tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/alberta-13010/articlesAlberta – The Conversation2024-03-20T21:24:09Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2229412024-03-20T21:24:09Z2024-03-20T21:24:09ZWater woes in southern Alberta could spell disaster for aquatic ecosystems, and the people who rely on them<p>Freshwater will be an increasingly scarce resource as we head into spring and summer in Western Canada with implications for the livelihoods and economic prosperity of humans, and non-humans alike, in southern Alberta and the downstream Prairie provinces. </p>
<p>The Bow River — in addition to the Oldman and South-Saskatchewan sub-basins — play a vital role in Western Canada. These rivers also have <a href="https://albertawater.com/water-licences-transfers-and-allocation/">a large number of competing uses</a> including agricultural and irrigation needs, municipal uses, hydroelectric developments, industrial consumption and <a href="https://open.alberta.ca/publications/after-the-flood">recreational and cultural uses</a> — including a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/rainbow-trout-bow-river-1.4921565">world-class sports fishery</a>. </p>
<p>The Rocky Mountains serve as Western Canada’s water towers and are the critical source of the snowpack which plays a major role in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/groundwater-recharge">groundwater recharge</a>. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2731-2020">diminishing winter snowpack</a>, combined with increasing frequencies of <a href="https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/agricultural-production/weather/canadian-drought-monitor">multi-year droughts in the Prairies</a> from below-average regional precipitation, is setting up the summer of 2024 as another year of <a href="https://www.aer.ca/regulating-development/rules-and-directives/bulletins/bulletin-2023-43">abnormally low volumes</a> of water flowing through the basin.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-report-shows-alarming-changes-in-the-entire-global-water-cycle-197535">New report shows alarming changes in the entire global water cycle</a>
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<p>Make no mistake, dwindling flows will have wide reaching social, environmental and economic impacts. Governments and policymakers must act quickly to avert a larger crisis.</p>
<h2>Compounding impacts</h2>
<p>In addition to impacting the water available for human use, low flows and water levels have direct and indirect impacts on the <a href="https://trivent-publishing.eu/books/engineeringandindustry/watershedandriverbasinmanagement/11.%20C.%20W.%20Koning%20et%20al..pdf">organisms that live in and rely on the aquatic ecosystem</a>. Limited water supplies raise serious concerns about the <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/commentary/doc/2006CanLIIDocs562#!fragment/zoupio-_Toc2Page1-Page10/BQCwhgziBcwMYgK4DsDWszIQewE4BUBTADwBdoAvbRABwEtsBaAfX2zgCYAFMAc0ICMjHvwEAGAJQAaZNlKEIARUSFcAT2gByTVIiEwuBMtUbtu-YZABlPKQBCGgEoBRADLOAagEEAcgGFnKVIwACNoUnYJCSA">long-term impacts on our aquatic ecosystems</a>.</p>
<p>Complicating matters is the <a href="https://open.alberta.ca/publications/albertas-water-priority-system-tools-for-water-licence-holders">“first in time, first in right” (FITFIR) water governance</a> principle which emerged out of the Western United States and is essentially a first come, first served system of water allocation. To make matters worse, <a href="https://doi.org/10.4296/cwrj3501079">new applications for water access have been closed since 2006</a>, a decision which will have a “significant effect on water supply strategies available to municipal water users, as many communities currently hold water licences that are not adequate for their projected growth.” </p>
<p>In <a href="https://open.alberta.ca/publications/0778546209">2006 the government of Alberta</a> acknowledged that “the limits for water allocations have been reached or exceeded in the Bow, Oldman and South Saskatchewan River sub basins.” In the South Saskatchewan Basin, most of the water is allocated to a handful of license holders who have had licenses for high volumes of water for years. This is a substantial hurdle to overcome when trying to retain river water for aquatic ecosystems — a goal <a href="https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/er-2022-0126">often referred to as environmental flows or “e-flows”</a>.</p>
<p>Without substantial changes to the licensing program, aquatic ecosystem health will continue to be secondary to existing license holder uses. </p>
<p>Further complicating the matter is that allocations are looked at <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/62f582febb0b3104adabb617/t/6358b7a0bf6485031a91dc36/1666758567761/Final+Report+-+Review+of+the+Implementation+of+the+Approved+WMP+for+the+SSRB.pdf">annually and not seasonally</a>. This means that the system can’t adapt “on the fly” when low flows hit, unless there are specific government directives implemented to that effect. This is also true of current monitoring and reporting efforts across the country, with reporting and interpretation of data being done only after an <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/business/energy/survey-finds-oilsands-environmental-monitoring-ineffective-after-10-years">issue has occurred, if at all</a>. </p>
<p>Perhaps most egregiously, the FITFIR approach has also long been criticized by Indigenous groups as disproportionately impacting their water rights and <a href="https://www.watercanada.net/feature/three-out-of-ten-odds-of-a-solution-to-first-nation-water-rights-in-alberta/">limiting water supplies in favour of competing industry and large agricultural needs</a>.</p>
<h2>Low-level impacts</h2>
<p>Alberta’s water regulations are generally not helping matters. Currently, regulations around pollution release are predominantly applied at the end-of-pipe, not throughout the river, meaning the impacts on the river will vary based on how much water is present. This often results <a href="https://doi.org/10.2166/wqrj.2019.033">in poor water quality events occurring in the summer,</a> when flow is lowest and the pollutants are less diluted. This has direct consequences on aquatic food webs and those that rely upon the river, especially in areas downstream of major sources of pollution.</p>
<p>Lower river flows and levels can result in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2014.11.010">increased water temperatures and</a> decreased oxygen availability for aquatic organisms. This can have harmful consequences on sensitive species like fish and their invertebrate food sources. The projected low flows in 2024 will likely lead to increased fish mortality.</p>
<p>There are numerous habitats around rivers that rely on certain levels of flow to be present for survival. Riparian areas (river banks) along the river run the risk of drying up and dying off if flow isn’t <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-020-01392-4">adequate</a>. While seasonal fluctuations in water levels are normal, the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/what-low-water-levels-in-edmonton-could-mean-for-fish-this-winter-1.7028203">uncharacteristically low flows this past fall and winter</a>, combined with expected lower water levels in the coming year may mean that these sensitive habitats are isolated for extended periods of time — not receiving the water and nutrients required for their survival.</p>
<p>The impacts aren’t restricted to organisms living directly in and around rivers in the region either. Low water flows affect the entire food web <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02705060.2023.2203728">from aquatic insects to apex predators</a> and with fewer prey available, larger fish populations may decline. These impacts also will only grow downstream as cumulative pressures on the river increase.</p>
<p>While rivers have seasonal flow patterns, low water flow isn’t just a seasonal issue. Climate change projections have been predicting more <a href="https://albertawater.com/climate-change-in-the-bow-basin/">frequent and severe droughts</a>, which will only exacerbate this issue.</p>
<h2>Preventing drought?</h2>
<p>2024 is likely the first of a series of years where we will see reduced snowpack, altered precipitation timing (and amounts) and increased water use pressures all combining to reduce river flows. </p>
<p>We have seen an initial reaction by <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=8971229900128-9793-C959-193E503D6C61CAD4">the provincial government</a> in Alberta; however, there has been a noticeable lack of acknowledgement from many governments and regulatory bodies across the country. This is a national issue and will be an ongoing issue as a result of climate change. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/02/19/Alberta-Brutal-Water-Reckoning/">tension between different water users has been predicted for over a decade</a>. Policy options to date have been limited and have lacked the inclusion of ecosystem-related considerations. There <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-parched-alberta-negotiating-with-water-holders-to-strike-share/">also has been discussion</a> around <a href="https://prism.ucalgary.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/596932e4-12f8-46d6-90f6-7512479be965/content">increasing the allowance</a> of water which can be moved between basins. However, such systems could have major implications on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.1891">aquatic ecosystem health if utilized widely and must be done with great care.</a></p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/johannesburgs-water-crisis-is-getting-worse-expert-explains-why-the-taps-keep-running-dry-in-south-africas-biggest-city-223926">Johannesburg's water crisis is getting worse – expert explains why the taps keep running dry in South Africa's biggest city</a>
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<p>As we move through what will be an unprecedented low water year, it will be critical that policymakers, regulators and all Canadians understand the far-reaching impacts. </p>
<p>Our existing approaches aren’t working. We must look beyond our current systems. This includes utilizing the knowledge of water quality experts as well as Indigenous Peoples who have relied on the river for centuries. </p>
<p>The management issue presenting itself is extremely complex and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2016.1238345">will require equally complex responses with input from all concerned parties</a>. But the costs of failure will be far greater than the costs of action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222941/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Barrett receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada and is involved in research projects in southern Alberta funded by the City of Calgary, Alberta Innovates, and the NSERC Alliance Program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kerry Black receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and is involved in research projects in southern Alberta funded by the City of Calgary, Alberta Innovates, and the NSERC Alliance Program.</span></em></p>Declining precipitation, climate change and governance failures will drive water flow scarcity in 2024 with serious implications across Western Canada.David Barrett, Research Associate, Faculty of Science, University of CalgaryKerry Black, Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair, Integrated Knowledge, Engineering and Sustainable Communities, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2234122024-03-13T20:59:46Z2024-03-13T20:59:46ZWhat is gender-affirming care? A social worker and therapist working with trans people explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581460/original/file-20240313-20-z1u6um.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C0%2C4466%2C2991&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Although medical doctors may be the first point of contact for children exploring their gender identity, many other professions can provide gender-affirming care, such as psychologists, social workers, teachers, counsellors and recreational coaches.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In late January, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith unveiled <a href="https://globalnews.ca/video/10264944/danielle-smith-unveils-albertas-proposed-guidelines-on-parental-consent-gender-affirming-care-rules">policies on gender-affirming care and parental rights</a>. These policies want to change access to medical treatments, participation in athletics, and whether transgender children can use preferred pronouns and names in school.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/02/opinion/transgender-children-gender-dysphoria.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare">op-eds in newspapers</a> have brought attention to how professionals are supporting transgender children and the long-term effects of medical interventions. <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/david-staples-alberta-danielle-smith-europe-gender-transition-policy">And suggested</a> that “adults can live with the consequences, but inexperienced children can’t”. </p>
<p>This suggests medical professionals are not assessing maturity and readiness in transgender children, and also that children should not be transitioning prior to adulthood. </p>
<p>As a registered clinical social worker and registered marriage and family therapist who works primarily with the 2SLGBTQIA+ population, I want to explain gender-affirming care and how professionals use it. I also want to discuss detransition, because too many people misunderstand and misuse the term. </p>
<p>There are several important assessments that must be considered prior to addressing maturity. For gender-affirming care, a child has to be assessed as a mature minor, which is a rigorous assessment completed by a professional such as a <a href="https://www.cap.ab.ca/Portals/0/pdfs/CAPPA-MatureMinors.pdf">psychologist</a> or <a href="https://acsw.in1touch.org/document/2024/SUM_MinorsAndConsentIssues_20150326.pdf">social worker</a>.</p>
<h2>Gender-affirming care</h2>
<p>According to the <a href="https://cps.ca/en/documents/position/an-affirming-approach-to-caring-for-transgender-and-gender-diverse-youth">Canadian Paediatric Society</a>, gender-affirming care assesses psychological, social, medical and surgical options for gender-diverse people. These assessments explore an individual’s personal, familial and environmental histories, as well as their mental health and physical health. Practitioners use this knowledge to best understand one’s functioning and strengths, and to give people the kind of support they need. </p>
<p>Although medical doctors may be the first point of contact for children exploring their gender identity, many other professions can provide gender-affirming care, such as psychologists, social workers, teachers, counsellors and recreational coaches. </p>
<p>Allowing children to express gender creatively is one of the first steps explored by mental health experts when working with transgender children, youth and their families. <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/lifetime-connections/202311/gender-creative-parenting-lets-kids-be-kids#:%7E:text=Gender%2Dcreative%20parenting%20is%20a,the%20world%20and%20varied%20interests.">Gender creativity</a> is a term used to identify the fluidity of gender; how one’s identity is not set in stone and can change as we learn more about ourselves. </p>
<p>Allowing a child to express independent thought and creativity with gender expression will not lead children to assume they are in need of medical interventions. On the contrary, as a professional, these interventions are used to support a child’s understanding of their options through improving self confidence and self-esteem. </p>
<p><a href="https://jeunesidentitescreatives.com/upload/ressources/files/Barbies_and_Beer.pdf">Methods</a> can include social play, such as learning more about their own likes, forms of expression and ultimately exploring what makes them happy. The intention behind this is to help children build confidence and self worth, allowing them to engage in social settings authentically without fearing social consequence. </p>
<h2>Importance of support</h2>
<p>It is normal for us to compare ourselves to others, or to what we understand of social customs and rules. These social customs suggest our assigned sex at birth must match socially regulated forms of gender expression. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/gender-identity/transgender/what-do-i-need-know-about-transitioning">Transitioning</a> begins the moment one confirms to themselves that their identity is different from these social rules. This doesn’t mean everyone who feels this way will go on to socially or medically transition. </p>
<p>Once a child can identify that they feel a certain way, it is vital for them to receive support from parents, caregivers, teachers and their broader community. Gender non-conforming young people are at risk for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jadohealth.2016.09.014">mental health struggles</a> such as anxiety, depression, self-harm and attempted suicide.</p>
<p>One possible explanation for this could be <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5846479/#:%7E:text=Minority%20stress%20theory%20posits%20that,physical%20and%20mental%20health%20outcomes.">minority stress</a>, which is the distinct, chronic stressors minorities experience related to their identity, including victimization, prejudice and discrimination. </p>
<p>It is important to think critically about the social and political contexts that limit gender expression, because it impacts everyone, and can directly harm gender-diverse children. Considering this and minority stress, this is why it is important to allow children the space and freedom to freely express themselves, so that they can understand gender expression has more than two options: conform to social expectations or medically transition. </p>
<p>When children are provided gender-affirming care, mental health professionals support them in better understanding their emotions. This involves identifying feelings and learning how to emotionally regulate. This also includes addressing negative beliefs about their feelings, normalizing emotional responses and supporting children to become more self-compassionate. </p>
<p>Some believe mental health professionals focus on <a href="https://myhealth.alberta.ca/Health/pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=abs2270">gender dysphoria</a> when providing such care to children and youth. This is the feeling of uneasiness or distress because your gender identity does not match your assigned sex at birth. </p>
<p>However, children and youth are provided with various forms of support prior to medical interventions being used. Medical interventions are oftentimes the last method a child is provided, and when it is provided, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080%2F26895269.2021.1915223">some have described it as life-saving</a>.</p>
<p>Practitioners use gender-affirming care to promote <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/transgender/gender-euphoria">gender euphoria</a> — the joy of aligning gender identity with gender expression. This is done by supporting children in finding confidence and self-worth by promoting their social and psychological well-being.</p>
<h2>What is detransitioning?</h2>
<p>Some gender-diverse children will need medical interventions but that doesn’t mean they have to persist for a lifetime. By providing children and youth access to medical interventions, professionals are addressing the <a href="http://www.phsa.ca/transcarebc/child-youth/affirmation-transition/medical-affirmation-transition/puberty-blockers-for-youth#:%7E:text=The%20changes%20to%20your%20body,that%20can't%20be%20reversed.">severity of dysfunction caused by gender dysphoria</a> </p>
<p>“Detransition” is a term used to describe those who have undergone medical and/or surgical interventions, and then reverted back. There is <a href="https://fenwayhealth.org/new-study-shows-discrimination-stigma-and-family-pressure-drive-detransition-among-transgender-people/">evidence</a> showing people undergo corrective approaches after medical or surgical interventions due to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089%2Flgbt.2020.0437">discrimination, stigma and family pressure</a>. </p>
<p>It is crucial to understand that transgender individuals who use medical and surgical means for a period of time and stop, may not be detransitioning.</p>
<p>There are individuals who identify as <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9061609">non-binary</a> who begin medical interventions, at a limited dose or for a duration of time, instead of committing life long. In my practice, I have seen many individuals begin hormone treatment and with the support of their doctor change the dosage as they continue to explore their gender identity. </p>
<p>There is a need for further research exploring detransition, especially in terms of how therapists can best support individuals who decide to stop or change their medical intervention plans with their doctors. </p>
<p>Ultimately, gender-affirming care is about providing people with the support they need. To help them see themselves in ways that promote joy, confidence and happiness. It is not about pathologizing gender expression. </p>
<p>Gender transition is not about fitting into preset ideals, but rather, finding joy in day to day experiences that is cultivated by our happiness, confidence and sense of belonging.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223412/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gio Dolcecore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Gender-affirming care assesses psychological, social, medical and surgical options for gender-diverse people.Gio Dolcecore, Assistant Professor, Social Work, Mount Royal UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2220852024-02-21T21:23:29Z2024-02-21T21:23:29ZSporting change: How an elite swim club in Western Canada is addressing bullying<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576048/original/file-20240215-28-469ztc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C17%2C3970%2C2640&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Since sport participation has been linked to numerous benefits, it’s essential to foster an environment that allows individuals to engage in it free from bullying.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While most of the news coverage about <a href="https://athletescan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/prevalence_of_maltreatment_reporteng.pdf">maltreatment in sport</a> is focused on sexual abuse, a lesser-discussed, but <a href="https://sirc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Safe-Sport-Lit-Review.pdf">still prevalent and damaging aspect, is bullying</a>.</p>
<p>Bullying is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2022.102205">one of the leading causes of sport dropout</a>. Bullying can have <a href="https://www.stopbullying.gov">profound and long-term effects on individuals</a>, resulting in depression, health issues, behaviour challenges, low self-esteem and burnout, among others.</p>
<p>Since sport participation has been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00913847.2020.1850152">linked to numerous benefits</a>, including lower levels of drug use, depression and anxiety, it’s essential to foster an environment that allows individuals to engage in it free from bullying.</p>
<p>The prevalence of bullying in sports poses a threat to sport participation, demanding a proactive approach to the issue. But <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/jan/27/abuse-canada-sport-inquiry-hockey-gymnastics-soccer">what should sport communities be doing to address bullying?</a></p>
<h2>Dare to Care in Sport</h2>
<p>In an effort to create a team culture that combats bullying, <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/anti-bullying-program-sparks-positive-change-within-university-of-calgary-swim-club">the University of Calgary Swim Club implemented a pilot program in September 2017</a> that adapted the <a href="https://www.daretocare.ca/sports">Dare to Care program</a> to focus on sport.</p>
<p>The program required all members of the club — administration, athletes, parents, guardians and coaches — to participate in a bullying prevention workshop.</p>
<p>Over seven months, more than 1,000 club members took part in 1.5 to two-hour workshops designed and delivered by a national expert in bullying prevention and a former Team Canada swimmer. The workshops were offered at numerous times and locations for convenience. </p>
<p>The goals for implementing the Dare to Care workshops included educating and training team members on how to address and prevent bullying, reducing bullying behaviour, equipping the organization with skills to handle any bullying-related issues, and ensuring 90 per cent of members completed the training. </p>
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<img alt="A person in a t-shirt that says 'Coach' across the back faces toward a swimming pool and away from the camera" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576032/original/file-20240215-22-eefdfg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576032/original/file-20240215-22-eefdfg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576032/original/file-20240215-22-eefdfg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576032/original/file-20240215-22-eefdfg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576032/original/file-20240215-22-eefdfg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576032/original/file-20240215-22-eefdfg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576032/original/file-20240215-22-eefdfg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">It’s important that all members of sport organizations are equipped with the proper definition of bullying and have tools to deal with it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>The content for each workshop was interactive, age-appropriate and designed to equip participants with the tools and confidence to address bullying behaviour. </p>
<p>At the end of the seven months, members were invited to participate in my ongoing study investigating the impact of the Dare to Care program. I presented this research at the <a href="https://worldantibullyingforum.com/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/WABF-2019-Abstract_Book.pdf">World Anti-Bullying Forum in Ireland 2019</a>.</p>
<p>Since conducting this research, I have begun training and working for Dare to Care to deliver their anti-bullying workshops to sport organizations and clubs.</p>
<p>Participants were asked to complete a survey about bullying in the club and their opinions of the Dare to Care in Sport program. Some were also invited to participate in an interview for more in-depth information on bullying and the impact of the Dare to Care program.</p>
<h2>Program feedback</h2>
<p>In the surveys and interviews, club members said they believed bullying was present in sport, even if they personally had not seen it. </p>
<p>Participants believed there were a few reasons for the presence of bullying in sport. The first reason given was jealousy. One parent interviewee said:</p>
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<p>“Someone is good and someone wants to be better, and rather than do the work to be better, the bullying could be a shortcut; it is just sheer jealousy. Even if it doesn’t get you there by taking the other person down, it might make you feel better because you are making them feel worse, right?” </p>
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<p>The second reason identified was competition. Another parent interviewee said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Part of it has to do with the winning at all costs or a ‘whatever it takes’ mentality. The pressure can be immense and some use whatever advantage is available, including bullying and harassment.”</p>
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<p>The third and final reason suggested was parental involvement. One parent interviewee said: </p>
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<p>“I can see the pressure from a parent affect the athlete, and how they treat people impacts their success in their sport.”</p>
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<p>Club members also felt that educational programs to address bullying were very beneficial. The Dare to Care in Sport program was praised for being mandatory and inclusive of all members. One interviewee said: “It was just super clear to know that the swimmers were on the same page, the coaches were on the same page.” </p>
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<img alt="A young woman and a young man in swimsuits high five while standing in an indoor pool" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576045/original/file-20240215-16-h8oh65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576045/original/file-20240215-16-h8oh65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576045/original/file-20240215-16-h8oh65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576045/original/file-20240215-16-h8oh65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576045/original/file-20240215-16-h8oh65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576045/original/file-20240215-16-h8oh65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576045/original/file-20240215-16-h8oh65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Encouraging participation in sport should go hand-in-hand with a commitment to fostering a culture of respect, inclusivity and fairness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Key takeaways from the program included a common definition of bullying and identification of acceptable behaviours, consequences for bullying, tools and strategies for addressing bullying as it occurs and appropriate and safe reporting mechanisms for bullying incidents and behaviours. </p>
<h2>Making sport safer</h2>
<p>The benefits of sport participation at any level are tremendous. It’s important that all members of sport organizations are equipped with the proper definition of bullying and have tools to deal with it. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.169">Many harmful behaviours in sport have been normalized over the years</a> as “just part of the game” or “building character.” Programs such as Dare to Care in Sport are taking a stand against these behaviours and making sport a more safe, inclusive and respectful environment for <em>all</em> participants. </p>
<p>Encouraging participation in sport should go hand-in-hand with a commitment to fostering a culture of respect, inclusivity and fairness. An additional resource leaders can use to accomplish this is the <a href="https://anchor.fm/sporting-change"><em>Sporting Change</em> podcast</a>, which focuses on many of these aspects.</p>
<p>It is critical to <a href="https://sirc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Safe-Sport-Lit-Review.pdf">continue to educate and ensure a safe sport experience</a> is created for all. Providing a comprehensive bully prevention education is one step forward to improving the culture of sport.</p>
<p><em>The author would like to acknowledge the contributions from the Dare to Care Team (Lisa Dixon-Wells, Mathieu Constantin and Raine Paul) to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222085/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Booke works for Dare to Care. After completing the research explained in this article, she began training as a facilitator to deliver the Dare to Care in Sport workshops. </span></em></p>The prevalence of bullying in sports poses a threat to sport participation, demanding a proactive approach to address the issue.Julie Booke, Associate Professor in Health and Physical Education/Sport and Recreation Management, Mount Royal UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2216762024-02-08T17:54:55Z2024-02-08T17:54:55ZEncampment sweeps in Edmonton are yet another example of settler colonialism<p>It feels like housing is at a tipping point in the city of Edmonton. </p>
<p>There have been four main events highlighting the situation:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.nandalaw.ca/encampments">A case</a> that was brought against the City of Edmonton by the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights about encampment sweeps;</li>
<li><a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/edmonton-police-plan-massive-130-plus-homeless-encampment-sweep-ahead-of-holidays">Encampment sweeps</a> perpetrated by the Edmonton police days before a forecasted deadly cold snap;</li>
<li>A decision by Edmonton City Council to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-council-alberta-cabinet-homeless-housing-1.7085148">declare a housing and homelessness emergency</a>;</li>
<li>The <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10232393/alberta-government-edmonton-homeless-centre/">Alberta government’s announcement</a> that encampments will continue to be cleared out, while also arguing there’s sufficient shelter room. That contention <a href="https://edmonton.citynews.ca/2024/01/11/edmonton-mayor-declaring-housing-emergency/">has been refuted</a> by advocates, shelter workers and the province’s official housing critic. </li>
