tag:theconversation.com,2011:/institutions/university-of-winnipeg-3096/articlesThe University of Winnipeg2024-03-27T20:52:22Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2236172024-03-27T20:52:22Z2024-03-27T20:52:22ZUpdated U.S. law still leaves Indigenous communities in Canada out of repatriations from museums<p>A new amendment to the United States’ <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/13/2023-27040/native-american-graves-protection-and-repatriation-act-systematic-processes-for-disposition-or">Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)</a> came into effect in January 2024. The amended law now has some teeth to penalize museums who have thus far been <a href="https://theconversation.com/museums-are-returning-indigenous-human-remains-but-progress-on-repatriating-objects-is-slow-67378">very slow to engage</a> with Indigenous communities. It puts pressure on them to create and share inventories of the remains and artifacts they hold.</p>
<p>NAGPRA regulates the repatriation of Native American human remains, funerary and sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony from federally funded agencies to lineal descendants, Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations. </p>
<p>Museums must now get prior and informed consent from Indigenous communities before displaying and studying cultural objects. They must also <a href="https://theconversation.com/kennewick-man-will-be-reburied-but-quandaries-around-human-remains-wont-59219">incorporate Native American traditional knowledge</a> in the storage, treatment and handling of remains and cultural items. The act now gives museums and other federal agencies five years to “<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/13/2023-27040/native-american-graves-protection-and-repatriation-act-systematic-processes-for-disposition-or">consult and update inventories of human remains and associated funerary objects</a>.”</p>
<p>NAGPRA is an important step in a long history of Indigenous Peoples’ struggle to govern their heritage. However, its authority stops at the U.S. border.</p>
<p>We are First Nations historians and professors working in Canada. Our communities are also impacted by the loss of cultural patrimony to museums in the U.S. and the laws covering repatriation. Mary Jane Logan McCallum is a member of the Munsee Delaware Nation and Susan M. Hill is a Haudenosaunee citizen and resident of the Grand River Territory.</p>
<p>The U.S. law provides Indigenous communities in lands claimed by Canada no legal or financial support to repatriate human remains, funerary and sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony held in U.S museums. These institutions <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/object-lives-and-global-histories-in-northern-north-america-products-9780228003984.php">hold many items</a> purchased or obtained by anthropologists and others from communities north of the border.</p>
<h2>NAGPRA</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.doi.gov/ocl/nagpra">NAGPRA became law in 1990</a>, after decades of lobbying from hundreds of Indigenous communities. The law states that museums and institutions receiving federal funding must produce detailed inventories of their collections and notify Native American tribes regarding items connected to their communities.</p>
<p>While those who called for the legislation were undoubtedly aware of the daunting task it would mandate, it is unlikely any would have predicted the extremely slow pace at which it has progressed in the three decades since.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, some museums have unilaterally decided to <a href="https://www.amnh.org/about/statement-new-nagpra-regulations">cover or close displays</a>. This is intended as a first step towards repatriation, however with ongoing limited resources, it is also a tactic to remain compliant with the law and avoid having funding cut.</p>
<p>The newly revised law still upholds inherent inequities in the relationships between Indigenous people and the agencies holding our materials. There is a lack of consistent and adequate funding for Indigenous communities wishing to repatriate items. There is also a lack of expert knowledge of the holdings of museums across the U.S. and human resources and infrastructure for long-term handling of repatriated objects. </p>
<p>In this context of ongoing inequity, museums can continue to hold Indigenous objects, but away from public view, and inadvertently create a narrative of history centred on white stories and white voices with little or no Indigenous content.</p>
<h2>Indigenous communities outside the U.S.</h2>
<p>For Indigenous communities outside of the U.S., the act does not compel museums and institutions to work in good faith to facilitate repatriations, regardless of how much evidence Indigenous communities are able to provide supporting the origins and sacredness of those items. </p>
<p>Indigenous communities in Canada are impacted by the law because these items are important to community-based research of material culture and its connection to intellectual, social and political histories of our nations.</p>
<p>Museums make platitudes about strong commitments to <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/article-as-museums-grapple-with-repatriation-a-cultural-historian-warns-of/">working with and educating about Indigenous Peoples and cultures</a>. However, they are still the ones choosing what gets displayed without consultation with Indigenous communities. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/repatriation-native-american-remains_n_64b97d77e4b0ad7b75f7dd15/amp">the burden is placed on tribes to make requests and pay for repatriation</a>.</p>
<p>As a result, the public loses important opportunities to learn about Indigenous Peoples and the colonial legacies that dispossessed them of the land upon which museums are built and the artifacts they house.</p>
<h2>Indigenous labour</h2>
<p>A further issue with NAGPRA is that it perpetuates an assumption that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7109072">Indigenous labour should be discounted or free</a> and reasserts the inequity faced by Indigenous people when dealing with government.</p>
<p>Small, piecemeal grants covering costs like transportation are available through NAGPRA, but are restricted to federally recognized tribes in the U.S. and Indigenous people are responsible for finding and applying for them.</p>
<p>In Canada, community-based Indigenous scholars can apply for federal funding from the <a href="https://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/index-eng.aspx">Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada</a>, however grant applications can be long and difficult, funds received are administered by universities and the grants often do not provide enough money.</p>
<p>Museums have full-time paid staff to make inventories and seek descendant individuals and communities. On the other hand, the Indigenous labour, knowledge and skill that goes into identifying and making meaning of lost cultural patrimony, often goes unpaid and unappreciated. </p>
<p>In addition, those doing this hard work <a href="https://histanthro.org/notes/decolonizing-or-recolonizing/">contend with the anti-Indigenous racism and white supremacy that dominate museums and other cultural institutions</a>. Some museums have prioritized hiring Indigenous staff, but they have not made structural changes that address ongoing systemic racism and colonialism nor made space for Indigenous people. As a result, several have left or <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/investigates/decolonizing-museums-museum-decolonization-part-2-investigations/">resigned in protest</a>. </p>
<p>In 2022, the <a href="https://museums.ca/uploaded/web/TRC_2022/Report-CMA-MovedToAction.pdf">Canadian Museums Association delivered a report</a> that acknowledged Indigenous cultural heritage professionals are often required to work for free or at a very low cost through one-off honorariums. It recommended that museums take on the legal and financial responsibility of new positions for those undertaking this work. We have yet to see this in practice. </p>
<p>The new U.S. regulations still do not address another form of theft from Indigenous people — this time not of Indigenous cultural patrimony, but of Indigenous labour. This should be considered by the <a href="https://osi-bis.ca/">Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools</a> as it considers a new federal legal framework that will govern the treatment of graves and burial sites.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223617/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>U.S. laws on the repatriation of Indigenous artifacts and remains still uphold inequities in the relationships between Indigenous people and the agencies holding their materials.Mary Jane Logan McCallum, Professor of History, University of WinnipegSusan M. Hill, Director of the Centre for Indigenous Studies; Associate Professor, Indigenous Studies and History, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2245952024-03-13T17:03:49Z2024-03-13T17:03:49ZBereavement policies need to be updated to better support employees affected by MAID<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580777/original/file-20240308-16-mvo5i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C30%2C6659%2C4436&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Current bereavement policies do not address the reality of employees with family members that have used, or are planning to use, medical assistance in dying (MAID) services.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine your elderly parent has just made the decision to use <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-services-benefits/medical-assistance-dying.html">medical assistance in dying (MAID) services</a>. Your parent, who has a terminal diagnosis and is suffering and in pain, made this choice after careful consideration, medical guidance and a heartfelt talk with family.</p>
<p>Your family members, who are spread across Canada, decide to gather a few days before MAID is performed — to visit, share stories, laugh and cry together, and say goodbyes. You want to be by your parent’s side, holding their hand, when the procedure is performed. There are plans for a funeral service two days after the procedure.</p>
<p>You call your employer to alert them that you need five days off due to an imminent death in the family. “I’m sorry,” your employer says. “Our official policy allows only three days of bereavement leave, please let us know which three days you will be absent.” </p>
<p>Which event would you be willing to miss? The goodbyes? The medical procedure itself? The funeral? And how much will it cost you emotionally to make that choice? </p>
<p>This is the situation many Canadians, including an Alberta HVAC technician named Arthur Newman (pseudonym), whom I interviewed for this story as part of ongoing research on the topic, currently find themselves in. </p>
<p>Most workplace bereavement policies were designed prior to MAID and very few employers have adjusted these policies in light of the new reality of living and dying in Canada.</p>
<h2>Bereavement policies in Canada</h2>
<p>Bereavement policies are <a href="https://www.benefitscanada.com/benefits/absence-management/a-look-at-current-provincial-policies-on-bereavement-leave/">inconsistent across Canada.</a> Federal employees are able to take up to <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/laws-regulations/labour/interpretations-policies/compassionate-care.html">10 days</a> off (not required to be consecutive), while the minimum legal requirements in <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/employment-standards-advice/employment-standards/forms-resources/igm/esa-part-6-section-53">British Columbia</a> and <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/bereavement-leave">Alberta</a> are only three days. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0/bereavement-leave">Ontario</a> it is only two days, although employers can voluntarily offer more. <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/caregiving.html">Compassionate care leave</a> is available, but that requires going through Employment Insurance and is intended for people acting as a primary caregiver for an extended period, rendering it impractical for short leaves.</p>
<p>In addition, some employers strongly encourage employees to take their bereavement days consecutively, limiting flexibility. This current approach assumes the leave only begins after a death has occurred and is inadequate when a family member is using MAID. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Close up of a pair of hands holding the hand of an older person with an oxygen saturation probe on their finger" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580765/original/file-20240308-26-89qkk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580765/original/file-20240308-26-89qkk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580765/original/file-20240308-26-89qkk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580765/original/file-20240308-26-89qkk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580765/original/file-20240308-26-89qkk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580765/original/file-20240308-26-89qkk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580765/original/file-20240308-26-89qkk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Being physically present for the procedure itself is also an important comfort for the person dying and their loved ones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the era of MAID, <a href="https://www.cfp.ca/content/64/9/e387.short">death rituals</a> that take place before someone passes away, like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/25/world/canada/euthanasia-bill-john-shields-death.html">living wakes</a> and other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2021.1876790">traditions</a>, are becoming increasingly common. If a family member wishes to fully participate in all the end-of-life rituals of a loved one, they will need more than two or three days of leave.</p>
<p>Being physically present for the procedure itself is also an important comfort for the person dying and their loved ones, both of whom <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/10497323231196827">psychologically benefit from a supportive and serene environment</a>. These new support needs and rituals generally supplement funerals, rather than replace them, which increases the overall time off that is required.</p>
<h2>Unintended complications</h2>
<p>Aside from death rituals and the MAID process itself, there are additional practical complications that can impact how many days of leave someone requires. For example, in Newman’s case, he travelled from Alberta to Ontario for his father’s MAID services. </p>
<p>After he arrived, his father decided to postpone his death a couple of weeks to address some unexpected legal complications related to his estate. Newman found himself in the impossible position of, having already taken a bereavement leave, being ineligible for another in the same year. </p>
<p>It was not an uncommon dilemma; the nurse practitioner scheduled to perform the service told him short postponements often happened due to things like estate management issues or parents giving their adult children more time to accept their decision. </p>
<p>Current bereavement policies do not address this reality. The outcome of that can be unintentionally cruel if employees are forced to choose between participating in death rituals (postponed or otherwise) or maintaining a positive relationship with their employer. </p>
<p>Some of these issues apply to non-MAID deaths as well. People with terminally ill loved ones who don’t choose MAID also want to be with them at the end, gather with loved ones, and have rituals, but the timing is even more difficult because they don’t have a specific death date.</p>
<h2>Supporting grieving employees</h2>
<p>Like most people who experience loss, employees who have a loved one going through MAID often require support <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733020921493">while they process a wide range of emotions</a>. They experience the usual emotions associated with grieving, including fear, anger, guilt, sadness and uncertainty. </p>
<p>In some cases, however, they also experience moral confusion or outrage if their personal or religious beliefs conflict with the practice of MAID. Family tension, arguing and alienation may emerge if some family members support the decision and others do not, heightening anxiety for everyone.</p>
<p>This creates significant stress. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08853134.1997.10754079">Work-family role conflict</a>, which is conflict experienced when our work roles interfere with our ability to meet family obligations, magnifies the negative impacts of stress. This can lead to emotional exhaustion, difficulties with empathy, the tendency to treat people like objects and diminished performance at work. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man with a tired, stressed look on his face, rests his head against his hand while sitting at a desk" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580778/original/file-20240308-22-rdjshw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580778/original/file-20240308-22-rdjshw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580778/original/file-20240308-22-rdjshw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580778/original/file-20240308-22-rdjshw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580778/original/file-20240308-22-rdjshw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580778/original/file-20240308-22-rdjshw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580778/original/file-20240308-22-rdjshw.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">Employees who have a loved one going through MAID require extra time and support to process their grief.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All of these outcomes are highly negative in the workplace. As such, it is beneficial for employers to minimize work-family conflict by providing compassionate and caring supports for all bereaved workers, including those whose family members use MAID. That could include an empathetic supervisor, provision of an employee assistance plan with free counselling or referrals to bereavement support groups. </p>
<p>It also includes allowing sufficient time for employees to help their loved ones die with dignity and celebrate the life that was lost — in rituals that occur both before and after MAID services. It is highly recommended that employers adjust bereavement policies to allow more time and flexibility. </p>
<p>The additional cost created is justified on moral and ethical grounds, but also on a direct cost basis. Employees who feel like they are treated fairly, with compassion, consistently <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/mux028">perform better than employees who feel their needs are being overlooked</a> or neglected. As such they are better able to do their work and contribute to profitable operations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224595/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Breward 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>Most workplace bereavement policies were designed prior to MAID and very few employers have adjusted these policies in light of the new reality of living and dying in Canada.Katherine Breward, Associate Professor, Business and Administration, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2223512024-02-12T19:23:13Z2024-02-12T19:23:13ZThe private sector housing experiment has failed: Ottawa must now step up on social housing<p>Politicians of all stripes say that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-poilievre-housing-election-1.6970389">housing affordability is a top priority</a>. But few are saying much about social housing — the kind that’s needed for low-income households in greatest need of affordable rental housing.</p>
<p>Social housing is non-market housing, either publicly owned or non-profit, and substantially subsidized to ensure low-income renter households pay no more than 30 per cent of their gross income on rent. Canada was committed to this kind of housing after the Great Depression, but <a href="https://publications.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/modules/prb99-1-homelessness/housing-e.htm">began to step away from it in the early 1990s.</a></p>
<p>With funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the <a href="https://www.moresocialhousing.ca/">Social Housing and Human Rights coalition</a> is bringing together researchers, advocates and people across Canada experiencing homelessness and housing precarity to raise public awareness about the causes and solutions to the lack of housing for low-income renters. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-housing-crisis-will-not-be-solved-by-building-more-of-the-same-175221">Canada’s housing crisis will not be solved by building more of the same</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Failed private sector experiment</h2>
<p>I am a researcher and member of the coalition organizing committee. We <a href="https://mra-mb.ca/wp-content/uploads/Social-Housing-and-Human-Rights-Conference-Primer-small.pdf">have synthesized research</a> that tells the story of a 30-plus year experiment, aligned with the rise of neoliberalism, to rely on the private sector to respond to all housing needs. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-exactly-is-neoliberalism-84755">What exactly is neoliberalism?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It hasn’t worked.</p>
<p>Our examination of housing policy in liberal democracies including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and throughout Europe leads us to conclude, as does the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), that <a href="https://www.oecd.org/social/social-housing-policy-brief-2020.pdf">“social housing is a key part of past and future housing policy.</a>”</p>
<p>We conclude that if we are to begin to make progress on an increasingly daunting challenge, the government of Canada will need to do two things:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Create a minimum of 50,000 new rent-geared-to-income social housing units each year for 10 years, starting now. These units should be targeted for the lowest income renter households and those experiencing homelessness, and should have rents permanently set at no more than 30 per cent of household income.</p></li>
<li><p>Invest now in the acquisition, construction, operation and maintenance of new and existing public, non-profit and co-operative-owned housing that meets the unique and varied requirements of low-income renters and people experiencing homelessness.</p></li>
</ol>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/housing-co-ops-could-solve-canadas-housing-affordability-crisis-181104">Housing co-ops could solve Canada's housing affordability crisis</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Just scratching the surface</h2>
<p>We recognize that adding 50,000 additional units annually is not nearly enough. Instead, we recommend this as a minimum, based on the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) projected <a href="https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professionals/housing-markets-data-and-research/housing-research/research-reports/accelerate-supply/housing-shortages-canada-updating-how-much-we-need-by-2030">need to expand overall supply by building 5.8 million homes</a> over the next decade. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.moresocialhousing.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/More-Social-Housing-Call-to-Action-backgrounder.pdf">We estimate</a> that because 33.5 per cent of households are renters, 194,300 of this supply should be rental. Since the <a href="https://chec-ccrl.ca/2021-census/">CMHC has found that approximately a quarter of renters are paying more than 30 per cent of income on rent, living in housing in poor repair or living in crowded conditions,</a> we believe a minimum of 48,575 (rounded up to 50,000) of new rental housing should be at rent-geared-to-income rates affordable to low-income renters. </p>
<p>This more than triples the target in the federal government’s <a href="https://www.placetocallhome.ca/">National Housing Strategy</a> and redirects the focus from modest affordability to deeply affordable. This amount is relatively consistent with <a href="https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/about/perspectives.articles.economy.2023-01-social-housing-scotiabank-report.html">calls to double the number of social housing units to more closely align with the OECD average</a>.</p>
<p>New social housing supply requires capital investments for construction so that new housing can be built, and for acquisition so existing properties can be purchased and repurposed or renovated as needed. </p>
<p>New and existing social housing supply also requires investments in ongoing subsidies to support the costs of operating the housing while charging rent-geared-to-income rents. It will require ongoing capital investments for the purpose of maintaining the quality of housing and preserving the stock. Operating costs may include services and programs that support tenants.</p>
