Alisha Zaidi is a 2023 graduate from the University of Guelph-Humber with an Honours Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Justice Studies and a Diploma in Community Justice Services. She plans to attend law school and is focused on shedding light on the culture and history of the South Asian and Muslim communities. This is her first publication.
Emma Smith is currently attending Humber College and will complete her second year in the Visual and Digital Arts program as of 2024. Though she is pursuing a future in the visual arts, she frequently delves into the world of creative writing when given the time and opportunity to do so. After hearing about the writing competition through her required Workplace Writing class in the Winter 2023 Semester, she hopped on the chance to submit her work, which for her, would be the first time she’s ever done so. Emma was thrilled to hear that her poem was selected as the winner. Not too long after, she got to witness her first ever winning work be published.
Born June 3, 1939 in London, England, Robert A. Gordon immigrated to Canada in 1946. His family settled in Montreal, where he attended Lower Canada College. Due to his small stature, his classmates at LCC called him “Squee” after “Pipsqueak”. Although he later outgrew many of them in terms of height, he never outgrew the nickname.
Squee excelled at sports as a young man, particularly basketball. After finishing at Lower Canada College, Squee went on to study History (graduated 1960) and Education (graduated 1963) at Bishop’s University in Lennoxville, Quebec, and was also a key member of the school’s Men’s Basketball team, winning MVP four times (1957, 1958, 1960, 1963) and “Best All Around Athlete” in 1960. After a brief stint at the Royal Trust Company in Montreal, Squee went back to Lower Canada College to teach History and English (as well as coach Football and Basketball), where he remained between 1961 and 1966.
In 1966, Squee returned to an administrator role at Bishop’s. At the same time, he undertook a Master’s in Education from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst (graduated 1969), and a Master’s in History at Bishop’s (he graduated and completed a thesis titled “The Political Importance of Sir Beverley Baxter, MP” in 1970). He then received a Doctorate in Education from the University of Massachusetts in 1971.
At the same time, in 1970, Squee started his career in the College sector, with a role as Secretary General at Dawson College in Montreal. He would go on to hold other roles at the College, including Dean and Director of Operations, before becoming President in 1975. Dawson was, at the time, the largest college in Quebec with a student body of 8,000 full-time students.
After leaving Dawson in 1981, Squee made his way to Ontario, where he became Humber College’s second President in 1982, a role he would hold for 25 years. Over his time at Humber, Squee undertook major developments, including consolidating the operations of Humber at two main campus (North and Lakeshore). The Lakeshore Campus, under Squee, included a significant expansion by renovating and restoring the 19th Century Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital and turning them into a part of the Humber Lakeshore Campus, when that part of the Lakeshore Campus first opened in 1995, it was named in honour of Squee.
Other major achievements at Humber under Squee’s tenure as President included the establishment of a Writer’s School (1992) and a Comedy School (1996), the establishment of a unique Nursing BA partnership with the University of New Brunswick (2001) and the opening of the University of Guelph-Humber (2002).
Squee formally retired from Humber in 2007. He has been honoured with countless awards, including an Order of Ontario (2009), and Order of Canada (2016), and Honorary Doctorates from Bishop’s University (2004), the University of Guelph (2004), the University of New Brunswick (2007) and the University of Toronto (2008).
Having dedicated his life to education, Squee remains an important figure in post-secondary education in Ontario. Upon his retirement from Humber in 2007, former Premier William G. Davis noted that “Squee obviously understood the intent of the College system, he nurtured it, and he is one of those leaders in the system who made it what it is today.”
Rivyr Faubert is a current student at the University of Guelph-Humber who began her second year of Media and Communication Studies in Fall 2023. Her Creative Writing elective offered her the chance to discover her true love for words, and she hopes to turn this new passion into an ongoing hobby moving forward. Rivyr hopes that this first publication is only just the beginning and is excited to see what the future has in store.
John Davies was Humber’s third President (2007-2012). Described by his colleagues as a 'transformational leader', John Davies brought to Humber vast experience in education: “Davies trained as a geography teacher in his native Britain and came to Toronto with his wife (also a teacher) to attend graduate school. Here he began a long career in the public school sector, serving as a teacher, vice principal, principal, superintendent and director of the Toronto Board of Education. What began as a job that would afford him ‘flexibility and a decent salary’ became a career driven by a passion for student achievement.” (Grzetic, 2012).
July 1, 2007, was the day when John Davies became Humber College’s third President, succeeding Robert “Squee” Gordon and after being vice president of finance and administration for five years. President Davies plan at the time was to continue the growth that his predecessor had started. He also had plans to expand the applied degrees and reach out to the community. In his own words, “Humber will continue to push ahead on that polytechnic vision. We need to get more applied degrees and push ahead with development of buildings, particularly at Lakeshore and Orangeville.” (quoted in Dillon, 2007)
John Davies retired from a long and accomplished career in 2012 leaving behind a legacy of new buildings (including an expanded Learning Commons, and a new Media Studio at the Lakeshore Campus, a new Centre for Urban Ecology at the North Campus), along with increased student enrollment and greater connections and partnerships to the local community. As was noted at the time of his retirement: “Davies finishes his five-year role as president at the end of June after 10 years with the college (the first five as vice president of finance and administration) marked by significant contributions to the surrounding north Etobicoke community” (Grzetic, 2012).
Wayson Choy, a Chinese Canadian author and teacher was born Choy Way Sun in Vancouver, British Columbia on 20 April, 1939 and raised in the city’s Chinatown neighbourhood. He was educated at the University of British Columbia, where he studied creative writing. He relocated to Toronto in 1962 and began teaching, first at Burnhamthorpe Collegiate (1966-67), before working as one of the original members of the Humber College teaching faculty in 1967, where he remained until 2004. After his retirement, Choy continued as an instructor at the Humber School for Writers.
Choy’s first novel, The Jade Peony was published in 1995. It won the Trillium Book Award and the Vancouver City Book Award. In 1999, this was followed by his first memoir, Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood, which received numerous accolades, including being shortlisted for a Governor General award. His 2004 novel, All that Matters received a Trillium Book Award and was nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. In 2005, Choy was named a member of the Order of Canada.
In 2009, Choy’s final memoir, Not Dead Yet: A Memoir of Living and Almost Dying was published. In 2010, The Jade Peony was included in the CBC’s Canada Reads competition. In 2015, he was presented with the George Woodcock Award, a lifetime achievement award for writers from British Columbia. He passed away in Toronto on 28 April, 2019 at 80 years old.
A lifelong advocate for his community, Choy is remembered as a trailblazing figure in Chinese Canadian literature, and LGBTQ literature, as one of the first openly gay writers of colour to achieve widespread success in Canada’s mainstream.