{"id":24404,"date":"2019-08-08T08:51:10","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T12:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=24404"},"modified":"2019-08-15T19:56:43","modified_gmt":"2019-08-15T23:56:43","slug":"york-university-partners-with-library-on-scholars-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/york-university-partners-with-library-on-scholars-hub\/","title":{"rendered":"York University partners with Library on Scholars\u2019 Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora\u2019s post-secondary presence is set to get a boost\nthis fall in a new partnership between York University and the Aurora Public\nLibrary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, September 23, York University and the Aurora\nPublic Library (APL) will launch The York University Scholars\u2019 Hub, a new pilot\nproject bringing together York University professors with locally based alumni\nand members of the public alike for engaging discussion on current issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The series will launch with Guests and Hosts Discuss Responsibilities\nto Wampums, Treaties and Relationships with Indigenous Researcher and Professor\nDr. Ruth Koleszar-Green. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe relationships between the colonial governments and\nIndigenous Peoples has been and continues to be fraught with misunderstandings\nand problematic legislation,\u201d says the partnership. \u201cThese mechanisms of\ncolonial control have caused both political and personal struggle for both\nhosts (Indigenous Nations and people) and Guests (those that have entered into\nrelation since 1534). In moving forward, we need to look holistically at where\nwe have been and reimagine relationships based on peace, friendship and mutual\nrespect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The partnership between York University and APL came out\nof ongoing dialogue between Mayor Tom Mrakas and APL CEO Bruce Gorman with\ndifferent post-secondary partners, according to Reccia Mandelcorn, Manager of\nCommunity Collaboration with APL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Mandelcorn says York University was looking for ways\nof engaging the community and expressed interest in using the Library\u2019s living\nroom space for a pilot project such as this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe decided we would try this as a pilot, then the next\nquestion was, who would we be bringing in to speak,\u201d says Ms. Mandelcorn. \u201cYork\nwas really gracious and sent a whole list of subject areas, along with the\nprofessors who taught them. Not everyone, of course, would necessarily be\nwilling to come, but we got to look through the list and select someone \u2013 and\nhere we are, so excited!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is such an honour, really, to host a\nuniversity-level lecture here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Ms. Mandelcorn was presented with a list of\noptions, as soon as she skimmed the list, she said she knew the perfect\ncombination to get the ball rolling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have been really wanting to bring in some\nconversations on Indigenous studies because our community is asking for it,\u201d\nshe says. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be a checklist from Truth & Reconciliation, but an\nongoing conversation and education piece. When I saw Dr. Ruth Koleszar-Green,\nwho was speaking on that subject, teaching that subject, I was really excited;\nShe has won the York University Presidents\u2019 Award for excellence in teaching\nfor 2018, and the reviews of her speaking have huge acclaim. I said, \u2018I want\nthis professor and I am not giving you a second choice because she is the one\nthat I want.\u2019 Luckily we got her and we left the subject matter and the lecture\nof what she wanted to bring to the conversation. The actual topic was decided\nby Dr. Ruth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYork University left it to us and to Dr. Ruth to be able\nto decide what it would be and I think from the programming we have done in the\npast\u2026 people are really interested in our relationships, our historical\nrelationships, and our relationships with current legislation, how treaties are\ninterpreted, misunderstandings and going through in a positive way. When she\nsaid this is something she would like to speak on, my inclination is if\nsomebody has passion with what they would like to speak, this is where we go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe other thing I was very much interested in, is rather\nthan just being an academic, Dr. Ruth is actually an activist in her community,\nso she is an advisor to the office of the president on Indigenous initiatives\nat York and she does a lot of community activism. It is not just speaking and\nlecturing from a textbook, it is somebody who is actually in the community\ndoing work and I thought this would bring a new and exciting energy to her\ntalk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the inaugural discussion is still about a month and\na half away, Ms. Mandelcorn says she is hoping the conversation will not simply\nbe a look backwards at history and the problems that have taken place, but a\nforward-looking dialogue on problem-solving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were so many injustices that were done and\ncontinue to be done, from my perspective, that I think we need to come to an\nunderstanding and work towards a positive relationship. I think that is where\nshe is going to be coming from,\u201d she says. \u201cShe wants to talk about moving\nforward and re-imagining relationships based on peace, friendship and mutual\nrespect. I think that is the only way people can really rectify injustices of\nthe past: acknowledge what was there and then to look for solutions so it\ndoesn\u2019t happen again \u2013 and we look forward in a positive way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverybody wants to know how to make it better. We\nacknowledge the problems of the past, but so many people feel so ill-equipped.\nWhere do I fit in? Where do I fit in with Truth and Reconciliation? What can we\ndo? I think a conversation about re-imagining new relationships moving forward\ngives people maybe a positive spin and a personal power on being able to make\nthings better for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on Guests & Hosts Discuss\nResponsibilities to Wampums, Treaties and Relationships, visit\nalumniandfriends.yorku.ca\/apl-scholars-hub. The discussion will take place at\nthe Aurora Public Library on Monday, September 23, from 7 \u2013 8.30 p.m.<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora\u2019s post-secondary presence is set to get a boost this fall in a new partnership between York University and the Aurora Public Library. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2019-08-08-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6lC","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 12:19:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}