Like many women, I connected with Gray over similar experiences of trauma. When the Silence is Violence Legal Defense Fund went online in December, I thought the timing worked perfectly for a January fundraiser.

Mohammad Ali performing at the Silence is Violence fundraiser. Photo by Leonardo Paradela IG: @spleo2

Dave’s… in Toronto was packed the Sunday night of the fundraiser. The bar’s management, all the entertainers, prize donors, photographers, and musicians replied quickly when I reached out and, without question, volunteered their time and energy to the cause. The Rough Go, Mohammad Ali, Wayne Kennedy, and Jen Unbe were the evening’s musical performances of the night and prize donors for the silent and live auctions included FloralManifesto, Dani Crosby, Sera Rootlet, Gnarly Art, Carlton Cinema, Jane Doe, and, of course, my Gender Block home, This Magazine.

Many involved with the event shared their own stories of sexual assault and/or rape and, naturally, their experiences with victim-blaming and thoughts on the rape culture that allows so many people to be hurt in these ways.

I connected with Gray over a series of well-timed coincidences this past fall. I snapped a picture of a Silence is Violence (SiV)  poster hung on a wall in the sociology department at York University in the fall as a reminder to add the group to the feminist resource directory I had recently launched, FIRE- Feminist Internet Resource Exchange. When This Magazine started researching on campus activism for an upcoming alternative university guide, I thought of SiV: feminism is kind of a big deal to me and the poster was pink, so I was attracted to the prospect of learning more.

The morning following the fundraiser I joined Gray and 40 of her supporters in court for three days. Again, experiences were shared. In spite of our relentless rape culture and a society that ignores this culture’s existence and instead turns to victim-blaming, Silence is Violence has connected victims and survivors (we all identify differently and that is OK!) nationwide, on campuses, court rooms, and in a bar on a Sunday night.

Feature photo by Jordan Clarke

A former This intern, Hillary Di Menna is in her second year of the gender and women’s studies program at York University. She also maintains an online feminist resource directory, FIRE- Feminist Internet Resource Exchange.

Over 1,000 people walked from Nathan Phillips Square to Queen’s park this past Saturday. Some identified as feminists, some identified as sluts and others called themselves allies. SlutWalk Toronto 2014 was the third for the city since it began in 2011. Now, SlutWalk has become an annual event in 200 cities world over.

The first SlutWalk Toronto was held at Queen’s Park April 3, 2011, with a few thousand participants. It began as a protest in response to what a Toronto police officer told a group of students while speaking at York Univeristy’s Osgoode Hall Law School.”I’ve been told I’m not supposed to say this,” said Constable Michael Sanguinetti at the time. “However, women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.”

Not only did he say it, he was trained not to, and did it anyway, raising questions about how Toronto police are trained to help victims of sexual violence; perhaps explaining why only six percent of sexual assaults are reported.

Today, the walk is about ending sexual violence, slut shaming and victim blaming, as well as anti-oppression, urging us to think critically about how power dynamics and privileges impact individuals, communities and larger systems.

On June 12, after participants walked chanting things like, “Yes means fuck me, no means fuck you,” they settled at Queen’s Park to listen to speakers like NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo who spoke about trans rights bill Toby’s Act (Bill 33) and White Ribbon Campaign facilitator Jeff Perera, “Male-identified people, young men and boys, need to hear these everyday stories and experiences,” he said. “Saying ‘not all men’ is not helpful. We need to listen and we need to reflect.”

Other speakers included Maggie’s Toronto coordinator Monica Forrester, “As a trans woman I’ve always experienced slut shaming. My body is beautiful and I’m proud,” she told the crowd. Kira Andry spoke about the injustices for trans survivors in the legal system, despite the rainbow coloured triangle sticker in courtrooms shallowly proclaiming a safe space.

The Canadian Mental Health Association reports, “An Ontario-based study of trans people found that 20 pe cent had experienced physical or sexual assault due to their identity, and that 34 percent were subjected to verbal threats or harassment.”

Among those who also spoke were: Blu Waters, an elder on the York University campus; GRIND Toronto founder Akio Maroon; Flo Jo, a sex worker speaking out against Bill C-36 ;and SlutWalk cofounder Heather Jarvis. Queer writer and comedian Catherine McCormick acted as MC.

