More than 700 faculty, staff and students attended 91��ɫ’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation virtual panel, “Reflections on Truth and Reconciliation,” which took place Sept. 30.

Faculty of Education Professor Carl James, senior advisor on equity and representation and the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora, served as the panel moderator, which was presented by 91��ɫ President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton and Vice-President of Equity, People & Culture Sheila Cote-Meek.

In her opening remarks Lenton spoke about the importance of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in understanding and acknowledging Canada’s colonial practices, which had a devastating impact on Indigenous Peoples. She said that it was essential for universities across Canada to reflect on their role as part of a colonial system of education and their responsibility to advance Indigenous scholarship, knowledge mobilization and action that will help move the country towards reconciliation.

Cote-Meek, who is Anishinaabe from the Teme-Augama Anishnabai, spoke about her own experience with the intergenerational trauma that was the result of Canada’s Residential School System. “This is an important day to Indigenous Peoples as well as all Canadians, settlers and visitors to this land,” she said. “While this day marks an important step towards reconciliation, it is also a stark reminder to Indigenous Peoples of the many children who were forcibly removed from our communities and the resulting violence and trauma experienced in the Indian Residential School System.

“This past summer has been particularly difficult as unmarked graves of hundreds of children were located on various sites of residential schools across this country. Based on death records, more than 4,100 children died at residential schools,” she said, noting that the true total is anticipated to be much higher.

Cote-Meek’s own grandfather was forced to attend the St. Peter Claver School for Boys in Spanish, Ontario. “He survived but never spoke of his experiences there and it wasn’t until years after his death that I learned of his attendance. When I did, it answered so many unanswered questions for me that I did not understand about my own family.

“It is important that non-Indigenous people in Canada confront this history and understand the systems from which they benefit and begin to understand how we are all in relation to one another and the land. So today, we honour the victims, those who did not return home and we honour the survivors, including those who are descendants of survivors. We acknowledge your strength and resilience.”

After Cote-Meek’s remarks, Zoey Roy, an Indigenous artist, spoken word poet and a PhD student in the Faculty of Education, presented an original spoken word poem before a two-minute period of silence prior to the start of the panel.

Participating in the panel were: Associate Vice-President Indigenous Initiatives and Faculty of Education Professor Susan Dion; Provost and Vice-President Academic Lisa Philipps; Sean Hillier, Indigenous Council Co-Chair and assistant professor and 91��ɫ Research Chair in Indigenous Health & One Health; Osgoode Hall Law School Dean Mary Condon; Randy Pitawanakwat, manager, Indigenous Student Services; and Stephen Teong, interim president, Glendon College Student Union.

Each panellist was asked to answer one of five questions: How/where do you see reconciliation in action? What have you learned from the conversations happening and/or not happening about reconciliation? What actions have you taken or want to take in service of reconciliation? How do you understand your responsibility to participate in accomplishing reconciliation? Reflecting on your position within the 91��ɫ community, what do you hope a focus on reconciliation will accomplish?

Dion was the first to respond to the question: What have you learned from the conversations happening and/or not happening about reconciliation?

A Lenape and Potawatomi scholar with mixed Irish and French ancestry, Dion said that while she was encouraged by the interest in truth and reconciliation, she has persistent concerns. “What do Canadians her when we speak? I know that conversations are difficult. They require a rethinking of the story we tell ourselves about what it means to be Canadian. I find that the desire to make the conversations all about you and the feelings for us – feeling sorry for us or feeling bad for Indigenous Peoples and how much you want to help us, but I have to say that sometimes these conversations can be very frustrating and tiresome, even exasperating,” she said.

In contrast, Dion said that her mother, who had been denied access to her language and cultural practices because of the intergenerational impact of her parents’ time in residential school, provided Dion and her siblings with what they needed to do the work of gathering, sharing and initiating conversations about being Indigenous. These conversations, said Dion, have focused on recuperating knowledge, participating in and learning from each other and the land. Important conversations, she said because they are about recognizing knowledge and story, cultural practice and ceremony.

“On this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, conversations about the impacts of residential schools have to happen. They have to happen respectfully and with purpose to learn how we are all implicated and how we are all responsible to ourselves and each other, and to all creation. We have to invest time and energy in learning from the stories,” she said.

“What Indigenous Peoples need are conversations that start with a turning toward and a willingness to accept responsibility to learn from Indigenous Peoples’ experiences and perspectives,” Dion added.

