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This document is a comment on a previous article discussing the regulatory design of the Water Sustainability Act (WSA) in British Columbia, Canada. The comment argues that the WSA's regulatory design took a science-forward approach and considered specific regional factors. It addresses criticisms of the WSA and emphasizes the importance of licensing groundwater use for assessing environmental impacts. The WSA allows for nuanced water management through regulation-making authorities, but challenges remain in implementing the regulations, including Indigenous water rights and government resources. Recommendations for improving the WSA's design include defining sustainability goals, regionalizing regulatory action, and long-term planning. Ongoing resourcing and consideration of Indigenous rights are necessary for the effective implementation of the WSA. [Extracted from the article]

This document is a reply to a comment on a previous article about applying a science-forward approach to groundwater regulatory design in British Columbia, Canada. The reply addresses three aspects of the comment: the need for legislation for data collection, the flexibility within the new regulatory regime, and the acknowledgement of Indigenous water rights. The authors of the reply appreciate the insider perspective provided by the comment authors, who were involved in the development of the regulatory regime. The reply also discusses the importance of a science-forward approach to groundwater regulation and the challenges faced in implementing it. It concludes by suggesting ways to course correct and improve the regulatory design in the future. [Extracted from the article]

With Canada becoming the first G20 country to legalize the recreational use of cannabis, there has been increasing interest in the emergence of this new marketplace. Newspaper framing helps to shape public opinion on legalization and news sources play a role in determining how the public perceives the use of cannabis. This research analyzes how mainstream newspapers reported on the legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada in the years before and after legalization (between 2016 and 2019). Using a content analysis of 1,390 cannabis-related articles, 11 dominant reporting themes are identified. Over time, there was a shift from negative and sensationalist cannabis news coverage toward more balanced and progressive framing. The findings identify the influence of editorial political stance on thematic coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Positive academic climates are critical to helping students thrive, and kindness innovations might enhance these climates. This conceptual paper’s purpose is to share insights from a consensus building event focused on fostering relationships and knowledge-sharing among an international group of multidisciplinary students, faculty, and staff who explored ways to bring a kindness framework into post-secondary education. Participants underscored kindness as critical for students’ experiences and university culture, and identified several levels of influence requiring intervention focus. Ideas and strategies emerging from the event might serve to encourage student-led kindness initiatives and prompt university personnel to integrate kindness into post-secondary institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of admission forms in the regulation of asylum confinement in the second half of the nineteenth century. Taking the Toronto Lunatic Asylum as a case study it traces the evolution of the forms' content and structure during the first decades of this institution. Admission forms provide important material for understanding the medico-legal assessment of lunacy in a certain jurisdiction. First, they show how the description of insanity depended on a plurality of actors. Second, doctors were not necessarily required to indicate symptoms of derangement. Third, patients' relatives played a fundamental role in providing clinical information. From an historiographical perspective, this paper invites scholars to consider the function of standardized documents in shaping the written identity of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The settler nature of Québécois society makes it a distinct case of minority nationalism. Québec's claim of self‐determination is necessarily more complex and intricately woven with parallel claims from the Indigenous peoples of the territory. This paper argues, first, that Québécois society holds significant obligations toward Indigenous peoples reflected in the commitments made in the historical French treaties and second, that the normative principles embedded in those treaties should be used to transform the relationships it holds with Indigenous peoples and Québec's nationalist project itself. Overall, the paper suggests that Québécois nationalism needs to move away from settler colonialism by considering more seriously the shared nature of the territory it purports to have sovereignty over and by upholding the principles that allowed settlers to stay on the land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an archaeology of Fort La Cloche, a nineteenth-century Hudson's Bay Company post in Georgian Bay (Lake Huron, Canada), this paper explores parallels between historical archaeology and posthumanism. The posthumanities identify and critique three key problems familiar