Kate Martin

‘A space for everyone’: U of T Mississauga prepares to host second annual All-Nations Powwow

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 15:21:04 +0000

‘A space for everyone’: U of T Mississauga prepares to host second annual All-Nations Powwow

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 09/10/2024 - 11:21

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Dancers perform during the inaugural All-Nations Powwow at U of T Mississauga in 2023 (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Kate Martin

Topic

Our Community

All-Nations Powwow

Indigenous

U of T Mississauga

Undergraduate Students

When you invite everyone, you need to make sure you have plenty of space.

With that in mind, the University of Toronto Mississauga’s All-Nations Powwow will be moving outdoors this year.

“A Powwow is a space for everyone,” says event co-lead dancer John Hupfield, who is Anishinaabe from Wasauksing First Nation. “A Powwow is not a show. It is a space to work and gather together, share and pass tradition with everyone.

“That’s the beautiful aspect of it and I hope it continues to grow at UTM.”

The free Sept. 28 event is hosted by the U of T Mississauga Indigenous Centre (UTMIC) and will be held on the north field in front of Maanjiwe nendamowinan, also known as MN.

Moving the event to an outdoor venue is welcome news for Hupfield, who specializes in grass dancing.

“Traditionally, when our people relocate, folks are sent out ahead to pat down the grass to allow work and settling to be done on the land,” he says. “It is done with song and ceremony – so when the people arrive, they know this place is safe. It is a way of taking care of the community.”

Community is a huge part of Powwows, adds Hupfield, who pursued his postdoctoral research in Indigenous forms of movement on both the U of T Mississauga and St. George campuses.

He says he is honoured to have been asked to lead the dancers into this year’s Powwow as part of the grand entry ceremony.

“It’s really humbling,” says Hupfield, who also assists the UTMIC with firekeeping in the Tipi on Principal’s Road for events that require sacred fire, as well as giving guest talks and dance demonstrations. “It’s a big responsibility and a chance to invite and honour all who came before us.”

Among the dancers he will be leading is MJ Singleton, a fourth-year U of T Mississauga student who is double majoring in psychology and criminology law and society.

Singleton, who is Anishinaabe and a two-spirit person, will be participating in both the fancy shawl and jingle dress events. They say they became involved in the Powwow through host group UTMIC, where they have participated in beadwork seminars and luncheons, led a paint session and helped create a community art installation for the MN building. Singleton says the centre, and Office of Indigenous Initiatives Director Tee Duke and Special Projects Officer Jessica Tabak, have been vital in helping them adjust to life at university.

“I didn’t grow up in a city – I was in a small northwestern town, four hours west of Thunder Bay, so coming from there and transitioning to Mississauga was a big challenge,” says Singleton, 21.

“Through the Indigenous Centre, I was able to meet people who were having a similar experience moving from up north to the hustle and bustle of southern Ontario. They gave us community.”

Singleton, who designed the Every Child Matters charity shirt sold in campus bookstores, says hosting an event like a Powwow at U of T Mississauga goes a long way to help Indigenous students overcome their feelings of isolation, and that the gathering and amplifying of Indigenous voices on campus is an important part of U of T’s ongoing reconciliation process.

“To be able to see everyone in person and celebrate with other people is really important,” says Singleton, who plans to take their U of T Mississauga education home to Migisi Sahgaigan First Nation (Eagle Lake) to help improve legal representation for Indigenous people in northern communities.

“Having access is especially important for those who have never been to a Powwow.”

Singleton says the benefits are magnified in places like U of T Mississauga, which draws students from around the world.

“UTM has such an amazing and diverse population of international students and local students who have never seen a Powwow, so this is a chance to learn about our culture,” Singleton says, noting they discovered a new relative through interaction at last year’s event.

“One of my best friends is from Peru and she thought last year’s Powwow, her first, was the most amazing thing. We had so much fun and I was so proud.”

Singleton says they hope many first-timers will turn out for the event and share in the spirit of community. In addition to a full afternoon of traditional ceremonies, singing and dancing, there will also be a marketplace featuring Indigenous-owned businesses.

“Come with an open mind, come with an open heart,” Singleton says. “Get to know the people in regalia, make those connections, form friendships and celebrate us as a people. It’s wonderful to be able to invite people of all kinds to dance during intertribal. It’s just so much fun for everyone.”

