Vic Report Winter 2019

winter 2019

A Remarkable Retirement Janice Fukakusa Vic 7T6 p. 8

Oneida Baxhia Vic 1T8 p. 11

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president ’s page

Conscientious Engagement Beyond Vic by william robins Victoria University is well known for a distinctive approach to education. The personalized, broad based education championed at Victoria College—through face-to-face conversations in a supportive community—helps students to evaluate topics from multiple perspectives, to respect the viewpoints of others, and to respond persuasively with arguments of their own. Combined with a rich tradition of graduates who have gone on to contribute to our city, our country and our world, these ideals encourage Vic students to build bridges between their academic studies and their conscientious engagement with the worlds beyond the campus.

As I think about the life of the College over the last few months, I am struck by the many occasions we have had to celebrate Vic students, alumni and friends who have received public recognition for their successes and public service. Among our students, for example, special congratulations are in order for Edil Ga’al Vic 1T8, who has won a Rhodes Scholarship to pursue a Master of Science in African studies at Oxford: “She is a wonderful example,” in the words of Vic Principal Angela Esterhammer, “of the way Vic students apply their learning and research for the benefit of society.” Another shout should go out for the terrific achievements of Alina Dormann on the volleyball court, in her demanding life science program and as a volunteer: she has just received the Governor General’s Academic All-Canadian Commendation, bestowed upon the country’s top student athletes.

Victoria alumni continue to inspire us, as five recent appointments to the Order of Canada testify. Alexandra Johnston Vic 6T1, Hon. 1T4 transformed an entire academic field, the study of early English drama, even as she broke ground for generations of female academic leaders in Canada; a past principal of Victoria College, she is a pillar of the Vic community. John Kirk Howard Vic 6T5 has been recognized for his commitment to Canadian writing and publishing; just last year a group of Vic undergraduates had the thrill of publishing their research results as a book with his Dundurn Press. Christina Jennings Vic 7T4 has been recognized for her “commitment to the Canadian film industry and for her promotion of women in this field;” Vic students will know Blake Goldring’s Vic 8T1 name already because it graces the wonderful Goldring Student Centre at the heart of campus; the Order of Canada will tell them he is also a stalwart advocate for veterans and their families.

Don Lawson Hon. 9T8, a member of our Board of Regents for many years, and the recipient of a Vic honorary degree, has been honoured for improving career counselling services for underserved populations in Canada. The remarkable careers of these five inductees provide inspiring examples for our students, and their continued involvement at Vic makes the life of the College more rewarding for all.

As I take this moment to shine a light on the accolades earned by members of the Vic community, I am aware that, for many of our students, such stories of success will seem almost too remote to serve as inspiration. Most of our students are still making their way, still unsure about how their talents will find purchase on the world. Especially in this age of social media profiles, the continual comparisons of oneself to others too often generate anxiety and self-doubt.

Vic offers many supports for navigating this tricky stage of transition. One of the most useful supports is to welcome alumni back to campus to give fireside chats or to serve as mentors: when alumni admit that they were similarly unclear about their life’s direction, or when they recall how a teacher or friend offered a crucial vote of confidence, our students are eager to hear more. Stories of resilience, of trying again and again, are just as inspiring as stories about finally catching the prize.

When Victoria students graduate, we want them to be confident in their ability to work productively, both individually and as part of a team, to employ their talents to the benefit of their communities and to solve problems with creativity, intensity and effectiveness. As we develop special programs for students to hone these skills and apply them beyond the campus walls, I hope that you will join us in preparing students to excel in whatever endeavours come next.  2

vic report winter 2019

Winter 2019 Volume XLVII No. 2 Published under the authority of the Board of Regents of Victoria University in the University of Toronto.

Publisher: Louise (Huntingford) Yearwood Vic 8T6, Executive Director, Alumni Affairs & Advancement Editor: Jennifer Little Vic 9T5, Manager, Marketing and Communications Managing Editor: Liz Taylor, Communications Officer Copy Editor: Frank Collins Design: Randall Van Gerwen Cover: Janice Fukakusa Vic 7T6 in the Goldring Student Centre.

Photography by Horst Herget.

Vic Report is sent to all alumni, faculty, associates and friends of Victoria University.

Published three times a year; circulation 24,000; ISSN 0315-5072.

Publications Mail Agreement No. 40741521 Send letters and undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Vic Report c/o The Victoria Alumni Office 150 Charles Street West Toronto ON M5S 1K9 Tel: 416-585-4500 Toll-free: 1-888-262-9775 Fax: 416-585-4594 E-mail: vic.report@utoronto.ca Website: www.vicu.utoronto.ca Do we have your correct address?

Please send your updated address, phone number and e-mail address to the Victoria Alumni Office.

Please notify us if the graduate named in the address is deceased (enclose obituary or equivalent) and we will remove his/her name from the mailing list.

Victoria University respects your privacy and does not rent, trade or sell its mailing lists.

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A Career Focused on Equity and Diversity

Photographs: (Opposite page) Horst Herget; Courtesy Bose Sookdeosingh

Chandra “Bose” Sookdeosingh Celebrated as 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award Winner

Bose Sookdeosingh Vic 7T1 immigrated to Canada in the late 1960s. While working multiple jobs to provide for his young family, he enrolled at Victoria College. He went on to earn a BA in political science and economics and an MA from U of T in criminology. This master’s degree was the first step in a career of nearly 40 years dedicated to corrections with the Ontario Public Service.

Sookdeosingh’s work has made a profound impact on the professional practices of the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services. He changed the landscape of correctional services within Ontario’s Central Region: upon his retirement in 2011, then Deputy Minister Jay Hope remarked that Sookdeosingh had been “almost single-handedly responsible for diversifying Central Region” and had been “largely responsible for Community Services—as a division— being as diverse as it is today.”