Philipps, who in addition to being provost and vice-president academic at 91��ɫ, is a legal scholar and professor of law. She was asked to consider the question: How do you understand your responsibility to participate in accomplishing reconciliation?

“My responsibility is to continue my own personal education and learn about Indigenous histories in Canada. My own personal education began for me as a law professor at Osgoode and my own field of scholarship and teaching, which is tax law and policy,” Philipps said. “And, about how there is a specific and interesting space carved out for First Nations and for those defined as qualifying under the Indian Act for particular types of tax treatment; the way that was expressed in case law and by judges hearing cases about that tax treatment; the kinds of assumptions and stereotypes and ideas about why that existed and what it meant.”

Philipps probed deeper into what she was seeing and began to read and research the inequities. She then brought those observations into her courses, in rather tentative ways at first, she said, and then more robustly as her knowledge increased. She attended the Anishinaabe Law Camp that Osgoode Hall Law School initiated and learned from Indigenous Elders and scholars. “What I took away from that was understanding more deeply that Indigenous communities have their own legal orders. Historically and currently, those legal orders are very much rooted in the land,” said Philipps.

She continues to pursue and deepen her knowledge through reading and conversations, listening and continuing education and brings that growing knowledge into her role as provost and vice-president academic. She is continuing to expand the numbers of Indigenous faculty at 91��ɫ and is exploring how she can embed an infrastructure to support current Indigenous faculty and embed Indigenous perspectives and knowledge into the curriculum.

Hillier was the next panellist to respond. As Co-Chair of the Indigenous Council at 91��ɫ, he was asked to consider the question: What have you learned from the conversations happening and/or not happening about reconciliation?

A queer Mi’kmaw scholar from the Qalipu First Nation, Hillier began with a story about his grandparents. “My grandparents never spoke of the erasure of their culture through dominant groups and violence and being ostracized, but the impacts remain. Deeply.” he said.

“I appreciate the provost’s comments around learning because this process that we are now in is not a truth-finding process, but instead it is a learning process of coming to understand and coming to terms with the truths. So, what is reconciliation? For me, reconciliation is critical to our foundation of being able to move forward as a country. Reconciliation is complex, it is multifaceted, and it is continuous and can be contentious,” said Hillier.

At its core, Hillier said, reconciliation is about learning, healing and coming together. It is about honouring the treaties that settlers entered with Indigenous Peoples. “We must acknowledge and respect Indigenous rights and titles across this country. Reconciliation is also about learning about Indigenous history.

“It means recognizing the intergenerational impacts of colonization, attempts at assimilation and the cultural genocide taking place and it means recognizing the critical roles that Indigenous Peoples have held in the creating of this country,” said Hillier. “Reconciliation is supporting the reclamation of identity, language, of culture and nationhood. I did not start my speech today with my own language because it is something that I do not have.

“When I talk to my students about the paths we are on, the journeys that we are on, I talk about a two-pronged journey. A journey of learning and a journey of healing. We all have a part in this, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, we must engage in this journey together.”

As the Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, Condon was asked the question: What actions have you taken or want to take in service of reconciliation?

She began by saying that for legal educators and scholars, there is a strong awareness of the role that Canadian settler law and legal systems have played historically in facilitating colonial structures. “Whether that is facilitating particular types of treaty relationships and constitutional relationships between settlers and Indigenous Peoples, or the way in which settler law has facilitated the oppression that resulted in the residential school system and maintaining of those oppressive structures,” said Condon.

She observed that the comments and 94 recommendations made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission focused on law schools as being necessary to the journey toward reconciliation, including re-teaching how Canadian law has facilitated the oppression of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, creating a cohort of lawyers who can properly and respectfully serve Indigenous clients, and exploring how law schools can make space for the conversations and the study of Indigenous law.

“I think that it is fair to say that all law schools in Canada have taken up that response and that invitation from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to reflect on the role that legal education should play in the journey towards reconciliation,” said Condon.

She said Osgoode has hired four Indigenous scholars and faculty members into the school. The law school introduced an Indigenous law requirement to its JD degree and last June, the first cohort of students who have completed this requirement graduated and have a greater degree of knowledge of Indigenous perspectives on law. She is hoping to engage the law school alumni in conversations about truth and reconciliation. Condon spoke with pride about the Indigenous law camp for first year students and a law camp for upper year students. She said the law camps provide students and faculty with an opportunity to learn about communities, laws and legal orders from Indigenous Knowledge Keepers and Elders.

