CURRENT CERIS AFFILIATES
Affiliate Bios
Affiliates names starting from E to L
(This page shows current CERIS affiliates as of February 29, page updated quarterly each year.)
John Eyles
McMaster University
Tony Fang
York University
Research Domain(s):
1. Economic and Labour Market Integration
2. Education
3. Justice and Law
Bio:
Professor Tony Fang is has a Ph.D. in Industrial Relations and Human
Resource Management from the University of Toronto, a M.A. in Economics at
Memorial University of Newfoundland, and a B.A. in Economics from Shandong
University. He has worked and consulted in the areas of human resources
management, industrial relations, labour market and social policy. He served
as a research economist at Human Resource Development Canada and later as a
business and labour market analyst at Statistics Canada. Prior to joining
York University in 2006, he has taught courses in human resources and
industrial relations in the School of Business at the University of Northern
British Columbia in Prince George, both at undergraduate and MBA levels.
His areas of research interest encompass compensation and benefits, public and HR policy, high performance workplace practices, union impact on wages, innovation and firm growth, pay equity and employment equity. He has published in such journals as Industrial Relations (Berkeley), Canadian Journal of Economics, Journal of Labor Research, and Perspectives on Labour and Income.
In relation to immigration
and ethnicity issues, Tony is interested in topics such as economic
integration of immigrants, economics of discrimination, the role of
immigration, foreign language, and payment methods on ethnical wage
differentials, worker and firm determinants of immigrant and non-immigrant
wage differentials, the treatments of immigrants and immigration groups by
Canada’s legal institutions, with particular focus on the impact of human
rights and employment equity legislations on diverse population of Canada.
Diane Farmer
University of Toronto
Haile Fenta
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Marco Fiola
Ryerson University
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Health and Well-being
3. Justice, Policing and Security
Research Interest:
1. Language and language barriers
2. Intercultural communication
3. Translation studies
Population(s):
1. First Nations
2. Francophone and Anglophone minorities in Canada
3. All linguistic minorities living in urban centres
Bio:
Marco A. Fiola completed a Ph.D. in Translation Studies and a post-graduate
diploma in Language and Translation Studies at the Universite de la Sorbonne
Nouvelle- Paris III, as well as a B.A. and an M.A. in Translation at the
Universite de Montreal. Dr. Fiola worked for a number of years as a
translator/interpreter, which explains his interest in language issues,
especially language barriers within the healthcare system. He is part of a
team conducting a research called "Health Care Interpreter Services:
Strengthening Access to Primary Health Care," funded by Health Canada. Hea
has published articles on community interpreting in various journals
including TTR and Canadian Studies.
Mary Foster
Ryerson University
Murielle Gagnon
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Family, Children and Youth
3. Economic and Labour Market Integration
Research Interest:
1. Poverty and families
2. Social citizenship
3. Restructuring welfare state
Population(s):
1. Racialized, visible minority low income families
2. Immigrant, refugee, and Canadian-born families
Kate Geddie
University of Toronto
Research Domain(s):
Economic and Labour Market Integration
Research Interest:
1. International student migration
2. Transnational social and economic networks
3. Immigrant labour market incorporation
Bio:
My current research revolves around issues related to creative and
knowledge-based urban economic development, migrants’ transnational social
and economic networks and their labour market incorporation, and the spaces
and policies of higher education reform. I am particularly interested in the
creation of new “knowledge spaces” and the internationalization of higher
education as well the relationship between cities and countries competing
for “talent” and international student migration.
Usha George
Ryerson University
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
Research Interest:
Settlement and integration of newcomers
Population(s):
1. South Asian
2. East Indian
Bio:
The focus of Dr. George's scholarship, teaching and creative professional
activity has been in the area of social work with diverse communities. Her
research focuses on three areas: social development; newcomer settlement and
integration; and diversity and organizational change. Since joining the
University of Toronto she has completed 39 peer-reviewed publications and
has generated over $8 million in research and related activities. Dr. George
was instrumental in developing the Anti-racism, Multiculturalism and Native
Issues (AMNI) Initiative at the Faculty of Social Work at U of T, which is a
comprehensive approach to embracing diversity in the organizational
functioning of the faculty.
