How Ryerson changemakers are challenging the status quo
Above, some of the 170 Ryerson law students who are changing the face of legal education in Canada. Photo by Janick Laurent
For many, the past year has sparked an intense awareness of inequality in our society and a sense that if we do not take action against bias and racism we are complicit in it. The winter issue of the Ryerson University magazine mailed out to alumni earlier this year, features Ryersonians who are making change and leading us to create a better world.
The latest issue explores how the new Faculty of Law has emerged as a school that creates opportunities for underserved populations, introducing some of 170 law students who are changing the face of legal education in Canada. Led by Dean Donna Young, the faculty and students are dedicated to social innovation, reform and increasing access to legal representation through technology and entrepreneurship.
Also taking action last summer were graduating students of the School of Journalism who, when asked by Janice Neil, chair of the department, what the school could do to tackle racism, started a petition for changes such as a course on racism and the media. The magazine invited recent graduate Connor Garel to tell the behind-the-scenes story about how the course came to be, and share his own experiences of being Black in the journalism program.
Elsewhere in the issue, you’ll find a profile about Ena Chadah, a journalism graduate who became a human rights lawyer and is now the commissioner at the Ontario Human Rights Commission. And profiled by Ryerson alum Kelsey Adams is Christian Hui, who graduated from both undergraduate and master’s programs in social work and is now a PhD student in Ryerson’s Policy Studies where his research is on a Positive Health Equity Action Plan. Another featured alumni is urban planning graduate Cheryll Case who makes a case for human rights in urban planning.
You can read all this and more in the Ryerson University Magazine winter 2021 edition.
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