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<p>These events should be understood within ongoing settler colonialism and a housing crisis endemic in Canada’s broader housing system.</p>
<h2>Housing in Canada</h2>
<p>The state of housing both in Canada and globally <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-study-reveals-intensified-housing-inequality-in-canada-from-1981-to-2016-173633">is worsening</a>, but the <a href="https://thewalrus.ca/there-is-no-housing-crisis/">housing crisis is not new</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/two-thirds-of-canadian-and-american-renters-are-in-unaffordable-housing-situations-221954">Two-thirds of Canadian and American renters are in unaffordable housing situations</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.homelesshub.ca/blog/five-things-know-about-pre-1964-canadian-housing-policy">While affordable housing policies in Canada emerged following the Second World War</a>, colonialism is foundational to housing policy, evidenced by the <a href="https://www.homelesshub.ca/about-homelessness/population-specific/indigenous-peoples#:%7E:text=Research%20shows%20that%20Indigenous%20homelessness,%2C%20at%2011%2D96%25.">high rates</a> of housing vulnerability that Indigenous Peoples face. </p>
<p>For example, residential schools, <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/pass-system-in-canada#:%7E:text=Used%20in%20conjunction%20with%20policies,19th%20and%20early%2020th%20centuries.">the pass system</a> and other strategies to force relocation, outlined by history scholar <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/books/clearing-the-plains-by-james-daschuk-1.6863578">James Daschuk</a> in his book <em>Clearing The Plains</em>, have limited housing for Indigenous Peoples. Colonial policies are foundational to the current housing system and people’s housing experiences.</p>
<p>Under Canada’s <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/n-11.2/FullText.html">National Housing Strategy Act</a> passed in 2019, the federal government affirmed the human right to housing. This means governments of all levels have a responsibility to recognize this human right. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/clearing-the-plains-continues-with-the-acquittal-of-gerald-stanley-91628">'Clearing the plains' continues with the acquittal of Gerald Stanley</a>
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<h2>Encampment sweeps violate human rights</h2>
<p>This isn’t happening, apparently, when it comes to encampments, which are both a site of <a href="https://make-the-shift.org/homeless-encampments/">human rights violations and of human rights claims</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://edmonton.citynews.ca/2024/01/16/edmonton-homeless-encampment-lawsuit-dismissed/#:%7E:text=In%20his%20decision%20Tuesday%2C%20Justice,an%20end%20to%20the%20lawsuit.">The Coalition for Justice and Human Rights was denied legal standing by the judge in its case against Edmonton</a> because he ruled it wasn’t the right group to represent the interests of people experiencing homelessness. </p>
<p>While that means this particular case will not proceed, it garnered significant media attention and does not refute the claims by the coalition, only its standing.</p>
<p>The coalition argued human rights were violated during encampment sweeps. It sought to maintain permanent restrictions on encampment evictions, and had been supported by many advocates in Edmonton, including those <a href="https://www.nandalaw.ca/encampments">who submitted affidavits</a>. </p>
<p>While the coalition’s claims are important, appealing to human rights does not necessarily identify the depth of colonialism’s role in the ongoing events. </p>
<p>Encampment evictions also happen in the context of treaty rights and the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf">United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a>, which are violated when Indigenous people are forcibly removed from land. </p>
<p>In the case of the sweep of one Edmonton encampment, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9616641/edmonton-homeless-camps-response-change/">a sacred fire</a> was extinguished despite the agreement between an Elder and Edmonton police that a few tents and the fire could remain. </p>
<p><a href="https://jessethistle.com/">Jesse Thistle</a>, a Métis-Cree assistant professor at York University, <a href="https://www.homelesshub.ca/IndigenousHomelessness#:%7E:text=Indigenous%20homelessness%20is%20a%20human,ability%20to%20acquire%20such%20housing.">has developed a definition</a> of Indigenous homelessness that doesn’t just encompass structure and property rights, but also land, traditions, ancestors and family — all of which amplify how the loss of community and relationships that are present at an encampment entrenches homelessness.</p>
<p>Housing scholar and activist Andrew Crosby <a href="https://doi.org/10.22215/etd/2022-15310">uses the concept of domicide</a> — the destruction of home — to examine how settler colonialism is founded on the destruction of Indigenous homes and lives. </p>
<p>Domicide is applicable to the encampment sweeps in Edmonton, the historical domicide that enabled the settlement of Edmonton in the first place, and the laws that governed the unsuccessful lawsuit launched by the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights.</p>
<h2>Coming together in colonialism</h2>
<p>Removing unhoused people, who are disproportionately Indigenous, illustrates that public land is not for living on and is instead settler colonial space. When authorities make reference to “public safety” concerns about encampment, unhoused people are positioned as dangerous. </p>
<p>The destruction of those encampments simply drives people who are unhoused further to the margins. Sweeps do not end people’s experiences of homelessness; they move them out of public view.</p>
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<p>The actions of the City of Edmonton, the city’s police force and the government of Alberta — as well as the courts — have coalesced into an attack on the human and treaty rights of people who are unhoused, as well as the continuation of the removal of Indigenous Peoples from their land.</p>
<p>Homelessness in Edmonton has resulted in <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/frostbite-amputations-hit-10-year-high-in-edmonton-last-winter-new-data-show-1.6709778">increased amputations</a> due to exposure to extreme cold, while encampment sweeps lead to the overburdening of a shelter system that is already inadequate and the denial of rest for people who are unhoused.</p>
<p>This isn’t to suggest that encampments should be enshrined as a human rights housing achievement. But punitive approaches like encampment sweeps perpetuate settler colonialism and prioritize the perceptions and preferences of the ruling class.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221676/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie MacDonald receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>Encampment sweeps in Edmonton are a brutal attack on both human and treaty rights, as well as a continuation of the violent removal of Indigenous Peoples from their land.Katie MacDonald, Associate Professor of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Athabasca UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2225792024-02-02T18:51:32Z2024-02-02T18:51:32ZAlberta’s new policies are not only anti-trans, they are anti-evidence<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/albertas-new-policies-are-not-only-anti-trans-they-are-anti-evidence" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>What did Alberta Premier Danielle Smith get wrong in her new anti-trans policies? Spoiler alert — everything. </p>
<p>Let’s spend some time fact-checking Smith. </p>
<p>She recently promised a <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10255444/alberta-parental-rights-legislation-introduction/">new “parental rights” policy</a> would be introduced by her United Conservative Party government.</p>
<p>Like other experts, <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-parental-rights-legislation-increases-risk-of-harm-for-alberta-students">we worried these policies would mimic the parental rights legislation</a> recently introduced in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick.</p>
<p>But we grossly underestimated the breadth of the Alberta measures.</p>
<p>Smith <a href="https://globalnews.ca/video/10264944/danielle-smith-unveils-albertas-proposed-guidelines-on-parental-consent-gender-affirming-care-rules">has unveiled a suite of policies</a> that directly attack trans and gender-diverse children and youth in Alberta. Spanning health care, education and sports, these policies extend well beyond the expected changes to the use of chosen names and pronouns in schools.</p>
<p>Smith intends to implement the most <a href="https://egale.ca/egale-in-action/egale-canada-and-skipping-stone-foundation-condemn-albertas-attack-on-2slgbtqi-people-and-promise-legal-action/">extensive, draconian and unbalanced proposals</a> of any conservative province to date, all under the guise of “preserving choice” for kids. </p>
<p>As we explain below, these policies are at odds with research about gender-affirming care, curriculum and sports. </p>
<p>As a result of ignoring the evidence, these policies could cause significant harm to the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-2021-census-gender-age-dwelling-1.6432469">many transgender and non-binary youth</a> who live in Alberta or access gender-affirming care in the province (like youth from the Northwest Territories, for example).</p>
<h2>Evidence on trans-affirming care</h2>
<p>Smith’s new policy will forbid access to puberty blockers and hormone therapy for the purpose of gender reassignment or affirmation for youth 15 years of age and under, except for those who have already started those treatments. For youth 17 years and under, top and bottom gender reassignment surgeries are not permitted. </p>
<p>This particular policy deliberately spreads disinformation — <a href="https://www.centreforsexuality.ca/learning-centre/transitioning/">parents are already required to give consent</a> for their pubescent children to receive puberty blockers and for teenagers to access hormone replacement therapy. Bottom surgeries are <a href="https://www.grsmontreal.com/en/frequently-asked-questions.html">already restricted to adults</a>. </p>
<p>Puberty blockers slow down the onset of puberty and are often prescribed for <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/precocious-puberty/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20351817#:%7E:text=This%20usually%20involves%20medicine%20called,be%20given%20at%20longer%20intervals.">cisgender girls who experience puberty before 10 years old</a>. </p>
<p>According to <em>Scientific American</em>, puberty blockers have been <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-are-puberty-blockers-and-how-do-they-work/">studied extensively</a> and have been used safely since the 1980s. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5979264/">Any risks</a> associated with puberty blockers are already included in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/26895269.2022.210064">Standards of Care</a> for transgender patients, and are not being prescribed to pubescent youth <a href="https://cps.ca/en/documents/position/an-affirming-approach-to-caring-for-transgender-and-gender-diverse-youth">without careful consultation</a>. </p>
<p>Like all medicines, side effects are a risk but <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/tsq/article-abstract/7/3/508/166964/The-Vulnerable-Child-Protection-Act-and">researchers caution</a> against <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joim.13441">fear-mongering</a> in response to gender-affirming care. </p>
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<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.06.012">evidence about trans-affirming health care</a> for youth is clear — it saves lives. Evidence suggests that puberty blockers lead to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542%2Fpeds.2019-1725">positive mental health outcomes</a> and that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13633-020-00078-2">biggest benefits</a> of gender-affirming hormone therapy (HRT) are realized when <a href="https://www.umass.edu/news/article/gender-affirming-care-can-save-lives-transgender-youth#:%7E:text=Nguyen%20was%20part%20of%20the,at%20age%2014%20or%2015.">HRT is started at age 14 or 15</a>. </p>
<p>Rather than restrict life-saving medical care, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0015028221000820">experts in fertility medicine</a> call for increased accessibility for trans people to fertility services.</p>
<h2>Sex education evidence</h2>
<p>Paralleling <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-parental-rights-law-1.7002088">Saskatchewan</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/gender-identity-policy-713-pronouns-school-1.6954807">New Brunswick</a>, Alberta youth 15 and under now require parental consent to use chosen names and pronouns at school. Notification is required for 16- and 17-year-olds to do so. </p>
<p>Classroom instruction on gender, sexuality and sexual orientation also now requires parental notification and opt-in. Finally, third-party resource materials on gender, sexuality and sexual orientation in schools need to be pre-approved by the ministry to make sure they’re “age-appropriate.”</p>
<p>Education experts agree that what is needed to <a href="https://www.actioncanadashr.org/resources/sexual-health-hub/sex-ed/sex-ed-preventing-violence-and-increasing-safety">protect youth — including cisgender and heterosexual kids — from potential abuse</a> is robust and consent-based sexual health education. Youth have the right to knowledge and skills about their bodies, consent, safe/unsafe touch and healthy relationships. </p>
<p>By creating conditions that could result in youth receiving no or limited information, <a href="https://content.c3p.ca/pdfs/C2K_SportEdition_ParentsGuide_eng.pdf">Smith has put children and youth at greater risk of violence and harm</a>. </p>
<h2>Risk of parental, peer rejection</h2>
<p>Requiring parental consent for youth to use their chosen name and pronouns at school could <a href="https://www.cp24.com/world/saskatchewan-pronoun-policy-doesn-t-do-enough-to-mitigate-harms-say-legal-professors-1.6602093">cause irreparable harm</a>. This process essentially requires schools to “out” youth to their parents, who may reject their children. </p>
<p>Smith incorrectly suggests that <a href="https://www.cpac.ca/headline-politics/episode/alberta-premier-danielle-smith-discusses-gender-identity-policies?id=5b8e0a28-da27-4f0e-afe4-d771e34fbed1">parental rejection of 2SLGBTQIA+ kids is rare</a>. </p>
<p>According to a Canadian study by The Family Acceptance Project, 30 per cent of families reject their child when they come out, and <a href="https://familyproject.sfsu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/Family%20Acceptance%20Project-rr%20Overview.pdf">many are removed from their homes</a>. Among youth who are homeless, 20 per cent identify as 2SLGBTQIA+. </p>
<p>For those who experience family rejection, the rates of suicide are incredibly high. According to the <a href="https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf">2015 U.S. Transgender Survey</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/27703371.2023.2192177">79 per cent of those rejected by their families experienced suicidal ideation and 43 per cent have made a suicide attempt</a>. </p>
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<h2>Trans athletes evidence</h2>
<p>Smith’s policy will also ban trans girls and women athletes from participating in competitive women’s sports. They will be forced to play in gender-neutral or co-ed divisions.</p>
<p>Yet again, Smith hasn’t listened to the experts. <a href="https://www.cces.ca/sites/default/files/content/docs/pdf/transgenderwomenathletesandelitesport-ascientificreview-e-final.pdf">Some scientists maintain</a> that trans women and girls have no <a href="https://www.cces.ca/transgender-women-athletes-and-elite-sport-scientific-review">“biological advantage”</a> over cisgender girls and women. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674725324">book on the topic</a> that reviewed evidence on testosterone determined there is no direct relation between the hormone and athletic performance. It found that while testosterone can be linked to muscle mass and muscle memory, there’s no connection to other capacities like endurance and flexibility.</p>
<p>High levels of athleticism are actually correlated with <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24616603/#:%7E:text=In%20addition%2C%20the%20possession%20of,as%20determinants%20of%20sport%20expertise">coaching and specialized training</a> — including access to competitive leagues — not to “biological sex.” </p>
<p>Trans sports participation is vital for health and well-being. That’s why the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport recommends “<a href="https://cces.ca/sites/default/files/content/docs/pdf/cces-transinclusionpolicyguidance-e.pdf">policies governing the participation of trans athletes should be evidence-based</a>.” According to a <a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.3266">study published by the <em>Journal of the American Medical Association</em></a>, youth participation in sport is associated with positive physical, mental and emotional well-being.</p>
<p><a href="https://indd.adobe.com/view/publication/40b5fe5b-48b2-48a3-81b2-8ed970144e66/1/publication-web-resources/pdf/Working_Towards_a_Sport_for_Them.pdf">Inclusive sports environments</a> — not segregated leagues — are associated with greater self-esteem and school retention.</p>
<h2>What’s the truth?</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://transpulsecanada.ca/results/report-health-and-well-being-among-trans-and-non-binary-youth/">survey data collected from 2,873 non-binary and trans people in Canada</a>, youth reported high levels of harassment (72 per cent), rejection from family (25 per cent) and suicide ideation (40 per cent). </p>
<p>In contrast, trans youth who are <a href="https://www.glsen.org/activity/inclusive-curriculum-guide">affirmed in schools</a>, <a href="https://www.wpath.org/publications/soc">health care</a> and in <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/lgbtq-participation-in-sports">sports</a> have better <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2023.2285984">self-confidence and relationships with their parents</a>.</p>
<p>Smith has <a href="https://www.cpac.ca/headline-politics/episode/alberta-premier-danielle-smith-discusses-gender-identity-policies?id=5b8e0a28-da27-4f0e-afe4-d771e34fbed1">incorrectly warned</a> there are risks associated with affirmation and inclusion in schools for trans kids.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-the-alberta-election-the-stakes-are-high-for-2slgbtq-youth-205966">In the Alberta election, the stakes are high for 2SLGBTQ+ youth</a>
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<p>What the evidence actually demonstrates is what truly puts trans kids at risk are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12405">transphobic, misguided and ill-informed policies and practices</a> that deny them the right to live authentically and to express themselves fully without fear. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/federal-ministers-accuse-alberta-premier-danielle-smith-of-putting-trans-youth-at-risk-1.6751597">Federal cabinet ministers</a> are speaking out against Smith’s proposed restrictions. Ottawa may oppose the policies in court.</p>
<p>In Alberta, Skipping Stone Foundation in Calgary and Egale Canada — advocacy groups for 2SLGBTQI people — have <a href="https://egale.ca/egale-in-action/egale-canada-and-skipping-stone-foundation-condemn-albertas-attack-on-2slgbtqi-people-and-promise-legal-action/">publicly condemned Smith’s policies</a> and have partnered to file a court injunction. </p>
<p>These policies are clearly meant to satisfy Smith’s electoral base, but her government is now going to have to go head-to-head with the experts — and the evidence — in future legal battles. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of a story originally published on Friday, Feb. 2. It includes more information on clinical guidelines for the prescription of puberty blockers for the purposes of gender-affirming care.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222579/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Corinne L. Mason receives funding from SSHRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leah Hamilton receives funding from SSHRC.</span></em></p>Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s anti-trans policies are likely meant to satisfy her base, but her government will now have to go head-to-head with the evidence in future legal battles.Corinne L. Mason, Associate Professor, Women's and Gender Studies, Mount Royal UniversityLeah Hamilton, Professor in the Faculty of Business & Communication Studies, Mount Royal UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2218382024-01-30T22:36:36Z2024-01-30T22:36:36ZHow a ‘turn it off’ approach to energy conservation could benefit Canada, and the planet<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/how-a-turn-it-off-approach-to-energy-conservation-could-benefit-canada-and-the-planet" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The challenge for climate change communicators a couple of decades ago was conveying what the research was showing: that the burning of fossil fuels was altering the planet’s climate. That communication played a vital role in facilitating the current widespread understanding that the climate is changing and it is a crisis. </p>
<p>There remains, however, a fundamental communication challenge in moving the focus from consuming different kinds of energy to facilitating a revolution of consuming less. Recent electrical grid events in Alberta offer a compelling case study.</p>
<p><a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10217359/alberta-extreme-cold-warning-january-2024/">On Jan. 13, 2024, extreme cold hit Alberta — the coldest in half a century</a>. As people turned up their thermostats to stay warm, Alberta’s power grid was put under immense strain. To avoid taking pressure off the electrical grid with rolling blackouts (rotating half an hour power outages throughout Alberta), the <a href="https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/albertans-asked-to-conserve-energy-for-2-hours-during-electric-grid-alert-1.6725104">Alberta Emergency Management Agency sent an alert to all Albertans</a>. </p>
<p>This unprecedented use of the emergency system, the first of what would be four alerts, asked Albertans <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-electrical-grid-emergency-decarbonization-1.7083664">to turn off unnecessary electricity — lights, electrical appliances and devices — and use “essentials only.”</a></p>
<p>Albertans responded. <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/varcoe-power-grid-alerts-aeso-alberta">Within minutes of the initial emergency alert being issued, demand on Alberta’s power grid decreased by 150 megawatts and continued to fall</a>. <a href="https://www.cer-rec.gc.ca/en/data-analysis/energy-markets/provincial-territorial-energy-profiles/provincial-territorial-energy-profiles-alberta.html">Alberta has an estimated generative capacity of around 16,330 megawatts.</a>.</p>
<p>Because many people and some businesses voluntarily switched off appliances and other electrical devices that were not needed, there was no need for the rolling blackouts.</p>
<h2>Switching off</h2>
<p>The brief experience of turning off highlighted a couple of things. First, that people are willing to change behaviours when asked. Second, the behaviour change, for some, was positive. As one Albertan <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/alberta/comments/196675j/visual_of_the_immediate_reduced_power_consumption/?rdt=41028">posted on Reddit</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Our kids made a game out of it. Showered with a candle in the bathroom, we had one small light to read books, ALL the lights off in and outside the house, no TV obviously.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another poster on the same Reddit thread offered that their 10-year-old excitedly asked that all the lights and TV be turned off and added: “It looks like the alert does work.”</p>
<p>In the aftermath, <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/alberta-emergency-power-alert-underlines-challenge-of-energy-transition-on-prairies/ar-AA1mXFZm">the news has focused on critiques of Alberta’s current energy generation and how to facilitate growing energy output in the future as fossil-fuels continue to be phased out</a>. Politicians and experts wondered how the grid could be more robust and fail-safe so that there is no need to ask people to turn things off. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-electrical-grid-emergency-decarbonization-1.7083664">Critiques of solar and wind were also quickly offered</a> as were the benefits of new power generation such as <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/varcoe-power-grid-alerts-aeso-alberta">Alberta’s Cascade Power Project — a 900 megawatt natural gas-fired plant</a> —
and <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-how-alberta-can-avoid-another-grid-alert">increased energy generation flexibility</a>.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A report on the January cold wave produced by the CBC.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But what if the opportunity in Alberta’s power grid struggles is not about producing different kinds of energy but consuming less? </p>
<h2>Looking beyond supply</h2>
<p>The January cold wave is a critical moment to reflect upon the status quo and reimagine a system that values consuming less, not producing more.</p>
<p>Alberta’s electrical grid alerts gave us a glimpse, for a few hours, of a topic largely absent from climate communication: we are consuming too much of everything. We must use and consume less. Less energy, less stuff. We <a href="https://time.com/6341884/climate-change-consumption/">cannot consume our way out of this crisis</a>. </p>
<p>We must consume less, and Albertans proved that this is not only possible but can even be a positive experience.</p>
<p>It is also important, in the depths of an unprecedented cold-weather event, to not lose sight of the fact that globally 2023 was the warmest year on record “by far” — <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/news/2023-was-worlds-warmest-year-on-record-by-far#:%7E:text=Earth's%20average%20land%20and%20ocean,0.15%20of%20a%20degree%20C">beating 2016 (the previous record-setting year) by .15 degrees Celsius (also a record)</a>. </p>
<p>The 10 warmest years on record — since 1850 — have been in the past 10 years and this changing climate is causing extreme wildfires, tornadoes, cyclones, drought, flooding, heat and cold. Here and around the world <a href="https://theconversation.com/2023s-extreme-storms-heat-and-wildfires-broke-records-a-scientist-explains-how-global-warming-fuels-climate-disasters-217500">lives and habitats are indiscriminately being destroyed</a>. This is our emergency alert.</p>
<h2>A new normal</h2>
<p>Shifting to turning off and reducing consumption patterns for individuals, businesses and industry will be incredibly hard. The global economy, and related jobs, are built on consuming more. But the climate crisis, as well as growing inequality and ecosystem destruction, will make status quo levels of consumption increasingly untenable. </p>
<p>The Alberta Emergency Management Agency sent emergency alerts asking people to turn off because the alternative would have been mandatory rolling blackouts. Asking people to turn off voluntarily allowed Albertans to respond with thoughtfulness, dignity and agency. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cop28-why-we-need-to-break-our-addiction-to-combustion-218019">COP28: Why we need to break our addiction to combustion</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We, collectively across Canada and around the world, are in an emergency. The climate crisis is upon us and we have a choice. We can delay structural change and await the extreme climate crisis consequences. Or we can demand that government and industry implement the systemic changes required to avert (or at least mitigate) this catastrophe.</p>
<p>Regardless, the lessons from Alberta are clear. We could all try “turning off” from time to time — saving money, <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190320145559.htm">helping the planet</a> and perhaps reconnecting with friends and family. That, if nothing else, could be a benefit worth championing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221838/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Ellen Good does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Alberta’s experiment with voluntary ‘switching off’ was a success both in terms of saving electricity and in showcasing the power of proactive informed action to address the climate crisis.Jennifer Ellen Good, Associate Professor and Chair, Communication, Popular Culture and Film, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2206382024-01-16T22:32:37Z2024-01-16T22:32:37ZWheat Pool 2.0: The time might be ripe for a revival of Prairie co-ops<p>When <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/bunge-merge-with-viterra-form-18-billion-agriculture-trader-2023-06-13/">Bunge announced its intention to purchase Viterra</a> — the Regina-based grain handling subsidiary of Swiss mining giant Glencore — in June 2023, it represented another milestone in the slow, but steady, erasure of Saskatchewan’s long history with the wheat pool co-operative.</p>
<p>The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, the once-mighty agricultural co-operative that became Viterra, is remembered by its iconic, but decaying, grain elevators that still dot much of the province’s rural landscape.</p>
<p>The timing of the announcement is ironic for two reasons. First, it coincides with what would have been the Wheat Pool’s 100th anniversary. </p>
<p>Second, it’s occurring during a period when Saskatchewan and Prairie farmers are facing power imbalances in the market not dissimilar to those that gave rise to co-operative wheat pools in <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/saskatchewan-wheat-pool">Saskatchewan</a> and <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/alberta-wheat-pool">Alberta</a> in 1923, and <a href="https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/business/manitobapool.shtml">Manitoba</a> in 1924.</p>
<p>The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool’s origin story is instructive. As journalist Garry Fairbairn described in the preface to his <a href="https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/36552">book on the Pool’s 60th anniversary</a> in 1983, the Pool was founded by 45,000 farmers engaged in “individual acts of desperation, hope, and faith (that) combined to create an enduring co-operative empire and corporate democracy.” </p>
<p>As Fairbairn goes on to note:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Some organizations, like some calves, are born with casual ease, their arrival scarcely noticed until one sunny morning finds them already routinely grazing on a gentle sloe. Others come only after a raw, hard struggle, a grim rancher straining to pull the calf from a desperate cow. The birth of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was definitely in the second category.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As different as the wheat pool’s origins and Bunge’s purchase may seem, they both represent a response to the same underlying desire: control. Bunge, headquartered in Missouri, wants more of it; the wheat pool founders, based all over the province, wanted some of it.</p>
<h2>Increasingly consolidated industry</h2>
<p>The logic that compels a company like Bunge to integrate Viterra into its supply chain is the same logic that evokes nostalgia among farmers old enough to remember the wheat pools, and action among younger farmers with the energy to do something about it.</p>
<p>Once the Viterra takeover is complete, Bunge will be the top player in Canada’s grain trade (and third in the world), joining a small — <a href="https://www.nfu.ca/bunge-viterra-merger-has-drastic-implications-for-cdn-farmers/">and shrinking</a> — number of companies with market power and the ability to impose prices and shift the risks of the market onto producers.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nfu.ca/bunge-viterra-merger-has-drastic-implications-for-cdn-farmers">top five companies already control 90 per cent</a> of the global grain trade; six of them sell 70 per cent of all agrochemicals and four of those also sell 60 per cent of all the seed.</p>
<p>Already, there are indications — albeit anecdotal — that grain handling firms are exerting market power, with many farmers feeling like they have no choice but to <a href="https://apas.ca/news/listing/one-sided-grain-contracts-need-to-change">sign grain delivery contracts</a> where they end up bearing significant financial risks and most of the costs of climate change and market uncertainty.</p>