His commitment to social justice, including racial equality within the ministry, began in the earliest days of his career. He joined the Bay Street Probation & Parole Office as a probation officer in 1974 and by the end of that year he had introduced a volunteer program after having persuaded his area manager that the office’s volunteer probation officers ought to better reflect the diverse populations they were serving. By the time Sookdeosingh became an area manager himself, he introduced more equitable hiring practices that would ensure candidates were given an equal opportunity, irrespective of their racial background. The result was a profound shift in the demographic composition of the region’s workforce.

Sookdeosingh’s efforts to diversify staff have also had a lasting impact; by the turn of the millennium, many of the area managers within the region had been trained by Sookdeosingh, meaning that his pioneering efforts have now become entrenched practice.

Sookdeosingh was not just a pioneer of diversity and inclusion practices within the ministry; he also introduced key innovations that changed the professional practice landscape more broadly. Sookdeosingh introduced a specialized service

delivery model that used the principles of streaming, based on the needs of different offender populations. The system meant probation officers would also need specialized training, and a key innovation in this respect was a 13-week training program to help officers effectively address the newly recognized problems associated with domestic violence. At the time of its introduction in 2000, this model was the only one of its kind across the entire province and it was later put into practice in offices across the Central Region.

Sookdeosingh spent most of his career as an area manager.

By the end of his career, he had risen to the post of regional director for Central Region (2009) and served as acting assistant deputy minister in 2010—the highest rank that a civil servant can achieve without appointment. When he retired in 2011, he was the recipient of the Viola Desmond Award for contributions to diversity.

Sookdeosingh’s contribution to and participation in the cultural life of the city were recognized in 2012 through his inclusion in a commemorative book produced by the High Commission of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to mark the 50 th anniversary of Trinidad’s independence and its diplomatic relations with Canada. Sookdeosingh was among a select group of Trinidadian Canadians who were celebrated for their contributions to Canadian society.

“My father’s University days provided him with the tools he needed for career success, and also nurtured his innate sense of justice,” says Rhea Sookdeosingh Vic 0T5. “He has influenced the next generation through mentorship and paved the way for people of colour to thrive within the Ontario Public Service.”

There will be a reception for Bose Sookdeosingh on May 31.

See page 6 for details. 

Emmanuel College Winners For lifetime achievement at the local, national or international level, Anne Simmonds Emm 9T6 has been named this year’s winner of the Distinguished Alumni/ae Award for Emmanuel College. She has a Master of Divinity from Trinity College and a Doctor of Ministry from Emmanuel College. Simmonds serves various communities in myriad ways as a facilitator, educator, former nurse, artist and theologian. She is well known for her extensive work as a counsellor with the dying and bereaved. Also, Emmanuel College has named this year’s Alumni/ae Service Award winners. In its second year, this award recognizes a single, noteworthy achievement.

Congratulations to this year’s winners: Barry F.H. Cooke Emm 5T7, Bruce Gregersen Emm 9T6, 9T9, John Joseph Mastandrea Emm 8T9, 0T0, Judith (Robinson) Russo Emm 0T6 and Janet L. (White) Stobie Emm 8T9.

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Minding Our Minds Conference Campus Drug and Alcohol Use Students, staff, faculty, alumni and community members filled Alumni Hall for the eighth annual Minding Our Minds conference on October 29. This year’s focus was on alcohol and drug use in the University context. Hosted by the Office of the Dean of Students, the conference had a wonderful line-up of keynote speakers, panelists, student reflections and professionally facilitated workshops. Franco Vaccarino, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Guelph, kicked off the day with his keynote speech, A Brain Roadmap to Drug Dependence. He explained the neurobiology of substance abuse and brain changes from alcohol and drug dependency.

He also emphasized the importance of early detection and intervention in substance use dependencies, especially on the still developing brains of students. Kelley Castle, dean, then led a panel discussion with two senior policy and research analysts from the Canadian Centre for Substance Use and Addiction, Catherine Paradis and Matthew Young. Their topic was Alcohol and Drug Use on Canadian Campuses. There was an interesting discussion about regulated drugs versus unregulated drugs.

The afternoon’s keynote speaker was Kevin Kruger, president and CEO of NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher

Kelley Castle, Andrea Levinson and Franco Vaccarino

Education. One in Three—The Mental Health Challenges of Today’s Post-secondary Students was his topic. One in three students has some kind of mental health disorder and this is the number one issue with which university presidents are dealing.

He posited that isolation due to technology plays a role in this staggering statistic. Andrea Levinson, U of T’s psychiatrist-inchief, health & wellness, moderated the student reflections. 

Join Victoria University’s Chancellor’s Council Interesting Events, Engaging Speakers—All for a Great Cause As a way of saying thank you to donors who give $1,827 or more to help students of Victoria’s colleges, you will receive membership in Victoria University’s Chancellor’s Council. Chancellor’s Council members receive invitations to special lectures and events, including the annual Charter Day luncheon at Vic and U of T’s annual Garden Party. Names are also included in the annual donor listing in Vic Report.

For more information, please contact Ruth-Ann MacIntyre at 416-585-4526, toll free at 1-888-262-9775 or r.macintyre@utoronto.ca.

Scotty Greenwood in conversation with Victoria University’s chancellor, Carole (Goss) Taylor, O.C., Vic 6T7, Hon. 1T2, at the 2018 Chancellor’s Council luncheon.

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Join us for the Vic One Plenary Lecture Series A Stimulating, Weekly Event for Students and Alumni Come back to campus and enjoy a lively discussion every Wednesday. The annual roster of speakers is consistently diverse and topical. For instance, Ambassador David Wright and the Hon. Bob Rae discussed the U.S. midterm elections in November, and on Hallowe’en, Ira Wells explored “Two Hundred Years of Frankenstein.”

Pictured here from October’s Judy LaMarsh Lecture for Women in Leadership, part of the plenary lecture series, is Carol Off, whose topic was “The #MeToo Movement: Thirty years late—but not a moment too soon.”

For a list of upcoming speakers, visit uoft.me/2hA.

DO YOU MATCH? SUPPORT VIC TODAY! You can DOUBLE or TRIPLE the impact of your annual donation with a MATCHING GIFT. Many employers sponsor matching gift programs and will match charitable contributions made by their employees. If you volunteer with Vic, your company may also offer a volunteer grant program.