<h2>Calls for change ignored</h2>
<p>Social Housing and Human Rights coalition members are now reaching out to MPs across the country to make the case that more social housing is needed. It’s a challenge. </p>
<p>Despite the evidence, some are quick to tell us they don’t believe social housing is needed and that governments should simply incentivize private sector developers and remove “red tape.”</p>
<p>But our research shows no evidence this will work. </p>
<p>Private-sector solutions were the focus of cost-shared federal/provincial/territorial initiatives beginning in 2001 through the <a href="https://scics.ca/en/product-produit/a-framework-to-guide-housing-initiatives-in-canada-by-the-provincial-and-territorial-pt-ministers-responsible-for-housing/">Affordable Housing Framework Agreement</a>. <a href="https://chec-ccrl.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Background-Primer-on-Canadas-Housing-system-APRIL-20-2021.pdf">But the emphasis on limited capital grants per unit resulted in modest development of units renting at 80 per cent of average market rents</a>, unaffordable to low-income households. Furthermore, agreements requiring rents be set at affordable rates for 15 years have now expired.</p>
<p>The shortage of truly affordable rental housing across Canada has only worsened because governments have not been willing to invest in social housing. Yes, it is expensive — at least in the short term — and it is getting more expensive each year. But as <a href="https://www.munifin.fi/whats-new/finnish-system-for-affordable-social-housing-supports-social-mixing-and-brings-down-homelessness/#:%7E:text=No%20family%20homelessness%20in%20Finland,are%20affordable%20social%20housing%20apartments.">demonstrated by Finland, a country that has remained committed to social housing investment</a>, it pays off in the long term. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A red brick apartment building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574492/original/file-20240208-20-rd3c9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574492/original/file-20240208-20-rd3c9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574492/original/file-20240208-20-rd3c9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574492/original/file-20240208-20-rd3c9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574492/original/file-20240208-20-rd3c9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574492/original/file-20240208-20-rd3c9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574492/original/file-20240208-20-rd3c9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An affordable housing complex in Espoo, Finland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Lessons from Finland</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/how-finland-managed-to-virtually-end-homelessness/article_bde7a0aa-5e51-5700-b272-6347ddf69f04.html">The Finns have tackled homelessness like no other country</a>. They know that without public investment in safe, stable housing, people are at higher risk of having poor mental and physical health, poor education outcomes, weaker labour market attachment and a host of other issues that governments must attend to. </p>
<p>There are many strategies needed simultaneously to address housing affordability. The expansion of social housing supply is one.</p>
<p>But calls are all too often ignored by governments turning to the private sector for low-cost quick fixes that continue to fail those in greatest need.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222351/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shauna MacKinnon receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council</span></em></p>There are many strategies needed simultaneously to address housing affordability in Canada. The expansion of social housing supply is a particularly effective one.Shauna MacKinnon, Professor and Chair, Department of Urban and Inner-City Studies, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2212892024-01-30T20:37:34Z2024-01-30T20:37:34ZFrom ancient Greece to now, the bravado of athletes transcends centuries<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571296/original/file-20240124-17-4eykqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=189%2C0%2C3327%2C2059&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ancient bas-relief on grave stele in Kerameikos in Athens, Greece depicting two wrestlers in action.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</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/from-ancient-greece-to-now-the-bravado-of-athletes-transcends-centuries" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>“I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was. I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I was really the greatest.” This <a href="https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/15930888/muhammad-ali-10-best-quotes">quote from Muhammad Ali</a> summarizes his legendary wit. But it also indicates the self-confidence and attitude that characterizes so many athletes.</p>
<p>Since the beginning of sport media coverage on radio and television, and now with <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CwcjaSGArUq/?img_index=1">social media</a> providing intimate access to athletes, it has been clear that boasts, attitudes and confidence are part of the athlete persona. These attitudes, however, are nothing new. </p>
<p>Sport as it is practised around the globe has its origins in a <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/sport-9781350140202/">partially real and partially imaginary ancient Greece</a>. Similarly, the literary and documentary records from antiquity show that the attitudes of athletes are not a new phenomenon.</p>
<p>Ancient Greek athletes, however, faced a challenge unlike modern athletes. Without the internet, television, radio or any widespread means of communication, athletes had to struggle to make their success known and easily communicated to a broad public. </p>
<h2>Songs of victory</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571330/original/file-20240125-23-jhtqbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A white sculpture of a naked young man with a strip of cloth held in his left hand. The right arm is broken at the wrist." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571330/original/file-20240125-23-jhtqbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571330/original/file-20240125-23-jhtqbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571330/original/file-20240125-23-jhtqbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571330/original/file-20240125-23-jhtqbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571330/original/file-20240125-23-jhtqbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571330/original/file-20240125-23-jhtqbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571330/original/file-20240125-23-jhtqbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fragments of a marble statue of the Diadoumenos (a youth tying a fillet around his head after victory in an athletic contest).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(The Metropolitan Museum of Art)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unlike today’s elite athletes, athletes in antiquity were far less interested in highlighting sporting prowess. Athletic boasts <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-5370.12068">rarely focused on how quickly someone ran</a>, how easily they defeated an opponent in wrestling or how far they threw the discus. </p>
<p>Rather, athletes modified <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/in-praise-of-greek-athletes/605B9251CD2411DF810486AAF10A033F">the proclamation of victory</a> — an announcement made by a herald at athletic games, like the Olympics, that actually made them the victor. This proclamation is akin to the contemporary medal ceremony, but with more ritual and religious authority. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.academia.edu/1874218/_The_Heralds_and_the_Games_in_Archaic_and_Classical_Greece_Nikephoros_15_2002_69_97">The proclamation contained everything necessary to celebrate an athlete</a>: his name, father’s name, city of origin and the event in which he was successful. </p>
<p>The proclamation is referred to time and time again in the epinikian poetry of Pindar, an Ancient Greek poet from Thebes. Epinikian poetry consists of songs composed for a victory, as the word “epinikian,” which translates to “upon a victory,” indicates.</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DN.%3Apoem%3D5">opening of Pindar’s Nemean 5</a>, composed for an athlete named Pytheas, the herald’s proclamation is nearly repeated. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Sweet song, go on every merchant-ship and rowboat that leaves Aegina, and announce that Lampon’s powerful son Pytheas won the victory garland for the <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/ancient-olympic-games/pankration">pancratium</a> at the Nemean games, a boy whose cheeks do not yet show the tender season that is mother to the dark blossom.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is a relatively simple representation of the herald. Still, the conceit of the song — that this message will go forth everywhere by means of word-of-mouth on ships — shows the determination of athletes to make their accomplishments known. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D8">Olympian 8</a>, Pindar’s song claims the authority that comes from a supposed eye witness. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“He was beautiful to look at, and his deeds did not belie his beauty when by his victory in wrestling he had Aegina with her long oars proclaimed as his fatherland.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Ancient Greek epigrams</h2>
<p>It’s not only in epinikian song that boasts and accomplishments appear. Dozens of epigrams (poems inscribed on stone) remain from ancient Greece. Many of these leverage the proclamation, and many claim special success. </p>
<p>One simple example is that of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110863543">Drymos</a>, who won a running event at the Olympics in the early fourth century BC and erected a statue with an inscribed poem. “Drymos, son of Theodoros, proclaimed here, on that very day, / an Olympic contest, running into the famous grove of the god, / an example of manliness; equine Argos is my homeland.”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571341/original/file-20240125-23-hm34m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A weathered piece of stone with ancient Greek inscribed on the surface" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571341/original/file-20240125-23-hm34m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571341/original/file-20240125-23-hm34m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571341/original/file-20240125-23-hm34m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571341/original/file-20240125-23-hm34m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571341/original/file-20240125-23-hm34m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571341/original/file-20240125-23-hm34m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571341/original/file-20240125-23-hm34m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A statue base from ancient Olympia inscribed with an epigram in honour of the victory of Kyniska of Sparta in the four-horse chariot race of 396 BC.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Peter J. Miller)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Still, these seemingly simple poems often include much more. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110863543">Kyniska of Sparta’s epigram</a>, one of the only epigrams for a victory by a woman in this period, is a good example. “Spartan kings are my fathers and brothers, / but, victorious with a chariot of swift-footed horses, / Kyniska set up this statue. And I declare that I alone / of women from all of Greece seized this crown.”</p>
<p>Kyniska’s epigram focuses on her and her singular achievement. Its boast is unique, but the rhetoric is not. It points to the ways in which ancient athletes established records and competed with their counterparts.</p>
<h2>We’re not so different</h2>
<p>Rather than counting statistical achievements, ancient athletic records tend to be of the type <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474469920-023">“the first with the most.”</a> Perhaps most telling is the massive inscription and poem celebrating the career of the most successful athlete from antiquity, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110863543">Theogenes of Thasos</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571343/original/file-20240125-15-qpq0ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An ancient Greek vase depicting five men, drawn in black ink, running against a terracotta background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571343/original/file-20240125-15-qpq0ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571343/original/file-20240125-15-qpq0ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571343/original/file-20240125-15-qpq0ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571343/original/file-20240125-15-qpq0ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571343/original/file-20240125-15-qpq0ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571343/original/file-20240125-15-qpq0ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571343/original/file-20240125-15-qpq0ml.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">A terracotta Panathenaic prize amphora from 530 BC.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(The Metropolitan Museum of Art)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This poem builds from the proclamation to claim his incredible supremacy by winning boxing and pancration at Olympia, something “no one” had done before. He also won three victories at the Pythian Games without competition (that is, his prospective opponents chose not to bother), something “no other mortal man” had done. Last, he won two crowns at the Isthmian Games on the same day. </p>
<p>All of these accomplishments were memorialized in poetry and inscribed on stone, along with a massive catalogue of his victories across a 20-year athletic career.</p>
<p>So, as the world prepares for another Olympic year, with television networks focusing on competition between athletes, and as the social media profiles of athletes themselves turn to vaunts, boasts and rivalry, we can reflect on the notion that athletics and athletes seem intrinsically connected to these attitudes. </p>
<p>There are, it seems, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/gutt13340">vanishingly few continuities between the sports cultures of classical antiquity and those of today</a>. Nonetheless, the attitudes of ancient and modern athletes remain, at their core, so very similar, despite massive change over millenia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter J. Miller receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>Without the internet, television, radio or any widespread means of communication, ancient Greek athletes had to struggle to make their success known and easily communicated to a broad public.Peter J. Miller, Associate Professor of Classics, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2221272024-01-29T13:09:18Z2024-01-29T13:09:18ZNeglected tropical diseases persist in the world’s poorest places: four reads about hurdles and progress<p>It’s sobering to reflect that “neglected tropical diseases” are referred to as “neglected” because they persist in the poorest, most marginalised communities even after being wiped out in more developed parts of the world.</p>
<p>A variety of pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi and toxins, cause neglected tropical diseases, which include dengue, chikungunya, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis and yaws.</p>
<p>They inflict tremendous suffering because of their disfiguring, debilitating and sometimes deadly impact. Patients often experience stigma, social exclusion and superstition. </p>
<p>The good news is that there is reason for hope as some African countries have made significant progress in eradicating these diseases. </p>
<p>We have put together some essential reads from The Conversation Africa over the past year highlighting a scourge that still affects more than <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/neglected-tropical-diseases#:%7E:text=It%20is%20estimated%20that%20NTDs,often%20related%20to%20environmental%20conditions.">1 billion people </a> today. </p>
<h2>Patients’ beliefs about illness matter</h2>
<p>Would you take medication for an illness you didn’t believe you had? Or if you disagreed with healthcare workers about the cause of your condition?</p>
<p>This is the dilemma of many people who live in rural areas of Ghana where a mosquito-borne disease called lymphatic filariasis, often referred to as elephantiasis, continues to spread. Researchers found that only 18% of respondents understood lymphatic filariasis as a disease. Fewer than 7% believed it to be a disease spread by mosquitoes.</p>
<p>Instead, people held a range of alternative beliefs attributing the condition to spiritual causes (curses, witchcraft, evil spirits), cold or rainy weather, and other illnesses.</p>
<p>The team of experts, that carried out the research, suggest that understanding patients’ belief systems would help healthcare workers treat patients more effectively. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/patients-beliefs-about-illness-matter-the-case-of-elephantiasis-in-rural-ghana-216838">Patients' beliefs about illness matter: the case of elephantiasis in rural Ghana</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>100 million Nigerians are at risk</h2>
<p>A quarter of the people affected by neglected tropical diseases in Africa live in Nigeria. An estimated 100 million Nigerians are at risk for at least one of these diseases and there are several million cases of people being infected with more than one of them.</p>
<p>There has been progress, writes Uwem Friday Ekpo. By January 2023 the country had eradicated Guinea worm disease and two states had eliminated onchocerciasis. </p>
<p>One of the interventions was door-to-door visits by volunteers to administer medicines. Teachers also played a similar role when medicines were distributed in schools. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/100-million-nigerians-are-at-risk-of-neglected-tropical-diseases-what-the-country-is-doing-about-it-198320">100 million Nigerians are at risk of neglected tropical diseases: what the country is doing about it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Leprosy, scabies and yaws: Togo’s neglected skin diseases</h2>
<p>Skin conditions caused by some bacteria, viruses, mosquitoes or mites are common neglected tropical diseases. </p>
<p>Research in schools and rural areas in Togo, west Africa, found a large number of these infections including scabies, leprosy, yaws and Buruli ulcer.</p>
<p>These are stigmatised and can be difficult to diagnose. There are typically few, if any, dermatologists in areas where they are common. Children with these diseases often refuse to go to school. </p>
<p>Michael Head, Bayaki Saka and Palokinam Pitche suggest authorities make the treatment of these diseases free of charge. Health promotion and education are also critical.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/leprosy-scabies-and-yaws-togos-neglected-tropical-skin-diseases-need-attention-201301">Leprosy, scabies and yaws - Togo's neglected tropical skin diseases need attention</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Reasons for hope</h2>
<p>Togo did have reason to celebrate though. In 2022 it became the first country in the world to have eliminated four neglected tropical diseases. The country stamped out Guinea worm disease in 2011, lymphatic filariasis in 2017, sleeping sickness in 2020 and trachoma in 2022.</p>
<p>It achieved its milestone through a combination of measures. These included door-to-door mass drug administration, training of healthcare staff, sustained financing and strong political support.</p>
<p>Other African countries also made significant progress in tackling neglected tropical diseases in 2022. Benin, Rwanda and Uganda managed to eliminate sleeping sickness. Malawi eliminated trachoma and the Democratic Republic of Congo eliminated Guinea worm disease.</p>
<p>But the global health community and African governments cannot rest on their laurels. There is still a long way to go, writes Monique Wasunna. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/eliminating-neglected-diseases-in-africa-there-are-good-reasons-for-hope-198543">Eliminating neglected diseases in Africa: there are good reasons for hope</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222127/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Neglected tropical diseases are often associated with social exclusion as well as physical suffering. One billion people around the world suffer from these diseases.Nadine Dreyer, Health & Medicine EditorLicensed 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/2168382023-11-22T14:35:36Z2023-11-22T14:35:36ZPatients’ beliefs about illness matter: the case of elephantiasis in rural Ghana<p>Would you take medication for an illness you didn’t believe you had? Or if you disagreed with healthcare workers about the cause of your condition? </p>
<p>This is the dilemma of many people who live in areas of Ghana where a mosquito-borne disease called <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lymphatic-filariasis#:%7E:text=Lymphatic%20filariasis%2C%20commonly%20known%20as,damage%20to%20the%20lymphatic%20system">lymphatic filariasis</a>, often referred to as elephantiasis, continues to spread. </p>
<p>Lymphatic filariasis, or LF as it is commonly known, is a neglected tropical disease which spreads through repeated bites by parasite-carrying mosquitoes. This infection results in the painful and debilitating swelling of legs, arms and genitals, and increases vulnerability to injury and secondary infections. </p>
<p>Although little known, lymphatic filariasis is a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3246437">significant</a>
and <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(20)30323-5/fulltext">under-addressed</a> global cause of disability. According to the World Health Organization at least<a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lymphatic-filariasis"> 51 million</a> people are infected with lymphatic filariasis. </p>
<p>The World Health Organization’s <a href="https://www.who.int/teams/control-of-neglected-tropical-diseases/lymphatic-filariasis/global-programme-to-eliminate-lymphatic-filariasis">Global Programme for Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis</a> has greatly reduced the burden of the disease through preventive mass drug campaigns, mosquito control, veterinary public health and sanitation and hygiene measures.</p>
<p>Despite this concerted effort, however, lymphatic filariasis continues to be endemic and require mass drug administration in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/inthealth/article/13/Supplement_1/S22/6043665">31</a> African countries. The challenges to eradicating it are not well understood, and may hinge on better understanding how people with this disease view their condition. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-its-hard-to-end-elephantiasis-a-debilitating-disease-spread-by-mosquitoes-166627">Why it's hard to end elephantiasis, a debilitating disease spread by mosquitoes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Our research team brings together specialists in epidemiology, public health and human rights. In our recently published paper in <a href="https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0002476">PLOS Global Public Health</a> we take a different approach to the conventional medical focus that dominates research and interventions for this disease. </p>
<p>We examined the local perceptions and beliefs about the disease
and the personal experiences of those living with it in three rural communities in Ghana’s Ahanta West district. This coastal district in Ghana’s Western Region has a high rate of lymphatic filariasis infection and many people living with advanced stages of the disease. </p>
<p>Members of our research team had worked in this area for more than a decade, establishing the trust relationships that made this research possible.</p>
<p>Our findings may help provide insight into why lymphatic filariasis persists in certain settings and how best to tackle it.</p>
<h2>Cold, rain and curses</h2>
<p>We found that only <a href="https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0002476">18%</a> of respondents understood lymphatic filariasis as a disease. Fewer than 7% believed it to be a disease spread by mosquitoes. </p>
<p>Instead, people held a range of alternative beliefs attributing the condition to other sources, including spiritual causes (curses, witchcraft, evil spirits), cold or rainy weather, and other illnesses. In subsequent interviews, people described how, from their perspective, they encountered the disease. </p>