to historical archaeologists: (1) the arbitrary prioritization of certain types of historical actors (usually White, male, settler colonial) as the apex and standard for all humanity; (2) dichotomous modes of thought that cleave the world into discrete (opposed) categories like "nature" versus "culture"; and (3) human exceptionalism, which frames human beings as fundamentally different—and separate—from all other living and nonliving things surrounding them. An archaeology of La Cloche offers insights into how these broader philosophical goals compare with the work of historical archaeologists. The intersection of the archival record with the archaeological collection, a large and varied assemblage of patent medicine bottles, porcelain doll parts, buttons, shotgun casings, and much more, provides new perspectives on the fur trade; it offers insights into the broader community at La Cloche, peopled not just by powerful company men but by children, woman, workers of various kinds and, of course, Ojibwe and other Indigenous peoples. Historical archaeology also focuses on the material conditions of the fort, documenting complicated and sticky relationships of dependence between people of all sorts and humble, nonhuman things. The paper concludes that historical archaeology and posthumanism stand to benefit from further engagement with one another, making recommendations for further growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the contradictory nature and sometimes unintended consequences of workers' efforts to defend particular communities against the ravages of capital restructuring. In the past decade, pattern collective bargaining in the highly unionized British Columbia pulp and paper industry has faced enormous strains due to intense industry restructuring. Our analysis focuses on the repercussions of actions taken by union locals in two British Columbia towns-Port Alice and Port Alberni-to try to secure the survival of their pulp and paper mills and, even in the case of Port Alice, the continued existence of the community. Our analysis resonates with recent debates surrounding worker agency as well as writing in the 1980s which addressed the often contradictory and problematic nature of workers' struggles to 'defend place'; writing largely neglected in more recent work in labour geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada, federal institutions must provide governmental services to all citizens in the country's two official languages: French and English. This paper uses a survey experiment to test exposure to written English as a determinant of support for official bilingualism in the French‐speaking province of Quebec. The data emanate from an exit poll conducted in two Quebec electoral districts during the 2019 Canadian federal elections (n = 430). Results suggest the existence of heterogeneous experimental effects depending on vote choice. Indeed, Bloc Québécois voters—the federal party most strongly supportive of linguistic rights—are disproportionately supportive of institutional bilingualism when randomly exposed to written English on the survey questionnaire. These results are robust to the inclusion of socio‐demographic and attitudinal control variables, including support for Quebec independence. Our paper bolsters causal claims about the contextual determinants of in‐group favouritism and cultural threat in divided societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing sexting in sexual health education classrooms is one way of supporting young people to become good sexual citizens and to emphasise respect and consent in their sexual practices and in their lives. While a fair amount of research has worked with youth to understand their motivations for sexting, less research has been conducted with in-service teachers to understand their perspectives, pedagogical approaches, and beliefs regarding young people and sexting. Set in this context, this paper discusses findings from interviews with Canadian teachers who were teaching a new Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum that included discussions of sexting. Our findings suggest that many teachers are still engaging discourses of risk, shame and blame when they talk to their students about sexting. Likewise, longstanding gender norms and stereotypical sexual scripts are evident in the ways in which many teachers both understand and teach sexting. Some teachers, however, are engaging in more promising pedagogical practices that frame sexting as having a range of uses, outcomes, and purposes, painting a more holistic picture of young people's sexting landscapes. Findings from this paper may be useful for educators and policymakers creating sexting curriculum for young people in educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how children's rights are operationalised in practice, specifically by Canadian child and youth advocate offices (all 12 offices across Canada), international children's commissioners' offices (in Northern Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Norway and Denmark), and their institutional structures. A total of 24 participants took part in the study, including 12 current child and youth advocates from the Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates (CCCYA), two former advocates from the CCCYA, three additional staff members of the CCCYA (collectively, representing all 12 jurisdictions across Canada), one children's commissioner