public sphere

Awesome Event Alert! Human Rights, Religion and the Law

Check out this amazing event held at U of T this week. I’ll be there, taking notes and soaking in the amazing speakers. (For Barbara Hall alone, this event is worth it)

From the event page at : http://media.utoronto.ca/media-releases/event-advisories/human-rights-religion-and-the-law/

TORONTO, ON – The wearing of face coverings, the question of whether “Good Friday” at Easter should still be a statutory holiday, and prayers in the school cafeteria over the lunch hour are all questions of religious accommodation in civil society. Beginning January 11, the University of Toronto and the Ontario Human Rights Commission are facilitating a two-day policy consultation on religion and the law. The public is invited to join the conversation to explore the boundaries of religious expression and practice in the public sphere:

EVENT DETAILS:

WHAT:          Human Rights, Religion and the Law (Opening session)

WHEN:          Wednesday, January 11, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

WHO:             Barbara Hall, Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission

Pamela Klassen, Director of the Religion in the Public Sphere program, University of Toronto

Winnifred Sullivan, Director of the Law, Religion, and Culture, State University of New York

David Seljak, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, University of Waterloo

WHERE:       U of T Multi-Faith Centre, 569 Spadina Ave TO, ON M5S 2J7

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WHAT:    Human Rights and Wrongs: Religion and Creed in the Public Sphere

WHEN:   Friday, January 13, 2012, 1:30 pm

WHO:     Richard Moon, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, past President of the Canadian Law Society Association. Iain Benson, Senior Associate Counsel with the Litigationn

Practice Group and Senior Research Fellow with the Chester Ronning Centre for the Study of Religion and Public Life, University of Alberta.

WHERE:       U of T Multi-Faith Centre, 569 Spadina Ave TO, ON M5S 2J7

Interested in diversity, city-building and faith? Lets chat at RoadMap 2030.

Will you be at this year’s RoadMap2030 conference? If so, I want to meet you. I’m a Masters of Science in Planning student at the University of Toronto specializing in social policy and planning, and my graduate research is an examination of conflicts about the building of mosques. (Think the Park51 project in New York City, but on a smaller scale)

To put it more broadly, I’m interested in how planning and faith intersect. I’m  also deeply interested in issues of diversity, city-building, youth engagement and media, and keen to learn lots over the next couple of days. So if you’re at RoadMap2030 and are interested in sharing thoughts, please do tweet me @shaguftapasta. I’d love to chat. (Or come up to me, I’ll be the one in the navy sparkly scarf). See you soon.