<p>One person explained, “When you are cold, then your leg gets swollen.” </p>
<p>Another noted, “There are some who just get jealous of and develop hatred for people for just walking and going about their normal duties and decide that they do not want this person or that person to progress, hence they buy the disease for them spiritually.” They added, “I strongly believe and have the conviction that someone bought mine for me spiritually.”</p>
<p>In contrast with these beliefs, which show very limited overlap with medical explanations, nearly half (<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6709921">45.8%</a>) of respondents reported receiving information about the disease from healthcare workers or drug campaigns. </p>
<p>These findings suggest we need to learn more about local beliefs in health and wellbeing in order to achieve more effective communication with patients. </p>
<p>Our research also demonstrates lymphatic filariasis is not only a medical condition, but also a social and economic one. </p>
<h2>Ashamed and stigmatised</h2>
<p>Almost <a href="https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0002476">80%</a> of respondents reported feeling ashamed or stigmatised by their condition. Some said it restricted their social lives and their willingness to go out in public. </p>
<p>Infection also limited the ability to earn a living. More than a third (<a href="https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0002476">36.2%</a>) said they could no longer work due to their condition. Many reported a need to depend on others for financial support. </p>
<p>Among those surveyed less than 3% reported that they were “doing well”. </p>
<p>These findings show an urgent need to address the unmet social, mental health and economic impacts of lymphatic filariasis.</p>
<h2>What needs to be done</h2>
<p>Drug campaigns are important but cannot be done in isolation. Existing research shows us that these <a href="https://academic.oup.com/inthealth/article/13/Supplement_1/S55/6043672">are more successful when offered in a broader context of care</a>. </p>
<p>Healthcare workers must be trained to avoid stigmatising patients. But eliminating stigma is not a simple task, nor can it be left to healthcare workers alone.</p>
<p>Further research is needed to better understand local beliefs about lymphatic filariasis, and to understand how stigma affects patients’ access to treatment and quality of life. This must include the strong links between the disease and poverty. </p>
<p>Lymphatic filariasis follows <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-IER-CSDH-08.1">the “social gradient”</a>. Those who are poorest are most likely to be affected. Factors associated with poverty increase the chances of being infected and of developing complications. These factors include poor quality housing, limited access to methods of prevention (mosquito nets, good quality footwear), difficulty getting medical care, living in remote rural communities, and working as subsistence farmers.</p>
<p>The disease also pushes poor people <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-021-10170-8">further into poverty</a> as it progresses.</p>
<p>As the number of people affected by it decreases, those who are left behind are more and more likely to be isolated, marginalised, stigmatised and impoverished. </p>
<p>As we argue in a <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003207672-15/examining-research-positionality-understanding-self-first-step-transnational-research-colleen-mcmillan-alexander-kwarteng-kristi-kenyon-mary-asirifi">recent book chapter</a>, these factors underscore the need for interdisciplinary research teams who are able to address lymphatic filariasis holistically. We need an approach that merges healthcare, health promotion, health systems, spiritual beliefs, social and cultural context, gender dynamics and economic impact. </p>
<p>We must put people with lymphatic filariasis – and their dignity – at the centre of research.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216838/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristi Heather Kenyon receives funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Kwarteng receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Colleen McMillan receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Asirifi works for MacEwan University. She receives funding from CIHR. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Regiane Garcia receives funding from Canadian Health Institutes Research</span></em></p>In rural Ghana, only 18% of patients believe elephantiasis is a disease. Some others think it is caused by curses or even rain. Only by understanding local beliefs can it be treated effectively.Kristi Heather Kenyon, Associate Professor, Human Rights, University of WinnipegAlexander Kwarteng, Senior Lecturer in Immunology of Infectious Diseases, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)Colleen McMillan, Scientific Co-Director and Associate Professor, University of WaterlooMary Asirifi, Assistant Professor, Department of Nursing Foundations, MacEwan UniversityRegiane Garcia, Research Associate, focus on health rights, laws and policies, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2161382023-11-07T18:02:45Z2023-11-07T18:02:45ZSeeing histories of forced First Nations labour: the ‘Nii Ndahlohke / I Work’ art exhibition<p>How do we learn and teach about First Nations labour in ways that connect to local economies and Canadian history education? </p>
<p>In a new exhibition, <a href="https://artwindsoressex.ca/exhibitions/nii-ndahlohke-i-work/"><em>Nii Ndahlohke / I Work</em></a>, at Art Windsor Essex, labour is the central theme for understanding the history and legacies of <a href="https://collections.irshdc.ubc.ca/index.php/Detail/entities/65">Mount Elgin Industrial School</a>, an Indian Residential School in southwestern Ontario. </p>
<p>The exhibition brings together artists from the communities whose children attended this institution, and it runs until June 24, 2024. It emerged from the Munsee Delaware Language and History Group, a community-based language and history learning project.</p>
<p>The group has worked together for many years to study and teach Munsee language and history, and supports research and teaching about Munsee people, communities, languages and territories.</p>
<h2>Manual labour demands</h2>
<p>Mount Elgin was located at Chippewas of the Thames First Nation in southwestern Ontario. Like <a href="https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/a-national-crime">other Industrial Schools of its era</a>, Mount Elgin was an underfunded religious federal boarding school and a model farm that was expected to generate income to pay for itself. </p>
<p>Students at the school were expected to work at the institute as much as they were expected to attend class. </p>
<p>Their labour was invisible within the school budget. However, the Indian department was aware that Mount Elgin students were not given progressive training in skilled trades and that manual labour demands on students kept them out of the classroom and therefore compromised their education.</p>
<h2>Farm labour, domestic service</h2>
<p>Manual labour prepared students for limited work opportunities: farm labour for boys and men, and domestic service for girls and women. </p>
<p>These jobs supported the <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315772288-14/would-like-girls-home-mary-jane-logan-mccallum">surrounding rural and urban settler economies</a> at a time when First Nations were pressured to lease and even surrender reserve land to area farmers to round out meagre incomes. </p>
<p>Significantly, forced labour was a key issue in student resistance at Mount Elgin including running away, setting fires and attempting to ruin farm equipment. It was also a key issue in parents’ letters of complaints to the department and band attempts to intervene in federal schooling. </p>
<p>Hard labour also impacted the children’s health, and poor diet and stress compounded to accelerate the spread and deadliness of diseases like tuberculosis. </p>
<h2>Labour as central theme</h2>
<p><a href="https://artwindsoressex.ca/exhibitions/nii-ndahlohke-i-work/"><em>Nii Ndahloke / I Work</em></a>, addresses histories of student labour at Mount Elgin but also its larger impact on reserve and settler economies of southwestern Ontario in the era. </p>
<p>The show also addresses histories of gendered experiences of Indian education, racism, student illness, intergenerational collaboration and the preservation of different forms of labour and the stories and metaphors that accompany them. </p>
<p>The majority of artists are from First Nations communities in southern Ontario.
Artists featured in the exhibit are: Kaia’tanoron Dumoulin Bush, Jessica Rachel Cook, Nancy Deleary, Gig Fisher, Vanessa Dion Fletcher, Judy McCallum, Donna Noah, Mo Thunder and Meg Tucker. </p>
<p>Each of the artists were given three sources in common to inspire their work: a silent film about Mount Elgin entitled <em>The Church in Action in an Indian Residential School</em> (1943) produced by the United Church of Canada to promote its Home Missions work; a basic timeline of the school; and a physical and audio copy of the 2022 book <a href="https://www.niindahlohke.ca/"><em>Nii Ndahlohke: Boys’ and Girls’ Work at Mount Elgin Industrial School, 1890-1915</em></a>. This book is the result of a project developed by the Munsee Delaware Language and History Group. </p>
<h2>Artists’ own histories</h2>
<p>The artists’ resulting works range widely and meaningfully address the artist’s own histories. </p>
<p>The exhibit presents the film in a separate room, with hand-sketched images of student uniforms and replica student graffiti from the walls of the last remaining Mount Elgin building, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qpZj2UsDNE">the barn</a>.</p>
<p>As part of the exhibition design, a red line along the wall follows visitors around the exhibit. This line represents a story told to Julie, one of the authors of this story, by our relative Norma Richter, about sewing the red piping featured on the yoke of girls’ uniforms at the school she attended in the 1930s and 40s – one of the only half-interesting things she remembered doing in her years at the school.</p>
<p>It also commemorates Norma’s refusal of work, and the two times she ran away from the school. The representation of the red line grounds the exhibit in family and community history. </p>
<h2>Community-based approach</h2>
<p>The exhibition reflects a different approach to both history and curation. </p>
<p>As well as being a source for this exhibit, <em>Nii Ndahlohke / I Work</em> was created for an audience of local students and for use in the Ontario history curriculum, <a href="https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/social-studies-history-geography-2018.pdf">which, in Grade 8, covers the period 1890 to 1914</a>. </p>
<p>The book is split into two sections, one on boys’ work and one on girls’ work. It also features Munsee language and Munsee artwork highlighting certain sections or themes. </p>
<p>The exhibit amplifies and starkly interprets the history of student labour at Mount Elgin. </p>
<p>We hope people will leave with is a better understanding of the residential school system in Canada as a shared history.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216138/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Jane Logan McCallum receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and The Social Science Research Council of Canada, Heritage Canada, Ontario Arts Council. She is affiliated with the Munsee Delaware Language and History Group. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Rae Tucker receives funding from the Social Science Research Council of Canada and the Ontario Arts Council. She is affiliated with Art Windsor Essex and the Munsee Delaware History and Language group</span></em></p>Labour is the central theme for understanding history and legacies of Mount Elgin Industrial School, a former Indian Residential School, in a new exhibition at Art Windsor Essex.Mary Jane Logan McCallum, Professor of History, University of WinnipegJulie Rae Tucker, Head of Programs and Projects at Art Windsor Essex and Munsee Delaware History and Language group memberLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2101792023-10-26T21:10:13Z2023-10-26T21:10:13Z‘The Undead Archive’ exhibit: Contemporary artists respond to 1920s photos of mediums manifesting spirits<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/the-undead-archive-exhibit-contemporary-artists-respond-to-1920s-photos-of-mediums-manifesting-spirits" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In July 1923, the British author <a href="http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/25/doyleinwinnipeg.shtml">Arthur Conan Doyle arrived in Winnipeg to give a public lecture, “The Proofs of Immortality</a>,” as part of a 40-city North American tour that attracted sizable audiences. </p>
<p>Doyle, widely known today as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arthur-Conan-Doyle">writer who created Sherlock Holmes</a>, was also <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/spiritualism-religion">a spiritualist</a> — part of circles of people who adhered to and investigated the religious belief that souls of the dead can interact with living people. </p>
<p>On Doyle’s first night in Winnipeg, <a href="https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/8405/#">he and his wife Jean Leckie Doyle were invited to sit in on</a> an investigative seance led <a href="https://survivalresearch.ca/t-glen-hamilton">by physician Thomas Glendenning Hamilton</a> and his wife and collaborator Lillian Hamilton, a trained nurse. </p>
<p>In Dr. Hamilton’s darkened seance chamber, as Doyle would later write, he <a href="https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/Our_Second_American_Adventure">experienced a luminous table fly into the air</a>. </p>
<p>Hamilton’s legacy includes an uncanny trove of pseudo-scientific photographs related to his investigations of paranormal materializations. No longer accepted as scientific, they are better analyzed as art.</p>
<p>A new scholarly <a href="https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/the-art-of-ectoplasm">collection of essays</a> and an art exhibit, <a href="https://umanitoba.ca/art/undead-archive"><em>The Undead Archive: 100 Years of Photographing Ghosts</em></a>, at the University of Winnipeg use an art historical lens to contextualize these uncanny photographs as visual culture.</p>
<h2>The ‘psychic force’</h2>
<p>Doyle recounted how the table clattered again and again entirely on its own, with no sitter touching it. One moment, it was quiet. Then: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/Our_Second_American_Adventure">A moment later it was like a restless dog in a kennel, springing, tossing, beating up against the supports and finally bounding out with a velocity which caused me to get quickly out of the way</a>.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Hamiltons and the Doyles agreed the table was moved by <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/10719/1412050">an invisible force, the psychic force</a>, and that it was a message from a discarnate (disembodied) personality who survived death. </p>
<p>Psychic force, as some scientists believed, would extrude from the body of the medium and manifest as a organic plasm <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/ectoplasm-occultism">known as ectoplasm</a>, through which spirits could communicate. </p>
<p>Doyle kept abreast of the Hamiltons’ research. According to the Hamiltons and Jean Leckie Doyle, he even manifested as a “transcendental personality,” two years after he died, <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/10719/1411171">materializing in the fluffy ectoplasm in a photograph Hamilton took in 1932</a>.</p>
<h2>Expression of bereavement</h2>
<p>It was not uncommon after the losses of the First World War and the 1919 influenza pandemic for North Americans to participate in seances and dabble in spiritualism as an expression of bereavement, as <a href="https://centreforsensorystudies.org/felicity-t-c-hamer/">historians Felicity Hamer</a> <a href="https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/the-art-of-ectoplasm">and Esyllt Jones have outlined</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/spirit-photography-captured-love-loss-and-longing-169239">Spirit photography captured love, loss and longing</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Interestingly, Hamilton rejected the popular religion of spiritualism, critiquing it as a cult. He presented his investigations as scientific, and stressed his mastery of photographic technology.</p>
<p>From 1923 to 1935, with an elaborate set of cameras and lenses, Hamilton set out to capture the “psychic force” on glass plates in his laboratory.</p>
<p>He published hundreds of photographs of tables turning and ectoplasmic extrusions of cellular plasm from the body of the female mediums.</p>
<p>It was tricky to photograph the light-sensitive ectoplasm, and Hamilton’s cropped shots of the mediums surrounded by organically shaped material increased <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/10719/1410987">his status as a researcher</a>. </p>
<h2>Inspired ‘Ghostbusters’</h2>
<p>Hamilton’s images were exhibited and widely distributed. They were also <a href="https://courtauld.ac.uk/whats-on/science-in-the-seance-room-stereographs-medical-men-and-the-testing-of-margery-crandons-extraordinary-body-c-1925">praised by researchers, including two researchers who got into a famous public</a> argument <a href="https://collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/396129/houdini-presents-his-own-original-invention">with the magician Houdini</a> after claiming to debunk his magic, and Samuel Aykroyd, actor Dan Aykroyd’s great-grandfather. The younger Aykroyd’s <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/television/article-dan-aykroyd-on-his-family-history-in-the-occult-and-why-he-wanted-to/">1984 blockbuster <em>Ghostbusters</em> brought ectoplasm into popular culture</a>.</p>
<p>Between the world wars, some scientists were open to the notion of
invisible forces (also known as the psychic force, or the vital force) and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137027252_6">they relied on outdated scientific theories, including “the etheric universe” and “vitalism” to support their research</a>. </p>
<p>Hamilton’s images had a second wave of international recognition after they were digitized in 2001 at the University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections and were discovered online by artists intrigued by the grotesque aesthetics of the bodily excretions. </p>
<h2>‘Undead Archive’ exhibit</h2>
<p>Hamilton was aware of the abject nature of his photos and described them as “monstrously extraordinary.” </p>
<p>But he also saw <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003045595-7/visualizations-vital-psychic-force-serena-keshavjee">ectoplasm as a vital moulding material able to create endless forms and shapes</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://umanitoba.ca/art/undead-archive">exhibit, <em>The Undead Archive: 100 Years of Photographing Ghosts</em></a>, at the University of Winnipeg’s Gallery 1C03, and the University of Manitoba’s School of Art and Archives and Special Collections, similarly focuses on artistic interpretations of this mysterious substance.</p>
<p>The exhibition, which I curated, features 25 contemporary artists responding to ectoplasm and the Hamilton photographs. Works include stop-motion videos of ectoplasm morphing into recognizable shapes, one by <a href="https://www.shannontaggart.com/">Shannon Taggart</a> and one by <a href="https://www.graceanagle.co.uk">Grace Williams</a>. Williams animated an old photo of ectoplasm being expelled, while Taggart stitched together still shots of a contemporary medium (Kai Muegge) extruding ectoplasm in 2018. </p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/407233870" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Spiritual Ectoplasm’ (2011) by Grace Williams.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hamilton was never able to film ectoplasm because of the low light conditions of the seance chamber, and so these videos give us the opportunity to sense the theatrics and the intrigue of the early 20th-century seance.</p>
<h2>Unseen, suppressed spiritual work</h2>
<p>Some artists put themselves in the role of the mediums, mimicking the body language of the trance state. <a href="https://www.erikadefreitas.com/">Erika DeFreitas</a> uses crocheted doilies instead of ectoplasm, calling attention to unseen labour mediums carried out to support psychical researchers.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.kcadams.net/">KC Adams, an Anishinaabe, Ininew and British artist living in Manitoba</a> researched and created a virtual reality artwork for the exhibition that <a href="https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/iid/aid/identifiers.pdf">examines Ininew</a> burial rituals supressed <a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/en-ca/resource-library/banning-indigenous-culture#">suppressed under the Indian Act</a>.</p>
<h2>Pandemics and forgetting</h2>
<p>In <em>The Art of Ectoplasm</em>, Jones writes that it was only in March 2020, with COVID-19, that our society thought about <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/influenza-pandemic-of-1918-1919">the 1918-19 influenza pandemic</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-scream-has-gone-viral-again-136661">Why ‘The Scream’ has gone viral again</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In <em>Contagion</em>, Teresa Burrows creates a shrine-like installation of <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/corporate/organizational-structure/canada-chief-public-health-officer.html">Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer</a> using a uses a rapid antigen test to frame this. </p>
<p>In Burrows’ image, Tam looks upwards, as if in a trance, and is surrounded by green beads imitating the COVID-19 virus. In the early days of the pandemic, Dr. Tam was constantly on national TV and social media, like a diviner laying out warnings. </p>
<h2>Winnipeg as ‘psychic centre’</h2>
<p>One hundred years ago, as Winnipeggers were coming out of the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, Doyle offered what seemed to be evidence of life continuing after death. </p>
<p>After siting with the Hamiltons in their seance laboratory, in a July 5 1923 letter to Lillian Hamilton, Doyle described Winnipeg as a “psychic centre,” in many ways divining Winnipeg’s loss of status as “<a href="https://manitobamuseum.ca/archives/15742">Chicago of the North</a>,” offering an alternative moniker. </p>
<p>The idea of Winnipeg as a supernatural place has been taken up by artists and authors, exemplified by filmmaker <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU1sjdTPdvM">Guy Maddin’s <em>My Winnipeg</em></a>, as well as the exhibition art, much of it created during COVID-19 lockdowns. </p>
<p>As we emerge from our pandemic, it is interesting to think back on Hamilton’s post-pandemic experimental seances and wonder: What form might our grieving take?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210179/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Serena Keshavjee receives funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p>An art exhibit, ‘The Undead Archive: 100 Years of Photographing Ghosts,’ sees contemporary artists contextualize uncanny photographs taken between the World Wars in Winnipeg.Serena Keshavjee, Professor, History, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2097612023-07-25T21:04:08Z2023-07-25T21:04:08ZSecondary publishing rights can improve public access to academic research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538372/original/file-20230719-23-7iw20z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C71%2C3952%2C2559&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Making publicly-funded research immediately available for free would mean we all have access to information that could help us understand the world around us.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</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/secondary-publishing-rights-can-improve-public-access-to-academic-research" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Canada’s federal research granting agencies recently announced <a href="https://science.gc.ca/site/science/en/interagency-research-funding/policies-and-guidelines/open-access/presidents-canadas-federal-research-granting-agencies-announce-review-tri-agency-open-access-policy">a review</a> of the <a href="https://science.gc.ca/site/science/en/interagency-research-funding/policies-and-guidelines/open-access/tri-agency-open-access-policy-publications">Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications</a>, with the goal of requiring immediate open and free access to all academic publications generated through <a href="https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/interagency-interorganismes/TAFA-AFTO/guide-guide_eng.asp">Tri-Agency</a> supported research by 2025. </p>
