A Canadian icon of humanitarianism urged Glendon students to “get your boots dirty” by working in a developing country and experiencing what life is like for 80 per cent of humanity, as he delivered Glendon's annual John W. Holmes Memorial Lecture.

Right: Dallaire speaks to a standing-room only crowd in Glendon's lecture hall

Lieutenant-General , former commander of the UN mission to Rwanda between 1993 and 1994 and now a Canadian senator, made the remarks in 91��ɫ Hall on Nov. 23, in a wide-ranging talk on the revolutionary changes that have taken place in warfare and international relations, including the tragic use of child soldiers in conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa.

In describing how the use of child soldiers came about, Dallaire talked of this being a revolutionary time where the status quo no longer exists. “For the last 20 years we’ve been into a whole new set of parameters in regards to security,” he said, “Where we used to have classic war for which we were prepared with all our technology and uniforms and structures and so on...that all disappeared and we have nothing to handle it.”

Dallaire said the problem of child soldiers began in Mozambique in the late 1980s and continues because leaders in the Western world are “risk averse” and reluctant to become involved in the complex and ambiguous situations that give rise to the conflicts in which they are used. “We haven’t necessarily applied all the laws to stop it,” he said, citing new legal concepts such as humanitarian space and sovereign nations’ responsibility to protect their citizens.

Above: Prof. Stanislav Kirchbaum, Appathurai scholarship winner Dona Dunea, Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire and Glendon Principal Kenneth McRoberts

Eighty per cent of humanity is living in inhuman conditions, he continued, and that poverty is the essence of it. “These massive abuses of human rights are creating the rage that is initiating the extremism that is bringing terrorism, and it’s going to continue to generate a security problem,” Dallaire said.

Child soldiers are a “weapons system”, he explained, putting the problem into military parlance. “What is the system to render them ineffective, to make them a liability to the adults so they won’t use them and then don’t recruit them? That is what we are working on now….�� What you can do is join an NGO. Join the NGO community. Get involved in the NGOs because they are evolving massively in numbers and they are starting to coalesce more, they are starting to cover all the bases in humanity and they are, for you, an opportunity to get into the field and to see what is happening today with the state of humanity.

“I believe [they] will be far more the voice of humanity in the future,” Dallaire said. “They will influence public opinion and policy more than the nation states themselves because they’re without borders.

“There should be maybe a rite of passage, that what you require is a pair of dirty boots underneath your bed that have been soiled in the earth of a developing country. Where you went to see what happens to the 80 per cent of humanity. You bring that back here, where the 20 per cent are, and you significantly influence the policies and how we actually will be advancing humanity…. So get your boots dirty, get involved.

For more information on what is being done to stop the use of child soldiers, Dallaire recommended the website , the public mobilization campaign of the Child Soldiers Initiative, which he founded in 2010.

As is customary at the annual lecture, the winner of the Edward R. and Caroline Appathurai Scholarship in International Studies was announced. This year's award went to Glendon student Dona Dunea.

More about the John W. Holmes Memorial Lecture at Glendon

The annual John W. Holmes Memorial Lecture at Glendon honours the late John W. Holmes, a Canadian diplomat, writer, administrator and international relations professor at Glendon from 1971 to 1981. Holmes was a tireless promoter of Canada at home and abroad, in political, diplomatic and educational circles. He also participated in the founding of the United Nations and attended its first General Assembly in 1945.

Shortly after his death in 1988, a memorial fund was set up at Glendon under the leadership of Professor Albert Tucker, principal of Glendon from 1970 to 1975 and chair of the Department of History at the time, to create a series of annual lectures honouring Holmes, sponsored by Glendon's International Studies Program. It was launched in 1989 by the late Edward Appathurai, who established international studies at Glendon, Tucker and three Glendon graduates, Jim Dow (BA '75), Marshall Leslie (BA Comb. Hons. '75, MBA '80) and Martin Shadwick (BA '76, MA '78), who had attended Holmes’ course on Canadian foreign and defence policy.