Theatre Erindale marks 30th season with classics, contemporary Canadian productions

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 20:23:35 +0000

Theatre Erindale marks 30th season with classics, contemporary Canadian productions

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 11/14/2023 - 15:23

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Theatre Erindale recently wrapped "Five Faces of Evelyn Frost" by Guillaume Corbeil and has five more shows this season (supplied image)

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On opening night of their most recent production – Five Faces of Evelyn Frost – Theatre Erindale projected a QR code on the side of nearby Deerfield Hall to point to more information about upcoming performances.

“It was fascinating to see people scan the code, then turn around in surprise and see the Erindale Studio Theatre,” says Mike Slater, operations manager at Theatre Erindale, the production company of the theatre and drama studies program offered by the University of Toronto Mississauga in partnership with Sheridan College. “It’s amazing how many people ask ‘Is there a theatre on campus? Can I see a show? Is it open to everyone?’”

The answer to all three, says Slater, is yes – and that has been the case for three decades.

Now in its 30th season, Theatre Erindale features performances by TDS students, who earn an advanced two-year conservatory diploma in professional actor training from Sheridan concurrently with a four-year specialist degree in performance history, theory, dramatic literature and dramaturgy from U of T Mississauga.

“It’s six years of study in four years,” says Meredith Scott, program coordinator and herself a graduate of the program.

Each TDS student works on at least two shows per year, all without missing any classes.

“It is a challenge to fit in rehearsals, which are Monday to Thursday evenings and all day Saturday, because we can’t take them out of their daytime classes,” says Slater, noting that rehearsals have to be scheduled around the school calendar.

Theatre Erindale’s ongoing season includes works by William Shakespeare and Virginia Woolf, as well as two contemporary Canadian productions: Five Faces of Evelyn Frost by Quebecois playwright Guillaume Corbeil – which was wrapped up earlier this month – and Cockfight, a comedy by Toronto-based, Dora Award-winning playwright Kat Sandler, scheduled for February and March.

It’s a genre the TDS program likes to emphasize for both artistic and practical reasons.

“This is the industry the students are going to go out into,” says Scott. “Many of them may end up being part of these new works.”

Contemporary Canadian productions keep the local industry strong, says Holger Syme, TDS’s director of theatre, drama and performance studies.

“New Canadian work is the focus of government funding in Canada, which is why there is so much of it,” says Syme. “Because of that support, even places like Stratford and Shaw – that ostensibly focus on playwrights from the U.K. – now regularly feature contemporary Canadian plays.

“We’d be doing our students a disservice if we didn’t expose them to that work.”

Another bonus of contemporary Canadian productions is access to the creators, says Syme. That’s the case with Cockfight, which Theatre Erindale adapted with Sandler’s assistance to better align with the gender balance of the class.

“As written, it is a play with a lot of masculinity, and that’s not how we will be casting it,” says Syme. “But the author, probably the most successful local director of her generation, was very excited about the idea of restaging and worked with us to rethink the play.”

Slater says this graduating class is especially appreciative of being in front of live audiences after beginning their studies during COVID-19 lockdowns, when shows were created and performed online.

“You miss that reaction” with an online audience, he notes. “You know where the jokes are, but when the audience isn’t there, you don’t know if it lands the same. You just have to hope they are laughing at home,” says Slater. “The cast really feels it when they don’t have live audience feedback.”

Syme noted the lockdown created many other challenges for theatre students. “All the productions were happening from home,” he says. “The theatre staff also had to learn a lot of new skills – video-editing and trying to make live streams from 12 different homes, or on a three-camera setup – so they developed new instincts for that as well.”

Scott says they considered this hybrid path when choosing works for this cohort’s final year that would round out the students’ education.

“There was a lot of conversations about choosing shows that challenged their theatrical training and used the muscles for live performance, physical and vocal dexterity that maybe they didn’t get to practice as much in first and second year,” she says.

The TDS program’s third-year students are working on two productions: The Devised Project 2024, in which they create a show from scratch under a guest director; and this year’s classic project, Julius Caesar, which they must condense into a 90-minute stage show.

“It’s about embracing flexibility by changing classical text to create not a brand-new version, but one that takes advantage of what you can do with an old text – which is whatever you wish, because you don’t need the same permissions and co-operations that you need from a living playwright,” says Scott. “It allows students to explore a lot more possibilities in the script.”

The third-years have been split into two casts of 12 for the production, meaning two edits.

