Niroja Arul

After USB drives and cable television, the infamous 9 to 5 schedule may be the next thing on its way out. Our work has changed so much over the years, yet our work schedules have remained mainly the same. The 9 to 5 workday is a legacy social agreement that has been grandfathered in from a drastically different world from the one we live in today. How is it possible that the vast majority of people need approximately 8 hours a day to meet expectations and complete their work? Does it make sense that the bulk of the workforce is expected to start operating optimally at the same time as…

I can’t breathe.  Those final words said by Eric Garner in 2014, as he was forcefully restrained and killed by New York police officers, have been heard again. Some people falsely thought that society had made progress because just 6-years prior, the world saw the first black President and First Lady elected to the White House. Let’s fast forward to May 25, 2020. The same words were heard again as video footage shows that four police officers pinned George Floyd, a black man, to the ground and lynched him to death. The video runs more than 7 minutes showing an unarmed and shackled black man pleading for his life under…

Traditions are customs and beliefs that are often passed down from generation to generation without question. Despite so much of the world changing around us, we have seen many traditions and ways of governing stay the same in Canadian politics. Upholding old ways of doing things often requires a great deal of trust and belief – sometimes even blind trust in the system. We have seen this in Canadian politics. Elected members of government in any given political party usually vote together with their party, even when at odds about an issue. There is a public demonstration of unity that is often led by the leader of the party. This…

The words have become familiar. “We acknowledge the land we are meeting on is the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples…” The reading of these words – or ones very similar – has become commonplace at the onset of academic lectures, film festivals, panel discussions, sporting events, and other gatherings. Territorial acknowledgments were introduced more recently to raise awareness that we inhabit the land traditionally belonging to Indigenous peoples. In other words, while we rarely use this exact phrase, we acknowledge that our gathering is taking place on stolen land. I imagine that the statement…

Over the years, I have noticed more and more organizations setting formal objectives related to workforce diversity or being recognized with awards for workplace diversity initiatives and achievements. In these cases, almost always, diversity is expressed as metrics: the percentage of employees in visible minority groups, the percentage of women in management roles, the number of diversity committees established, and more. Once an organization reaches the target number of women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, or any other desired yardstick, it may be tempting to assume that the goal of diversity has been achieved—but diversity and inclusion is more than just a series of checkboxes or numerical advancements. Having a…

At the 61st Grammy Awards, rapper Cardi B not only took home the Grammy for Best Rap Album of the Year for her body of work on Invasion of Privacy, but she also became the first female rapper to take that top prize in the Hip Hop genre. Out of the 5 nominees, she was the sole female contender. Her win was not surprising to many considering the immense success that she had in 2018. Invasion of Privacy was one of the most successful albums last year, and all 13 tracks were either certified gold or platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America – all these accomplishments as a…

Let me tell you a story. I wear the privilege of an individual who escaped the hardships of war. My parents took all 6 of their kids and fled the conflict zone of Sri Lanka to come to the safe haven that is Canada. Our journey was fraught with challenges along the way – poverty, feelings of isolation, and difficulties navigating a foreign system. We worked really hard to create a home for ourselves here. My family was lucky but our story is not unique. My siblings and I grew up in the Greater Toronto Area – first living in the borough of Scarborough for a short period of time,…