June 1, 2026, TORONTO 鈥� Birthed from a 1969 uprising as a response to police violence at a New 91亚色 City dive bar called the Stonewall Inn, Pride has grown into a global movement, with Toronto-area celebrations among the largest in the world. Drawing on years of community-engaged research and large-scale data sets, 91亚色 researchers are available to talk to media about historical struggles and current issues facing those in 2SLGBTQIA+ communities today.

Antony Chum

  (he/him, they/them) is the Canada Research Chair in Population Health Data Science and an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health. His research focuses on LGBTQ+ health disparities and the structural determinants of health among marginalized populations, such as low-income, racialized, and gender-diverse groups. By applying quasi-experimental approaches to large-scale population datasets drawn from Census, linked health administrative, and international sources, Chum generates population-level evidence on how structural barriers and public policies shape health and related social and economic outcomes.

颁丑耻尘鈥檚 , "Beyond the Gender Binary: Wage Inequality and Occupational Segregation among Transgender and Nonbinary Workers," utilizes data from the 2021 Canadian Census, the first national census in the world to collect and identify data on transgender and nonbinary individuals. The study found significant employment and wage gaps, with transgender and nonbinary individuals being eight to 14 per cent less likely to be employed than cisgender men and earn 20 to 30 per cent lower hourly wages on average. Even after adjusting for demographic, occupational, and industrial factors, a substantial earnings gap remains, hitting nonbinary individuals assigned female at birth the hardest.

Chum is available to discuss other studies including:

• Upcoming research that demonstrates that progressive political environments act as crucial protective factors, actively mitigating the minority stress that drives elevated rates of suicidality and substance use in sexual minority populations
• Gender minorities facing drastically higher risks for physical, cognitive, and mental activity limitations
• Transgender and non-binary individuals facing significantly higher rates of housing instability than cisgender individuals
• Severe disparities in severe substance-related events, pinpointing bisexual women as facing the highest risk (more than double that of heterosexual women)

Jin Haritaworn

is an expert of gay imperialism, homonationalism and pinkwashing. They have studied the gentrification and securitization of the Church-Wellesley Village and look critically at the incorporation of Pride into the neoliberal city. They also explore queer of colour maps and counter-archives. Haritaworn is Associate Professor of Gender, Race and Environment in the Faculty of Environment and Urban Change. They locate their work in the tradition of activist scholarship, which attempts to be in the service of communities. Their research deals with landscapes that are shaped by racial and colonial capitalism, where celebration and incorporation exist alongside pathologization and criminalization. Their first two books, and , explore how certain mixed-race and LGBT subjects became desirable in a context of war on terror, neoliberal multiculturalism and the global city in London and Berlin.

Haritaworn is available to discuss:

• Gentrification and criminalization in the Village
• Queer of colour archives and activism
• Homonationalism and gay imperialism

Tom Hooper

(he/him) is a historian of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities in Canada and a professor with the department of equity studies in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS). His research includes exploring the 1981 bathhouse raids in Toronto where more than three hundred gay men were arrested and criminally charged for their sexuality, with a focus on the community resistance to these raids both on the streets and in the courts. Hooper critically examined the construction of dominant queer historical narratives, including the myth that legal changes in 1969 represented the decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada. Hooper also investigated the use and misuse of heritage grants provided to 2SLGBTQIA+ organizations.

Hooper is available to comment on:

• 2SLGBTQIA+ protest movements
• Policing and pride
• 2SLGBTQIA+ history

Nick Mul茅

(he/him) is a professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women鈥檚 Studies and the School of Social Work, LA&PS. He teaches sexual activism, and social justice. His research areas include advocacy, and the social inclusion 鈥� and exclusion 鈥� of gender and and sexually diverse populations (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, two-spirit, genderqueer, intersex, queer, questioning 鈥� 2SLGBTQIA+) in social policy and service provision and the degree of recognition of these populations as distinct communities in cultural, systemic and structural contexts. Mul茅 also engages in critical analysis of the 2SLGBTQIA+ movement and the development of queer liberation theory. Mul茅 is currently leading a national research project on poverty in 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, the first national study of its kind.