As manager of Indigenous Student Services on campus, Pitawanakwat, an Anishinabe with the Anishinabek Nation, is from the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island. He said that he was proud to be participating in the panel. He spoke about the impact of residential schools on his family, specifically his father and grandfather who attended the St. Joseph Residential School in Spanish, Ontario. “This was never spoken about to the children, it was a topic that no one discussed,” he said, noting, “the education system participated in the lack of education about Indigenous Peoples, so now the education system must now become a full participant in the reconciliation efforts.

“We need to accomplish an awareness of the past wrongs and right these wrongs. We need to accomplish a desire to join in building a new relationship. Reflecting on my current position within the 91��ɫ community, my hope is that we focus on establishing learning opportunities for staff and students,” he said. “There is so much to learn about Indigenous Peoples and these learning opportunities can include both in-person and online learning, including in the form of training sessions that can be made available as professional development for staff and employees. We need to build the capacity for learning and have resources available. There is a lot of work to do throughout the entire institution and we need to come together and establish a coordinated effort and set a plan, rather than the current piecemeal format.”

The learning process will be difficult, said Pitawanakwat, but necessary. “We must all work together on this, reconciliation is everyone’s responsibility.”

The last to respond in the panel, Teong brought a student perspective to the question: What actions have you taken or want to take in the service of reconciliation?

Teong responded that he felt lost and overwhelmed in trying to ascertain where to start his own journey. “As a student leader, a Canadian and the son of immigrants, my parents came to this land to build a better life. “As I reflect on reconciliation, I remind myself that impact begins with one person. I want to work in the service of reconciliation. Whether it be working with campus partners and Indigenous Student Services to learn what they do and how to incorporate their vision into our own [Glendon Student Government], I commit myself and the team to working with the Indigenous councils and student groups.”

Personally, he said that he was engaging with the Canadian Language Museum on the Glendon Campus and encouraged those viewing the panel to visit and study the museum’s free exhibit. He is pursuing his own learning through reading about the Residential School System and the intergenerational harm caused to Indigenous Peoples. He is also taking courses to learn more about the experiences of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. “As we talk about actions, it starts with learning and with difficult conversations. One person taking the first step forward and inspiring others to do the same, and it is in this spirit that we can make things better.”

In her closing remarks, Cote-Meek said that the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation represented an important milestone, and the panel was important for 91��ɫ.

“As you reflect on the great injustices of the Residential School System in Canada, I want to remind you that colonization remains ongoing for Indigenous Peoples. I will leave you with the stark realities that Indigenous children and families continue to face today,” said Cote-Meek. “There are three times more First Nations children in the current child welfare system than there were at the height of the residential schools. First Nations children are six to eight times more likely to go into child welfare care than non-Indigenous children. This over-representation is largely caused by a number of factors beyond the control of individual families and parents, some of which include poverty, poor housing, under-funded education, and in many cases the lack of access to safe drinking water,” said Cote-Meek. “There are a number of other reports that are available online that I would ask you to explore. The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Report remains out there and little action has been taken. A new report on the gender-diverse and non-binary community speaks to the high rates of violence directed not only to women but to that community as well.

“All of the speakers have provided us with deeper insights into what reflecting on reconciliation in action can be. There is no doubt that it will be a long journey. I leave you with this question: What will you personally commit to going forward?”

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Youth at risk fail at school, have mental health issues and get in trouble with the law. Would they be better served if all three systems – education, mental health and justice – worked together?

That question animated discussion at a recent forum organized by the 91��ɫ Centre for Education and Community (YCEC). Sponsored by 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education and the Department of Justice, the March 18 forum, called "Youth, Mental Health, and the Justice System: An Educational Concern", brought together academics and practitioners from universities, community-based organizations, school boards, the health sector, the justice system and government agencies.

Participants talked about the challenges of helping wayward youth and recommended ways to integrate systems. The recommendations will be featured in a report to be shared with the Department of Justice and are expected to form the basis of future changes.

, director of the Community Health Systems Resource Group, , acted as forum facilitator. In his opening remarks, he said young people can experience one or all of three factors – school failure, poor mental health and trouble with the law. “We know that certain groups are more likely to be in conflict with the law, and that there are risk factors,” he said, and encouraged participants to “dig into your experiences today and help us to understand how we can address issues of equity, so that we have not only equal access but also equal outcomes for all our youth.”