<p>To meet this requirement, the Canadian government should empower academic authors through the adoption of <a href="https://www.knowledgerights21.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Secondary-Publishing-Rights-Position-Paper.pdf">secondary publishing rights</a>. These rights would ensure that authors can immediately “<a href="https://www.knowledgerights21.org/statement/secondary-publishing-rights-new-position-statement-from-knowledge-rights-21/">republish publicly funded research after its first publication in an open access repository or elsewhere</a>,” even in cases where this is forbidden by publishers.</p>
<p>Tweaking the <em><a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-42/Index.html">Copyright Act</a></em> to include such rights would give academic authors the ability to make taxpayer-funded journal articles available to the public through open access upon publication.</p>
<p>Enabling Canada’s research to be openly accessible without barriers will contribute to the public good, helping to foster innovation and discovery.</p>
<h2>Open access policy review</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/research-public-funding-academic-journal-subscriptions-elsevier-librarians-university-of-california-1.5049597">Research locked behind paywalls</a> is an impediment to science, innovation and cultural progress. In the past, most research papers would only be accessible to individuals who pay to access research papers or who work or study at universities willing to pay for access. This model is changing, and many publications are now openly available to the public. However, <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2022/08/11/article-processing-charges-apcs-and-the-new-enclosure-of-research/">authors are increasingly required to pay publishers</a> in order to be published open access.</p>
<p>The current Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications does require that authors make copies of funded journal articles freely available online, but allows for a 12-month embargo period where publishers get exclusive rights to the content and can keep it locked behind a paywall. That can mean significant delays in free access to <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/covid-19-underlines-need-full-open-access">vital research</a>. </p>
<p>The policy review is overdue in Canada. In the <a href="https://www.coalition-s.org/">European Union</a> and the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/08-2022-OSTP-Public-Access-Memo.pdf">United States</a>, governments have committed to immediate open access for publicly funded research. </p>
<p>Canada can learn from the experiences of these other jurisdictions, and create a framework that ensures equitable open access to publicly funded Canadian research.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538381/original/file-20230719-23-zpvc0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person inputting payment card details into a laptop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538381/original/file-20230719-23-zpvc0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538381/original/file-20230719-23-zpvc0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538381/original/file-20230719-23-zpvc0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538381/original/file-20230719-23-zpvc0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538381/original/file-20230719-23-zpvc0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538381/original/file-20230719-23-zpvc0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538381/original/file-20230719-23-zpvc0d.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">Locking research behind paywalls impedes scientific innovation and cultural progress.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Article processing charges</h2>
<p>In addition to allowing embargo periods, Canada’s current open access policy has fallen short of delivering in key areas and needs to adapt to changes in academic publishing. </p>
<p>For example, the Tri-Agency suffers from <a href="https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/cjils/article/view/14149">low rates</a> of compliance with their open access policy when compared to other jurisdictions. OA.Report data shows publications funded by the <a href="https://oa.report/04j5jqy92/">Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada</a> as having only 52 per cent compliance with the policy in 2023 so far. </p>
<p>It is unclear why authors do not comply with the policy. It might be that they misunderstand their obligations or that they simply cannot afford the high <a href="https://guides.library.unlv.edu/c.php?g=901395&p=6486147">article processing charges (APCs)</a> that they might need to pay to publish in their journal of choice. The result is that much publicly funded research remains unavailable to the public.</p>
<p>APCs are fees academic authors pay to be published in open access journals. Authors can be charged fees of <a href="https://www.the-scientist.com/critic-at-large/opinion-is-open-access-worth-the-cost-70049">$1,000 up to $13,000</a>. Journals increasingly rely on APCs, making the cost of open access publishing prohibitively expensive for many authors. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.acsi2022.ca/talk/12.butler/">Estimates indicate</a> Canadian academic authors spent at least US$27.6 million on processing charges from 2015 to 2018, <a href="https://theconversation.com/removing-author-fees-can-help-open-access-journals-make-research-available-to-everyone-189675">despite the preponderance of free-to-publish open access journals</a>.</p>
<p>Authors don’t always have funds to cover these fees, and offloading them to university libraries through <a href="https://www.carl-abrc.ca/doc/CARLOAWGLibraryOAFundsFinalReport-Jan%202016.pdf">open access funds</a> or <a href="https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2019/04/23/transformative-agreements/">transformative agreements</a> is not sustainable and leads to inequitable publishing opportunities between large and small institutions. </p>
<p>In addition, scholars from the Global South have <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2020/05/20/the-commercial-model-of-academic-publishing-underscoring-plan-s-weakens-the-existing-open-access-ecosystem-in-latin-america/">drawn attention</a> to the inequitable nature of APC-based-publishing, while other models of funding open access journals are being extinguished.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538373/original/file-20230719-28-b6hqk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people sit at a table with books and laptops." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538373/original/file-20230719-28-b6hqk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538373/original/file-20230719-28-b6hqk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538373/original/file-20230719-28-b6hqk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538373/original/file-20230719-28-b6hqk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538373/original/file-20230719-28-b6hqk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538373/original/file-20230719-28-b6hqk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538373/original/file-20230719-28-b6hqk8.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">There must be a framework that ensures equitable open access to publicly funded Canadian research.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Secondary publishing rights</h2>
<p>There are clear paths forward that enable more open access. While academic journal publishing is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/27/profitable-business-scientific-publishing-bad-for-science">extremely profitable for publishing companies</a>, the authors, editors and reviewers that form the backbone of the system are <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/3/18271538/open-access-elsevier-california-sci-hub-academic-paywalls">rarely compensated</a> for their labour and <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3981756">face challenges negotiating fair publication agreements</a>. </p>
<p>The Canadian Federation of Library Associations has recently proposed one partial solution: to provide <a href="http://cfla-fcab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/CFLA-Secondary-Publishing-Rights-and-Open-Access-Position-Statement.docx-1.pdf">secondary publishing rights</a> to academic authors in Canada. The proposal is also endorsed by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries. </p>
<p>Secondary publishing rights have already been implemented in multiple European countries, with perhaps the most notable example being the <a href="https://liberquarterly.eu/article/view/10915/12075#toc">Taverne Amendment</a> in the Netherlands, which has seen the rate of <a href="https://www.tue.nl/en/news-and-events/news-overview/16-11-2022-the-netherlands-takes-another-big-step-towards-100-open-access">open access top 80 per cent</a>. </p>
<p>European countries’ implementations of these rights currently include embargo periods. However, the Association of European Research Libraries has released draft language for secondary rights without an embargo period that would allow for “<a href="https://libereurope.eu/draft-law-for-the-use-of-publicly-funded-scholarly-publications/">lawful self-archiving on open, public, non-for-profit repositories</a>.” </p>
<p>If Canada were to adopt a similar law in conjunction with revising the Tri-Agency policy, we could become a worldwide leader in open access scholarly publications.</p>
<p>Ultimately, more immediate open access at lower costs would mean we all have better access to information that could help us better understand the world around us, whether it is medical information, engineering innovations or new explorations of culture and history.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brianne Selman is on the Canadian Federation of Library Associations Copyright Committee.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Swartz 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>Secondary publishing rights could facilitate immediate open access to publicly funded research and foster global innovation and discovery.Brianne Selman, Scholarly Communications & Copyright Librarian, University of WinnipegMark Swartz, Scholarly Publishing Librarian, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2038212023-05-14T11:18:56Z2023-05-14T11:18:56ZHow climate change is impacting the Hudson Bay Lowlands — Canada’s largest wetland<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523983/original/file-20230503-18-zlj6f.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=57%2C57%2C3808%2C2475&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Hudson Bay Lowlands is among the fastest warming regions on the planet, with temperature increases projected to be up to three times higher than the global average.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Vito Lam)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The starkly beautiful Hudson Bay Lowlands, located between the Canadian Shield and Hudson Bay, are covered in carbon-rich peat and <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/LbBDcSFgBwCE6yBu7">dotted with small ponds as far as the eye can see</a>. </p>
<p>Wildlife enthusiasts travel to this pancake-flat landscape to spot migratory birds, baby beluga whales and the <a href="https://churchillscience.ca/about/the-churchill-area/polar-bears/">iconic polar bears</a> that congregate near Churchill, Man., every fall as they wait for the ice on Hudson Bay to return. </p>
<p>This environment is among the fastest warming regions on the planet, with temperature increases projected to be <a href="https://www.rcinet.ca/eye-on-the-arctic/2019/04/02/climate-change-warming-canada-report-heat-global-average/">up to three times higher than the global average</a>. This amplified warming is rapidly and drastically affecting the environment. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2022-0163">our recently published research</a> shows these effects are not the only consequences of the changing climate. The ways in which snow, water, plants and animals here interact are also affected in the process.</p>
<h2>An ecological intersection</h2>
<p>The Hudson Bay Lowlands sit at the intersection of several key ecological zones. </p>
<p>To the south lies the boreal forest, a region with abundant coniferous trees. To the north lies the tundra, where vegetation is sparse and the soils remain frozen throughout the year. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523092/original/file-20230426-248-6s2zp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Hudson Bay Lowlands." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523092/original/file-20230426-248-6s2zp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523092/original/file-20230426-248-6s2zp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=238&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523092/original/file-20230426-248-6s2zp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=238&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523092/original/file-20230426-248-6s2zp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=238&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523092/original/file-20230426-248-6s2zp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523092/original/file-20230426-248-6s2zp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523092/original/file-20230426-248-6s2zp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Hudson Bay Lowlands sit at the intersection of several key ecological zones including the boreal and subarctic landscapes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Vito Lam)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The marine system of Hudson Bay exerts a strong control on the weather and climate of the terrestrial landscape <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1551433">as the onshore winds bring cool air inland</a>.</p>
<p>The intersection of these ecological zones has provided a unique opportunity to examine the ecological impacts of climatic change across these transition zones. </p>
<p>So what will happen to the ponds and the trees as the continuous permafrost thaws? Will the boreal forest push northwards as temperature rises? How will that affect the fauna here? With the rapid rate of climate change in northern ecosystems, these questions become even more critical.</p>
<h2>Climate change is disrupting aquatic habitats</h2>
<p>One of the few amphibians that can survive the harsh winter conditions of boreal and subarctic areas is the wood frog, a prime example of organisms poised to feel the effects of climate change in the region. </p>
<p>But these frogs need up to two months to develop from tadpoles and grow before the onset of summer. As the changing climate in the region shortens the window of time between snowmelt and the beginning of summer, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13543">frogs may be smaller when they emerge</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523093/original/file-20230426-16-qpfqjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Volunteers monitor a frog pond and wetland habitat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523093/original/file-20230426-16-qpfqjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523093/original/file-20230426-16-qpfqjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523093/original/file-20230426-16-qpfqjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523093/original/file-20230426-16-qpfqjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523093/original/file-20230426-16-qpfqjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523093/original/file-20230426-16-qpfqjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523093/original/file-20230426-16-qpfqjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A group of Earthwatch Institute volunteers monitor wood frog pond and wetland habitat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Matt Morison)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Their survival may then depend on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12720">the ability to make use of the longer summer foraging season</a> to prepare to survive their first winter the following year. </p>
<p>Further, changing rainfall patterns and increased evaporation, brought on by a warming climate, could lead to changes in the length of time that ponds and wetlands in the region hold water, leading to challenges for both tadpoles and adult frogs.</p>
<h2>Changing landscapes</h2>
<p>Subarctic ecosystems maintain the ability to respond to and adapt to these climatic changes. This ability can also highlight the interconnection between different parts of the landscape — for instance, the connection between trees and snow. Trees are battered by cold blowing snow and ice crystals over the winter months, but also benefit from the moisture recharge of the snowmelt into the soils in spring. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523095/original/file-20230426-199-ln968k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A view from a wintertime snowpack survey" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523095/original/file-20230426-199-ln968k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523095/original/file-20230426-199-ln968k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523095/original/file-20230426-199-ln968k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523095/original/file-20230426-199-ln968k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523095/original/file-20230426-199-ln968k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523095/original/file-20230426-199-ln968k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523095/original/file-20230426-199-ln968k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Snow can both shelter and batter groups of trees in subarctic regions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Steven Mamet)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As temperatures rise, the boreal forest treeline could potentially <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2564207">move northwards by hundreds of kilometres</a>, dramatically shifting the plants and animals who live in these regions. </p>
<p>Research has found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2012.08.002">increased tree growth in this region is strongly correlated with higher temperatures</a>, particularly in the autumn, as warm temperatures can give the trees a headstart in the following spring. </p>
<p>Other unique features on the landscape like <a href="https://churchillscience.ca/tree-island/">tree islands</a> can further accelerate these changes. These islands, made up of clustered groups of trees, act as snow fencing and trap a winter’s worth of snow. This can make the environment more favourable for tree growth by providing moisture through snowmelt into the spring, and insulating the ground from the extreme cold air temperatures through the winter. </p>
<h2>A path forward in an uncertain future</h2>
<p>The Hudson Bay Lowlands is an iconic Canadian landscape, but one where the climate is changing rapidly. The terrestrial ecosystems are fragile, interconnected webs of snow, water, plants and animals. </p>
<p>And while we are certain that climate change will continue to affect the world around us, we are equally uncertain of the ways the subarctic will respond to these changes.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523096/original/file-20230426-20-z5w30k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A subarctic sunset." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523096/original/file-20230426-20-z5w30k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523096/original/file-20230426-20-z5w30k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523096/original/file-20230426-20-z5w30k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523096/original/file-20230426-20-z5w30k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523096/original/file-20230426-20-z5w30k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523096/original/file-20230426-20-z5w30k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523096/original/file-20230426-20-z5w30k.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"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The terrestrial ecosystems withing the Hudson Bay Lowlands are fragile, interconnected webs of snow, water, plants and animals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Vito Lam)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For the Hudson Bay Lowlands, one such tipping point will be when temperatures rise above 0 C, disrupting many frozen parts of the landscape including permafrost, sea ice and snow. Climate projections show that the mean annual air temperature in Churchill will cross this mark by <a href="https://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/full/10.1139/facets-2022-0163">approximately the year 2080</a>. Of all of seasons, the winter is warming most rapidly and more often will cross this 0 C threshold, contributing to unknown changes through unprecedented midwinter melt and thaw events.</p>
<p>Other causes of uncertainty are extreme weather events like the <a href="https://climateatlas.ca/map/canada/summer_maxtemp_2060_85#z=8&lat=58.13&lng=-92.73&deltas=true">heat waves regularly seen in southern Canada</a> and increasingly <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-5471-2017">frequent summer storms</a>. Such extreme weather can exacerbate pond drying through increased evaporation.</p>
<p>The impacts of climate change on these ecosystems can be complex, so it’s important to synthesize what we know of the flora and fauna to understand how the region will change. </p>
<p>The future climate of this region is in our hands and the choices we make to <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/">limit greenhouse gas emissions</a> will impact these remote regions and help shape the ecology in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203821/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Morison has received funding through a Mitacs Accelerate award.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nora Jessie Casson receives funding from NSERC and the Canada Research Chairs program</span></em></p>The impacts of climate change on the terrestrial ecosystems, that comprise interconnected webs of snow, water, plants and animals, can be rapid, complex, and unpredictable.Matt Morison, Adjunct Professor, Geography, University of WinnipegNora Casson, Canada Research Chair in Environmental Influences on Water Quality, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2009862023-03-09T23:37:04Z2023-03-09T23:37:04ZJunos 2023 reminds us how Canadian content regulations and funding supports music across the country<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515325/original/file-20230314-4604-k54jmx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C24%2C4119%2C2410&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tobi accepts the Juno Award for Rap Album/EP of the Year during the Juno Awards in Edmonton on March 13, 2023. Tobi is among the many Juno-nominated and Juno-recognized artists who have received grants partly funded by Canadian radio profits. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Timothy Matwey</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As we celebrate <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/music/junos/2023-junos-will-celebrate-the-50th-anniversary-of-hip-hop-with-all-star-performance-1.6764442">another year of Canadian music at the Juno Awards</a>, let’s consider the broader music ecosystem that facilitates a vibrant component of our multifaceted culture and identity.</p>
<p>An essential component of this ecosystem supporting musical artists has been the policy of Canadian Content (CanCon) regulations for music radio. </p>
<p>CanCon policy hasn’t only ensured Canadian music is played on the radio, but notably, that radio profits are redistributed to artists through grant programs — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2021.2010028">something critical for artists’ viability and success</a>. </p>
<h2>Revitalization in digital era</h2>
<p>Currently, there is debate on how to implement similar regulations for streaming media. <a href="https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/44-1/c-11">Bill-C11, An Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts</a> has been passed by the Senate (with contentious amendments), and is now being <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/senate-showdown-ahead-minister-rejects-some-bill-c-11-amendments-1.6304526">debated in the House</a>.</p>
<p>The few large multinational corporations that make use of Canada’s creative sector should also contribute to the public funding of the arts, contributing to the revitalization of music in Canada in the digital era. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A singer seen seated at a piano." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515324/original/file-20230314-3596-fjivlu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515324/original/file-20230314-3596-fjivlu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515324/original/file-20230314-3596-fjivlu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515324/original/file-20230314-3596-fjivlu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515324/original/file-20230314-3596-fjivlu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515324/original/file-20230314-3596-fjivlu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515324/original/file-20230314-3596-fjivlu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aysanabee, who was nominated for Contemporary Indigenous Artist or Group, performs during the Juno Awards in Edmonton on March 13, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Timothy Matwey</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Music industry highly consolidated</h2>