“What’s exciting is that audiences will see how different it can become in the hands of two different sets of artists,” says Syme. “Even classics can yield wildly distinct performances. It gives it an air of unpredictability, which makes such exciting theatre.”

Here are the five remaining shows in Theatre Erindale’s 2023-2024 season:

Julius Caesar – Shakespeare’s Roman Tragedy, with two texts performed by two casts, guided by two different directors (on now until Nov. 18)
Orlando – Virginia Woolf’s tale of an Elizabethan nobleman who wakes one day as a woman and then traverses centuries without aging (Nov. 23-Dec. 2)
The Devised Project 2024 – an original work created by third-year TDS students under the guidance of an established director (Feb. 8-10, 2024)
Cockfight – Dora-Award-winning playwright Kat Sandler’s heartfelt comedy about three foster kids growing up into a complicated family of their own making (Feb. 15-March 2, 2024)
As You Like It – Shakespeare’s comedy about a duke who turns his woodland exile into a commune full of people in love with the wrong people (March 21-30, 2024)

U of T Mississauga forensic students help prepare pet cemetery for relocation

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 17:21:55 +0000

U of T Mississauga forensic students help prepare pet cemetery for relocation

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 10/12/2023 - 13:21

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Students in U of T Mississauga's forensics program carefully dig up and catalogue animal remains from the Oakville and Milton Humane Society pet cemetery, preparing it for eventual relocation (photos by Tracy Rogers)

Kate Martin

Graduate Students

U of T Mississauga

Undergraduate Students

Subheadline

The cemetery in Oakville, Ont. contains remains varying in size from small family pets to a racehorse

Forensic anthropology students at the University of Toronto Mississauga have been offered an unusual opportunity to gain hands-on experience.

For the next 18 months, 60 undergraduate and graduate students will help dig up and catalogue animal remains at the Oakville and Milton Humane Society (OMHS) pet cemetery.

The task involves more than 500 graves in a cemetery that was active from 1953 to 1991.

“We have had students working cadaver dogs, developing or adjusting fingerprinting techniques, analyzing bullet trajectories – but nothing quite like this cemetery,” says Grace Gregory-Alcock, a PhD student who is supervising the excavation.

“It’s one of the largest projects the field school course has ever undertaken.”

She says the humane society decided it needed to relocate in pursuit of more space and reached out to Professor Tracy Rogers, director of the forensic science program, to get a better sense of their options for the cemetery.

“When they found out what could happen to the cemetery if it were left – essentially anything, as it is not protected under any laws – they did not want that, so they asked for her help in recovering the remains and preserving them.”

(Photo by Tracy Rogers)

The work is a class component for those enrolled in U of T Mississauga’s forensic anthropology field school (ANT306) and advanced bioarcheology (ANT441), which teaches methods of analysis, theoretical issues and the excavation, documentation and interpretation of a burial.

Gregory-Alcock says the experience will help students develop skills in: documentation, as they fill in official forms to document each grave; communications, to explain what they are seeing in the soil and to indicate what they need from their partner or teaching assistant; excavation, as they trowel and remove soil, and identify changes in the soil texture/content; and recovery skills, such as how to properly remove the remains from the ground – all at once or systematically.

“Our priority is to ensure the proper documentation and excavation of the graves, in order to recover the pets as carefully and respectfully as possible,” Rogers, who is also a consultant to the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service, said in a news release. “This important community project will provide students with a unique opportunity to develop practical skills, while helping them understand why care and consideration of those we recover from any context (historic, modern, or forensic) is so important to the families who love them.”

The OMHS, a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and well-being of animals in the Oakville and Milton communities, has been contacting former owners to inform them of the cemetery’s relocation.

"We are dedicated to providing the utmost care of these beloved pets and are grateful for the expertise that Dr. Rogers and her team bring to this important project,” said OMHS Executive Director Jeff Vallentin in a statement.

Each lot, which contains remains varying in size from small family pets to a racehorse named St. Ina, will be documented with photos and notes and be housed in a secure facility at the current OMHS location until a new location can be found.

Socioeconomic status played role in preschoolers' language development during pandemic: Study

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 14:15:46 +0000

Socioeconomic status played role in preschoolers' language development during pandemic: Study

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 10/06/2023 - 10:15

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(photo by mediaphotos/Getty Images)

Topic

Research & Innovation

U of T Mississauga

Subheadline

“We hope society, especially government, will be aware of these findings [and] continue to monitor children’s language development"

When it came to learning language, money mattered for pandemic pre-schoolers.

