By: Sophia Stavropoulos This past year at the annual United Nations Climate Change Convention (COP26) – where over 100 countries come together to discuss how to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss – Canada agreed to the Glasgow Climate Pactwhich aimed to push global efforts to address climate change to new levels. Despite this ‘achievement’ many critique…
Category: Human Rights
A Resource Gap: Why First Nations Need Access and Authority Over Water
By: Sophia Stavropolous Indigenous communities in Canada have long faced a lack of access to safe drinking water. Since 2015, the Liberal federal government has invested $5.2 billion towards clean water and eliminated 119 long-term drinking water advisoriesin First Nations communities, yet many continue to have boil water advisories in place. To properly address this issue, it is imperative that…
Build the Wall: Border and Migration
by Steven Giallelis Regardless of political opinion, a rising notion has persisted in the minds of many. Among our American neighbours to the South, assertions of “building a wall” continue to spark heated debates around dinner tables and international political debates alike. History of Border Walls and their Revival in the Modern Day: The use…
Restoring the Tree of Life: Facing Hate through Policy
by Myra Lisselle Wein From sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night, Jews commemorate the Sabbath, a day of rest. Yet on the morning of Saturday October 27th, that day of rest was shattered by a massacre in a Pittsburgh congregation; a devastating reminder of the hard truth that anti-Semitism is alive and well. Among…
Racist Algorithms Exist: How Data and AI can Target Communities of Colour
by Mirusha Yogarajah A few months ago, Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional testimony sparked widespread conversation around Facebook, technology, and privacy. It is now clear that Facebook was the enabler of significant privacy breaches aimed at swaying voters in the 2016 American election. Cambridge Analytica could arguably be responsible for the election of Donald Trump. In light…
SPPG Goes to Harvard: An Inaugural Student-Driven Collaboration at the 14th Annual Black Policy Conference
By Anna-Kay Russell and Terhas Ghebretecle It all started with a Google search. After noting the lack of representation and discussions of policy issues affecting Black Canadians in the program at the School of Public Policy and Governance, second-year MPP students Anna-Kay Russell and Terhas Ghebretecle decided to take matters into their own hands. With…