An insightful examination of the deepening humanitarian crisis in Mexico will be the focus of the Winter 2017 Michael Baptista Lecture, which is presented on March 8 by York's Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC).
Sergio Aguayo
The lecture, titled "Violence in Mexico and Canadian Refugee Policy", will run from 5 to 8pm at the Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan Theater, Accolade East at York University and features host Centro de Estudios Internacionales in El Colegio de Mexico Professor Sergio Aguayo, along with a panel of Canadian immigration experts.
Renowned scholar and human rights activist, Aguayo will speak on the humanitarian crisis in Mexico, which has been marked by the targeted assassination of journalists, the mass disappearance of 43 students from a rural teachers college, and the deaths of hundreds of thousands in a war between the state and powerful drug cartels.
To escape criminal violence as well as poverty, millions of Mexicans and Central Americans have fled north to the United States and Canada in recent years. A panel of immigration experts will examine the implications for Canadian immigration policy, at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump enacts the immigration measures he has long promised, while the Trudeau government lifts the visa requirement for Mexican citizens introduced by its predecessor.
Born in Jalisco, Mexico, Aguayo is a professor and researcher at the Centro de Estudios Internacionales in El Colegio de Mexico, where he currently coordinates the Seminar on Violence and Peace. He has taught at universities in Mexico, the U.S. and Europe, and holds a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. A leading academic and journalist, Aguayo has published widely on human rights and violence in Mexico.
The lecture will be chaired by Alan Simmons and Luin Goldring of York University; the panel includes Judy Hellman, York University; Kathy Price, Amnesty International; and Loly Rico, Canadian Council for Refugees.
Co-sponsors of this event include Common Frontiers, Casa Maiz, Amnesty International, and York's Centre for Refugee Studies.
There will be a reception following the event.