Mul茅 is available to comment on:

• Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, Two-Spirit, intersex and queer issues
• Queer liberation theory
• 2SLGBTQIA+ health and social service concerns, public and social policy regarding 2SLGBTQIA+ people and communities
• History and politics of the 2SLGBTQIA+ movement
• Diversity in society and 2SLGBTQIA+ human rights

For information on Pride celebrations at 91亚色, please see here.

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91亚色 is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change, and prepare our students for meaningful life and career paths. 91亚色's Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campus in Costa Rica offers students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

Media Contact: Emina Gamulin, 91亚色 Media Relations, 437-217-6362, egamulin@yorku.ca

The post 91亚色 U experts available to comment on Pride Month appeared first on News@91亚色.

Symposium on Shell鈥檚 legacy in Niger Delta and what comes next brings diverse group of scholars and activists to 91亚色鈥檚 Keele Campus

April 9, 2025, TORONTO 鈥� With the Shell company having finalized the sale of assets in Nigeria鈥檚 Niger Delta, questions remain for those who fought against decades of human rights and environmental abuses in the region: How do you keep Shell accountable for the damage they鈥檝e done? Will divestment be more than a clever PR ploy for big oil and gas?

These questions bring together a diverse group of scholars, community leaders, activists, legal experts and international advocates to 91亚色 April 10 and 11, for the two-day symposium: From the Niger Delta, Nigeria to the World - Charting a Global Just Transition Agenda.

The legacy of oil pollution and human rights abuses in the Niger Delta are one of the worst, with Shell even being accused of being complicit in the Nigerian state鈥檚 secret sentencing and killing of activists in the 1990s, says Environment and Urban Change Prof. , one of the organizers of the event. 

鈥淎rguably, attention to injustice in the region spurred corporate social responsibility as an industrial movement and was central to creating the environmental justice movement globally. This symposium is an opportunity to take a hard look at this legacy of corporate abuse, resistance, and what comes next,鈥� says Zalik. 

From the earliest days of colonization in Nigeria, the British identified Niger Delta as economically useful for resource extraction, and, for the last 60 years, Shell has been involved in oil and gas extraction in the region. 

Informed by a report put together by the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission, which declares Shell鈥檚 legacy in the region as an environmental genocide, the symposium examines the prospects for a global just transition. 

鈥淲hen the word divestment is used 鈥� Shell for example dumping toxic assets on so-called local companies and shirking their historic responsibility to clean up鈥� what does it really mean? There are questions regarding the limitations of the whole idea of just transition,鈥� says 91亚色 PhD alum Isaac Asume Osuoka, a former Vanier scholar and one of the authors of the Bayelsa Report who will chair the discussion on the report at the symposium.

鈥淭his 91亚色 conference is an opportunity to address those gaps in terms of how this conversation has been framed in dominant discourses.鈥� 

The symposium will be held this Thursday and Friday at 91亚色 at 519  at 91亚色鈥檚 Keele Campus, with global environmental justice activist, author, architect, think-tank director and 91亚色 Honorary Doctorate Nnimmo Bassey giving the keynote speech on Thursday at 3 p.m.  can attend virtually for those unable to make it in person. 

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91亚色 is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change, and prepare our students for success. 91亚色's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future. 

Media Contact: 

Emina Gamulin, 91亚色 Media Relations, 437-217-6362, egamulin@yorku.ca

The post When big oil pulls out appeared first on News@91亚色.

TORONTO, Oct. 28, 2021 鈥� Can the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) change the current trajectory of an increasingly warm planet? With COP26 coming up, several 91亚色 experts are available to weigh in on what needs to be done and whether there is a will to do it.

, a professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and associate director of CIFAL 91亚色, will be on site at COP26 until Nov. 12. She has close to 10 years of experience at UN Climate Change Conferences. Boran specializes in interdisciplinary research and outreach and cross-sectoral collaborations and partnerships, with a focus on climate, biodiversity and health interlinkages. She is also the founding director of the Synergies of Planetary Health Research Initiative based at the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research. She will be at 91亚色's flagship event, Multi-level action for biodiversity and climate: Planetary challenge & lessons from Latin America, an official side event at COP26 on Nov. 5.

