Articles from:May 2019

• Cheechoo receives warm welcome after Order of Canada investiture

  Thursday, May 09, 2019 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 9 May 2019 – R00079

  Brock University Chancellor Shirley Cheechoo was one of 39 people invested into the Order of Canada Wednesday, May 8 by Governor General Julie Payette.

  Thursday night, the Indigenous academic leader and award-winning artist was welcomed at a reception at Brock, where a packed house celebrated the remarkable achievement.

  “What this means to me is that it honours so many people,” Cheechoo said. “My mentors, my family, my friends and the elders who have taught me. Everyone walked this road together. I didn’t do it alone.”

  The Order of Canada is one of the country’s highest honours, recognizing Canadians whose service shapes society, whose innovations ignite imaginations and whose compassion unites communities. There are three levels of the Order of Canada and Cheechoo was invested as a Member.

  Among the speakers Thursday was Amos Key, Jr., who will begin his tenure as the University’s first-ever Vice-Provost of Indigenous Engagement on July 1.

  He said the opportunity to work with Cheechoo was one of the things that attracted him to the role at Brock.

  “I was grateful that Shirley opened the door for creating the position of Vice-Provost of Indigenous Engagement,” Key said. “Knowing her story and her journey and having spoken to her a couple of times, I thought it would be great if I got the role. I’m looking forward to working with her.”

  A member of the Cree nation, Cheechoo became the first woman and first Indigenous Canadian to be appointed to the ceremonial leadership role of Chancellor of Brock University in 2015.
  She is also the founder and executive director at Weengushk Film Institute on Manitoulin Island, which helps Indigenous and at-risk youth develop career skills or return to school.

  As a filmmaker, Cheechoo’s work has been shaped by her First Nations background. Her award-winning 2012 film Moose River Crossing examines characters who, like her, are survivors of the residential school system.

  Similar to her work in theatre and filmmaking, Cheechoo has helped to move Brock University through the power of stories, said Carol Jacobs, who was Brock’s Elder-in-Residence for nearly a decade.

  “In doing so, she has made this University a better place for the whole campus community and is most worthy of the award we celebrate tonight,” Jacobs said. “Much of the progress we have seen at Brock is directly connected to her advice and influence. She has helped to clear Brock’s path towards a stronger and more respectful relationship with Indigenous students, staff and local communities.”

  Brock President Gervan Fearon called Cheechoo “an inspiration on many different levels.”

  “I have witnessed how she inspires and energizes excited young people at Brock University Convocation ceremonies,” he said.

  Fearon said it’s not a coincidence that the new position of Vice-Provost for Indigenous Engagement was established during Cheechoo’s time as Chancellor.

  “Shirley’s arrival at the University has helped the Brock community better understand and embrace the importance of our Indigenous relationship,” he said. “I am excited at the thought of Amos helping to strengthen our connections with the Indigenous community both internally and externally — working to ensure that the community benefits from what Brock can do.”

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University [email protected], 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases

• Save the bees: Policy brief examines ways to help Niagara’s bee population

  Wednesday, May 08, 2019 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 7 May 2019 – R00078

  In the world of bee conservation, messy is beautiful. A slightly overgrown lawn, a garden with flowers native to the area, patches of soil, and scatterings of twigs and leaves are pure paradise for these tiny creatures.

  “The recipe for bees is surprisingly straightforward — provide flowers and nesting habitat, avoid pesticide use and like magic, bees appear and thrive,” Brock University Professor of Biology Miriam Richards says in her policy brief “Promoting Pollinators: Niagara Bees and How to Help Them.”

  The brief is the latest to come out of Brock’s Niagara Community Observatory (NCO), and was presented in front of a packed house at the University on Tuesday, May 7.

  Bee populations have been declining in Niagara, mainly because the places where they lived have been paved over or built upon.

  “Every field that is converted to a new housing development results in the death of thousands of bees and myriad other small creatures,” Richards says in the brief.

  The good news is that even small-scale efforts to create habitats and food sources for bees helps.

  Richards recommends a number of measures people can take at the household and societal level, including:

  • Grow vegetables such as squash and pumpkin that produce flowers
  • Plan gardens so there’s always some flowers in bloom
  • Leave patches of open soil, twigs and leaves in the garden so bees can nest and survive through the winter
  • Integrate some low-growing flowers, such as clover, into lawns
  • Plant gardens around government buildings with flowers and plants that attract bees
  • Enable local governments to limit the size of mall and business parking lots to provide more ground for bees

  Healthy, wild bee populations are crucial for the ecosystem. Bees are known as pollinators, which are animals that move from blossom to blossom collecting pollen and redistributing it.

  That pollen, in turn, fertilizes an ovum in the blossom, enabling the plant to produce seeds and fruits.

  Richards makes an important distinction between wild bees and honey bees, which were brought to North America during the time of colonialism to make honey for the colonists.

  “Honey bees are a non-native species that competes with wild bees for access to pollen and nectar resources,” says Richards. “In fact, honey bees are implicated in declines of wild bees, because they compete with wild bees for pollen and nectar resources and may also spread diseases to which wild bees are susceptible.”

  There are 800 species of bees in Canada and some 20,000 globally. Niagara has 150 species.

  The largest bee population in Niagara is sweat bees, known for licking human perspiration. Other major species in Niagara include bumble bees, carpenter bees, mining bees and masked or yellow-faced bees.

  Wild bee populations have been declining worldwide. In addition to habitat loss, the other major cause is poisoning from insecticides.

  Richards’ Brock Bee Lab has been monitoring bee populations at the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site in St. Catharines since 2003 to record the impact of such conservation efforts on bee populations. She and her team have produced a number of studies on the subject.

  In a recent video, Richards addresses the question: Why do bees live in groups?

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University [email protected], 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases