Weekly roundup highlighting 91亚色 faculty offering their academic expertise in the news

Since the contested election on July 28, Venezuelans have taken to the streets demanding that President Nicol谩s Maduro acknowledge he lost to an opposition that is claiming a landslide victory. Following a protest in Montreal last weekend, , saying the country could face more unrest and violence in the near future if Maduro remains in power. 鈥淢aduro doesn鈥檛 represent change, he represents continuity,鈥� says Bohn, noting that the results he announced are not 鈥渆vidence-based.鈥� In another article examining the international reaction to the election, with China and Russia endorsing the incumbent Maduro while the U.S. supports the opposition. 鈥淐hina prefers a stable Venezuela, and what they identify as [a] credible source of stability at the moment is Nicolas Maduro,鈥� explains Rosales to Voice of America.

[Pierre Poilievre] can't not talk to lobbyists, he can't not talk to industry groups. He has to 鈥� that's his job as a potential prime minister, to understand how to make the economy go in the right direction, how to create jobs, how to get industry to want to come to Canada.

Professor Ian Stedman

Professor Ian Stedman comments on The Narwhal鈥檚 findings that federal Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre and his staff were communicating with lobbyists, including those in oil and gas, while Poilievre was publicly denouncing interest groups. Stedman says Poilievre鈥檚 anti-lobby remarks go against what the job requires. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 his job as a potential prime minister, to understand how to make the economy go in the right direction, how to create jobs, how to get industry to want to come to Canada.鈥�

in National Parks Traveler. Reasons for the decline range from increasing land use, agricultural controls, a changing climate, disease, and the influx of non-native species. In the case of the rusty patched bumble bee, a focus of Colla鈥檚 research, she believes that diseases introduced by honeybees are to blame, with hives trucked back and forth across the country: 鈥淗oneybees are brought to California to pollinate almonds, then [head] northeast for apples. Bees are being moved all over, they鈥檙e stressed out, and it鈥檚 not natural.鈥� 

Professor Eric B. Kennedy shares his perspective on with CityNews, emphasizing its crucial role in understanding virus prevalence.

鈥淒isaster movies remain an important popular culture phenomenon,鈥� writes Professor Jack Rozdilsky about the movie Twisters. , he explores what this genre of film can teach audiences, and what it often gets wrong: 鈥淒isaster studies scholars have considered disaster movies from many perspectives including their value for teaching people about disaster management and how these films shape the meaning and experience of disasters.鈥�

Professor Gail Fraser weighs in on the noise cannons and netting successfully keeping seagulls from nesting on a TTC facility that houses streetcars. Due to health and safety concerns caused by a large amount of bird droppings, the Toronto Transit Commission installed the deterrence devices in March at Leslie Barns, near Leslie Street and Lake Shore Boulevard E. She says it鈥檚 unlikely the birds will return to nest on the roof next spring because they鈥檒l remember the failed previous attempts with the deterrence measures in place.

Elliott Rae, who coaches fencers at 91亚色, comments on in Toronto Star. It will go into the record books as Canada鈥檚 first Olympic medal in fencing, bringing national attention to the sport.

Do you have a new research study or an academic achievement to share? Contact media@yorku.ca with details. For daily 91亚色 in the News highlights, follow on X.

The post 91亚色 experts weigh in on global and local issues: from the Venezuelan election to the TTC's battle with birds appeared first on News@91亚色.

The post Black History Month mural campaign unveiled on the TTC appeared first on News@91亚色.

Now a prominent academic, 91亚色's Faculty of Education Jean Augustine Chair reflects on experiences of Black community in 1970s Toronto

It was at the now-closed Brockton High School near the new Dufferin Mall on what was then called Awde Street, where a young Carl James met with other community organizers on a September Saturday. That morning they launched the Caribbean Alliance Council (CAC) and that evening they celebrated with dinner and dance at the Soul Palace Restaurant, just north of what is now Sankofa Square.

Like other Black immigrants of his generation from Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago and other Caribbean islands, James came to Canada in the post-1967 period after the state had removed race-based immigration restrictions.

