Search

In recent years, youth across the planet have begun to mobilise, motivated by the perceived injustices associated with the causes, consequences and politics of climate change. However, education systems lag behind, preoccupied with the "what" and "how" of climate change, rather than engaging it as a social issue in which students themselves are implicated. In this paper, we share the results of our participatory research exploration into youth and climate change through an international education project, in which 99 students from 13 countries joined virtually in a climate change learning experience, culminating in the collaborative development and presentation of a White Paper to the 2018 IPCC Cities and Climate Change Conference. Grounded in a critical global citizenship education framework, this project provides a site to explore climate change education from the perspectives of diverse youth, who inform possibilities for climate change education that addresses justice, individualisation and emotionality.

The Youth Strike for Climate raised important global attention to interconnected climate, energy and environmental issues -- it also compelled us to consider what we will do to address these pressing challenges. Developed through consideration of such dynamics, we propose critical energy literacy as an emerging theory that denotes understanding of the social, environmental, political and economic challenges, benefits and impacts of various energy sources, developments and technologies. Critical energy literacy is grounded in critical and decolonising approaches to STEM education; considerations for collaborative multi-, inter- and Trans disciplinary pedagogy; critical place-based inquiry and pedagogy; critical gender perspectives and critical media literacy and engagement. Enhancing societal critical energy literacy will assist with more equitable energy, transit, construction and environmental planning by and for communities, businesses and governments. In this theory-building commentary, we share insights related to and principles for our emerging theory of critical energy literacy which coalesced through personal experience with and previous studies into related initiatives and areas of inquiry, and recent reviews of literature as well as K-12, post-secondary and not-for-profit curricula in Canada with consideration for international contexts. A discussion of renewable energy development and education focused on the Canadian province of Alberta is presented as an illuminating exemplar.

On October 16, 2017, over 12,000 faculty, librarians, and counsellors in 24 independent postsecondary colleges in Ontario, Canada went on strike for the fourth time since they organized in 1971 as members of the Civil Service Association of Ontario and won their first collective agreement the next year. Begun as an apolitical, self-consciously quasi-colonial, and decidedly elitist "professional" body in 1911, the CSAO has transformed itself in name and in nature into an increasingly class-conscious and intermittently militant Ontario Public Service Employees Union with current membership of approximately 180,000 including: clerical staff; community and social service workers; corrections officers; healthcare, transportation, and natural resource workers; as well as college academic and support staff employees. Relations with their employers have become increasingly adversarial and rarely greater than in the college sector. This paper explores this strike.

Using Canadian data from 1976 to 2014, I study the size distribution of strikes with three alternative measures of strike size: the number of workers on strike, strike duration in calendar days, and the number of person calendar days lost to a strike. I use a maximum likelihood framework that provides a way to estimate distributions, evaluate model fit, and also test against alternative distributions. I consider a few theories that can create power law distributions in strike size, such as the joint costs model that posits strike size is inversely proportional to dispute costs. I find that the power law distribution fits the data for the number of lost person calendar days relatively well and is also more appropriate than the lognormal distribution. I also discuss the implications of my findings from a methodological, research, and policy perspective.

This paper considers the history of Québec's higher education system and the reforms that have contributed to the role of education in the province. Québec's education system has repeatedly been a site for social and political transformation; most recently, reevaluation of education's role in the province has revealed a tension between ideologically opposed conceptions of higher education as a private good or as a public service. The continuing debate about education has been especially fierce in Québec and raises questions of access, funding, quality, and educational philosophies applicable to contemporary education systems throughout Canada and across the globe.

