Past Events

Description

Help us show a warm welcome to 89-year old activist and “comfort woman” survivor Gil Won Ok as she visits Toronto for the premiere of Toronto-based filmmaker Tiffany Hsiung’s new film on Japanese military sexual slavery during the Asia-Pacific War/WWII, “The Apology,” premiering at HotDocs 2016.

The panel discussion will explore the history and activism of the “comfort women” while making links to colonial and militarized sexual violence in other contexts.

We look forward to learning from local feminist and community organizations at this event in order to build ongoing transnational solidarity in the quest to end systemic violence against women.

Please see the attached flyer for more details or visit the FB event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1043397172413623/

The OISE building is accessible, and is located next to St George Station, Bedford Rd. exit.

If you require information: cwse@utoronto.ca

Description

One of the most pressing challenges facing today’s cities is how to involve the public in the machinery of government and its fiscal decisions in a meaningful way. Participatory budgeting, a model derived from the Brazilian experience, gives the public the right to propose, deliberate, and vote on a part of the city budget. Does participatory budgeting actually improve democracy, transparency, and accountability, or is it simply another consultation tool in disguise? On May 5, join us for a panel discussion on the opportunities and challenges of implementing participatory budgeting in Canadian cities.

Josh Lerner is the Executive Director of the Participatory Budgeting Project, the leading non-profit supporting participatory budgeting in the US and Canada. His work has been recognized by the White House as a model for open government, and by the Brown Democracy Medal as the best practical innovation advancing democracy around the world. He is the author of two books, Making Democracy Fun: How Game Design Can Empower Citizens and Transform Politics (MIT Press, 2014) and Everyone Counts: Could Participatory Budgeting Change Democracy? (Cornell University Press, 2014).

Seating is limited for this event, and registration is required.

This event is part of the “Big City, Big Ideas (BCBI)” lecture series, organized by the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance at the University of Toronto, in collaboration with its BCBI Partners: The School of Public Policy and Governance (SPPG), the Department of Geography & Planning, the Innovation Policy Lab (IPL), the Global Cities Institute (GCI), the Martin Prosperity Institute (MPI), and Urban Strategies Inc.

Description

The Osaka University RESPECT (Revitalizing And Enriching Society Through Pluralism, Equity And Cultural Transformation) Summer School 2016 in Multicultural Studies at the University of Toronto is designed to give Japanese graduate students a critical first-hand experience with multiculturalism in Canada: both its possibilities and challenges.

Students from Osaka University will present their research findings from this intensive program alongside graduate students at the University of Toronto, who will elaborate on many dimensions of this central theme. This joint graduate student workshop is an exciting opportunity for cross-cultural communication and the development of comparative and critically nuanced understandings of this broad and rich concept.

EVENT SCHEDULE

10:00 AM – 10:10 AM     
Introduction by Prof. Shiho Satsuka (Department of Anthropology) and the RA Team Lisa Davidson, Emily Hertzman, and Alexandre Paquet

CLUSTER I: HISTORY AND DEBATES ON CANADIAN MULTICULTURALISM
Moderator, Lisa Davidson
 
10:10 AM- 10:40 AM      
Osaka Student Presentation and Discussion
 
10:40 AM- 10:55 PM
Jessica Cook (Department of Anthropology) –  “Indigenous women and the urban community in Tkaronto”

10:55 PM- 11:10 PM
Amy N. Fox (Department of Anthropology) – “Information Sharing in the American Eastern Woodlands: A Stone-Tool Case Study from the Late Archaic (4000-3000BP)”

11:10 PM- 11:25 PM       
Questions Period
 
11:25 PM- 11:40 PM       
“Still Waiting for Justice” Documentary Screening
 
11:40 PM- 12:40 PM       
Lunch Break (to be provided by the Asian Institute)
 
CLUSTER II ETHNOGRAPHY OF KENSINGTON MARKET
Moderator, Emily Hertzman

12:40 PM- 1:10 PM
Osaka Student Presentation and Discussion

1:10 PM- 1:25 PM
Rachel Levine (Department of Anthropology) – “That Poor Dog!”: Studying Poverty and Pet  Ownership in Toronto
 
1:25 PM – 1:40 PM
Alexandra Maris (Women and Gender Studies   Institute) – “Women and Muscle Mass: With a Focus on Women doing Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)”
 