Wasim Ghani
Ryerson University and York University
Research Domain(s):
Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
Research Interest:
1. Immigrant identity
2. Transnationalism
3. Ethnic media
Population(s):
1. South Asian immigrants
2. Muslim immigrants
3. Children of immigrants ('second generation')
Bio:
I am a PhD candidate (ABD) in the Joint Graduate Programme in Communication
and Culture, Ryerson University and York University holding a master’s
degree in the same programme.
I am presently working on my PhD thesis on ‘the news media consumption pattern of immigrants of Pakistani origin in the Greater Toronto Area and the role of the consumption on their identity formation. The thesis will be partly based on the media consumption data on 270 Pakistani-Canadian households gathered by me during a telephonic survey completed last March.
Prior to launching the thesis research, I had explored the theme in a survey of key informers in the community. The survey was done for a directed research course for which I also prepared a report on the Urdu language media (for Pakistani-Canadians) produced in the GTA.
Most of my master’s and doctoral studies have concentrated on individual and group communication as well as the economic and policy underpinnings of the communication and information media. My M.A. thesis on the ‘success prospects of an international radio broadcasting service from Canada’ examined the operation of international broadcasting by Western countries as well as international audience research. The research for the thesis was partly based on my archival research carried out at the National Archives of Canada, Ottawa. The research was also used for the paper, The RCI Drama: Functional Dysfunction? presented at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Communication Association, Toronto, 29-31 May 2002.
My interest in international, transnational and ethnic media led me to study the settlement patterns of various ethnic groups in GTA in a course offered by the Immigration and Settlement programme at Ryerson University. For the course, I surveyed the physical and social landscape of St. James Town and its environs (Parliament Street extending up to Regent Park) in downtown Toronto using ArcView GIS software.
While private media ownership and concentration arguably results in the most noticeable bias in media representations, state controlled media too maintains the hegemony of dominant groups in society through projecting inclusion and exclusion signals. My study of the CBC history television programme, the National Dream underlined such signals. The study (Hegemonic Visions: Signals of Inclusion/Exclusion in the ‘National Dream’) was presented at the symposium,‘[Trans]National Identities: New Media and Global Cultural Flows’, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, Boston, May 26-27, 2004.
In Fall 2007, I will teach
the following two courses offered by the Raymond Chang School of Continuing
Education, Ryerson University: (i) CINT 913 Issues of Migration, (ii) CMN
443 International Business Communication. I also serve as an information
advisor at the Chang School and as a tutor at Ryerson’s Writing Centre. I
hold another M.A. degree in international relations from Pakistan where I
worked as a journalist and communication professional.
Sutama Ghosh
Housing and Neighbourhoods
Walter Giesbrecht
York University
Liette Gilbert
York University
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
3. Justice, Policing and Security
Research Interest:
1. Performative (urban) citizenships
2. Immigration, multiculturalism and media
3. Constructions of il/legality
Population(s):
1. Latinos
Most of my research is not ethno specific
Bio:
Dr. Liette Gilbert is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Environmental
Studies, York University, Toronto. She received both her doctoral and master
degrees in Urban Planning from University of California, Los Angeles. She
also holds a bachelor degree in landscape architecture from University of
Montreal. Her research focuses on the politics of immigration,
multiculturalism and citizenship in the particular contexts of media and
urban studies. She has published in International Journal of Urban and
Regional Research, City, Citizenship Studies, Space and Polity, Capitalism
Nature Socialism, among others.
Currently on sabbatical, she is a Guest Scholar at The Center for
Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California San Diego and
Visiting Scholar at Department of Urban Planning, University of California
Los Angeles where she is researching (an preparing a manuscript) on the
popular images and the politics of immigration and multiculturalism in North
America.