<p>On one hand, the music industry in Canada is highly consolidated, with three record labels (Universal, Warner, Sony), three streaming companies (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music), and one live concert and ticketing company (LiveNation/Ticketmaster). </p>
<p>They are all non-Canadian. They have market power that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2021.2010028">shapes the industry to favour superstars, lessens the ability of working musicians to make a living wage and limits the diversity</a> of Canadian music.</p>
<p>On the other hand, public programs support diverse Canadian music heritage and the development of Canadian artists. This year’s Juno nominees include at least 85 artists who have received a total of 433 grants from <a href="https://www.factor.ca/">FACTOR</a> (The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/junos-50th-anniversary-how-we-remember-these-award-winning-hit-singles-161951">Junos 50th anniversary: How we remember these award-winning hit singles</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>FACTOR, along with public and community radio, the Polaris Prize, provincial music industry associations and other public-serving organizations and regulations help ensure the diversity and abundance of music outside of the purely profit-driven system.</p>
<h2>Bill C-11</h2>
<p>Bill C-11 has potential to address the limitations of the corporate music model and provide musicians with more opportunities to earn a livelihood by increasing opportunities for grants. But these concerns have been overshadowed by the sprawling nature of the bill and its legislative amendment process.</p>
<p>Bill C-11 <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/online-streaming-act-cancon-future-1.6749795">proposes</a> an update to the Broadcasting Act to include online platforms in <a href="https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/home-accueil.htm">CRTC</a> regulation and CanCon rules. </p>
<p>In terms of streaming music (like on Spotify or Apple Music), this would mean including music by Canadian artists on the curated playlists provided by the platform, and companies paying in to a media fund that would provide grants for Canadian artists.</p>
<p>Algorithms are <a href="https://www.christinebauer.eu/publications/ferraro-2021-break-the-loop/ferraro-2021-break-the-loop.pdf">not neutral</a>: they train us as much as we train them. Using them to promote local music or Canadian music may inspire a wider variety of music heard on streaming services. </p>
<h2>Regulations done properly</h2>
<p>Some critics say C-11 would cause financial hardship and <a href="https://openmedia.org/article/item/whats-wrong-with-bill-c-11-an-faq">unintended consequences for content creators</a> and open the door for CRTC interference in <a href="https://cippic.ca/en/node/129549">freedom of expression</a> and lead to government control over social feed algorithms. </p>
<p>Many remain <a href="https://www.michaelgeist.ca/2023/02/quebec-demands-changes-to-bill-c-11-as-it-wakes-up-to-the-implications-of-losing-control-over-digital-culture-regulation/">unconvinced that the centralization of regulation</a> is worth the overreach of the bill.</p>
<p>Researchers in public policy and communications have amplified some creators’ concerns that given the role of broadcasting as a settler nation-building project entrenched in systemic racism, new policy would need to do more to safeguard interests of <a href="https://theconversation.com/online-streaming-act-claims-to-level-the-playing-field-but-for-whom-179051">Black, Indigenous and racialized content creators</a>.</p>
<h2>Major Senate change</h2>
<p>A major Senate amendment proposed limiting the bill to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/online-streaming-act-cancon-future-1.6749795">maintain the autonomy of individual creators posting online, and curbing the CRTC’s discretionary power</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-heritage-minister-rejects-key-c-11-amendment-puts-himself-on-potential/">But Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage, has rejected Senate amendments</a> and the process is yet again under fire.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1633825038083268608"}"></div></p>
<p>The non-profit Open Media dedicated to “<a href="https://openmedia.org/about">keeping the internet open, affordable and surveillance-free</a>,” notes a key Senate amendment “considerably <a href="https://openmedia.org/press/item/bill-c-11-passes-the-senate-with-a-huge-fix">reduces the risk of ordinary Canadian user-uploaded content being regulated as broadcasting content</a>” but flags problems with how age restrictions on content would be managed. </p>
<p>It’s good to have critics ensure regulations benefit all artists and users and that the bill does not <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-margaret-atwood-on-bill-c11-and-why-bureaucrats-shouldnt-tell-authors/">tell people what to create</a>. Yet much of the writing on C-11 has dismissed CanCon regulations for the streaming era altogether.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-be-forced-to-see-more-canadian-content-on-tiktok-and-youtube-161318">Should we be forced to see more Canadian content on TikTok and YouTube?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why CanCon matters</h2>
<p>In radio, CanCon refers to regulations that began in 1971. By playing more music by Canadians on the radio (initially 30 per cent Canadian music over the broadcast week, <a href="https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/cancon/r_cdn.htm">now at least 35 per cent</a>), the aim was to grow domestic music industries. </p>
<p>In the same era, major labels <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2020.1769151">invested in Canadian record pressing plants</a> to help overcome the costs of importing records.</p>
<p>By the end of the 1970s, evidence of music industry growth in Canada was apparent, with <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/archives/cancon-junos-radio-music-industry-1.6050466">more recording taking place in studios and an increase in performance royalties being paid to songwriters</a>.</p>
<h2>Music grants for artists</h2>
<p>Two avenues of support for artists in Canada are campus/community radio and grants, often from FACTOR. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2021.2010028">research</a> found artists overwhelmingly emphasize the importance of grants to their careers. While some note barriers to access with writing and receiving some grants, grant funding remains crucial.</p>
<p>Both the Community Radio Fund of Canada and FACTOR receive money from <a href="https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/general/ccdparties.htm">Canadian Content Development (CCD) contributions</a>. These come from commercial radio stations with annual revenue above $1,250,000. English-language stations that meet this criteria pay $1,000 plus half a per cent on all revenues above $1,250,000.</p>
<p>To support music in Canada, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharysmith/2022/01/03/apple-becomes-1st-company-worth-3-trillion-greater-than-the-gdp-of-the-uk/?sh=1e8cfacf5603">corporate music streaming services</a> should pay into CCD funds. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People seen by a table with tshirts." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514316/original/file-20230308-1075-gmgavo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514316/original/file-20230308-1075-gmgavo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514316/original/file-20230308-1075-gmgavo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514316/original/file-20230308-1075-gmgavo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514316/original/file-20230308-1075-gmgavo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514316/original/file-20230308-1075-gmgavo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514316/original/file-20230308-1075-gmgavo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mike DeAngelis, left, and Max Kerman of The Arkells seen with band merchandise in Toronto, Jan. 16, 2023. The group won the Juno for Group of the Year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Lower charting success</h2>
<p>Our research <a href="https://theconversation.com/artists-spotify-criticisms-point-to-larger-ways-musicians-lose-with-streaming-heres-3-changes-to-help-in-canada-176526">has documented a decline in the number and variety of charting artists and songs today in Canada</a> which coincides with lower charting success of Canadian artists. This can be correlated to a lack of CanCon regulations in streaming, versus in the 90s when CanCon regulations affected how Canadians listen to music.</p>
<p>In satellite radio, CanCon regulations mean <a href="https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2012/2012-629.htm">a certain per centage of channels must be Canadian</a>.
While these regulations aren’t perfect (Canadian channels are grouped together far down the channel lineup), artists have benefitted from royalties.</p>
<p>This was made evident in the <a href="https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2022/10/25/final-nail-in-the-coffin-why-siriusxm-dropping-cbc-radio-3-is-potentially-catastrophic-for-canadian-artists.html">uproar surrounding the cancellation of CBC Radio 3</a> on SiriusXM, a channel that was a stable source of income for artists and labels.</p>
<p>Beyond reforms to C-11, <a href="https://winnspace.uwinnipeg.ca/handle/10680/2042">we argue</a> guidelines governing corporate mergers should centre the concerns of workers and consumers, benefiting many sectors in Canada, including music. </p>
<p>Both government actions would help address the most immediate danger facing Canadian music today: media consolidation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200986/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Fauteux has received past funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew deWaard has received past funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brianne Selman has received past funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p>Here’s how radio Canadian content policy started, and how Canadian legislation, C-11, could contribute to supporting and growing home-grown music in the digital era.Brian Fauteux, Associate Professor Popular Music and Media Studies, University of AlbertaAndrew deWaard, Assistant Professor, Media and Popular Culture, Department of Communications, University of California, San DiegoBrianne Selman, Scholarly Communications & Copyright Librarian, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1975932023-01-16T19:45:25Z2023-01-16T19:45:25ZSupervised consumption sites reduce drug overdoses and disease transmission — and deserve government support<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504716/original/file-20230116-22-olk3l0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=66%2C41%2C5492%2C3192&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A wall at a supervised consumption site in Ottawa is decorated with notes written in chalk.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://health-infobase.canada.ca/substance-related-harms/opioids-stimulants/">Since 2016, more than 32,000 Canadians have died from drug overdoses</a>. In response to this overdose epidemic, several provinces have established <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/substance-use/supervised-consumption-sites/explained.html">Supervised Consumption Sites (SCS)</a>, which provide people who use drugs with a safe space to administer drugs under the supervision of trained staff. </p>
<p>The term people who use drugs is used to affirm people’s humanity instead of defining them by their drug use. Person-centred language helps <a href="http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/GCDP-Report-2017_Perceptions-ENGLISH.pdf">reduce stigma and discrimination</a> which in turn can encourage people who use drugs to seek out harm reduction services. </p>
<p>SCSs have proven to <a href="https://harmreduction.org/issues/supervised-consumption-services/">reduce drug overdoses, disease transmission and public drug use</a>. By 2020, there were <a href="https://health-infobase.canada.ca/datalab/supervised-consumption-sites-blog.html?=undefined&wbdisable=true">39 supervised consumption sites across Canada</a>. Yet despite the evidence, some governments continue to oppose safe consumption on ideological grounds. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504717/original/file-20230116-16-swbvcu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man wearing a black jumper standing outside a building next to a large yellow bin labelled: needle drop box." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504717/original/file-20230116-16-swbvcu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504717/original/file-20230116-16-swbvcu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504717/original/file-20230116-16-swbvcu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504717/original/file-20230116-16-swbvcu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504717/original/file-20230116-16-swbvcu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504717/original/file-20230116-16-swbvcu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504717/original/file-20230116-16-swbvcu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A man waits to enter the Safeworks supervised consumption site in Calgary.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Alberta is a prime example of how policy shifts away from public health approaches have tangible effects for the well-being of people who use drugs. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103934">Our research</a> with marginalized drug users in Lethbridge, Alta. demonstrates that the closure of SCSs can increase drug-related harms and negatively impact the safety and welfare of people who use drugs.</p>
<h2>Lethbridge’s SCS</h2>
<p>Prior to the province approving a supervised consumption site in Lethbridge, the city had long contended with <a href="https://www.thestar.com/edmonton/2019/08/18/a-small-alberta-city-is-home-to-the-busiest-drug-consumption-site-in-north-america-we-spent-12-hours-inside.html">high numbers of drug overdoses</a>. Opened in 2018, Lethbridge’s site quickly became the <a href="https://www.thestar.com/edmonton/2019/08/18/a-small-alberta-city-is-home-to-the-busiest-drug-consumption-site-in-north-america-we-spent-12-hours-inside.html">busiest in North America</a>. This was in part because it offered a range of crucial social, mental and health service resources to marginalized community members.</p>
<p>But the site’s success was short-lived. The provincial government <a href="https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2020/07/16/province-pulling-funding-from-lethbridges-scs/">defunded</a> and replaced it with an <a href="https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2020/08/17/lethbridges-overdose-prevention-site-now-operating-as-replacement-for-scs/">Overdose Prevention Site (OPS)</a> just two years later. The OPS, while well intentioned, provides limited social, mental and health resources as compared to the SCS. </p>
<p>Moreover, while the former SCS was in the city’s downtown core, the new overdose prevention site was placed in an industrial area, about a 10-minute walk away from where many local people who use drugs spend time. Those interviewed as part of our research experienced this new location as less safe. </p>
<p>In Lethbridge, the SCS’s closure and replacement with an overdose prevention site meant reduced access to harm reduction services. In addition, the site’s closure stripped local people who use drugs of access to essential community connections and services.</p>
<p>Most people we spoke with felt overdoses and drug-related deaths had increased because of the SCS’s closure, with many having lost loved ones. As one of the participants told us: “There’s too many people dying now.” </p>
<p>Supporting participants’ views, <a href="https://healthanalytics.alberta.ca/SASVisualAnalytics/?reportUri=%2Freports%2Freports%2F1bbb695d-14b1-4346-b66e-d401a40f53e6&sectionIndex=0&sso_guest=true&reportViewOnly=true&reportContextBar=false&sas-welcome=false">provincial health data</a> demonstrates that the average number of deaths from drug poisoning doubled in Lethbridge following the site’s dismantling. </p>
<p>If the goal is to extend harm reduction services to as many people as possible, it is imperative to illuminate what prevents some people who use drugs from routinely accessing the OPS. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504703/original/file-20230116-20-89gt6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Syringes in plastic wrapping." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504703/original/file-20230116-20-89gt6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504703/original/file-20230116-20-89gt6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504703/original/file-20230116-20-89gt6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504703/original/file-20230116-20-89gt6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504703/original/file-20230116-20-89gt6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504703/original/file-20230116-20-89gt6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504703/original/file-20230116-20-89gt6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">SCSs provide a safe space to consume drugs. They also offer a range of crucial social, mental and health service resources to marginalized community members.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How policy change can affect people who use drugs</h2>
<p>In spring 2022, we spent time in downtown Lethbridge, getting to know those who identified as people who use drugs and expressed interest in talking to us. We interviewed 50 houseless people, asking them about their experiences of street life in Lethbridge, whether or not they access the new OPS and why. </p>
<p>Our research provides early evidence that recent provincial policy shifts have negatively impacted people who use drugs in Lethbridge. The majority of those we spoke with who routinely accessed the SCS prior to its closure chose <em>not</em> to access the new OPS. </p>
<p>Participants listed several barriers to accessing the overdose prevention site.</p>
<p>First, the new site does not have a supervised smoking room. This means that those who smoke illicit substances, or who want to replace safe injection with safe smoking, cannot do so in the facility. This is further concerning because, while smoking drugs carries a number of risks, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.109003">smoking instead of injecting drugs can decrease skin infections and exposure to blood-borne viruses</a>.</p>
<p>Second, many participants stated that they were fearful of accessing the OPS and spending time in the area. To get from the downtown core to the OPS, they must cross a high-traffic bridge where participants stated people driving by sometimes harass or assault them. There have also been <a href="https://lethbridgeherald.com/news/lethbridge-news/2022/08/04/alpha-house-installs-fencing-at-shelter/">reported concerns over conflict and violence</a> in the vicinity of the overdose prevention site. Accordingly, some people who use drugs often avoided the OPS, opting to consume in “safer,” usually public, areas. </p>
<p>Finally, people who use drugs reported that they often frequented the old SCS because it offered them with wraparound services, social connections and activities beyond supervised consumption. But the OPS lacks these diverse and critical benefits. Because of this, participants felt the OPS was not as responsive to their broader needs. </p>
<p>Undeniably, Lethbridge’s overdose prevention site is providing important health benefits. However, our findings suggest that harm reduction sites that provide marginalized community members with broad community services and connections are more likely to draw local people who use drugs in, encourage uptake and reduce drug-related harms. </p>
<p>Given Lethbridge’s continued challenges with drug-related harms and deaths, it is essential to build safe, accessible and comprehensive harm reduction resources that provide critical care to the city’s most marginalized.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197593/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<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>Katharina Maier 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 Killam Trusts. </span></em></p>Supervised consumption sites provide essential community connections and services for those who use them. By closing them, governments are risking the welfare of people who use drugs.Carolyn Greene, Associate Professor, Criminology, Athabasca UniversityKatharina Maier, Assistant Professor, Criminal Justice, University of WinnipegMarta-Marika Urbanik, Assistant Professor, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1938802022-11-15T17:15:03Z2022-11-15T17:15:03ZHow Canada plans to break records with its new refugee targets<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494954/original/file-20221113-18-bu6jri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C21%2C4800%2C3219&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with families who had resettled from Afghanistan in Hamilton, Ont., in May 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</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/how-canada-plans-to-break-records-with-its-new-refugee-targets" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Every November, Canada’s immigration minister presents an <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/annual-report-parliament-immigration-2021.html#annex2">annual report to Parliament</a> that includes immigration targets for the next three years. This year, these <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/supplementary-immigration-levels-2023-2025.html">immigration targets</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-immigration-500000-2025-1.6636661">have grabbed headlines</a> for their goal of admitting 500,000 permanent immigrants a year by 2025. </p>
<p>While most news reports focused on the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-immigration-500000-2025-1.6636661">significant rise in economic immigrants</a>, the refugee targets are record-breaking.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A young boy smiles as he exits an airplane." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494955/original/file-20221113-18-6odupe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494955/original/file-20221113-18-6odupe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494955/original/file-20221113-18-6odupe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494955/original/file-20221113-18-6odupe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494955/original/file-20221113-18-6odupe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1082&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494955/original/file-20221113-18-6odupe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1082&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494955/original/file-20221113-18-6odupe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1082&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Vietnamese refugee boy arrives in Edmonton in this August 1979 photo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(CP PHOTO/Bill Brennan)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If Canada sticks to its plan, it will resettle more refugees in 2023 than in any year since before 1979. Next year, the goal is to resettle more than 50,000 refugees. </p>
<p>This is more than the number of refugees Canada admitted in 2016, when the Liberal government launched an ambitious and celebrated <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/welcome-syrian-refugees/looking-future.html">program for Syrian refugees</a>. </p>
<p>It is more than Canada accepted in 1991 after the end of the Cold War. </p>
<p>And it is more than arrived in Canada in 1979 or 1980 in the midst of the Indochinese refugee crisis, which led the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) awarding the people of Canada the <a href="https://cihs-shic.ca/unhcr-nansen-refugee-award/">Nansen award</a> for outstanding service to the cause of refugees.</p>
<h2>Canada leads the world</h2>
<p>Despite the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada has led the world in refugee resettlement for the <a href="https://www.unhcr.ca/news/as-decade-long-rise-in-global-displacement-hits-another-record-canada-continues-as-world-leader-in-refugee-resettlement-unhcr-report-shows/">past three years</a>. Nevertheless, the targets set by Immigration Minister Sean Fraser will require a significant increase in state capacity.</p>