The forum began with a panel featuring , lawyer and education professor at 91��ɫ; , director of the Centre for Children Committing Offences & Program Development, Child Development Institute; , Distinguished Research Fellow in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education; and Llewellyn Joseph, medical director of the Regional Outpatient Disruptive Behaviors Program at , and YCEC Advisory Council member.

Shanahan opened by exploring the question: “Can we keep disruptive youth in the education system?” She offered a legal perspective on the discipline of wayward youth in schools, acknowledging the limitations of the law and education legislation that emphasizes safety in schools. She called for alternative approaches to dealing with wayward behavior in youth.

Augimeri described her work with “the forgotten kids” (aged six to 12 years) and “overshadowed girls” within this demographic, using the model, an internationally acclaimed, evidence-based program that identifies and works with children under 12 at risk of becoming involved (or already involved) with the law. She said “there is hope” because early intervention strategies tend to have the biggest impact on the younger age group.

Britzman discussed the fragile interaction of youth, law, desire and mental health. She offered philosophical and psychoanalytical views of adolescence and education, drawing from the work of Helene Deutsch, François Roustang, Anna Freud and Julia Kristeva.

Joseph, an experienced child and adolescent psychiatrist, provided an historical overview of the Canadian policy landscape vis-à-vis mental health, education and the law. Through case study examples, he explained the challenges of intervening with youth in conflict with the law. “One of the dilemmas is trying to determine whether that acting out behaviour presented in adolescence, or even early adolescence, is early bipolar disorder and should be labeled as mental health, or should be considered criminal behaviour.”

During ensuing round-table discussions, participants suggested improvements to all three systems – education, mental health and justice – and agreed that the greatest need for change exists where these systems intersect. They stressed repeatedly that the needs of youth can be met only if the three systems work together.  When that happens, said one participant, “we can create an environment where youth feel that people care about them.”

Participants deplored the punitive approach and incarceration for young people favoured by the government and in social discourse. Those working in medical and justice systems noted the increase in mentally ill individuals in prisons and detention facilities, and the limited capacity of the youth criminal justice system to meet the needs of youth, particularly those facing mental health challenges.

Lack of trust between youth and police is a significant factor in setting youth on life trajectories that involve repeated conflict with the law, said participants. “Youth from certain communities are being over-policed,” said one participant. Those communities tend to be where there are large concentrations of people of colour or Aboriginal populations. Participants stressed the need for all three systems to identify and address systemic racism as it affects young people.

To be successful, programs need to be multidimensional, target kids in elementary school, be consistent and sustainable, and engage community, youth and families, said participants. Programs need to foster strong, trusting relationships between youth and adults, and offer a variety of supports, including academic, health, social, recreational and cultural, they said.

Legislation must not punish but help and support young people who get in trouble, insisted participants. Youth must be encouraged to stay in school to improve their chances of success and avoid conflict with the law. Teachers must be trained and schools given resources to address mental health issues of children and youth at risk, they concluded.

The forum was organized by Carl James, YCEC director, and , dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education.

Facilitating discussions were 91��ɫ education Professors Susan Dion, Nombuso Dlamini, John Ippolito, James and Shanahan; and geography Professor Ranu Basu.

Round-table discussions featured members of the YCEC advisory council: Mary Anne Chambers, Cheryl Jackson, Llewellyn Joseph, Amos Key Jr., Cheryl Prescod and Chandra Turner.

Taking notes were graduate students Melanie Bourke, Selom Chapman-Nyaho, Rebeca Gutierrez Estrada, Danielle Kwan-Lafond, Krysta Pandolfi and Samuel Tecle.

With files from Louise Gormley, research assistant, 91��ɫ Centre for Education & Community

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

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Presented Aug. 17, 18 and 19 at 91��ɫ’s Keele campus, this year’s program builds on the success of summer institutes held in 2008 and 2009 and draws on contemporary research and innovative approaches to education.

"We have more than 100 people signed up to attend this year’s symposium," says 91��ɫ education Professor Carl James, director of the YCEC. "They are coming to 91��ɫ from Toronto as well as the 905 area public and separate school boards and community organizations to engage with us about student engagement and how to make community a vital part of education."

Left: Carl James

As families move to suburban communities in the 905-area from urban centres, says James, they bring with them a rich diversity of experience and unique expectations. James says it is important for schools and communities to understand and engage with these collective experiences that students and families bring to their new communities and classrooms.

