Repository logo

Faculty of Health and Community Studies

Permanent link for this community

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14078/25

Browse

Browsing Faculty of Health and Community Studies by Author "Barlow, Amy"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A place called home? "Aging out" of care in the housing crisis in Toronto
    (2024) Barlow, Amy; Edwards, Fiona
    In the midst of the worst housing crisis that our nation has ever experienced, the moratorium on ‘aging out’ of care of the state in Ontario, Canada ended on April 1, 2023. Stemming from the Youth in Care Hearings, the provincial government has instituted the Ready, Set, Go Program. It is designed to provide youth in care with a phased plan for ‘aging out’ of the system and access to much needed services. While we acknowledge the benefits of this program, we believe that it does not go far enough to alleviate the prevalence of mental health challenges experienced by youth ‘aging out’ of care. In an effort to disrupt the settler-colonial neoliberal policies and ideology that fosters the production and reproduction of the oppression of one of the most vulnerable groups in society, that of children in care of the state, this commentary contests the very notion of ‘aging out’ of care. Through a social justice and health equity lens, we examine the concept and argue that the Eurocentric neoliberal notion of ‘aging out’ of the system is an inappropriate measure for determining when a youth is ready to leave care. We argue further that the concept of ‘aging out’ in general, and within the context of the current housing crisis in Toronto, Ontario in particular, will cause significant harm to the mental health and well-being of youth leaving care. Rather, we advocate for a more nuanced approach that centres on a series of indicators that assess individual readiness and mechanisms that can take exogenous factors, such as the housing crisis, into consideration.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The true north strong and free? Casting shadows on whose history students learn in Canadian universities
    (2021) Barlow, Amy; Edwards, Fiona
    Race-based discrimination in Canada exists at the institutional and structural level. While acknowledging its existence is a crucial first step in eradicating this particular form of discrimination, an essential second step includes implementing structural changes at the institutional level in Canadian universities. In an effort to disrupt the Eurocentricity of knowledge production this commentary argues that the Canadian government’s official historical narrative that depicts Canada as being born of the pioneering spirit of British and French white settlers fails to capture the actual history of the country. Rather, it fosters the continuation of the supremacy of whiteness thereby causing significant harm through the perpetuation of racial bias. We argue that the history and contributions of Indigenous, Black, and Chinese Canadians, all of whom were in this country prior to confederation, should be told in a mandatory university course. Our findings indicate that while a number of universities have individual courses, usually electives and some graduate degrees on Indigenous, Black, and Chinese history, there is little offered from the Canadian context and certainly nothing that is a mandatory course requirement. In addition, we suggest compulsory university staff-wide anti-racism training; the ongoing hiring of professors and sessional instructors who are racially representative of the population of Canada; and community outreach, mentorship, and counselling programs that are designed to help students who are underrepresented in Canadian universities. In our opinion, we believe that these changes have the potential to provide a lens to disrupt settler colonial spaces, mobilize race in academic curricula, and encourage social justice actions that can offer a more inclusive learning environment.