By David Fuller, YFile contributing writer

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

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This spring, Raphael��released a second updated and expanded edition featuring the��latest figures on poverty, and��a new, hefty chapter critiquing all federal and provincial anti-poverty programs.��And he clarified, in the final chapter, what people can do to stem��growing poverty in Canada, the fourth wealthiest nation on the planet. Rob Rainer, executive director of Canada Without Poverty, wrote the foreword.��

“You are holding in your hands the single most valuable reference on poverty in Canada, a book whose dog-eared copy sits prominently on the bookshelf in my office,” Rainer began, referring to the first edition of Poverty and Policy in Canada (see YFile, May 15, 2007). Valuable, he stressed, for its breadth, its provocative questions, its lists of resources – and because of the person behind this work.��

Raphael, notes Rainer, “has encyclopedic knowledge about poverty in Canada. He has developed this from making the study of poverty central to his life’s work. But unlike some academics who are content to study and publish…Raphael goes beyond publishing to be a scholar (uncommonly) determined to be and unafraid of speaking truth to power."

Raphael wrote the original book��to meet a need for a textbook in a third-year course he��teaches��on poverty and health in��91��ɫ's School of Health��Policy & Management.��

The book��explores the links between poverty,��policy, health and quality of life for Canadians.��Raphael argues, writes��Rainer,��that��unless Canadian governments take steps to reduce the inequities between the rich and poor, "we can expect poverty and its devastating impact and cost to be a virtually permanent fixture of our society."

In the book’s new chapter, "Anti-Poverty Strategies and Programs", Raphael assesses “a bewildering array” of more than 70 so-called anti-poverty programs, from swimming lessons and drop-in centres, to housing and health services, and concludes that most, however well-intended, lack impact. Quebec and Newfoundland offer more effective programs than the other provinces, says Raphael, but poverty can only be eliminated by raising the minimum wage, offering benefits to temporary and part-time workers, and raising social assistance and disability benefits to health-sustaining levels, among other things.��Making it easier for Canadians to form unions is also very important, says Raphael.

Left: Dennis Raphael

What is the future of poverty in Canada, asks Raphael in his final chapter. That depends on the will and influence of political parties to introduce poverty-reducing policies, such as the proposed national child-care program, he argues. “Conservative dominance should lead to little if any decline in child poverty rates and – due to greater implementation of market-oriented rather than equity-based policies – may increase these rates,” he says. Finally, he says, voting for��left-leaning parties that advocate social reform would go a long way towards reducing poverty in Canada.

Poverty in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of Life is published by .��

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

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Polling suggests young people favour the Greens, Liberals and New Democrats: parties that have demonstrated some commitment — however limited — to urban issues in this campaign. A politically engaged youth is thus important for the civic and social health of our urban regions. But as comedian Rick Mercer has quipped, “as far as any political parties are concerned,” young people “might as well be dead.”

As any political scientist will tell you, in a pluralist liberal democracy, those who make the most noise — by voting, organizing, lobbying — are more likely to have their issues addressed by government. Pluralism implies many groups of relatively equal power jockeying for position and influence in political life.

We live, however, in a country of great social and economic inequality where money and power, two things youth lack, go a long way to securing an audience with the governing classes. Young people have power in numbers, but organizing and exercising that power around common interests is never easy. Through advocacy groups and party politics, seniors have flexed their political muscle this election, pushing the parties to address their immediate concerns, from home care to public pensions; youth have yet to flex theirs.

Urban youth have their own issues: environmental sustainability and the livability of cities are major concerns. The young are more frequent users of public transit and would benefit from a federal role in building the green transportation infrastructure our country so desperately needs. Funding for the arts and athletics are also a priority of urban youth, who recognize their value in facilitating creative expression and promoting social cohesion in the highly diverse landscapes of Canadian cities.

Then there are the myriad social problems facing many of today’s urban youth, problems the political parties have failed to highlight this campaign. For instance, in Toronto 40 per cent of black students do not graduate from high school. Drug-addicted youth in Vancouver’s downtown east side struggle to secure housing and access to services. Racialized youth face discrimination and outright racism in urban labour markets and in their contact with police and the criminal justice system. The young are disproportionately represented in the ranks of our cities’ precariously employed; those workers struggling to make ends meet working temporary, part-time or multiple jobs with low wages and few benefits. And there are the extremely high rates of poverty and incarceration of young aboriginal people in cities such as Winnipeg and Regina.