and six designates on behalf of various international children's commissioners. This paper shifts the research focus of children's rights and childhood studies from the narrow confines of the individual child to a focus on the broader relational and interdependent aspects inherent within institutions that protect and promote children's rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the example of an industrial site in Edmonton, Alberta, this paper argues that industrial ruins represent instantiations of abstract abandonment, a kind of real abstraction that directly articulates to the logic of capital. Drawing from excavations of the industrial ruins of Mill Creek Ravine, one of the first industrial areas in Edmonton, this paper reveals how sites of abstract abandonment congeal critical histories of both abandonment and its afterlives. The history of these ruins, and the communities that emerged after they were abandoned materialize the failures of capitalist fantasies, as well as the sprouts that grow in its cracks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the persistent, growing popularity of Canadian French immersion (FI) programmes. Critics charge that FI programmes are elitist, diverting already limited resources from other areas of the education system. We begin with a brief overview of the benefits of FI in Canada and enrolment trends. Next, sources of FI-related inequality – lack of access, transportation costs, funding issues and types of learners most likely to enrol in FI – are scrutinised. Then, available evidence is weighed for and against the charges of FI elitism. Lastly, demand for FI is viewed through a Bourdieusian social reproduction lens to understand the persistence of socio-economic status (SES) inequalities. The paper concludes that higher SES parents are more likely to have the inclination (parentocratic habitus) and resources (economic, social, and cultural capital) to enrol their children in, and benefit from, FI. The paradox of publicly funded FI education in Canada is that as long as demand outstrips supply the benefits will continue to be unequally distributed. The result is a stalemate between proponents and critics, with each camp's solution – whether it be making FI universally available or removing it completely from the public purse – bound to meet with stiff opposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the Canadian spousal reunification process and its specific bureaucratic temporality, in relation to citizenship and mechanisms of social control. Based on ethnographic research in a Facebook support group of Canadian women married to a non-Canadian man, I examine the role of online communities in reinforcing compliance to immigration slow temporalities at the expense of group members' urgent love temporalities. Spousal reunification applicants were recommended not to intervene as long as their file was still within official processing times. Those who acted too soon showed low compliance with government regulations and were called back to order by other applicants. The promotion of discourses that valorise both patience and proactivity deployed at the 'right time' – when delays are expired – constitute mechanisms of social control and contribute to shaping 'good', 'informed' and thus deserving citizens, in the context of marriage fraud suspicion. This article builds on the literature on waiting in immigration processes and articulates it with concepts of good citizenship. It reflects on how online immigration support groups become spaces in which applicants police and discipline each other along gendered lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first update to the book The Earthworms (Lumbricidae, Megascolecidae and Sparganophilidae) in Canada. These four species new for Canada, Eisenia andrei, Amynthas minimus, A. tokioensis, and Pithemera bicincta where received by the author while the book was being printed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper places the seemingly distinct projects of refugee protection and temporary foreign worker programs alongside one another to reveal their interlinked relationship. I argue that despite its seeming humanitarian exceptionality, refugee protection is deeply implicated in the production of both the category and supply of temporary foreign workers for the Canadian economy. I demonstrate that the defining limitations of refugee law in relation to questions of class and economic deprivation are integral to the conceptualization of the category of the migrant worker. I then engage with statistical data to show that patterns of refugee adjudications in Canada have contributed to maintaining the supply of temporary foreign workers. In particular, I show that Canada has consistently rejected refugee claims from key source countries of migrant workers, namely Jamaica and Mexico. By refusing these claims, Canadian refugee protection has constituted Jamaican and Mexican nationals as inappropriate subjects of permanent protection and, subsequently, primed them for incorporation as temporary foreign workers. In effect, Canadian im/migration has operated like a revolving door: pushing some nationalities out of the permanent protection of refugee status while pulling them into the precarious opening of temporary labour migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first update to the book The Earthworms (Lumbricidae, Megascolecidae and Sparganophilidae) in