Bio:
Wenona Giles, an anthropologist, is Associate Director of CRS and Professor
in the School of Social Sciences at York University, where she teaches and
publishes in the areas of gender, migration, ethnicity, nationalism, and
war. Her articles and books include co-edited publications: Development and
Diaspora: Gender and the Refugee Experience (Artemis, 1996); a two-volume
issue of Refuge on Gender Relations and Refugee Issues (1995); Feminists
under Fire: Exchanges across War Zones (Between the Lines Press, Toronto
2003). Recently, with co-editor Jennifer Hyndman, she published Sites of
Violence: Gender and Conflict Zones (University of California Press, 2004).
She co-coordinated the International Women in Conflict Zones Research
Network. Her current research (with Hyndman) on protracted refugee
situations focuses on Somali refugees in Kenya and Afghan refugees in Iran.
Suzette Giles
Ryerson University
Research Domain(s):
Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
Michelle Goldberg
Ryerson University
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Economic and Labour Market Integration
Bio:
Michelle P. Goldberg, Ph.D. completed her doctoral studies at the Ontario
Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT).
Her research utilizes Critical Policy Discourse Analysis as a new lens for
examining how policy discourses interact in a complex web to influence
social reality. Specifically, she examines the interaction of ideology and
discourse on policy and the unintended impacts on immigrant professionals.
She has also worked for 10 years in the Ontario Government researching
access to professions and trades for internationally-educated professionals.
She is currently teaching at Ryerson University.
Research Domain(s):
Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
Sepali Guruge
Ryerson University
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Health and Well-being
3. Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
Research Interest:
1. Women's health
2. Violence against women and children
3. Immigration and settlement
Bio:
Sepali Guruge is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at Ryerson
University. Her doctoral dissertation (supported by a CIHR doctoral
fellowship) in Nursing at the University of Toronto focused on the influence
of gender, racial, social, and economic inequalities on the production of
and responses to intimate partner violence in the post-migration context.
Her post-doctoral work (supported by a CIHR NET grant in the School of
Nursing; PI: M. Ford-Gilboe), focused on the health effects of intimate
partner violence. Dr. Guruge is a presently PI, Co-PI, or Co-I on a number
of funded research projects in Canada, Sri Lanka, and Hawaii. She has
published a number of articles and book chapters, and presented at many
conferences nationally and internationally.
Hayley Hamilton
University of Toronto
Research Domain(s):
Health and Well-being
Bio:
Hayley Hamilton is a sociologist and research scientist within the Culture,
Community, and Health Studies Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental
Health (CAMH). Her main area of interest is the sociology of mental health
with special focus on health disparities among immigrants and their
children, and the influence of family dynamics on the health of children and
youth. Her current work includes an examination of pathways to service use
among immigrant families.
Rachel Hammer
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
3. Economic and Labour Market Integration
Research Interest:
Muliculturalism/Cultural Studies
Bio:
I am currently an undergraduate at San Diego State University in San Diego,
California, USA. In December, I will be graduating with a B.A. in Sociology
and a B.A. in Communication, carrying a 3.6 grade point average. Within the
field of Sociology, my specialization is "Community Structure and
Institutions" and I have taken a varied selection of courses such as
"Sociology of Work," "Sociology of Education," "Nations and Nationalism," "
Additionally, in the Communication department I have taken "Intercultural
Communication," "Advanced Intercultural Theory," and "Interaction and
Gender." I am currently enrolled on "Qualitative Research Methods" and a
graduate level “Social Psychology” course. I have spent much of my time on
campus working with students living on campus and involved in various
activities and honor societies. I have a great interest in learning about
both the daily lives of people and the social factors that affect their
lives. My study of sociology has broadened my horizons and spurred my
interests in immigration, multicultural studies, ethnicity and identity, and
inequality.
