Scholars from a range of disciplines across the Faculty of Arts & Science are sharing their expertise on pressing issues in the media — from Canada’s appeal to highly skilled people around the world, to the impact of a changing climate on archaeological sites in the country’s north.
Here’s some of what A&S scholars had to say this week.
June 26, 2020
Professor Dan Breznitz of the Innovation Policy Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and the Department of Political Science, comments on Canada’s attraction to people from abroad in the Globe and Mail. “With the U.S. and the U.K. going crazy, sideways, whatever you want to call it, if you’re a highly skilled individual who doesn’t happen to be American or English, where are you going to go?” says Breznitz, adding that the answer to that question is Canada.
Dongzi Li, a PhD candidate at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics and the Department of Physics, describes her research team’s recent discovery of a repeating fast radio burst signal from another galaxy in The Atlantic (paywall).
Lynette Ong, a professor in the Department of Political Science and the Asian Institute at the Munk School, joins a discussion about Canada’s relationship with China on CTV’s Power Play.
June 27, 2020
Heidi White, a PhD student in the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, responds to a caller on the annual listener-question show on CBC Radio’s Quirks & Quarks (listen at 12:55). Asked about the effect the Milky Way Galaxy has on the solar system, White says that while our galaxy doesn’t have a huge effect on the motion of the planets in our solar system or life on Earth on a daily basis, the gravitational influence acts on a much longer timescale and its impact is primarily on how our sun moves along its orbit around the galactic centre.
June 28, 2020
Erick Laming, a PhD candidate at the Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies, comments on oversight of First Nations police forces in the Toronto Star. “A lot of times, Indigenous people don’t want to come forward because they don’t want the attention, they are afraid (they’ll be) targeted even further and, sadly, they just take it,” Laming says.
June 29, 2020
Department of Economics professor Michael Smart comments in Maclean’s magazine on Alberta premier Jason Kenney’s new economic recovery plan, which offers immediate tax cuts to large corporations. “The decision to do it right away is giving a gift to firms that have already made investments and are earning profits on those investments,” says Smart. “The common practice is to avoid that giveaway or windfall gain to existing companies by phasing in that rate reduction over time.”
Max Friesen, a professor in the Department of Anthropology, describes the impact of climate change on Indigenous archaeological sites in northern Canada in University Affairs. “It’s difficult to determine which areas are the most important to dig and also which are most at risk,” Friesen says. “All we can do now is try to salvage the artifacts with the highest quality.”
University Professor Cheryl Misak of the Department of Philosophy is featured in a rebroadcast of an episode of CBC Radio’s Ideas dedicated to pragmatic philosophers. “Pragmatism says that instead of trying to find pure pristine foundations for all of our knowledge, we need to ask, ‘What is the best that fallible human beings can do?’”
July 1, 2020
Lynette Ong comments on China’s new national security law for Hong Kong in a CBC News story. "It is a law that is really with the explicit intention of bypassing the Hong Kong legislature," Ong says. "It is really a blatant disregard of one country, two systems."
July 2, 2020
Erick Laming comments on the effectiveness of body cameras worn by police officers in a CTV News story. Laming says there isn't transparency about police force policies on cameras regarding how to ensure public privacy, who gets access to the video or when officers are required to turn them on.