The afternoon was educational in intersectional feminism and feminist issues, some that have been unresolved for decades: “Forty-four years ago I was marching here as a feminist with a sign that said ‘Our bodies Our choice,'” DiNovo told those gathered. She doesn’t want to be doing the same thing another 20 years from now.

Aside from the educational aspect, it was an empowering gathering of empathy and solidarity, a time when one can point at a fellow walker’s sign, telling their own story of assault, and say, “Me too.”

As for the name, re-appropriation of “slut” has never been necessary to support the walk. It is about throwing a word—in a world where so many hateful words against women exist in many different languages—back at those who use it like venom.

“We’ve started a lot of conversations surrounding sexual violence, victim-blaming and rape culture,” says SlutWalk Toronto organizer Natalee Brouse. “It’s now up to us to use this platform for more nuanced conversations about who is affected by sexual violence, how we as a culture and society harm rape survivors, and what we can do to change that.”

Dear Progressive Detective: I’ve heard of a new birth control pill, Seasonale, that reduces your period to four times a year instead of 12. I see the appeal, but messing with my cycle just seems like a bad idea. How safe are these kinds of contraceptives?

Extended-use hormonal contraceptives like Seasonale boost estrogen to levels that some experts link to increased risk of cancers, blood clots, and bone density loss. Yet published studies on such long-haul pills are generally not placebo-controlled, says Dr. Jerilynn C. Prior, professor of Endocrinology at the UBC Department of Medicine’s Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research. Prior argues such studies either use women on the standard pill as a control measure, or simply don’t bother with a control at all. Either way, those study results imply a woman on the standard pill is hormonally the same as an untreated woman—something Prior sees as grossly unscientific.

These studies have been published in respected medical journals, while concerns from experts such as Prior aren’t being taken seriously by reviewers, editors or governing bodies. “They scoffed at me when I suggested that placebo-controlled trials were necessary,” says Prior. “They got away with getting Seasonale accepted in Canada without doing placebo-controlled trials.”

What’s worse, Prior says many doctors and gynecologists rely on out-of-date trials. “The placebo-controlled trials of the birth control pill go back to when it was really a different drug. It had about five times higher estrogen doses,” she explains. “And the placebo-controlled trials were not done well by today’s standards.”

It’s not easy for the average citizen or researcher to look into the drug approval process, either. You’d have to submit an Access to Information Request form, which is limited and slow, says Anne Rochon Ford, coordinator of Women and Health Protection at York University. “We had an unbelievably long wait,” she says, “and when we did get it back it was significantly blacked out, like a prisoner’s letter.”

Ford adds post-marketing studies to monitor adverse side-effects for Seasonale aren’t being done effectively. “There’s a conflict of interest now because [Health Canada] requires pharmaceutical companies to pay for their evaluation,” says Prior. “It isn’t funded by parliament as much as it’s funded by the people it’s supposed to be regulating.” With such deeply vested interests— and such complex data—Progressive Detective asks for better research before opting for this kind of pill.

A security guard separates pro-Palestine and pro-Israel groups during York University’s Israeli Apartheid Week in February 2009. Photo by Jad yaghmour (Excalibur).

It started out on a hopeful note. To kick off the second hearing of the Canadian Parliamentary Inquiry into Anti-Semitism, Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, director of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, flew to Ottawa at the committee’s request to testify [PDF]that Canada is a “pioneer” of university-campus anti-Semitism. Faster than you can say “Oy vey!,” his statement became the headline on a press release [PDF] issued by the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism.

Jews are special—we now have our own parliamentary coalition devoted to protecting us from Jew-haters lurking in the ranks of Canadian liberals and leftists. Seriously: Lawrence Hart, of the Canada-Israel Committee, wrote in 2003 that we should identify “the forces of anti-colonialism, antiimperialism, anti-racism and pacifism as major facilitators of today’s anti-Semitism.”

The CPCCA, established by Conservative Minister Jason Kenney and Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, is designed to combat the growing anti-Semitic menace—especially in universities. They want to expand the definition of anti-Semitism to target any “unfair” criticism of Israel and Zionism. The headache for the CPCCA? Their handpicked witnesses are totally lame.

The CPCCA invited 22 Canadian universities to send representatives. Sadly, only a few actually showed up—it was snowing that day. Dr. Fred Lowy, former president of the infamous Concordia University in Montreal— where they had a riot when Israel’s former president, Benjamin Netanyahu, tried to speak there—deflated their mood with a bummer of a statement [PDF]: “By and large, Canadian campuses are safe and are not hotbeds of anti-Semitism of any kind.”