Eve Haque
York University
Research Domain(s):
1. Education
2. Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
3. Justice, Policing and Security
Bio:
As a Fulbright scholar, I wish to study immigration into Canada,
specifically the Toronto area, and the social service agencies that
facilitate the adaptation of newcomers. I plan to do a qualitative study on
the experiences of immigrants who are supported by these organizations.
Khalis M. Hassan
York University
Research Domain(s):
1. Welcoming Communities: Building Capacity in Regions, Cities, and
Neighbourhoods
2. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
Research Interest:
1. Refugees and asylum seekers
2. Diasporas and ethnicity
3. Urban planning
Population(s):
1. Ethno-racial
2. Ethno-cultural
3. Linguistic
Bio:
Areas of academic interest:
- Urban and Regional
- Urban Environmental Planning
- Planning in Developing Countries
- Diaspora Studies
- Immigration and Refugee Studies
- Ethno-racial studies
Abdulhamid Hathiyani
OISE, University of Toronto
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Economic and Labour Market Integration
3. Health and Well-Being
Research Interest:
1. Labour market integration
2. Citizenship rights for fundamental practices
3. Immigrant health related to food practices / diet
Population(s):
1. Immigrants
2. Varied religious backgrounds
3. Varied ethno racial, ethno cultural backgrounds
Monica Heller
University of Toronto
Research Domain(s):
Education
Research Interest:
1. Immigration in minority francophone communities
2. Globalization and the new economy
Population(s):
Francophone Canada
Jenna Hennebry
Wilfrid Laurier University
Research Domain(s):
1. Mexican
2. Muslim/Arab
3. Caribbean
Bio:
Dr. Jenna L. Hennebry has an academic background in sociology and
demography, specializing in the political economy of international labour
migration. She has work experience in academic, public policy, and applied
research domains, utilising both qualitative and quantitative methodological
approaches. Research interests include comparative studies of
Mexican-Canadian and Moroccan-Spain labour migration policies and practices,
the formation of migration industries around temporary migration flows,
migration policy and foreign worker programs, transnational practices among
labour migrants and their families, migrant worker health and human rights,
ICTs & development among migrant sending and receiving communities. Recent
research includes extensive qualitative fieldwork and interviewing with
Mexican seasonal migrants and their families, and comparative studies of
Morocco-Spain labour migration.
Victor Hetmanczuk
Ukrainian Canadian Social Services (Toronto) Inc.
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Welcoming Communities: Building Capacity in Regions, Cities, and
Neighbourhoods
Population(s):
1. Ukrainian Canadian seniors
2. 4th wave immigrants
Bio:
Mission of UCSS: To be a non-profit centre that provides social and
emotional support for members of the Ukrainian Canadian community in need by
developing and providing a broad range of services with an emphasis on
mutual assistance for the benefit of clients and the community at large.
Rich Janzen
Centre for Research and Education in Human Services
Research Domain(s):
1. Economic and Labour Market Integration
2. Welcoming Communities: Building Capacity in Regions, Cities, and
Neighbourhoods
3. Health and Well-Being
Research Interest:
1. Facilitating immigrant labour market integration
2. Immigrant youth and parenting
3. Cultural diversity and mental health
Population(s):
1. Primarily multicultural focus
2. Somali
3. Sikh Punjabi
Bio:
Rich Janzen is Research Director at the Centre for Research and Education in
Human Services (soon to be re-named: Centre for Community Based Research) in
Kitchener, Ontario. He has been involved in over 50 applied research
projects that used a participatory action research (PAR) approach. For Rich,
research is a tool for social change – to find new ways of bringing people
who are on the edge of society to live within community as full and equal
members. Much of his research has focused on issues of immigrant settlement,
immigrant employment, community mental health, and family support. Rich has
an academic background in Community Psychology (MA) and, as part-time
faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University (Waterloo, Ontario), has taught
community-based research methods to graduate social work students.