<p>The result? Farmers <a href="https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/2023/07/29/read-the-fine-print-caution-needed-in-grain-contracts">owing money on contracts they were unable to fulfill because of events out of their control</a>. </p>
<p>With the rise of <a href="https://www.fao.org/digital-agriculture/en/">digital agriculture</a> and <a href="https://www.itworldcanada.com/article/data-governance-and-regulating-data-in-agriculture/536332">little to no regulations or laws for agricultural data governance in Canada</a>, we could see agricultural data issues as well, as supply firms amass and use data from customers to exert market power.</p>
<h2>The view from Australia</h2>
<p>To get a glimpse into what was lost when the Wheat Pool became Viterra, we can look to Australia. Like Canada, farmers in Australia no longer have a national wheat marketing board. It was eliminated in 2008, a few years before Canada’s. Unlike in Canada, however, <a href="https://www.country-guide.ca/guide-business/australias-approach-to-grain-pools/">Australian farmers held on to their co-operative grain handling company</a>, Co-operative Bulk Handling (CBH).</p>
<p>Well into its 90th year, CBH has prospered despite a difficult operating environment not dissimilar to Canada’s, as well as periodic <a href="https://bccm.coop/about-co-ops-mutuals/case-studies/cbh-group/">challenges to its mutuality</a>. With a 62 per cent share of the grain handling business and AU$4 billion in annual revenue, CBH had a record annual profit of $497 million in 2022 and has reported <a href="https://www.cbh.com.au/media-releases/2023/10/best-year-on-record-for-cbh-supply-chain">record-breaking supply chain performance</a> for its 2023 harvest.</p>
<p>Those results belong to CBH’s Australian farmer-members. <a href="https://www.cbh.com.au/our-co-operative/what-we-do">CBH’s success</a> can be attributed to its efforts to support its members by investment in the infrastructure — rail transport, port terminals, marketing, exporting and processing — needed to lower grain handling costs for its producer members. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in shorts, a tee-shirt and a baseball hat standing in a field of wheat" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569151/original/file-20240112-19-32g57e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569151/original/file-20240112-19-32g57e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569151/original/file-20240112-19-32g57e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569151/original/file-20240112-19-32g57e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569151/original/file-20240112-19-32g57e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569151/original/file-20240112-19-32g57e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569151/original/file-20240112-19-32g57e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A grain farmer tests wheat for moisture before harvest in Moree, a major agricultural area in New South Wales, Australia, in November 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a result, CBH says average post-farmgate costs for its members are <a href="https://www.country-guide.ca/guide-business/australias-approach-to-grain-pools/">15 per cent lower</a> than for Australian farmers who rely on multinational corporations — including companies like Bunge and Viterra — for storage, movement, marketing and export. </p>
<p>Through CBH, Australian farmers don’t just have a powerful corporate entity looking out for their financial interests, but a company that can help them navigate government lobbying and relationships with agricultural input providers and their growing arsenal of data being used to power artificial intelligence applications.</p>
<h2>Co-operative green shoots</h2>
<p>Of course, Canada’s agriculture sector today is vastly different than it was when the wheat pool came into being. While there are places in rural Prairies Canada that are prospering — especially those proximate to urban centres — the <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220511/dq220511a-eng.htm">long-term trends remain</a>. </p>
<p>These trends include dwindling populations, aging farmers, increasing farm size as producers pursue scale to amass some negotiating power (competing with <a href="https://theconversation.com/growing-farmland-inequality-in-the-prairies-poses-problems-for-all-canadians-196777">investors buying up shares of farmland</a>), and increasing challenges for anyone or any producer left behind.</p>
<p>But while perhaps dormant, the co-operative impulse is not gone and may indeed be ripe for a reawakening. There are some promising signs in both old and new technologies and from existing farmer co-operatives.</p>
<p>In Alberta, farmers have worked together to purchase their own <a href="https://battleriverrailway.ca/">short-line railway</a> to ensure they could continue to ship their crops at reasonable prices. In the Platte region of Nebraska, farmers have organized a <a href="https://www.gisc.coop/nebraska-tpnrd/">data co-operative</a> to measure, count, aggregate and interpret data on their water usage. </p>
<p>In western Canada in 2010, a group of independent seed, crop protection and fertilizer retailers came together to form a co-operative — now called <a href="https://www.winfieldunited.ca/en/">WinField United Canada</a> — and a division of Land O'Lakes, one of the largest agricultural co-operatives in the United States.</p>
<p>For farmers and policymakers, the lesson should be clear: even as Saskatchewan contemplates the loss of another corporate sector headquarters, perhaps the best hope for the future of the province’s economy and its farmers can be found by looking back to the past and an organizational model that when governed properly, is rooted, resilient and responsive.</p>
<p><em>Jeremy Welter co-authored this article. He is a fourth-generation farmer, small-business owner and director on the board of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220638/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc-Andre Pigeon receives funding from the co-operative and credit union sectors as well as funding from government funding bodies for his research into co-operatives and credit unions. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Kallio receives funding from the co-operative and credit union sectors as well as from government funding bodies for research into co-operatives.</span></em></p>One hundred years after the founding of the once-mighty Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, the time might be ripe for a revival of Prairie farmer co-operatives.Marc-Andre Pigeon, Assistant Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of SaskatchewanNatalie Kallio, Professional Research Associate, Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, University of SaskatchewanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2194752024-01-03T20:54:55Z2024-01-03T20:54:55ZAlberta sovereignty push: Learning from the economic fallout of similar separatist movements<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/alberta-sovereignty-push-learning-from-the-economic-fallout-of-similar-separatist-movements" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, while not explicitly advocating for outright independence, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/danielle-smith-sovereignty-act-judge-power-company-executive-1.7041743">continues to promote increased provincial autonomy.</a> </p>
<p>A shift from a theoretical discussion to actively pursuing an independence referendum by Smith or her successors could have <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-danielle-smith-veer-back-to-the-right-and-towards-alberta-separatism-207195">dramatic economic consequences for Alberta and Canada</a> similar to the impact separatist movements have had in other parts of the world, including in Spain and the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>In Canada, western alienation has persisted for <a href="https://centre.irpp.org/research-studies/the-persistence-of-western-alienation/">more than a century</a>, and polls show that <a href="https://biv.com/article/2023/07/even-albertans-arent-favour-separatism-survey-shows">27 per cent of Albertans</a> aged 18 to 34 support the concept of an independent Alberta. </p>
<p>Conventional wisdom holds that Alberta separation is unlikely to ever happen. But the stakes are too high to ignore the possibility of Alberta breaking away.</p>
<h2>‘Alberta Agenda’</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061224170836/http://www.albertaresidentsleague.com/letter.htm">Alberta Agenda letter</a>, written in 2001, has influenced Alberta’s approach to federal relations over the last two decades. Among other changes, the letter proposed replacing the Canada Pension Plan with an Alberta Pension Plan and establishing an Alberta police force. </p>
<p>In line with the Alberta Agenda, the provincial government under then-premier Jason Kenney <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8326174/kenney-equalization-daylight-saving-time-referendum-results/">held a referendum in 2021</a> on the question of whether provisions requiring equalization payments should be eliminated from Canada’s Constitution. </p>
<p>While the majority (61.9 per cent) <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/referendum-alberta-equalization-daylight-time-senate-1.6225309">voted yes</a>, such a Constitutional change cannot be made without support from six other provinces. </p>
<p>Kenney’s referendum did not fully satisfy Alberta separatists and “Freedom Convoy” supporters, <a href="https://publicorderemergencycommission.ca/files/documents/Policy-Papers/Social-Cleaveges-Alberta-Separatism-and-the-Freedom-Convoy-Wesley.pdf">two groups that share a number of similarities</a>, leading to an <a href="https://www.readtheorchard.org/p/how-to-take-back-alberta-and-influence?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2">internal party rebellion</a> that resulted in Smith replacing Kenney as premier in 2022.</p>
<p><a href="https://macleans.ca/longforms/unsteady-reign-danielle-smith/">Smith has kept key elements</a> of the Alberta Agenda front and centre during her first year as premier. </p>
<p><a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/pure-magical-thinking-albertans-filled-premiers-inbox-with-emails-opposing-provincial-pension-plan">She’s advocating</a> for the Alberta Pension Plan, even though <a href="https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.3138/cpp.2023-044">experts have deemed it risky</a> and polls indicate <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/most-albertans-don-t-want-the-province-to-pull-out-of-cpp-survey-finds-1.6682653">weak support for the proposal</a>.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, it’s likely Alberta separatist groups will keep pressuring Smith to pursue this agenda item — and Smith has suggested she won’t back down. During the provincial election campaign, she vowed to defend Alberta in the face of alleged unfair treatment by Ottawa.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1537190851633262592"}"></div></p>
<p>She soon introduced the Alberta Sovereignty Act, which the NDP labelled a step <a href="https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/alberta-ndp-says-premier-s-rejection-of-federal-authority-lays-separation-groundwork-1.6187240">towards separation</a>. Even Kenney criticized its potential to lead Alberta to the <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/09/07/news/kenney-separation-plan-pitched-possible-successor">brink of separation, which he said would damage the rule of law and the economy</a>.</p>
<h2>Similarities to Spain</h2>
<p>Canada’s current experience of separatist movements mirrors Spain’s to some extent. Traditionally, the province of Québec in Canada and the Basque region in Spain have been the primary regions pushing for independence. </p>
<p>However, Catalonia’s <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9f2477f0-9eec-11e7-8cd4-932067fbf946">separatist movement</a> in Spain, which has now surpassed the Basque movement, represents a rapid rise of the kind that could conceivably be seen in Alberta.</p>
<p>In Catalonia, the rise in separatist sentiment was triggered by perceived <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12412">unfair economic treatment</a> from Spain’s central government. </p>
<p>The Catalan independence movement reached its pinnacle in 2017 when an <a href="https://time.com/4951665/catalan-referendum-2017/">unauthorized independence referendum was held</a>. The political leaders who participated in it <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/spanish-supreme-court-sentences-catalan-separatists-to-jail/2019/10/14/a0590366-ee59-11e9-89eb-ec56cd414732_story.html">were eventually imprisoned</a>. These events led to significant economic disruption, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2022.07.024">a negative impact on the Spanish business environment</a>. </p>
<p>Today, support for Catalonia’s independence has fallen to <a href="https://www.elperiodico.com/es/politica/20230113/encuesta-independencia-catalunya-icps-uab-81112066">less than 50 per cent</a>, although <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/18/large-protests-against-catalan-amnesty-deal-in-madrid-after-pm-sworn-in">the political impact lingers on</a> as two small Catalan separatist parties currently wield <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/who-are-catalonias-separatist-parties-why-do-they-matter-2023-09-29/">signficant influence over Spanish politics</a>.</p>
<p>The decline in Basque separatism and the rise in similar Catalan sentiment in the last two decades may relate to the two regions’ relative economic performance.</p>
<p>The Basque region has experienced <a href="https://www.elcorreo.com/economia/euskadi-comunidad-mayor-crecimiento-economico-2024-segun-bbva-20230628123809-nt.html">strong economic growth</a>, while the fallout from the events of 2017 seems to have <a href="https://www.lavanguardia.com/economia/20230910/9217134/cataluna-seria-segunda-region-menor-crecimiento-pib-crisis-2017-airef.html">dampened Catalonia’s economic prosperity</a> compared to other regions in Spain.</p>
<h2>Brexit parallels</h2>
<p>The U.K. offers other similarities to the rise of Albertan separatist sentiments.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/22/world/europe/david-cameron-brexit-european-union.html">The Brexit referendum, driven by the U.K. Independence Party and conservative factions under David Cameron</a>, prime minister at the time, was intended to quell separatist sentiments. However, it defied poll predictions, leading to the U.K.’s breakaway from the European Union. </p>
<p>Brexit has been a <a href="https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/impact-brexit-uk-economy-reviewing-evidence">major factor in the U.K.’s poor economic performance in recent years</a>, and <a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/07/19/brexit-was-wrong-say-57-of-british-voters">57 per cent of the British public now want to rejoin</a> the EU. </p>
<p>In the case of both Catalonia and Brexit, it hasn’t just been regional economies that have suffered. The movements also negatively <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2023/01/26/spains-economy-is-recovering-from-the-pandemic-but-problems-persist">affected Spain</a> <a href="https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/08/31/europes-economy-looks-to-be-heading-for-trouble">and the EU</a> more broadly. </p>
<p>Likewise, even just a referendum on Albertan independence could affect both the Alberta and Canadian economies.</p>
<h2>‘No plan’</h2>
<p>Former European Council President Donald Tusk famously asked “<a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/__trashed-21/">what that special place in hell looks like for those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely.</a>” </p>
<p>Before ramping up calls for independence, Alberta must rigorously analyze the real costs and time frames <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pmj.21409">of such a momentous undertaking</a>. </p>
<p>An independent Alberta would face numerous challenges, including its landlocked geographical position and heavy reliance on the volatile oil and gas market, which is <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/10/24/global-oil-demand-peak-2030-iea-predicts-first-time/">expected to peak by 2030</a> before consumption begins to drop significantly. </p>
<p>Additional challenges include restructuring trade relationships, establishing an independent financial system and addressing potential investor dissent. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-spectre-of-alberta-separatism-means-for-canada-186897">What the spectre of Alberta separatism means for Canada</a>
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<p>Such a move could also deepen <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423921000792">urban-rural divisions</a>, raising questions about the fate of urban voters who prefer to remain in Canada and further complicating issues related to citizens’ rights, mobility and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/alberta-sovereignty-act-saskatchewan-first-1.6677493">Indigenous opposition</a>. </p>
<p>Catalonia and post-Brexit U.K. illustrate the dangers of radicalization, separatism and divisive rhetoric. </p>
<p>Both the Alberta and federal governments must act to address western alienation and prevent a catastrophic scenario. That requires not just policy adjustments but a commitment to constructive dialogue and inclusive efforts to resolve these issues.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carlos Freire-Gibb does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Catalonia and post-Brexit U.K. illustrate the dangers of separatism and divisive rhetoric. Both Alberta and Ottawa must act to address western alienation and prevent a catastrophic scenario.Carlos Freire-Gibb, Assistant Professor, School of Business, MacEwan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2189762023-12-26T17:16:10Z2023-12-26T17:16:10ZMeasuring methane intensity is a key step on the path to net zero<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/measuring-methane-intensity-is-a-key-step-on-the-path-to-net-zero" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>After <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/news/2023/12/draft-oil-and-gas-methane-regulations-amendments-published-in-december-2023-to-reduce-emissions-by-75-percent.html">Canada</a> and the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/biden-harris-administration-finalizes-standards-slash-methane-pollution-combat-climate">United States</a> both announced new policy measures to address oil and gas methane at the COP28 climate summit — just weeks after the EU <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/eu-agrees-law-track-reduce-methane-emissions-oil-gas-sector-2023-11-15/#:%7E:text=EU%20agrees%20law%20to%20hit%20fossil%20fuel%20imports%20with%20methane%20emissions%20limit,-By%20Kate%20Abnett&text=Nov%2015%20(Reuters)%20%2D%20The,of%20the%20potent%20greenhouse%20gas.">agreed to extend</a> its methane intensity standards to imported natural gas — it is clear that global policy to address the potent climate-warming greenhouse gas is moving fast.</p>
<p>As policy continues to evolve and <a href="https://www.pembina.org/pub/survival-cleanest#:%7E:text=A%20new%20Pembina%20Institute%20report,carbon%20emissions%20and%20breakeven%20price.">demand shifts toward cleaner</a> forms of energy, methane intensity will be key to assessing progress and regulatory efficacy, as well as ensuring the global competitiveness of Canadian product.</p>
<h2>Measuring methane</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00907">Methane intensity</a> is the quantity of methane released into the atmosphere relative to the amount of oil or gas produced. Measuring it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c07722">enables comparisons</a> of environmental performance across regions, companies, facilities, production levels, fuel sources and time frames. </p>
<p>With this data we can see where policies and practices are driving down emissions and where improvements are needed.</p>
<p>To effectively target methane emissions and gauge intensity improvements, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00769-7">you need to know</a> how much methane you have and where. However, studies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01081-0">continue to show</a> that we lack adequate knowledge of its magnitude and distribution. Comprehensive measurement to determine methane intensity is key.</p>
<p>When it comes to methane intensity, some producers do a lot better than others. A study by researchers at St. Francis Xavier University’s <a href="https://fluxlab.ca/">FluxLab</a> found a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cesys.2022.100081">1,000-fold variation</a> in methane intensities among Albertan oil and gas producers.</p>
<p>Since Canada’s oil and gas industry consists of many different production methods and fluid types, methane intensity also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87610-3">varies significantly</a> across regions.</p>
<p>Measurements collected by FluxLab researchers in 2021 show that methane intensity from offshore oil production in Newfoundland is quite low, likely due to a combination of technology advances (for example, flare recovery systems), regulation and high production volumes.</p>
<p>Natural gas produced in British Columbia also has relatively low methane intensities. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00769-7">Another study</a> showed B.C.’s overall methane intensity was lower than 2019 averages for Western Canada and the United States (though, at 0.42 per cent, it’s still higher than the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act’s 0.2 per cent methane fee threshold and the <a href="https://www.ogci.com/methane-emissions">Oil and Gas Climate Initiative</a> target). </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/oil-and-gas-sectors-low-compliance-with-methane-regulations-jeopardizes-canadas-net-zero-goals-209956">Oil and gas sector's low compliance with methane regulations jeopardizes Canada's net-zero goals</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.bc-er.ca/files/documents/femp-guidance-july-release-v10-2019.pdf">B.C. introduced regulations</a> in 2020 to drive down oil and gas methane emissions, which the B.C. Energy Regulator is now working to strengthen.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150836">Heavy oil</a> regions have the most methane-intensive production in Canada. Certain production methods can have as much as 400 times the methane intensity as offshore production. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c06255">A recent study</a> of Cold Heavy Oil Production with Sand (CHOPS) production in Saskatchewan found that methane intensity just during production was four times higher than the mean carbon intensity of Canadian oil over its entire life cycle. Saskatchewan’s overall emissions intensity is also <a href="https://www.enverus.com/newsroom/greenhouse-gas-emission-intensities-unchanged-across-western-canadian-upstream-and-midstream-sectors/">getting worse</a>.</p>
<h2>Possible solutions</h2>
<p>Fortunately, reducing methane emissions — and by extension, methane intensity — is dirt cheap. A <a href="https://www.edf.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/Canada%20Methane%20Abatement%20Opportunity.pdf?_gl=1*1pkktkd*_ga*ODI0NjQ3Mzg2LjE2ODAwNDI4MzM.*_ga_2B3856Y9QW*MTY4OTk3NDg2OC40Ny4wLjE2ODk5NzQ4NzAuNTguMC4w*_ga_Q5CTTQBJD8*MTY4OTk3NDg2OS40Ny4wLjE2ODk5NzQ4NzAuNTkuMC4w*_gcl_au*NjI3MzYxMzY5LjE2ODgwNDQzNDM.">Dunsky report</a> found that a 75 per cent reduction in upstream oil and gas methane emissions would cost as little as $11 per ton of CO₂ equivalent. </p>
<p>That’s far below the federal carbon price of $65 per ton of CO₂ equivalent and rising, as well as carbon capture and storage for oilsands, which could cost <a href="https://www.pembina.org/pub/cash-flow-modeling-shows-carbon-capture-and-storage-can-help-meet-climate-goals">between $89-144</a> per ton of CO₂ equivalent.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FF1a3ojIg3s?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An overview of Canada’s newly announced methane reduction policy, produced by the CBC.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Canada’s newly announced amendments to its methane regulations will help drive <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/news/2023/09/beating-75-percent-target-for-cutting-oil-and-gas-methane-emissions-is-canadas-next-challenge-minister-guilbeault.html">deep methane reductions</a>, so long as they are meaningfully enforced. </p>
<p>However, to credibly assess outcomes and achieve the reductions we truly need, producers and governments need to have accurate data on oil and gas methane emissions and emissions intensity. In addition:</p>
<ol>
<li><p><a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-proposes-updates-greenhouse-gas-emissions-reporting-requirements-oil-and-gas#:%7E:text=The%20law%20requires%20that%20EPA,submit%20empirical%20emissions%20data%20to">Following the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</a>, Canada should develop stronger measurement, monitoring, verification and reporting requirements to generate a more accurate picture of emissions and emissions intensity.</p></li>
<li><p>Saskatchewan and Alberta should proceed with regulatory development to update and strengthen their oil and gas methane regulations in a timely manner and follow B.C.’s lead by basing models and targets on aerial survey data.</p></li>
<li><p>Energy regulators should apply strong monetary penalties for non-compliance in a consistent and timely manner.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Methane intensity allows various stakeholders to recognize, quantify and base decision-making on important comparisons and trends. It will be a key metric in the global transition to net-zero that will make or break producer competitiveness and, if accurately measured and reported, help governments effectively determine emissions reduction progress and priorities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218976/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Bryant is affiliated with the Pembina Institute. The research for this article was undertaken while she was employed by St. Francis Xavier University. </span></em></p>Any efforts to tackle methane emissions must first begin with measuring the intensity of those emissions.Amanda Bryant, Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2195622023-12-19T22:01:29Z2023-12-19T22:01:29ZCanada must recognize anti-homeless attacks as hate crimes<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/canada-must-recognize-anti-homeless-attacks-as-hate-crimes" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Hate crime is a <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510006601">growing concern in Canada</a>. These are crimes motivated by animosity, bias or hate toward some aspect of a victim’s identity.</p>
<p>Canada, and several other countries, have reported <a href="https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/en/resources/ending-violence-against-people-experiencing-homelessness-starts-upholding-their-human">recent increases in hate-motivated violence against unhoused people</a>. However, in Canada, people experiencing homelessness are not considered a protected class, nor does the law recognize them as people belonging to an “identifiable group.” </p>
<p>In Canada, hate-motivated crimes are those that target people from “<a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-jp/victim/rd16-rr16/p1.html">identifiable groups</a>” based on the “<a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/h-6/page-1.html#h-256795">prohibited grounds</a>” of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, language, age and disability.</p>
<p>Unhoused people don’t necessarily fit neatly into one or more of these groups, and that means the hate directed toward them because they are unhoused is often ignored.</p>
<h2>Homelessness in Lethbridge</h2>
<p>In spring 2022, we interviewed and spent time with 50 unhoused people in Lethbridge, Atla., 34 of whom were Indigenous. Estimates suggest approximately <a href="https://www.homelesshub.ca/community-profile/lethbridge">450 people are unhoused in Lethbridge</a>, most of whom are Indigenous due to <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/indians-wear-red">historical and ongoing colonial oppression</a>. We asked participants about many things, including how they experienced street life and safety.</p>
<p>Approximately five per cent of Canadians have <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2022001/article/00002-eng.htm">experienced unsheltered homelessness</a>. This refers to people living in shelters, parks, tent cities or makeshift shelters. In the United States, data shows homelessness has risen to its <a href="https://apnews.com/article/homelessness-increase-rent-hud-covid-60bd88687e1aef1b02d25425798bd3b1">highest ever reported level</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azad065">Our research</a> in Lethbridge shows how poverty — and homelessness in particular — can dramatically increase a person’s risk of being a victim of a hate crime. </p>
<p>Put another way, being homeless compounds the risk factors that make people more vulnerable to hate-motivated attacks. We call this the “cumulative risk of hate crime victimization.”</p>
<h2>Anti-homeless hate crime</h2>
<p>Nearly all participants expressed feeling unsafe in downtown Lethbridge, fearing they may be attacked by a group they called the “White Gorillas.” Participants described them as a “white hate group” that predominantly targets unhoused Indigenous persons, especially Indigenous women. They also shared that White Gorilla violence was motivated by anti-homeless hatred, meaning the group could attack anyone living on the streets. </p>
<p>According to interviewees, the White Gorillas travelled in vehicles looking for vulnerable persons to attack. Some reported being victimized by the group themselves. Many others knew someone who had been verbally, physically or sexually abused by the group. As one participant stated: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“They come into town. They beat the shit out of people. They take girls in their vehicles, and you know […] they lure them into that truck and take off out of town. Beat the shit out of them, rape them.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Experts describe hate crimes as “message crimes” because of how these attacks <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0269758011422475">instill fear in communities that share the victim’s identity</a>. Sociologists call this experience <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764201045004010">vicarious victimization</a>. </p>
<p>The routine attacks against our participants caused immense stress in Lethbridge’s unhoused community. Interviewees explained how they developed strategies to protect themselves. This included hiding, travelling in groups and avoiding the downtown core, especially at night. However, most saw these safety measures as futile due to the challenges of living outdoors and being visibly unhoused. </p>
<p>Some participants also shared that they reported these hate crimes to local police. The officers, they claim, were not interested in protecting victims nor investigating these attacks. </p>
<p>It is unclear whether these horrific acts were perpetrated by a singular, organized group. It is possible that they were committed by various persons who are unconnected to each other. However, the consequences of this victimization for people experiencing homelessness remain the same. </p>
<p>Anti-homeless violence and vicarious victimization introduce further challenges for unhoused people, as they limit their movement and access to social services out of fear of being victimized. </p>
<h2>What can we do?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/en/resources/ending-violence-against-people-experiencing-homelessness-starts-upholding-their-human">The Canadian Human Rights Commission</a> has called for recognizing unhoused people’s human rights by acknowledging anti-homeless violence as a hate crime. </p>
<p>Current hate crime legislation does not list unhoused people as a protected class because homelessness is not an “<a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/commentary/doc/2019CanLIIDocs2012#!fragment//BQCwhgziBcwMYgK4DsDWszIQewE4BUBTADwBdoByCgSgBpltTCIBFRQ3AT0otokLC4EbDtyp8BQkAGU8pAELcASgFEAMioBqAQQByAYRW1SYAEbRS2ONWpA">immutable characteristic</a>.” This is despite the fact that some protected classes are also not static. For example, people can change their religion. Experiences with disability can also change over time. Thus, focusing on immutable characteristics is arguably based upon flawed logic. </p>
<p>Many unhoused people are an identifiable group vulnerable to attack precisely because of their unhoused status. Being unhoused makes Indigenous people more vulnerable to hate-motivated violence, especially Indigenous women. </p>