As in any federal system, politicians will squabble over whose jurisdiction these issues fall under. It’s time to move beyond these squabbles and recognize that urban youth, and our cities in general, would benefit from a strong federal urban presence and the development of a federally-led urban strategy. Stephen Harper explicitly opposes such a notion; he’s committed to a model of governance in which the feds do not “interfere” in the business of the provinces and municipalities.

But a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach from the feds is not desirable either. Municipal governments are best placed to evaluate the needs of local populations, including youth. Cities have been important drivers in the design and innovation of Canadian social services and social programs. Any federal urban strategy with a youth component should recognize this and respect the diversity of Canadian cities. For instance, a program to address street gangs (with gang-exit and gang-intervention initiatives) in a city such as Regina in which aboriginal youth are disproportionately involved in gang life will necessarily take a different form than programs in Montreal or Toronto.

In any progressive era of Canadian politics, the federal government has exercised its federal spending power to alter Canada’s approach to issues that were essentially within provincial jurisdiction. In the fields of education, welfare and health care, the feds have influenced provincial and municipal policies and program standards.

Beyond providing necessary funding to cash-strapped cities, a federal urban youth strategy could establish principles that govern access to programs and services without becoming excessively involved in their design and delivery. Pairing universal programs with targeted investments based on the social citizenship, social rights and democratic participation and engagement of young people is vital to building such a strategy.

But an urban youth strategy is not likely to emerge unless it is fought for and demanded by young people themselves. In urban centres across our country, many youth are active in civic life, but often in ways that don’t conform to the politics-as-usual of parties and elections. Other youth speak the language of distress and despair, with gunshots or requests for spare change on our city streets. Whatever the manifestation of their voice, politicians ignore urban youth at our cities’ peril.

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

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A��catalyst for dialogue and healing is 91��ɫ film Professor Colleen Wagner’s Governor General’s Award-winning play . This electrifying drama was the inaugural production of Rwanda’s ISÔKO Theatre in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide (see YFile, June 27, 2008).

Left: Actress��Jacqueline Umubyeyi, as Mejra in Colleen Wagner's The Monument. Photo by Nick Zajicek.

Translated into the local Kinyarwanda dialect and directed by , a former student in 91��ɫ’s Graduate Program in Theatre and the founding artistic director of ISÔKO, the play premiered in Kigali and toured throughout Rwanda. Harbourfront Centre’s presents the North American premiere of ISÔKO’s production (with English surtitles) at 91��ɫ Quay Centre in Toronto April 27 to May 1.

Intimately staged and accompanied by song and African drumming, The Monument tells the story of a young soldier who has been convicted of war crimes committed during a genocide. Just as he is about to be executed, a mysterious woman who is both his saviour and tormentor offers him freedom − at a price. Billed as a “profound excavation into the nature of forgiveness”, this highly physical and imagistic production paints a contemporary portrait of a country whose resilient voice continues to be a beacon of hope and reconciliation.

Shortly before The Monument opens at Harbourfront, a second play penned by Wagner – this one a very topical, made-in-the-moment riff on Canadian politics – hits another Toronto stage. Wrecking Ball 12: Are You Dying to Vote? swings into the electoral debate tonight��at Toronto’s Theatre Centre – exactly one week before Canadians head to the polls.

is a fast and furious compendium of short works of political theatre. Playwrights hand over scripts to the directors and performers for rehearsal a mere week before the show, which is performed for one night only – usually to a fully-packed house. Founded in Toronto in 2004, The Wrecking Ball went national in 2008 when it was adopted in cities coast to coast.

Wagner is one of six writers contributing works “both strategically and from their hearts” to the current Toronto edition. The details of her piece have not yet been announced, but if The Wrecking Ball’s track record is any indication, it will be a part of a theatrical romp long remembered.