Undaunted, the CPCCA scheduled additional hearings and eight more universities testified. They, too, failed to expose the anti-Semitic peril brewing under their noses. Dr. Jack Lightstone, Brock University president, Concordia veteran, and scholar of Judaism, brushed aside the entire premise of the hearing [PDF]: “Criticism of any government’s policies, by anyone, must be acceptable, and in universities is to be encouraged,” he said. The CPCCA did not bother with a press release for that one.

Doron Horowitz, director of community security for Toronto’s United Jewish Appeal, an umbrella organization for several major Jewish organizations and charities, perked things up for the coalition members. After listing his Israeli Defense Force counter-terrorism bona fides and elaborating on his connections to various police and intelligence agencies, he testified there is proof of a demonstrable rise in anti-Semitic incidents: Toronto’s February 2009 York University fracas between students representing Israel and the Palestinian rights movement. [PDF]

Considering the fact that the swarm of news reporters, campus security guards, and university administrators present at the event failed to document any anti-Semitic insults, threats or actions, Canada’s Israel lobby showed considerable chutzpah by entering uncorroborated incidents from that day into the country’s record of anti-Semitic acts. Voila! York University is the current official hotbed of Canadian anti-Semitism. Finally the CPCCA asked a group of Canadian police chiefs to testify. They all reassured the committee they work closely with major Jewish organizations to investigate and prosecute hate crimes. But they had no evidence to indicate Jews live under exceptional threat from hate crimes. (Or perhaps the chiefs’ suspicious downplaying of the danger could prove how vast this anti-Semitic conspiracy really is.) The Toronto Police reported that while Jews do report a large number of hate crimes directed against them in the form of mischief, like graffiti, it is lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and trans people who suffer the highest number of assaults and physical threats among all reported hate crimes. No mention was made of starting a parliamentary coalition investigating homophobia.

Fortunately, our elected politicians are here to save the day for the Israeli government. They are voluntarily targeting Canadian public activities critical of Israeli policies and Zionism. Provincial and federal politicians publicly denounced Israeli Apartheid Week, which took place on Canadian university campuses in early March, as “anti-Jewish hate fests.” Schools were pressured by the Israel lobby to ban the “anti-Semitic” event. A “biased” photo exhibit of Israeli soldiers and Palestinians was hastily removed from a library by the mayor of Côte St-Luc, Montreal. The federal government’s minister of science and technology threatened to defund an academic science organization for holding an “anti-Jewish” conference on the “two-state solution” for Israel and Palestine. The government says it is showing “zero tolerance” for “anti-Semitism” and “Palestinian terror” by cutting off funding to human rights organizations that endorse the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” campaign directed at pressuring Israel to change its policies toward Palestinians.

The problem is that just like the CPCCA, these individuals and organizations are unable—despite investing serious time and effort—to show that criticisms of Israel’s policies are, in fact, rooted in bigotry against the Jewish people. That, of course, is because the origin of these critiques is not anti-Semitism; it is the conduct of Israel’s government. But that doesn’t stop the CPCCA from crying wolf.

Israel is desperate to improve its sullied image while muzzling its critics. The latest “Re-brand Israel” tourism effort is the “Size Doesn’t Matter” campaign. It was introduced by a video parodying the double meaning of Israel’s small size and an Israeli man’s penis. What were they thinking? Did Howard Stern design the campaign?

And there was more bad news for Israel: a parliamentary motion to denounce Israeli Apartheid Week was defeated on March 11, and the Bloc Québécois recently quit the CPCCA, declaring it “biased” in favour of Israel and against the Palestinians. Will the NDP stay in? Or will they, too, wilt under pressure from Canadians opposed to the new Jewish censorship and attacks on civil rights?

Anti-Semitism is real and it is always wrong, but the Israel lobby does Canadians no favours—nor Jews, frankly—by hysterically hurling accusations of “anti-Semitism” at Palestinian rights supporters and inventing trumped up anti-Semitic incidents.

From overcoming vicious crimes against my people, the fight against anti-Semitism has been hijacked to protect Israel from actions to end its illegal occupation and the expulsion of Palestinians. It’s cynical and— like the misguided “size doesn’t matter” ad campaign—it’s become a joke.