, a professor in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, has written extensively on Canadian climate change policy and politics at the federal and provincial levels. He can comment on Canada's role at COP 26, the federal climate change policy, and provincial climate change and energy policies, particularly in Ontario and Alberta.

, a professor in the Disaster & Emergency Management Program, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, who wrote the textbook , is available to discuss the role of better understanding the science of changing climate, historical perspectives on how we got here, and a fresh look at the issues and potential solutions such as bringing back biodiversity, breathing room for the rivers to flow, and rethinking plastic. Her research includes disaster risk management, physical dynamics of natural hazards, and engaging communities to understand gaps between perceptions and actual disaster risks.

, a professor in the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, can discuss the relationships between climate and air quality that create challenges for a transition to net-zero, with focus on emerging issues related to volatile chemical products (VCP) and emissions of reactive nitrogen species. He is also available to discuss relationships between nitrogen from agriculture or urban pollution, and their climate-related impacts.

, a professor in the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, can discuss emissions, sources, and impacts of halogenated greenhouse gases, such as CFCs and replacements, as well as the relationship between the Montreal Protocol and climate change.

of the Faculty of Science applied for and received observer status for 91亚色 in the Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organization Civil Society Sector in 2008. As the University's UNFCCC Secretariat's focal point, she assembles the 91亚色 delegation at the annual COP and other UNFCCC meetings. These delegations frequently include members from across Canada and the world, whose organizations lack observer status. Bazely will attend COP26 virtually. Her research examines, among other areas, human security and environmental security in the arctic, and how climate change impacts biodiversity and the spread of novel organisms.

Mark Terry, an instructor in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, currently teaches the graduate course, New Social Movements, Activism, and Social Change: Underrepresented Communities in Climate Change. Terry is available to discuss new and emerging methods, approaches and technologies related to climate change communication. In his book, , he discusses bridging the gap between climate science and climate policy with the United Nations. He is also the executive director of the UNFCCC's (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) , the UN's only database of documentary films produced by the global community of youth. The project is used by policymakers at COP conferences as a data delivery system to supplement written texts provided by the world's scientific community. The media conference for the Youth Climate Report will take place on Nov. 3 at 8:45 a.m.

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91亚色聽is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change and prepare our students for success. 91亚色's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

Media Contact:

Sandra McLean, 91亚色 Media Relations, 416-272-6317,聽sandramc@yorku.ca

The post Can COP26 deliver on the promise to tackle climate change? appeared first on News@91亚色.

TORONTO, Oct. 27, 2021 鈥� How are warming temperatures and a loss of sea ice affecting polar bears and their marine mammal prey in the Arctic? A 91亚色-led research team used a novel approach to the question by monitoring what polar bears eat across Nunavut and where they are catching their prey.

They found that polar bears can be used as indicators of environmental shifts and highlight how these changes are disturbing the normal distribution of marine mammal prey populations in the Arctic.

The researchers, including Faculty of Science PhD Candidate Melissa Galicia, who led the research, and Professor of the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, have found polar bears, originally thought to eat mainly ringed and bearded seals, are actually flexible eaters. They will eat what鈥檚 readily available and this makes them ideal as a monitoring tool to track environmental changes in the Arctic.

鈥淧olar bears need the sea ice to hunt. When there is a reduction in the sea ice, they鈥檙e hunting less or they鈥檙e potentially hunting different prey species,鈥� says Galicia. 鈥淧rey species, like whales and seals, also need certain habitat conditions and because of environmental changes in the Arctic, some marine mammals, such as prey species of bears, are redistributing. You鈥檙e getting an increase in more sub-Arctic species, like killer whales for instance.鈥�

The researchers analyzed harvest samples of polar bears from across Nunavut, provided by subsistence hunters over a period of about eight years, and identified spatial hot spots of prey species. The study suggests polar bear diet may provide early evidence of changes in the distribution of mammals due to climate change.