Simply contact your corporate donations officer or human resources department to find out if your company matches gifts, and fill out the matching gift application form. Already have the form?

Great! Please mail it to Ruth-Ann MacIntyre, Office of Alumni Affairs & Advancement, 150 Charles St. W., 3rd Floor, Toronto, ON M5S 1K9.

Carol Off

Photographs: (Opposite page) Vic Alumni Office, Horst Herget; Vic Alumni Office

T IME TO N O M I N ATE !

The Victoria College Emerging Leader Award was created by the Alumni of Victoria College Executive in 2014. This award recognizes recent graduates, 40 years of age or under, who have excelled professionally or who have notable accomplishments in their volunteer service, such as community work, humanitarianism and philanthropy. It is presented annually at a reception, to a maximum of three Victoria College alumni.

Visit www.vic.utoronto.ca/alumni to nominate an emerging leader by April 30, 2019.

V I C T O R IA C O L LE G E EM E R G IN G L E A DE R AWAR D

Where There’s a Will…

Victoria University can be designated as a beneficiary in your Will. Here’s an example of a suggested wording: I give and bequeath to the Board of Regents of Victoria University, Toronto, Ontario, the sum of $ or % of my estate.

If you wish to designate a specific bequest (a scholarship, the library, etc.), please contact: Sharon Gregory Telephone: 416-813-4050 Toll-free: 1-888-262-9775 E-mail: sharon.gregory@utoronto.ca

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ALUMNI REUNIONS CELEBRATING THE HONOURED YEARS VIC 3T9, 4T4, 4T9, 5T4, 5T9, 6T4, 6T9, 7T4, 7T9, 8T4, 8T9, 9T4, 9T9, 0T4, 0T9, 1T4 and 1T9

Come back to Vic and to U of T for Alumni Reunion! Catch up with old friends on the Vic campus and find out what everyone has been up to over the years. U of T is also offering many events, including free lectures. Register for all events at www.alumnireunion.utoronto.ca.

FRIDAY, MAY 31 VIC CAMPUS WALKING TOURS MAY 31, 11 A.M. AND JUNE 1, 4 P.M. Rain or shine, they depart from the Hospitality Suite, Old Vic. Features: Burwash Lower Houses, Lester B. Pearson Garden for Peace and Understanding, Northrop Frye sculpture and E.J. Pratt Library.

HONOURED YEARS’ LUNCHEON 12 P.M. RECEPTION, 12:30 P.M. LUNCH Join honoured year graduates at this celebratory cash-bar reception and lunch.

President and Vice-Chancellor William Robins will present Chancellor’s medals to alumni celebrating 55 years or more since graduation. Tables will be organized by class year. $27 per person.

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD 5:30–7:30 P.M. RECEPTION Celebrate Victoria College’s 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient Bose Sookdeosingh Vic 7T1 with the Vic community and friends. All are welcome.

Hors d’oeuvres and cash bar. Remarks and award presentation at 6 p.m.

Dress code: business casual. Hosted by the AVC executive. $10 per person, includes one drink ticket.

awarded at 7 pm. To reserve a table call 416-585-4500. Open seating grouped by class year. $42 per person.

DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN VIC ONE? Join us as we also celebrate 15 years of the program! Why not gather some of your friends and create a Vic One table?

SATURDAY, JUNE 1 TWILIGHT RECEPTION AND DINNER 5 P.M. RECEPTION, 6–9 P.M. DINNER Victoria University President William Robins hosts this popular annual outdoor garden party in the quad! Live music, delicious hot and cold buffet food stations, cash bar. Dress to impress and visit the photo booth. Door prizes

STAY IN RESIDENCE Would you like to live like a student and stay in residence during Alumni Reunion? Lower Burwash residences are available. $57.50 per person, per night. The rate includes internet, and full breakfast in Burwash Dining Hall. Parking extra.

REGIONAL REUNIONS

VIC IN HONG KONG MARCH 27, 6–8 P.M.

VIC IN EDMONTON APRIL 10, 5:30–7:30 P.M.

VIC IN HALIFAX APRIL 24, 5:30–7:30 P.M.

President William Robins looks forward to hosting alumni and friends at a reception in Hong Kong.

All are welcome to attend the Victoria University event in Edmonton, hosted by President Robins.

Business attire.

Business casual attire.

Guests welcome.

Brief remarks at 6:30 p.m.

Location TBA

An opportunity to meet William Robins, president of Victoria University, and Michelle Voss Roberts, new principal of Emmanuel College. You will meet fellow alumni and hear all the latest news about Victoria College and Emmanuel College.

RSVP acceptances only to vic.alumni@utoronto.ca or register at my.alumni.utoronto.ca/hongkong.

Guests welcome.

Brief remarks at 6 p.m.

RSVP acceptances only to vic.alumni@ utoronto.ca or call 1-888-262-9775.

Business casual attire.

Location TBA Guests welcome.

Brief remarks at 6 p.m.

RSVP acceptances only to vic.alumni@ utoronto.ca or call 1-888-262-9775.

CLASS OF 5T9 REUNION LUNCH for EMMANUEL COLLEGE June 19, 11 a.m. RECEPTION, 12:30 p.m. LUNCH

’80s REUNION Fun, friendship and tunes with Iain McPherson Vic 8T5! Committee members for the pub include Eric Flint Vic 8T5, Susan (Allen) Gillmeister Vic 8T1, John Grant Vic 8T3, Ben Hawkins Vic 8T6, Jane Ruhl Vic 8T4, John Saunders Vic 8T3, Dawn (Somerville) Miller Vic 8T4 and Margot Stokreef Vic 8T6. $40 per person, register at my.alumni.utoronto.ca/80spub.

Join classmates and guests to celebrate our 60th anniversary!

New Emmanuel College principal, Michelle Voss Roberts, will provide news of the College. On-campus accommodation is available.

To book, call the Alumni Office at 416-585-4500 and reference this event. $18 per person.

