Hassam Munir | Executive Editor (Online)
Featured image: The Canada 150 @ York project is meant to provide diverse educational experience to students. | Amir Yazdanparast
The York community can look forward to joining the year-long celebration of Canadian heritage in 2017. York announced $400,000 in funding for 40 educational events centered around Canada’s 150th birthday.
In 2016, the Office of the President issued a call for proposals to York faculty and students, asking them to plan projects dealing with one of the four themes set by the federal government to focus on during Canada 150: the environment; diversity and inclusion; Indigenous people; and youth.
“We had an overwhelmingly positive response to our call for proposals,” said Rhonda Lenton, vice-president academic and provost, in a recent announcement.
“We sought innovative projects that would explore Canada’s past and look to its future. The selected projects will showcase York University and Canada 150 themes, while supporting the student learning experience.”
The finalized 40 events will be held throughout the year, and range from debates on key documents in Canadian history and French-language “Olympics” for high school students to a concert celebrating the Filipino-Canadian community as Canada’s fastest-growing community and a symposium on social justice issues faced by Indigenous youth.
In addition, many organizations within the York community are planning events other than the 40 funded by York administration.
The Centre for Human Rights will be holding a panel discussion on the situation of human rights in Canada on Inclusion Day, January 27. The event will feature discussions on the role of academia in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as well as the Syrian refugee crisis, both topics of current and broad interest to Canadians.
“We look forward to the celebration of Canada’s Sesquicentennial [in 2017] and encourage all members of the York community to participate in these funded events and the many others that will be mounted to mark this significant milestone in Canada’s history,” said Lenton.
Programs to celebrate Canada 150 are underway across the nation, including at other universities such as U of T and Ryerson. The Government of Canada plans to spend a total of $500 million on the planned celebrations.
Some Canadians are dissatisfied with the Canada 150 celebrations. The Parti Québécois have begun a year-long project called The Other 150, with the objective of sharing aspects of Québéc’s history that may be left behind in the official narrative.
Closer to home, the Aboriginal Students Association at York, or ASAY, recently shared on its Facebook page an advertisement to purchase a t-shirt with “Colonialism 150” written across it, referring to it as a “good investment.”
ASAY did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.