Education faces constant challenges due to the rapidly changing world, says James. The migration and residential patterns, technological advances, as well as economic, political and social conditions, create an environment for education that demands ongoing assessment. This year's Summer Institute continues on a history pioneered by the YCEC that focuses on building on the relationships between learning institutions and communities to ensure that education is current, relevant and a cornerstone of academic success.

"Many schools in communities in the Greater Toronto Area are interested in the research that 91��ɫ has been doing with urban schools in the areas of engagement and inclusion," says James. "Participants will hear about our findings and they will explore the idea of diversity inside the classroom, how to be inclusive of students’ backgrounds and experiences and how to work with families and build commitment and support."

Presenters and workshops in this year’s institute will articulate effective curriculum and pedagogical practices around inclusion and models of student engagement. Student achievement is directly affected by engagement, explains James. Participants in this year’s institute will participate in workshops, theory to practice seminars and panel discussions that directly address student engagement and building inclusive classrooms. Key thinkers in these areas will present keynotes each day of the institute in order to guide thinking.

On Tuesday, Aug. 17, the Summer Institute begins with a keynote presentation by Harvard University education Professor Mark Warren. Warren is a sociologist concerned with the revitalization of American democratic and community life. He studies efforts to strengthen institutions that anchor inner-city communities – churches, schools and other community-based organizations – and to build broad-based alliances among these institutions and across race and social class. Warren is interested in fostering community development, social justice, and school transformation; and uses the results of scholarly research to advance democratic practice.

Right: Mark Warren

Wednesday's sessions will kick off with a keynote from Dr. Llewellyn Joseph, a medical doctor and director of the outpatient Disruptive Behaviours Program at in Newmarket, Ont.

Dr. Joseph provides clinical services to children and teens with disruptive behaviours and was previously the physician leader in the Child & Adolescent Program in the Department of Psychiatry at Humber River Regional Hospital. He is an associate professor at the University of Toronto in child and adolescent psychiatry and co-editor of The Mental Hospital in the 21st Century (1992). Dr. Joseph is a frequent contributor to journals and conferences on the subject of mental health and disruptive behaviours among young people. He is also a member of the YCEC Advisory Council.

Following the keynote, the first series of workshops of the Summer Institute will offer interactive sessions in technology and its role in engaging parents and the community; the complexities and possibilities inherent in an inclusive approach to education; the search for cultural and economic biases in the mathematics curriculum in Ontario; and how to construct an inclusive curriculum by using autobiographical narratives by African Canadians. Information on each of these sessions can be found on the workshop descriptions that are available .

Wednesday afternoon will feature a panel discussion with 91��ɫ education faculty, school and community representatives who will discuss the implementation of equity and inclusive programs in schools.

After the panel, there will be a second series of workshops. The first will focus on fostering intergenerational learning within community responsive schools by involving linguistic and cultural minority students and their families. There will be sessions on what teachers think about student engagement; equity in the classroom through arts and literacy; and an exploration of girls, gender equity and social justice. Details on each workshop are available .

On day three of the Summer Institute, Ryerson University education Professor Althea Prince will deliver the day's keynote address. Prince is a sociologist and teaches at the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson.

Right: Althea Prince

Prince's teaching area includes explorations of race, racism, and African Caribbean peoples in metropolitan communities. She is also an essayist, novelist, storyteller and author of children’s books. As a community educator, Prince teaches writing workshops that concentrate on accessing voice and building confidence.

Information about the Summer Institute can be found on the Web site. A PDF of the program is available .

More about the 91��ɫ Centre for Education & Community

YCEC is a faculty-based Organized Research Unit located within 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education. YCEC seeks to strengthen links among the University, colleges, schools and communities.

The centre works with faculty members both within and outside the Faculty of Education, education researchers and administrators, teachers, parents, government agencies and representatives of community organizations to both initiate and facilitate research.

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

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Flemingdon Park is one of Toronto’s “priority” areas. Census data from 2001 showed that 71 per cent of the 22,000 residents were immigrants, and 34 per cent lived below the poverty line. The average family lived on less than $45,000 a year.

. . .

Since 2009, the city has spent $1.5-million to create parks and playgrounds in the neighbourhood. But right now, Flemingdon doesn’t have a bank and its only grocery store is scheduled to open in the fall.