Canada. These four species new for Canada, Eisenia andrei, Amynthas minimus, A. tokioensis, and Pithemera bicincta where received by the author while the book was being printed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the current feelings of Finnish low-income working lone mothers and their views on what it means to be poor in the welfare state of Finland. This is done by analyzing written accounts of lone mothers through a qualitative content analysis. The data was collected in 2015 and 2021. The analysis reveals that mothers' feelings of poverty have similarities to those described in data collected in a different context over 20 years ago. The article is inspired by an article published in Affilia in the year 2003 by Lynn McIntyre, Suzanne Officer, and Lynne M. Robinson. In their paper, McIntyre et al. analyzed the feelings of poor Canadian lone mothers. While the welfare regime and services influence how life is organized, it is evident that self-sacrifice for the children caused by poverty is very much a part of the written accounts of Finnish mothers. We show that while there are a few cultural differences in the feelings that lone mothers undergo on account of their low-income status, feelings such as loneliness are persistent and often shared regardless of time or geographical location. Therefore, we suggest that low-income mothers should be given greater support by society and governments to be able to feel hopeful and empowered rather than poor and alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Dental regulatory bodies aim to ensure the health and safety of dentists, dental staff patients and the public. An important responsibility during a pandemic is to communicate risk and guidelines for patient care. Limited data exist on the perceptions and experiences of dentists navigating new guidelines for mitigating risk in dental care during the pandemic. The objective of this study was to use a qualitative approach to explore how dentists in Canada experienced and perceived their regulatory bodies' communication about COVID‐19 risks and guidelines during the pandemic. Methods: Participants were Canadian dentists (N = 644) recruited through the email roster of nine provincial dental associations or regulatory bodies. This qualitative analysis was nested within a prospective longitudinal cohort study in which data were collected using online questionnaires at regular intervals from August 2020 to November 2021. To address the objective reported in this paper, a conventional qualitative content analysis method was applied to responses to three open‐ended questions included in the final questionnaire. Results: Participants encountered challenges and frustrations amid the COVID‐19 pandemic, grappling with diverse regulations and communications from dental bodies. While some bodies offered helpful guidance, many participants felt the need for improved communication on guidelines. Dentists urged for expedited, clearer and more frequent updates, expressing difficulty in navigating overwhelming information. Negative views emerged on the vague and unclear communication of COVID‐19 guidelines, contributing to confusion and frustration among participants. Conclusion: As COVID‐19 persists and in planning for future pandemics, these experiential findings will help guide regulatory bodies in providing clear, timely and practical guidelines to protect the health and safety of dentists, dental staff, patients and the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early childhood education (ECE) spaces within settler-colonial societies operate as sites of violence and oppression whereby non-conformity to white, rational, ableist, cisgender norms is weaponised as developmental deficits. In this paper, we refer to the refusals of non-dominant ways of knowing as forms of epistemic injustice (Fricker 2007). We describe the foundational underpinnings of ECE throughout the twentieth century in Ontario, Canada and trace how normative ideas of children, educators, education, and childhood developed through a largely positivist, developmental orientation. Ultimately, we call for epistemic justice (Fricker 2007) as an emancipatory way forward in post-secondary ECE programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada, emerging discussions about colonialism and ongoing retrenchment from the welfare state, including social housing, accentuate the urgency of addressing housing need in ways that uphold both human and Indigenous rights. Through questionnaires and interviews with 28 non-profit housing providers in British Columbia, Manitoba, and New Brunswick, this paper examines the intersection of human and Indigenous rights with the provision of low-rent non-market housing. It identifies barriers and strategies to advancing the right to housing in Canada’s settler-colonial capitalist context and, in doing so, articulates possibilities for new policies upholding housing as a human and Indigenous right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reexamines the public memory of Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune. In 1938, Bethune traveled to China to serve at the communist front and to treat soldiers fighting against the invading Japanese army. Throughout China, Bethune is a household name and a communist icon. Back in Canada, however, his name does not evoke the same ubiquity. While Canadians remembered Bethune through biographies, a film, statues, and a small