Tahira Jibeen
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Health and Well-being
3. Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
Research Interest:
1. Psychological well being of immigrants in Toronto
2. Risk factors and personality profile of runaways
3. Domestic abuse
Population(s):
1. Pakistani immigrants in Toronto
2. Females
Harpreet Kaur
Guru Nanak Dev University
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Welcoming Communities: Building Capacity in Regions, Cities, and
Neighbourhoods
3. Family, Children and Youth
Research Interest:
1. Politics of Sikh Diaspora Nationalism in N.A.
2. Diaspora within a multicultural context
3. Diaspora issues in general
Population(s):
1. Sikhs
2. Other parts of Indian Diaspora
3. Chinese
Philip Kelly
York University
Research Domain(s):
Economic and Labour Market Integration
Robert Kenedy
York University
Research Domain(s):
Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
Research Interest:
1. Diasporas and resettlement
2. Civic identity and participation among ethnic groups
3. Ethnic identity formation
Population(s):
1. Jews
2. Luso Canadians
Bio:
Robert A. Kenedy (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of
Sociology, York University, in Toronto, Canada. Since 1984, Dr Kenedy has
been researching collective identity and identity related issues with much
of his work focusing on collective identity formation, social movements, and
the multiple identities present within different ethnic communities in
Canada. His research focuses on Jewish identity, Diasporas, as well as the
divergent processes of identity within a Canadian multicultural context.
Currently, he is investigating the contemporary Diaspora of French Jews from
France to North America, and how Jewish identity influences their migration
and settlement processes. Professor Kenedy has also completed extensive
research on the Luso-Canadian community and is currently researching civic
identity and civic participation among Portuguese Canadian youth. Permission
to post all information.
Gillian Kerr
Real World Systems Inc.
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Economic and Labour Market Integration
3. Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
Research Interest:
1. Policy analysis
2. Evaluation
3. Performance measurement
Population(s):
1. Gatari and gulf arab countries
2. Immigrants to Canada
Bio:
Dr. Kerr is an industrial/organizational psychologist with extensive
experience in leading evidence-based and consultative policy development in
multi-stakeholder environments, improving management and decision-making
processes, and evaluating program effectiveness. Over the past twenty years
Dr. Kerr has worked with dozens of organizations in the public, private and
nonprofit sectors. Clients include the governments of Canada and Ontario,
the Canadian Institute of Advanced Research, many United Ways and
foundations in the United States and Canada, Microsoft, Yahoo, and
Levi-Strauss. She has a Supply Arrangement with the Government of Canada’s
Government OnLine initiative in the area of Business Process and Content,
and is a Vendor of Record in Business and Management Consulting Services for
the Government of Ontario. Dr Kerr’s primary interests lie in the area of
how information drives behavior in organizations, and in particular how to
develop policy that is actually implemented and research that is actually
used. Other interests include the elements of successful project management
in government and research settings, and distance collaboration.
Nazilla Khanlou
University of Toronto
Research Domain(s):
Health and Well-being
Ann Kim
York University
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Welcoming Communities: Building Capacity in Regions, Cities, and
Neighbourhoods
3. Economic and Labour Market Integration
Research Interest:
1. Immigrant and ethnic integration
2. Migration systems
3. Urban spatial demography
Population(s):
1. All groups
2. Asians
3. Koreans
Bio:
My research interests are in the areas of migration and immigration, ethnic
integration, urban diversity and inequality, and social and spatial
demography. I study the integration processes of immigrants and ethnic
groups in different host society contexts and the factors that contribute to
different paths of integration. Related to this, my work examines ethnic
integration in the context of a racially stratified social structure and the
issue of diversity within panethnic/racial labels and implications for these
boundaries, particularly for Asians in North America. In situating these
topics in a broader immigration context, I also find important the
macro-level processes (i.e. social, economic and political linkages)
associated with international migration flows and immigration policies, and
their implications for ethnic integration and population distribution.
