More than a potential vintage, the elderberries are also the first fruits of a tiny eco-restoration project underway at York University. Started informally by the Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES) some four years ago, the project – a native garden – is situated in front of the Health, Nursing & Environmental Studies (HNES) Building on the Keele campus.

Right: Gerda Wekerle with her harvest of elderberries

Wekerle and avid gardener Tim Haagsma, who is also the manager of grounds, fleets & waste management at York, are working with FES graduate and undergraduate students to fill the garden with plants that are native to Canada.

The eco-restoration of the garden has meant hours of work, mosquito bites and a never-ending battle with turf grass and invasive weeds, but as a delighted Wekerle points out, the fruits of the group’s labours are worth the effort.

“I have never seen elderberry fruit and I wasn’t expecting to see it for a few years, as we planted 14 elderberry plants just over four years ago,” says Wekerle. “This is the first year the plants have bloomed and borne fruit. It is exciting.”

“Back when this building was home to Schulich [School of Business], this was a turf area with a few trees and shrubs,” says Haagsma. “There wasn’t much here. Another interesting point about this garden is that it is a green roof.” The plants are located above basement classrooms in HNES.
Left: River oats, also known as sea oats

The garden is important, says Haagsma, because there are fewer and fewer places left on campus – or in many parts of Canada – where species of plants native to the country can grow and flourish.

Eco-restoration is the process of returning an area as close to its original form as possible. In this case, that means planting wild species of lobelia, Canadian columbine, grasses and fruit-bearing plants such as elderberry. The garden was designed with the help of former campus planner Andrew Wilson and has received funding from TD Canada Trust and support from Dean Barbara Rahder and FES faculty, staff and students. It has evolved to include plants that are medicinal and native to the region, reflecting the values of the Faculty of Health, which also has offices in HNES.

What distinguishes the garden from other areas of the campus is the fact that it offers a combination of woodland and prairie plants that attract the eye through most of the year. “We have flowers that bloom in the spring while students are still on campus and those are mostly woodland species. And then it has flowers that bloom mostly towards the end of July through August and September when students are back on campus. The rest of the time we thought could be quiet and restful,” says Wekerle.

The garden has two kinds of grasses – switch grass and river oats – that are native to Canada. Dancing in the wind are river oats with their delicate leaves. Splashes of colour have been added over the years as Haagsma, Wekerle and students acquire native plants for the garden. Two years ago, a severe drought caused significant damage to the garden. Last year’s wet summer offered a bonus for the gardeners as it helped establish the new plants by developing the root base needed to survive future drought conditions.

Helping Wekerle and Haagsma with the project are MES student Judith Arney, third-year student Jonathan De Serres and a small group of FES undergraduate and graduate students.

Left: Judith Arney

“We’ve planted a lot of plants; some of the plants have been moved from a demonstration garden that was situated in front of Atkinson. We would love donations of native plants, especially if they have been grown in someone’s garden because they are more robust than plants that come from a nursery,” says Wekerle, adding that potential donations should be cleared with her first.

Working on the garden has been tremendously satisfying, says De Serres. He has planted common witch hazel, cardinal plant and a pagoda dogwood. “Everything is coming up magnificently,” he says. “Today, it has come so far. Over time, we have been adding plants and rescuing plants from other parts of the city and from the demonstration garden. It is becoming more and more colourful every week. There’s a lot of work still to be done, but the garden is flourishing and very worthwhile. Some of the flowers we’ve added have really taken to the site.”

Right: Jonathan De Serres with a cardinal plant that he donated to the garden

Arney, who is doing her master’s thesis in eco-restoration, brings to York a wealth of knowledge from her work in the same area at the University of Victoria. A student in traditional plants, she has been at the site for most of the summer. “I started a blog for the garden,” she says. “My field is ecological restoration and ethno-botany. What interests me about this garden are some of its traditional uses; there are many interesting medicinal uses as well.