That’s the finding of a new study, published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, by researchers in the Child Language and Speech Studies (CLASS) Lab at the University of Toronto Mississauga.

Priscilla Fung (supplied image)

Priscilla Fung, a fifth-year PhD student, was in the midst of studying the vocabulary development of pre-schoolers when Ontario implemented a COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. But rather than abandon the research, Fung and the CLASS team – Thomas St. Pierre, Momina Raja and Fung’s supervisor, psychology professor Elizabeth Johnson – pivoted to a new question: How would the lockdown affect the children’s language skills?

“Since we already had the pre-pandemic information, we thought it would be interesting to compare,” says Fung, who followed the test group of 365 pre-schoolers (ages 11-34 months) and their parents with Zoom meetings and standardized vocabulary assessments.

“Ontario had one of the longest lockdowns in the world, which meant young children were at home more, but their parents faced unprecedented difficulties and had to juggle work and household duties, with no daycare or grandparents available to look after the kids,” says Fung, who holds both master’s and bachelor’s degrees in psychology from U of T. “Stress went up, but reading time went down as parents had to leave children in front of the TV for hours and hours while they worked.”

Fung said the researchers hypothesized the children’s vocabulary would take a hit as screen time was already known to be a factor that negatively affects language development.

“It does make a difference, though, whether the screen time was passive, like TV, or interactive like a Zoom call where people were speaking with them,” says Fung, whose research interests also include early childhood bilingualism.

While the data showed that the fallout was fairly mild for most kids, it found that children 19- to 29-months-old from lower socioeconomic status (SES) families experienced delays in vocabulary development – the same group that reported the highest amount of passive screen time.

Fung says the study suggests those with higher income – study participants reported anywhere from $45,000 to $140,000 per household – were able to access resources to provide enrichment activities that helped mitigate language delays.

“We are very interested in following up [with lower socioeconomic status families] and hope to keep monitoring this group to see how they progress after this,” she says, adding that early language development is known to be critical to later cognitive and literacy success, with delays linked to psychosocial and behavioural problems.

The research should spur policymakers to pay more attention to children from lower socioeconomic families during times of crisis and stress.

“We hope society, especially government, will be aware of these findings [and] continue to monitor children’s language development, especially in lower SES families,” says Fung, who adds that the study underscores the benefits of encouraging all parents to interact and read with their children.

The study was funded by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and U of T Mississauga’s Research and Scholarly Activity Fund.

After 12 years of study, lifelong learner John Bond graduates from U of T Mississauga at 76

siddiq22 — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 17:12:54 +0000

After 12 years of study, lifelong learner John Bond graduates from U of T Mississauga at 76

siddiq22 Thu, 06/08/2023 - 13:12

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John Bond – the oldest U of T Mississauga graduate this spring at 76 – acknowledges the applause at Convocation Hall during his graduation ceremony (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Topic

Subheadline

Embracing the idea that "there's always something to learn," the retired engineer and travel enthusiast returned to U of T for a third degree

The thing about history is, it takes a while to happen.

In John Bond’s case, about 12 years, to be exact.

During the University of Toronto Mississauga convocation ceremony on June 7, Bond graduated with a double major in history and classical civilization after a dozen years of study. At 76, Bond is the oldest U of T Mississauga grad this spring – and among the oldest gradates at the university this year.

It was his third U of T graduation, having picked up a degree in engineering from the St. George campus in 1968, followed by a master’s degree in applied engineering.

A career as a civil engineer for a railway company followed, where he designed and inspected bridges for almost 40 years.

“Because of that, I was always interested in structures and the civil engineering of cities,” he said. “Then, when I went to Rome and saw the aqueducts, I wanted to know more.”

An avid traveller, Bond began reading about the places he would visit, which in turn led to more travel ideas for himself and his wife of 54 years, Lynda.

“I’d always had an interest in history, and we travelled to Europe and New York and there were so many interesting ancient sites and stories,” he said. “I wanted to get more acquainted with what I was seeing.”

John Bond walks across the stage at Convocation Hall (photo by Johnny Guatto)

As his personal research expanded, Lynda – who met John at U of T in the late 1960s, when she was majoring in history at Victoria College – made a suggestion.

