactive virtual team building experience with discussion and facilitation from United Way, contact yucares@yorku.ca. The York community is committed to creating positive change for its students, communities and the world around us.
