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September-October 2011

Dechinta brings to life the 50-year dream of a university for the North

Katie HyslopWebsite@Kehyslop

Back in the 1960s, a group of high-minded northern and southern Canadians had a collective revelation: if the North ever wanted to succeed, it desperately needed a university. Toronto-based lawyer and retired Air Force general Richard Rohmer spearheaded the idea, first lobbying locals and politicians, and later penning a draft for a bricks-and-mortar institution. While […] More »
July-August 2011

In the fight for better literacy, comic books are teachers’ secret weapon

Lindsay Mar

Long regarded as the enemy of literacy, comic books and graphic novels are increasingly useful as a way of improving reading skills among otherwise reluctant students, young and old On a cold mid-February afternoon under overcast skies, a school bell rings. The halls of Toronto’s Agnes Macphail Public School flood with children dressed in puffy […] More »
May-June 2011

This45: Natalie Samson on educator Tamara Dawit

Natalie SamsonWebsite

Tamara Dawit co-founded the 411 Initiative for Change, a non-profit public education program, to tackle the problem of community disengagement among young Canadians. Through 411 she produces and tours 90-minute school assemblies on social issues such as human rights, HIV/AIDS, and girls’ empowerment to encourage students to learn about and get active in their communities. […] More »
March-April 2011

This45: Ellen Russell on activist educators the Catalyst Centre

Ellen Russell

The moment I met the Catalyst Centre folks, I was intrigued. They seemed to get that social justice is not just a question of publicizing critical information: Building movements takes something more, and these folks seemed to have a handle on what that “something” is. Catalyst carries on a rich heritage in popular education—one that […] More »

Catholic schools clash with LGBT rights — but "institution" isn't a synonym for faith

peter goffin

That Catholic schools do not always look positively upon homosexuality may not come as a great surprise, given their collective track record. But in the past week, two news stories have brought new and unique anti-gay measures taken at Catholic schools to light. First, officials at Missisauga’s St. Joseph’s Catholic  Secondary School allegedly restricted students’ use of […] More »
March-April 2011

Time to abolish separate Catholic school boards

Graham F. Scott

In Alberta, Ontario, and Saskatchewan, parallel education systems still exist: the secular public school boards, and separate Catholic school boards. It is time to abolish that system. The problem of separate school boards is not their Catholicism; it is their separateness. Public funding elevates one religious tradition above all others, and in secular, multicultural contemporary Canada, that […] More »
May-June 2011

This45: Jim Stanford on activist educator Kevin Millsip & Next Up

Jim StanfordWebsite

It was the sort of sectarian self-destruction that’s sadly all too common in left-wing movements. After winning strong majorities on Vancouver City Council, the school board, and the park board in 2002, the Coalition of Progressive Electors alliance split in two just a couple of years later. This paved the way for the right to […] More »
May-June 2011

This45: Gordon Laird on Buddhist teacher Doug Duncan

Gordon LairdWebsite

It’s easy to despair of politics in the 21st century. We seem cursed with high recurrence: on issues like climate change, poverty, and democracy, we experience the same problems, the same arguments, and the same incomplete fixes. Why is it so hard to make change stick? “You cannot have outer revolution without inner revolution,” explains […] More »

Postcard from London: Students fight school fees—and the police

jesse mintz

Almost five months to the day and I’m just now realizing that I didn’t learn my lesson from the G20. Sure, I found out first had the power and importance of community organization and activism; and I was forced to come to terms with the tragic ease with which our government could abuse our fundamental […] More »

In Britain and Canada alike, university fees are too high—and getting higher

simon wallace

Last week thousands of British students descended on London’s Conservative Party headquarters to protest drastic increases in tuition fees. Despite protestations from Liberal-Democrat leader Nick Clegg, the changing fee structure will make education much more costly—potentially three times more costly—for all students. Proponents of the fee hikes trotted out the usual lines about parental support, reasonable […] More »

The myth of Peak Masculinity

Graham F. Scott

Last spring, Dockers launched its stupefying ad campaign based around the core message of “Wear The Pants.” (In a move that nicely reinforced the tone-deaf idiocy of the campaign, it premiered on International Women’s Day, March 8. Classy.) The whole series, which is still running in a slightly diluted form, rests on the premise that there […] More »