National indigenous history Month feature

奥丑别苍听Rick Powless聽learned that Health Sciences North in Sudbury launched its first Indigenous hospital menu, he felt a shift happen.

The third-year doctoral student at 91亚色's Faculty of Education is a Red Seal-certified Indigenous chef, an Ontario College of Teachers-certified educator and a member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Oneida Nation of the Thames, Bear Clan.

He was also the primary consultant on an initiative led by Compass Group Canada to bring Indigenous meals into Ontario hospitals 鈥� a project that recognizes the role of traditional and cultural food in healing.

His contributions also serve as a testament to his work to advance meaningful cross-cultural engagement.

"It was emotional for me," he says of the menu鈥檚 launch in Sudbury. At 91亚色, his PhD research draws on Indigenous food sovereignty, food insecurity in urban centres and strategies to integrate traditional foods and land-based knowledge into Kindergarten to Grade 12 education.

Much of Powless's work focuses on how traditional foods and land-based knowledge support well-being, identity and learning for Indigenous people living in urban communities. His research explores the impact of food and cultural disconnection on mental health while also examining how Indigenous knowledge is taught 鈥� or overlooked 鈥� in Ontario鈥檚 Kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms. For Powless, that means pushing beyond superficial, checkbox-driven approaches and creating space for stories, reciprocity and food-based learning rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing.

鈥淚f you give somebody a recipe to cook Indigenous food but don't have the stories or the history behind those recipes then the students aren't getting anything out of it,鈥� he says. 鈥淏eyond mere sustenance, our food is also a form of cultural transmission.鈥�

Part of what makes his work distinct is its attention to access. Indigenous ingredients 鈥� such as sun chokes, wild rice, butternut squash 鈥� have been more commercialized, driving up prices and making them less accessible.

Read the full story in the June 3, 2026 issue of Yfile

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On May 21, the Faculty of Education community came together for its annual End-of-Year Celebration. This year's event centred on the theme of arts and scholarship.

The event featured a variety of engaging presentations exploring the many intersections between art and education 鈥� from art in education and the art of teaching, to research and scholarship inspired by creative practice. Faculty members and presenters shared innovative ideas and thoughtful reflections that highlighted the important role of the arts in teaching, learning, and research.

As part of the celebration, Dean Robert Savage presented two awards recognizing excellence in research and teaching within the Faculty. The event served as both an informative and celebratory occasion, marking a positive conclusion to another successful academic year.

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Robert Savage, dean of the Faculty of Education at 91亚色, is leading research that asks a deceptively simple question: What actually helps children learn to read 鈥� and how early can schools intervene to make a lasting difference?

Years of experience as a school teacher and psychologist have framed his thinking about research, which since 2023 has focused on how children learn to read, both typically and atypically.

His research has also informed literacy policy and classroom practice in Ontario.

For instance, Savage served as a consultant to the Ontario government on its reading curriculum following a 2022 Ontario Human Rights Commission report on human rights issues affecting children with reading disabilities. Drawing on his research expertise and experience in schools, he contributed to the revised curriculum and helped develop supporting videos and scripts to make the changes easier for teachers to understand and incorporate into the classroom.

鈥淚鈥檓 always interested in a mix of theory and practice and in how to use theory to develop better programs for developing reading,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 also like to collaborate.鈥�

During another project, while working with colleagues at Concordia University, he co-created the web-based literacy program  that offers activities for learners and is free to the public.

More recently, with funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Max Bell Foundation, Savage and a colleague at the University of Alberta have partnered with school boards in five provinces, including Ontario, to develop new screening tools, assess existing ones and share literacy resources. School boards in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, B.C. and Saskatchewan have used the tools to screen incoming Grade 2 students, assess reading skills, identify areas of concern and implement targeted reading programs to help prevent reading difficulties.

Read the full article in the May 22, 2026 issue of Yfile

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For Molade Osibodu, creating what she calls 鈥渓iberatory futures鈥� begins in the mathematics classroom.

An associate professor of math education at 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Education, Osibodu focuses her research on how Black students experience math and how education systems can better support equity.

鈥淚 want Black learners who enter a mathematics classroom to be fully, completely themselves instead of feeling like they don鈥檛 belong,鈥� says Osibodu, who is keenly aware of the persistent and unfounded stereotypes about Black learners鈥� abilities in math 鈥� and how those beliefs intersect with Canada鈥檚 colonial legacy and history of immigration.

Osibodu鈥檚 teaching experience across three continents has fuelled her interest in and passion for addressing challenges faced by Black students in Canada. Before joining 91亚色, she taught secondary school mathematics in South Africa and later taught mathematics and mathematics education courses in the U.S. and Canada. Her research has since documented a range of obstacles faced by Black students in Canadian classrooms.

鈥淚t鈥檚 impossible to look at course syllabi without realizing that it鈥檚 important for equity to be at the core of the teaching practice,鈥� she says. 鈥淢y ultimate goal is to create math education where Black learners are thriving.鈥�

A key aspect of her work is understanding how Black students experience math, which, in Canada, requires knowledge of the population鈥檚 demography. As her colleague Carl James, the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora at 91亚色, has long emphasized, the Canadian Black community is diverse 鈥� including descendants who arrived via the Underground Railroad, families who immigrated from the Caribbean decades ago and more recent immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa 鈥� leading to a variety of educational experiences.

Read the full article in the April 10, 2026 issue of Yfile

With files from Elaine Smith

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91亚色 Faculty of Education Professor Lisa Farley and her research colleagues have developed a reflection guide for museum educators to support their efforts to discuss challenging topics and ideas with children.

The guide builds on the team鈥檚 2025 study of programming and practices at children鈥檚 museums in Canada and the United States.

Farley says museum educators are navigating increasingly constrained environments when addressing equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion with young audiences. Often, the idea of 鈥渃hildhood innocence鈥� is cited as a reason to censor or downplay controversial and challenging ideas.

At the same time, Farley says, "children live within the social and political world, and are themselves subjects of and/or witnesses to injustices, violences and inequities."

She adds that the question then becomes "not how to protect them from difficult knowledge, but what it can mean to facilitate meaningful engagements.鈥�

Farley and her colleagues, including 91亚色鈥檚 Gillian Parekh, associate professor of education and doctoral candidate Suad Ahmed, conducted the original study in partnership with the Association of Children鈥檚 Museums (ACM). Their research found that while many children鈥檚 museums focus on exploration, play or self-expression, addressing social and historical issues with young audiences were secondary.

Read the full article in the Friday, March 27, 2026 issue of Yfile

Article written by Elaine Smith, special contributing writer

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Are you wondering why, as an academic, you would want to engage with media, particularly in the current moment of heightened threats to academic freedom and widespread disinformation?

This two-part interactive workshop, led by Michelle Stack and Jordan Michael Smith, explores why engaging with media matters for scholars and how it can help amplify the impact of their research beyond academia to shape public discourse and inform policy.

Part 1: Why Media Engagement Matters
Date: Tuesday, April 14^th, 2026, 10:00AM-12:00PM
Location: Zoom

This session explores how engaging with media can strengthen your knowledge mobilization and exchange efforts, while amplifying the impact of your research beyond the walls of academia. It examines how media engagement can strengthen the visibility, relevance, and real-world influence of your work and how journalists, researchers, and policymakers differ in their timelines, priorities, definition of what research is, and why understanding these differences matters when deciding whether and how to engage media, and ultimately how to utilize scholarship to help shape public policy. The session also covers practical strategies for crafting clear messages and pitching story ideas effectively and includes a panel discussion on the potential benefits and risks of different forms of media engagement.

Part 2: How Scholars Can Engage Media Effectively
Date: Monday, April 27^th, 2026, 10:00AM-2:30PM (Lunch will be served 12:00-1:00PM)
Location: 280 N 91亚色 Lanes

This session focuses on how to create your own media by selecting formats and genres that best align with your goals. It features a presentation from 91亚色鈥檚 Media Relations & External Communications department on the support services available, along with a hands-on workshop where participants develop, review and refine their media pitches through small-group working sessions with guidance and feedback. The session also emphasizes building collective strategies and support networks for proactive media outreach and for responding effectively to potential backlash.

, Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at UBC, will be leading both sessions. She has received recognition for her work in public engagement, including the UBC Public Humanities Hub Engagement Award, and has served as a UBC Knowledge Mobilization Scholar. Journalists frequently interview her, and she has previous experience as a communications director and policy consultant.

is a contributing editor at the New Republic. His writing has appeared in print and online for many publications, including the New 91亚色 Times Magazine, the Atlantic, Harper鈥檚, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Globe and Mail. Toronto Star, and Maclean鈥檚

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A new study led by Natalia Balyasnikova, associate professor in the Faculty of Education at 91亚色, is calling for a shift in how healthy aging is understood globally.