“Restoration never ends. I was in a class and we had an opportunity to do any kind of presentation we wanted. I brought the students out to the garden and we planted flowers for the presentation. What surprised me was that a number of people in the class had never planted seeds before. It connected the space with the healing nature of gardening,” says Arney. “We have to build the capacity to make ecological restoration a part of people’s lives.

“Witch hazel has been used as a medicinal plant. Early settlers used the boughs as divining rods. There are many interesting links and layers to this garden that are still being explored,” says Arney. “These layers give us a deeper appreciation of our own lives and how important each plant is to our shared history. We can see how much the native plants, including a number of different species such as prairie dock, are all out competing with the turf grass and invasive weeds.”
Left: Cup plant, one of the many native plants thriving in the FES garden

Arney laughs as she allows that turf grass often creeps into her dreams. “Eventually, with stewardship, these native plants will out-compete and grow stronger than the invasive plants and this is very important,” she says. “We have our own pollinators. There is a ground nest of Agapostemon bees. That’s an important piece of the ecological puzzle.”
The garden is also a demonstration site that instructors and students can use. Arney is placing permanent markers in front of the native plants and this part of the educational component of the garden will be completed in the next few weeks.
“They will see plants that they normally would not see in downtown Toronto,” says Wekerle. “The plants in this garden are native to this area. Students also learn how to collect plants and propagate them. Students planted prairie smoke seeds last year and the plants have flourished. It is the kind of garden that is not flashy – you have to look closely to see the treasures.”

In a few years, Wekerle hopes it will be a riot of colour. She welcomes cash donations to help support the garden. Interested individuals can contribute to the garden through the Faculty of Environmental Studies Office or contact Wekerle at gwekerle@yorku.ca.

To view Arney’s blog on the garden, including her recent post about the discovery of the Agapostemon bees, visit hnesnativeplantgarden.wordpress.com.

Date: Sunday, August 22
Time: 12-4 p.m.

Date and Time: Thursday, August 19 at 6pm
Location: Anarres Natural Health, College & Ossington

Project Description
As you may know, the Transborder Research University Network (TRUN), to date an administrative consortium of 13 universities from New York State, US and the Province of Ontario, Canada was established in 2007 http://TRUN.ca. The aim of TRUN is to expand and support cooperation among research universities along the borders of Ontario and New York State in the area of collaborative academic and research initiatives.

TRUN would like to organize a one-day meeting that would bring together interested faculty members seeking collaboration in possible areas such as fostering public policy dialogue through joint conferences, building a strong transborder connectivity among faculty and students (undergraduate and graduate) such as joint educational programs/courses, research internships and exchanges for students and collaborative research across the disciplines. In very simple terms the purpose of the meeting is to determine the interest and possibilities for developing cooperative academic activities that would foster and strengthen a network of students and faculty among these institutions learning and working together in these areas of priority.

The Great Lakes ecosystem and the conservation and management of accessible water is an area of priority and common interest to the region and where each institution has academic interest and capacity but where there have been few opportunities for joint cooperation. It would be timely for there to be an active university community engaged in this topic who has a vested interest in preserving our water generally and in particular the quality of the Great Lakes system.

The University of Toronto, Centre for the Environment is offering to host this first meeting and proposes the date and location of the meeting to be on Monday September 13th at the St. George campus (location TBC). The timing of the meeting will allow most participants to drive in and out the same day.

It is proposed that each TRUN and other interested universities (recommended by a TRUN member) select one to two faculty members, ideally one from policy and one from clean technology/water technology field, to attend this event.

One of the goals would be to discuss the potential for a fall workshop on Transboundary Water Management with the objective of profiling water issues, the policy debate and emerging research directions and academic priorities and identifying key activities and areas of cooperation that would foster a transborder network of students and faculty.

At this meeting, Dr. Murray Clamen, Secretary of the Canadian Section of the International Joint Commission (IJC) will join us to facilitate discussion and assist us in focusing our thoughts and ideas as to what the fall workshop could be.