Showtime is 8pm. The Theatre Centre is located at 1087 Queen St. West at Dovercourt. Tickets are pay-what-you-can at the door.

Another catalyst for political dialogue is the��latest��work by 91��ɫ theatre professor and playwright Judith Rudakoff, which opened in Whitehorse on April 21. The River offers a vivid, poetic and unflinching glimpse into the intersecting lives of marginalized people in the community where it was created. Directed by Rudakoff’s colleague, Professor Michael Greyeyes, the production runs to May 1 at the Yukon Arts Centre Studio theatre.

Above: A map of Whitehorse drawn by Joseph Fish Tisiga, for the "Ashley Cycle" that inspired The River

The River was born out of Rudakoff’s ongoing -supported project Common Plants: Cross Pollinations in Hybrid Reality. In 2008, Rudakoff visited Whitehorse twice to lead her "Ashley Plays" workshop, in which participants collectively devise a cycle of short, site-specific performances that share a character named Ashley and��a common theme – in this case, the theme of "home".

The material developed in those workshops was so compelling that the collaboration continued into subsequent years. Rudakoff worked with local artist Joseph Tisiga and David Skelton, artistic director of Whitehorse’s , a professional company dedicated to the development of live theatre relevant to northern audience��to write the play. Nakai is producing it in partnership with the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition (YAPC).

The three artists drew inspiration for The River from both the extreme natural beauty of the Yukon and the ugliness that beauty can mask. Episodic and non-linear, the narrative is told by members of the largely untraceable "ghost population" of Whitehorse: a derelict vagrant, a missing high-school girl, a Tilley hat-wearing tourist, a transient worker and even an alien abductee.��These disparate voices take the audience on an unbridled journey through a world of longing and belonging that is both real and imagined.

The production aims to promote conversation and action in the community. YAPC is actively inviting and offering free tickets to individuals who might never otherwise attend a production at the Yukon Arts Centre, as well as arranging a special invitational matinee performance at the local Salvation Army shelter. At the end of the run, YAPC and Nakai are co-hosting a community conversation to discuss the issues brought up in the play.

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

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He is a professor of health policy & management in 91��ɫ University’s Faculty of Health, and he is an observant guy. No skyscrapers?

“Downsview,” he said.

I should have known. The airport; incoming likes it low. But there are other features of the neighbourhood that are much more notable, in particular the overlapping of the maps of poverty, illness and crime.

What kind of poverty? Crushing. What kind of crime? You name it. How about illness?

Let’s talk diabetes. Everyone’s talking about it these days. The national public broadcaster even has a bunch of people eating lettuce and doing jumping jacks on TV.

Is it lifestyle? Fooey.

Raphael did a health study in a while back. His findings show that the correlation [of poverty and poor health] is not between the couch and the potato. “People who are poor don’t have the resources to be healthy. Diabetes is three or four times more likely to occur among poor people.”

He talked freely as we walked along. “We interviewed low-income people. We were struck, when we did the study, by how unable people were to access resources: the poor don’t go to ball games, to movies. They never spoke of recreation, of volunteering, of going out with friends.In other words, the poor have fewer ways to relieve their stress, and stress is a factor of the disease of diabetes, and I don’t know any poor people who are relaxed.

I was going to ask about other factors when he said something that is encouraging and ridiculous at once.

“People with life-threatening illnesses overwhelmingly say they get good health care. And most people on disability get free meds, diabetes test strips, monitors, feet and eye exams; and, overwhelmingly, they had public housing.” That’s the good news.

“But even with those pluses, we found that 72 per cent of the people we surveyed couldn’t afford the food they needed to be healthy.” He wasted no time in pointing out the irony: “The health care system will treat you fine if you keel over, but we won’t provide you with the resources you need to avoid getting sick.”

An easy fix?

“People are suffering, but I see little evidence that things are getting better.” I shivered, not from the cold. We passed a solid little building. He said, “The community health centre here is great. And the Community Care Access Centre is great.”

His proof?

“The people in our study knew about blood monitoring.” That, by the way, is a constant for diabetics. “And they knew about eating healthy food. But we found they didn’t have the money to afford the food they needed.”