<p>In 2021, around 20,000 refugees were resettled in Canada, meaning the 2023 targets will represent a 150 per cent increase. </p>
<p>But it’s easier to set a policy goal than to implement it. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/refugees-in-limbo-wait-continues-1.6436259">Slow processing times</a> have already limited the government from delivering on its resettlement goals. And meeting these ambitious targets will require <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2022/11/14/new-data-shows-big-boost-in-hiring-at-canadas-immigration-department-what-were-they-doing.html">corresponding investments in personnel and more efficient processes</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Smiling parents pose for a photo with their two smiling children between them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494956/original/file-20221113-24-7mqcon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494956/original/file-20221113-24-7mqcon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494956/original/file-20221113-24-7mqcon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494956/original/file-20221113-24-7mqcon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494956/original/file-20221113-24-7mqcon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494956/original/file-20221113-24-7mqcon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494956/original/file-20221113-24-7mqcon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Syrian family who came to Canada via private sponsorship poses for a photo in 2016 in Montréal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Canada’s refugee targets also reveal how important the private sponsorship program is to the implementation of the government’s goals. </p>
<p>Private sponsorship allows registered organizations (<a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/help-outside-canada/private-sponsorship-program/agreement-holders.html">known as Sponsorship Agreement Holders</a>) and informal groups to sponsor specific refugees if they pay for a portion of the first-year settlement costs, which can amount to tens of thousands of dollars for a family. </p>
<p>For most of the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, private sponsorship <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/canada-private-sponsorship-model-refugee-resettlement">constituted less than half</a> of the government’s annual commitment to resettlement. By 2025, it will be nearly double the number of government-assisted refugees.</p>
<h2>Lessons for other nations</h2>
<p>In our book <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/strangers-to-neighbours-products-9780228001379.php"><em>Strangers to Neighbours: Refugee Sponsorship in Context</em></a>, we examined Canada’s refugee sponsorship program and what lessons it might have for other countries. </p>
<p>Many refugee advocates point to the principle of what’s known as “additionality” as an important part of the program: they argue that private sponsorship should complement, not replace, government commitments to refugees. </p>
<p>While the government-assisted stream of refugees will remain historically high for the next three years, that commitment is projected to decline by more than 30 per cent between 2023 and 2025. Meanwhile, private sponsorship will continue to rise. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1344445429455478785"}"></div></p>
<p>Advocates will be watching closely to ensure the government’s international humanitarian duties are not unduly shifted onto private citizens.</p>
<p>Another key element of <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/guide-private-sponsorship-refugees-program/section-2.html">Canada’s private sponsorship program</a> is known as “naming,” which allows sponsors to identify the refugees they would like to help resettle in Canada. The advantage of this provision is that it allows relatives and community groups in Canada to sponsor refugees, who arrive with a ready-made social network. </p>
<p>In fact, private sponsorship often works as a de facto family reunification program — albeit one that imposes significantly higher financial costs on sponsors than the established route of family migration.</p>
<h2>Prioritizing certain refugees</h2>
<p>The Canadian government has sought to reduce the role of naming in its refugee programs in favour of allowing its visa offices to refer people who most need protection to sponsoring groups. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/help-outside-canada/private-sponsorship-program/blended-visa-office-program.html">Blended Visa Office-Referred (BVOR) program</a> was introduced in 2013 as a way for sponsors to support refugees the government had selected through referrals from <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/">the UNHCR.</a></p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1222679564402466817"}"></div></p>
<p>The financial obligations of sponsors were significantly reduced for groups willing to forgo naming. Nevertheless, the BVOR has held very limited appeal for sponsors — outside of the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/grenier-syria-refugee-poll-1.3357236">public mobilization of support for Syrian refugees</a> — and it has declined annually since 2016. </p>
<p>Fewer than 150 refugees came to Canada under the BVOR program in 2020 and 2021, combined and the targets for future arrivals (250 per year) are now a quarter of <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/reports-statistics/evaluations/blended-visa-office-reffered-program.html">what was announced earlier this year.</a></p>
<p>The decline of the BVOR program is significant because Canada’s very public <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/private-refugee-sponsorship-soros-un-1.3769639">international effort to export its private sponsorship program</a> has often focused on elements of the BVOR model, which does not give sponsoring groups the authority to “name” refugees. </p>
<p>Other governments are reluctant to delegate their authority over refugee selection to citizen groups; they prefer to work exclusively with the UNHCR to receive case referrals.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-joe-biden-should-emulate-canada-and-go-big-on-private-refugee-resettlement-168992">Why Joe Biden should emulate Canada and go big on private refugee resettlement</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>While other nations, including the United Kingdom and the United States, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-joe-biden-can-learn-from-canadas-private-refugee-sponsorship-program-158341">have been receptive to Canada’s resettlement policies</a>, they may be implementing a model that has limited public appeal in the long run. Naming sustains support for private sponsorship in Canada, primarily because it enables Canadians to be specific about their humanitarian efforts. </p>
<p>If the government sticks to its new plans for refugee resettlement, the next three years could have significant implications for refugees and refugee policy beyond Canada’s borders.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193880/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If the Canadian government sticks to its new plans for refugee resettlement, the next three years could have significant implications for refugees and refugee policy beyond Canada’s borders.Geoffrey Cameron, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, McMaster UniversityShauna Labman, Associate Professor of Human Rights, Global College, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1754682022-07-27T15:54:06Z2022-07-27T15:54:06ZTo build sustainable cities, involve those who live in them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454629/original/file-20220328-21-2m3h3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4300%2C1429&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Working with residents is essential to build sustainable cities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cities have an important role in making progress on <a href="https://www.sustain.ucla.edu/what-is-sustainability/">sustainability</a> and climate change issues. And for them to achieve this, urban residents need to be involved in achieving set goals. This means that <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Performance-Metrics-for-Sustainable-Cities/Albert-Pandey/p/book/9780367561321">cities need to provide opportunities and guidance to their residents to help them make progress</a>. </p>
<p>While national targets — like Canada’s goal to reduce <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/climate-change-trudeau-canada-1.6401791">its annual greenhouse gas emissions to 110 megatonnes in 2030 from 191 megatonnes in 2019</a> — are important, they do not mean much to a city resident or an organization. </p>
<p>It can be difficult to determine how to address large and complex national issues. These need to be translated from theoretical commitments into measurable goals to create a sense of commitment and urgency. For example, Canadian emission targets need to be broken down into actionable objectives at the city level, which would make it more meaningful to its residents, who can then make small contributions that amount to significant outcomes for the city and beyond. </p>
<h2>Localizing global goals</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">UN Sustainable Development Goals</a> (SDGs) are recognized as strategically important for sustainability. They cannot be achieved without commitment at every scale, from individuals to different levels of government. </p>
<p>Public and private organizations in cities can set the stage to engage everyone to contribute to shared goals. The SDGs may seem large and difficult to achieve, but they can be localized and broken down into achievable pieces. </p>
<p>This is being done by dozens of cities internationally who are reporting their progress in <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/voluntary-local-reviews">voluntary local reviews</a>. The European <a href="https://sustainablecities.eu/fileadmin/repository/Aalborg_Charter/Aalborg_Charter_English.pdf">Aalborg Charter</a> is evidence of a can-do attitude among cities.</p>
<h2>A crisis of leadership</h2>
<p>Urban leadership needs to develop a shared vision that guides residents on their individual and collective contributions. The combined achievements at the urban level contribute to global improvements. Measurable indicators and targets are set — such as monitoring energy consumption — reflect a commitment to targets.</p>
<p>Taking collaborative action on larger goals can address concerns with leadership that have been recently reported in the media. The response of world leaders to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/01/world-leaders-blasted-by-activists-for-lack-of-progress-on-climate-change-at-g-20.html">the ongoing climate challenges</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-12/coronavirus-has-exposed-global-leadership-crisis-milken-says">the global COVID-19 pandemic</a> have produced a global crisis of trust. People need to see action and be part of the solutions that are being proposed. </p>
<p>To build trust, city leadership needs partners, collaborators and residents to work with them on setting goals, developing a measurement system and collecting data. There are a number of available <a href="https://apolitical.co/solution-articles/en/methods-citizen-engagement-goals">platforms and technologies</a> to assist with developing a measurement system and engaging residents in reporting.</p>
<p>Many of these are being used by cities: the <a href="https://www.mypeg.ca/">PEG platorm in Winnipeg, Man.</a>, for example, is designed to address local issues while considering data security.</p>
<h2>The role of cities</h2>
<p>According to Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy, cities are “<a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/agenda-2030/national-strategy.html#h2.07">epicentres for jobs, growth, diversity, culture and innovation</a>, and they provide frontline responses to address Canada’s most serious social and environmental challenges, including poverty, food insecurity, disaster relief, homelessness and crime.” </p>
<p>A similar perspective is echoed in the <a href="https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/etc-uls/products/etc-uls-reports/etc-uls-report-2020-08-indicators-for-european-cities-to-assess-and-monitor-the-un-sustainable-development-goals-sdgs">UN Agenda 2030</a>. These documents are evidence of preliminary commitments to sustainability, and need to be translated into goals at the local level. London, Ont., has developed a process for <a href="https://alliance2030.ca/projects/localizing-the-sdg-indicators-in-london-ontario/">localizing the SDGs</a>. </p>
<p>Other platforms that provide opportunities for benchmarking and sharing information include award and recognition programs. For example, the <a href="https://www.intelligentcommunity.org/awards">Intelligent Community Forum Award</a> shares the achievement of several cities in Canada and internationally. The <a href="http://www.smart-cities.eu/why-smart-cities.html">European Smart Cities </a> benchmarking program provides a measurement system that features a number of important sustainability metrics and allow cities to learn from one another.</p>
<p>At the city level, work begins with agreeing on significant local goals that require partnerships. For example, Guelph, Ont. — in partnership with Wellington County — is working on a <a href="https://foodfuture.ca/post/guelph-wellington-create-canadas-first-food-smart-community">smart sustainable food system</a>. Other communities internationally are working to <a href="https://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/poverty/clark-cities-poverty.html">eradicate poverty</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475310/original/file-20220721-24-gzxs2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a farm" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475310/original/file-20220721-24-gzxs2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475310/original/file-20220721-24-gzxs2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475310/original/file-20220721-24-gzxs2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475310/original/file-20220721-24-gzxs2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475310/original/file-20220721-24-gzxs2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475310/original/file-20220721-24-gzxs2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475310/original/file-20220721-24-gzxs2p.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">Farms in the Guelph—Wellington region are working on sustainable agriculture.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.issy.com/en">Issy-Les-Moulineaux</a>, a commune in the greater Paris area, has a history of digital innovation, citizen engagement in green initiatives, and working collaboratively to improve livability.</p>
<h2>Measurable goals</h2>
<p>In addition, since sustainability is an evolving space, we provide a discussion on new important indicators such as measuring citizen happiness to develop compassionate cities; improving our understanding and actions toward regenerative and restorative <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/conservation/sustainability/circular-economy.html">circular economies</a>; and growing through sustainable ecosystems.</p>
<p>Establishing measurable goals at the city level needs and will result in the engagement of residents. Everybody wins in the long run — quality of life improves, urban governance is more effective, and businesses develop more efficient models. Canada has lagged behind other countries in localizing sustainability targets identified in the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/agenda-2030/national-strategy.html">Canadian 2030 Agenda</a> — for Canadian cities, there is <a href="https://www.bccic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Canada-localization.pdf">a lot more to be done</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175468/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cities are crucial to addressing climate change. To meet emission reduction targets, cities need to involve their residents in environmental action at the local level.Sylvie Albert, Professor, Faculty of Business & Economics, University of WinnipegManish Pandey, Professor, Economics, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1837842022-06-09T17:57:39Z2022-06-09T17:57:39ZThin-skinned blue line: Police fight against defunding, showing their true colours<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467791/original/file-20220608-219-magyim.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4630%2C3263&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A person holds a sign calling for to defund the police during an October 2020 protest in Ottawa after a police constable was acquitted of manslaughter in the 2016 death of a Black man, Abdirahman Abdi.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020 and the subsequent mass mobilizations for <a href="https://defundthepolice.org">police defunding and abolition</a>, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/07/us-cities-defund-police-transferring-money-community">defund movement has continued to organize</a>. </p>
<p>Has this work had an impact in Canada? Have there been <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/one-year-after-george-floyd-s-death-where-does-defund-the-police-stand-in-canada-1.5441519">successful challenges to reducing Canadian police budgets</a>?</p>
<p>The answer is complicated and depends on how you define success.</p>
<h2>Raised awareness</h2>
<p>Some argue the mobilization and movement-building that has transpired — people brought together in campaigns for police abolition that reimagine community safety — is a huge success in and of itself. <a href="https://pressprogress.ca/canadians-are-talking-about-defunding-the-police-heres-what-that-means-and-what-it-could-look-like/">Abolition has entered the public consciousness</a> <a href="https://defund.ca">like never before</a>.</p>
<p>Dozens of books have been published by academics, lawyers and activists, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675803/becoming-abolitionists-by-derecka-purnell/">building on the work of Black feminists in the United States</a> <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/policing-black-lives">and Canada</a> who have long argued <a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/disarm-defund-dismantle">police perpetuate rather than reduce violence in our society</a>. </p>
<p>There have been some <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/07/us-cities-defund-police-transferring-money-community">modest successes in defunding police</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/edmonton-police-service-to-receive-10-9-million-less-than-expected-in-2022-funding-to-be-redirected-to-community-safety-initiatives">In Edmonton</a>, city council voted to cut the 2022 police budget increase by $10.9 million and reallocate the money to social services. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.halifax.ca/sites/default/files/documents/city-hall/boards-committees-commissions/220117bopc1021.pdf">In Halifax</a>, a subcommittee of the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners has tabled a detailed and carefully researched report to city council on how the local police force could be gradually detasked and defunded.</p>
<p>When one looks further, however, what becomes apparent is a serious and growing <a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/04/27/as-big-corporations-strike-a-pose-for-racial-justice-they-keep-on-funding-the-police/">counter-campaign</a>. It’s perhaps the strongest indication of the movement’s success at undermining the sanctity of police budgets until now.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A boy holds a sign reading Police Lives Matter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467793/original/file-20220608-268-r3j100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467793/original/file-20220608-268-r3j100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467793/original/file-20220608-268-r3j100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467793/original/file-20220608-268-r3j100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467793/original/file-20220608-268-r3j100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467793/original/file-20220608-268-r3j100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467793/original/file-20220608-268-r3j100.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 young boy shows his support for police during a rally in Utah in September 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Counter-tactics</h2>
<p>Police have fought vigorously against the defund movement <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/15/opinions/defunding-police-dangerous-crime-gagliano/index.html">through threats and false conceits of impending violence</a> if budgets are cut. They are co-opting calls for community safety, branding themselves as protectors in need of continuing or increased resources. They position themselves <a href="https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/the-myth-of-police-as-embattled-heroes">as innocent heroes under attack</a>, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article-abstract/62/1/90/6282889">and discredit those who critique them</a>. </p>
<p>One strategy police use is an offensive and personal tactic of removing people from positions of influence if they support police defunding. </p>
<p>When Winnipeg City Coun. Sherri Rollins critiqued police racism in March 2020, an informal complaint was lodged against her by the police board alleging she <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8791984/winnipeg-city-councillor-complaint-convoy-policing-criticism/">lacked compliance with the city’s respectful workplace policies</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1268898354336903171"}"></div></p>
<p>Similarly, in July 2020, another Winnipeg city councillor, Vivian Santos, discussed defunding and was ousted from the police board. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/vivian-santos-resigns-police-board-1.5649003">Police removed her on alleged security grounds</a> when background checks turned up a friend with a criminal record.</p>
<h2>Fear-mongering</h2>
<p>Scare tactics are another strategy. </p>
<p><a href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/winnipeg.police.service/viz/WPSCallsforServiceMap_10Week/Disclaimer">According to their own data</a>, only eight to 10 per cent of calls to police involve violence. Despite acknowledging that a large proportion of the calls they receive <a href="https://www.halifax.ca/sites/default/files/documents/city-hall/boards-committees-commissions/220117bopc1021.pdf">might be better managed by other kinds of workers</a>, police maintain that reducing officers <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/defund-police-toronto-1.5598285">would be “naïve” and undermine community safety</a>.</p>
<p>But which community is the police keeping safe? Instead of <a href="https://whitebirdclinic.org/cahoots/">diverting funding to organizations with expertise in gender-based violence, anti-racism measures</a> and mental health, police are demanding and receiving record funds to triage these programs themselves. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridgetoday.ca/local-news/regional-police-to-receive-over-12m-in-funding-from-provincial-government-5278608">The Waterloo Region Police recently got a $12.3-million boost</a> to run mental-health interventions while community organizations are starved through austerity and struggle to keep their doors open. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/encampment-protest-arrests-condemned-1.6265735">In Hamilton, Ont.</a>, activists from the Defund the Police Hamilton Coalition supported homeless people who were harassed daily by police and eventually violently evicted from their encampments. </p>
<p>The coalition demanded city council reallocate resources from police towards permanent housing, prioritizing the needs of the community over criminalizing homeless people. The organization’s antidote to scare tactics is to focus on prevention and the fight to protect people over property.</p>
<h2>Police culture as social problem</h2>
<p>Police suggest ostensible reforms, such as unconscious bias training and body cameras, as a promise to change the “culture of policing.” <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10439460701718534">As criminologists have noted</a>, <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing">such reforms increase police funding without demonstrable change</a>, sidestepping the reality that <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/police-brutality/">policing is inherently violent</a>. </p>
