HUFFINGTON POST – The recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission were on the agenda of Canada’s premiers, meeting at Happy Valley-Goose Bay earlier this week. The Premiers did more than discuss the wide-ranging recommendations. They took the unusual step of endorsing the lengthy list, with Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Paul Davis saying, “We will together, jointly, make this happen.” It was a remarkable commitment, all the more so given the troubled history for provincial leaders on this file. Read More.
Tag Archives: Ken S. Coates
Tsilhqot’in ruling brings Canada to the table
GLOBE AND MAIL – This summer’s Tsilhqot’in aboriginal title decision was one of those rare Supreme Court of Canada rulings that points the country in a new direction, challenging governments, business and the general public to rethink the fundamental elements of national governance. READ MORE
Ken Coates: Failing the ‘average’ Canadian
NATIONAL POST – Statistics Canada recently released new data on the narrowing earnings gap between high school graduates and those with a university bachelor’s degree. There’s nothing particularly new about this, but it adds to a mounting body of evidence showing that what Canadians have been led to believe about the cash value of a university education is, for a great many people, simply not true.
Supreme Court has clarified aboriginal land rights: Coates
YUKON NEWS – The Yukon should be paying attention to two recent Supreme Court of Canada decisions on aboriginal land rights, says Ken Coates, senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
Canada’s top court has issued two big decisions in the past month on the extent of First Nation control over land and resources.
In the first decision, the Supreme Court of Canada declared that the Tsilhqot’in First Nation has aboriginal title to its traditional territory, a vast swath of central B.C.
Read More
Some students shouldn’t be at university
THERECORD.COM – For every three students in a Canadian university, one of them shouldn’t be there. That’s the idea behind What To Consider If You’re Considering University, the book that should be given to every Grade 10 student in the country.
This book is like a slap of cold water on a tired face. Written by Ken Coates, former dean of arts at University of Waterloo, and Bill Morrison, a retired professor who lives in British Columbia, it offers a much-needed wake-up call to all those teenagers who are going to university because they’ve got good marks, and because that’s what everyone else is doing.
Ruling ‘opens door’ for Metis land claims – Interesting times ahead, predicts Doucette
STARPHOENIX – A recent Supreme Court ruling will bolster First Nations land claims, but it also “opens the door” for Metis claims, says Metis Nation, Saskatchewan President Robert Doucette.
“I think it really opens the door. This will make times very interesting for Metis people,” Doucette said Sunday at the annual Back to Batoche festival approximately 75 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.
Two University of Saskatchewan experts say Doucette could be right, development that could have a major implications. U of S Canada Research chair Ken Coates compared the ruling’s effect to the ripples caused by a stone thrown in a calm lake.
East Asian States Declare Growing Interest in Arctic Research, Climate and Resources, New CIGI Book Says
CIGI – “East Asia-Arctic Relations: Boundary, Security and International Politics” is co-edited by Kimie Hara and Ken Coates. The new book’s 12 chapters are written by Arctic and Asia relations experts from Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States.
Ken Coates: Politics of Higher Education
TVO – The Agenda with Steve Paikin: An estimated 2/3 of all new jobs in Ontario will require some form of post-secondary education. What can be done to influence the education choices of future graduates to make sure they will have the…
First Nations hold the key to the Northern Gateway pipeline
GLOBE AND MAIL – The government of Canada has made an obvious and much-anticipated decision on the Northern Gateway pipeline, but the debate is far from over. Based on the report of the Joint Review Panel, which recommended approval subject to important modifications and conditions, and the government’s strong commitment to resource development, few expected the plan to be rejected.
What to Consider if you are Considering Univerity
570NEWS KW AUDIO – What to Consider if you are Considering University…
Listen to interview here:
Examining the “university myth”
June 12, 2014 – THE MORNING EDITION – CBC K-W – After years of hard work and tens of thousands of dollars, university graduates get a degree, but no job guarantee. Ken Coates, author, and former UW dean of arts, says the past four years may have been a waste of time and money.
Boom Masks Innovation Deficit – Training, Education Needed
LEADER POST – Saskatchewan’s commodity fuelled economic boom is “masking a weak performance in innovation and productivity,” according to a study by the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, which was released at the Conference Board of Canada’s Saskatchewan Forum in Regina Tuesday.
Government Isn’t Only Key to Progress for Aboriginal People
THESTAR.COM – The answer to problems of Canada’s indigenous peoples is not, as UN rapporteur James Anaya suggests, more government action and investment alone. Read More
Arctic Innovation
UARCTIC SHARED VOICES MAGAZINE (see pages 14-15) with Greg Poelzer.
The Circumpolar North faces major challenges in the years ahead, beyond the often-mentioned issues of climate change, indigenous empowerment and rapid resource development.
Failing the ‘average’ Canadian
NATIONAL POST – Statistics Canada recently released new data on the narrowing earnings gap between high school graduates and those with a university bachelor’s degree. There’s nothing particularly new about this, but it adds to a mounting body of evidence showing that what Canadians have been led to believe about the cash value of a university education is, for a great many people, simply not true. Read More
Wage Gap Between High School Grads and Degree Holders Narrows
CBC NEWS WITH PETE EVANS – The gap between the earnings of a college or university degree graduate and what someone with a high school diploma makes is narrowing, Statistics Canada research released today shows.
An Unfinished Nation: Completing the devolution revolution in Canada’s North
CBC North – An Unfinished Nation: Completing the devolution revolution in Canada’s North
Canada is an incomplete nation. Vast parts of the country, mostly in the North, lack the services, equality of opportunity, and political authority necessary to effect positive change.
Audio – Listen online here
Should college and university professors attach “trigger warnings” to certain kinds of course material?
cbc.ca THE CURRENT WITH MARIA TREMONTI – A student Senate motion at the U of California asks professors to include warnings on course material that could trigger damaging emotional reactions in students. Some see this awareness as positive. Other see an attempt to coddle and Censure.
But not everyone is on board with these policies and some worry that efforts to protect students will end up stifling academic freedom and free speech.
For their thoughts on where the right balance lies, we were joined by three people.
- Ken Coates is Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation at the University of Saskatchewan’s Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. He’s also the author of Campus Confidential: 100 Startling Things You Don’t Know About Canadian Universities. Ken Coates was in Saskatoon.
- Carrie Rentschler is the Director of the McGill Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies. She was in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Raechel Tiffe is a Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at Merrimack College. She was in North Andover, Massachusetts.
Coates & Morrison: Kathleen Wynne’s latest bad idea
A recent news release from the Government of Ontario, although re-stating old news, invited universities to “submit proposals for new or expanded campuses in under-served areas.” The goal: add 60,000 university spaces to the already large Ontario system to permit more students to study closer to home. This announcement is a one of two things: an early April Fools’ joke or an impending provincial election. Picking up from former Premier Dalton McGuinty, who never saw an educational commitment he did not like, Premier Kathleen Wynne appears determined to return to university inducements to boost the Liberal party’s electoral fortunes. These bribes, which is what they were — particularly the tuition rebates hastily announced mid-campaign — were costly vote-getters during the last election. The Liberals clearly believe they will work again.
Campus Confidential: 100 startling things you don’t know about Canadian universities (Second Edition)
Campus Confidential: 100 Startling Things You Need to Know About Canadian Universities (Toronto: Lorimer, 2011). Second edition 2013. With Bill Morrison.