That’s an outrage, or it ought to be.

I noted that some people seem to think that if you are fat, you are more prone to diabetes. Raphael hammered away at his original theme: “It isn’t whether you are fat, it’s whether you are poor.

“Countries that have low poverty rates are countries that give things like child care, tuition, decent social assistance.” These are countries where — surprise, surprise — people’s health is generally better.

“But in countries like ours, where there is a good chance of being poor, you don’t get those things — you don’t get universal child care; you don’t get good, solid employment insurance.”

Funny how we say we can’t afford first-rate social programs, and yet many of our neighbours haven’t got the money they need to be healthy. The dots ought to be easy to connect.

Raphael has published extensively about the , and the social determinants of health in Canada and internationally.

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

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91��ɫ's Health Leadership & Learning Network has partnered with the Black Creek Community Health��Centre and the to bring members of the community together for the Diabetes: Perspectives for Action��– Community Forum on Nov. 11, from 6 to 8pm at Westview Centennial Secondary School, 755 Oakdale Rd., North 91��ɫ.

Right: Maps of Toronto show the overlap between��the areas��of low income, visible minorities and the incidence of diabetes. Click maps to see interactive version. Courtesy of the Toronto Star

The��forum will��discuss the increasing incidence of Type 2 diabetes in the Jane-Finch neighbourhood, strategies to prevent it and community resources to improve the health of people living with the disease.

Income inequality is on the rise in Canada along with a parallel increase in diabetes mortality, especially in low-income neighbourhoods such as Jane-Finch, according to a recent 91��ɫ study that has been published online and will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Health Policy.

Dennis Raphael, a professor in the School of Health Policy & Management at 91��ɫ and a co-author of the study, says it clearly shows that low income is associated with a higher risk of developing the disease, even when other risk factors such as obesity are taken into account. Separate maps of Toronto that show areas of low income, visible minorities and the incidence of diabetes clearly show the overlap between the three, says Raphael, who will speak first at the event.

Three representatives of the Black Creek Community Health Centre will speak about their work in the community. Community health worker Michelle Westin will discuss her experiences helping residents to identify and address issues related to diabetes prevention and management. Lisa Martin, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator, will speak about the importance of access to adequate resources in managing diabetes, as well as healthy lifestyle choices. Carla Da Mota, a diabetes nurse educator who has witnessed an increase in both the number of clients with diabetes and complications they experience due to poorly managed diabetes, will talk about her experiences in promoting prevention and management of the disease through education.

Professor Lesley Beagrie, associate dean, professional & global programs in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Health, will moderate the panel.

The Toronto District School Board has recently launched a Diabetes Awareness Strategy. Annie Appleby, superintendent of education for Ward 1 in the northwest part of Toronto – where the incidence of Type 2 Diabetes is at eight per cent –��will speak about the schools' efforts to promote healthy choices and change the behaviours of staff, students, and even families.

For more information, visit the website.

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

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That’s contrary to what most Canadians believe, says Raphael in his new book , which looks at who stays healthy, who gets sick and why. It’s written with the goal of educating the��informed Canadian, as well as university students.

Most people think luck, treatment options and lifestyle choices shape whether they are healthy or not. After all, that is the current mantra – eating better and exercising will lead to a healthier existence – a mantra that Canadians have wholeheartedly internalized. But that’s only part of the equation, and not the biggest part, says Raphael, a professor in 91��ɫ's School of Health Policy & Management in the Faculty of Health.

“Decades of research and hundreds of studies in Canada and elsewhere tell a different story: the primary factors that shape the health and well-being of Canadians��– the factors that will give us longer, better lives��– are to be found not in those much-discussed areas, but rather in the actual living conditions that Canadians experience on a daily basis,” says Raphael in About Canada: Health��and Illness.

These factors include whether people are wealthy or poor, employed or not, working conditions, access to quality education, health and social services, and the basics of food and affordable housing. These social determinants “are crucial factors in the health and well-being of Canadians,” he says.