OTTAWA REUNION On October 24, Victoria University took a road trip to Ottawa. At the event were three generations of the Brown family, pictured here, from left to right, Catherine Vic 1T0, Ruth Vic 4T5 and David Vic 7T1.

Since the 1850s, six generations of the Brown family have attended Victoria College, with members of the extended family and family connections adding up to 21 students!

JANICE FUKAKUSA VIC 7T6

REMARKABLE RETIREMENT

BY CATHARINE HEDDLE VIC 9T3

J

anice Fukakusa is busier in retirement than most people at the height of their careers. And she’s loving it.

The 64-year-old spent three decades at Royal Bank of Canada, where she started as an internal analyst—she is a chartered professional accountant and holds an MBA—and rose through the ranks to become chief financial officer and chief administrative officer.

She was named CFO of the year in 2014. Her name appears on countless lists of distinguished alumni and influential women in business and banking.

Retired since 2017 (though you wouldn’t know it to look at her calendar), Fukakusa is a corporate and non-profit director for countless organizations.

These include Cineplex Inc.; Wellspring, a network of community-based centres that help people cope with cancer; and a number of startups and venture capital funds. She chairs the boards of the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre Foundation and SheEO, a venture capital community that finances innovations by women.

“The beauty of retirement is that you can do what you choose,” says Fukakusa. “I wanted to apply my business skills to do something really good in the public sector. I can do that now that I’m retired.”

In 2017, she became the inaugural chair of the Canada Infrastructure

Bank, a new crown corporation that attracts private sector and institutional investment to revenue-generating infrastructure projects. The Canadian government has allocated $35 billion for them to invest in new projects that are in the public interest.

In 2018, she was appointed the first woman chancellor of Ryerson University. Her goal there is to amplify the student voice. She looks forward to visiting students in their classrooms, lectures and labs to learn from their perspectives and expectations of the working world. “These visits will offer a glimpse into the trends and influences affecting today’s students,” she explains.

“The students’ voices will inform what the organization does.”

Her passion for education stems from a simple belief: “Education is the great enabler for everyone,” she says.

“It broadens our thinking and allows everyone to reach for whatever they want to achieve.”

Maybe that’s why being back on a university campus feels a bit like coming home. Fukakusa graduated from Victoria College in 1976 with a BA in philosophy and political science. A day student, she spent most of her time at E.J. Pratt Library. Two women she met there in first year, one a student of economics and the other a commerce student, remain her lifelong friends.

“Tucked away south of Bloor Street, it was like not being in Toronto at all,” she recalls. “You could do so much at Vic.”

Fukakusa valued diversity from her earliest days at U of T. The college system, she believes, allowed for distinct cultures to exist while still exposing students to the different ideas that come from the variety of faculties and areas of study within each college. If she and her friends wanted to get a new perspective, all they had to do was to walk across to the other side of St. George.

Fukakusa admired the roles that some women had in the university at the time. Her English literature professor, Chaviva Hošek, went on to be an Ontario MPP and cabinet minister, and later served in the Prime Minister’s Office under Jean Chrétien.

Fukakusa entered the 1970s working world with a practical, no-nonsense approach. She wanted to have a family one day, so she knew she’d need to move in and out of the workforce. Planning ahead, she made sure to obtain the designations—MBA, chartered professional accountant—that would give her the edge she’d need when the time came.

She spent a few years with the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, gaining experience working with a variety of companies and industries. In 1985, she joined RBC and was soon on the path to leadership.

As a woman bank executive in the 1990s, she was a rarity. It didn’t take long for her to become known as a champion of diversity. Being a parent, she had to overcome the notion that

Photography: Horst Herget

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working mothers should accept a lesser position when they returned to work after having babies.

“Women have to think about having children in the context of everything else in their lives,” she says. “While I was having children, I stayed engaged, active and interested. It helped to maintain my confidence. And when I came back to work, I knew I could pick up again because I had the attributes and the knowledge that were needed.”

Unlike many women, Fukakusa didn’t chase the elusive work-life balance.

Instead, she thought as strategically about family life as she did about her work. “Of course you want to do it all— but as a parent, I would ask what do I need to do? What’s most important?”

Since she couldn’t be everywhere at once, she would decide where her presence would make the most difference, and that’s where she would be.

That doesn’t mean it was always easy, but Fukakusa has a knack for turning challenge into opportunity.

When she was first promoted to an executive position, a well meaning senior colleague told her that to accelerate her professional growth, she should make sure that her next move was to a different city.

“With a young family, I knew I wouldn’t and couldn’t do that,” she says.

She understood that this was the way that new executives developed the depth and breadth of experience that they needed to advance their careers,

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but relocation was not an option she would consider. “So I decided to build my skills laterally instead.”

It was a strategy that paid off.

During her time at the bank, she was at various times responsible for finance, tax, corporate treasury, investor relations, procurement, real estate, legal and more. She became a well rounded strategist, highly sought-after as a leader, an advisor and a director.

She was one of a handful of RBC executives who set the bank’s strategy in the early 2000s, earning her a considerable share of the credit for Canada’s ability to weather the 2008 financial crisis. The year she retired, she was the most highly paid woman executive in a major Canadian bank and, according to the Financial Post, one of the few whose compensation kept pace with that of her male counterparts.

Diversity has been a continuous theme throughout her career. But Fukakusa never sought diversity for its own sake. Her goal was to bring together people with diversity of thought and experience because those differences prompt people truly to listen to one another, to embrace a different interpersonal dynamic, to notice new problems and to generate better solutions.

“When you look at a university’s graduating class today, you see the landscape of what business will look like in 20 years,” she explains. “There’s a visible diversity, but that’s not the point.

It’s the intellectual diversity that really matters, and that’s how Canada will maintain its competitive edge.”

As the inaugural chair of the newly created crown corporation Canada Infrastructure Bank, Fukakusa had the advantage of building a board of directors from scratch, and diversity was a key goal. The board has a balance of male and female members from different regions and cultures of Canada, and Fukakusa made sure that no director knew more than one or two of the others before joining. The reason?

