Woodward’s

Howard Sapers, an SFU alumni, spoke to the challenges of managing mental illness in federal penitentiaries last week at Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. Sapers explained the need for more preventative methods, rather than relying on prisons to manage offenders with mental health and addiction issues.

Correctional investigator of Canada and recipient of the 2013 Simon Fraser University Outstanding Alumni Award for Public Service, Sapers serves as the federal ombudsman for offenders in Canada, working to “support the rights and fair treatment of those under the care of Canada’s correctional system.”

Surrey

A day-long workshop held at SFU Surrey last Saturday encouraged dialogue about regional issues between urban professionals, students, and interested members of the public. The discussions focused on pinpointing solutions the key regional challenges of BC’s south coast metropolitan region.

“The past and recent successes of governing in the Vancouver city-region have largely been a product of locals thinking about how best to resolve the challenges facing the region — from sewerage and drainage to water to transportation,” says Patrick Smith, SFU political science professor.

The goal of the day was to create ideas and “action priorities” for the region’s future.

Vancouver

Thirteen years after 9/11, Islamophobia persists throughout North American society. Nevertheless, change seems more likely to come from within Islam than from external forces.

Last Thursday, SFU’s Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures and partners presented a lecture about the purposes of Islamic law. Ebrahim Moosa from Duke University spoke to the challenges of recovering the “ethical” in Islamic law.

Moosa, along with other contemporary Muslim thinkers, is engaged in efforts to give Islam a more goal-oriented and big-picture framework. Are the purposes of Islamic law ethical or instrumental? A worthy pursuit, or a fool’s errand?