Ric Knowles
University of Guelph
Research Domain(s):
Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
Research Interest:
1. "Performing Intercultural Toronto"
2. First Nations Theatre in Canada
3. Intercultural/Intracultural Theatre in Canada
Population(s):
1. First Nations
2. African Canadian
3. Asian Canadian
Brett Kubicek
Public Safety Canada
Sandeep Kumar Agrawal
Ryerson University
Research Domain(s):
1. Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
2. Housing and Neighbourhoods
Bio:
Sandeep Kumar, an architect-planner, joined the School of Planning I the
Fall of 1999. Prior to coming to Ryerson, he worked as a Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) Analyst and a planner with Parsons Harland,
Bartholomew and Associates. Dr. Kumar has a variety of planing experiences
in fedral, county, and municipal governments in the US. He has also
practiced planning and architecture in Canada and in India. His teaching and
research interests are in urban design, physical planning, planning
information systems and immigration and settlement studies. At Ryerson, he
teaches planning studios, computer-based methods in planning and urban
design electives at the undergraduate level. He also teaches and supervises
students in the graduate programs in Immigration and Settlement studies and
Spatial Analysis. He has been recently honoured with the GREET teaching
award for his excellence in teaching in the whole Faculty of Community
Services, which has 10 schools including the School of Urban and Regional
Planning, and close to 100 faculty members. He has published his research
works in peer-reviewed journals such as International Journal of Systems
Science; the Canadian Hournal of Urban Research; Urban Design International;
Planning Practie and Research; and Environment and Planning B. Dr. Kumar's
research focuses on exploring physical and social characteristics of ethnic
enclaves in Greater Toronto Area (GTA), developing a research method to
analyze planning and urban design discourses, and examining how
ethno-cultural diversity affects the use, function, and meaning of the built
environment.
Martha Kuwee Kumsa
Wilfrid Laurier University
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Health and Well-being
3. Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
Research Interest:
1. Refugee youth
2. Issues of identity and belonging
3. Refugee healing practices
Population(s):
1. Oromo refugee youth
2. Refugee and immigrant youth
3. Refugee and immigrant women
Bio:
My name is Martha Kuwee Kumsa. I teach at the Faculty of Social Work,
Wilfrid Laurier University. My research interests include issues of identity
and belonging, community healing practices, spirituality, reflexive and
transformative learning, settlement and integration of refugee and immigrant
youth, issues of home and homeland, transnationality and globalization.
Min-Jung Kwak
University of British Columbia
Research Domain(s):
1. Family, Children and Youth
2. Economic and Labour Market Integration
3. Welcoming Communities: Building Capacity in Regions, Cities, and
Neighbourhoods
Research Interest:
1. Ethnic economies
2. Political economy of migration and education
3. Transnationalism
Population(s):
1. Korean
2. Chinese
Moh Madi Laghaout
Research Domain(s):
1. Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
2. Housing and Neighbourhoods
Bio:
After having taught Geography, as a university professor, and practiced
Urban Planning for nearly 30 years (in Morocco), M. Laghaout is presently
devoting his time to free research. He’s particularly interested in studying
the issues facing immigrants in large urban areas, namely in terms of
housing and cultural change. He proposes to carry out a comparative study
between the Metropolitan Toronto and Montreal. M. Laghaout has settled in
Canada since January 2000.
Patricia Landolt
University of Toronto
Research Domain(s):
1. Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
2. Economic and Labour Market Integration
Lucille Leblanc
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Rose Lee
Strategic and Corporate Policy/Healthy City Office
Ruth Lee
Hamilton Health Sciences
Research Domain(s):
Health and Well-being
Research Interest:
1. Cultural competency of health care professionals
2. Explanatory model of illness/Cultural health belie
3. Population health
Population(s):
Chinese
Bio:
Ruth Lee is Chief of Nursing Practice, McMaster University Medical Centre,
Hamilton Health Sciences. She is Assistant Clinical Professor at the School
of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University. Prior to her
current position, Ruth was Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Nursing,
University of Toronto where she taught a graduate course entitled
“Transcultural Health Care Issues” for ten years. She was also the Faculty
representative to the Ethnic and Pluralism Studies Collaborative Graduate
Program at the University of Toronto. Ruth obtained her Ph.D from the
Institute of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto;
MScN and BScN from the Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto and a
diploma in nursing from Seneca College. Currently, Ruth is the Chair of the
Nursing Research Committee and the Co-chair of Professional Affair Research
Committee at Hamilton Health Sciences. Her research interest evolved from
her clinical, education, and administrative experience, and has been focused
on culturally competent clinical practice, diversity issues in health care,
and patient safety. She is committed to evidence based practice and
supporting nurses in research utilization in their practice.