To make sure there’s good discussion around the boardroom table. “If you already know the other person, you think you know what they’re going to say,” she explains, “and you don’t really listen.”

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“ Education is the great enabler for everyone. It broadens our thinking and allows everyone to reach for whatever they want to achieve.”

This kind of quiet, confident wisdom is one of Fukakusa’s signature strengths. Another is the ability to make quick decisions, a skill she honed during her experience with breast cancer a decade ago. Fukakusa worked right through her treatment.

“That experience prompted me to make decisions faster,” she says.

“I realized that things happen that I couldn’t anticipate, and that gave me a sense of urgency. Now, when I’m doing things, I get to them and get them done.

I try to cut the cycle short, because a delay on my part can hold up hundreds of people. Sometimes I make mistakes, but it’s always possible to recover.”

These two skills—listening to others, and swift decision-making— are central to Fukakusa’s approach to strategic planning.

“You scan the environment, and understand who’s interested in what you’re doing, and who can benefit from it,” she says. “Then you ask yourself, how does our core mission align with what these people need? You set clear objectives so that you can measure them, and if it’s not working, you can pivot, reform and move ahead.”

A good strategy, she continues, will have a variety of options already mapped out, so that an organization can quickly shift if it needs to. “You have to ‘call it’ early.”

Fukakusa believes that success comes from focusing on the journey, not the destination. “I believe in rolling up your sleeves and adding value,” Fukakusa says simply. But when pressed, she reveals a few secrets of her own success.

First, she says, is to cultivate a sense of curiosity. “Solving a problem can be satisfying,” she says, even if it isn’t glamorous or high-profile. “It’s not always about the vertical,” she adds, meaning that a person shouldn’t always

seek to climb the ladder or advance on a single professional path. Instead, it’s about “the horizontal”—acquiring new skills and learning new things.

Second, she says, is to “complete things.” This takes determination and perseverance, but also clarity— understanding the precise goal, so that it’s clear whether it has been achieved.

A third quality to cultivate, according to Fukakusa, is a sense of resiliency and a willingness to shift directions. Not a fan of the word “fail,” she instead thinks in terms of “making the call” that a change is needed. To preserve her ability to do this, she avoids becoming invested in a particular outcome.

Finally, she has a word of advice for women. Many women, she says, want to be sure that they have 80 per cent of the skills they need for a new position before they accept it. Most men will pursue a new role if they know they’ve got at least 50 per cent of the skills needed, “and they sell it like they’re at 80 per cent,” says Fukakusa. “Women need a good sponsor who will push them.”

Fukakusa draws a distinction between a mentor and a sponsor. Mentors coach, give advice and share their perspectives, she says. A sponsor, by contrast, has “skin in the game.” Just as a venture capitalist has an interest in a startup’s success, a sponsor has an interest in the success of their protégé. “That means they won’t just sponsor you into new opportunities,” she says. “If it doesn’t work out, they’ll find a way to sponsor you out and into something else.”

What does the future hold for this distinguished Vic grad? “I’m trying to get retirement right . . . to be more measured. Once I get my schedule under control, I’d like to do more travelling.”

For now, she is content with building breaks into her busy schedule and appreciating the flexibility that retirement affords. Whenever possible, she walks to appointments, often cutting through Vic on her way to a meeting. She takes time to appreciate the beauty of the campus and enjoys recalling the time she spent on the Vic grounds as a student.

Throughout her entire career, she has not been focused on the destination.

She’s enjoying the journey. 

young alumni profile

IN(FINITE) Oneida Baxhia and Friends Selected as Finalists in International Film Festival

Photography: Vic Alumni Office

Oneida Baxhia, Samyuktha Movva and Shahen Yashpal

There were more than 2,400 entries from 127 different countries to the 2018 We Art Water Film Festival, and four life science graduates are among the finalists. A shared love of film and a passion for eco-consciousness led friends, Oneida Baxhia Vic 1T8, Samyuktha Movva 1T7, Lucas Jaryd Iringan Te 1T7 and Shahen Yashpal 1T7, to try their hand at writing, casting, directing and filming a three-minute short.

“We had always wanted to try filmmaking,” says Baxhia, “but never seemed to find the right opportunity.” These alumni were eager to create a socially conscious film, “something that has the power to raise questions, raise awareness and enact change,” she says.

Movva told U of T News that the idea for the film came to the group in 2017 while the Cape Town water crisis was in the news; the city’s water supply was running dangerously low after a three-year drought. Reading about the crisis inspired the young filmmakers to create awareness about the issue by taking action.

The result of their collaborative effort is IN(FINITE), which documents the life of a university student who finds himself suddenly without water. Yashpal stars in the film as the protagonist, and we see him wasting water at the sink, jogging by a lake and drinking from plastic water bottles. The short is filmed entirely in Toronto, so local viewers will spot cameo appearances of the Emmanuel College library, the Goldring Student Centre and Museum subway station, giving the it a distinctly Toronto feel and a nod to Baxhia’s alma mater.

“We wanted our central protagonist to represent all of our society here in Toronto,” says Baxhia, “and we wanted viewers to get a sense of his daily routine, how he takes water for granted and whether or not a water crisis would force him to change his habits.”

The four graduates met as students in the life sciences program at U of T, but they really bonded over their love of movies. Baxhia and Movva, friends since high school, got together almost weekly to hit theatres across Toronto. Yashpal, although a New College student, cut his teeth in film after taking a comparative literature and Latin American studies course at Vic with Eva-Lynn Jagoe, an associate professor from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Te, who had previously made short films using video software and equipment borrowed from Hart House, encouraged the group to make their vision a reality, with himself behind the lens. Incidentally, he also designed the artwork for the film.

Baxhia credits her co-curricular experience in Vic’s Humanities for Humanity program with broadening

her perspective and learning how to engage collaboratively with others.

“In my last year at Vic, I got involved in the Humanities for Humanity program through Ideas for the World. The program brings together community members and undergraduate student mentors one evening a week, over dinner, to listen to lectures and engage in discussion about a selection of texts from late medieval Europe to contemporary Toronto— literature, history, political theory, philosophy, sociology and economics. It was such a unique opportunity and provided me, and others, with so many different perspectives to come together to have conversations that I would not have had otherwise. It was an experience I was grateful for and looked forward to every week.”