While pursuing his education, James engaged in youth work, volunteering with organizations such as the Black Education Project. Located just north of Davenport on Bathurst, James describes the organization as 鈥渃entral鈥� to the education experiences of Black parents and students at the time. He also worked with Harriet Tubman Centre at St. Clair and Oakwood, which still operates today as the Harriet Tubman Community Centre close to Don Mills subway.

鈥淚 was at the time going through school, volunteering and working with the other volunteers 鈥� an adolescent working with younger Black adolescents,鈥� recalls James. 鈥淚 came to the work that I do through working on issues of Black life. The situation that I was observing and trying to understand with regard to Black youth informed my work.鈥�

Later, he worked in Regent Park, a neighbourhood located in Toronto鈥檚 east downtown that鈥檚 now a mix of condominiums and social housing. Back then it was exclusively a public housing project 鈥� Canada鈥檚 first and largest. Many of the youth with whom James worked saw their participation in sports as the key to their future success and were not often going into academic areas because of streaming practices in their schools. 

This inspired his early research at 91亚色. Today, James is a prominent academic who has dedicated his career to studying some of the very issues he first observed and experienced four decades earlier.

鈥淚'd been noticing that the education and schooling system had not been as helpful in educating or schooling Black immigrant students as we would have expected,鈥� recalls James. 鈥淭hat happens today; and happened then. So, I'm very interested in, well, 鈥楬ow can this change? If over and over again, we keep finding and seeing the same thing, what have we not been doing to change the situation?鈥欌��

In addition to being a professor in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Education and an author of many books on race, education and immigration, James currently serves as the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora.

His 2017 report highlighted the systemic racism Black students face in GTA schools. This work helped to bring about an end to academic and applied streaming for Grade 9 students in Ontario, a decision that was announced in 2020.

Current include community outreach, such as the Day at 91亚色 programming that helps Black high-school students see themselves in post-secondary, the Jean Augustine Mentorship program that pairs Black students at 91亚色 with those entering the university, and Word, Sound, Power, a free annual event that takes place during Black History Month with dance, music and spoken word performances. It also includes partnerships with Black researchers across Canada that will serve to create better data on race and education, and collaborations with health science researchers looking at the health conditions and needs of Black individuals.

James is also , commenting on recent news headlines from the renaming of Dundas Square, to new rules banning the N-word from use at several school boards, diversity in the city鈥檚 emergency services, and the provincial government mandating Black history in the Ontario curriculum.

However, it is not about him, James insists, nor the research, but working in the interest of community and using advocacy work to address and bring about the wider changes needed.

鈥淚t is not about research for research鈥檚 sake, but to inform action,鈥� says James. 鈥淐ommunity is often a central feature for those who have been marginalized. Of course, I think you can鈥檛 think of someone independent of their communities. And I'm thinking of communities not only in geographic terms, but as ethnic communities, gendered communities, class communities, and how all these might be operating in individuals鈥� lives.鈥�

I'd been noticing that the education and schooling system had not been as helpful in educating or schooling Black immigrant students as we would have expected. That happens today; and happened then."

Professor Carl James, commenting on his early experiences working with youth in Regent Park

James adds that community is often a central construct of how Black youth imagine their future lives.

鈥淵ou might find them highly represented in social services, social sciences, and education because they are 鈥榞iving back鈥� to community,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey feel an obligation to respond to the needs of the community that has supported them. So, it's understandable that Jean would think that community is central to the work that鈥檚 been done through the Chair and for the Chair to engage community.

鈥淓ssentially, the idea is for us to work with community, and invite them to do the needed education work together.鈥�

One of his current research projects looks at how individuals鈥� social capital 鈦犫�撯仩 racialized individuals in particular 鈦犫�撯仩 mediates access to employment, careers and occupational mobility once they land a job. Like much of James鈥檚 other work, the study follows research participants over a number of years, with a particular focus on periods of transition.

鈥淚'm very interested in the differences between transitioning through high school to college and/or university, or from university to college, and to work,鈥� says James. 鈥淎ll those permutations are very useful to look into in order to capture the ways in which young people are navigating life and negotiating the world around them.鈥�

The Chairship is of course named after Jean Augustine, Canada鈥檚 first Black woman Member of Parliament, who made the motion that was unanimously passed in the House of Commons in 1995 for Black History Month to be officially recognized in Canada. She later established the Chair in her name at 91亚色. James became the second Chair after the role was restructured and reimagined from the original framing of 鈥楨ducation in the New Urban Environment,鈥� which was held by . Thanks to a combination of a $1.5 million gift from the federal government and grassroots funding, the Chair is now fully endowed. (Her actual, physical chair, that she once sat in as an MP, now sits in the Dean鈥檚 Office at the Faculty of Education). 