<p>With growing attention to their record of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-year-end-police-shootings-1.6298888">extra-judicial killings</a>, systemic <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/432/SECU/Reports/RP11434998/securp06/securp06-e.pdf">racism and harassment in their own forces</a> and their <a href="https://fafia-afai.org/en/a-report-on-the-toxic-culture-of-misogyny-racism-and-violence-in-the-rcmp/%20and%20https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/wam/media/4773/original/8032a32ad5dd014db5b135ce3753934d.pdf">failure to address gender-based violence</a>, police are on the defence.</p>
<p>Take, for example, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F10575677221082070">aggressive response to criticism from police unions</a>. The police brass may have to mince their words when responding to politicians and the public, but <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azab043">police unions often reveal their true colours</a>.</p>
<p>In June 2020, the Regina Police Association defended a tweet suggesting that its cultural unit, which works with Indigenous people, would be the first to go should the police be defunded. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/regina-police-association-threatening-tweet-1.5607162">“Choose wisely,” it threatened</a>.</p>
<p>Also in June 2020, the Edmonton police chief similarly stated that defunding would <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/edmonton-police-chief-says-angry-voices-shouldnt-dominate-reform-discussion">harm diversity initiatives within policing</a>. This threat to the employment of Black and Indigenous officers positioned the police as a benevolent force in the struggle for racial justice, <a href="https://yellowheadinstitute.org/2020/08/10/an-indigenous-abolitionist-study-group-guide/">obfuscating the colonial foundation and systemic racism of policing</a>. </p>
<p>Yet the charge in Canada to defund the police is being led by Black and Indigenous leaders and is <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-half-of-all-women-inmates-are-indigenous/">explicitly focused on racial injustice in the criminal justice system</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Black man stands on a skateboard among people sitting on a city street during a protest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467796/original/file-20220608-22-khnh3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467796/original/file-20220608-22-khnh3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467796/original/file-20220608-22-khnh3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467796/original/file-20220608-22-khnh3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467796/original/file-20220608-22-khnh3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467796/original/file-20220608-22-khnh3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467796/original/file-20220608-22-khnh3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thousands of people protest to defund the police in support of Black Lives Matter and social injustice in Toronto in June 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What decreases harm?</h2>
<p>The lack of “success” in police defunding is a sign of how vigorously police are fighting back, not a sign of a waning movement. </p>
<p>Over the past two years, police chiefs, police representatives and <a href="https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/parasitic-solidarity">police unions</a> have mobilized the public resources they have to fight against the defund movement. But <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7213811/defund-the-police-canada-ipsos-poll/">an Ipsos poll</a> found 50 per cent of Canadians under the age of 38 are interested in police defunding and abolition.</p>
<p><a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/disarm-defund-dismantle">Defunding the police is not radical or irrational</a>, contrary to what police might have the public believe. </p>
<p>What is radical and irrational is <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-canadian-cities-police-spending-ranges-from-one-10th-to-nearly-a/">continuing to spend 15 to 30 per cent of municipal budgets on public policing</a>. What is radical and irrational is continuing to use criminalization and criminal law to deal with social issues and interpersonal harms when we know that <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/21430892/defund-the-police-funding-abolish-george-floyd-breonna-taylor-daniel-prude">a punitive, carceral approach does not decrease harm or lead to more safety</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/07/over-past-60-years-more-spending-police-hasnt-necessarily-meant-less-crime/">in our neighbourhhoods</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, citizens need to think openly about ways to address harms in our communities and neighbourhoods and to <a href="http://www.socialjusticejournal.org/where-is-police-abolition-in-criminal-justice-studies/">reallocate funds from bloated police budgets</a> to <a href="https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/defund-the-police-means-re-fund-the-community">housing, mental health, addiction, employment, counselling, anti-violence education and more</a>. Then we might truly live in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-018-9400-4">a healthier, safer world</a>. </p>
<p>At a time when <a href="https://cwp-csp.ca/poverty/just-the-facts/">many people are struggling to make ends meet</a>, we must not let police tantrums get in the way of real safety and a <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003167914">fair share of resources for community and social development</a>. Nor can we accept the criminalization of poverty and inequality, which is the current alibi for how public police and the whole penal system stays in business.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183784/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shiri Pasternak receives funding from Social Science and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Walby 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>Has the defund the police movement had an impact in Canada? It depends on how you define success.Shiri Pasternak, Assistant Professor of Criminology, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityKevin Walby, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1831222022-06-01T19:29:17Z2022-06-01T19:29:17ZWhat is Québec’s Bill 32 on academic freedom, and why does it matter?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465847/original/file-20220528-25-dltnuk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C116%2C5946%2C2550&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Quebec's bill may be seen as part of on-going 'culture wars,' and alongside Ontario and Québec conservative governments' grandstanding about 'free speech' on university campuses.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the wake of the controversy over the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-professor-uses-derogatory-word-1.6214139">suspension of a professor at the University of Ottawa for using the n-word in a 2020 lecture</a>, the Québec government hopes to pass Bill 32, <a href="http://m.assnat.qc.ca/en/travaux-parlementaires/projets-loi/projet-loi-32-42-2.html">a proposed act “respecting academic freedom in the university sector</a>.” </p>
<p>The bill was <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/academic-freedom-bill-tabled-1.6410128">tabled April 6</a> and is under committee review.</p>
<p>In addition to undermining the autonomy of universities and faculty, and creating myriad implementation problems, the bill blurs the important distinctions between free expression and academic freedom. Most troubling, it signals that politicians are turning academic freedom into a political weapon.</p>
<p>All Canadians should be concerned about the shift in the meaning and control of academic freedom this bill could usher in. </p>
<h2>What’s the bill calling for?</h2>
<p>Bill 32 aims to define and control the principle of academic freedom that is now under the jurisdiction of universities. The bill redefines university <a href="http://www.assnat.qc.ca/Media/Process.aspx?MediaId=ANQ.Vigie.Bll.DocumentGenerique_181435en&process=Default&token=ZyMoxNwUn8ikQ+TRKYwPCjWrKwg+vIv9rjij7p3xLGTZDmLVSmJLoqe/vG7/YWzz">academic freedom</a> as, “the right of every person to engage freely and without doctrinal, ideological or moral constraint in an activity through which the person contributes, in their field of activity, to carrying out the mission of an educational institution.” </p>
<p>As scholars whose combined work engages with the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108684804.005">politicization of language</a> and <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781442610163/multiculturalism-within-a-bilingual-framework/">language, race and belonging</a>, we share concerns with other anti-racist scholars that the bill prioritizes the right to speak without consideration for ethical ramifications. The bill would <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/johs.12120">overshadow issues of justice for racialized members of the academy</a>.</p>
<p>Currently, complex questions about <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-universities-not-safe-space-1.6285400">creating “safe spaces” or issuing “trigger warnings” in classrooms</a> are addressed within universities. Commentators argue that the bill <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/university-community-reacts-to-quebecs-new-academic-freedom-bill">“spells the end of ‘trigger warnings’ and "safe spaces’ in the classroom</a>.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1519380459037376514"}"></div></p>
<h2>Rejected by students, university teachers</h2>
<p>The bill has sparked significant controversy and ignited criticism from students and university teachers for its <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/university-community-reacts-to-quebecs-new-academic-freedom-bill/">overreach into university autonomy</a>. </p>
<p>The bill’s Article 6 would give the minister of higher education the power <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/student-association-asks-quebec-to-scrap-bill-32-on-academic-freedom">to “order an educational institution to include, in its policy, any element indicated by the minister” or “have the necessary corrections made</a>.”</p>
<p>Québec student unions and <a href="https://www.caut.ca/node/11501">Canadian Association of University Teachers</a> have opposed the bill. The head of Concordia’s Black Student Union notes the bill would traumatize racialized students by reaching into university jurisdiction to permit derogatory language without concern for its effect, and calls it a “<a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-s-academic-freedom-bill-a-slap-in-the-face-says-concordia-black-student-union-1.5850864">slap in the face</a>.” </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/academic-freedom-cant-be-separated-from-responsibility-175026">Academic freedom can't be separated from responsibility</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Given that the suspended professor did not work in Québec, one might wonder why the province has proposed the bill. In March 2021, when Danielle McCann, Québec’s minister of higher education, announced a committee to examine academic freedom, she said <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/quebec-announces-committee-to-examine-academic-freedom-censorship">recent events had convinced the government to take action</a>.</p>
<p>One might wonder how Premier François Legault’s <a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-university-classrooms-are-not-safe-spaces-says-academic-freedom-committee-1.5706817">criticism of the suspension of a professor who did not work in Québec</a> has culminated in a bill that attempts to radically transform the definition and control of academic freedom. Perhaps the extent of this reaction reflects anxieties specific to Québec’s nationalist articulations of its identity.</p>
<h2>U.S. and Canadian contexts</h2>
<p>The bill imports American principles by blurring the distinction between academic freedom and free expression or free speech, similar to other Canadian conservative government manoeuvres, discussed below.</p>
<p>The Canadian and U.S. legal frameworks for academic freedom differ. One fundamental difference is that in Canada, Charter rights <a href="https://canliiconnects.org/en/summaries/31312">do not apply to universities</a>. By contrast, in the United States, the First Amendment, the source of equivalent rights, does apply to <a href="https://www.aclu.org/other/speech-campus">public universities</a>. </p>
<p>The U.S. Supreme Court decisions concerning First Amendment free speech rights have a <a href="https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/17/academic-freedom">long history</a> of including academic freedom. This connection is non-existent in Canada. </p>
<p>In Canada, academic freedom is <a href="https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/constitutional_forum/index.php/constitutional_forum/article/view/29398/21395">grounded in collective agreements</a> or memoranda of understanding negotiated between faculty associations and university administrations. It usually includes the autonomy of the university and its faculty from outside pressures including provincial and federal governments. </p>
<p>In the U.S., <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.t03.htm">the rate of unionization</a> at universities is far <a href="https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/constitutional_forum/index.php/constitutional_forum/article/view/29398">lower than in Canada</a>, making collective agreements less viable as the guarantee of academic freedom. </p>
<p>The Alberta Court ruled that the Charter right to free expression applies to campus anti-abortion <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.3138/9781487529314-015/pdf">protesters in Alberta</a> and that students at the University of Calgary were merely expressing themselves when they denigrated <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/johs.12120">their professor on Facebook</a>.
But no court has ruled that the Charter applies to universities’ classrooms or university teaching.</p>
<h2>To further confuse matters</h2>
<p>But Bill 32 focuses not on freedom of speech, but on academic freedom. The only other province to legislate on issues concerning academic freedom to our knowledge is Manitoba. </p>
<p>Manitoba’s <a href="https://web2.gov.mb.ca/laws/statutes/ccsm/a006-3e.php">Advanced Education Administration Act</a> merely states that the minister responsible for post-secondary education, “respects the appropriate autonomy of educational institutions and the recognized principles of academic freedom.” </p>
<p>But the goal and functioning of Bill 32 is to define and control the principle of academic freedom (now under universities’ jurisdiction). </p>
<p>The Québec government claims it can do better than universities in protecting this core principle of academic freedom. More substantially, this bill politicizes complex questions of how professors do their work at the university.</p>
<h2>Ignores right to criticize government</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/university-community-reacts-to-quebecs-new-academic-freedom-bill/">Commentators have criticized the bill</a> for omitting what is usually considered a fundamental dimension, that is, the right for academics to criticize their own universities as well as government.</p>
<p>University collective agreements are clear in granting academic freedom to faculty members based on them having fulfilled years of education to become experts in their fields. </p>
<p>But the bill ignores these standard definitions of academic freedom and presents it as if it is like the right to free expression: universal, applicable to everyone regardless of their qualifications. </p>
<p>As American historian Joan Wallach Scott argues about the American right-wing: by “<a href="https://www.amacad.org/news/free-speech-and-academic-freedom">collapsing the distinction between academic freedom and free speech, they deny the authority of knowledge and of the teacher who purveys it</a>.”</p>
<h2>Potential problems with scope</h2>
<p>Since the bill does not restrict itself to academics but speaks of “the right of every person … in their field of activity,” concrete problems for implementation are evident. </p>
<p>For example, if a professor gives a student a C in a course, could this be challenged as restricting the student’s academic freedom from “doctrinal” constraint? </p>
<p>Could not the offence of plagiarism be argued as a “moral” constraint and thus against a student’s academic freedom? </p>
<h2>Joins Ontario and Alberta ‘culture wars’</h2>
<p>The purpose of this bill seems comparable to the influential statement issued by the <a href="https://freeexpression.uchicago.edu/">University of Chicago</a>, known as the <a href="https://provost.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/documents/reports/FOECommitteeReport.pdf">Chicago Principles of Free Expression</a>. Those principles nowhere mention academic freedom. But, they were also <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/education/university-chicago-we-don-t-condone-safe-spaces-or-trigger-n637721">the grounds for the university to speak against “trigger warnings” and the notion of the university as a “safe space.”</a> </p>
<p>The Chicago Principles have been adopted by many American universities, although not without <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2018/12/11/what-chicago-principles-miss-when-it-comes-free-speech-and-academic-freedom-opinion">controversy</a>. </p>
<p>When <a href="https://www.thestar.com/calgary/2019/05/06/alberta-and-ontario-premiers-campus-free-speech-policies-a-dog-whistle-blow-for-the-right-expert.html">Alberta Premier Jason Kenney</a> and <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/develop-free-speech-policies-or-face-funding-cuts-ontario-tells-colleges-1.4074727?cache=lxaherxk%3FclipId%3D375756">Ontario Premier Doug Ford insisted</a> that universities in their respective provinces adopt freedom of speech policies, they referenced the Chicago Principles.</p>
<p>Québec’s bill may be seen as part of the on-going “culture wars,” along with Ford and Kenney’s grandstanding about free speech crises on university campuses.</p>
<p>As in those cases, maybe this is just political posturing <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-ucp-promises-threaten-academic-freedom-of-speech">with little genuine concern</a> for the quality of university education. </p>
<p>In sum, even if this bill is revised or fails, its very proposal signals a move towards using academic freedom as a political weapon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183122/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Ives is affiliated with the University of Winnipeg and is a representative-at-large to the council of the University of Winnipeg Faculty Association. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eve Haque has received funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada for an Insight Development Grant on 'Reconciling Academic Freedom and Equity in Canada'
</span></em></p>In addition to undermining universities’ and faculty members’ autonomy, the bill blurs distinctions between free expression and academic freedom, and turns academic freedom into a political weapon.Peter Ives, Professor, Political Science, University of WinnipegEve Haque, Professor, Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1835142022-05-24T22:41:22Z2022-05-24T22:41:22ZPublic police are a greedy institution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465130/original/file-20220524-20-s2rnf4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C62%2C5955%2C3880&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A photo from a demonstration calling for police accountability and an end to police brutality in Vancouver, in May 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The ongoing <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/defund-the-police-canada-1.5605430">calls from communities to defund public police, that grew louder</a> following the police killings of <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/crime-law-and-justice/killing-of-george-floyd">George Floyd</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/breonna-taylor-police.html">Breonna Taylor</a> in 2020, have raised several crucial questions. </p>
<p>As researchers of police work, we looked at some of the critical issues surrounding these calls in our new <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003167914">book on police, greed and dark money</a>. We examined the push by public police to accumulate more resources despite these calls and the rise of secretive or “dark money” in public policing.</p>
<p>Although <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305791.001.0001">criminologists have shown that social development leads to less street crime and healthier communities</a>, police departments seem unperturbed when social programs for housing, mental health and health care get cut to <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/defund-the-police-this-is-how-much-canadian-cities-spend-1.5018506">fund growing police budgets</a>. It is also <a href="https://prospect.org/justice/police-foundations-scrub-corporate-partners-board-members/">unclear whether a well-funded police institution leads to less transgression</a> or safer communities.</p>
<p>The greedy tendencies of police departments help illustrate the major problems with public police funding in Canada and the United States today. </p>
<h2>What is a greedy institution?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.asanet.org/about/governance-and-leadership/council/presidents/lewis-alfred-coser">American sociologist Lewis Coser</a> first spoke of greedy institutions in 1974. A greedy institution <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241608330092">demands loyalty and conformity to its culture</a>, worldview and politics. For example, the military is a greedy institution since it demands full loyalty to branches of the armed forces. </p>
<p>We are not the first scholars <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X8601300101">to apply the greedy institution concept</a> to public police and to suggest its officers must be loyal and not cross the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7392282/rcmp-directive-thin-blue-line/">“blue line.”</a> Our book extends this concept to show how the police institution seeks loyalty and conformity not just internally, it does so externally as well. </p>
<p>While the public police demands loyalty to its institution and conformity to its worldview, its challengers, within and outside the institution, tend to be shunned or neutralized.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Book cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A new book, Police Funding, Dark Money and the Greedy Institution outline how public police departments demand loyalty and funds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Routledge)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The other meaning of greedy institution is literal. </p>
<p>Police greediness is evident in the quest for private sponsorship of police, especially through private police foundations. These foundations exemplify the attempt of police departments to extend their networks and social connections while accruing more financial resources.</p>
<p>Another example is paid duty policing, which we argue reveals the police managerial desire to control officers’ off-duty activities, while ensuring they receive significant extra money beyond their salaries.</p>
<p>In both instances, dark money is something that often involves secret or anonymous donations or income. The murky exchanges of dark money are mostly hidden to the public.</p>
<h2>Police foundations: a funnel for private capital</h2>
<p>Police foundations have emerged as entities that allow private corporations and individuals to donate to police. In our book, we show how foundations are <a href="https://policefoundations.org">being established at record pace</a>. In the U.S., there are hundreds of police foundations. In Canada, police foundations in Vancouver, Delta and Calgary, as well as a few others, have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azx055">funnelling corporate money to police for decades</a>.</p>
<p>Not many people know how prominent the police foundation has become, nor about the sources and levels of dark money it funnels into public police or the related conflicts of interest that arise. For example, Axon (makers of tasers and body-worn cameras) and other weapons companies <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10439463.2016.1251431?journalCode=gpas20">are major funders of police across North America</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A photo of the Mobile Command Centre - a black van." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C2156%2C1193&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Vancouver Police Department’s SWAT Mobile Command Centre costs $500,000 and is funded by the donors of Vancouver Police Foundation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5dzqnNFk0k">(Vancouver Police Department YouTube channel)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It usually works like this: Private entities give dark money to the foundation. <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/08/24/Private-Firms-Pour-Millions-Militarizing-Police/">Most foundation money ends up getting distributed to the police</a> rather than <a href="https://thebaffler.com/latest/giving-back-to-themselves-ramakrishna">local charities</a>. The police often spend those dollars on tactical units, surveillance devices and police dog teams, things often associated with <a href="https://theconversation.com/rise-of-the-swat-team-routine-police-work-in-canada-is-now-militarized-90073">militarization of the police</a>. </p>