“The advice from my wife was to ‘read with a purpose,’” he said.

And so, six years before retiring from his civil engineering job, Bond began taking courses at U of T Mississauga.

“I took one or two a semester, trying to do all the reading and assignments while still working,” he said.

“It wasn’t always easy to stay focused and interested, keeping up with the studying and combining what I have to do around the house,” he added jokingly. “Always have to help in the kitchen.”

His professors say he balanced it all well.

“John has been an excellent student – diligent with his research, curious to learn new things and always interested to hear what the other students think,” said Mairi Cowan, associate professor, teaching stream, in U of T Mississauga's department of historical studies.

Cowan noted that while she’s happy Bond is graduating, she’s going to miss having him in class.

“The other students and I have learned a lot from being with John in our courses,” she said. “Not only about the content of history, but also about how to approach our studies with enthusiasm and openness."

Though most of his classmates were closer in age to his two grandkids, Bond said interacting with them on campus was energizing.

“It’s great being among the young people,” he said. “They really make things interesting.”

And they enjoyed having him around as well, said Christopher Petrakos, associate professor, teaching stream, in the department of historical studies.

“The students in class seemed to gravitate towards him because of his intellect and wisdom,” Petrakos said.

“John Bond is the kind of student that every professor wants to teach – he is genuinely interested in learning, possesses an informed worldview and questions established interpretations of the past.”

Although Bond had been a U of T student before, quite a few things have changed since then, he notes.

“Everything is computers now for class,” he said with a laugh. “In the ’60s, it was all handwritten. Computers then came with boxes of punch cards.”

Once Bond retired, he was able to increase both his course load and his travelling – a combination which occasionally led to serendipitous opportunities.

“I missed a few classes in order to travel,” Bond recalls. “So I have fond memories of logging on to Quercus from hotel lobby computers in London and Rome to take the required quizzes. One Classical Civilization quiz that I answered in the Rome hotel was about sites and events in Rome.”

It also gave him chances to do his homework where it meant the most.

“I read Homer's Odyssey for a Classics course while sitting on our hotel patio overlooking the blue Mediterranean on the Amalfi Coast,” he said. “That’s the way to do it.”

Inspired by his studies and armed with a list of places to see, Bond and his wife are once again ready to explore the world. But he admits he may still have some studying left in him.

“Don’t think I need another major, but there are still some classes I’d like to take,” he said.

“You should never give up – always go for more education; get as much as you can. There are always new things to learn.”

Search for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls hampered by police apathy: Researchers

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 14:58:49 +0000

Search for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls hampered by police apathy: Researchers

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 06/05/2023 - 10:58

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Participants walk in the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver to remember missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Research & Innovation

Sociology

Truth and Reconciliation

U of T Mississauga

Women

Subheadline

'The problem of Indigenous women being overpoliced and underprotected is all across Canada'

Content warning: the following contains disturbing subject matter.

In Canada, research shows Indigenous women are 400 per cent more likely than other Canadians to go missing. The problem is so pervasive that the Canadian government does not know how many Indigenous women are missing or have been murdered. Estimates suggest that around 4,000 Indigenous women and girls and 600 Indigenous men and boys have gone missing or been murdered between 1956 and 2016.

To identify the barriers faced when searching for missing and murdered friends and family, Jerry Flores, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Toronto Mississauga, and graduate student Andrea Román Alfaro set out to gather testimony from Indigenous women and Two-Spirit individuals.

Andrea Román Alfaro (supplied image)

Their findings are discussed in an article titled “Building the Settler Colonial Order: Police (In)Actions in Response to Violence Against Indigenous Women in ‘Canada,'” which was published in the journal Gender & Society.

While several studies have sought to identify why Indigenous Peoples continue to disappear, few have looked at the role of police in violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ people, says Román Alfaro, a sixth-year PhD candidate in sociology.

“The problem of Indigenous women being overpoliced and underprotected is all across Canada,” she says, citing a 2004 Amnesty International report.

For their article, Flores – Román Alfaro’s PhD supervisor and a volunteer with several of Toronto’s Indigenous-led organizations – conducted close to 50 face-to-face interviews.

When COVID-19 restrictions blocked their ability to do more in-person work, Román Alfaro suggested including the 219 personal statements from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls to expand their sample of respondents.