Ultimately, the foursome hope the film will encourage viewers to be more mindful about how they use water in their daily lives. The completion of a collaborative project like this also serves as inspiration to current students and alumni alike to try something new. “We loved collaborating on this project,” says Movva. “I hope we can continue to tell stories together.”

Victoria University alumnus Northrop Frye Vic 3T3, Emm 3T6 once wrote, “The fundamental job of the imagination in ordinary life, then, is to produce, out of the society we have to live in, a vision of the society we want to live in.” Access to safe, clean drinking water for all is a vision to get behind.

The We Art Water Film Festival is an international shortfilm competition organized by the We Are Water Foundation.

The non-profit foundation, founded in 2010, works to develop solutions to problems associated with water shortages and deficiencies. The festival aims to raise awareness about the world’s water problems. Visit www.wearewater.org and click through to this year’s finalists and winners of the film festival. 

SOME OTHER VIC ALUMNI IN FILM OR TELEVISION Philip Cha Vic 0T6 Jocelyn Geddie Vic 0T7 James Hartnett Vic 0T5 Lisa Hepner Vic 9T3 Christina Jennings, C.M., Vic 7T4 Norman Jewison, C.C., Vic 4T9, Hon. 0T1 Gary Lang Vic 9T1 Jacqueline Lyanga Vic 9T4

Steve Paikin, O.C., Vic 8T1, Hon. 1T1 Ann Pornel Vic 0T8 Lynne (Bryja) Spencer Vic 0T2 Simone Stock Vic 0T3 David Sutcliffe Vic 9T3 Donald Sutherland, O.C., Vic 5T8 Anne Tait Vic 5T4 Alan Taylor Vic 8T1 Kaaren Whitney-Vernon Vic 8T7

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milestones

CAREERS, AUTHORS, HONOURS On December 29, 2018, Margaret Atwood, C.C., Vic 6T1, Hon. 8T7 was appointed to the British Order of the Companions of Honour.

The order includes Queen Elizabeth II and a maximum of 65 members.

The order was founded in 1917 by King George V to reward outstanding achievement in the arts, science, medicine or government.

Breese Davies Vic 9T5 has been appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Justice in and for the Province of Ontario in Toronto. She is a past member of Victoria University’s Board of Regents.

This past October Konrad Eisenbichler (professor in the Vic Renaissance Studies Program) was inducted into the “Golden Book of Illustrious Persons” (Albo d’oro dei personaggi illustri) of the Associazione Fiumani Italiani nel Mondo–Libero Comune di Fiume in Esilio. The association, which is headquartered in Padua (Italy), gathers Italians from the city of Fiume (today, Rijeka, in Croatia) and their descendants.

Although not from Fiume/Rijeka himself, Eisenbichler has contributed significantly to scholarship on the history, literature and culture of the city by publishing articles on the works of Fiuman writers and, more recently,

send us your news: vic.report@utoronto.ca

2019 VIC BOOK SALE “There is no friend as loyal as a book,” said Ernest Hemingway.

Don’t miss the 28th annual Vic Book Sale and help support Friends of the Library. The sale is in Old Vic, 91 Charles Street West. Proceeds go to Victoria University Library Thursday, Sept. 19 2 p.m.– 8 p.m.

Only day with admission fee: $5, students free with ID

Want to volunteer?

416-585-4585 or 416-585-4471

Friday, Sept. 20

10 a.m.– 8 p.m.

Blog: library.vicu.ca/friends/blog

Saturday, Sept. 21

11 a.m.–6 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 22

11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 23

10 a.m.– 8 p.m.

Want to donate?

Books on all subjects and vinyl records are welcome.

BURWASH BRUNCH: SAVE-THE-DATE Mark Sunday, September 22 on your calendar and plan to come back to Vic for brunch in Burwash and the Vic Book Sale! Details to come in the next issue of Vic Report.

the collection Forgotten Italians: JulianDalmatian Writers and Artists in Canada (forthcoming from the University of Toronto Press). The citation on the award certificate reads (in translation): “For his special accomplishments in the world-wide dissemination of the works of poets and writers from Fiume and for his commitment to advancing knowledge and university-level education on the issues specific to our culture and to our reality of a people scattered by the exodus from its lands of origin along the Adriatic Sea.” Doyali Islam’s Vic 1T2 second poetry book, heft (McClelland & Stewart, 2019), was selected for the Spring 2019 Poetry Preview by CBC Books.

Rosanna Turcinovich Giuricin (AFIM-LCFE) and Konrad Eisenbichler

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vic report winter 2019

E-mail: vic.booksale@utoronto.ca

Fiona Moore Vic 9T7 has written her first novel: a science-fiction murder mystery called Driving Ambition (Bundoran Press, 2018). In the not-toodistant future, intelligent Things are recognized as sentient beings—but do they have the same rights as humans?

And what about the free-floating Intelligents deep within the Internet?

Thompson Jennings is a man with unique problems and unique abilities— he can interface between the human and machine worlds, acting as a gobetween in labour negotiations and other disputes; however, when one of his clients, a sentient taxicab, is murdered, his problems multiply and his abilities are stretched to the limit.

On May 10, 2017, James V. Scott Vic 7T3, Emm 7T6 received an honorary doctorate from United Theological College in Montreal related to his role representing the United Church of Canada during the negotiations of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement (IRSSA), and the resulting Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. A similar honour was bestowed on him in May 2018 by the Vancouver School of Theology.

send us your news: vic.report@utoronto.ca

milestones

Order of Canada Accolades Congratulations to the following five Victoria alumni who were named Members of the Order of Canada this past December! Blake Goldring Vic 8T1 for his “contributions to business and philanthropy, notably for the well-being of veterans and their families;” John Kirk Howard Vic 6T5 for his “commitment to Canadian authors and to a domestically owned publishing industry;” Christina Jennings Vic 7T4 for her “commitment to the Canadian film industry and for her promotion of women in this field;” Alexandra Johnston Vic 6T1, Hon. 1T4 for her “scholarly contributions to the humanities, notably in early drama studies;” and Donald Lawson Hon. 9T8 for his “contributions to educational initiatives and career development supporting Canada’s underserved populations.”