Maryse Lemoine
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
Research Interest:
1. Spatial dispersion of minority groups
2. Housing trajectory
Population(s):
Francophone
minorities in Ontario
Iara Lessa
Ryerson University
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
Research Interest:
1. Social Policy
2. Community
3. Food Security
Population(s):
1. Women
2. Brazilians
3. Immigrants in Toronto
Bio:
Iara Lessa is an associate professor at Ryerson University School of Social
Work. Her research interests are broadly focused on social policy, food
security and methodology. In the past, her research activities have explored
the effects of contemporary Canadian policy on the lives and situations of
certain groups such as immigrants and single mothers. She is currently
participating in the development of various activities and tools to increase
gender equity in Brazil’s programs addressing Occupational Health and Safety
and Food Security.
Ho Hon Leung
State University of New York at Oneonta
Research Domain(s):
Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
Cynthia Levine-Rasky
Queen's University
Research Domain(s):
Education
Research Interest:
1. Parents’ school choice
2. Whiteness and intersectionality
3. Jewish ethnic identity
Population(s):
1. White, middle-class
2. Jews
3. Immigrants
Bio:
Cynthia Levine-Rasky is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology,
Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She is editor of Working through
Whiteness: International Perspectives (SUNY Press, 2002) and author of
articles published in Race, Ethnicity, and Education, British Journal of
Sociology of Education, and International Studies in Sociology of Education.
Her research interests include whiteness especially as it intersects with
middle-class formation in the subtle exercise of power. She continues work
on school choice and forms of inclusion/exclusion in large and small urban
centres in Canada. General Research Interests: Sociology of education:
inequality, educational reforms. Canadian social problems: inequality,
multiculturalism, education policy. Race and ethnic relations: white
racialization, intersectionality. Research methods: qualitative methods,
critical ethnography. Summary of Current Research Interests: My current and
proposed research concerns the intersections of gender, race/ethnicity, and
class among parents involved in choosing schools for their children. This is
related to the rise in studies of power as expressed through masculinity,
whiteness, and the middle-class rather than the usual sites of oppression
and marginality (women, racialized groups, the working-class). I’m
interested in what makes some parents “choose” a school, how their decisions
are affected by changes in the student population, and how in turn their
decisions effect the reproduction of social inequalities. Related issues
concern the social and political context in which schooling is regarded as a
commodity of which the parent/consumer must choose the “best” for their
child.