“The testimony of the women at the inquiry allowed us to see that in their stories, the narratives are all very similar,” Román Alfaro says. “Then we went looking for what is happening in society that lets this happen.”

Román Alfaro helped code the respondents’ stories to identify common themes. The team soon identified police indifference as a major thread, with 209 of 219 testimonies referring to negative interactions with police in the management of their missing person cases.

The article highlights two major styles of behaviour that the woman said police employed: justifying violence and dismissing violence.

The research found that Canadian police repeatedly use negative labels such as “runaways” along with slurs when responding to reported cases of violence against Indigenous women and girls.

“There’s nothing we can do,” or “it’s inevitable,” people report hearing from police when trying to report an Indigenous woman missing, the article says.

A participant in the 2022 annual Red Dress Day march in Edmonton holds up a sign (photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The testimonies include complaints that loved ones were provided little or no information on their cases and that police gave up quickly in the search for bodies or culprits. In some cases, police suggested a missing person’s report should be done no earlier than two or three months after a disappearance.

Respondents also noted indifferent attitudes, stereotyping and the blaming of poverty, mental health issues and lifestyle choices. Respondents said these responses instilled in them doubt, shame and fear of the police.

Born in Peru, Román Alfaro wasn’t aware of the Indigenous experience in Canada when she was growing up, but says the themes are familiar.

“I had done a lot of work around violence and victims of violence, marginalized groups, state violence and low-income women in Peru – so I came in with that knowledge,” she says. “I didn’t grow up knowing about Indigenous life on Turtle Island, but this situation, of a culture of women being disappeared and murdered, was not foreign to me.”

Flores is now writing a book using the data, which he hopes to publish by the end of the year. Román Alfaro, whose own field of research includes how people respond to and resist violence, says she also wants to delve further into the findings.

“I would like to do more work on how a community heals from this violence,” she says. “Red Dress Day, Orange T-shirt Day – these are ways to keep people remembering this issue and those people who exist in these communities, and how they can reconcile with such a tragedy.”

Román Alfaro says she would like to talk to police about their perceptions of interactions with Indigenous Peoples and find out whether efforts are being made to improve relations.

“The families and friends (of the missing and murdered women) want information, they want to know something is being done, to be involved in the process or to know someone is looking for their loved ones,” Román Alfaro says. “That’s one very big gap in all this: how to deal with the families. They want to know what happened – they need to know what happened.”

Flores and Román Alfaro believe their article’s findings have important implications for future research and policy.

While the Calls for Justice of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls include demands for decolonial education and training for officers, Román Alfaro says their research has identified a need to look for alternatives to the police for state-provided victim support.

“There is still a lot of work to do from the Truth and Reconciliation recommendations,” Román Alfaro says.

“It’s a long way from saying what the problem is, to doing something about it.”

In photos: Inaugural All-Nations Powwow draws crowd to U of T Mississauga

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 13:25:30 +0000

In photos: Inaugural All-Nations Powwow draws crowd to U of T Mississauga

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 03/28/2023 - 09:25

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(Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Topic

An estimated 1,500 people turned out for the inaugural All-Nations Powwow at the University of Toronto Mississauga.

The event, held March 25, was co-hosted by U of T Mississauga's Indigenous Centre and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN).

(Photos by Nick Iwanyshyn)

“It doesn’t just take one person; it actually takes an entire community to really bring this to fruition and make this successful,” Tee Duke, director of the U of T Mississauga Office of Indigenous Initiatives (OII-UTM) told CityNews. “We are a very small team here, a tiny office, but it really did take the entire UTM community to bring this entire event to success.”

(Photos by Nick Iwanyshyn)

The day included a full program of traditional singing and dancing, spotlighting a Grand Entry ceremony as well as intertribal, spot, jingle dress and exhibition dances.

In addition to the performances, the powwow also featured a busy marketplace of Indigenous-owned businesses with products including apparel, artwork, jewelry and food items, as well as booths sharing information from Indigenous community groups and U of T services.