<p>The foundation is the police institution’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10967494.2012.684019">shell corporation</a> through which other corporations and individuals <a href="https://readsludge.com/2020/06/19/corporate-backers-of-the-blue-how-corporations-bankroll-u-s-police-foundations/">can privately donate</a>. These donations continue despite already ample public police budgets and <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/defund-police-dominated-2020-what-happened-n1278506">even after wide public calls to defund public police</a>. </p>
<p>The foundation is also a communication vehicle for police, through which allies <a href="https://canadians.org/analysis/troubling-financial-connections-between-big-oil-and-police">such as powerful corporations</a> or folks from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1748895818794225">local companies and affluent individuals</a> are accrued. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2017.1341509">The foundation can advertise the police worldview</a>, garnering more loyalty and conformity. In this way, police foundations <a href="https://gothamist.com/news/do-cops-serve-the-rich-meet-the-nypds-private-piggy-bank">assemble allies and social and political capital</a> even amid loud calls to defund police. </p>
<h2>Paid detail policing as literal greed</h2>
<p>Paid duty or paid detail is another type of greediness. You may have noticed uniformed and armed police officers standing or strolling about at sporting events: chances are <a href="https://cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/3123/3436">those officers are working paid duty</a>. The sports team or corporation’s venue is paying the officer individually. </p>
<p>If you’ve ever seen police standing around at a construction site, movie shoot or retail outlet or outside a nightclub, chances are those uniformed officers are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23640987">receiving handsome compensation from a private funder</a>.</p>
<p>Paid duty also reflects a greedy institution. </p>
<p>Officers are <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/07/07/high-demand-for-paid-duty-officers-is-putting-a-strain-on-toronto-police-and-event-organizers.html">making big money from these paid duty postings</a>. They receive up to $100 an hour extra from working paid duty and — where not legally required through obscure bylaws — loyal funders are expected to provide “easy gigs” such as standing around at construction sites or sporting events. Yet police administrators often restrict paid duty gigs where cannabis, alcohol, gambling or nudity is involved and that are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0964663918810375">assumed to taint officers’ loyalty</a>. </p>
<p>In Winnipeg, police were <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6277732/winnipeg-police-special-duty-theft-december/">criticized for paid duty guarding of groceries</a> after they <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/winnipeg-superstore-police-racial-profiling-1.5391157">engaged in racial profiling of Indigenous customers</a>. </p>
<p>Paid duty is a problem for professional, accountable policing and its connection with <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/investigations/bs-md-ci-police-foundation-20160827-story.html">police corruption</a> including in Jersey City, Seattle and <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_314863d6-48ca-11ec-a62e-fb326a0266e7.html">New Orleans</a>. In Toronto, officers sometimes miss court dates and exceed limits on paid duty hours worked during lucrative jobs provided by external funders, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/03/04/paid_duty_policing_costs_taxpayers_millions_audit_report.html">as reported by the <em>Toronto Star</em></a>. </p>
<p>Paid duty is also a problem because some funders are public, including government departments that operate road maintenance and construction, utilities and hospitals. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/paid-duty-police-work-does-it-cost-city-too-much-1.2640944">The public already pays for police operations</a>, with huge proportions of government budgets, but then are <a href="https://nationalpost.com/posted-toronto/motion-to-eliminate-65hour-paid-duty-officers-at-work-sites-to-go-to-council">asked by the police institution to pay again for paid duty</a>.</p>
<p>Both private sponsorship through foundations and paid duty channel dark money into police departments. This all suggests that public police need greater scrutiny so that their greedy influence and reach can be reigned in and this institution can be re-envisioned through a lens of the public good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183514/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Walby 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>The greedy tendencies of police departments help illustrate why public police funding is a major problem today in Canada and the United States.Kevin Walby, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, University of WinnipegRandy K. Lippert, Professor of Criminology, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1826352022-05-15T10:44:45Z2022-05-15T10:44:45ZFriendships end for many reasons, including differences exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462869/original/file-20220512-2641-oburx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=60%2C0%2C6720%2C4466&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People's opinions about public health orders, mask mandates and vaccination requirements have divided friends.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</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/friendships-end-for-many-reasons--including-differences-exposed-by-the-covid-19-pandemic" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Friendships change over time. As people and their circumstances change, small disagreements and misunderstandings arise. Ultimately, friends who considered themselves close come to the realization that their paths have diverged. And the friendship could <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/03/why-we-lose-friends-aging-happiness/621305/">end with a bang</a> or a whimper.</p>
<p>Conflicts and disagreements are inevitable in relationships. The ubiquitous advice from experts and laypeople alike when it comes to addressing conflict is to “talk it over” — or, as academics put it, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/001872678603900103">engage in a constructive discussion</a>.”</p>
<p>This advice is generally directed at couples, however, in a recent book titled <a href="https://www.soundstrue.com/products/how-to-break-up-with-your-friends"><em>How to Break Up with Your Friends</em></a>, life coach Erin Falconer encourages her readers to have frank and open conversations when things go “off the rails” with their friends. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pw1vI_zf8g0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption"><em>Good Morning America</em> looks at how people’s relationships have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Passive responses</h2>
<p>But what does the research show? Research on friendship shows that when conflicts and disagreements arise, the most common response is to
“<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10570318209374082">do nothing</a>.” </p>
<p>Psychologist Cheryl Harasymchuk and I conducted research where we <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0265407518769451">presented participants with a scenario in which they were asked to imagine being dissatisfied in a romantic relationship and then responding in four different ways</a>. These were: a positive, active response, where they engaged in a discussion of the issue; a positive, passive response, where they did not raise the issue but stood by and hoped that things would improve; a negative, passive response, which involved withdrawing and ignoring or neglecting the person; or, an active, negative response that saw them ending or threatening to end the relationship. Next, they were asked to predict how the other person would react. </p>
<p>We found that people expected that their friend would reciprocate a passive response, but not an active response. However, in the context of a romantic relationship, people expected that if they responded in an active manner, their partner would do the same. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462761/original/file-20220512-16-3js6ua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a man and woman sit on a green sofa turned away from each other." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462761/original/file-20220512-16-3js6ua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462761/original/file-20220512-16-3js6ua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462761/original/file-20220512-16-3js6ua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462761/original/file-20220512-16-3js6ua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462761/original/file-20220512-16-3js6ua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462761/original/file-20220512-16-3js6ua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462761/original/file-20220512-16-3js6ua.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">People often expect others to respond to issues in a relationship with passivity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Why do friends shy away from open, active discussions of conflict issues? In another phase of this research, we asked participants what outcome they expected, depending on their response to dissatisfaction. It turned out that people anticipated that if they engaged in an active, constructive discussion with their romantic partner, the issue would be resolved. </p>
<p>In contrast, they believed that if they spoke up in a friendship, the issue would not be resolved. In fact, participants believed that issues in friendships are more likely to be resolved by not actively discussing problem issues — in other words, using passive responses. </p>
<h2>Drifting apart</h2>
<p>This culture of passivity also means that unless there is a major turbulent event in a relationship, such as a betrayal of trust, friendships tend not to formally “break up” in the way that romantic relationships do. Rather, friends tend to drift apart when there is disagreement on issues. </p>
<p>Friends also drift apart even when there is no malice. Sometimes circumstances, such as moving away, make it more difficult to maintain the relationship. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the pandemic has brought into sharp focus the differences that friends may experience, especially in terms of fundamental values such as the priority of individual rights over the “greater good.” <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-how-covid-19-has-reshaped-our-friendships/">Friends may find themselves on opposing sides over issues</a> such as vaccine mandates and compliance, mask wearing, support for protests that oppose COVID restrictions and so on. </p>
<p>The discovery of dissimilarities can hasten the death of a friendship, especially if <a href="https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483327440">those dissimilarities revolve around core values</a>.</p>
<h2>Talking things through?</h2>
<p>It is easy to suggest that friends should simply talk it through. What that well-intentioned advice fails to take into account is that friends are not in the habit of talking things through. This is not to say that friends cannot benefit from discussing issues, but merely to point out that people expect that even if they bring up an issue, their friend will not engage and, furthermore, that the issue will remain unresolved. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462759/original/file-20220512-21-1dvp2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="two men" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462759/original/file-20220512-21-1dvp2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462759/original/file-20220512-21-1dvp2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462759/original/file-20220512-21-1dvp2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462759/original/file-20220512-21-1dvp2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462759/original/file-20220512-21-1dvp2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462759/original/file-20220512-21-1dvp2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462759/original/file-20220512-21-1dvp2e.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">When friendships are allowed to wither, there is a stronger possibility for future reconciliation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So where does that leave friends who find themselves on opposite sides of pandemic-related issues? Friendship dissolution seems almost inevitable. It can be difficult at the best of times to <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Friendship-Matters/Rawlins/p/book/9780202304045">find the time and energy to maintain one’s friendships</a>. Commitments to work and family are generally given a higher priority by people than commitment to friends. </p>
<p>Thus, any issue that rocks the boat can be enough to sink a friendship. For those who are motivated to retain a friendship, despite the divide that the pandemic has created or highlighted, it can be helpful to focus on the similarities that you still share. You may want to remind yourself of what you and your friend still have in common, take some time to reflect on your shared experiences and history and think about all that you have invested in this relationship. </p>
<p>Even if the gulf is still too wide, allowing the friendship to wither, rather than actively dissolving it, leaves the door open for future reconciliation. A withered friendship is more easily resuscitated than one that has been officially terminated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182635/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beverley Fehr receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
and the Templeton Foundation. </span></em></p>Friendships can end for many reasons, like a betrayal of trust or changing circumstances. The pandemic has highlighted fundamental belief differences between people, which has affected relationships.Beverley Fehr, Professor, Social Psychology, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1824102022-05-06T16:00:20Z2022-05-06T16:00:20ZDaughters are more willing to sacrifice for their mothers than for their romantic partners<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461778/original/file-20220506-26-bcnjv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C68%2C5760%2C3759&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children feel more of an obligation to care for their mothers than their fathers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With Mother’s Day just around the corner, it seems timely to think about the kinds of relationships that mothers have with their children and, conversely, the kinds of relationships that children have with their mothers.</p>
<p>In 2006, the journal <em>Sociological Perspectives</em> published an article that began: “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/sop.2006.49.2.139">Throughout western history, the mother-daughter bond has been viewed as the strongest of human ties</a>.” The researchers, sociologists J. Jill Suitor and Karl Pillemer, had gathered extensive data from 424 mothers who had at least one adult son and adult daughter for a total of 1,500 children.</p>
<p>The researchers noted that when mothers are asked to rate how close they are to their children, they are reluctant to rate one child higher than another. So the researchers presented the mothers with forced-choice questions: “with which child are you most likely to discuss a personal problem?” and “which child would you choose to help you if you became ill or disabled?” </p>
<p>They found that mothers overwhelmingly favoured daughters over sons: 80 per cent of mothers preferred to talk about a personal problem with a daughter, while only 20 per cent preferred a son. If a mother became ill or disabled, 87 per cent would turn to a daughter, and two-thirds of the mothers selected a daughter when asked to choose the child they felt emotionally closest to.</p>
<p>As a social psychologist who has focused on research on friendships and dating and marital relationships, the declaration that the mother-daughter relationship was the closest human bond came as a surprise.</p>
<p>But these findings are not unique. In research conducted with mothers and their adolescent children, the researchers found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14780880903568022">mother-daughter pairs had more harmonious relationships</a>, including fewer conflicts, than did mother-son pairs. </p>
<p>Turning to even younger children, there is evidence that <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24467852/">although fathers have become increasingly more involved in child care</a>, <a href="https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/parenting/book251466">mothers are still primary caregivers for infants and children</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461781/original/file-20220506-18-s4pdi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a girl sitting at a table, her father behind her helping with homework" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461781/original/file-20220506-18-s4pdi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461781/original/file-20220506-18-s4pdi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461781/original/file-20220506-18-s4pdi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461781/original/file-20220506-18-s4pdi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461781/original/file-20220506-18-s4pdi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461781/original/file-20220506-18-s4pdi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461781/original/file-20220506-18-s4pdi9.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">Fathers report very high levels of compassionate love toward their children, but are more motivated than mothers by obligation to provide care.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How parents care for children</h2>
<p>I embarked on a series of studies on familial relationships, with a focus on mother-daughter relationships. More specifically, I assessed compassionate love, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444303070">generally defined as giving oneself for the good of another</a>, and various measurements of caring for others, including making sacrifices and caregiving.</p>
<p>I found that in the context of parents’ relationships with their young children, both mothers and fathers reported <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407505056439">very high levels of compassionate love for their children</a>. They were also willing to make sacrifices, provide competent care to their child and so on. However, fathers reported being more motivated by feelings of obligation than did mothers.</p>
<p>I examined the relationships between parents and their adult children. The findings were very similar to the first study. Mothers’ and fathers’ ratings of compassionate love for their adult child were very high, although slightly lower than in the study with young children. Both parents were willing to provide emotional and practical support to their child. In this study, fathers reported greater willingness to sacrifice for their adult children than did mothers. </p>
<p>However, fathers reported more caregiving motivated by obligation than did mothers. They also scored higher than mothers on an exploitable dependency scale, which measures actions like worrying about having offended the child and excessive apologizing. Generally, the findings did not differ regardless of whether the parents were reporting on sons or daughters.</p>
<h2>Adult children and their parents</h2>
<p>Next, I also studied the relationship that adult children have with their parents. I found that adult daughters of all ages reported high levels of compassionate love for their mothers. The greater the compassionate love, the greater the willingness to make sacrifices for their mother and to provide emotional and instrumental support to her. Compassionate love also was associated with a healthy attachment to the mother. </p>
<p>I also compared young adults’ compassionate love toward their mothers and their romantic partners. Sons reported higher levels of compassionate love and greater willingness to make sacrifices for their dating partner than for their mother. Daughters’ compassionate love and sacrifice did not differ significantly when reporting on their mothers versus their partners. </p>
<p>In terms of caregiving motivated by feelings of obligation, daughters felt more obligated to provide care for their mothers than for their partners, whereas sons’ obligation did not differ, depending on whether they were responding with respect to their mother or partner. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461783/original/file-20220506-18-9e46m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man and woman sit on a sofa in the background, in the foreground an older woman stands with her arms folded and back to them" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461783/original/file-20220506-18-9e46m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461783/original/file-20220506-18-9e46m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461783/original/file-20220506-18-9e46m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461783/original/file-20220506-18-9e46m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461783/original/file-20220506-18-9e46m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461783/original/file-20220506-18-9e46m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461783/original/file-20220506-18-9e46m1.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"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Men feel more obliged to provide care for their romantic partner than for their mother.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a final study, I examined adult sons’ and daughters’ compassionate love and beneficence toward their mothers and fathers. Both sons and daughters reported higher levels of compassionate love — a selfless, caring kind of love — for their mothers than for their fathers. </p>
<p>Sons reported greater willingness to sacrifice for their parents than did daughters. Daughters reported somewhat more obligation to care for their mother than their father. Both sons and daughters reported providing more emotional and practical support to their mother than for their father. </p>
<p>When adult children were asked to rate the emotional and practical support that they received from their parents, both sons and daughters reported receiving more support from their mother than father.</p>
<h2>Not enough evidence</h2>
<p>So, is the mother-daughter relationship the closest human bond? In my studies examining parents’ relationships with their children, there were few differences between mothers and fathers in their reports of compassionate love and beneficence toward sons and daughters. </p>
<p>Put another way, there was little evidence for the supremacy of the mother-daughter bond. </p>
<p>A somewhat different picture emerged when the participants were children, rather than parents. For adult sons and daughters, the relationship with their mother figured more prominently than the relationship with their father in terms of compassionate love and both providing and receiving emotional and practical support.</p>
<p>However, when it came to their romantic relationships, daughters’ partners — unlike sons — did not take precedence over the mother in terms of compassionate love and willingness to sacrifice. Daughters also reported more obligation to care for their mother than for their partner, and somewhat more obligation to care for their mother than for their father.</p>
<p>And so while there is some evidence of the primacy of the daughter-mother relationship, the evidence is not sufficient to allow sweeping proclamations about the superiority of the mother-daughter bond.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182410/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beverley Fehr receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
and teh Templeton Foundation. </span></em></p>The mother-daughter bond is considered the strongest human bond. While there is little difference between how fathers and mothers love their children, daughters are more likely to care for their mothers.Beverley Fehr, Professor, Social Psychology, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.