. . .

To help with safety concerns, Toronto Community Housing installed 120 security cameras in Flemingdon Park in 2006, at a cost of close to $1 million. Many cameras have been vandalized, rendering 22 inoperable.

None of these initiatives are likely to break the cycle of violence, according to , a sociology professor in 91��ɫ’s and director of the 91��ɫ Centre for Education & Community. The way to get through to Flemingdon’s most vulnerable – its youth – is to provide them with opportunities and hope, including better access to education and jobs.

The complete article is .

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

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More than 200 people, many of them senior educators, members of the community and representatives of government agencies, joined with 91��ɫ faculty and students in celebrating the launch of the Faculty of Education’s first Organized Research Unit (ORU), the 91��ɫ Centre for Education & Community (YCEC), on Oct. 22. The successful event was held at the Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan Theatre in the Accolade East building.

Left: Mary Anne Chambers, Ontario's former minister of children and youth services, with Carl James, director of the 91��ɫ Centre for Education & Community

As an ORU, the centre will be involved in research activities on the appropriate and efficient delivery of educational programs in both formal and informal educational settings.

In their remarks at the event, Alice Pitt, dean of the Faculty of Education, and Carl James, the Centre’s director, noted that the YCEC builds on the Faculty of Education’s more than 17 years of experience working in Jane-Finch schools and the community, as well as in the outer suburban schools. James also noted that the centre continues 91��ɫ’s history of being socially responsible, community-minded and accessible to members of communities, giving attention to interdisciplinarity, diversity, social justice and equality of opportunity.

The evening’s entertainment was provided by the talented stage band from Emery Collegiate Institute, a school in the 91��ɫ-Westview Partnership. As host of the event, James welcomed Amos Key, executive director of the Woodland Cultural Centre, who gave the invocation in recognition of the Aboriginal peoples of this territory. Key, who is also a faithkeeper from the Mohawk Turtle Clan of Six Nations of the Grand River, is one of 10 members of the Centre’s advisory council who were in attendance.

Left: Amos Key

Speakers for the evening included Rhonda Lenton, associate vice-president, academic, who brought greetings from the Office of the President and 91��ɫ’s senior administration, Pitt and Stephen Gaetz, associate dean of research & field development. Pitt also recognized special guests, including former MP Jean Augustine, Ontario’s fairness commissioner and sponsor of the new Jean Augustine Chair in Education in the New Urban Environment in the Faculty of Education.

Mary Anne Chambers, Ontario’s former minister of children and youth services and former minister of training, colleges and universities, gave the keynote address, titled “Access to Opportunity – an imperative not to be ignored”. Chambers spoke about the gap between young people’s dreams and their achievements, and of the need for healthy communities that will lead to productive, inclusive and effective educational programs and practices.

Chambers complimented the Faculty of Education for taking the crucial step of inaugurating the 91��ɫ Centre for Education & Community. She also expressed her hope that all involved in the centre will demonstrate a commitment to building stronger communities by conducting and disseminating widely research that engages communities in exploring all possibilities for helping young people achieve their full potential. Chambers ended by challenging educators and researchers to be passionate and committed community builders.

The 91��ɫ Centre for Education & Community was established to enable, support and encourage opportunities for collaborative inquiry and innovative programs among faculty members, education researchers, educational administrators, teachers and learners, community and government agencies, and graduate students. Through collaborative research and initiatives, the centre will also contribute to the development of policies, programs and practices in education that strengthen the intricate links that exist between education and community.

For example, the YCEC, in partnership with the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario through the Equity and Women’s Services Department, will host a one-day workshop on Nov. 17 to encourage Grade 7 & 8 students from under-represented groups to consider a career in teaching. Students will learn about the teaching profession and how to become a teacher in Ontario. Participating teachers will have the opportunity to find out about programs in their areas that support such initiatives.

The YCEC together with the Toronto District School Board is conducting a three-year project titled School and Community Engaged Education (SCEE), initiated in 2008. The SCEE project team works with teachers in five schools to develop more inclusive curriculum and programs that are responsive to students’ cultural, social and economic needs, interests and circumstances, thereby improving students’ participation and achievement in schools. The idea is that an inclusive approach to curriculum and pedagogy correlates with an understanding of community life and the experiences of students.

To find out more, visit the YCEC Web site, where a 33-minute audio file of is also available.

From YFile - 91��ɫ's daily e-bulletin

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