(Photos by Nick Iwanyshyn)

When the U of T Mississauga Office of Indigenous Initiatives first opened last year, Duke named hosting the powwow as a priority – part of U of T Mississauga’s ongoing commitment to meet the recommendations in Answering the Call: Wecheehetowin, the final report of the Steering Committee for the U of T Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

(Photos by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Watch coverage of the event at CityNews

In photos: New Canadians take citizenship oath at U of T Mississauga-hosted ceremony

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 17:09:28 +0000

In photos: New Canadians take citizenship oath at U of T Mississauga-hosted ceremony

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 03/27/2023 - 13:09

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Soon-to-be Canadian citizens say the oath at a citizenship ceremony held at University of Toronto Mississauga on March 21, 2023 (photo by Laura Proctor)

Topic

Judge Albert Wong recently encouraged 42 candidates from 11 countries to take a moment to reflect on their journey to become Canadians during a special citizenship ceremony held at the University of Toronto Mississauga.

The session, one of the first held in person since the outbreak of COVID-19, was staged in Maanjiwe nendamowinan’s Grand Hall on March 21 in collaboration with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

Judge Albert Wong, bottom left, presides over a citzenship ceremony at U of T Mississauga (photos by Laura Proctor)

During the program, Wong praised the staff of the IRCC for their efforts to swear-in more than 500,000 new citizens by Zoom video call during the pandemic.

He also said March 21 was an appropriate date to hold the ceremony, noting it coincided with both the onset of spring and the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, reflecting times for fresh starts and bringing people together.

(photos by Laura Proctor)

Wong shared with the group his own immigration experience, moving to Canada from Malaysia in 1971. He joined the Canadian Armed Forces as soon as he graduated high school, eventually serving nearly 40 years before becoming a citizenship judge.

In addition to Wong, U of T Vice-President and Principal U of T Mississauga Alexandra Gillespie and Vice-Provost, International Student Experience Alexie Tcheuyap – themselves immigrants from New Zealand and Cameroon, respectively – attended the ceremony.

Nigerian Canadian poet and U of T Mississauga alumnus Ayomide Bayowa, Mississauga’s current poet laureate, performed a special piece in honour of the new citizens.

U of T Vice-President and Principal of U of T Mississauga Alexandra Gillespie speaks into a microphone at top left and poses for a group photo that includes Alexie Tcheuyap, U of T’s associate vice-president and vice-provost, international student experience (photos by Laura Proctor)

As they collected their certificates conferring their new status, Wong gave the group words of encouragement, reminding them that, in Canada, “diversity is our strength.”

“This is a threshold moment, not the end of your citizenship journey,” he said, urging the newcomers to involve themselves in Canada’s Indigenous reconciliation and social inclusion efforts and encouraging them to pursue artistic endeavours to bring “light and joy and beauty and peace” to their new home.

“Citizenship is an instrument to make our country stronger.”

‘All are welcome’: U of T Mississauga to host inaugural All-Nations Powwow

siddiq22 — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 14:55:07 +0000

‘All are welcome’: U of T Mississauga to host inaugural All-Nations Powwow

siddiq22 Wed, 03/22/2023 - 10:55

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(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Topic

Truth and Reconciliation

University of Toronto Mississauga

The University of Toronto Mississauga will hold its first All-Nations Powwow on March 25. The event is co-hosted by U of T Mississauga's Indigenous Centre and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN).

“This powwow is such an exciting opportunity to celebrate the beauty, joy, and vitality of Indigenous cultures,” said Alexandra Gillespie, vice-president and principal of U of T Mississauga. “It also marks another step in realizing University of Toronto Mississauga's central commitment to reciprocity, as we work to build true friendships with Indigenous nations and answer the Calls to Action for Truth and Reconciliation.

“Sincere thanks to the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation for the privilege of co-hosting this event with them."

“We want to say chi miigwech for taking time out of your life to attend the event, learning about Mississaugas of the Credit/Mississauga Nation history, language and culture – and for University of Toronto Mississauga making space for us to be here on our territory to celebrate through a powwow,” said Veronica King-Jamieson, a MCFN councillor. “This provides an opportunity to build on relationships within our communities across Ontario.”

Doors will open at 11 a.m. and events will run from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Recreation, Athletic & Wellness Centre.

The schedule features a full day of traditional singing and dancing, including a grand entry ceremony at noon as well as intertribal, spot and exhibition dances.

At 2 p.m., dancers will compete in the Tia Lyn Copenace Jingle Dress Dance Special. Jingle dresses – also known as prayer dresses – are believed to bring healing through the shape and sound of their jingles.

When U of T Mississauga's Office of Indigenous Initiatives (OII-UTM) first opened last year, director Tee Duke cited hosting a powwow – an idea that Duke and her team had considered since 2020 but had to put on hold during pandemic restrictions – to be a priority.

