Winnie Ng
"Winnie's reputation for building broad alliances across different sectors and sites of social justice will serve her well in this role," said Usha George, dean, Faculty of Community Services. "Her contacts and networks are a real asset to Ryerson, and we anticipate students benefitting from meaningful interaction with external stakeholders in the social justice arena."
"Winnie was selected not only for her extensive experience in the social justice field but for her research interests in anti-racism, equality, and coalition and capacity building," said Mark Lovewell, interim dean, Faculty of Arts. "Winnie will be well positioned to direct the chair's mandate."
For over three decades, Ng has championed the rights of workers through her involvement with various labour organizations and networks. She is currently the acting executive assistant to the president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council. Prior to that, Ng was the acting executive director of the Labour Education Centre, and for eight years, she was the Canadian Labour Congress' Ontario regional director. She is the labour co-chair of Good Jobs for All Coalition, an executive member of the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance and a board member of Labour Community Services. Recognized for her leadership in the Canadian labour movement, Ng is the recipient of numerous distinctions including the Urban Alliance on Race Relations' Leadership Award, the United Farm Workers' Cesar Chavez Black Eagle Award and the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award. She is a sought-after speaker and contributor on women's rights, labour equity and anti-racism issues.
Ng holds a MA and PhD from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Her doctoral studies focused on re-imagining the labour movement from an anti-racism perspective. She graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Sociology.
I first heard of Winnie Ng in 1993, I think, when she ran in Trinity Spadina:
Ms Ng, who was born and raised in Hong Kong, hopes to break new ground tomorrow. The 42-year-old community worker is attempting to be the first Canadian Chinese woman to be elected to the federal parliament.
The area Ms Ng hopes to represent is the most ethnically diverse in the country.
As well as a large Chinese community, there are many new east Asian immigrants from Korea and Vietnam - living with Italians, Portuguese, Guatemalans and Chileans.
''It's traditionally been a downtown reception area,'' she said. ''Initially it was Jewish, and central European. Now it is much more diverse.'' Trinity-Spadina is inner city and poor. The clothing industry, which was at its heart, has been decimated, with 6,000 jobs lost over the past few years.
The plight of factory workers, and of the unemployed, is an issue close to Ms Ng's heart. When she came to Canada in 1968, she studied sociology at McGill University and went on to become a community worker and trade union organiser.
''The number one issue in this election is jobs. All immigrants share the same aspiration of a stable future for themselves, and for their families,'' she said.
Ms Ng assumed her position when party veteran Dan Heap retired, but with the NDP facing annihilation tomorrow, Ms Ng will have a tough fight. She is a founding member of the Coalition of Visible Minority Women and is fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and Hokkien. About 15 per cent of the residents of this NDP stronghold are of Chinese descent.
''It's not easy being a minority candidate,'' she told the Globe and Mail. ''As much as you can prepare for discrimination and recognise it is there, when it hits you right in the face, it's not easy.'' Her campaign has tried to reach all the communities. Canvassers speaking more than one language went from door to door; and the table of leaflets in the campaign office groaned under the weight of multi-lingual literature.
That reminds me. I am supposed to put a large Pantalone sign on her front lawn.