museum, his story in the Anglophone world is confined primarily to the telling of distant history. To explain Bethune's greater notoriety and public presence in China, this essay first turns our attention to Chinese sources that mythologized Bethune's death in 1939. The essay then revisits Chinese propaganda that established Bethune as a lasting political symbol during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s. These national efforts show how a volunteer surgeon such as Bethune became such an important figure in a remote foreign country. China's Communist Party turned Bethune's death into a political event to rally support for their war of resistance against Japan. Later, during the tumultuous period of the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong used Bethune to symbolize unwavering service and loyalty to leader and party. This essay utilizes primary materials in McGill's Osler Library and commentary from the field of memory studies to contextualize Bethune and to situate him within the broader narrative of political education that arose in China during the Cultural Revolution. A layered interpretation of Bethune — as doctor, martyr, and symbolic hero — slowly emerges. Political forces in China transformed his memory into legacy and carry this complicated figure into the present day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patterns of social networks in plurinational societies remain understudied in the inter‐group contact literature. In Canada, a significant number of authors have studied political divides between Quebecers and other Canadians, but little is still known about the scope and determinants of the social disconnect between both communities. This paper provides the first quantitative measure of the social networking gap between Canada's ‘two solitudes’ using behavioural data. Our analysis mobilises the Facebook Connectedness Index (2020), which provides district‐level connectivity estimates between all active Facebook users in Canada. Results obtained via linear regression models show that population size, distance and self‐isolation patterns cannot account for the significant connectivity gap between Quebec and the rest of Canada. However, bilingualism in Quebec is positively correlated with higher inter‐regional networks, suggesting asymmetrical linguistic exchanges. These results empirically confirm decades of anecdotal accounts about the existence of a social disconnect between Canada's French‐ and English‐speaking communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post‐tropical cyclone Fiona made landfall in Nova Scotia, Canada, in September 2022 with the force of a Category 2 hurricane. Using ‘risk society’ as an analytical framework, and Thomas A. Birkland's ‘focusing event’ concept, this paper seeks to understand how publics construct risk in the context of climate change and how institutions engage with those narratives. A qualitative content analysis of 439 newspaper articles from across Canada reveals that most media provide a superficial description of hazard impacts. When media are critical, they connect Fiona to climate change, other extreme events, social vulnerability, and systemic inequality. In response to Fiona and industry trends, insurance representatives indicate a withdraw from covering low‐probability, high‐consequence events owing to ambiguity in risk analysis and financial interests, complicating hazard relief. Political actors' rhetoric is strong—delivering relief in unprecedented ways and offering new adaptive policy. However, a history of unfulfilled political promises to act on climate change elicits scepticism from media sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the social reproductive labour of one group of young people - university students who hold hostile jobs. Engaging in paid work while studying full-time has become common for university students. Despite the desire for high-quality work-integrated learning opportunities, many working undergraduate students face precarious working conditions in service sector jobs. Full-time undergraduate students at two Canadian universities who engaged in term-time paid work participated in focus groups, life mapping, interviews, and audio diaries. The data revealed that more than half of the students experienced hostile work that is characterized by precarious conditions, intensified working pace, erratic scheduling and discrimination. We explore three kinds of social reproductive labour done by young working university students in hostile jobs – the labour of navigating their job conditions, the labour of juggling work and study, and the labour of striving for control and well-being. Our analysis suggests the need to broaden the recognition of the work of working students and to ensure better quality work for young people. Conceptually, the paper is informed by feminist political economy, particularly debates on social reproductive labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to migration studies, settler colonial studies and critical internationalization studies by mapping as connected two concurrent settler colonial preoccupations, reconciliation and internationalization. In Canada, as in other Western countries, international students are a crucial resource as they increasingly sustain post-secondary funding. At the same time, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2015) has charged the educational sector to put reconciliation