Paul Lewkowicz
Queen's University
Research Domain(s):
1. Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration
2. Welcoming Communities: Building Capacity in Regions, Cities, and
Neighbourhoods
3. Economic and Labour Market Integration
Research Interest:
1. Skilled immigrant labour market integration Toronto
2. Demographics of Canadian cities
3. Infrastructure and quality of life in Canadian cities
Population(s):
1. Immigrants (foreign-born pop) in Canadian cities
2. Visible minorities
3. Religious minorities
Wei Li
Arizona State University
Research Domain(s):
1. Health and Well-being
2. Economic and Labour Market Integration
3. Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
Research Interest:
1. Financial integration of immigrants
2. Suburbanizations of immigrants
3. Highly skilled immigrants
Population(s):
1. Chinese
2. Asian
3. Latino/Hispanic
Bio:
Wei Li received her Ph.D. in geography at the University of Southern
California in 1997, and currently an Associate Professor at the Asian
Pacific American Studies Program in the Arizona State University, and
affiliated with School of Geographical Sciences, School of Justice and
Social Inquiry, Center for Asian Studies, Center for Population Dynamics,
North American Center for Transborder Studies, and Women’s and Gender
Studies. Her foci of research are urban ethnicity and ethnic geography,
immigration and integration, financial sector and minority community
development, focusing on the Chinese and other Asian groups in the Pacific
Rim and Europe. She coined the term “ethnoburb” to describe a new form of
contemporary suburban Asian settlements, and continues her empirical studies
in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, Metropolitan Phoenix, and
Vancouver, Canada. She is currently working on studying the roles of bank
institutions in facilitating Asian community and business development. Her
research has been funded by NSF and the Government of Canada, including
projects analyzing financial institutions and immigrant community
development in Canada and the United States, and studying the impacts of
Katrina on African American and Vietnamese American communities in New
Orleans East. She is the editor of “From Urban Enclave to Ethnic Suburb: New
Asian Communities in Pacific Rim Countries” (2006) and co-editor of
“Landscape of Ethnic Economy” (2006). She also has a forthcoming book on the
suburban Chinese communities in Los Angeles. Her scholarly articles have
appeared in journals such as Annals of Association of American Geographers;
Environment and Planning A; Geographic Review; Urban Studies; Urban
Geography; Social Science Research, and Journal of Asian American Studies.
Media reports on her work on minority banks and community development, the
study of ethnoburb, and the ethnoburb phenomenon itself have appeared on
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, San
Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, and Washington Post, and
National Public Radio. She is a reviewer for National Science Foundation,
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and
journals such as Annals of the Association of American Geographers; The
Canadian Geographer / Le Geographe Canadien; Economic Geography; Political
Geography; Professional Geographers; Urban Geography; and Urban Studies. She
is the recipient of the 1999 Nystrom Dissertation Award by the Association
of American Geographers; a member of Phi Kappa Phi All University Honor
Society (initiated in 1997). She serves as the Fulbright Visiting Chair in
Ethnicity and Multicultural Citizenship in Queen’s University, Canada
(2006-2007). She is elected as a member of Association of American
Geographers’ (AAG) Honors Committee B (2006-2008), and appointed as a member
of AAG’s Affirmative and Minority Status Standing Committee (2004-2007) and
International Research and Scholarly Exchange Committee (2005-2008). She has
served as a board member of Ethnic Geography Special Group (EGSG) in the AAG
since 1996 (currently as EGSG’s Chair), a board member for the Population
Specialty Group since 2004. She is re-appointed for a second term as a
member of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Race and Ethnic Advisory Committees (REAC;
Asian Population) by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and was elected as its
vice chair in 2004; and appointed as the spokesperson for REAC’s language
working group, and co-spokesperson for content working group.
Sirena Liladrie
Ryerson University
Research Domain(s):
1. Health and Well-Being
2. Economic and Labour Market Integration
Research Interest:
1. Spaces of employment connected to immigrant health
2. Healthy immigrant effect
3. Health promotion
Population(s):
1. Women of colour
2.Caribbean
Bio:
My name is Sirena Liladrie. I am a Masters student at Ryerson University in
the Immigration and Settlement Studies Program. My research interests
surround the political economy of a phenomenon known as the ‘healthy
immigrant effect’. It is an observed time path showing that the initial
health of immigrants is significantly better than that of the native-born
population but continually depletes with time lived in a new country. There
are multiple explanations such as acculturation stress and barriers to
accessing health care. However, I am currently exploring the extent in which
the spaces in which immigrant women work act as a determinant to poor
health.
Simon Liston
Community & Neighbourhood Services, Toronto
Research Domain(s):
Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
Lucia Lo
York University
Research Domain(s):
1. Economic and Labour Market Integration
2. Community, Neighbourhoods and Housing
Research Interest:
1. Ethnic economy
2. Immigrant economic status and integration
3. Settlement patterns and settlement services
Population(s):
Chinese
Lillie Lum
York University
Research Domain(s):
Economic and Labour Market Integration