1:40 PM- 1:55 PM            
Questions Period
 
1:55 PM- 2:05 PM            
“Hanging On” Documentary Screening
 
2:05 PM- 2: 15 PM           
Coffee Break
 
CLUSTER III: TRANSNATIONALISM, MIGRATION AND RELIGION: HOME-MAKING AMONGST THE DIASPORA
Moderator, Alexandre Paquet
 
2:15 PM- 2:45 PM
Osaka Student Presentation and Discussion
 
2:45 PM- 3:00 PM
Sandra Brewster (Department of Visual Studies) – “In Residency at Alice Yard”
 
3:00 PM- 3:20 PM
Justin Lee – “Sugar Brown: The Shades of Blues”
Movie Screening with Introduction by the Director
 
3:20 PM- 3:35 PM
Questions Period
 
3:35 PM- 3:45 PM
Coffee Break    

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
Moderator, Alexandre Paquet
 
3:45 PM- 4:30 PM
Adrian De Leon (Department of History) – “Smells, Tastes, and the Ethics of Everyday Multiculturalism”
 
4:30 PM- 4:45 PM
Questions Period
 
4:45 PM- 5:00 PM            
Closing Remarks

Description

We leave a digital trail behind us everywhere we go: the calls we make, the emails we send, the links on which we click, the websites and documents that we retrieve. This also includes our social relationships, habits, preferences, even our movements in space and time. IDEAS, CBC RADIO ONE in partnership with the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto weighs the opportunities, the risks — and the trade-offs — as the world of BIG DATA relentlessly changes our lives.

Monday, May 9, 2016, Part 1: The Promise and the Perils of Big Data for Business, for Consumers, and for Society

For business, the promise of BIG DATA is at least as great as that of the Internet itself. Companies can now anticipate what consumers want even before we know it ourselves. As consumers, we get more of what we want, when we want it. But we must also live under constant surveillance as companies chase down the opportunities that we create for them online.

Anita M. McGahan, Professor of Strategic Management at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto; Ashkan Soltani, independent researcher and technologist specializing on issues relating to privacy, security, and behavioral economics, and former Chief of Technology for the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, DC; John Weigelt, National Technology Officer, Microsoft Canada; and moderator Stephen Toope, Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs consider the consequences of Big Data as it changes business – and our lives – for better... and for worse.

Tuesday, May 10, 2016, Part 2: BIG DATA – or – BIG BROTHER? Citizenship and security in the Age of Big Data.

BIG DATA does not evaporate. It accumulates, creating a new, exponentially expanding system of planetary information. The Snowden/NSA revelations have shown that the U.S. and its allies’ secretive “signals intelligence agencies” routinely collect, mine and analyze this system, partly with help from the private companies that operate it. But what are the risks and trade-offs for liberty and privacy? And, who guards against abuses of power when the state watches everything and everyone, all the time?

Ann Cavoukian, Executive Director of the Privacy and Big Data Institute at Ryerson University and former Information and Privacy Commissioner (three terms) for the province of Ontario; Ronald J. Deibert, Oont, Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs; Neil Desai, executive with Magnet Forensics, a software company that provides digital forensic tools to law enforcement and national security agencies around the world; and moderator Stephen Toope, Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs, grapple with BIG DATA , national security and our rights –as citizens–in relation to the State.

Description

Liberalism in Britain and Europe has over-reached itself in recent decades—on European integration, immigration and much besides—and populism has been striking back. That is not all bad. Politics needs a new settlement between liberalism and populism.

David Goodhart is a British journalist and think-tanker. He worked for the Financial Times for 12 years and was the founding editor of the monthly current affairs magazine Prospect for 15 years. He then became director of the centre-left think tank Demos. He is now director of the Integration Hub website and head of the Demography, Immigration and Integration unit at the Policy Exchange think tank. His book, The British Dream: Successes and Failures of Post-War Immigration, was published in 2013.

Description

This roundtable is part of an event series, “Engaging Caste in the Diaspora”, commemorating the 125th birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

Description

This inaugural event features research by senior graduate students and post-doctoral fellows who have participated in the Harney program. It is an opportunity to meet and share experiences as young researchers, and to learn about new and successful graduate research. Open to all.
A small reception will follow the presentations.

