CASS will hand out samples in Vari Hall, from 11:30am to 3pm. There will also be information on events happening downtown June 21.

“Three sisters soup is a traditional dish that not only tastes delicious, but it shows how advanced the Aboriginal people were with agriculture,” says Amber Wynne, student peer leader at CASS.  Wynne say the three sisters vegetable garden, comprised of corn, beans and squash, works together, as “the corn would take the nitrogen from the soil, which was readily replenished by the bean plant, and the squash leaves would keep the soil moist by protecting it from the sun”.

Inside the  Centre for Aboriginal Student Services

In celebration of the 16th Annual National Aboriginal Day, CASS is bringing the event to the students, staff and faculty at 91��ɫ.

“It’s important to recognize and celebrate the rich culture and history behind Indigenous peoples, while promoting inclusion and unity among all nations,” says Jolene John, CASS administrative assistant. CASS would like to “share the diverse cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Metis people while also promoting awareness that Indigenous people are here and thriving,” says John.

The National Indian Brotherhood, now the Assembly of First Nations, first called for a National Aboriginal Day in 1982. It was to be a day that commemorated Aboriginal solidarity.

In 1995, The Sacred Assembly (a national conference of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people) once again called for a national holiday to celebrate the contributions of Aboriginal peoples. Finally, in 1996 former Governor General Romeo LeBlanc declared June 21 as National Aboriginal Day.

Some events that will be taking place in the Toronto area are as follows:

June 18 to 23
Art Show
Sponsored by the Toronto District School Board Aboriginal Education Centre
Toronto City Hall Rotunda, 100 Queen St. W.

June 21
National Aboriginal Day Sunrise Ceremony & Flag Raising
Podium Roof, Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen St. W.
5:30am

Celebrate the summer solstice with First Nations’ dancing, drumming and a sunset ceremony
Fort 91��ɫ National Historic Site, 250 Fort 91��ɫ Blvd.
6pm to sunset

All My Relations’ National Aboriginal Day
Allendale Gardens Park
12pm to 6pm

June 23
Na-Me-Rez Outdoor Traditional Powwow
Wells Hills Park, East of Bathurst & St. Clair West
Grand Entry starts at 12pm

June 29
Scarbourough Powwow
20 Waldock St., Scarborough, Ontario
Sunrise ceremony at 5:30am
Grand Entry at 12pm

June 30
Aboriginal History Month Celebration Event @ Dundas Square
Sponsored by the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto
12 to 8pm

For more information about celebrations that will be taking place around National Aboriginal Day, visit the Government of Canada’s website.

For more information on Aboriginal services, visit the website or stop by the centre at 246 91��ɫ Lanes.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The first is a community forum tomorrow, Nov. 9 to discuss food policy and the development of a food charter for 91��ɫ Region. The second event on Tuesday, Nov. 29, features a community dialogue on pressing social issues facing the region. Members of the 91��ɫ community are invited to both events.

Since September, a knowledge broker placed at the United Way 91��ɫ Region has been working in close partnership with the University's Knowledge Mobilization Unit to enhance opportunities for collaboration in research with respect to social determinants of health. The partnership is the result of a successful application to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research submitted in February 2011. (Knowledge brokers are project staff acting as intermediaries that connect researchers to potential research users.)

“This is a tremendous opportunity to maximize the impact of 91��ɫ research and build on a significant partnership for 91��ɫ in knowledge mobilization,” said Michael Johnny (right), manager of 91��ɫ’s Knowledge Mobilization Unit.

The Nov. 9 forum, , hosted by the United Way 91��ɫ Region in collaboration with various partners, will bring together representatives from a number of community organizations to discuss food security and agriculture issues. Participants will also embark on a discussion about establishing a Food Charter for 91��ɫ Region. 

A food charter is a statement of values and principles to guide a community’s food policy, and is a key document for communities working towards developing a food system that is healthy, equitable and sustainable. The organizers of Food for Change are hoping that academic partners from 91��ɫ will attend the event and engage in a dialogue to explore ways that research can inform and support this initiative in both the short and longer term.

On Nov. 29, the United Way 91��ɫ Region will host the , part of a series of community dialogues on pressing social issues in 91��ɫ Region. During the meeting house, participants will explore the implications for social infrastructure development in communities that are facing major population growth. Over the next few months, meeting house dialogues will also be held in Newmarket, Vaughan, Markham and Richmond Hill.

