Olivia Chow, MP for Trinity-Spadina, will talk to students Monday about inequality in Canada and the increasing disparity between the rich and the poor.
The talk, “Social Justice and Just Society”, will take place July 9, from 6:30 to 9:30pm, in Room D of Curtis Lecture Hall, 
Keele campus. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Chow will also discuss the evolution of federal government policies that discriminate and undermine human rights.
Following the discussion, students in the Social Interaction and Community (SOCI 2060) course, taught by Peter Dawson of York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, will present Chow with a petition of some 14,000 names protesting child poverty. The petition – the names for which were gathered by last year’s class – is expected to be presented by Chow to the House of Commons later this year.
The students also collected more than 7,000 pounds of food, which went to the North York food bank.
Chow is the current NDP transport and infrastructure critic, advocating for the mobility and safety of all Canadians. Prior to becoming the MP for Trinity-Spadina in 2006 and being re-elected in 2011, Chow was a councillor with the Toronto City Council from 1991 and vice-chair of the Toronto Transit Commission.
The event is sponsored by students and teaching staff of the course SOCI 2060, York’s Centre for Human Rights and the Faculty of Health at York.