Program:

Teresa Cappiali
(Post-Doctoral Fellow, Political Science, Collegio Carlo Alberto,
2013-2015 Visiting Scholar, Ethnic and Pluralism Studies) “Challenges and Opportunities for Immigrant Workers Organizing in the Globalized Economy: Toward a New Theoretical Framework”

Barbara Lee
(PhD, Social Work, Ethnic and Pluralism Studies, University of Toronto) “Examining Child Welfare Outcomes for Asian-Canadian Children and
Families: A Mixed Methods Study”

Agata Piekosz
(PhD candidate, Sociology, Ethnic and Pluralism Studies, University of
Toronto)
“Polish Catholic Priests in Canada and Ireland: Migration, Leadership and the Mobility of Strangers”

Johanne Jean-Pierre
(PhD candidate, Sociology, McMaster University, 2014-2015 Visiting Scholar, Ethnic and Pluralism Studies) “Stigma based on linguistic identity in Ontario and Quebec: a comparative study”

Discussants:
Siu Ming Kwok
(Professor, School of Social Work, King’s University College, Western
University)
Naomi Lightman
(Post-doctoral Fellow, Sociology, University of Toronto)
Helen Mo
(PhD Program, Department for the Study of Religion, Ethnic and Pluralism Studies, University of Toronto)

Description

This keynote photographic presentation features images made in the northern parts of India, capturing the beauty of the region’s geography and glimpses of its culture through the eyes of global travellers Neville and Vivienne Poy. Neville, now a retired Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, has had a life-long passion for visual and performing arts. He found at an early age that the camera was the best instrument through which he could express his artistic abilities, and it became his constant recreational companion. As a historian and author, Vivienne delights in acquiring knowledge of cultural diversity and experiencing and learning about the people and places of our world, both in the present and the historic past. The pair found their visual perception of India to be enchanting; therefore they will present images that are as much artistry as they are a record of the people and places visited. Neville and Vivienne’s combined artistic and intellectual interests promise to make for an enjoyable and rewarding presentation.

Dr Neville Poy graduated from McGill University in 1960 with the degrees of BSc, MD, CM, MSc (surgery), FRCS©, and FACS. He is a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, and was Director of the first burn unit in Canada at the Scarborough General Hospital beginning in 1967. He became its Inaugural Recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. Dr Poy was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1998 and an Officer of the Order of St. John in 2003. He is a recipient of both the Queen’s Gold and Diamond Jubilee Medals. He was appointed Honorary Lt Colonel of the Queen’s York Rangers (oldest Reserve Army Regiment in Canada) in 2003, Honorary Colonel in 2007, and Honorary Colonel Emeritus in 2010 including the present. He has served on numerous boards, medical and non-medical. He retired from medical practice in 1995.

The Honourable Dr Vivienne Poy is Chancellor Emerita of the University of Toronto, an author of non-fiction, and a historian. In 1998, she was the first Canadian of Asian heritage to be appointed to the Senate of Canada, where she focused on gender issues, multiculturalism, immigration, and human rights. She retired from the Senate in September 2012 and continues to be actively involved with communities across Canada. She travels extensively and has a special interest in the study of Chinese diaspora.

The Dr. Neville Poy photo exhibition will be on display in the East Foyer of Innis College on May 27. Photographic prints will be for sale with proceeds to benefit the Asian Institute.

Description

The Munk School of Global Affairs will once again be participating in Doors Open Toronto. Visitors will have the opportunity to freely roam throughout the public spaces at the Munk School of Global Affairs’ historic 315 Bloor Street West Observatory Site. The halls, library, and unique meeting spaces all feature exceptional art by artists from Canada and around the world. Guided tours will be offered at three times during the day for members of the public, and staff will be available on site to answer questions about the Munk School and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects’ (KPMB) beautiful renovation.

No registration required.

About Doors Open Toronto
The 17th annual Doors Open Toronto presented by Great Gulf returns on Saturday, May 28 and Sunday, May 29, 2016, offering free and rare access to more than 130 architecturally, historically, culturally and socially significant buildings across the city.

The Doors Open Toronto 2016 theme of Re-used, Re-visited and Revised will explore the adaptive re-use of buildings throughout Toronto’s architectural history.