“Working within Canada’s leading knowledge mobilization university, 91��ɫ’s Knowledge Mobilization Unit continues to work together with our partners to make 91��ɫ’s research and talent accessible and relevant to the community,” said Robert Haché, vice-president research & innovation. “This partnership will help facilitate initiatives to improve the quality of life for residents in 91��ɫ Region.”

For more information on knowledge mobilization services at 91��ɫ, or about this partnership, e-mail 91��ɫ's Knowledge Mobilization Unit at kmbunit@yorku.ca.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Recent research by biologist Lincoln Best, [a graduate student] at 91��ɫ [Faculty of Science & Engineering] has uncovered that this flower has a particularly intricate relationship with its friends in the bee world. Best’s research, which included fieldwork in , has uncovered evidence that the flower may be highly dependent on just one species of wild bee for pollination. There are over 400 species of wild bees in B.C., but in repeated fieldwork around the flowers, Best caught only the one species of bee interacting with the flower.

With wild bees in decline in B.C. and elsewhere in North America, the concern is this intricate relationship could break down; the tragic end of the cycle could mean the last lilies are left to bloom alone in the forest, with no helpers to spread their pollen an continue their cycle of life.

Best is a student in Biology Professor 's laboratory at 91��ɫ.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Researchers analyzed 130 studies to compare the energy use and global warming potential of organic versus conventional farming. They concluded that organic farms were more energy efficient on both a per-hectare and per-product basis, with the exception of fruit farming and poultry production, where data is limited.

“These findings shake up the concept that ‘bigger’ is always better. Higher crop yields, bigger equipment, less genetic diversity, and more fertilizer and pesticides do not equal a more energy-efficient operation,” says Rod MacRae (left), a professor in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Environmental Studies.

Critics of organic farming commonly argue that lower yields make it unsustainable in the long term. “As population increases and land availability decreases, it’s assumed that an ‘assembly line’ approach to agriculture is the only way to keep up with our food needs. While this is the dominant way of thinking, this logic is also deeply flawed,” MacRae says. “For example, many regions in the global south show better yield performance with organic farming. Even in North America, organic yields are not far behind conventional ones.”

MacRae points out that there is an enormous amount of waste in conventional systems. Significant amounts of edible food are lost at harvest, during processing and distribution, at retail and in consumers’ homes. “By some accounts, up to 40 per cent of what gets farmed never makes it to our mouths, and this adds enormously to energy waste. This can result in the perception that we’re not producing enough food,” he says.

Studies of conventional and organic grain growers in the prairie region showed significant benefits for organic methods, including 50 per cent lower energy use in a 12-year study of forage and grain crop rotations. The absence of nitrogen fertilizer was a main contributor to reduced energy inputs and greater efficiency. Modelling studies of a Canada-wide conversion to organic canola, wheat, soybean and corn concluded we would consume 39 per cent less energy and generate only 77 per cent of the global warming emissions and 17 per cent of ozone-depleting emissions of conventional wheat farming.

Above: Organic cultivation of mixed vegetables

In terms of dairy farming, a study in Atlantic Canada found that an organic, seasonal grazing system was 64 per cent more energy efficient and emitted 29 per cent less greenhouse gases compared with the average of conventional systems. Cows consuming an organic diet may also have a longer lifespan, increasing efficiency and reducing methane emissions when calculated over time.

Where livestock is concerned, fewer studies exist and comparisons are more difficult because of dramatic differences in operations from farm to farm, particularly for hogs and poultry. Conventionally raised beef is widely accepted as the least environmentally friendly meat, requiring seven times as many inputs for an equivalent output of calories. Organic beef production is considered to be more efficient because the animals consume more grass and less grain than humans can consume.

The study, “The Carbon and Global Warming Potential Impacts of Organic Farming: Does It Have a Significant Role in an Energy Constrained World?” was published in the journal Sustainability. Its lead author is Professor Derek Lynch, Department of Plant & Animal Sciences, Nova Scotia Agricultural College.

MacRae was also interviewed in  about the lack of attention politicians are paying to food policy during the current federal election campaigns.