<p>This is a textbook example of what sociologists call <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination">intersectionality,</a> referring to how discrimination increases when a person is a member of multiple oppressed groups.</p>
<p>Governments can address the intersectional oppression of this violence by implementing the recommendations of the <a href="https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/">National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls</a> and the <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1450124405592/1529106060525">Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada</a>.</p>
<p>Anti-homeless violence should be designated a hate crime and people experiencing homelessness must be considered and treated as a protected class under Canadian law. Protected status may pressure cities to address housing insecurity and encourage law enforcement to track and investigate anti-homeless violence. However, improving public safety will not protect unhoused people from victimization. </p>
<p>The best way to protect unhoused people from the violence they face is to provide them with safe and permanent housing. The government priority must be to provide safe housing and services to reduce vulnerability. Governments must also work to decrease biases against people experiencing homelessness that increase their risk of hate crime victimization and make it easier to ignore their suffering.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219562/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katharina Maier receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carolyn Greene receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin Tetrault receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marta-Marika Urbanik receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Killam Trusts Foundation. </span></em></p>Being homeless compounds the risk factors that make people more vulnerable to hate-motivated attacks.Katharina Maier, Associate professor, Criminal Justice, University of WinnipegCarolyn Greene, Associate Professor, Criminology, Athabasca UniversityJustin Tetrault, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology, University of AlbertaMarta-Marika Urbanik, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2173092023-11-28T20:10:03Z2023-11-28T20:10:03ZStriving for transparency: Why Canada’s pesticide regulations need an overhaul<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/striving-for-transparency-why-canadas-pesticide-regulations-need-an-overhaul" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/news/2021/08/government-of-canada-pauses-decision-on-glyphosate-as-it-strengthens-the-capacity-and-transparency-of-review-process-for-pesticides.html">In 2021, Health Canada announced a freeze on changing maximum residue limits (MRLs)</a> — the maximum allowable pesticide residues acceptable under Canadian law. This decision followed substantial public outcry following Canada’s most widely used weed killer <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/pesticides-pest-management/public/consultations/proposed-maximum-residue-limit/2021/glyphosate/document.html">glyphosate’s proposed MRL increase.</a></p>
<p>This year, three ministries (including Health Canada) <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/news/2023/06/government-of-canada-moves-forward-on-federal-pesticide-commitments.html">unpaused</a> the comparatively less complex residue limit adjustments and <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/corporate/about-health-canada/branches-agencies/pest-management-regulatory-agency/transforming/how-we-are-transforming.html">sought to transform</a> the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/corporate/about-health-canada/branches-agencies/pest-management-regulatory-agency.html">Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA)</a>. </p>
<p>The move was aimed to enhance transparency, modernize their business practices, improve access to information related to pesticide decision-making, and increase the use of real world data and independent advice. </p>
<p>However, trust in the agency remains an issue; only <a href="https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2023/sc-hc/H114-39-2023-eng.pdf">60 per cent of Canadians believe the regulatory system is keeping pace with scientific advancements in pesticide assessment,</a> adding further pressure to Canadian’s eroding trust in science.</p>
<h2>Challenges and controversies</h2>
<p>In spite of ongoing concerns over risks to human and environmental health, global pesticide use has been <a href="https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/RP/visualize">increasing over the past 30 years</a>. </p>
<p>In Canada, increased reliance on pesticides has been largely tied to the intensity of agricultural use in the main crop growing regions of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2020.556452">the Canadian Prairies, Southern Ontario and Québec.</a></p>
<p>Advancing pesticide regulation to meet the needs of Canada’s agricultural sector, while protecting human and environmental health, is a growing challenge. </p>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/reports-publications/pesticides-pest-management/corporate-plans-reports/annual-report-2020-2021.html">more than 600 registered active ingredients in more than 7,600 registered pesticide products</a> — a staggering number that continues to rise. </p>
<p>From 2011 to 2021, the PMRA registered between seven and 27 new active pesticide ingredients each year. Meanwhile, it has only <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11020121">banned 32 of 531 prohibited active pesticide ingredients regulated in 168 other countries</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them-207656">Why there are fewer insects on UK farms than there were a century ago -- and how to restore them</a>
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<p>This influx puts added pressure on the agency to review volumes of scientific data produced by both the registrant and independent scientists, while continuously assessing the growing list of existing products for their safety to humans and risks to environmental health. </p>
<p>Some chemical registration decisions, including <a href="https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2016/01/canada-discontinues-conditional-registrations-for-new-pesticides/">conditional registrations</a>, have been highly controversial, highlighting the lack of transparency or perceived industry bias. </p>
<p>In the case of glyphosate, sales in Canada have topped nearly 470 million kilograms from 2007 to 2018. Public concerns over human health risks and regulated uses have led to <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/advocates-thrilled-as-court-orders-health-canada-to-reassess-glyphosate-decision-1.5772134">legal challenges</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, the proposed 2018 decision to phase out three of the most widely used, environmentally persistent and toxic neuro-active <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/pesticides-pest-management/growers-commercial-users/neonicotinoid-insecticides.html">neonicotinoid insecticides</a> was later <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/04/08/news/feds-wont-ban-pesticides-deadly-bees-bugs-ecosystems">reversed in 2021</a>. Citizens and scientists were left seeking answers on whether industry influence caused the <a href="https://www.wildernesscommittee.org/news/federal-pesticide-regulator-flip-flops-proposed-neonics-ban-after-years-delay">flip-flop</a>.</p>
<h2>Evolving roles</h2>
<p>Last year, as part of the transformation agenda, Health Canada aimed to fortify its pesticide review processes by establishing an <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/corporate/about-health-canada/public-engagement/external-advisory-bodies/science-advisory-committee-pest-control-products.html">independent Science Advisory Committee</a>. </p>
<p>Currently comprising eight academic experts, whose backgrounds were screened for conflict of interest, the committee has been tasked to provide objective, science-based advice to inform regulatory decisions on pest control products. We are four of them.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6i2sJwxw5Uc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An exploration into the connections between pesticide use and disease in humans, produced by Deutsche Welle documentaries.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since its creation in July 2022, the committee has met five times with Health Canada’s PMRA in a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/corporate/about-health-canada/public-engagement/external-advisory-bodies/science-advisory-committee-pest-control-products/meetings.html">public forum</a>.</p>
<p>The committee has been tasked with providing input on diverse issues such as communication of MRLs, use of independent data sources, creation of open source toxicity databases, and access to registrant data used in decision-making. </p>
<p>As a positive early sign, the PMRA has been responsive to the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/corporate/about-health-canada/public-engagement/external-advisory-bodies/science-advisory-committee-pest-control-products/advisory-reports.html">committee’s advice and recommendations</a>, which is anticipated to reinforce public trust and ensure science-based decision-making is at the core of its processes. </p>
<h2>Informing new policies</h2>
<p>Canada is long overdue in establishing a <a href="https://canadacommons.ca/artifacts/1191021/a-canada-wide-framework-for-water-quality-monitoring/1744148/">co-ordinated water monitoring program</a> to systematically measure pesticide levels nationally. </p>
<p>The committee is providing external scientific advice on the new pilot <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/pesticides-pest-management/public/protecting-your-health-environment/programs-initiatives/water-monitoring-pesticides/pilot-program.html">Water Monitoring Framework Initiative</a>. </p>
<p>Committee experts are giving input on guidance for site selection, monitoring frequency in different types of surface waters and analytical measurement of current use compounds and their degradation products. </p>
<p>The goal is to ensure this much-needed water quality data is rigorous and usable for future risk assessment and independent scientific research.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pesticides-are-harming-nigeria-its-time-to-update-the-law-207050">Pesticides are harming Nigeria: it’s time to update the law</a>
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<p>Recently, the PMRA has an added responsibility to enhance broader Canadian biodiversity goals and environmental protections by aligning its regulatory work with the <a href="https://www.cbd.int/article/cop15-final-text-kunming-montreal-gbf-221222">2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework — aiming to reduce pesticide risk by at least 50 per cent by 2030</a> — alongside the enactment of <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/news/2023/06/bill-s-5-strengthening-environmental-protection-for-a-healthier-canada-act.html">Bill S-5, updating the Canadian Environmental Protection Act of 1999</a>, to consider cumulative pesticide exposure in risk assessments. The committee is currently developing recommendations to inform approaches to best address these significant policy initiatives.</p>
<h2>Towards a pesticide-safe Canada</h2>
<p>The journey to more transparent and scientifically robust pesticide regulation in Canada is long overdue, yet essential. </p>
<p>A greater emphasis on transparency and communication of the science that underpins regulatory decision-making is urgently needed. A lack of access to data and information used in risk assessment undermines the public trust. </p>
<p>An over-reliance on industry supplied confidential studies, limited application of data from independent scientists, a lack of publicly available data on active ingredient pesticide sales, use and environmental monitoring, are all contributing to scepticism. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-green-revolution-is-a-warning-not-a-blueprint-for-feeding-a-hungry-planet-182269">The Green Revolution is a warning, not a blueprint for feeding a hungry planet</a>
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<p>As the PMRA transitions to more transparency and reaffirms its evidence-based decision-making for pesticide regulation, insight from independent scientific researchers as part of the committee will play a critical role.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217309/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valérie S. Langlois is receiving funding from the Canada Research Chair (CRC) program, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), the Ministère de l'environnement et de la lutte contre les changements climatiques, Faune et Parcs du Québec (MELCCFP), among others. Dr. Langlois is the co-chair of the Science Advisory Committee (SAC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christy Morrissey currently receives funding from Canada's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Mitacs, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, and the Molson Foundation. She is a member of the PMRA's Science Advisory Committee (SAC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Eric Liberda receives funding from CIHR and Indigenous Services Canada to conduct research related to pesticides and metal/metalloid exposures. He is a member of the Society of Toxicology and the Society of Toxicology Canada. Dr. Liberda is a co-chair of the Science Advisory Committee (SAC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Prager receives funding from NSERC, Canadian Foundation for Innovation, Genome Canada, The Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, several commodity boards and NGOs. He is affiliated with the PMRA Science Advisory Committee (SAC). </span></em></p>Canada is long-overdue for scientifically-driven, robust and transparent pesticide regulation. A newly created Science Advisory Committee aims to address this.Valérie S. Langlois, Professor/Professeure titulaire, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)Christy Morrissey, Professor in Biology and Ecotoxicology, Toxicology Centre, University of SaskatchewanEric Liberda, Professor, School of Occupational and Public Health, Toronto Metropolitan UniversitySean Prager, Associate Professor and Entomologist, University of SaskatchewanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2166812023-11-08T20:16:39Z2023-11-08T20:16:39ZCampus tensions and the Mideast crisis: Will Ontario and Alberta’s ‘Chicago Principles’ on university free expression stand?<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/campus-tensions-and-the-mideast-crisis-will-ontario-and-albertas-chicago-principles-on-university-free-expression-stand" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Our tolerance for expression that we value often exceeds our tolerance for expression we find distasteful. Nonetheless, if there’s a place in society where the high ground on free expression should be consistently held, <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/267/monograph/book/64763">surely it’s on university campuses</a>.</p>
<p>While universities are expected to foster robust debate on a range of contentious and controversial issues, finding the right balance between free expression and protection from harm is no easy task. </p>
<p>University campuses across Canada and <a href="https://www.wgbh.org/news/education-news/2023-10-18/colleges-struggle-to-balance-free-speech-and-student-safety-amid-israel-hamas-protests">the United States have been</a> consumed by <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-hamas-palestinians-war-mood-0cebcbcf0550ee08c0d757334f69851d">the war between Hamas and Israel</a>, and there have been <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/campus-free-expression-israel-hamas-1.7010284">concerning incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia</a>. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents have left Canadians <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-antisemitism-gaza-islamophobia-1.7022244">“scared in our own streets.”</a></p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/israel-hamas-war-canada-must-act-to-prevent-hate-crimes-against-muslim-and-jewish-communities-216416">Israel-Hamas war: Canada must act to prevent hate crimes against Muslim and Jewish communities</a>
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<p>In Ontario and in Alberta, university decision-making will be an important test of recent <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/january-2020/the-complexity-of-protecting-free-speech-on-campus">university policy shifts pertaining to free expression</a>.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/defending-space-for-free-discussion-empathy-and-tolerance-on-campus-is-a-challenge-during-israel-hamas-war-216858">Defending space for free discussion, empathy and tolerance on campus is a challenge during Israel-Hamas war</a>
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<h2>Conservative campaign promises</h2>
<p>When majority Conservative governments came <a href="https://cfe.torontomu.ca/blog/2021/03/free-expression-campus-assessing-alberta-ministerial-directive">to power in Ontario in 2018 and Alberta in 2019</a>, they <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-doug-ford-says-ontario-postsecondary-schools-will-require-free-speech/#">quickly implemented campaign promises</a> to compel post-secondary institutions to create or update their free expression policies. </p>
<p>These policy shifts arose in response to the perception of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02722011.2021.1999762">a “crisis” of free expression at universities that has gained momentum</a> over the past decade.</p>
<p>They also followed high-profile expressive controversies on campus —
like <a href="https://thevarsity.ca/2016/10/24/u-of-t-letter-asks-jordan-peterson-to-respect-pronouns-stop-making-statements">the Jordan Peterson</a> and <a href="https://macleans.ca/lindsay-shepherd-wilfrid-laurier/">Lindsay Shepherd affairs</a> in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Provincial policies were intended to address what some conservatives believe is an inhospitable environment for them on campus. </p>
<p>Alberta touted its comparatively collaborative approach, and Ontario <a href="https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3800&context=scholarly_works">explicitly threatened funding cuts for non-compliance</a>. </p>
<p>Ontario reported <a href="https://heqco.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/HEQCO-2019-Free-Speech-Report-to-Government-REVISED-3.pdf">every public college and university complied</a>, and Alberta reported every institution obliged with <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9458130/alberta-government-free-speech-post-secondary-schools/">the exception of one university (Burman University)</a> for religious reasons.</p>
<h2>‘Chicago Principles’ and free expression</h2>
<p>Alberta instructed post-secondary institutions <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/free-speech-demetrios-nicolaides-ucp-university-lethbridge-1.6735905">to endorse</a> “<a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/advanced-education-minister-promises-chicago-principles-details-coming-soon-as-students-academics-concerned-for-september-deadline">the Chicago Principles</a>,” a policy template with <a href="https://freeexpression.uchicago.edu">origins at the University of Chicago</a>, and Ontario told <a href="https://macleans.ca/education/will-new-rules-around-free-speech-on-campus-wind-up-silencing-protestors">post-secondary institutions to consult the Chicago Principles in creating or updating now-required policies</a>.</p>
<p>Key pillars of the Chicago Principles are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>It’s up to the university community — not the administration — to make judgments about the merits of campus expression. </p></li>
<li><p>The proper response to problematic expression is argument rather than censorship. In the words of the report that spawned these principles: “The university’s fundamental commitment is to the principle that debate or deliberation may not be suppressed because the ideas put forth <a href="https://provost.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/documents/reports/FOECommitteeReport.pdf">are thought by some or even by most members of the university community to be offensive, unwise, immoral or wrong-headed</a>.” </p></li>
<li><p>Universities ought not “shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable or even deeply offensive.” </p></li>
</ol>
<h2>Widest possible latitude for expression</h2>
<p>While the Chicago Principles emphasize civility and collegiality, they also argue the absence of these values ought not be invoked as a justification for expressive restrictions, even in the context of “offensive or disagreeable” expression. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-you-be-civil-to-a-racist-yes-but-you-should-still-call-them-out-142703">Should you be civil to a racist? Yes, but you should still call them out</a>
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<p>The principles envision the widest latitude possible for campus expression, subject only to narrow time, place and manner restrictions (to ensure the proper functioning of the university) and any applicable legal prohibitions (that is, <a href="https://lop.parl.ca/sites/PublicWebsite/default/en_CA/ResearchPublications/201825E#a3.4">criminal hate speech and anti-discrimination legislation</a>). </p>
<p>The Chicago Principles are relatively uncontroversial for an academic environment, even if they reflect <a href="https://campusfreespeechguide.pen.org/the-law/the-basics">American laws that are much more tolerant of harmful expression</a>.</p>
<p>But applying them to a Canadian context is easier said than done. Although institutional policies now reflect them in some form, there is still some variability between them. Furthermore, most expression that sparks campus controversy exists in a grey area between the controversial and the potentially discriminatory. </p>
<h2>Challenges responding at universities</h2>
<p>Following Hamas’s attack <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-humanitarian-aid-hamas-attack-war-united-nations-a068d629255e803849ad5c78387380c8">on Israeli civilians and Israel’s siege of Gaza</a>, university administrations have issued statements <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9458130/alberta-government-free-speech-post-secondary-schools">condemning discriminatory forms of</a> expression and intimidation. </p>
<p>In response, some faculty and students have questioned administrations and are accusing them of bias and silencing dissent. </p>
<p>At York University, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/york-university-israel-hamas-statement-update-1.7004246#">the administration gave student unions an ultimatum</a> in response to an open letter that it says has been widely interpreted as a “<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-head-of-york-student-union-wont-retract-statement-on-hamas-attack-says">justification for attacking civilians and a call to violence</a>.” </p>
<p>As a result of such controversies, the reasonable limits for expression are being redefined in real time. </p>
<h2>Disagreement on expressive harms</h2>
<p>Within academic communities, there is <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-journal-of-political-science-revue-canadienne-de-science-politique/article/abs/expressive-freedom-on-campus-and-the-conceptual-elasticity-of-harm/6617A5755E9BAF0AC14077947D551819">intense disagreement</a> about which forms of expressive harms ought to result in expressive restrictions.</p>
<p>To complicate matters further, universities have significant discretion in their decision-making in the context of expressive restrictions. It’s subject to a deferential standard of “reasonableness” in administrative law, and Canada’s strongest protection for free expression — <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/check/art2b.html#">Section 2(b) of the Charter of Rights</a> — scarcely applies at all. </p>
<h2>Legal remedies, questions of university mission</h2>
<p>Universities are faced with the dilemma of what to do about expression that may not be discriminatory as a point of law. </p>
<p>Universities can exercise their additional discretion and restrict expression if they believe it compromises their mission (facilitating an inhospitable environment) or rely solely upon the reasonable limits established by Canadian jurisprudence. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/free-speech-on-campus-means-universities-must-protect-the-dignity-of-all-students-124526">Free speech on campus means universities must protect the dignity of all students</a>
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<p>Each option has costs and benefits. In the context of polarizing issues, university decision-making will rarely satisfy everyone. </p>
<p>Given redoubled efforts to protect expression in Ontario and Alberta, universities arguably bear the burden of showing that any expression they restrict at least appears to cross a legal threshold. </p>
<h2>Conservatives embracing restrictions?</h2>
<p>However, the dilemma for some conservative politicians, parties and pundits who have insisted before now that free expression is imperilled on campus is more daunting. </p>
<p>Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government recently took the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/sarah-jama-censor-1.6997689#">extraordinary step of barring Sarah Jama, an NDP member of the Ontario legislature, from speaking in the legislature</a> in response to her criticisms of Israel. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sarah-jamas-censure-making-people-feel-uncomfortable-is-part-of-the-job-216704">Sarah Jama's censure: Making people feel uncomfortable is part of the job</a>
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<p>In response to campus reactions to the conflict in the Middle East, the <em>National Post</em> recently said “<a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/reaction-to-hamas-attack-on-campus-shows-canadian-universities-are-in-desperate-need-of-fixing">universities need to be fixed</a>,” including “reprimanding the most egregious professors.” </p>
<h2>Will calls for censorship grow?</h2>
<p>With no sign of campus unrest relenting, calls for censorship may grow. </p>
<p>In theory, compelling universities to conform <a href="https://www.wgbh.org/news/education-news/2023-10-18/colleges-struggle-to-balance-free-speech-and-student-safety-amid-israel-hamas-protests">to the Chicago Principles</a> means they bear a greater obligation to protect expression that is within the bounds of law. </p>
<p>But given the backlash and legitimate concern about discrimination and hate, how universities will navigate this fraught time is far from certain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216681/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dax D'Orazio receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He is affiliated with the Centre for Constitutional Studies and Centre for Free Expression. </span></em></p>In Ontario and in Alberta, university decisions about balancing free expression and protection from harm will be an important test of recent university policy shifts pertaining to free expression.Dax D'Orazio, Peacock Postdoctoral Fellow in Pedagogy, Department of Political Studies, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2154042023-11-01T18:09:13Z2023-11-01T18:09:13ZClimate change is affecting bears, and humans need to learn more to avoid conflicts<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/climate-change-is-affecting-bears-and-humans-need-to-learn-more-to-avoid-conflicts" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In 1967, <a href="https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/hiking-and-backpacking/50-year-legacy-glaciers-night-grizzlies/">two simultaneous grizzly bear attacks</a> in Montana’s Glacier National Park launched an era of research into human-bear conflicts. </p>
<p>Studies showed the importance of stopping two specific bear behaviours: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2907.2012.00223.x">food conditioning</a> and habituation to people. Those pioneering <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781493029419/Bear-Attacks-Their-Causes-and-Avoidance-3rd-Edition">findings translated readily into advice and policies</a>, saving many bear and human lives. </p>
<p>However, all that work assumed ecosystems remained stable: a notion now upended by climate change. Food shortages <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep25936">acutely increase conflicts</a> between bears and people, but we have not applied this awareness to the “new normal” of climate-driven ecological disruption.</p>
<h2>Climate change and bear behaviour</h2>
<p>A new perspective is needed to understand how bears and the ecosystems that support them are affected by climate change, and how those stresses, in turn, might create novel risks for people. Rare situations such as predatory attacks remain poorly understood, but are becoming common enough to require precautions.</p>
<p>In 2018, a grizzly bear killed a woman and her infant near their remote Yukon cabin in late November, long after that bear should have been hibernating in its den. The <a href="https://yukon.ca/en/yukon-coroners-service/theoret-roesholt-deaths-november-26-2018">coroner’s office reported</a> the bear was an underweight older male and concluded this was a predatory attack. </p>
<p>Yukoners were quick to point fingers at climate change, noting the mild autumn weather across the territory. That attack shook up a lot of people, possibly because it took place after people had relaxed their usual bear precautions for the winter. But that’s not wise anymore.</p>
<p>That wasn’t the only winter-active bear that year either: two more were shot to prevent conflicts with people and others were reported in northern British Columbia. </p>
<p>During my <a href="https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/498/">PhD research</a>, I documented northerners’ stories about winter-active bears: they were described as extremely rare, but very dangerous to meet. Multiple such bears in a single year clearly indicates something’s changing. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SMHohHYd8bo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Yukon Conservation Officers video on how to use bear spray in cold climates.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>More people, more conflicts? It’s complicated</h2>
<p>The recent dual-fatality attack by a grizzly bear in Banff National Park has not been declared predatory, but the public facts are consistent with such behaviour: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/05/bear-attack-bad-canadian-hikers-grizzly-banff">an older bear in poor physical condition</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, reports that link this year’s <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bears-prince-george-photos-berries-1.6928778">berry crop failure to more frequent human-bear interactions</a> are plausible and even likely, but we don’t yet have the information to be certain. </p>
<p>We need to learn more about how all these observed changes may be related. </p>
<p>Since the 1970s, the rule of thumb was that human visitation rates in parks drove conflicts with bears: essentially, the more people, the more problems. However, my own early research showed <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3872958">conflicts between people and polar bears weren’t actually related to visitation levels</a> in northern Canadian national parks. </p>
<h2>Wanted: new research on human-bear conflicts</h2>
<p>New research is needed, focusing on the long causal chain between climate-driven environmental variability in different ecosystems, bears’ behavioural and physiological responses, how those responses affect their interactions with people, whether those interactions become conflicts, and how they end.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556927/original/file-20231031-15-4j1sin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a black bear on all fours near an upturned green rubbish bin" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556927/original/file-20231031-15-4j1sin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556927/original/file-20231031-15-4j1sin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556927/original/file-20231031-15-4j1sin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556927/original/file-20231031-15-4j1sin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556927/original/file-20231031-15-4j1sin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556927/original/file-20231031-15-4j1sin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556927/original/file-20231031-15-4j1sin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Food shortages acutely increase conflicts between bears and people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Climate change can have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01608-5">unexpected and indirect effects</a> on human-wildlife interactions. Polar bears could provide a model system for developing this new approach, since they’re affected by a single climate impact — loss of sea ice that reduces their ability to hunt seals — rather than the multiple impacts that could affect an omnivorous species like grizzly bears. </p>