Surveyed 121 Canadian social workers on their attitudes toward strikes. Results showed subjects had little experience with strikes although 80 percent had no objection in principle to striking. Quality of service was a more important strike issue than traditional union concerns such as wages or job security. (Author/JAC)

As awareness of the situation of adjunct and contract faculty on campuses in Canada and the USA has grown over the last 20-plus years, so have struggles for better pay and working conditions. While the growing literature about the predicament of the precarious professoriate rightly condemns their exploitation and calls for solidarity on the part of regular faculty, there are far fewer accounts dedicated to discussing the campaign strategies and tactics employed to improve their situation on campus. Yet, contract faculty face obstacles that can make engaging in workplace organizing and campaigns difficult. This article shares an analysis of the communication tactics employed on contract-faculty campaigns at one university to draw out some effective campaign communications that can overcome obstacles and some that did not. Ultimately, activist scholars need to provide accounts of those campaigns that they have been actively involved in to share their lessons with others so that in future activists on each campus need not re-invent the wheel each time they organize to improve their working conditions and students' learning conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Law & Society/Revue Canadienne Droit et Societe (Cambridge University Press) is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this article, I argue that graduate employees took on the political identity of precarious workers who face job insecurity and income insecurity, drawing attention to the casualization of work in the academic labor market in Canada, and the cost of undertaking graduate studies in Canadian universities. Their argument appealed to media, faculty, undergraduate students, and supportive media, which was key to building solidarity and public support for graduate employees’ struggle. Building on social movement unionism literature, I show how this identity moved the debate away from the bargaining table and into broader coalition building, suggesting a broader social movement unionism among academic workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Academic Librarianship: A Crisis or an Opportunity?" was a one day symposium held at the University of Toronto on November 18, 2011. The symposium provided a forum for stakeholders to consider recent troubling events and developments in the academic library community. The hiring of postdoctoral fellows at McMaster University to replace librarians, the strike by professional librarians at University of Western Ontario in 2011 and threats to the academic freedom of librarians at McGill University have all served as bellwethers and have been rich topics for debate of late. The symposium was intended to provide an opportunity to bring more coherence to the discourse and to consider further initiatives, increased activism, and to begin a process for providing greater leadership around issues relating to academic librarians and academic librarianship. The day was organized around a series of panels. A number of key stakeholders spoke to specific themes: 1) the role of national and provincial labour organizations and local faculty associations; 2) trends and challenges in education and curriculum at library schools; 3) the role of library associations and professional accreditation; and 4) librarians on the front lines. The symposium emerged with a clear call to action: that it is time to become more pro-active in a collective manner, and to use the tremendous interest generated by this event as an opportunity to seek solutions to the challenges facing academic librarianship in Canada. There was overwhelming support for the creation of a virtual forum to continue the discourse and to bring in those who are interested and willing to become engaged but who were unable to participate in the symposium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Tax Journal / Revue Fiscale Canadienne is the property of Canadian Tax Foundation and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Recent research on the policing of labour disputes suggests that there have been substantial historical changes in policing practices and policies in North America and Europe. Much of the literature points to a postwar movement from reactive policing grounded in the threat and use of force to a more preventive consent-based approach which relies on communication, negotiation and self-policing. At the same time, there have been conflicting reports of increased use of police force and confrontation with labour in some countries such as Britain, while police actions in a number of recent anti-globalization protests in Canada, the United States and Europe have demonstrated readiness of the police to use substantial force in certain public disorder situations. These developments speak to the need to examine more fully the ways in which the police construct their role and the role of labour unions in labour strikes and public protests. Based on interviews with police in 38 different cities and 10 provincial jurisdictions across Canada, this article looks at the ways in which the police understand and implement policies in strike and protest situations. It is argued that the police in most services have constructed a minimalist role for themselves in "normal" strike and protest situations which is grounded in processes of responsibilization, flexible policing and privatization. As they understand most situations, the "best way" to maintain order is to limit the show and use of force, while relying on negotiation and persuasion to resolve conflicts, and civil court or labour board proceedings and the threat of court imposed fines. At the same time, in contexts where the police perceive a clear threat to public interest or safety, in particular when unions or more typically other radical groups refuse to play by the rules of the game, police thinking shifts markedly to the view that extraordinary force is necessary and justified both to prevent and control public disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]