As is the case at universities across Canada and around the world, significant global and domestic events inevitably make themselves felt in our daily lives at Queen’s. We advance our mission in the context of history and society at large, so this is entirely to be expected: human suffering or depredations of nature anywhere should command our compassion and attention as a diverse community of scholars seeking solutions.

Walls to Bridges is a community-engaged learning program that began in 2011 as a partnership between Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario and the Faculty of Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University. For the past three years, the program has also been connecting Queen’s students with currently incarcerated students in Kingston.

The 400-level activity-based course is available to students in philosophy and sociology at Queen’s, with classes held in both the minimum-security and medium-security units of Collins Bay Institution.

To all members of the Queen’s community – students, staff, and faculty,

The presence of international students on Canadian university and college campuses became a matter of broad public interest when, this past January, the federal government imposed a cap on the number of study visa applications it would process annually for at least the next two years. This year the number of visas issued nationally will decline by approximately 35 per cent over 2023. 

On Friday, a group of people came together in front of Richardson Hall making demands of the institution regarding the war in the Middle East that are similar to those recently seen in colleges and universities across North America. A number of individuals at that gathering have now set up tents on campus, 15 as of Sunday afternoon, and they remain in place in the courtyard between Richardson Hall and Mac-Corry. 

Dear Queen’s Community,

As you may know, a total solar eclipse will take place the afternoon of Monday, April 8th. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event for all of us lucky enough to be in Kingston as the city is in its direct path and will provide the perfect opportunity to fully view the eclipse. The last fully visible eclipse at this geographical location occurred in 1349 and the next one will not take place until 2399. The full effect (totality) of the eclipse will last for over three minutes between 3:22 and 3:25 pm.

Financial challenges in higher education do not usually attract great attention in the national media. Recently, however, Queen’s has found itself much in the news as we have begun the difficult process of rebalancing our budget to take account of the very real fiscal constraints which affect every university in Ontario.

A poignant Photovoice exhibit has been popping up in various Kingston venues and was recently spotted at the North American Primary Care Research Group Annual Meeting in San Francisco. It combines images and candid quotes from Kingston area families about resiliency, despite the various challenges they face. It also demonstrates the unwavering commitment of a research team to community-engaged participatory action research and to United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 17, Partnerships for the Goals.