<p>Research has shown that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/wsb.783">underweight adult male polar bears are most likely to attempt to prey on people</a>, an observation that could have implications for other bear species, too. </p>
<p>The old paradigm focused on protecting recreational visitors to parks, but a new paradigm must be more inclusive especially of rural and Indigenous communities, particularly in the north, which is changing faster than anywhere else. Indigenous and local knowledge must, therefore, be at the core of new research approaches because these communities have the most at stake, as well as the most direct experience of these new situations.</p>
<p>This new paradigm for investigating human-bear conflict must be interdisciplinary because we need to understand the ways people fit into the picture, too. How people act during an encounter with a bear affects how the conflict turns out. </p>
<p>Local expertise can provide <a href="https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic75323">crucial guidance</a>, as can science. We need to bring together these different ways of knowing in order to provide people with effective, evidence-based advice to stay safe in changing bear country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215404/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Douglas Clark receives funding from ArcticNet and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>We need to understand how bears are affected by climate change, and how those stresses might create new risks for humans.Douglas Clark, Associate Professor in Human Dimensions of Environment & Sustainability, University of SaskatchewanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2157702023-10-31T20:01:45Z2023-10-31T20:01:45ZHow to ensure Alberta’s oil and gas workers have jobs during the energy transition<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/how-to-ensure-albertas-oil-and-gas-workers-have-jobs-during-the-energy-transition" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Retraining Alberta’s oil and gas workers for the solar industry costs far less than you think. The results of our new study clearly show that a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s43979-023-00067-3">rapid transition to sustainable energy production is feasible</a>, as costs of retraining oil and gas workers are far from prohibitive.</p>
<h2>Probable futures</h2>
<p>The oil and gas industry has played a crucial part in <a href="http://www.revparl.ca/english/issue.asp?art=807&param=129">Alberta’s political structure</a> for decades. Alberta contains about 97 per cent of all oil stores in Canada, <a href="https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/features/newstop-ten-countries-with-worlds-largest-oil-reserves-5793487/">which ranks third</a> globally for oil and gas exports.</p>
<p>Over 20 per cent of the GDP and 5.9 per cent of all employment in Alberta is <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2021007/article/00003-eng.htm">tied to the oil and gas industry</a>, which employs over <a href="https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/home">35,000 people</a>. </p>
<p>However, many factors — including increasing electrification, reduction in renewable energy costs and climate policy — are aligning to annihilate Alberta’s traditional fossil-fuel focused energy industry. This raises a real concern for <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/10/15/news/canadian-fossil-fuel-jobs-about-be-cut-half-its-time-talk-about-just-transition">oil and gas workers’ jobs in the near future</a>. </p>
<h2>A confluence of events</h2>
<p>Purchases of electric vehicles (EVs) are already up 35 per cent this year after a record year, and <a href="https://www.iea.org/news/demand-for-electric-cars-is-booming-with-sales-expected-to-leap-35-this-year-after-a-record-breaking-2022">predicted to increase</a>. This indicates that <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-13/peak-oil-demand-is-coming-fast-for-transportation#xj4y7vzkg">oil-based transportation is quickly coming to an end</a>.</p>
<p>In addition to lower costs of ownership, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/TSG.2015.2487514">EVs can also offer electric grid support</a> by acting like mobile batteries that can help overcome the renewable energy intermittency challenge by storing wind and solar electricity for when they are needed. In addition, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2020.102050">conventional electric storage</a> <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2516-1083/abb216/meta">reduces electricity costs</a> while servicing the grid with intermittent generators. </p>
<p>These technologies not only help expand opportunities for renewable energy technologies, but they also electrify transportation, which directly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2020.105086">undermines the market for the oil industry</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, the market for the gas industry is challenged by the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101764">use of electric-powered heat pumps</a>. In North America, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/en14040834">solar-powered heat pumps have already become economically viable</a>. And for the first time in history <a href="https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/Featured-Stories/US-Heat-Pump-Sales">heat pump sales outperformed conventional natural gas furnaces in the United States</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/solar-energy-cheapest-in-history-iea-renewables-climate-change/">solar electricity is now the cheapest electricity to produce</a> — and although gas-fired electricity is better for the environment and more economic than coal, <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/gas-cant-compete-with-wind-solar-and-storage-even-in-worlds-biggest-market/">gas simply cannot compete</a> with modern solar technologies. </p>
<h2>Competition in Alberta</h2>
<p>Alberta allows <a href="https://www.aeso.ca/aeso/understanding-electricity-in-alberta/continuing-education/guide-to-understanding-albertas-electricity-market/">electricity generators to sell electricity to the grid in a free market set-up</a>. When the “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/pembina-institute-report-renewable-projects-affected-by-pause-moratorium-1.6946440">pause</a>” on renewable development in Alberta is lifted, it will create a massive solar boom. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/StvW1uJcGgc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">In August 2023, the Alberta government paused the approval of new renewable energy projects in response to concerns about developing wind and solar projects on agricultural land.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Currently, there is a <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9918212/alberta-renewable-energy-development-pause-pembina/">backlog of over $30 billion of hugely profitable solar projects</a> in Alberta, poising the province for a historic surge in super-cheap solar power. Simultaneously, the costs for carbon emissions are becoming even more clear <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.11.058">in terms of money</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/en16166074">human deaths</a>. This is only going to make oil and gas more expensive, whether from likely increased costs in carbon-regulated emissions or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.11.025">trillions in carbon emissions liabilities</a>. </p>
<p>Canada’s <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/859123/most-polluting-oil-types-worldwide/">oil sands are the most polluting type of oil produced in the world today</a> — finding ways to feasibly phase them out is a key climate priority. If Canada makes good on its <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/climate-plan/net-zero-emissions-2050.html">net zero by 2050 promise</a> — essentially cutting all fossil fuel use — it is pretty clear that Alberta’s oil and gas workers will no longer have jobs. </p>
<h2>Retraining for solar</h2>
<p>An approach to keeping livelihoods is to retrain oil and gas workers for the solar industry, where there are lots of desperately needed jobs.</p>
<p>In the U.S., similar efforts are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2016.05.016">underway to retrain the 50,000 workers in the coal industry</a> to join the more than 250,000 solar workers.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I completed a study on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s43979-023-00067-3">exactly what that would cost</a>. Because many jobs in the solar industry require similar skill sets and training as general construction work, many oil and gas workers would be able to transfer fields with no additional training required. </p>
<p>We used the <a href="https://irecusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/National-Solar-Jobs-Census-2020-FINAL.pdf">U.S. Solar Census</a> data to examine distributions of workers that would keep the same type of work in the oil and gas industry of Alberta. </p>
<p>We put ourselves — figuratively — into the workboots of the oil workers to future-proof their careers. When our oil worker skills did not align directly with a position type in the solar field, workers were assigned one of a few different types of positions that would require the least retraining possible.</p>
<p>Multiple different retraining options were outlined — universities, colleges and online courses currently available in Alberta — to provide cost estimates for each different type of retraining: trades certification, two-year college degree, four-year university degree, graduate degree.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556878/original/file-20231031-17-9cnpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="two workers on a roof installing panels" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556878/original/file-20231031-17-9cnpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556878/original/file-20231031-17-9cnpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556878/original/file-20231031-17-9cnpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556878/original/file-20231031-17-9cnpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556878/original/file-20231031-17-9cnpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556878/original/file-20231031-17-9cnpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556878/original/file-20231031-17-9cnpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many jobs in the solar industry require similar skill sets and training as general construction work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>Retraining costs</h2>
<p>We found the total costs for retraining all oil sands workers in Alberta for the solar industry ranges between $91.5 and $276.2 million.
In context, this is a small amount of money for the energy industry — only <a href="https://ccli.ubc.ca/resource/fossil-fuel-subsidies-in-canada-governance-implications-in-the-net-zero-transition/">two to six per cent of federal, provincial and territorial oil and gas subsidies for a single year</a> would need to be reallocated to provide oil and gas workers with a new career of approximately equivalent pay.</p>
<p>Currently, Canada spends more than <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/school-of-public-policy-homeless-services-study-1.4970251">$30 billion annually to fund social services for the homeless population</a>. It makes more sense to retrain workers whose jobs are about to evaporate. </p>
<p>The costs to retrain oil and gas workers could be funded in many ways. For example, a Canadian CEO in the oil and gas sector could agree to reduce his annual salary to $500,000 and donate the rest for five years. That would be enough to retrain <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s43979-023-00067-3">all of Alberta’s oil and gas workers</a>.</p>
<p>Similarly, with <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/climate/iea-report-world-energy-outlook-2023-1.7005194">fossil fuels peaking soon</a>, companies could also prioritize retraining for their workers as they transition <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bakx-oilsands-renewables-enbridge-1.5980380">to carbon-free energy themselves</a>.</p>
<p>Provincial and federal governments could also provide financial incentives or compensation for the costs of retraining. And finally, workers who notice the writing on the wall could start retraining at their own expense. </p>
<p>In the end, while there are legitimate reasons to fear for long-term employment in Canada’s oil and gas sector, the resources needed to retrain the workers for the solar industry can be easily made available for this energy transition.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215770/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua M. Pearce has received research funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Mitacs, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of Defense, The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). He is a founding member of Agrivoltaics Canada.</span></em></p>If Alberta prepares to transition from oil and gas to solar energy, the workforce will need retraining. New research shows that this will cost less than expected.Joshua M. Pearce, John M. Thompson Chair in Information Technology and Innovation and Professor, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2149002023-10-22T11:41:36Z2023-10-22T11:41:36ZHow secrecy and regulatory capture drove Alberta’s oil and gas liability crisis<p>“<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-hustle-in-the-oil-patch-inside-a-looming-financial-and-environmental/">A hustle in the oil patch</a>”, a “<a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=2072055">dirty legacy</a>”: These are just a couple of the ways that the escalating costs of abandoning and reclaiming non-producing oil wells in Canada have been described. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.policyschool.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/EFL-49A-AB-ConvenOGLiabilityRegime.YewchukFluker.pdf">new paper</a>, we look back over 40 years and identify three factors that have led to this unprecedented regulatory failure.</p>
<h2>A looming crisis</h2>
<p>In Alberta, roughly 237,000 drilled wells will need to be abandoned and the land remediated and reclaimed. About 80,000 of these wells are currently non-producing (<a href="https://www.canadianenergycentre.ca/understanding-inactive-and-orphan-wells-in-alberta/">referred to as <em>inactive wells</em></a>), while another 90,000 abandoned wells still await remediation and reclamation. </p>
<p>To make matters worse, bankruptcies in the oil and gas industry have left thousands of wells without responsible owners throughout <a href="https://www.orphanwell.ca/about/orphan-inventory/">Alberta</a> and <a href="https://www.saskatchewan.ca/business/agriculture-natural-resources-and-industry/oil-and-gas/liability-management/orphan-fund-procurement-program/orphan-inventory">Saskatchewan</a> (known as <em>orphan wells</em>). Inactive wells that have not been properly abandoned and reclaimed pose a significant environmental risk, including from <a href="https://distribution-a617274656661637473.pbo-dpb.ca/44de649e994977a9771ff83959ba6b9563f5c1352ec3ba4f83c4d256f40a6b41">methane emissions</a> (a potent greenhouse gas).</p>
<p>The looming financial and environmental crisis is <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/here-s-how-deep-canada-s-orphan-well-problem-runs-1.6338136">Canada-wide</a>, but its epicentre is in Alberta.</p>
<p>Alberta’s auditor general has <a href="https://www.oag.ab.ca/reports/oag-liability-management-of-non-oil-sands-oil-and-gas-infrastructure/">recently reported</a> estimates of $60 billion in closure liabilities in the conventional (non-oil sands) sector. Meanwhile the province holds less than $295 million from industry in security — 0.5 per cent of official estimates. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-albertas-oilsands-continue-leaking-toxic-wastewater-aquatic-wildlife-face-new-risks-203570">As Alberta’s oilsands continue leaking toxic wastewater, aquatic wildlife face new risks</a>
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<p>And $60 billion is the low estimate — leaked documents from a joint industry-regulator project in 2018 estimated liabilities upwards of <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/11/01/news/alberta-regulator-privately-estimates-oilpatchs-financial-liabilities-are-hundreds">$130 billion</a>. In other words, taking on these liabilities will at least double and possibly triple Alberta’s current debt of $80 billion. </p>
<h2>How did we get here?</h2>
<p>Various explanations have been put forward to justify this appalling state of affairs, including downturns in the oil and gas industry. Alberta’s <a href="https://www.oag.ab.ca/reports/oag-liability-management-of-non-oil-sands-oil-and-gas-infrastructure/">auditor general has shown</a>, however, that the province’s closure liability has grown steadily over the past decades — in good times and in bad.</p>
<p>The slight drop in the number of inactive wells in the past few years is due to the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/financial-aid-covid19-trudeau-1.5535629">federal government providing $1.7 billion</a> to Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan for abandonment and reclamation work in April 2020. Alberta received the majority of this funding in exchange for a commitment to make regulatory changes and ensure adherence to the <em>polluter pays</em> principle.</p>
<p>Subsequently, Alberta <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/system/files/custom_downloaded_images/energy-liability-management-framework.pdf">announced a new Liability Management Framework</a>, committed to reducing inactive wells, preventing them from becoming orphans, and ensuring timely reclamation. </p>
<p>At the time, the then-minister of energy admitted that successive governments had long been aware of the growing closure liability problem and notes “<a href="https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/alberta-to-overhaul-flawed-scheme-that-regulates-old-oil-and-gas-infrastructure">we’re looking at decades where no government has been willing to move on this file.</a>”</p>
<p>In our new paper, we show how this massive regulatory failure is best understood as the predictable result of three historic deficiencies in Alberta’s regulatory regime. These failures include a lack of transparency, excessive regulatory discretion and pervasive regulatory capture by industry.</p>
<p><strong>Lack of transparency:</strong> The <a href="https://www.aer.ca/">Alberta Energy Regulator</a> and its predecessors have cultivated a culture of secrecy and non-transparency that has stymied accountability, democratic scrutiny and <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.163972">discouraged penalties for non-compliance</a>. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">An overview of the problem of liability and oversight in America’s abandoned oil wells, produced by the Financial Times.</span></figcaption>
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<p><strong>Excessive discretion:</strong> Alberta’s governing laws and regulations have been — and remain — far too reliant of the regulator’s discretion which <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=931330">can be co-opted by short-term political, economic, and social pressures that favour business as usual</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Regulatory capture:</strong> The Alberta Energy Regulator and its predecessors have a long history of allowing industry to influence the design and administration of the liability management regime. Some illustrations of this <a href="https://www.tobinproject.org/books-papers/preventing-capture">regulatory capture</a> include the regulator’s refusal to require adequate security deposits for closure work and grossly underestimating actual closure liabilities.</p>
<p>Because we find that these three core deficiencies persist in Alberta’s new Liability Management Framework, we conclude that it too is unlikely to succeed in ensuring that the polluter pays for the sector’s closure work.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/alberta-election-is-the-provinces-energy-regulator-acting-in-the-public-interest-204007">Alberta election: Is the province's energy regulator acting in the public interest?</a>
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<p>In addition to the $1.7 billion referred to above, Canadian taxpayers have already started paying for closure work on orphan wells. This is the case despite the fact that entities such as <a href="https://www.orphanwell.ca/">Alberta’s Orphan Well Association</a> (OWA) were established on the understanding that industry would collectively bear responsibility for their clean-up. </p>
<p>What started as a trickle of public funds - a $30 million grant from the provincial government in 2009 and a $50,000 contribution from Alberta Energy in 2012 — <a href="https://www.orphanwell.ca/faq/">has ballooned into hundreds of millions of dollars in interest-free government loans to the OWA</a>, with loan repayment scheduled to run until 2035.</p>
<h2>A public inquiry</h2>
<p>Given the scale of this liability problem and the unprecedented financial and environmental risks it poses to the public, we recommend that a public inquiry — <a href="https://www.cba.org/Sections/Public-Sector-Lawyers/Resources/Resources/2023/EssayWinner2023PSL">led by principles of deliberative democracy</a> — be struck with a mandate to undertake a full and transparent accounting for policies implemented over the past several decades.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-big-four-oilsands-companies-influence-threatens-alberta-democracy-argues-political-scientist-188567">The Big Four oilsands companies' influence threatens Alberta democracy, argues political scientist</a>
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<p>Canada is on the path to having the vast majority of its oil and gas cleanup liabilities become the public’s problem. A public inquiry and serious reform are the only things that can turn things around.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214900/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shaun Fluker is the Executive Director of the Public Interest Law Clinic at the University of Calgary. The Clinic does project work on closure liability in Alberta.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Drew Yewchuk was previously a staff lawyer with the Public Interest Law Clinic at the University of Calgary. The Clinic does project work on closure liability in Alberta.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Olszynski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Decades of secrecy and industry influence in Alberta have created a crisis of liability in abandoned oil infrastructure which only a serious course correction can hope to fix.Shaun Fluker, Associate Professor of Law, University of CalgaryDrew Yewchuk, Lawyer at the Public Interest Law Clinic, University of CalgaryMartin Olszynski, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2131372023-09-25T21:23:02Z2023-09-25T21:23:02ZNational Day for Truth and Reconciliation: Exhibit features stolen Kainai children’s stories of resilience on Treaty 7 lands<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/national-day-for-truth-and-reconciliation-exhibit-features-stolen-kainai-childrens-stories-of-resilience-on-treaty-7-lands" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In Canada, when we talk about truth and reconciliation we have a tendency to focus on the Indian residential school system (IRS). </p>
<p>While engaging with knowledge about <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1450124405592/1529106060525">residential schools and their legacies is an important facet of truth and reconciliation</a>, there are other colonial school systems that we also need to acknowledge, consider and remember. </p>
<p>In addition to Survivors of the IRS, we have Survivors of other colonial school systems the Canadian government initiated and implemented for over a century and a half.</p>
<p>As a member of the Kainai (Blood Tribe) of the Blackfoot Confederacy <a href="https://www.treaty7.org/">in Treaty 7 territory</a> in Alberta, part of my research has analyzed the educational policies behind the IRS and other colonial schooling models, and how these policies have influenced my own Blood People. As my chapter in the collection <a href="https://www.diopress.com/product-page/brave-work-in-indigenous-education"><em>Brave Work in Indigenous Education</em></a> examines, multiple school models existed at the same time. </p>
<h2>Multiple colonial schooling models</h2>
<p>The Canadian government initiated and implemented multiple colonial schooling models for over a century and a half beyond the IRS, such as: </p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://data2.archives.ca/rcap/pdf/rcap-126.pdf">the industrial school system</a> and <a href="https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Volume_1_History_Part_1_English_Web.pdf">boarding schools</a>, the precursor for residential schools; </p></li>
<li><p>the residency system: some residential schools became places where students lived while bussed off-reserve to attend public school. For example, <a href="https://nctr.ca/residential-schools/alberta/st-pauls-blood/">St. Paul’s on the Blood Reserve</a> became a residency or hostel while Blood children were bussed to the nearest public school; </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/indian-day-schools-in-canada#">the day school system</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/reckoning-with-the-history-of-public-schooling-and-settler-colonialism-190386">the public school system</a>. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Where one system failed, the government designed a new school system based on the failure of the previous school model to try and assimilate Indigenous children.</p>
<h2>Survivors from many school models</h2>
<p>Murray Sinclair, former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) said, “<a href="https://macleans.ca/politics/for-the-record-justice-murray-sinclair-on-residential-schools/">The Survivors need to know before they leave this Earth that people understand what happened and what the schools did to them</a>.” </p>
<p>As a society, it is important that we remember Survivors from each school model and their many impacts on Survivors, their descendants and society as a whole. </p>
<p>As I have worked in this area, and spoken to Survivors across Canada, I have learned that educational policy was never explained to children and their families in these systems. Addressing this gap in knowledge is imperative for Survivors, their descendants and Canadians. People need to know and understand the truth about what happened to Survivors and why this happened to them in order to heal and walk the path of reconciliation.</p>
<h2>Addressing gaps in knowledge</h2>
<p>When the <a href="https://www.galtmuseum.com/">Galt Museum & Archives</a> in Lethbridge, Alta. (also known as Akaisamitohkanao’pa, or gathering place) approached me to be a guest curator and create a traveling museum exhibit based on my TRC research, I decided to use the opportunity to rectify the gap of knowledge so many of us have about educational policy. </p>
<p>The exhibit is called <a href="https://www.galtmuseum.com/events/b68m7o1etf098f1a0alhdvqs9zllhc"><em>Stolen Kainai Children: Stories of Survival</em></a>. It presents photographs and stories from Survivors, the Canadian government, the Christian religions and their missionaries, the Indian Agents and Indian school inspectors. </p>
<p>The exhibit shows the evolution of the colonial school system from mission schools to band-controlled education, and a timeline examining the difference between the school models, with photographs of each model and educational policy accompanying it. Most importantly, the exhibit is filled with stories from Survivors. </p>
<h2>Right to know the truth</h2>
<p>The exhibit is motivated by the TRC’s 2015 Calls to Action, <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf">specifically number 69, which called for museums and archives to</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“i.) fully adopt and implement the … United Nations Joinet-Orentlicher Principles, as related to Aboriginal peoples’ inalienable right to know the truth about what happened and why,” and “iii.) Commit more resources to its public education materials and programming on residential schools.” </p>
</blockquote>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Kainai Stolen Children Era: Lecture with author Tiffany Dionne Prete.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Multiple Christian churches</h2>
<p>The exhibit introduces the different Christian churches who created missions on the Blood Reserve, and shows Survivor experiences of missions’ different characteristics. For example, as Survivor Jim Young Pine shares about attending <a href="https://nctr.ca/residential-schools/alberta/st-marys-blood/">St. Mary’s School</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The nuns at the school were French and always spoke French. As a result, I didn’t learn English very well. The St. Paul’s Anglican Residential School students spoke better English than we did. Their teachers and supervisors spoke only English all the time. It was while working outside Kainaisskahoyi that I learned English from non-Natives.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Young Pine’s account is from a collection of 1995 interviews from my community documented in the collection, <a href="https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Kitomahkitapiiminnooniksi/D4fRtwAACAAJ?hl=en"><em>Stories from our Elders</em></a>. </p>
<p>Churches opened several of the different schools the Canadian government devised to try and assimilate Indigenous children. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-donors-from-canada-and-europe-helped-fund-indian-residential-schools-164028">How donors from Canada and Europe helped fund Indian Residential Schools</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Stories from Survivors of institutions</h2>
<p>The stories allow viewers to glimpse what it was like to attend these schools. The stories are also a testament to the survival of the Blood People. </p>
<p>Despite all of the acts, legislation and educational policy that was created with the intention to assimilate us into a Eurocentric way of life, we are still here. We are still Indigenous. We continue to retain our identities as Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot People). </p>
<p>We have <a href="https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/ari/index.php/ari/article/view/29419/21591">resisted the governments’ call to assimilate us. We have persevered and fought back to retain our identities</a>. We continue today to practice and live our ways of knowing, being and doing as Siksikaitsitapi. </p>
<p>The exhibit concludes on a note of hope by highlighting the resiliency of the Kainai People. </p>
<h2>Maintaining our identities as Siksikaitsitapi</h2>
<p>In 1988, the Blood Tribe took control of tribal education. Today, the Blood Tribe runs its own education programs from early childhood education to post-secondary education. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.kainaied.ca/">Kainai Board of Education</a> operates five schools (Saipoyi Community School, Aahsaopi Elementary School, Tatsikiisaapo’p Middle School, Kainai High School and Kainai Alternate Academy). </p>
<p><a href="https://www.redcrowcollege.com/">Mi’kai’sto (Red Crow Community College)</a> has been operating since 1986 and has a satellite campus in Lethbridge, Alta. Originally, Mi’kai’sto opened in the St. Mary’s IRS that burned down in 2015. <a href="https://entro.com/project/mikaisto-red-crow-community-college/">Mi’kai’sto was rebuilt in Standoff</a>, Alta., and opened in 2022. </p>
<p>The Blood Reserve has worked hard to create education that works towards maintaining our identities as Siksikaitsitapi. Kainai values are taught and Elders and knowledge holders are a regular part of a student’s learning journey. </p>
<h2>Education as ‘new buffalo’</h2>
<p>To many Indigenous Peoples across plains regions in Canada, <a href="https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/the-new-buffalo">education has become the “new buffalo</a>.” This means just as the buffalo once sustained us for our needs, Indigenous Peoples are adapting education to meet our needs today. </p>
<p>To observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and all year,
let us be reminded of Survivors’ voices from the past century and a half, and as Sinclair said, re-commit our reconciliation efforts to “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-april-4-mmiwg-ottawa-public-forum-1.4053431/how-senator-murray-sinclair-responds-to-why-don-t-residential-school-survivors-just-get-over-it-1.4053522">act to ensure the repair of damages done</a>.”