鈥淚鈥檓 getting a large geographic representation of bears, especially in areas that tend to be less studied,鈥� says Galicia, who was able to analyze the fatty acids, such as omega 3s and omega 6s, in the fat tissue of bears.

鈥淓ach bear will have a specific fatty acid signature, a kind of fingerprint for individual bears and because of that you can see what that particular individual is eating and what percentage of their diet that represents.鈥�

They found bowhead whale carcasses were increasingly becoming more common in polar bear diet potentially linked to killer whales venturing further north and staying for longer periods of time.

The researchers say changes brought on by a warming climate 鈥� the Arctic ecosystem is experiencing climate warming up to three times faster than any other region 鈥� will likely force widespread species redistribution, particularly in polar environments. The polar bears in Nunavut aren鈥檛 experiencing climate changes to the same degree as some subpopulations in western Hudson鈥檚 Bay or Beaufort Sea areas, but ultimately that will likely change.

鈥淎s temperatures across the Arctic warm and sea ice loss increases, there will be profound cascading ecological consequences. What鈥檚 not known is how that will affect species, such as seals and whales, but by monitoring the seasonal prey consumption of polar bears, scientists can better keep track of where marine mammal prey species are showing up and their seasonal distribution,鈥� says Thiemann.

There is currently little information on the abundance and distribution of marine mammals across the Arctic so this study offers a way to gain further insight and highlight potential range shifts.

The researchers say future studies of polar bear diets should include prey species not typically found in the region and help predict the severity and influence of climate-induced change.

The paper, "," online now will be published in the December issue of the journal Ecological Indicators.

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91亚色聽is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change and prepare our students for success. 91亚色's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

Media Contact:

Sandra McLean, 91亚色 Media Relations, 416-272-6317,聽sandramc@yorku.ca

The post Polar bear diet may indicate prey distribution changes due to climate shifts appeared first on News@91亚色.

TORONTO, Sept. 10, 2021 鈥� 91亚色 experts on various topics 鈥� including those discussed by party leaders during the French- and English-language debates this week 鈥� are available for media interviews in the lead-up to election day:

in the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies is available to comment on why the next government should look into making long-term care facilities part of a universal health-care system, and address problems facing the nursing-home labour force as a top priority.

in the School of Health Policy & Management and a faculty affiliate at 91亚色's Centre for Refugee Studies, is available to discuss the need for the next government to address settlement challenges faced by refugees and immigrants, as well as revising federal health policies pertaining to refugee intake, based on past lessons learned from the resettlement of Syrian refugees.

at Schulich School of Business can comment on candidate and party branding, election and social media issues in campaign marketing, and offer voter sentiment analysis.

Visiting Professor Michael Johns in the Department of Politics can discuss federal politics, elections, the electoral system, and the structural aspects of running an election during extraordinary times, such as a pandemic. He can also comment on how the election results can impact Canada鈥檚 international relations.

in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies can comment on income security (old age and employment pensions), labour-market policy, unemployment, job training and affordable housing.

at Osgoode Hall Law School, cross-appointed with the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, is available on Indigenous environmental justice and policy; Indigenous governance and law; and sustainability-and-water governance and security, as key priorities for the federal government to focus on coming out of the election.

at Lassonde School of Engineering can comment on why climate crisis should be a top election issue, what immediate and effective actions are necessary to save the climate, and the role the incoming government should play at the upcoming COP26 UN Climate Change Conference.

in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies can comment on why we are having an election now, the competitive standing of the parties, political campaigns during the pandemic, voter turnout, and how the pandemic might influence the election outcome.

in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change can comment on climate-change policy, energy policy, environmental policy, and party dynamics and the electoral system as they relate to the Green Party.

91亚色 is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change and prepare our students for success. 91亚色's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.聽

Media Contact:
Gloria Suhasini, 91亚色 Media Relations, 647-463-4354,聽suhasini@yorku.ca

The post Federal Election: 91亚色 experts available on key issues from leaders鈥� debates appeared first on News@91亚色.