“None of them really link the food story to health care that well, or to social-policy reform,” said Rod MacRae, a professor at 91��ɫ who is one of Canada’s foremost experts on the subject. “What they’ve done is pick the low-hanging fruit – the things that are more part of the public consciousness right now.”

Still, strong federal leadership in the national food policy process is critical, he said. “The federal role is to act as the animator, the facilitator, and to use its usual package of sticks and carrots to try and get everybody on board.”

By Melissa Hughes, media relations officer.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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It is by far the best method to ensure food security, especially when women are the producers, said Mukherjee-Reed, who was here recently as part of the research project on farming activity by women's groups. The advantage is access to food in the hands of those who need it (are food insecure), she said.

Mukherjee-Reed, whose works include and series, said there is a lesson in here that the world can take to fight food crisis.

About 2.5 lakh women in the state in about 30,000 groups are engaged in collective farming. Together they cultivate over 27,000 hectares, growing paddy, tapioca, pineapple, plantain, vegetables and other items that are used to ensure that the growers get enough to eat and the surplus is sold in the open market.

“Most of the groups of women, who started with small areas for cultivation, have increased their production by taking up more fallow land, rejuvenating it and cultivating it,” said Mukherjee-Reed.

Her study involved 100 groups spread across the state. Among her major findings, Mukherjee-Reed said that land is the major constraint of the women engaged in collective farming. Women are unsure about retaining the leasing rights of the vacant, fallow land that they rejuvenate and prepare for cultivation.

About 21 per cent of women groups expressed their wish to become landowners. In fact, it is a major aim of some groups, who have managed to buy land.

In spite of the constraints, women are happy, said Prof. Mukherjee. Most of the women who have been able to leave wage labour are very happy. Organic farming is the aim of at least 45 per cent of the 100 groups she has studied. Some groups among them make organic manure for their cultivation. There are women who have had no previous exposure to go out of the house for any activity, now fully engaged in collective farming and also inspiring other women to follow an activity of economic independence, she said.

In Kudumbasree, she found a strong support system that provides a platform for women. The Mission has an elaborate structure and allows functioning as an institute.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Packer will present findings outlined in his which grew out of the Canadian pollination research initiative spearheaded by the biology professor.

Packer has charted the movement of more than 800 species of bees in North America and identified an alarming decline in their population, causing enormous deficits in pollen transfer and affecting our food supply and ecosphere.

The lecture, presented by A Different Drummer Books, begins at 7pm at Burlington Central Library, 2331 New St. Tickets cost $10 and may be purchased at the library or at A Different Drummer Books, 513 Locust St.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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This is only the second year the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships have been awarded.

“We are delighted with the results of the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships competition and the opportunity that this represents for four of 91��ɫ's outstanding doctoral candidates,” says Douglas Peers (left), dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. "In addition to exhibiting remarkable potential as young scholars, the success of these students is a testament to 91��ɫ's interdisciplinary strengths in areas such as environmental studies and women's studies. The Vanier Scholarships' emphasis on bringing the most promising international students to Canada to study has allowed 91��ɫ to attract three students with great potential."

The winners from 91��ɫ are: Tania Hernandez Cervantes of Mexico, who is studying agricultural economics; Yasin Kaya of Turkey, who is studying political economy; women’s studies student Healy Thompson of the United States; and history student James D.J. Trepanier of Canada. Each will receive $50,000 per year for up to three years to pursue research that will lead to the growth of the global knowledge base.

Hernandez Cervantes will research alternatives against the global takeover of organic agriculture in Mexico and Canada looking at agro-ecological innovation, rural livelihoods and alternative production, distribution and consumption. Yasin is interested in researching globalization in jeans in a multi-sited ethnography of global economic processes. Thompson will research the protection of vulnerable women looking at northern paternalism and women's sexual and reproductive rights. Trepanier will study scouting and the two solitudes, investigating youth, religion and nationalism in French and English Canada from 1908 to 1970.

This year, 174 scholarships were awarded to doctoral students from Canada and around the world recognized as leaders in their fields of research and in their communities. The Vanier scholars were selected for their exceptional leadership skills and their high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and engineering, and health.

The scholarships are administered by Canada's three federal granting agencies: the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada. The goal is to build world-class research capacity by recruiting top-tier doctoral students, both nationally and internationally, who will positively contribute to our economic, social and research-based growth for a prosperous future.

For more information, visit the Web site.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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