and decolonization at the heart of their mandate. Drawing on interviews with racialized international students in Ontario, Canada, this paper examines how racialized international students may have complex relationships to coloniality and be complicit in legitimating settler colonialism. We argue that the processes of reconciliation and internationalization must be understood as deeply interconnected especially because the obfuscation of coloniality is a key technology of settler rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Asian (SA) women, immigrant, and non-immigrant, living in the United States (US) and Canada make up a unique population for social research, specifically as it relates to intimate partner (IPV) or gender-based violence (GBV). Despite an increase in study of GBV or IPV including in the current pandemic situation, research on IPV for South Asian women in North America remains inadequate. There is a disconnect in the literature about how multiple psycho-social factors including socio-cultural, socio-demographic, and individual factors intersect and intensify IPV victimization of South Asian women in the North American context. Factors, like collectivism, patriarchy, and family honor are essential to this discussion. To better understand this gap and mobilize knowledge, this paper seeks to assess, evaluate, and examine the current state of literature on IPV among South Asian women in North America (Canada and US) in an effort to determine the associated psycho-social factors that exacerbate South Asian women’s abuse experiences. Additionally, Kimberlé Crenshaw’s intersectional approach is used to explain how South Asian women’s overlapping multiple identities escalate the IPV experience. The results of this paper identify and articulate several psycho-social factors including individual factors (ethnicity, gender role, young age, education, religion, immigrant identity, English fluency, and economic dependency); social/community factors (acculturation which intersect with limited family support and change of gender roles; patriarchy; family primacy (collectivism and family honor); and limited community support); and the (lack of) service/technology knowledge can affect one’s experiences of violence. Educational and policy recommendations for better intervention and/or prevention of IPV for South Asian women residing in the West is also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the shift to working from home among finance professionals in Canada as a result of the COVID‐19 pandemic. We present the results of a survey that invited quantitative and qualitative responses about attitudes toward working from home, the overlap between paid and unpaid (i.e., childcare and other caregiving) work in the home, changing relationships with employers, and preferences regarding the organisation and location of work. We argue that enforced working from home signalled a shift in outlook among finance professionals that, beyond stated preferences to work from home, shows both that many are seeking more autonomy and control over their working lives and a distinct ambivalence about working from home. This is significant in sectors like finance where overwork is common and in‐office dynamics are seen, especially by managers and employers, as particularly important in relation to mentorship, advancement, and promotion, often within rigid masculinist hierarchies. Thus, an eventual return to 'normal', i.e., full‐time office‐based work, may be especially appealing in this sector. This paper contributes to the expanding literature on working from home resulting from COVID‐19 lockdowns in white‐collar professions within and outside of geography, with a focus on the literatures on work, workplaces, and social reproduction in economic and financial geography. This paper explores the shift to working from home among finance professionals in Canada as a result of the COVID‐19 pandemic. We present the results of a survey that invited quantitative and qualitative responses about attitudes toward working from home, the overlap between paid and unpaid (i.e., childcare and other caregiving) work in the home, changing relationships with employers, and preferences regarding the organisation and location of work. We argue that enforced working from home signalled a shift in outlook among finance professionals that, beyond stated preferences to work from home, shows both that many are seeking more autonomy and control over their working lives and a distinct ambivalence about working from home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between federalism and the policy design of labour market policies in two liberal welfare state regimes – Canada and the United States – addressing the following research question: How do variations in policy design intersect with federalism in both countries and how can these variations provide powerful, self-reinforcing or self-undermining feedback effects over time? Combining the literatures on the varieties of federalism, the liberal welfare regime, and policy design and feedback, the paper shows that paying close attention to federalism is necessary to understand diverse national policy designs that produce self-reinforcing feedback effects over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought monitoring and early detection have improved greatly in recent decades through the development and refinement of numerous indices and indicators. However, a lack of guidance, based on user experience, exists as to which drought-monitoring tools are most appropriate in a given location. This review paper summarizes the results of targeted user engagement and the published literature to improve the understanding of drought across North America and to enhance the utility of drought-monitoring tools. Workshops and surveys were used to assess and make general conclusions about the perceived performance of drought indicators, indices and impact information used for monitoring drought in the five main Köppen climate types (Tropical, Temperate, Continental, Polar Tundra, Dry) found across Canada, Mexico, and the United States. In Tropical, humid Temperate, and southerly Continental climates, droughts are perceived to be more short-term (less than 6 months) in duration rather than long-term (more than 6 months). In Polar Tundra climates, Dry climates, Temperate climates with dry warm seasons, and northerly Continental climates, droughts are perceived to be more long-term than short-term. In general, agricultural and hydrological droughts were considered to be the most important drought types. Drought impacts related to agriculture, water supply, ecosystem, and human health were rated to be of greatest importance. Users identified the most effective indices and indicators for monitoring drought across North America to be the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) and Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) (or another measure of precipitation anomaly), followed by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) (or another satellite-observed vegetation index), temperature anomalies, crop status, soil moisture, streamflow, reservoir storage, water use (demand), and reported drought impacts. Users also noted the importance of indices that measure evapotranspiration, evaporative demand, and snow water content. Drought indices and indicators were generally thought to perform equally well across seasons in Tropical and colder Continental climates, but their performance was perceived to vary seasonally in Dry, Temperate, Polar Tundra, and warmer Continental climates, with improved performance during warm and wet times of the year. The drought indices and indicators, in general, were not perceived to perform equally well across geographies. This review paper provides guidance on when (time of year) and where (climate zone) the more popular drought indices and indicators should be used. The paper concludes by noting the importance of understanding how drought, its impacts, and its indicators are changing over time as the climate warms and by recommending ways to strengthen the use of indices and indicators in drought decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares the law and policy frameworks for protecting marine species at risk in Australia and Canada. The sea of practical challenges is examined, including achieving listing of threatened commercial species; attaining timely and effective recovery planning; and identifying and protecting critical habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper is based on a frame analysis of the media portrayal of Syrian refugees in the three highest circulating Canadian newspapers from 2011 to 2022. From 2011 to 2013 the focus was on the conflict being far away, confusing and complicated but not Canada’s concern. From 2014 to 2016, the conflict became urgent to Canadians and their politicians. From 2017 to 2022, as policy changed to actively soliciting refugees to come to Canada, the focus emphasized the inadequacies of resources available to refugees and bureaucratic snafus. There was little reporting about Syrian refugees as people, but when given a voice they were portrayed as grateful and heroic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractInternational students’ contact and engagement with various cultures has received increased scholarly attention. This scholarship tends to either celebrate students’ cosmopolitanism or highlight their difficulties ‘adapting’ in their receiving countries. In this paper, we examine students’ own perceptions of and engagement with their sending and receiving countries’ cultures through the dialectic of distance and proximity, gleaned from mobilities studies. Based on 20 in-depth online interviews with Vietnamese nationals studying in Vancouver and Paris, our analysis highlights how these students construct or deconstruct notions of distance and proximity between Vietnam and their receiving countries (i.e. France and Canada), as well as between themselves and each of these countries. First, we examine how, before their departure, students cultivate a sense of cultural proximity to their geographically distant countries of destination, through studying and consuming media in French or English. Second, we address students’ rapport with French and Canadian societies as well as their sense of proximity to or distance from Vietnamese culture while studying in France and Canada. We examine how these (de-)constructions of distance can be related to students’ cosmopolitanism. We argue that notions of distance and proximity help foster a nuanced understanding of international students’ mobilities and cosmopolitanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For most of Canada’s approximately 40-year debate on medically assisted death, euthanasia and assisted suicide were considered distinct issues. Yet in 2016 