Published in the , the study responds to the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing, an international framework aimed at improving the lives of older adults through age-friendly environments, better care systems and efforts to combat ageism. While these priorities are important, Balyasnikova and her co-authors 鈥� all co-conveners of the Educational Gerontology Special Interest Group at the British Society of Gerontology 鈥� felt it reflected a recurring gap

鈥淎cross global health and aging policy frameworks, learning is largely absent or treated as peripheral,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e wanted to examine this omission more systematically and, importantly, to offer examples that demonstrate how participation in learning environments contributes to healthy aging and well-being.鈥�

To do so, the researchers turned to three real-world learning initiatives in Canada and the U.K. 鈥� projects they helped design, lead or facilitate. This first-hand involvement allowed them to analyze participant experiences in depth, rather than observe programs from a distance.

In Canada, older immigrants participated in the Seniors Storytelling Club, a 10鈥憇ession, arts-based language-learning program where learners created oral, written and multimodal stories while building community with peers. In the U.K., the team examined two initiatives: a one-day intergenerational co-creation workshop that used movement, drawing and collaborative activities to explore sustainability; and the Ageing Well Public Talks, an ongoing public education series launched in 2019 that has reached more than 90,000 participants worldwide.

Read the full article in the March 20, 2026 issue of Yfile

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Panelists:

• Angele Alook, Associate Professor, School of Gender, Sexuality, and Women鈥檚 Studies & Director, Centre for Indigenous Knowledges and Languages
• Rebecca Beaulne-Stuebing, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education
• Jennifer Foster, Associate Professor, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change
• Carl James, Professor & Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora, Faculty of Education
• Byron Gray, Manager, TD Community Engagement Centre

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

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Carl E. James, the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Education, brings his expertise to a four-year Genome Canada research project focused on Canada鈥檚 Black population.

Genomic Evidence for Precision Medicine for Selected Chronic Diseases Among Black Peoples in Canada 鈥� developed through collaboration with the Centre for Applied Genomics, at SickKids Hospital and McGill Genome Centre 鈥� is an effort to sequence the genomes of 10,000 Black Canadians to ensure equitable health care for an often-understudied population.

By sequencing the nucleotides that make up the participants鈥� DNA and RNA, researchers will gain a better understanding of how diseases affect Canada鈥檚 Black population and develop better precision medicines to target their conditions.

鈥淲e need to encourage these approaches for research, since medical studies often miss the racial diversity of health care recipients,鈥� says James, a renowned sociologist with a research focus on race and ethnic relations. 鈥淚n fact, we need to understand differences in all populations.鈥�

The study is led by four prominent medical researchers: Upton Allen, division head at SickKids Hospital鈥檚 Infectious Diseases and professor at the University of Toronto; Loydie Jerome-Majewska, McGill University Department of Pediatrics professor and co-founder/program lead for the Canadian Black Scientists鈥� Network (CSBN); Juliet Daniel, McMaster University cell biologist and cancer researcher; and OmiSoore Dryden, professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University.

Read the full article in the February 25, 2026 issue of Yfile

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A  led by 91亚色 follows Class of '73 high school graduates over the span of five decades in The Story of a Generation, a book that offers powerful insights on the baby boomer generation.

Culminating in a new book titled , the research marks the longest-running Canadian generational study of its kind, following nearly 50 years in the lives of a cohort of high school students who graduated in 1973. 

The project originated with Paul Anisef, professor emeritus at 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies who began with a survey of high school students to help the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities understand and project post-secondary enrolment.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have in my mind at all that this would become a long-standing longitudinal study,鈥� says Anisef. 鈥淚t started as a ministry-sponsored survey of high school students, and one thing led to another.鈥� 

Encouraged by colleagues after the initial survey, Anisef returned repeatedly to the same group of students 鈥� just under 2,500 members of the class of 1973 鈥� surveying and interviewing them in seven waves, from adolescence through midlife and into their early to mid-'60s. 

The final phase, conducted between 2019 and 2021, captured their reflections as many approached retirement, offering a rare, lifespan perspective on Canadians. 

The newly released book is co-authored along with 91亚色 Faculty of Education professors Paul Axelrod and Carl James, as well as 91亚色 PhD student Erika McDonald, and includes contributions from Wolfgang Lehmann, Karen Robson and Erica Fae Thomson. It鈥檚 a follow-up to an earlier volume, Opportunity and Uncertainty: Life Course Experiences of the Class of 鈥�73 (2000). 

Read the full story in the January 16, 2026 issue of Yfile

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