Photograph: Vic Alumni Office

HONOURING NORTHROP FRYE A plaque unveiling took place at Emmanuel College on December 6 to commemorate the national, historic significance of Northrop Frye Vic 3T3, Emm 3T6. The plaque will be installed on the Victoria campus later this spring to recognize the famed literary critic and theorist. Frye taught in Victoria College’s English department from 1939 to 1991. From left to right: Richard Alway, chair of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada; Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and MP for Toronto-St. Paul’s; William Robins, president of Victoria University; and Angela Esterhammer, principal of Victoria College.

milestones

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milestones

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Fifty years ago, John Finley Vic 7T0 (linebacker), and Aarne Kärtna Vic 7T1 (running back) were teammates on the 1968 Mulock Cup championship Victoria College football team. The Mulock cup is the oldest football trophy in Canada, first awarded in 1894. In September 2018, John and Aarne were teammates again on the championship team in the Oakville Masters Men’s Slo-Pitch League (OMMSPL). Another member of the 1968 Vic football team, Peter Fairgrieve Vic 7T0, (running back and that year’s Professor Grant Trophy winner for most contributions to the football team), was also active in the OMMSPL until recent hip replacement surgery put him on the sidelines. After leaving Vic, John Finley had a career as an educator in Newfoundland and Ontario, Aarne Kärtna became a firefighter in Etobicoke, and Peter Fairgrieve is a partner in the Canadian firm Martyn Dooley & Partners. Bonds and friendships forged 50 years ago are still intact and strong.

IN MEMORIAM

BIRTHS

Gordon Ralph Elliot Vic 6T7, in Toronto, September 30, 2018.

To Connie (Jeakins) Hendry Vic 9T2 and Ian Hendry a daughter, Bronwyn Jean Marie, on March 6, 2018, in Hamilton, Ont. A sister for Calvin Curtis Fennell and Kendra Rachael Fennell.

To Chelsie McKnight Vic 0T6 and Jim Thanos a daughter, Eleni Athanasia Louise Thanos, on June 22, 2018, in Toronto.

To Karen Whaley Vic 0T6 and Peter Quinsey Vic 0T6, a daughter, Alexandra Evelyn, on September 29, 2018, in Toronto.

Donald Adam Burwash Vic 5T4, in Toronto, November 16, 2018. Donald was an honorary president of the VWA. John Alexander Cameron Vic 5T8, in Hamilton, Ont., September 26, 2018.

G. Bernice “Bernie” (Doolittle) Clark Vic 5T2, in Orillia, Ont., October 22, 2018, younger sister of Lori (Doolittle) Danahy Vic 4T7.

Raymond Eugene Lucas Vic 5T1, in Kelowna, B.C., November 22, 2018.

John Clarke MacKenzie Vic 5T0, in Sidney, B.C., January 12, 2019.

Robert Charles (Bob) Martin Vic 5T4, in Toronto, August 5, 2018.

Beverly June (Read) Nelson Vic 5T7, in Oakville, Ont., October 14, 2018.

John Goulding Parkinson Vic 5T1, in Thornhill, Ont., January 19, 2019.

Joyce Ellen (Bingleman) Coggins Vic 5T2, in Kingsville, Ont., October 4, 2018.

Ronald Joseph Lionel Cornfield Vic 5T4, in Etobicoke, Ont., November 14, 2018.

Pauline Elizabeth Culley Vic 5T7, in Toronto, July 13, 2018.

Elizabeth Ann (Coulter) Dodds Vic 5T0, in Uxbridge, Ont., December 4, 2018.

Margaret Jean (Thornton) Gillespie Vic 4T8, in Edmonton, Alta., October 29, 2018.

Mary (Marks) Raal Vic 4T8, in Johannesburg, South Africa, September 25, 2018.

John Arthur (Jack) Sawyer Vic 4T7, in Toronto, December 17, 2018.

John was a professor who taught economics at U of T from 1960–1990.

Carolyn (Peart) Schneider Vic 5T7, in Saarbruecken, Germany, November 14, 2018.

Pauline Miriam (Hill) Scott Vic 4T5, in Ottawa, November 24, 2018.

Josephine Annette Smith Vic 5T3, in Grimsby, Ont., December 31, 2018.

Elinore Frederica (Armour) Haig Vic 4T4, in Sarnia, Ont., December 8, 2017.

Harold Ross Wallace Vic 5T5, in Barrie, Ont., November 21, 2018.

Donald Stuart Henderson Vic 5T3, Emm 5T6, in Toronto, December 8, 2017.

Betty Frances (Brown) Wilkinson Vic 5T2, in Windsor, Ont., January 23, 2019.

David (Dave) Bremner Jackson Vic 4T9, in Burlington, Ont., December 22, 2018.

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G. William Bahen Vic 5T0, in Toronto, August 31, 2018.

Margaret Rose (Watson) Johnston Vic 5T7, in Winnipeg, Man., November 7, 2018.

vic report winter 2019

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faculty forum

Reconciliation: A Canadian Issue

Photograph: Diana Tyszko

by pamela klassen As is now widely known, thanks to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, prominent Canadian churches, including Vic’s founders, the Methodists and the United Church, helped to bring the residential school system into existence, and to keep it running. These schools severed children from their families, languages, ceremonies and land, while placing them at the mercy of teachers and administrators who often did them grave harm. The TRC’s Calls to Action included several calls focused on how churches, schools and universities can acknowledge the past and work towards truth and reconciliation, which many communities at U of T, including Vic, have taken up.

So why do some Canadians, including senators, newspaper columnists, professors and others who have been granted great power to amplify their voices, persist in questioning and even denying the devastating impacts of residential schools? We live in a time of residential-school deniers: in a haunting parallel to Holocaust deniers, some people today take to social media to deny that residential schools ever existed. In such a time, cultivating public memory of the history and legacy of residential schools is a crucial step of truth on the way to reconciliation.