“A powwow is a huge social gathering, so it was important to wait to ensure we could all be together again – in person and safely,” Duke said.

In addition to performances, the powwow will include tables featuring Indigenous-owned businesses, with products ranging from apparel and artwork to jewelry and food. There will also be booths on site sharing information about Indigenous community groups and U of T services.

The powwow is part of the campus’s ongoing commitment to meet the recommendations in Answering the Call: Wecheehetowin, the final report of U of T’s Truth and Reconciliation Steering Committee.

Pre-registration is highly recommended, but not required. For more information, visit the All-Nations Powwow site, which features details on powwow protocols and etiquette.

Attendees wishing to join in during the intertribal dance are invited to learn basic steps from Deanne Hupfield, the powwow’s head adult dancer.

Although the powwow is a celebration of Indigenous community, history, ceremony and culture, the event is open to the wider community, Duke noted.

“All are welcome to attend,” she said. “Powwows are for everyone to take in opportunities to build friendship with one another."

Canada taps U of T researcher for new Black Justice Strategy steering group

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 16:22:26 +0000

Canada taps U of T researcher for new Black Justice Strategy steering group

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 02/16/2023 - 11:22

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Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, an associate professor of sociology at U of T Mississauga, conducts research on race, crime and criminal justice (photo by Brian Summers)

Topic

Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Toronto Mississauga, has been named to Canada’s new Black Justice Strategy steering group and will co-author its recommendations to the federal government.

“I’m pleased to be taking part in such an important initiative,” said Owusu-Bempah, whose research examines race, crime and criminal justice. “The development of Canada’s Black Justice Strategy provides an opportunity to make meaningful change for Black communities that could have a positive impact for generations to come.”

The official announcement was made on Parliament Hill this week by a panel that included Minister of Justice and Attorney General David Lametti, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion Ahmed Hussen and Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth Marci Ien.

“Many of us like to tell ourselves that justice is colour blind but, in the criminal justice system, we know it’s not,” said Lametti, noting that Black adults are overrepresented as victims of crime and are also consistently overrepresented in Canadian jails, making up about nine per cent of those in prison despite comprising less than four per cent of the overall population.

We have a lot of work to do to make Canada’s Black Justice Strategy a reality. It was nice joining @DavidLametti and colleagues yesterday for this important announcement. https://t.co/lf2nW2ki2I
— Akwasi Owusu-Bempah (@AOBempah) February 16, 2023

The nine-person steering group will be speaking with leaders, experts and members of Black communities across Canada to create recommendations by the end of 2023 to help reform and modernize the criminal justice system.

The goal, said Lametti, is to begin implementing changes in 2024.

“It’s an ambitious timeline,” he said. “But the circumstances demand it.”

The steering group is the first step in fulfilling a pledge made by the Liberal government in 2019 to address anti-Black racism and discrimination in the criminal justice system after advocacy groups and the United Nations criticized the overrepresentation of Black Canadians in federal prisons.

“Black people in Canada have a long history of mistrust and experiences of injustice with our criminal justice systems,” said Owusu-Bempah. “For as long as Black people have existed here, our legal and justice institutions have served to oppress them … we know significant changes need to be made to the way we administer justice in this country.”

Owusu-Bempah’ s co-author will be fellow committee member Zilla Jones, a criminal defence lawyer and anti-racism educator based in Winnipeg.

“(The strategy) is a historic acknowledgment by the Government of Canada that systemic anti-Black racism exists in Canada and that it has poisoned our justice system, negatively impacting the integrity of our communities and the futures of our children,” said Jones. “This initiative aims to give real meaning to the principles of redress and reconciliation.”

Owusu-Bempah’s appointment to the steering group follows his recent engagement by the Peel Police Services Board to help its Governance and Human Rights Committee address systemic racism – specifically anti-Black racism.

Before joining U of T Mississauga, Owusu-Bempah held positions with Canada’s National Judicial Institute, the Public Health Agency of Canada and Ontario’s Ministry of the Solicitor General.

He is the co-author of Waiting to Inhale: Cannabis Legalization and the Fight for Racial Justice.

Kate Martin

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‘All are welcome’: U of T Mississauga to host inaugural All-Nations Powwow

Canada taps U of T researcher for new Black Justice Strategy steering group

Read more about the Black Justice Strategy at CTV

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