Quest for Beauty

Proceedings of the international symposium, “Language Planning in Capitals and Urban Environments,” held March 25–26, 2010 at the University of Ottawa, with sponsorship from the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute, Canadian Heritage, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages and the City of Ottawa.

The Language Planning in Capitals and Urban Environments Symposium brought together administrators and researchers from Canadian and European cities to discuss language planning in urban environments. Two important concepts emerged from the proceedings: municipal bilingualism as an asset that deserves to be promoted, rather than merely a question of regulation; and bilingualism as a symbol of openness and inclusion that cities can use to advantage to distinguish themselves from their competitors.

This book reflects the experience of one of Canada's most experienced urbanists. The vast majority of Canadians live in cities, and this trend will accelerate. Yet, discussion of urban requirements, policy and agendas barely registers for many citizens.

In this important book, François Lapointe, a practicing urbanist, provides a distinctive analysis of urban reality and an imaginative and thought-provoking vision of a sustainable, healthy, and resilient urban future.

He asks essential questions: What do we see in Cities? What does it tell us? What do we need to do about it? Cities as crucibles is a challenging read on governance and urbanism.

Much of the waste in public administration is ascribable to the displacement of the primary concern for performance and coordination by a primary concern for redistribution. In each sphere of activities, it has led to unreasonable rules inspired by egalitarianism that have triggered permanent allocational malefits.

The failure to confront the progressivist ethos and culture has rendered any action on the managerial front ineffective. First, the authors underscore the seemingly unanimous diagnosis of waste and dysfunctions in Canada’s federal public service and show that efforts to correct the situation have failed. This failure is ascribable to a fundamental incapacity to deal concurrently with the ill-advised managerial decisions of governments and the perverse progressivist philosophy inspiring them. Second, an MRI of the human resource (HR) regimes has been sketched as a guide to the detoxing and modernization of the HR regimes.

It was used to spell out some guidelines for the modification of management structures and competencies, and to probe the cultural underground of moral contracts that would need to underpin the new arrangements.

Cybersecurity is often examined through the lens of national security and organizational risks, focusing on data breaches and the technical and legal measures to prevent, address, and mitigate them. However, another critical dimension is the impact on individual security and dignity.

This edited collection explores the legal and technical aspects of self-security, addressing issues such as technology-facilitated abuse, social media, the sharing culture, and reputational harm.

With a distinct Canadian focus, it examines how the country’s policies, laws, and practices shape cybersecurity and individual protection. By providing insights into safeguarding personal security in a rapidly evolving digital landscape, this collection serves as a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers, and individuals alike.

The past few decades have been witness to a number of important developments with respect to the global intellectual property (IP) system, including shifts in focus between multilateralism and bilateralism/regionalism; growing recognition of the various ways in which IP intersects with and impacts areas including human rights, development, trade, and social justice; broad acknowledgement of the economic value of many IP rights; and important theoretical interventions that have challenged the values underlying the global IP system.

These developments have occurred alongside several other events, changes, and crises that have altered the landscape of our global communities. Chief among them are climate change; armed conflicts; the COVID-19 pandemic; economic changes to work; technological shifts including those relating to the internet and artificial intelligence, and their role in society; and growing recognition of the inequities that exist within and between societies as well as the ways in which these inequities are reinforced and maintained through systemic discrimination and ongoing colonialism.

Given these developments, changes, and crises, what is the future of IP law and policy? Featuring contributions from scholars from across Canada and around the world, this collection offers insights into eighteen possible futures for the global IP system.

Collectively, these chapters re-envision international agreements; rethink Canadian IP law; argue for the creation of space for Indigenous legal traditions; highlight the promises and perils of technology as it relates to IP; expose inequities and injustices, and provide possible pathways to correct them.

This novel paints the portrait of a Lebanese family that has settled in Montreal. The central figure is Dounia, a 75-year-old mother and grandmother. Hers is a story of loss—she first leaves her own village to live in her husband’s hometown, and then is wrenched from her homeland, not once but twice, to live in a strange land whose language and customs are foreign to her.

Dounia can neither read nor write, and she speaks only Arabic. Illiterate yet perceptive, nourished by Lebanese proverbs and pearls of wisdom, she has a unique and captivating voice. She struggles, yes, but manages to achieve fulfilment in her new world: “My home is where my grandchildren are, clinging to my neck, calling me Sitto Dounia … in my language. I want to die where my children and my grandchildren live.”

Abla Farhoud was an actor and playwright before becoming a novelist in 1998 with the publication of this novel, the French title of which was Le bonheur a la queue glissante, awarded the France-Québec – Philippe Rossillon Prize. Other novels followed, including Le Sourire de la petite Juive (published in English as Hutchison Street), Le dernier des Snoreux, and the posthumous book Havre-Saint-Pierre. Abla Farhoud passed away in 2021.