The forum, which focuses on industrial relations, workplace discrimination and human rights issues, will be held today and tomorrow at the Beijing Conference Centre.聽YCPPL was awarded a聽major grant of $100,000 from the of (HRSDC) to organize the forum, which will bring together some of Canada's top thinkers in industrial and labour rights with聽key policy-makers and thinkers聽in China.

Right: Lesley Jacobs

"The Canada-China Forum is the first of its kind and reflects a new initiative of the Government of Canada in the realm of recalibrating their relationship with China involving university-led research units," says political science Professor Lesley Jacobs, director of YCPPL.

"Working with government officials in Canada and the Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing, this event will bring together a 17-person Canadian delegation, including academics, senior government officials, representatives from human rights commissioners, and delegates from business, labour and NGOs, to provide a dynamic platform for an important comparative discussion of industrial relations and workplace rights with a view to relating these issues to international labour standards," says Jacobs.

In addition to Jacobs,聽91亚色 Professor Lorne Foster, director of the聽Master in Public Policy, Administration & Law program,聽will also be a principal investigator on this project. Jacobs and Foster, along with political science Professor Daniel Drache and Patrick Monahan, 91亚色's vice-president academic & provost, are in Beijing for the forum. Monahan will make the welcoming remarks to the delegates gathered in Beijing.

Canada鈥檚 ambassador to China, David Mulroney, along with a representative from the United Nations聽International Labour Organization and various Chinese dignitaries, will also deliver speeches to forum delegates.

"Being asked to lead such an event is a tremendous achievement for YCPPL and 91亚色," says Jacobs. "It offers an opportunity to聽demonstrate the dynamism and excellence of 91亚色 researchers and their research."

YCPPL聽encourages research on the role and impact of law in the formation and expression of public policy. More specifically, the聽centre focuses on constitutional, institutional and legal aspects of the public policy, as well as the international and transnational dimensions of law and public policy.

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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The launch for Writing Justice (Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 2011) will take place on Thursday, April 14, from 5:30 to 7:30pm at the Columbus Centre, 901 Lawrence Ave. W., Toronto. Everyone is welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

The book was published in recognition of the United Nations General Assembly鈥檚 proclamation of 2011 as the .

鈥淚 want the book to serve as both an historical example of ethno-racial media in the tradition of Mary Ann Shadd and Henry Bibb, and as a critical analysis of some of the most important issues impacting the lives of people of colour in the last decade,鈥� says Foster.

The aim of the International Year for People of African Descent is to strengthen national actions and regional and international cooperation for the benefit of people of African descent in relation to: their full enjoyment of economic, cultural, social, civil and political rights; their participation and integration in all political, economic, social and cultural aspects of society; and the promotion of a greater knowledge of, and respect for, their diverse heritage and culture.

Left: Lorne Foster

鈥淒r. Foster illustrates how, over the greater part of a decade, he has used his analytical skills and erudition as weapons for progressive social change. Despite covering a very wide range of topics 鈥� from leadership, human rights and race in the workplace through the language of culture and power, social problems in the city, health, urban poverty, and the immigration system聽鈥� Dr. Foster keeps a steady eye on the roots, reasons and results of the issues he analyzes and provides a picture of the vitality of the communities, the hurdles they face and the efforts made to overcome these hurdles,鈥� says Carl Thorpe, executive director of the .

Foster has written more than 200 articles for community and knowledge mobilization publications and was nominated for two media human rights awards, 鈥渇or alerting, informing and sensitizing the public with regard to the nature and value of human rights in Canada鈥� in 2001.

He is the author of and the co-editor of the forthcoming Balancing Competing Human Rights Claims in a Diverse Society, published by the .

His next book will deal with the foreign credentials gap in Canada.

For more information, call the at 416-979-2973. Attendees are asked to register in advance at mhso.mail@utoronto.ca.

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