A starting point of this network building and planning meeting would be to discuss the international, national and provincial/state interests and commitments to water protection and identify key gaps and opportunities in scientific and social innovation and where the participating universities could contribute to transborder capacity. This could then lead to a dialogue on possible areas of focus and what could be the framework of an agenda for a future conference/workshop and next steps.

Participants are to be responsible for their travel, accommodation and related costs and the University of Toronto will be the host for the day’s events.

The market, which runs 4 to 7pm every Thursday, will offer plenty of fresh, affordable and healthy food for sale. There will also be local vendors, artists and activities for children.

“Food for sale at the market is purchased from farmers through FoodShare, a non-profit food security organization in Toronto,” says Sue Levesque, executive director of the York University-TD Community Engagment Centre, one of the organizers of the market. “The food is from local sources whenever possible. FoodShare is providing logistical support and guidance until the project is completely locally sustainable.”

Proceeds from fresh food sales are used to purchase the next week’s food. It is a non-profit venture. Local vendors will also be on site and will keep their own proceeds.
The market is open to the entire community, including York University students, faculty and staff. “Come out to shop for groceries and learn about food,” says Levesque. “It is also a wonderful way to meet members of the community.”

The good food market was established to bring healthy, affordable and culturally appropriate food within walking distance of the University and Black Creek communities.

It is the result of a collaboration between York University students, faculty and staff alongside residents, community agencies and City of Toronto Councillor Anthony Peruzza’s office, who are involved with the Black Creek Food Justice Action Network and the York University-TD Community Engagement Centre. The Black Creek Food Justice Action Network is a working group of individuals from York University, the Black Creek community and local community organizations. The network meets regularly throughout the year at the York University-TD Community Engagement Centre.

The market received start-up support from the York University Faculty Association’s Community Projects Committee.

Even though markets are popping up around the city, many communities do not have easy access to fresh, healthy food. FoodShare works in partnership with community organizations to run Good Food Markets.

More about Good Food Markets

These markets are small, sometimes no more than a single stand. But they sell high-quality, affordable fruits and vegetables and create public space.The markets feature seasonal, local produce that FoodShare purchases from local farmers and from the Ontario Food Terminal Board. It’s delivered to local community organizations who run the markets.

To learn more, visit the FoodShare Web site.

Climate Change Conference 2010 is three full days of climate challenges, solutions and questions, with no spin and no sugar-coating.

Friday – Sunday, 2010 August 13 – 15
Hart House, University of Toronto
Full program and online registration: ccc-2010.ca

Our Friday night reception outlining The Challenges features Bill McKibben, Andrew Weaver and Elizabeth May.

Our Friday afternoon forum, Across Borders and Generations, is youth-oriented and free to all.

Saturday evening’s panel on Working Together is devoted to bridging divides between various groups working on the issue.

And throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday, we’ll have scientists and experts speaking on the detailed challenges, impacts, and solutions.

Climate Change Conference 2010 is presented jointly by University of Toronto Greens and the Toronto-Danforth Federal Green Party. The conference is non-partisan and open to all.

The Live Green Toronto Festival!
Toronto’s annual celebration of all things green turns Yonge Street into ‘green street’ with more than 100 exhibitors of green products and services, local food, live music, and more.

Please join us on August 28 & 29, 2010 at Yonge-Dundas Square.

Event Hours:
Saturday August 28th 11 am – 9 pm
Sunday August 29th 11 am – 5 pm

You’ll find everything from bees, worms and bikes, to green fashions, renewable energy, local foods and more.

And good green fun for the whole family!

Stay tuned for more details of the 2010 Festival.

NOVEMBER 4th, 2010
8:30am – 4:30pm
Metro Toronto Convention Centre

SAVE THE DATE

for Going Greener, a forum on building a more sustainable future

Sponsored by the
Council of Ontario Universities for
the province’s public sector

Hear from experts in government, business, hospitals, colleges and universities

Participate in discussions about research and innovation, human capital and skills, best practices in operations, and community collaborations that contribute to
Ontario’s green economy

Praxis of Resistance: Communities of Inclusion and Exclusion

The Fourth Annual Conference of the Toronto Group for the Study of
International, Transnational, and Comparative Law

January 2011

The Toronto Group

The Toronto Group for the Study of International, Transnational, and Comparative Law is pleased to announce its fourth annual graduate student conference. The principal aim of the Toronto Group’s annual conference is to facilitate collaborative discussion among graduate students and junior faculty members engaged in critical and transformative inquiries into law and legal scholarship in international contexts.

Past conferences have focused on testing the boundaries between international, transnational and comparative law, on exploring the relationship between law and international political and economic structures, and on developing critical historicized reflections on international law and legal scholarship.

2011 Keynote Speakers: Nathaniel Berman & Balakrishnan Rajagopal
Conference Dates: January 28-29, 2011

2011 Conference Theme:

This year’s conference will take the concept of global “social movements” as its starting point. We seek papers that examine the relationship between legal scholarship, strategic/pragmatic legal action, social movements, and diverse tactics of resistance/mobilization from multiple perspectives and spaces. Conference papers should conceptualize legal praxis (methods, analytic frameworks, key literatures and conversations in international/transnational and comparative law) as it relates to social movements and their efforts to resist or transform international legal arrangements.

While the conference’s objective is to facilitate engagement with issues arising from these and related areas of international legal scholarship, submissions from graduate students in other disciplines of law or disciplines other than law are encouraged.

Cilck here for more information.

Stick around long enough and you could also have tea with Lorna Marsden, York president emerita, in her Glendon office – one of the historic principal rooms in the Glendon Hall manor.

The tour will begin at the TTC bus stop at the southeast corner of Bayview and Lawrence avenues at 2pm on Sunday, Aug. 8. It is expected to last two hours.

Right: The ravine on the Glendon campus

York alumnus and historian John Court (BA ’63) and Nancy Dengler, a Toronto botanist, University of Toronto professor emerita and member of the TFN’s board of directors, will take participants on a tour through Glendon’s natural and human history. It will include features of the landscape that date to pre-European settlement, the pioneer farm era, the Glendon Hall Wood family estate and the early development of York’s Glendon College.

Glendon abuts the west branch of the Don River, the spot where the site’s original owners, Edward Rogers Wood and his family, built an estate in the 1920s named Glendon Hall. The Wood property was a suburban country estate with a landmark manor house and 84 acres of gardens, parkland and nature sites.

“Glendon has an exceptional collection of trees dating back to the 1920s,” says Dengler, who confesses to visiting the campus often.

It was the Wood family who were responsible for establishing this international collection of exotic trees and flowers in the 1920s and 1930s. “Then when the property was willed to the University of Toronto for use as a botanical garden, a whole series of trees were planted in the 1950s that are kind of special for this part of the world,” says Dengler. When York took over the property, the trees were valued and preserved during the design of the campus, leaving dawn redwoods, what Dengler calls “relics from the time of the dinosaur”, for all to enjoy. Even better, she says, than those found in High Park. “The campus at Glendon is quite special.”

In addition to the attention to the trees, plants and flowers, Court will regale walk participants with the history of the place from the pioneer farming era and when the Wood family built their estate on the property to today.

The walk will coover the natural forest found on the terrace lands of the campus, ravine slope and Don River floodplain, including Lawrence’s Bush – the woodlot right inside Glendon’s entrance gate which is populated with beech, sugar maple, white pine and basswood.

The TFN suggests bringing a wide-brimmed hat, socks, hiking boots or running shoes, and long sleeves and pants to protect from mosquitoes, poison ivy, thistles and ticks. Depending on the weather forecast, rainwear or sunglasses and sunscreen may be necessary, along with some insect repellent. It’s also a good idea to bring a camera, binoculars, a Thermos or flask and a snack.

Children are welcome when accompanied by an adult, but pets are not.

For more information, visit the Toronto Field Naturalists Web site.