James鈥� initial connections with Augustine go back to his early years in Toronto and their mutual involvement in community organizations such as the CAC.

Some documentation of this can be found in the Jean Augustine collection hosted through the at 91亚色鈥檚 Scott Library, such as a letter regarding the founding meeting, written and signed off by James on behalf of Augustine, then the secretary of the CAC. At that meeting, James asked the group about working with high school students and recommended a summer research project looking into the experiences of immigrant children from local communities.

James is being celebrated in two pieces of art this Black History Month 鈥� one by 91亚色 alumni Robert Small as part of the Legacy Collection, and the other by Mya Salau as part of this year鈥檚 Toronto Transit Commission鈥檚 (TTC) Black History Month campaign, Salau鈥檚 piece can be seen on an oversized mural at the 91亚色 TTC subway station, a wrap on Bus #3349 that operates on various lines deployed from the Queensway Garage, and on subways across the city.

A lot has transpired in the decades since James began his work, but it was in those early experiences with Black communities in Toronto that set him on his life path.

鈥淚 always say, suppose I never worked with those downtown youth. Would I have been able to think of the questions I have today?鈥� he reflects. 鈥淪uppose they never answered my questions, or even sat with me for half an hour to share their experiences.

鈥淪o, while I look earnestly at the people who have worked with me, and given me mentorship, I have to also remember the research participants or even those who just simply entertained my conversations and my questions to think through more of what I might want to eventually contribute to life.鈥�

James is not the only member of the 91亚色 community to be celebrated by the TTC as part of Black History Month. Honorary Doctor of Laws degree recipient Itah Sadu, is also featured in a mural at Bathurst station.

Jean Augustine's story teaches us about Canada's domestic workers鈥� scheme

Augustine had come to Canada as a domestic worker from Grenada during a time of political upheaval in her home country, with Grenada achieving independence in 1974. These early days are documented in the hosted through the Clara Thomas Archives at 91亚色鈥檚 Scott Library located at Keele Campus.

The first item in the archive is a pamphlet entitled Advice to West Indian Women Recruited for Work in Canada as Household Helps. A lot of the space in the pamphlet is devoted to advice on what behaviour is expected: Be truthful, courteous and polite at all times in your dealings with your employer and their children; unmarried women who get pregnant in their first year could be deported and may never be able to return.

鈥淭he women who have been sent to Canada in previous years have not let down West Indian womanhood and it is confidently expected that you will do the same,鈥� a passage reads.

The pamphlet also contains practical advice on life in Canada: While it is easy to get credit, it is also easy to get in trouble with it if you can鈥檛 keep up with payments; bring warm clothes, but no more than is needed as it will be cheaper to purchase winter clothes after you arrive; if your lips get chapped, try Vaseline or Camphor Ice.

There are warnings of 鈥渦seless correspondence courses,鈥� especially in nursing, that will take large sums of money, but won鈥檛 be of any use either in Canada or back home.

Canada needed more immigrants in the post WWII period when Europeans were staying home, and it was in that context that the Canadian government allowed workers from certain territories in the West Indies entry to Canada beginning in 1955, and the total lifting of race-based immigration restrictions in 1967. Caribbean domestics came to Canada to take care of other people鈥檚 children so those people could go to work, explains James. And people like Augustine who were teachers back home, not only provided domestic duties, but also the socialization of Canadian children.

鈥淏eyond simply thinking of Jean coming here and becoming a Parliamentarian, what does Jean's story also tell us about Canada? To me, it's a big or national story,鈥� reflects James.

鈥淗er story represents Canada鈥檚 relationship with the Caribbean, and Caribbean women鈥檚, and people鈥檚 contributions to the social, cultural, economic and political development of Canada. Her story is important; and there are many things we can learn from it.鈥�

Members of the 91亚色 community and public can access the Jean Augustine collection by appointment by contacting the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections at archives@yorku.ca.

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