Doors Open is presented by Great Gulf and produced by the City of Toronto in partnership with the broader community.

To plan your Doors Open Toronto weekend,click on the link below for information on free special programming, exhibits, walking tours, and talks that can be experienced during the event.

Description

On June 1, 2016 Injured Workers Day, join us for a free screening of the award-winning documentary A Day’s Work which exposes the harsh conditions faced by temp agency workers.

Special Guests:

• Dave DeSario, A Day’s Work Executive Producer, Film-maker, Founding Member of the Alliance for the American Temporary Workforce (AATW)
• Injured workers and temp agency workers will be speaking about their experiences and the changes that are being fought for in the Changing Workplace Review (the Ontario Government’s review of labour laws).

Description
Ninety minutes before he was killed on his first day of work as a temporary employee, 21-year-old Day Davis texted a picture of himself to his girlfriend, excited for their future. Now Day’s sister, 17-year-old Antonia, searches for answers.

Event Partners
Fight for $15 & Fairness, Ontario Network of Injured Workers’ Groups, Ontario Federation of Labour, Workers’ Action Centre, Department of Sociology, UTSC, Department of Social Justice Education, OISE, UofT, Adult Education and Community Development, OISE, UofT, Global Labour Research Centre at York University, Centre for the Study of Korea, Asian Institute at Munk School of Global Affairs, UofT and Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts

Description

THIS EVENT IS NOW COMPLETELY SOLD OUT. IF YOU WISH TO ADD YOUR NAME TO THE WAIT LIST, PLEASE VISIT THE EVENTBRITE PAGE AT: http://robertputnam.eventbrite.ca.

The Environics Institute for Survey Research, the Centre for the Study of the United States, and the Munk School of Global Affairs invite you to a special event in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Environics Institute:

A special presentation by Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam:
What Happened? The Curious Case of Social Change in 20th Century America.

Followed by a panel discussion on the Canadian perspective with:

Rahul Bhardwaj, Toronto Foundation (moderator)
Dr. Keith Banting, Queen’s University
Dr. Kwame McKenzie, Wellesley Institute

Material well-being (per capita income, life expectancy) in America rose steadily throughout the 20th century. By contrast many major aspects of American society, politics, and economics from 1900 to today followed a clear but puzzling pattern – rising strongly and steadily from 1900 to about 1970, and then falling by equal measure from 1970 to today. This pattern applies to income and wealth equality, associational membership and personal philanthropy, cross-party political collaboration, social integration, union membership, progressive tax rates, and the native-born proportion of the population. What happened to cause such a seismic shift in the direction of society? Understanding the origins of such a massive pendular swing from individualism to communitarianism and back again could inform our thinking about how to restore balance to America. And it may have important lessons for Canada and other western democracies.

Robert D. Putnam is the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the British Academy, and past president of the American Political Science Association. He has written 14 books, translated into more than 20 languages, including Bowling Alone and Making Democracy Work, both among the most cited publications in the social sciences in the last half century. His 2010 book (co-authored with David E. Campbell), American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, won the American Political Science Association’s 2011 Woodrow Wilson award as the best book in political science. He has consulted for American presidents, British prime ministers, French presidents, and hundreds of grassroots leaders and activists in many countries. His latest book, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, on the growing class gap among American young people, was published in March 2015.

Description

We are pleased to announce that the 22nd North American Taiwan Studies Association (NATSA) Annual Conference will be held from June 10-11, 2016. This year’s conference, titled “Taiwan Studies in Trans* Perspectives: Transdisciplinary, Transnational, and Transcultural,” welcomes scholars interested in studying Taiwan from all disciplines and explores how Taiwan—as a case, a theory, or even a method—can further transform current knowledge constructs toward an inclusive global vision.

Trans*, used in transgender studies as an umbrella term to include individuals seeking gender identities within and beyond the traditional male-female dichotomy, sheds light on an insightful and radical approach to Taiwan Studies. The asterisk in trans*, originating from computer science, serves as a wildcard character that stands for any words starting with trans, and symbolizes the openness and inclusiveness of the transdisciplinary community of Taiwan Studies. In line with this inclusive spirit, Trans* opens up new approaches to encourage scholars of Taiwan Studies to boldly transgress disciplinary boundaries and cull perspectives from various intellectual communities.

