‘Six systemic crises’ confronting Canada, and politicians, policy-makers, health-care professionals need ‘systems thinking’ to tackle them, says public policy expert
Politicians, policy-makers, and health-care professionals have been too busy focusing on beating back the pandemic and trying to ensure Canadians are shielded from the worst of the economic fallout while there are six larger, systemic crises that have the potential to dwarf the trauma already experienced in this country if left unchecked, according to Irvin […]
Why the government of Canada will not appoint a temporary minister of education
Adhering to the dictum “never let a good crisis go to waste,” Irvin Studin has proposed in The Globe and Mail that Canada needs a temporary minister of education to address what he calls “Canada’s post quarantine education crisis.” I do not dispute that COVID-19 has produced an unprecedented crisis in education. In fact, I recently published a […]
How the pandemic has driven us to up our game in research and teaching
Tragedy, suffering, and uncertainty have trailed in the wake of COVID-19, bringing social and economic turmoil, and hurting people everywhere. The pandemic is a grand challenge that threatens our safety and our very existence. This challenge is also a unique opportunity for universities to lead and innovate in ways that will benefit humankind well beyond […]
COVID-19 and the future of Canadian universities
COVID-19 sparked a global crisis in post-secondary education that has remained seriously under-appreciated. In the United States, tuition-dependent private colleges are in dire financial straits; several recently closed permanently, and more mergers and bankruptcies seem sure to follow. The decline in international enrolments has caused enormous financial damage in Australia, with widespread layoffs and serious budget […]
Indigenous visions for Canadian post-secondary institutions: past, present, and future
For thousands of years, sovereign and thriving Indigenous nations sustained Indigenous education, health, and governance systems. The settler colonial Canadian government, along with Christian churches, forcibly replaced Indigenous education systems with its Indian Residential School project. Widespread substandard instruction, violence, forced starvation, nutritional experimentation, ethnic cleansing, trauma, and fear followed. These perverted Canadian education systems […]
University education and Black youth
In Statistics Canada’s recent report, Changes in the socioeconomic situation of Canada’s Black population, 2001 to 2016, René Houle writes that “one of the main challenges” faced by members of Canadian Black communities is that Black youth—especially young men—“are less likely to have attended a higher educational institution and to have earned a post-secondary diploma.” […]
Black student groups lead the charge as StatsCan data gives deep dive on racism in education
As the international focus on systemic racism continues, disaggregated data from Statistics Canada gives a new glimpse into how anti-Black racism affects Black students in Canada, and the findings should compel universities and other major institutions to “look back to the basis of the structures we’ve operated in for years” to reform racist practices, says […]
Universities and Colleges Research
Doubling down on research during the COVID-19 pandemic
As Canada grapples with the impacts of COVID-19, we have witnessed the essential role our research community plays in our society. Indeed, scientists are leading our country’s efforts to address the pandemic. It is therefore critical that we sustain Canada’s research excellence, talent, and knowledge so that our research community is in a strong position […]
O’Toole’s pitch to working class a winner, say strategists, but he’ll have to go through union boss Jerry Dias
Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole’s olive branch to the working class is a well-timed message that could pay dividends for the party, say political strategists and a veteran pollster—but one of Canada’s most influential labour leaders says he isn’t buying it. Mr. O’Toole (Durham, Ont.) has reached out to the unionized working class in recent […]