In my latest book, The Story of Radio Mind: A Missionary’s Journey on Indigenous Land, I tell one chapter in a much bigger story of what I call the “spiritual invention” of Canada. I show how a B.C.-based Anglican archbishop named Frederick Du Vernet (1860–1924), who as a young man studied just across the street from Vic at Wycliffe College, ended up proclaiming that he discovered proof of mental telepathy, calling it “radio mind.”

Moving to Ts’msyen territory in 1904 as a missionary doing what the church called “Indian Work,” namely converting Indigenous people, he also threw himself into the so-called “White Work,” building churches for the white settlers streaming into the northwest along with the railway in the 1910s. It was an unusual step for an archbishop to so openly embrace psychic research; it was doubly unusual that he also became a sharp critic of residential schools for Indigenous children.

The very idea of Canada was born out of visions that mixed white supremacy and Christian triumphalism. Recognizing this may sit uncomfortably with stories of Canada celebrating our multicultural diversity, but to ignore how celebrations of whiteness and Christianity are foundational to the Canadian nation—and to the establishment of residential schools— is to set ourselves up for failure. Without recognizing this history, Canadians will not be able to effectively work against today’s “white nationalists” who root themselves in old, and still powerful, traditions of celebratory whiteness, as recent debates over the role of John A. Macdonald in the residential school system show. Without recognizing the complex role of Christianity in nation-building, Canadians will not be able to work for reconciliation in a way that meaningfully acknowledges Indigenous sovereignty in a nation-to-nation relationship.

It’s worth remembering that some white men in the early decades of Canada, such as Peter Bryce, a Canadian public health official, spoke out about the terrible consequences of residential schools for Indigenous children. Cindy Blackstock, a U of T alumna and the executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, has worked to revive Bryce’s story, helping to set up a memorial to him at a Presbyterian church in Ottawa. (See also the WaakebinessBryce Institute for Indigenous Health at U of T.) A lesser-known critic of residential schools, Frederick Du Vernet recognized the violence and trauma of residential schools because he listened to Indigenous parents who told him about it. Nisga’a parents refused to send their children to the tuberculosis-infested schools. Haida parents lamented that they were compelled to send their children “at a tender age, and cannot see them for many years. Parting from our children, for eight or ten years, is a hardship.” Du Vernet pleaded with government and church officials in Toronto and Ottawa to stop the deadly practice of residential schools, to no avail.

As Michael Cheena, a Cree survivor of residential schools, said recently on CBC radio: “Reconciliation is a Canadian issue.” For Canadians to accept this, we need to listen better to the Indigenous people who have been telling the stories of their nations and this land from time immemorial. Then we need to ask how listening to these stories requires us to change our founding narratives, including those of our own institutions.  Pamela Klassen is a Victoria College fellow, professor in the Department for the Study of Religion and vice-dean, undergraduate and international, for U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science. Her most recent books are The Story of Radio Mind: A Missionary’s Journey on Indigenous Land (University of Chicago Press, 2018) and Ekklesia: Three Inquiries in Church and State (University of Chicago Press, 2018). For another perspective on Du Vernet, also see her collaborative digital project supported by the E.J. Pratt Library, Kiinawin Kawindomowin Story Nations, at http://storynations.utoronto.ca.

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on campus

Career Kickstarter One of William Robins’ presidential priorities is to ready students to flourish beyond University. With this as a top priority, Vic devoted the week of September 24 to helping current students figure out their next steps with a series called Career Kickstarter.

Hosted by the Office of Advancement & Alumni Affairs, the Office of the Registrar, the Office of the Dean of Students and the Office of the Victoria College Principal, every day had a unique focus on life after Vic. There was a graduate school information session, a law school Q&A panel, sessions on careers in medicine, social justice and the arts. Topics of discussion included application processes, funding possibilities, the reality of job markets, how to cultivate academic references, grade point averages required for programs, how to find the right university and field of study, and much more. An additional draw was that every session had many recent grads who could answer current students’ questions on each area of focus.

The social justice session with (left to right) Zack Medow Vic 1T5, Ashley Harripersad Vic 1T6 and Kelci Archibald.

Alumni Calendar of Events March–April Regional Reunions Join us in Hong Kong, Edmonton and Halifax! See page 7 for details.

Photograph: Vic Alumni Office

March 14 Friends of Victoria University Library “Marshall McLuhan’s Eighteenth Century” with Paula McDowell, Chapel, Old Vic, 4 p.m. This is the annual Professor J.R. de J. Jackson Lecture, Toronto Centre for the Book in conjunction with the Friends and the McLuhan Centre.

March 27 VWA “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The Hype and Hope of Artificial Intelligence” with Jimmy Ba, assistant professor at U of T’s Department of Computer Science, Alumni Hall, Old Vic, 2 p.m.

March 27 Friends of Victoria University Library Annual General Meeting, Room 115, Old Vic, 6 p.m. All are welcome.

March 27 Friends of Victoria University Library “Puzzles and Brain Health” with Marcel Danesi, Alumni Hall, Old Vic, 7 p.m. This is the annual Professor F. David Hoeniger Lecture.

April 17 VWA Annual Luncheon “Current Issues in International Politics” with David Wright, Kenneth and Patricia Taylor Distinguished Professor in Foreign Affairs, Alumni Hall, Old Vic, 11:40 a.m., $38 per person. Registration and payment required by April 9. The AGM follows.

April 17 Fine Art Lecture “A Selection of the Very Best Paintings in North American Art Galleries” with Stephen Grant Vic 7T0 and Julian Porter Vic 5T9. Alumni Hall, Old Vic, 6 p.m., includes wine and cheese.

Emily Carr Forest, c. 1935 Oil on canvas

Visit the Vic website for the most up-to-date event information and news at www.vicu.utoronto.ca.

To subscribe to Vic’s e-newsletter, contact vic.alumni@utoronto.ca.