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Devika Pandey believes that constant conversations about anti-racism are the key to a more equitable future for marginalized communities in Canada. She says the events of 2020, such as the murder of George Floyd and the inequities related to COVID-19, thrust the discourse about race firmly into the spotlight. A manager with the Canadian Centre…
Jane Jae Kyung Shin, Vancouver Community College’s VP, Students and Community Development, was recently nominated for YWCA’s Women of Distinction Award in the Education, Training & Development category. Shin, who was also named one of Canada’s Top 25 Immigrants 2019, says that she is both surprised and humbled to be nominated for the award. Defining…
Brazilian mathematics educator Marcelo C. Borba once compared the visualization of ethnomathematics to a forest ‘in which each tree would be considered as a different expression of ethnomathematics, socio-culturally produced.’ “The definition of ethnomathematics that I prefer was stated by Ubiratan D’Ambrosio, another Brazilian mathematics educator and historian of mathematics,” says Veselin Jungic, teaching professor…
Angela Danyluk’s work and research has given her a clear picture of how environmental changes will impact residents of Vancouver, and the local effects of climate change cannot be avoided much longer. As a senior sustainability specialist in the City of Vancouver, Danyluk states the impact of climate change on Vancouverites will go beyond merely…
There is no vaccine for domestic violence. But that has not deterred Balbir Gurm from working to prevent relationship violence. “It’s not a shadow pandemic, it was a pandemic before COVID came around, says Gurm. Look at the definitions of pandemic and we’ve been in a pandemic of domestic violence for some time now.” She…
Suicide among Canada’s Indigenous people is disproportionally higher than in the non-Indigenous population according to a survey done by Statistics Canada (2011–2016). Less well known are the traditional means that Indigenous communities can draw upon to combat that tragedy. Alanaise Onischin Goodwill, PhD, spent two years studying the intergenerational effects of suicide and how the…
Despite a challenging year for the healthcare industry, Coast Mental Health (CMH), a registered charity, was named one of BC’s Top Employers for 2021. “We’re very excited by this announcement because it’s the first time we’ve been recognized on this prestigious list,” says Susan Hancock, senior manager for communications and community development. “It’s not every…
Cultural disorientation can inflict strain on personal relationships, says Pooja Tuli, a certified intercultural competence facilitator and a mental health first-aider. “Couples often see that they are slowly moving away from their traditional cultural roles and adapting to the Canadian lifestyle,” says Tuli, who also has an academic background including psychology and sociology. She is…
In 2019, Merriam-Webster – America’s oldest dictionary – declared the word “they” its word of the year and added a new definition: used to refer to a single person whose gender identity is non-binary. Despite what some language skeptics might think, the use of “they” as a singular pronoun in English goes way back, even…
“Climate change is the most important issue of our times,” says Indian writer Amitav Ghosh. Ghosh believes the stress associated with climate change has altered people’s mindset towards creativity and other issues. He also thinks that in literature, climate change has been simplified to a point where the intersectionality between other elements such as arts…
“Young people are communicating more as avatars than as real people, so we need to understand what that actually means,” says Anthonia Ogundele, the founder of Ethós Lab, an afterschool program for young people aged 13–18, centred around science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and creative entrepreneurship. Ogundele used her experience and skills as a…
“The pandemic has rendered useless many of the urban resilience plans that have been made over the past decade,” says Simon Fraser University (SFU) professor Meg Holden (PhD), director of the Urban Studies Program. “It presented us with the kind of emergency that our cities were unprepared for,” she adds. She will be co-panelist on…
Some, but not all Canadians know about our country’s residential schools and the dark phase of Indigenous history that resulted from colonialism. Two Indigenous authors Michelle Good and Waubgeshig Rice feel the persistent lack of awareness and knowledge of Indigenous issues reflect the structural problems in mainstream media and education. As part of UBC’s “Indigenous…