Of all the relevant trans* themes in this conference, participants are encouraged, but not limited, to set transdisciplinarity, transnationality, and transculturalism as a point of reference. Transdiciplinarity is not only a series of cross-disciplinary activities but also a transformation among contexts and the transcendence of multiple disciplines to create innovative context-based theories. Taiwan Studies from a transdisciplinary perspective offers a lens for researchers to examine, discuss, and understand issues in multiple contexts. Transnationality both emphasizes and questions the existence of universal values or a one-size-fits-all nation-state theory. It not only digs out the diversity derived from the uniqueness of local contexts, but also tries to clarify the imbalanced power structure among the units. Transculturalism, a theoretical concept that seeks to break the boundaries between different communal, cultural, societal, and national sectors. Additionally, a new framework is established in which participants are understood not as members exclusively belonging to particular groups but as constantly crossing categorical boundaries in a search for self-identity.

Complete Conference Schedule: 
http://www.na-tsa.org/new/2016/conference-schedule

Description

Land value capture (LVC) is popular around the world as a way to pay for public infrastructure. LVCs can also be used for social benefits. IMFG Post-Doctoral Fellow Abigail Friendly will compare the use of LVC in two cities – São Paulo and Toronto – with a focus on acquiring local benefits and services such as park improvements, childcare and recreational facilities, and social housing. São Paulo’s outorga onerosa do direito de construir (OODC) is a bureaucratized approach, compared to the politicized process in Toronto’s Section 37 legislation. These contrasting policies offer an opportunity to think about how to improve the experience in both places.

Abigail Friendly is IMFG’s Post-Doctoral Fellow for 2015-2016. She has a PhD in Planning from the University of Toronto.

Space is limited and registration is required.

Description

Chair: Shingo Hamada, Osaka Shoin Women’s University

• Greg de St. Maurice, Ryukoku University
• Shingo Hamada
• Richard Wilk, Indiana University
• Takeshi Watanabe, Connecticut College
• Aiko Tanaka, Osaka Shoin Women’s University

About the conference:
The University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) is pleased to host the Joint 2016 Annual Meetings and Conference of the Association for the Study of Food and Society; the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society; and the Canadian Association for Food Studies – the first time the three organizations have met together. The conference theme, “Scarborough Fare: Global Foodways and Local Foods in a Transnational City,” emphasizes the changing nature of food production, distribution, and consumption as people, goods, foods and culinary and agricultural knowledge move over long distances and across cultural and national borders. It explores the development of cities and their transnational marketplaces where new and old migrants, entrepreneurs and emerging migrant-origin middle classes settle in suburbs such as Scarborough, rather than in older downtown districts such as the historic Toronto Chinatown along Spadina. To understand global and local food systems, we must give due attention to migrants, whether from rural districts or from cities, for they have historically provided knowledge and labour necessary to feed societies, while also altering the foodways of long-time natives of the areas where they settle. We invite participants to examine the role of mobile people as workers, entrepreneurs, and innovators in agriculture, culinary infrastructure, and food preparation and consumption. Submissions may also consider the long distance movement of people, culinary knowledge, and foods as contributors to projects of colonization, sovereignty and creators of global inequalities. The conference will feature cultural events, art exhibits, and a banquet that highlight the diverse communities and cuisines of Scarborough and the Greater Toronto Area. Students and emerging scholars in particular are invited to submit proposals for a pre-conference to be held on June 21 and sponsored by CAFS.

Please RSVP to culinaria@utsc.utoronto.ca.

Description

Urban and rural areas used to be distinct entities with different values, economies, labour trends, and ways of life but, over time, they have converged. Most provincial governments have linked rural and urban areas through institutions such as regional governments, but many counties still have a separated city. In these cases, the urban city has no institutional connection to the rural county around it. This talk will present findings from a new book about the peculiarities of city-county separation. What are the dangers of having municipal institutions that are too rigid to modernize, and what does it mean for the future of regional governance in Ontario?

Zachary Spicer is Assistant Professor at Brock University, where he teaches and conducts research in the areas of local government and public policy. He is a former IMFG post-doctoral fellow.

Click here to pre-order his new book, The Boundary Bargain: Growth, Development, and the Future of City-County Separation.

Space is limited and registration is required.