As the former TRC chair also said, until people show they have learned from this, we will never forget.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213137/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tiffany Dionne Prete does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Survivors of multiple colonial school systems need their voices to be heard. An exhibit examines how colonial schooling policies over a century and a half influenced the Blood People.Tiffany Dionne Prete, Assistant Professor, Sociology Department, University of LethbridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2108432023-09-14T19:28:02Z2023-09-14T19:28:02ZHow climate assemblies can help Canada tackle the climate crisis<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/how-climate-assemblies-can-help-canada-tackle-the-climate-crisis" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Canada’s <a href="https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/extreme-heat-in-north-america-europe-and-china-in-july-2023-made-much-more-likely-by-climate-change/">ongoing and record-breaking wildfire season</a> and the <a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/july-2023-sees-multiple-global-temperature-records-broken">recent heat waves around the world</a> have galvanized Western public attention to the climate crisis like never before. </p>
<p>The message is stark. </p>
<p>If we fail to rein in global warming below the 1.5 C threshold, impacts on humans and the natural environment are <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3278/nasa-study-reveals-compounding-climate-risks-at-two-degrees-of-warming/">poised to worsen</a> as extreme weather events overlap with increased frequency. What is needed, according to the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/2023/03/20/press-release-ar6-synthesis-report/">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a>, is an urgent, integrated effort to reduce carbon emissions while adapting to the impacts of climate change. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, Canada has <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/environment-commissioner-report-failure-to-failure-1.6262523">consistently failed</a> to make a significant contribution to this broader effort. And this failure is due, in no small part to political polarization and a corresponding inability of governments to follow through on high-level commitments. We argue that <a href="https://knoca.eu/what-is-a-climate-assembly/">climate assemblies</a> can be a powerful tool in moving past these limitations and driving meaningful action on climate policy, if designed and executed thoughtfully.</p>
<h2>Canada and the climate crisis</h2>
<p>Canada’s contributions to tackling climate change <a href="https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/canada/">are off the mark</a>. Although overall emissions are beginning to trend downward, Canada’s current policies — even if fully implemented — are consistent with a 4 C warming scenario, which is far beyond the recommended 1.5 C scenario.</p>
<p>The challenges of climate policy are exacerbated by Canada’s political context as an oil and gas producing country. Indeed, many Canadians are <a href="https://www.uottawa.ca/research-innovation/positive-energy/publications/polarization-over-energy-climate-canada-oil-and-gas">polarized along party lines</a> when it comes to key tensions concerning economic and climate policy, including when it comes to phasing out oil and gas, and how it relates to Canada’s future economy. </p>
<p>Additionally, when it comes to climate policy, many Canadians <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.106958">lack confidence</a> in their provincial and federal governments, <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/news-polls/canadians-are-concerned-about-climate-change-yet-demonstrate-low-awareness-and-low-hope-action">and are pessimistic</a> that sufficient progress will be made in the near future. </p>
<h2>Climate assemblies</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su132011272">Climate assemblies</a> are part of a broader family of democratic innovations referred to as “deliberative mini-publics.” They gather a representative slice of a given population selected through a lottery to study, deliberate and make recommendations about a specific climate-related topic. </p>
<p>Climate assemblies have been used in many jurisdictions, <a href="https://knoca.eu/map-of-national-assemblies/">particularly in Europe</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/citizens-assemblies-how-to-bring-the-wisdom-of-the-public-to-bear-on-the-climate-emergency-119117">Citizens' assemblies: how to bring the wisdom of the public to bear on the climate emergency</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>For example, <a href="https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20220321134004/https:/www.climateassembly.scot/full-report">Scotland’s Climate Assembly</a> brought together 106 individuals from 2020-21 to deliberate about how Scotland could address the climate emergency in an equitable and effective manner. Participants generated 81 recommendations that included introducing carbon land taxes to eliminating frequent flyer bonuses.</p>
<p>Climate assemblies’ distinctive blend of characteristics <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.759">gives them many advantages</a> over other political institutions. With lottery selection, participants are less likely to represent political or special interests, enabling them to be more impartial and adopt a longer-term perspective that takes account of future generations.</p>
<p>By learning from each other, and from experts and stakeholders, participants develop more nuanced understandings of scientific and broader public perspectives that they can incorporate into their recommendations. </p>
<p>Bodies like climate assemblies are among the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/02633957211024474">most trustworthy institutions</a> on highly charged topics, and public engagement with their outputs can boost trust in other political institutions. When they are used as part of policymaking processes, people see those processes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00323217221137444">as more even-handed</a> and are more inclined to accept outcomes that are undesirable to them. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-make-climate-action-popular-169593">How to make climate action popular</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Climate assemblies can have many positive outcomes. They can be a <a href="https://www.involve.org.uk/news-opinion/projects/climate-assembly-members-think-and-act-differently-climate-two-years">transformative experience for participants</a> by improving political engagement, adding to knowledge and encouraging positive behavioural changes. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2020.1777928">recommendations can be more ambitious</a> than those advanced by governments and attract a <a href="https://shs.hal.science/halshs-03265053/document">high level of public support</a>.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, not all climate assemblies to date <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-021-03218-6">have had a pronounced impact</a> on policy and broader public engagement. However, recent research by the Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies has <a href="https://knoca.eu/news/new-knoca-report-climate-assemblies-emerging-trends-challenges-and-opportunities/">distilled many lessons</a> aimed at making climate assemblies more impactful. </p>
<p>These include improving communications with the broader public, integrating the assembly and its outputs into the appropriate policymaking process, and selecting tasks aligned with the strengths of climate assemblies.</p>
<h2>Leveraging climate assemblies in Canada</h2>
<p>While Canada has a rich tradition of employing public assemblies on topics like <a href="https://citizensassembly.arts.ubc.ca/">electoral reform</a>, climate assemblies have not yet garnered much use. Important exceptions are the assemblies that were part of the Alberta Climate Dialogue initiative, including the <a href="https://www.albertaclimatedialogue.ca/">Citizens’ Panel on Edmonton’s Energy and Climate Challenges</a>.</p>
<p>Canadian governments at all levels could use climate assemblies to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2020.591844">perform a range of functions</a>, from providing advice on specific policy proposals to holding policymakers to account. We propose two key functions for Canadian climate assemblies.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Reflections on the Citizens’ Panel on Edmonton’s Energy and Climate Challenges produced by Alberta Climate Dialogue.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>First, they could be used to advise on the development and implementation of municipal climate strategies. Municipalities in Canada face <a href="https://imfg.munkschool.utoronto.ca/report/climate-policy/">significant barriers</a> to implementing Canada’s climate commitments. This is despite the important role they play in decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to extreme weather events. </p>
<p>Indeed, some have argued that climate change policies should “<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/adv/article-in-the-face-of-climate-change-municipalities-take-the-lead/">trickle up</a>” from local governments, who are less constrained by political factors and freer to experiment with innovative solutions, rather than “trickle down” from other levels of government. For example, municipal governments could use climate assemblies to assess local impacts of different climate change scenarios and <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/water-environment/environmentally-friendly-city-initiatives/resilientto/">develop comprehensive resilience strategies</a>.</p>
<p>Second, climate assemblies can be used to hold policymakers and politicians to account. A lack of sufficient transparency and accountability are long-standing challenges at the provincial and federal levels due to deficiencies in their <a href="https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_otp_201803_e_42883.html">monitoring and reporting systems</a>. Climate assemblies could be tasked with scrutinizing missed climate targets and critically appraising proposed remedial actions. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-tackle-the-climate-crisis-we-need-more-democracy-not-less-119265">To tackle the climate crisis we need more democracy, not less</a>
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<p>For example, at the federal level, climate assemblies could complement the work of the recently created <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/climate-plan/net-zero-emissions-2050/advisory-body.html">Net-Zero Advisory Body</a>, whose responsibilities include advising the government in its ongoing efforts to reach net-zero by 2050 and engaging the broader public.</p>
<p>Climate assemblies — when designed and used effectively — can be a powerful tool to help Canadian governments break free of the inertia that has plagued climate policy for too long.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210843/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Pek receives funding from the University of Victoria's President's Chair award. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorin Busaan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Climate assemblies may just provide the breakthrough required to develop popular, just and sustainable climate and energy policies.Simon Pek, Associate Professor of Business and Society, Gustavson School of Business, University of VictoriaLorin Busaan, PhD Student, Gustavson School of Business, University of VictoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2132032023-09-13T21:53:16Z2023-09-13T21:53:16ZAlberta’s electricity prices surged over the summer due to its deregulated market<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/albertas-electricity-prices-surged-over-the-summer-due-to-its-deregulated-market" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>This summer, Albertans faced a substantial increase in their electricity bills as <a href="https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/alberta-electricity-prices-record-high-july">prices surged</a>. My own electricity bill more than doubled to around $115 compared to the usual $30 to $50 range for a single person in a condominium.</p>
<p>In 2021, <a href="https://www.epcor.com/products-services/encor/electricity-plans-and-rates/Pages/historical-electricity-rates.aspx">electricity prices in Alberta</a> ranged from seven to 10 cents/kWh. In 2022, prices increased to between 10 and 17 cents/kWh. In response, the Alberta government introduced a <a href="https://ucahelps.alberta.ca/alberta-electricity-rebate-program.aspx">$500 electricity bill rebate</a> that was distributed in instalments from July 2022 to April 2023.</p>
<p>However, residential electricity prices continued to soar, reaching to around <a href="https://www.epcor.com/products-services/power/rates-tariffs-fees/Pages/regulated-residential-power-rates.aspx">29 and 33 cents/kWh</a> in early 2023, and consistently exceeding 25 cents/kWh from July onward. Once the rebate expired in April 2023, consumers were left to handle these high costs on their own.</p>
<p>At the root of the issue is Alberta’s deregulated electricity market, which has resulted in market power being concentrated in the hands of a few power companies.</p>
<h2>Deregulated market</h2>
<p>In the past, <a href="https://albertaviews.ca/electricity-deregulation/">Alberta used to have some of the lowest electricity prices in North America</a>. However, prices experienced a sharp increase in 2001 when the electricity market was deregulated. This decision was made because natural gas-based power plants could be constructed more quickly compared to coal-based plants.</p>
<p>The problems of insufficient capacity and market power are characteristic of the deregulated electricity market. In my <a href="https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/f95636e6-ef07-4e88-bf7a-e8f4ac5d4024/view/48b14664-c4e7-4763-bd7a-98063f0511d0/thesis.pdf">doctoral thesis on Alberta’s electricity market deregulation</a>, I found that supply was unable to keep up with demand for several years post-deregulation and electricity was sold at prices higher than marginal costs of production. These same issues still persist today.</p>
<p>In Alberta, generators must compete in an open, unregulated market. This means that, unlike in a regulated market, <a href="https://www.policyschool.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/EEP_Power_Prices_april.pdf">there is no guarantee that generators in Alberta earn enough revenue</a> to cover their fixed costs unless they raise their prices.</p>
<h2>Reasons for high electricity prices</h2>
<p>Aside from the deregulated market, a few other reasons have been given for the province’s high electricity prices. One is the increasing frequency and severity of heat-related weather events like heat waves and wildfires.</p>
<p>Historically, few people in Alberta had air conditioners, but <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-soaring-use-of-air-conditioning-in-alberta-puts-enormous-strain-on/">that has changed over the last decade</a> as summers have grown hotter. In 2021, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7984915/edmonton-alberta-heat-warning-records-june-27/">temperatures neared 40 C</a>. </p>
<p>Additionally, some have pointed to the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-electricity-prices-faq-local-access-fee-rro-1.6928434">carbon tax as a contributing factor</a> to the high prices. However, the federal carbon tax does not apply to the electricity sector and the provincial equivalent only adds a minimal 0.3 cents/kWh to the electricity price. </p>
<p>High electricity prices can also be attributed to the increase in natural gas prices, Alberta’s <a href="https://energyrates.ca/the-main-electricity-sources-in-canada-by-province/">main source of electricity generation</a>. Prices surged by <a href="https://economicdashboard.alberta.ca/dashboard/natural-gas-price/">more than 60 per cent</a> following the Russian invasion of Ukraine as the European Union sought to transition away from Russian energy imports.</p>
<p>Lastly, Alberta has also been <a href="https://edmonton.citynews.ca/2023/06/28/high-electricity-bills">slow to add new power plants to the province</a>. Since electricity providers only turn a profit when they’re actively supplying electricity to the grid, <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/summer-power-prices-to-surge-for-albertans-on-regulated-rate-plans">there is little incentive to maintain standby generation</a>, which is crucial during periods of high electricity demand.</p>
<h2>Re-regulating the electricity market</h2>
<p>Since <a href="https://albertaviews.ca/electricity-deregulation/">electricity is an essential service</a>, it’s crucial to have regulations in place to curb the market power of large corporations. When only a few companies have ownership of all the power plants, they are able to exercise market power and raise prices as they see fit.</p>
<p>Research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2007.09.006">establishing long-term contracts between utilities and plant owners</a> and implementing average cost-based pricing can curb issues of market power and high electricity prices.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A close-up shot of the top of a power line" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547874/original/file-20230912-24-vkw10u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547874/original/file-20230912-24-vkw10u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547874/original/file-20230912-24-vkw10u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547874/original/file-20230912-24-vkw10u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547874/original/file-20230912-24-vkw10u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547874/original/file-20230912-24-vkw10u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547874/original/file-20230912-24-vkw10u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Electricity prices in Alberta experienced a sharp increase in 2001 when the market was deregulated.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>A gradual approach toward re-regulation could involve integrating the costs of newer power plants into the regulated system while terminating the power pool market with the retirement of older power plants. A properly regulated market would not see power prices increase the way they did this past summer.</p>
<h2>End of rebates and deferred repayment</h2>
<p>Under Alberta’s <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/affordability-action-plan">Affordability Action Plan</a>, electricity prices were capped at 13.5 cents/kWh from January to March 2023, even though market prices were approaching 33 cents/kWh during that period.</p>
<p>To bridge the gap between the market rate and the capped rate, the government provided a <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/summer-power-prices-to-surge-for-albertans-on-regulated-rate-plans">$200 million loan to Alberta utility companies</a>. This loan is expected to be paid back and has added $10 to $20 to monthly electricity bills.</p>
<p>While the government of Alberta has said that electricity rebates <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/affordability-action-plan">don’t need to be repaid</a>, the deferred costs associated with the price cap are to be recouped <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9586632/alberta-regulated-rate-option-energy-bill-increase/">over the next 21 months</a>. </p>
<p>The higher electricity prices are due to both the expiration of rebates and the deferred repayments kicking off. To put this into perspective, Albertans will be forced to pay off the $200 million while the province is in the midst of considering giving <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-western-canada-alberta-under-fire-for-plan-to-reward-companies-for">$20 billion in royalty credits to oil and gas companies</a> to clean up old wells, which they are already legally obligated to do.</p>
<h2>What can consumers do?</h2>
<p>Alberta’s deregulated electricity market exacerbates inequity. While some will be able to reduce their electricity bills by switching from market electricity rates to fixed contracts, this solution is only available for those with higher credit scores.</p>
<p><a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9593557/utility-cost-power-contract-regulated-rates-alberta">Fixed contracts often require credit checks</a>, come with additional fees or impose exit fees for ending contracts. This means Albertans with low credit scores will end up stuck with the market rates and remain responsible for the deferred repayment costs.</p>
<p>Given these circumstances, there is a vital role for the government to play in preventing low-income Albertans from being exploited by the deregulated electricity market. At the very least, the government should relieve people of the $200 million deferred repayment burden instead of providing corporations with a $20 billion benefit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213203/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I have in the past offered research assistance to the Parkland Institute. </span></em></p>The Alberta government has a vital role to play in preventing low-income Albertans from being exploited by the deregulated electricity market.Junaid B. Jahangir, Associate Professor, Economics, MacEwan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2124092023-09-05T20:22:38Z2023-09-05T20:22:38ZMixed-use solar and agricultural land is the silver bullet Alberta’s Conservatives have wished for<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545121/original/file-20230828-13578-t120xq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3840%2C2160&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Placing vertical solar panels on farming land allows for energy production and higher yields.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aasen_agrivoltaics_solar_plant_with_walls_of_vertical_bifacial_modules_near_Donaueschingen_Germany_5.jpg">(Wikimedia Commons)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/mixed-use-solar-and-agricultural-land-is-the-silver-bullet-albertas-conservatives-have-wished-for" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The Alberta government recently announced a much-maligned <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=887605547987E-EABF-5E23-DFF2C9F72DB845E6">seven-month pause on renewable (including solar) energy development in the province</a>. While the exact reasons are up for debate, one specific factor has been the desire to investigate ways to make renewable energy, particularly solar, more integrated within the province over the long term. </p>
<p>Specifically, there is a real concern among some in the party and the general public that industrial solar will displace farming and raise food prices as well as create <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-renewable-energy-jason-schneider-vulcan-county-1.6939218">end-of-life problems with potentially abandoned equipment</a>. </p>
<p>Luckily, we can have our cake and eat it too, with a new concept of agrivoltaics. Agrivoltaics is the simultaneous placement of food crops and solar photovoltaic systems that produce electricity directly from sunlight — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2013.04.012">while also producing a beneficial micro climate</a>. Covering crops with solar panels may not seem intuitive, however, dozens of studies from all over the world have shown that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043228">many crop yields increase when they are partially shaded from solar panels</a>.</p>
<p>This is good news for everyone, but especially for Alberta’s ruling Conservatives, as it provides a seemingly simple solution to a potentially complicated land-use debate between agriculture and energy generation within the province. </p>
<h2>Alberta and energy</h2>
<p>Alberta’s energy portfolio is changing rapidly. <a href="https://www.iea.org/energy-system/renewables/solar-pv">Low-cost solar energy</a> is now <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/what-on-earth-solar-power-alberta-1.6695287">growing so fast as to be a “gold rush” in Alberta</a>. </p>
<p>In fact, much to <a href="https://cleanenergycanada.org/report/a-renewables-powerhouse/">Ontario’s shame, Alberta</a> has taken on the leadership role in solar development in Canada, generating millions of solar dollars and creating thousands of <a href="https://renewablesassociation.ca/alberta-renewable-energy-surge-could-power-4500-jobs/">solar jobs for Alberta’s energy workers</a>. </p>
<p>Solar companies have grown so fast precisely because there is profit in offsetting costly fossil-fuel electricity. However, many in Alberta are worried that this new boom will lead to <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2023007/article/00005-eng.htm">higher food costs</a>, <a href="https://www.orphanwell.ca/about/orphan-inventory/">scarred landscapes</a> and <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7990003/alberta-oil-gas-wells-cleanup/">a repeat of costs from cleaning up after the oil and gas industry</a>.</p>
<p>This particular <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2012.10.024">land-use conflict between solar and agriculture</a> has been a concern for solar researchers like myself for some time. However, our research in the United States has shown that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.10.024">agrivoltaics provide higher economic productivity, energy and food yields</a>. So much so that the U.S. <a href="https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-announces-8-million-integrate-solar-energy-production-farming">Department of Energy is now investing millions of dollars</a> to ensure America’s dominance in the field. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-shading-crops-with-solar-panels-can-improve-farming-lower-food-costs-and-reduce-emissions-202094">How shading crops with solar panels can improve farming, lower food costs and reduce emissions</a>
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<p>One of the studies in the U.S., for example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0364-5">observed pepper production shoot up by more than 200 per cent</a> while other crops like wheat in Germany were more reserved with a few per cent increase — but they still produced more wheat. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, agrivoltaics is slated to grow to a <a href="https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/agrivoltaics-market-A47446">$9.3 billion market by 2031</a>.</p>
<h2>Agrivoltaics in Canada</h2>
<p>Agrivoltaics is happening right here in Canada already (mostly with sheep grazing between panels on marginal land). Last year, we held the <a href="https://www.ivey.uwo.ca/news/news-ivey/2022/december/are-solar-farms-the-answer-to-feeding-the-world-and-combatting-climate-change/">first agrivoltaics conference anywhere in North America at the Ivey Business School</a>. </p>
<p>The trade group made up of farmers and solar companies called <a href="https://agrivoltaicscanada.ca/">Agrivoltaics Canada</a> has formed because agrivoltaic farming can help meet Canada’s food and energy needs all the while getting rid of our fossil fuel reliance and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/how-canadians-can-cut-carbon-footprints-1.6202194">greenhouse gas emissions</a> (and the associated <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.11.025">emissions liabilities</a>). </p>
<p>Agrivoltaics will allow Alberta’s farmers to keep farming, make more money, drop energy costs, and help protect the environment for all of our children. To take advantage of all the profit that agrivoltaics represents for the province, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/en16010053">our team completed a study</a> that showed the changes to Alberta’s regulations would actually need to be relatively modest.</p>
<p>The simple trick is to install solar systems that enable conventional farming, so farmers do not need to change anything. By spacing solar rows out far enough that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/designs7020034">combines/tractors can drive between them using vertical racks or tracker systems</a>, agrivoltaics are out of the way when the farmer needs to farm. We did a study that looked specifically at Alberta’s agrivoltaic potential, which was second only to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/biomass3020012">Saskatchewan</a> in Canada. </p>
<h2>Moving forward together</h2>
<p>Agrivoltaics really has broad appeal. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10121885">Farmers love it as it increases yields and provides steady incomes</a> and so do <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102023">solar developers</a> and environmentalists. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s44173-022-00007-x">Even most Americans support solar development when agrivoltaics protects farm jobs</a>. It is thus not surprising that <a href="https://www.precedenceresearch.com/press-release/agrivoltaics-market">agrivoltaics is exploding on the world market.</a></p>
<p>Eighty-nine per cent of Alberta’s electricity came from fossil fuels, yet we published an article this year that showed <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043228">that agrivoltaics on just one per cent of the current agricultural land would eliminate the carbon emissions entirely</a>. Less than one per cent of Alberta’s farm land dedicated to agrivoltaics, cuts all harmful emissions from Alberta’s electricity sector while making more food. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/growing-farmland-inequality-in-the-prairies-poses-problems-for-all-canadians-196777">Growing farmland inequality in the Prairies poses problems for all Canadians</a>
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<p>This is a win-win for the farmers, and consumers alike. As Alberta’s Conservatives are now able to lift the renewable energy ban knowing that the environment and the food system will be protected, they should ensure that large-scale solar in the province is encouraged to be agrivoltaic. Then all of us, regardless of party, can enjoy the conserved beauty of nature, lower-cost electricity and more food produced per acre. Whether or not this will result in lower costs at the grocery store checkout is a question yet to be answered — but we can hope.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212409/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua M. Pearce has received funding for research from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Mitacs, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of Defense, The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). In addition, his past and present consulting work and research is funded by the United Nations, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, many non-profits and for-profit companies in the energy and solar photovoltaic fields. He is a founding member of Agrivoltaics Canada. He does not directly work for any solar manufacturer and has no direct conflicts of interests. </span></em></p>Using agricultural land for both solar and food production presents huge opportunities for Canadian farmers, especially in Alberta.Joshua M. Pearce, John M. Thompson Chair in Information Technology and Innovation and Professor, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2118172023-08-19T01:58:48Z2023-08-19T01:58:48ZYellowknife and Kelowna wildfires burn in what is already Canada’s worst season on record<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/yellowknife-and-kelowna-wildfires-burn-in-what-is-already-canadas-worst-season-on-record" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The devastating wildfire that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/15/us/hawaii-maui-lahaina-fire.html">destroyed the historic Maui town of Lahaina in Hawaii</a> was still making headlines when the Northwest Territories issued an <a href="https://www.gov.nt.ca/en/notices-alerts-and-orders">evacuation order for Yellowknife</a> and <a href="https://www.emergencyinfobc.gov.bc.ca/provincial-state-of-emergency-august-18-2023/">British Columbia declared a provincewide state of emergency</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nwt-wildfire-update-aug-17-1.6939679">All 22,000 residents of Yellowknife are being evacuated</a> in advance of a wall of flame from out-of-control wildfires converging on the capital city. Yet this isn’t the first time an entire Canadian town has been cleared.</p>
<p>In May 2016, all 90,000 residents of Fort McMurray, Alta., were evacuated shortly before wildfires engulfed <a href="https://cdd.publicsafety.gc.ca/dtpg-eng.aspx?cultureCode=en-Ca&eventTypes=%27WF%27&normalizedCostYear=1&dynamic=false&eventId=1135">2,400 homes and businesses</a> with a total cost of more than <a href="https://cdd.publicsafety.gc.ca/rslts-eng.aspx?cultureCode=en-Ca&eventTypes=%27WF%27&normalizedCostYear=1&dynamic=false">$4 billion</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yellowknife-fires-evacuees-will-need-culturally-specific-support-services-208424">Yellowknife fires: Evacuees will need culturally specific support services</a>
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<p>In 2017 in British Columbia, the wildfire season led to the evacuation of more than <a href="https://cdd.publicsafety.gc.ca/dtpg-eng.aspx?cultureCode=en-Ca&eventTypes=%27WF%27&normalizedCostYear=1&dynamic=false&eventId=1142">65,000 residents across numerous communities, costing $130 million in insured damages and $568 million</a> in firefighting costs.</p>
<p>Let’s not forget the June 2021 heat dome resulting in temperature records being broken across British Columbia three days in a row. The heat wave culminated in Lytton, a village in the southern part of the province, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9803034/june-dry-lytton-record-temperature-2021/">recording 49.6 C on June 29</a>, the hottest temperature ever observed anywhere in Canada and breaking the previous record by five degrees. The next day, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-wildfires-june-30-2021-1.6085919">wildfires engulfed Lytton</a>, destroying more than 90 per cent of the town.</p>
<h2>Long, hot summer</h2>
<p>The summer of 2023 is one for the record books. June and July were the warmest months ever recorded, and <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/july-2023-is-hottest-month-ever-recorded-on-earth/">extreme temperature records were broken around the world</a>.</p>
<p>By mid-July, Canada had already recorded <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-wildfire-season-worst-ever-more-to-come-1.6934284">the worst forest fire season on record</a>. And British Columbia broke <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-wildfire-july-18-1.6909596">its previous 2018 record for worst recorded forest fire season</a>. With several weeks to go in the 2023 forest fire season, more than <a href="https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/report">six times the 10-year average area</a> has already been consumed by wildfires.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/temperature-records-shattered-across-the-world-as-tourists-flock-to-experience-the-heat-210038">Temperature records shattered across the world as tourists flock to experience the heat</a>
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<p>And yet, this pales in comparison to what <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/future-heat-waves-are-coming-and-these-countries-are-most-at-risk">we can expect in the years ahead from ongoing global warming</a> arising from greenhouse gas emissions released through the combustion of fossil fuels.</p>
<h2>Predicted outcomes</h2>
<p>This year’s fire season record will be broken in the near future as warming continues. And once again, it’s not as if what’s happening is a surprise.</p>
<p>Almost 20 years ago, my colleagues and I showed that there already was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL020876">a detectable human influence on the observed increasing area burned from Canadian wildfires</a>. We wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The area burned by forest fires in Canada has increased over the past four decades, at the same time as summer season temperatures have warmed. Here we use output from a coupled climate model to demonstrate that human emissions of greenhouse gases and sulfate aerosol have made a detectable contribution to this warming. We further show that human-induced climate change has had a detectable influence on the area burned by forest fire in Canada over recent decades.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It appears little has been done to prepare rural Canada for what’s in store as governments deal with immediate, rather than <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pdisas.2019.100045">transformational approaches</a> to wildfire management. </p>
<p>This, despite the existence of the national <a href="https://firesmartcanada.ca/about-firesmart/">FireSmart program</a> designed to assist homeowners, neighbourhoods and communities decrease their vulnerability to wildfires and increase their resilience to their negative impacts.</p>
<p>Forest management practices including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15961-y">forest fire prevention</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abp8259">monoculture reforestation</a> and the use of glyphosate to actively kill off broadleaf plant species, will all have to be reassessed from a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pdisas.2019.100045">science- and risk-based perspective</a>.</p>
<h2>Growing number of court cases</h2>
<p>Pressure is certainly mounting on decision-makers to become more proactive in both mitigating and preparing for the impacts of climate change.</p>
<p>An <a href="https://theconversation.com/montana-youth-win-unprecedented-climate-case-what-does-this-ruling-mean-for-canada-211647">Aug. 14 pivotal ruling</a> from the Montana First Judicial District Court sided with a group of youth who claimed that the State of Montana violated their right to a healthy environment. </p>
<p>A similar case brought by seven youth against the Ontario government after the province reduced its greenhouse gas reduction targets has also been <a href="https://theconversation.com/court-decision-in-youth-climate-lawsuit-against-ontario-government-ignites-hope-206275">heralded as groundbreaking</a>.</p>
<p>As the number of such court cases grow, governments and corporations will need to do more to both protect their citizens from the impacts of climate change, and to aggressively decarbonize energy systems. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if the Alberta government is next to be taken to court by youth after Premier Danielle Smith’s outrageous economic and environmental <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/danielle-smith-wind-solar-power-freeze-letters-analysis-1.6936415">decision to put a moratorium on renewable energy projects</a>.</p>
<h2>States of emergency</h2>
<p>While attention is currently turned to the evacuation of Yellowknife, it’s sobering to remind ourselves that they are not alone. The village of Lytton, burnt to the ground just two years ago, has been <a href="https://cfjctoday.com/2023/08/18/village-of-lytton-on-evacuation-alert-tnrd-expands-evacuation-order-due-to-kookipi-creek-wildfire/">put on evacuation alert</a> as wildfires approach.</p>
<p>Kelowna has just <a href="https://www.cordemergency.ca/emergencies/mcdougall-creek-wildfire-2023">declared a state of emergency</a> as the McDougall Creek fire starts consuming homes in the region. And this, coming on the heels of the 20th anniversary of the <a href="https://www.kelowna.ca/city-services/safety-emergency-services/fire-department/okanagan-mountain-park-fire">Okanagan Mountain Park fire</a>, when more than 27,000 people had to be evacuated and 239 Kelowna homes were lost.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Australia’s ABC News takes a look at their upcoming fire season.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Canadians will take solace as summer turns into winter and the immediacy of our 2023 wildfire situation wanes. Unfortunately, it will be Australia’s turn next to experience the burning wrath of nature in response to human-caused global warming and the 2023 El Niño.</p>
<p>Rather than waiting to respond reactively to the next fire season, proactive preparation is the appropriate way forward. For as the old adage states: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211817/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Weaver receives research grant funding from Canada's Climate Action and Awareness Fund </span></em></p>The devastating wildfire that destroyed the historic Maui town of Lahaina was still making headlines when Yellowknife issued an evacuation order.Andrew Weaver, Professor, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of VictoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2084242023-08-18T20:22:39Z2023-08-18T20:22:39ZYellowknife fires: Evacuees will need culturally specific support services<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/yellowknife-fires-evacuees-will-need-culturally-specific-support-services" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>On the evening of Aug. 16, due to rapidly moving wildfires, an evacuation order was issued for the entire city of Yellowknife. Thousands of residents <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yellowknife-wildfire-evacuation-journeys-1.6939446">faced a long, stressful drive on the only road out of the city</a>. The goal was for as many people as possible to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66526554">flee one of the largest cities in Canada’s North before the deadline for safe exit</a> of Aug. 18 at noon Mountain Daylight Time.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Reuters reports on the evacuation order issued in Yellowknife, N.W.T.</span></figcaption>
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<p>As a researcher in disaster and emergency management, I have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-018-3488-4">studied the implications of what happened in Fort McMurray, Alta., in 2016</a>, a similar situation where a large city in Canada’s North faced full evacuation due to fire. I am also a member of a research team at York University that looks at “<a href="https://emforall.com/">emergency management for all</a>” — analyzing how the needs of the whole community are met, or not, during mass emergencies.</p>
<p>We studied Fort McMurray’s Muslim community to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1504/IJEM.2019.099374">explore how they experienced mass evacuation</a>. Our research found that the needs of a segment of the population were overlooked during mass evacuation. Perhaps, seven years later, this will not happen again. </p>
<h2>Similarities to Fort McMurray</h2>
<p>In May 2016, a large fast-moving wildfire jumped from the surrounding rural areas and into the city of Fort McMurray, Alta., causing <a href="https://www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/weather/severe/this-day-in-weather-history-may-3-2016-fort-mcmurray-evacuations-begin">approximately 88,000 people to flee</a>. Canadians were shocked and saddened by the televised images of slow-moving lines of cars passing in close proximity to massive walls of flames.</p>
<p>In August 2023, Canadians are again seeing disturbing images of slow-moving traffic along smoky two-lane roads in Canada’s remote northern locales. While it is too soon to make detailed comparisons between the Fort McMurray evacuation in 2016 and the ongoing Yellowknife evacuation, there appear to be some things in common.</p>
<p>At both places, evacuations are made more difficult due to northern Canada’s geographic realities. Highway evacuations involve traversing hundreds of kilometres, and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yellowknife-air-evacuation-begins-1.6939256">airlifts face capacity limits</a>, although an official said <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yellowknife-fire-northwest-territories-canada-wildfire-aug-18-1.6940408">there is room for everyone who wants to fly out</a>. </p>
<p>During Fort McMurray’s evacuation, only one southbound road was available for evacuation. Similar to northern Alberta, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-wildfires-crews-battle-stop-blaze-yellowknife-evacuates-2023-08-17/">the Northwest Territories has limited infrastructure</a>, and most people evacuating Yellowknife can only use one road to drive to <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/northwest-territories-wildfire-evacuation">reception centres hundreds of kilometres south in Alberta</a>.</p>
<h2>Culturally appropriate services</h2>
<p>While it is hoped that fire conditions change, it is possible that the fire will <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2256232003514">reach the outskirts of Yellowknife</a>. If that happens, it could be weeks if not months before 20,000 residents can return. Other locales will have to absorb Yellowknife’s entire population for extended periods.</p>
<p>In the immediate short term, the needs of the evacuees will shift from temporary relief to requiring more permanent services. Evacuees will benefit if some semblance of “home away from home” can be provided. That hospitality includes culturally appropriate evacuee hosting. </p>
<p>At the time of the 2016 fire disaster at Fort McMurray, the largest visible minority group was the Muslim community. Today, there are still <a href="https://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/news/local-news/fort-mcmurray-muslims-invite-non-muslims-to-learn-about-islam-at-ramadan-feast">7,000 to 10,000 Muslims residing in Fort McMurray</a>. </p>
<p>Whether it was fully understood during the chaos of the 2016 fire evacuations or not, thousands of people had specific cultural needs that became evident in evacuation centres.</p>
<p>As days turned to weeks, challenges for Muslim evacuees emerged. The disaster occurred during the start of Ramadan, and scheduled mass feeding times in large shelters conflicted with traditional sunrise-to-sunset fasting during Ramadan. Evacuation centres hosting Fort McMurray’s evacuees were unprepared for <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/fort-mcmurray-research-muslim-evacuation-1.5128104">meeting the needs of the sizeable Muslim population</a>.</p>
<h2>Anticipating diverse needs</h2>
<p>Like Fort McMurray, Yellowknife is a culturally diverse community. When Yellowknife’s diverse population arrives at reception centres in Alberta, it is an open question whether they will be met with culturally appropriate services. Initial analysis indicates at least three significant distinct cultural groups among the evacuees from Yellowknife.</p>
<p>Canada’s Northwest Territories is home to Indigenous Peoples, and Yellowknife is <a href="https://www.yellowknife.ca/en/living-here/indigenous-peoples.aspx">located on the traditional lands of the Dene First Nation</a>. <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/news/nwt-yellowknife-wildfires-alberta-friendship-centres">Friendship centres in Alberta</a>, such as in Grande Prairie and High Level, are offering support, food and other necessities to Indigenous evacuees from the Northwest Territories. </p>
<p>The largest visible minority group in Yellowknife is <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yellowknife-filipino-community-balances-celebration-grief-this-filipino-heritage-month-1.6085351">the Filipino population</a>, with about 1,065 people. </p>
<p>Historically, Yellowknife has attracted a significant number of <a href="https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/english/pdf/immigration-matters/economicprofile-yellowknife-nwt-en-final.pdf">French-speaking people</a>, and there is a significant francophone community, making up nearly 17 per cent of the city’s population.</p>
<h2>There is no “one size fits all”</h2>
<p>As the mass evacuation of Yellowknife unfolds, the needs of minority, racialized and marginalized populations will emerge. Past experiences indicate emergency officials at centres hosting evacuees in Alberta may not be ready to meet the needs of a diverse population.</p>
<p>Again, there exists the potential for minority populations having their needs overlooked by emergency services during mass evacuations. We know from the Fort McMurray experience that social issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion are real-life concerns impacting the evacuation experiences for thousands of Canadians. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1692569935929655556"}"></div></p>
<p>The unfolding Yellowknife evacuation effort will not be a one-size-fits-all experience for <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/northwest-territories-official-name-1.4987395">Northwest Territorians</a>. At this early point in the mass evacuation, it can be anticipated that social and cultural needs of all Yellowknifers will need to be acknowledged and acted upon. </p>
<p>Adaptations to standard operating procedures will need to be made at evacuation centres in Alberta to meet the needs of thousands of people with varying and culturally specific needs arriving from Yellowknife.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208424/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack L. Rozdilsky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the mass evacuation of Yellowknife unfolds, the needs of minority populations will emerge. Past experiences indicate emergency officials may not be ready to meet the needs of a diverse population.Jack L. Rozdilsky, Associate Professor of Disaster and Emergency Management, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1898522023-08-10T14:34:34Z2023-08-10T14:34:34ZProtecting boreal plant species is a critical part of reconciliation efforts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482447/original/file-20220902-19-pnlr93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4594%2C3456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Labrador Tea is one of the boreal plants that are classified as pests or weeds. The plant is important to Indigenous communities for its healing properties.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(J. Baker)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/protecting-boreal-plant-species-is-a-critical-part-of-reconciliation-efforts" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Labrador Tea, fireweed, chokecherry and raspberry are some of the boreal plants that are <a href="https://weedscience.ca/biology-of-canadian-weeds/">classified as weeds</a> by the Canadian Weed Science Society. These plants are targeted with herbicide by logging companies across the Canadian boreal forest.</p>
<p>However, these boreal plant species are important traditional plants for many Indigenous peoples in Canada and around the world. In addition to their <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/ai215e/ai215e.pdf">use as food</a>, these traditional native plants hold tremendous <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-8-7">medicinal, ceremonial and material value</a>.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong>This article is part of <em>La Conversation Canada’s</em> series <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca-fr/topics/foret-boreale-138017">The boreal forest: A thousand secrets, a thousand dangers</a></strong></p>
<p><br><em>La Conversation Canada invites you to take a virtual walk in the heart of the boreal forest. In this series, our experts focus on management and sustainable development issues, natural disturbances, the ecology of terrestrial wildlife and aquatic ecosystems, northern agriculture and the cultural and economic importance of the boreal forest for Indigenous peoples. We hope you have a pleasant — and informative — walk through the forest!</em></p>
<hr>
<p>These plant species thrived before the arrival of Europeans and are respected and cared for by Indigenous communities, in ways that help increase <a href="https://www.cbd.int/portals/culturaldiversity/docs/north-american-regional-declaration-on-biocultural-diversity-en.pdf">biocultural diversity</a>. </p>
<p>As a cultural and environmental anthropologist, I have been working for and with First Nations communities in the boreal forests in Alberta since 2006. In my recently published paper, I reveal how the misappropriation of these plants from traditional territories is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-9712467">grounded in a colonial bias for the economic value of plants</a>.</p>
<h2>Boreal forests under threat</h2>
<p>Over recent decades, boreal forests in Canada have been facing numerous threats, including attempts to extract plants for economic gain or <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/10214/27311">eradicate them using herbicides</a>. </p>
<p>The issue lies in what gets referred to as “<a href="https://open.alberta.ca/publications/timber-harvest-planning-and-ogr-2023">merchantable timber</a>” versus the abundance of boreal forest plants that cover the ground below the trees. </p>
<p>When government agencies and logging companies follow their <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/indigenous-consultations-in-alberta.aspx">Duty to Consult First Nations</a>, they tend to overlook expressed concerns about the destruction of traditional plants that grow in abundance. </p>
<p>For example, balsam and aspen poplar trees, birch trees, Labrador Tea, blueberries and wild mint are all plants that grow in abundance in the boreal forest that have high cultural value. </p>
<p>In the consultation process, when an Elder or community member identifies these plants for protection, company representatives often respond saying that these plants grow throughout the forest, so their destruction has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2017.12.008">no significant impact</a> on inherent rights protected by treaty. </p>
<p>This outside ruling can affect First Nation members’ access to their particular familial stewardship area. </p>
<p>The loss of access to seemingly abundant plants is exacerbated by the use of <a href="https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/2008d812-65eb-4608-9c00-54999149c2a1/resource/2a40a300-d391-4440-b870-e3b632588e92/download/af-forest-management-herbicide-reference-manual-2021-01.pdf">the herbicide glyphosate in the reforestation process</a>, and along roads, pipelines and power lines. </p>
<p>Plants with great nutritional and medicinal value like Labrador Tea are sprayed so that they do not compete with monocropping reforestation practices that focus on timber. This reflects a bias toward merchantable timber rather than a <a href="https://mothertreeproject.org/mother-tree-experiment/">biodiverse and healthy forest</a>. </p>
<h2>Boreal destruction impacts Indigenous communities</h2>
<p>When people lose their collecting areas, they have to search larger areas for the same plants, request access in other people’s areas and risk collecting plants contaminated by volatile organic compounds, heavy metals or herbicides. </p>
<p>Research in the boreal forest has revealed that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119259">glyphosate remains in plant tissues for at least a decade</a>. The communities I collaborate with during my research continue to be very concerned about the use of herbicides in their territories, and with reason. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541815/original/file-20230808-17-jgodur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="rows of leaves drying on a flat surface" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541815/original/file-20230808-17-jgodur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541815/original/file-20230808-17-jgodur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541815/original/file-20230808-17-jgodur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541815/original/file-20230808-17-jgodur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541815/original/file-20230808-17-jgodur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541815/original/file-20230808-17-jgodur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541815/original/file-20230808-17-jgodur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wild mint — used as food and medicine — from the boreal forest laid out to dry.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(J. Baker)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Elders from First Nations communities are also concerned about the impacts of bioaccumulation — the gradual accumulation of substances such as pesticides or other chemicals through the food chain. These concerns are based on Elders’ own systems of natural law, oral traditions and enacting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2020.1765829">respect and reciprocity in the forest</a>.</p>
<h2>Reconciliation includes plant species</h2>
<p>As Canada attempts to reconcile with Indigenous communities through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf">Calls to Action</a>, the recognition of species of traditional value is critical in this process.</p>
<p>Calls to Action for improvements in Indigenous-centred education, youth programs, language and culture, and health supports are connected to people’s abilities to participate in land-based activities. Plant species must be available for these activities to be possible. </p>
<p>The availability of these species means that they need to be respected and conserved based on Indigenous approaches and ecological knowledge.</p>
<p>Not caring for plant species in the context of Indigenous natural legal systems ignores the ancient and ongoing stewardship by Indigenous Peoples living within the boreal forests. Ignoring native species results in the continued misappropriation of traditional territories, one plant at a time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189852/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janelle Marie Baker receives funding from ECCC, the Arctic Connections Fund, CIHR, SSHRC, NSERC, and Athabasca University.</span></em></p>Some boreal plant species are classified — and treated — as weeds, affecting Indigenous communities’ access to important cultural, medicinal and ceremonial resources.Janelle Marie Baker, Associate professor, Anthropology, Athabasca UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2092942023-07-19T20:41:05Z2023-07-19T20:41:05ZHealing through witnessing: Documenting the stories of Yazidi refugees in Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537175/original/file-20230712-22-gost18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C0%2C5532%2C4023&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Yazidi refugee woman's upper body is tattooed with the names of her missing family members and fiancé.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Leah Hennel)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/healing-through-witnessing-documenting-the-stories-of-yazidi-refugees-in-canada" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Weeks after Yazidi refugees were rescued from horrific captivity and enslavement imposed by Daesh (also known as ISIS) and <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2021/03/canada-expands-efforts-to-welcome-more-yazidi-refugees-and-other-survivors-of-daesh.html">arrived in Canada</a>, we began to document the harm. </p>
<p>At the <a href="https://mosaicpcn.ca/programs/refugee-health/">Mosaic Refugee Health Clinic</a> in Calgary, we tallied the physical damage, mental trauma and how families were ripped apart. </p>
<p>Our new patients’ intent was clear: They wanted the world to know. They insisted that the atrocities of genocide should never be forgotten and the culprits face justice. Beyond holding the guilty accountable, they also wanted to restore fragments of the familial and communal societies from which they’d been uprooted.</p>
<p>After centuries of religious persecution, their community had been dealt a deadly blow in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/world/middleeast/isis-genocide-yazidi-un.html">August 2014</a>. A massacre — <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2021/sc14514.doc.htm">labelled a genocide by the United Nations</a> — resulted in approximately 200,000 displaced Yazidis, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-017-0965-7">7,000 murdered</a>, 7,000 women and children abducted into <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1002297">enslavement</a>, and the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2018/murad/lecture/#:%7E:text=Thank%20you%20very%20much%20for,solely%20because%20they%20were%20Yazidis">destruction of farms, villages, homes and places of worship</a>.</p>
<p>These are the narratives shared by Yazidi refugees who were resettled through Canada’s <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2017/02/helping_vulnerableyazidiwomenandchildrenandothersurvivorsofdaesh.html">Survivors of Daesh Program</a> in Calgary and three other major Canadian cities between 2017 and 2019. Although our clinic is one of the largest and longest-running specialized refugee health clinics in Canada, the rapid resettlement of 242 Yazidi refugees <a href="https://doi.org/10.7326/M20-0151">nearly broke us</a>. </p>
<p>Their stories were profoundly vivid, their trauma piercing. They gave horrific accounts of Daesh’s invasion and the ensuing genocide, recounting their enslavement, slaughter and forced indoctrination.</p>
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<img alt="Three women on a sofa in a room with a Canadian flag on the wall" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537174/original/file-20230712-23-q1est.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537174/original/file-20230712-23-q1est.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537174/original/file-20230712-23-q1est.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537174/original/file-20230712-23-q1est.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537174/original/file-20230712-23-q1est.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537174/original/file-20230712-23-q1est.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537174/original/file-20230712-23-q1est.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Three sisters, all of whom had been abducted and enslaved by ISIS, were reunited in Calgary.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Leah Hennel)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We tried to listen empathetically, without judgement — unaware that doing so all but guaranteed a crippling <a href="https://doi.org/10.7326/M20-0151">vicarious trauma</a> that led to intense symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder among our physicians, nurses and other health-care staff.</p>
<p>Over time, with immense effort, patients and providers began to heal together. Our Yazidi patients have launched their <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-torn-apart-by-islamic-state-and-reunited-in-calgary-three-yazidi/">new lives</a>, and are chasing ambitious dreams.</p>
<p>As part of this healing, they tasked us with ensuring the world would not forget their plight. As co-directors of <a href="https://www.refugeehealthyyc.ca/">Refugee Health YYC</a> — a research, education, and innovation platform at the University of Calgary — we obeyed. With our research team and <a href="https://www.ucalgary.ca/news/academic-journey-connects-head-and-heart-bachelor-health-sciences-alumna">Nour Hassan</a>, an undergraduate student in the Health and Society program, we began the process of meticulously investigating and documenting the harm through research.</p>
<h2>Documenting genocide</h2>
<p>We reviewed the medical records of every Yazidi patient at the <a href="https://mosaicpcn.ca/programs/refugee-health/">Mosaic Refugee Health Clinic</a>. We recorded the direct exposure to Daesh and nearly universal family separations. We assembled a panel of expert clinicians to review almost 1,400 individual diagnoses and determine which were most likely caused by exposure to Daesh. We found, in addition to the psychological trauma, the physical consequences of violence, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.4782">starvation</a> and rape.</p>
<p>To ensure our findings were accurate and meaningful, we collaborated with the Yazidi community and their leaders, one of whom is still languishing in an internally displaced camp in northern Iraq. The group provided insights, offered recommendations and made edits. We listened and obeyed.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When genocide is committed, it must be seen.” – Yazidi refugee, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist <a href="https://www.nadiasinitiative.org/">Nadia Murad</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The resulting research is a community- and clinician-engaged cross-sectional study, which was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.23064">recently published</a> in the <em>JAMA Network Open</em>. Though our methodology was simple and the output inefficient from a research perspective — it took us nearly four years to summarize the ordeals of 242 Yazidi genocide survivors — this stands among the research we are most proud of.</p>
<p>We offer it as a testament to the world, documenting the depths of human depravity and its darkest impulses. The horrors of genocide defy comprehension, but in our ongoing struggle for human rights amid increasing global displacement, we must confront them. So far, we are failing. </p>
<p>Yazidi refugees are calling on the world to open its eyes to genocide, while indiscriminate killings and violence against women and children are, yet again, being used as weapons of war in <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/06/afghanistan-talibans-cruel-attacks-in-panjshir-province-amount-to-war-crime-of-collective-punishment-new-report/">Afghanistan</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-un-investigation-report-1.6780600">Ukraine</a> and <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/05-07-2023-sudan-top-un-officials-sound-alarm-at-spike-in-violence-against-women-and-girls">Sudan</a>.</p>
<p>In Calgary, a city leading the country in per capita refugee resettlement among major urban centres, we’ve resettled approximately <a href="https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/4a1b260a-7ac4-4985-80a0-603bfe4aec11/resource/1938d8f2-177c-4f1b-8f6f-1fd7ea1acc78?inner_span=True">24,000 refugees since 2015</a>, surpassing the total for all of British Columbia, and nearly the number received by Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, P.E.I. and Newfoundland <a href="https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/4a1b260a-7ac4-4985-80a0-603bfe4aec11/resource/1938d8f2-177c-4f1b-8f6f-1fd7ea1acc78?inner_span=True">combined</a>. </p>
<p>We’re proud of this work, carried out largely behind the scenes by passionate coalitions across the settlement, health care, public health and education <a href="https://www.ccisab.ca/">sectors</a>. Our efforts are boosted by a welcoming and generous population that opens its doors to those in need, regardless of local challenges.</p>
<h2>Refugee health policy summit</h2>
<p>In the final act of healing, Refugee Health YYC will host Yazidi refugee, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2018/murad/facts/">Nadia Murad</a> in Calgary, a <a href="https://www.refugeehealthyyc.ca/pre-conference">refugee health policy summit</a>, and for the first time, the <a href="https://refugeesociety.org/narhc-conference/">North American Refugee Health Conference</a> July 21-23. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a light blue jacket, wearing headphones, in front of a microphone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537987/original/file-20230718-19-qf2dvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537987/original/file-20230718-19-qf2dvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537987/original/file-20230718-19-qf2dvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537987/original/file-20230718-19-qf2dvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537987/original/file-20230718-19-qf2dvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537987/original/file-20230718-19-qf2dvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537987/original/file-20230718-19-qf2dvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Refugee Health YYC will host Yazidi refugee, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist Nadia Murad in Calgary during the North American Refugee Health Conference July 21-23.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(The Associated Press/Kay Nietfeld)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These events will bring together health-care providers, researchers, policymakers and refugee leaders to learn from one another and develop new models to improve health care and well-being for the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/global-trends">108.3 million people forcibly displaced</a> around the world. Among these, only two per cent are resettled each year. The rest remain trapped in unstable and unsafe situations, often in countries that are not their homes.</p>
<p>These small offerings symbolize our commitment to work alongside refugees, as <a href="https://www.unhcr.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Seven-Decades-of-Refugee-Protection-In-Canada-14-December-2020.pdf">Canada</a> again led the world in the number of <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/global-trends">refugees resettled in 2022</a>. They underscore our dedication to ensuring the world never forgets the horrors of genocide and its devastating multi-generational impact on the communities targeted. </p>
<p>Our Yazidi patients arrived in Canada, courageously telling their stories. We need to listen. Otherwise, the crimes committed against them, and other refugees, will be repeated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209294/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel E. Fabreau MD, MPH, FRCPC receives research grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Alberta Innovates, MSI Foundation, and the University of Calgary.
The work presented and the study it describes were unfunded.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annalee Coakley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A Calgary refugee health clinic documented the stories of 242 Yazidi genocide survivors, recounting enslavement, slaughter and forced indoctrination.Gabriel Fabreau, Assistant Professor - General Internal Medicine; Depts. of Medicine and Community Health Sciences | Cumming School of Medicine, University of CalgaryAnnalee Coakley, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2097282023-07-17T20:05:50Z2023-07-17T20:05:50ZAlbertans have more in common than recent elections suggest<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537606/original/file-20230716-123600-zs6whc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C47%2C5329%2C3709&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Crowds attend Family Day at the Calgary Stampede in Calgary in July 2023. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/albertans-have-more-in-common-than-recent-elections-suggest" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Politics in Alberta are more volatile than ever. And the environment appears to be getting increasingly hostile, with the common ground between progressives and conservatives shrinking election by election.</p>
<p>After four decades of Progressive Conservative governments, Albertans appeared to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32604002">swerve left in 2015</a> by electing the New Democrats led by Rachel Notley. This dramatic turn of events came just a few years after voters elected the province’s <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/calgarys-naheed-nenshi-becomes-canadas-first-muslim-mayor/article1215182/">first Muslim mayor</a> in 2010 and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/albertans-elect-tory-majority-government-1.1133869">female premier</a> in 2011. </p>
<p>In these ways, the province seemed to have shifted away from its “cowboy” past, becoming one of Canada’s <a href="https://www.abmunis.ca/news/new-census-shows-continuing-urbanization-alberta">most urbanized</a> and <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/how-well-can-the-ucp-or-ndp-reflect-albertas-diverse-population-a-look-at-the-numbers">ethnically diverse</a> provinces. </p>
<h2>Return of the Conservatives</h2>
<p>The status quo appeared to return, however, when Jason Kenney’s new United Conservative Party (UCP) took back control of the provincial government in 2019. But within months, the government’s inability to handle a dramatic downturn in commodity prices and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/opinion-alberta-ndp-notley-jason-kenney-leadership-1.6480595">prompted Albertans</a> to turn against the UCP. </p>
<p>Under new leader Danielle Smith, the UCP <a href="https://rabble.ca/elections/smiths-ucp-ekes-out-a-win-in-calgary-secures-majority/">retained power</a> with a narrow majority, losing most of their seats in Calgary while tallying massive victories in rural areas.</p>
<p>What to make of these sudden swings in party support? Is Alberta as conservative as its conventional image suggests? Are Albertans becoming increasingly polarized? <a href="https://cground.substack.com/p/political-polarization-in-alberta">Ongoing Common Ground research</a> conducted by our University of Alberta research team suggests: in some ways, yes. In other ways, no. </p>
<p>Our team has been in the field since 2019, studying public opinion and political culture in the province. More than anything, our Viewpoint Alberta surveys and Common Ground focus groups reveal a growing gulf between who Albertans actually are, as individuals, and who they see themselves to be, as a community.</p>
<p>When asked which values are big features of provincial politics, most Albertans continue to describe the dominance of “Wild West” notions like freedom, western alienation, bootstrap individualism and prosperity. In short, their perception of the typical Albertan remains rooted in a cowboy past. </p>
<p>This collective, right-wing mentality helps shape the <a href="https://www.mackinac.org/OvertonWindow">realm of the possible</a> in the minds of many politicians and voters. If we believe that the typical Albertan favours libertarian policies, for instance, we are less likely to raise moderate or progressive alternatives for fear of being labelled out of touch. </p>
<p>Regardless of their own political leanings, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/opinion-who-do-albertans-think-they-are-municipal-election-results-1.6221407">most Albertans</a> see their community as overwhelmingly conservative and resistant to change.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a cowboy hat serves pancakes to a dark-haired woman." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537605/original/file-20230716-63212-iyqll0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4504%2C3315&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537605/original/file-20230716-63212-iyqll0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537605/original/file-20230716-63212-iyqll0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537605/original/file-20230716-63212-iyqll0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537605/original/file-20230716-63212-iyqll0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537605/original/file-20230716-63212-iyqll0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537605/original/file-20230716-63212-iyqll0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alberta Premier Danielle Smith serves up pancakes at her Stampede breakfast in Calgary in July 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Albertans more united than it appears</h2>
<p>Yet when asked about their own political preferences, the average Albertan is far less conservative than the cowboy image suggests. This is true in both urban and rural areas, as Albertans are more united than meets the eye. They tend to be moderate, even progressive, when it comes to social issues like health care and inclusion. </p>
<p>Consider the findings from the latest <a href="https://c-dem.ca/">election study from C-Dem</a>, an election research consortium, that connected our Viewpoint Alberta team with a group of researchers studying federal and provincial politics across Canada. </p>
<p>A full 40 per cent of Albertans believe government should be spending more on social programs, while only one in 10 think the province should be spending less. On education, 60 per cent believe Alberta should spend more, while only five per cent think there should be less spending.</p>
<p>Results from the same survey show that many Albertans simply don’t view their broader community in the same progressive terms. </p>
<p>When asked to place the “typical Albertan” on an ideological spectrum, more than two-thirds (70 per cent) position that person on the right. In reality, however, roughly half of Albertans place themselves in the centre or on the left of that same spectrum, with the other half indicating they are right-wing. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person in a blue T-shirt holds up a sign that reads Love Wins at an anti-racism protest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537607/original/file-20230716-156724-ycstss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537607/original/file-20230716-156724-ycstss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537607/original/file-20230716-156724-ycstss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537607/original/file-20230716-156724-ycstss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537607/original/file-20230716-156724-ycstss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537607/original/file-20230716-156724-ycstss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537607/original/file-20230716-156724-ycstss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters hold signs during an anti-racism rally in Calgary in June 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When a society’s collective image diverges from the values of many of its members, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32412-y">cultural rifts can widen</a>. Heated disputes often erupt between those looking to redefine their community’s values and those seeking to preserve them. Communities can succumb to polarization, factionalism and paralysis. </p>
<p>Instead of viewing opponents as adversaries with whom we share broad objectives, people start to see them as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/opinion/enemies-vs-adversaries.html?smid=url-share">enemies to be “owned,” discredited or even destroyed</a> in case they ruin our livelihoods and ways of life. </p>
<p>Politics becomes a contest to humiliate, harm and delegitimize rather than building for a shared future. This sort of factionalism breeds instability, as witnessed in countries like the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123420000125">United Kingdom via Brexit</a> and the rise of Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement in the United States.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-fascist-efforts-to-demolish-democracy-106247">Trump's fascist efforts to demolish democracy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Talking to Albertans</h2>
<p>Our Common Ground research team is visiting communities across Alberta this summer to get a handle on whether these sorts of forces are at play closer to home. </p>
<p>Over the past four years, we’ve been impressed at the level of civility and moderation displayed by everyday Albertans. At the same time, we have seen worrying signs of factionalism. </p>
<p>Politicians <a href="https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/politicians-denounce-video-of-alberta-man-verbally-harassing-deputy-prime-minister-chrystia-freeland-1.6045106">have been targeted</a> for harassment; politicians have <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2023/05/17/Bully-Haunting-Alberta-Election/">targeted citizens</a> in the same way; local politics in some communities are devolving into <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/empress-medicine-hat-alberta-steve-springett-1.6434145">bitter partisan battles</a>.</p>
<p>This summer, we’re looking for more Albertans from all walks of life to <a href="https://cground.substack.com/p/what-is-life-like-for-the-typical">sign up and join us</a> for a conversation about what we can do to rebuild common ground within and among our communities. </p>
<p>There’s more that unites Albertans than election results and political rhetoric suggests.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209728/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jared Wesley receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. His full disclosure statement is available here: <a href="https://jaredwesley.ca/disclosure">https://jaredwesley.ca/disclosure</a></span></em></p>Ongoing research suggests the average Albertan is far less conservative than it appears, especially on social issues like health care and inclusion.Jared Wesley, Professor, Political Science, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2083452023-07-16T11:56:56Z2023-07-16T11:56:56ZPollution timebombs: Contaminated wetlands are ticking towards ignition<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534433/original/file-20230627-29982-kxs94r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=820%2C20%2C3780%2C1669&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A flaming peatland fire in Alberta, Canada.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Greg Verkaik)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wetlands across the globe have long served as natural repositories for humanity’s toxic legacy, absorbing and retaining <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2006.03.004">hundreds to thousands of years’ worth of pollution</a>. </p>
<p>These swampy vaults have quietly been trapping air and water pollution for thousands of years, protecting the world from some of the worst effects of lead, mercury, copper, nickel and other poisonous materials. </p>
<p>Now, however, a combination of human disruptions and ever increasing wildfires threaten to open these vaults, unleashing their long dormant toxic contents upon the world. </p>
<h2>Threats to releasing toxic legacies</h2>
<p>The soil in many wetlands is composed of dead and decaying vegetation known as peat. Peat accumulates because perpetually sopping wetland conditions prevent the complete decomposition of dead vegetation. As these deposits accumulate, they form peatlands. </p>
<p>For centuries, peat has been drained, dried and extracted for heating fuel where wood is scarce. Though humans have long burned bricks of peat in their homes, climate change and wetland draining are drying entire wetlands, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01657-w">transforming them into perfect fuel for huge smoky wildfires</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Stacks of dried peat logs to be used for warmth and cooking." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534443/original/file-20230627-18-49gaiz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534443/original/file-20230627-18-49gaiz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534443/original/file-20230627-18-49gaiz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534443/original/file-20230627-18-49gaiz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534443/original/file-20230627-18-49gaiz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534443/original/file-20230627-18-49gaiz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534443/original/file-20230627-18-49gaiz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peat logs have long been used for warmth and cooking in communities across the globe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Colin McCarter)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Centuries of fallout from industrial processes such as smelting has deposited toxic metals in wetlands hundreds or even thousands of kilometres away from their point of origin. Human and industrial wastewater has, in places, added to this burden. </p>
<p>Wetlands have absorbed and stored these contaminants, holding them back from vulnerable aquatic ecosystems and saving humans from ingesting them. </p>
<p>Peat has a tremendous ability to capture and retain toxic metals by binding the metals to the peat itself through a process called adsorption. Once bound, the toxic metals are immobilized and pose little threat to the surrounding environment unless the peatland is disturbed, like from a wildfire.</p>
<h2>Wetlands and fire</h2>
<p>Human activities such as road building and resource extraction have seriously disrupted wetland ecosystems, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaa136">leaving drained wetlands vulnerable to fire</a>, as Canadians saw in the catastrophic Fort McMurray, Alta., wildfire of 2016.</p>
<p>As climate change and human actions further degrade wetlands, the resulting wildfires threaten to return humanity’s toxic legacy. This cycle carries frightening implications for the health of people and the environment. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Copious amounts of smoke produced from a smouldering peat fire." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534429/original/file-20230627-23-goy4k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534429/original/file-20230627-23-goy4k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534429/original/file-20230627-23-goy4k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534429/original/file-20230627-23-goy4k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534429/original/file-20230627-23-goy4k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534429/original/file-20230627-23-goy4k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534429/original/file-20230627-23-goy4k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fire burns away the peat as the resulting smoke is carried on the breeze.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Greg Verkaik)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2015, Indonesia recorded about <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/20/world/asia/indonesia-haze-smog-health.html">35,000 excess deaths after a major peatland fire</a>. Meanwhile, Canada and the United States are far from immune from exposure to peat fire smoke. In early June 2023, cities as far away as Washington, D.C., and New York were blanketed in thick smoke from peat fires in northern Canada, which is home to many of the world’s peatlands.</p>
<p>At the same time, climate change is accelerating the drying of peatlands everywhere, turning their huge stores of carbon into a carbon burden. Furthermore, as concentrated pollutants build up in wetlands, the accumulation of toxic metals is killing plants that act as their natural lid, allowing moisture to escape and speeding the conversion of more wetlands to tinderboxes. </p>
<p>Once ignited, peatland fires are difficult to contain as they can smoulder for weeks, months or even years. They produce copious amounts of smoke and ash, filling the air with microscopic particles.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A smoke filled peatland forest from smouldering fires lurking just below the surface." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534431/original/file-20230627-15-5b1mn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534431/original/file-20230627-15-5b1mn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534431/original/file-20230627-15-5b1mn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534431/original/file-20230627-15-5b1mn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534431/original/file-20230627-15-5b1mn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534431/original/file-20230627-15-5b1mn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534431/original/file-20230627-15-5b1mn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Peatland fires can smoulder underground for months re-emerging under the right conditions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Greg Verkaik)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Even without metal pollution, these airborne particles can cause severe illness and death. Making a bad situation worse, toxic metals once safely stored in wetlands bind to these airborne particles and spread everywhere.</p>
<h2>Restoring wetlands</h2>
<p>As with many global environmental issues, it is easy to feel helpless to control such a huge and complex problem. Fortunately, nature-based solutions can have a substantial positive impact on keeping this toxic legacy from being released. </p>
<p>We can restore drying or dried-out wetlands back to their original state as functional ecosystems through, at the most basic level, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126793">preventing them from draining down canals and other human infrastructure</a>. Indeed, even without further intervention, re-wetting wetlands can reduce their risk of wildfire ignition. However, restoration must be managed carefully, to avoid flushing toxic metals from wetlands into neighbouring streams, rivers and lakes. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/up-in-smoke-human-activities-are-fuelling-wildfires-that-burn-essential-carbon-sequestering-peatlands-202816">Up in smoke: Human activities are fuelling wildfires that burn essential carbon-sequestering peatlands</a>
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<p>To preserve wetland plants and return ecosystem functionality without releasing the stored toxic legacy, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126793">we need to bring back fire-resistant mosses such as <em>Sphagnum</em></a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2022.106874">Recent research shows that old-fashioned peat “transplants” may be effective</a>, though new restoration techniques in contaminated wetlands need to be further developed and tested. </p>
<p>Although ecosystem restoration can be costly in terms of time and money, actively restoring wetlands appears to be our best chance to defuse the ticking time-bomb that our pollution vaults have become. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acddfc">Preventing a pollution explosion demands urgent global research, investment and action</a>. The cost of doing nothing will certainly be much greater.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208345/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin McCarter receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Nipissing University, and the Canada Research Chair program. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Waddington receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Blazing Star Environmental, McMaster University, Ganawenim Meshkiki, and Henvey Inlet Wind LP.</span></em></p>Peatlands safely store hundreds to thousands of years’ worth of humanity’s toxic legacy but climate change and physical disturbances are putting these pollution vaults, and us, at risk.Colin McCarter, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Arts and Science, Nipissing UniversityMike Waddington, Professor, School of Earth, Environment & Society, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.