Equity Matters

Jun 14

‘The truth about stories’: Yes, I am Aboriginal and I enjoy mathematics

Florence Glanfield, University of Alberta
Guest Contributor This entry is part of the Equity Issues Portfolio’s series on Indigenizing the academy and Indigenous education.

When people learn that I am of Aboriginal descent and that I enjoy mathematics I am often looked at in a quizzical way. Often I am asked how I came to enjoy and to teach mathematics. And, I often assume, that I am being asked how you – as an Aboriginal person – came to enjoy mathematics. Over the years I’ve found it productive to respond by sharing two stories.

“The truth about stories is that that’s all we...

Jun 8

Female leaders and the double bind: Why leadership styles that work for men might not work for women

Kara Arnold, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Guest Contributor

This blog post is part of the Federation Equity Issues Portfolio’s series marking the 100^th anniversary of International Women’s Day.

The double bind is “a situation in which a person must choose between equally unsatisfactory alternatives: a punishing and inescapable dilemma,” according to a Catalyst study, “The Double-Bind Dilemma for Women in Leadership: Damned if You Do, Doomed if You Don’t.”...

May 26

Equity matters at Congress 2011

With Congress 2011 officially launching tomorrow at the University of New Brunswick and St. Thomas University in Fredericton, we're giving you a sneak preview of the Equity Issues content that will be going on throughout the week.

Under the theme "Transforming the Academy: Indigenous Education," the Federation's Equity Issues Portfolio, under the leadership of VP Equity Issues Malinda Smith, has pulled together a stellar line up of speakers and panels.

A Big Thinking lecture on May 30 with Chief Shawn Atleo starts off the programming...

May 20

Equity and social justice from the inside-out: Ten commitments of a multicultural educator

Paul C. Gorski, George Mason University
Guest Contributor

This blog entry is part of the Equity Issues Portfolio’s series on ‘interculturalism and pluralism’.

History teaches us that many progressive initiatives, if not nurtured carefully, risk growing to reflect the very ideologies against which they were formed. This is a risk faced by multicultural education. So certainly we need to organize ourselves against attempts to discredit the value of multicultural education by those who are most invested in maintaining the status quo. To dismiss multicultural education is, after...

May 17

Changing the subject in teacher education: Indigenous, diasporic and settler colonial relations

Martin J. Cannon, OISE/University of Toronto
Guest Contributor

This blog post is part of the Federation Equity Issues Portfolio’s ‘Transforming the Academy: Indigenous Education’ series, which will be the focus of the Portfolio’s programming at Congress 2011.

In current and past teaching for well over a decade now I have been engaging with people – in the majority of cases, non-Indigenous peoples – in the shared challenge of thinking about the histories of racism and settler colonialism. One of the recurrent obstacles in doing this work involves the discomfort that ensues in...

May 10

Relations with First Nations: Decolonization in the Canadian context

Mark Aquash, University of British Columbia
Guest Contributor

First Nation communities and individuals can resolve their own issues by focusing on community development, and by strengthening processes of decolonization, self-determination and citizenship. Yet a review of the historical and contemporary record...

May 3

Aboriginal Relations in Canada: The Importance of Political Reconciliation

Dale A. Turner, Dartmouth College
Guest contributor

What is the meaning of reconciliation? In this short contribution to the conversations unfolding in Canada, as elsewhere, I will focus on just two ways the term is used in contemporary Aboriginal politics and relations in Canada. Both uses of reconciliation are significant for Aboriginal aspirations for self-...

Apr 29

Welcoming 'visible minorities': Paradoxes of equity hiring in Canadian universities

Carl E. James, York University
Guest Contributor

If we were to scan the academic job ads of Canadian universities today, we would notice the following: After the description of the job, the required qualifications, and the application’s deadline, at the end there is usually a short statement that goes something like this:

“University X is strongly committed to employment equity within its community and supports diversity in its teaching, learning and work environments. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates, including women, Aboriginal people, visible minorities, and persons with disabilities, and members of...

Apr 21

Black Canadians beyond the Underground Railroad: Did the 49th parallel make a difference?

Adrienne Shadd, Independent Scholar
Guest Contributor

This blog entry is part of the Equity Issues Portfolio’s series on ‘interculturalism and pluralism’.

For most Canadians, the only time that the Black presence enters onto the main stage of Canadian history is during the fabled period when the...

Apr 18

The arts, community service learning and social justice

Sara Dorow, University of Alberta
Guest Contributor

“You know, [in class] you learn a lot of definitions, you learn about a perspective, you read a lot of texts . . . [CSL] was a great way to see what IS ethnocentrism, what IS social inequality. You only kind of know what it is until you are working with people and then it comes to light . . . [CSL] is just a different kind of learning,” was how one student put the link between Community Service Learning and social justice in...

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