Former NDP MP and mayoral candidate Olivia Chow is joining Ryerson University as a visiting professor in the Faculty of Arts, the university announced this morning.
Chow will teach part-time on a subject she knows well – community organizing and activism. The university says a key part of her work will be student mentorship.
In a statement released on the appointment, Chow said that she is “excited about joining a city-building university like Ryerson. The opportunity to work with creative, dedicated, urban-oriented young people on the important challenges facing our next generation, our city and our society, is both humbling and thrilling.”
Mohamed Lachemi, provost and vice president academic notes in the statement that Chow “is well respected for her ability to forge alliances, build consensus and connect with community.”
Young people and activism have always been a focus of Chow’s work and career. She cut her teeth in the political grassroots, first as a school board trustee, where she earned a name for herself pushing early learning and childcare initiatives, and later as Toronto city councillor before becoming the federal NDP MP for Trinity-Spadina. She resigned that seat to run in the mayoral election last fall.
After an up and down campaign that saw her ultimately finish third, Chow spent time monitoring elections in Tunisia.
There had been talk of her joining Mayor John Tory’s administration in some capacity, perhaps on children’s issues. Tory hinted broadly in his victory speech about a possible role for Chow. But nothing seems to have come of that. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office did no immediately respond to a request for comment.
Chow became the focus of numerous personal and racist attacks during the campaign. She downplayed them during the race. But at a U of T panel discussion in January, Chow confided to being taken aback by the viciousness of some of the attacks, which included a cartoon published in the Sun of a slant-eyed Chow the day before the vote.
“We become complacent from time to time,” explained Chow, “and sometimes we think these racist statements or homophobic statements… ‘Eh, you know, they’re small, little things and they’re just a small minority, a small group.’ But when it comes from people that have the power, then it gives other people the licence to hate.”
Chow will be following in the footsteps of her husband, the late NDP leader Jack Layton, who also taught at Ryerson in the university’s politics and public administration program. Her appointment is for three years.
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