Sunday February 4th – [Online] Six Nations and The Two Councils: A Thought Experiment on the Modern Research Enterprise

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

The Canadian government has restricted its funding program for academic research through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Environment Research Council, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation to members of academic institutions, academic hospitals, and research institutions. Importantly, the funding flowed through CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC or CFI are not passed through the Canada Social Transfer or Canada Health Transfer, but directly to principal investigators and academic institutions which may pose problematic when attempting to make transparent the milieu of the modern research enterprise. Our featured speaker, Tim Mt. Pleasant, will survey a Toronto Star article on this topic and provide some relevant context for consideration and discussion by participants.

Participants are asked to review the following article prior to the meeting, if possible.
Canada bans funding for some foreign-linked research (thestar.com)

Tim Mt Pleasant has spent six years undertaking academic training at the intersection of applied philosophy and bioethics, particularly in the ever-developing area of research ethics within a Canadian context. Tim completed his undergraduate training at TorontoMU in 2021, receiving his Honours Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with Distinction and was offered admission to postgraduate programs at Johns Hopkins University, NYU and McGill University.

For the last two years, Tim served as a Postgraduate Student representative to the Advisory Council on Human Research Ethics and was appointed by the Board of Governors to the Research Ethics Board while working to complete degree requirements for the Master of Arts in Philosophy with Bioethics Concentration. Tim is considering all available options on a path forward to meet his postgraduate research training while maintaining sight on the Research Ethics space, particularly as it relates to Indigenous communities, particularly First Nations, in Canada.

Please RSVP on Meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/298182472/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This meeting has been recorded: GMT20240204-164101_Recording_1856x1024.mp4

Sunday January 28th – [Online] Canada’s Housing Crisis

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a YouTube video about Canada’s Housing Crisis by YouTuber: The Plain Bagel. The video lays out a number of factors that have led to housing (both ownership and rental) that is increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to afford for most of us.  What should our relationship to housing be?  Should it be an investment or mainly a place to live?  How can we protect people in the face of huge market forces?  This topic and video were selected and will be introduced by Lola Bradford, a Toronto Oasis participant.

Please RSVP on Meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/298182471/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sunday January 21st – [Online] Walking to School

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a TEDx talk by Jennifer Keesmaat, an urban planner and Principal at Design Dialog, an integrated planning firm based in Toronto, Ontario. The topic and video were selected and will be introduced by Helen Lenskyj, a Toronto Oasis participant and Professor Emerita, University of Toronto, where she taught sociology.

Please RSVP on Meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/298182470/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sunday January 14th – [Online] Why Do We Make Life So Hard?

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a TEDx talk by Jon Jandai, a farmer from northeastern Thailand and co-founder of the Pun Pun Center for Self-reliance, an organic farm and learning centre (http://www.punpunthailand.org). The topic and video were selected and will be introduced by Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer.

Please RSVP on Meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/298134575/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sunday January 7th – [Online] How to Motivate Ourselves

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a TEDx talk by Dr. Tali Sharot, a neuroscientist at University College London and the director of the Affective Brain Lab (https://affectivebrain.com/). The topic and video were selected and will be introduced by Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer.

Please RSVP on Meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/298013698/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sunday December 31st – [Online] The Power of Fun

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a TED talk by Catherine Price (https://catherineprice.com/), a health and science journalist and author of the upcoming book: The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again. In this TED talk, she shares evidence-backed ways to weave playfulness, flow and connection into our everyday lives. The topic and video were selected and will be introduced by Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer.

Please RSVP on Meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/297885491/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sunday December 24th – [Online] The Power of Platonic Love

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a TED talk by Dr. Marisa G Franco, psychologist, professor, friendship & belonging expert, and author of the New York Times Best Seller book, Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make—and Keep—Friends. In this TED talk, which follows the format of a brief talk followed by a Q&A/interview, Dr. Franco discusses science-backed tips on how to make and keep friends. The topic and video were selected and will be introduced by Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer.

Please RSVP on Meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/297756018/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sunday December 17th – [Online] Choosing to Live

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a TEDx talk by Chinonye Chukwu, a Nigerian-American writer, producer, and director. In 2019, she became the first Black woman to receive the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival for her film Clemency. Then, in 2022 she released TILL, the first feature-length drama about Mamie Till Mobley and her son Emmett Till, whose lynching in 1955 galvanized the civil rights movement in the U.S. Chukwu’s film TILL has also been nominated for and won numerous awards.

In the TEDx talk we will be listening to, Chukwu talks about her experience of severe depression that forced her to, in her words: “make a choice: to float through this life existing by living by other people’s expectations or just go ahead and choose to embrace my life doing things on my terms.”

The video and topic were selected and intro & outro will be provided by Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer.

We will also be having live music this Sunday! Our featured musician will be Cassie Norton, a Toronto-based singer-songwriter, violinist, teacher and climate activist. Cassie is also the music director of Toronto Oasis.

Please RSVP on Meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/297617452/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This meeting has two recordings of our guest musician:
GMT20231217-162507_Recording_640x360.mp4
GMT20231217-173413_Recording_640x360.mp4

Sunday December 10th – [Online] How Present-Day Politics Changes the Past

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a YouTube video by YouTuber J. Draper. It’s about the story of a warrior-queen figure, Boudica and how her story has been distorted to suit all kinds of political narratives. The video and topic were selected and will be introduced by Lola Bradford, a Toronto Oasis participant.

Please RSVP on Meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/297481192/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sunday December 3rd – [Online] Cultural Implications of Toronto Slang

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a TEDx talk by Dr. Derek Denis, an assistant professor of linguistics in the Department of Language Studies at the University of Toronto Mississauga. The video and topic were selected and an intro & outro will be provided by Helen Lenskyj, a Toronto Oasis participant.

Please RSVP on Meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/297337752/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!