In her new book, Imagining Toronto, York University geography professor Amy Lavender Harris creates a literary map of that identity building. What she finds is a literary scene that is reflecting the city’s shifting geography, moving into inner suburbs like Scarborough and North York, and well into deep suburbia: Pickering, Vaughan, Ajax.

Harris began writing her book two years ago after scouring the city for books for a Toronto literature course. She soon found herself delving into the city’s literary history, as framed by the narratives of iconic neighborhoods like the Annex, Parkdale and Cabbagetown. Now she has oriented the city’s public spaces in its literature, tracing Toronto’s identity to the streetcar lines and architectural icons that recur in its literature.

It’s those architectural icons that often define the Toronto identity, for better or worse. “The CN Tower comes to mind because it’s the most iconic, as well as in some ways, hated, symbol of Toronto,” she says—but that was until Michael Lee-Chin’s crystalline addition to the Royal Ontario Museum was unveiled, Harris notes.

Harris says there is plenty of literary history to left to map. “If you could say everything there was that could be said about Toronto, then it would be a pretty boring place.”

York University economist Peter Victor: "We're in serious trouble right now." Photo by Molly Crealock

How can we escape our current economic mess while simultaneously avoiding the looming triple threats of peak oil, climate change, and species extinction? York University ecological economist Peter Victor has the answer: significantly slow the nation’s economic growth. According to him, it’s the best way to bring us into balance with the biosphere while fixing our battered finances.

Explains Victor: “The economic growth we have had in Canada in the past 30 years has not resulted in full employment, elimination of poverty, or the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions.” But, he says, “with the right policies, we could achieve all these without relying on economic growth.”

Those policies, which are outlined in his book Managing Without Growth: Slower by Design, Not Disaster, include a rapid transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, targeted programs to tackle poverty rather than relying on trickle-down economics and a shorter work week balanced with less consumption.

Managing Without Growth was released last November, but its vision is particularly timely, given the recession. “We’re in very serious trouble right now, because the recession was really started by failed economic policies and by failed supervision of financial institutions,” comments Frank Muller, a professor of economics at Concordia University in Montreal. Victor’s approach, he points out, is an alternative, “a different economic system, with different policies,” that would see us having to “live within the constraints of the natural system.”

While Victor’s ideas have been praised by David Suzuki and Toronto mayor David Miller, the federal government isn’t interested. But this doesn’t surprise Victor, who believes it’s up to the public to push forward the idea of zero growth: “Policy changes must be wanted and demanded by the public because they understand that there will be a better future for themselves, their children, and the children of others if we turn away from the pursuit of unconstrained economic growth.”

Example of written Mi'kmaq

It will also be York’s first dissertation written in an aboriginal language. Until last fall, the school had only allowed PhD works in English and French. But after seeing what Metallic had done for his comprehensives, it agreed to allow him and any other student to present a thesis or dissertation in an aboriginal language, without translation, provided they have committee support.

It’s a decision that Anders Sandberg, associate dean of the faculty of environmental studies at York and one of Metallic’s advisors, hopes will “accommodate aspirations of the First Nations community.” He explains that the university agreed not to require an English version because, in Metallic’s case, his work directly relates to the Mi’kmaq community and an English translation would not assert the value of the language, and it could not convey the same meaning.

So far, one other student has decided to follow in Metallic’s footsteps. Diane Mitchell, who will be presenting her master’s thesis in Mi’kmaq, says that to study her language and culture through the filter of another would not be “aiding and abetting” her language. “To go to a university and study my language or my culture and do it in another language would be pointless.”

However, not everyone is impressed by York’s new initiative. “There’s nothing wrong with composing something in one of the languages,” says John Steckley, the sole speaker of Huron and a professor at Humber College, but “how do you then extend it to a wider audience, even a wider Mi’kmaq audience, because the vast majority of people don’t speak the language?” With what he estimates to be only 20,000 to 40,000 Canadians able to speak an aboriginal language, Steckley sees the need for a “middle document” that at least gives a sense of what’s being communicated and how difficult translation is.

Still, with these languages rapidly on the decline, York’s acknowledgement of aboriginal languages may encourage other educational institutions to do the same.

After all, points out Mitchell, “I do feel that a lot of aboriginal everything has been treated more as a curio than as something real, and to me this is how you make something real. You incorporate it into things that are valued.”