“Contrary to the assumption that we have personal control over these factors, in most cases these living conditions are – for better or worse – imposed upon us in the normal course of everyday life.”

Left: Dennis Raphael

That’s in large part because of the policies, regulations and laws enacted by governments at all levels, which influence employment income, family benefits and social assistance, as well as the quality and availability of affordable housing, health and social services, and recreational opportunities. That includes “what happens when Canadians lose their jobs during economic downturns such as the one that Canada began experiencing in 2008,” says Raphael.

“Governments also determine whether our children have access to affordable and high-quality child care and better-quality schools, the working conditions that we experience, and whether as seniors we receive levels of public pensions that allow us to live in dignity.”

Raphael wants to see changes in��public policy that will affect Canadians’ health in a positive way. Through About Canada: Health��and Illness, he wants the average Canadian to understand the role social determinants��play in shaping health and what can be done to improve the situation through better public policies.

Raphael is the editor of , co-editor of and author of . He served as an adviser to the California Newsreel documentary series and the Deveaux Babin Productions Canadian documentary .

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

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Parekh is the winner of the inaugural Human Rights Prize for Master of Arts (MA) Major Research Paper in the Critical Disabilities Studies Program��for her paper, "How Neoliberalism Impacts the Realization of Inclusive Education Both Internationally and Locally: A Study of Inclusive and Equitable Education Opportunities Within the Toronto District School Board". The award, created through donations from 91��ɫ Professors Marcia Rioux and Geoffrey Reaume of the School of Health Policy & Management in the Faculty of Health, was presented to Parekh on Tuesday. "It was an interesting paper to research," says Parekh.

Parekh earned her MA from 91��ɫ's Critical Disabilities Studies Program with an interest in international development and disability, as well as education.

Right: Gillian Parekh (left) being presented the 2010 Human Rights Prize

For her paper, Parekh initially looked at the connection between government prioritization of market ideologies and the subsequent waning commitment to inclusive practices, homing in on inclusive education policies under varying governments in South Africa. Although South Africa boasts of having highly progressive disability policies, over time the push for economic returns��has taken��precedence over the protection of the rights of students with disabilities, and segregated learning centres��have been��maintained and expanded.

"An analysis of the evolution of inclusive education policies from South Africa is documented to encapsulate a clear example of the hegemonic relationship between rights and market principles while the right to quality education for many hangs in the balance," says Parekh.

She then turned to the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) to see if the same was true here. She examined student demographics at 85 secondary schools and whether they correlated with the availability of specific programs and services. "Social factors such as poverty, disability, language and parental education are compared to increased or decreased access to programming and services that lead to future enhanced marketability for the student," she writes.

Although Parekh taught special education for several years at schools within the TDSB, the fourth-largest school district in North America, she was surprised by what she found. "Overall, the higher percentage of parents with a university education, the higher the likelihood their children would have access to elite programs within their public school. The higher the percentage of students from low income housing, as well as the higher the percentage of students using special education services, the fewer programs were offered at their school," says Parekh. She knows the TDSB has attempted to address issues of equity and continuously works to offer equitable services and programming to all students, however, the current state speaks to a much more powerful force at work.

In comparing demographics between schools offering French immersion programs, what Parekh calls one of the board's most elite programs, and those schools providing vocational training, she found the difference in incidence of low income, special education and parental education staggering. When she looked at where schools providing vocational training were located, she discovered that they were largely running in Toronto's lowest income neighbourhoods, she says. Whereas French immersion programs were more likely to be found within schools in more affluent areas with greater numbers of parents having been to university.

Access to some programming was definitely related to geography, says Parekh. "The education system continues to sustain inequitable learning opportunities between social groups. Policies addressing the issues of inequity have not yet achieved fully inclusive or equitable educational opportunities for all." And that is true in both Toronto and South Africa.

Parekh largely holds the government accountable for continuing to move towards a private model of market ideology within its public school systems in which more advantaged students are met with greater opportunity

"What bothers me the most is that this disparity is often normalized. Not enough people think significant change is required," says Parekh. It comes down to erroneous thinking that certain people in society are more deserving of academic opportunities than others, she says.

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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