their ethical, psychological, and practical differences were effectively disregarded when the two acts were grouped together in the legislation under the umbrella term “Medical Assistance in Dying” (MAiD). The lack of distinction under the law of the two terms ignores important ethical considerations from the MAiD practitioners’ perspective. Although the principle of respect for autonomy must remain central to the assessments of MAiD eligibility, it cannot be the only consideration. This paper examines the ethical considerations and principles that underlie decisions to provide MAiD through an analysis of the progress, and results, of the 40-year debate on assisted suicide and euthanasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Improving equity and early access to palliative care for underserved populations in Canada is a priority. Little is known regarding access to palliative and end-of-life care in the Black population. Methods: We undertook a scoping review using the framework by Arksey and O'Malley to identify knowledge, access gaps, and experiences of palliative and end-of-life care among Blacks living with life-limiting illnesses in Canada. Primary studies, discussion papers, books, and reports were considered eligible. We followed a comprehensive search strategy developed by an information scientist. Searches were performed in the following bibliographic databases: Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO via OVID, CINAHL via EBSCOhost, Scopus and Cochrane Library via Wiley. The search strategy was derived from three main concepts: (1) Black people; (2) Canada and Canadian provinces; (3) Palliative, hospice, or end-of-life care. No publication date or language limits were applied. Titles and abstracts were screened for eligibility by one reviewer and full text by two independent reviewers. Results: The search yielded 233 articles. Nineteen articles were selected for full-text review, and 7 articles met the inclusion criteria. These studies were published between 2010 and 2021, and conducted in the provinces of Ontario and Nova Scotia only. Studies used both quantitative and qualitative methods and included cancer decedents, next of kin, family caregivers and religious leaders. Sample sizes in various studies ranged from 6 − 2,606 participants. Included studies reported a general lack of understanding about palliative and end-of-life care, positive and negative experiences, and limited access to palliative and end-of-life care for Blacks, across all care settings. Conclusion: Findings suggest limited knowledge of palliative care and inequities in access to palliative and end-of-life care for Blacks living with life-limiting illnesses in 2 Canadian provinces. There is an urgent need for research to inform tailored and culturally acceptable strategies to improve understanding and access to palliative care and end-of-life care among Blacks in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geothermal energy exploration, development, and research have been ongoing in Canada for several decades. The country's cold climate and the push to develop renewable energy sources have driven interest in geothermal energy. Despite this drive, regulatory complexities and competition with other relatively inexpensive energy sources with existing infrastructure have hindered development. As such, interest has grown and waned with changes in the energy economy over several decades, leaving many projects at a standstill. As of January 2023, there are currently no operational geothermal power projects in Canada. Many hot spring pool and spa complexes remain active, and Canada is a leading country in the installation of ground source heat pumps (GSHPs; also called geo-exchange systems). However, in the last decade, the interest in deep geothermal systems has renewed, with many new projects starting up across several provinces and territories. Moreover, projects that had shown limited progress for many years—such as Mount Meager in British Columbia—have begun to renew their development efforts. Research is also expanding within prominent research groups and universities. The areas of focus include both building upon previous studies (such as thermal gradients and the heat flow in sedimentary basins) and researching new methods and resources (such as GSHPs, closed-loop systems, integrated geothermal operations, and hybrid systems, including heat storage). The development is supported by federal, provincial, and territorial governments through grants and the development of regulatory frameworks. Although challenges still remain for Canada to develop its geothermal energy resources, several power, thermal, and co-production projects, ongoing research, funding, and regulatory acts are all moving forward to support geothermal development. This paper aims to study Canada's geothermal energy update in 2023 regarding the aspects mentioned above. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Research on intimate partner violence (IPV) is generally focused on female survivors. However, in Canada, about half of all self-reported victims of IPV are men and 1 in 5 calls to police for domestic violence are for male victims. This paper takes a comparative approach to understanding survivors' experiences of IPV. Methods: Across Canada, 110 female and 45 male survivors of IPV were recruited through media, social media, and listservs for a survey and interviews in 2017. Results: Findings indicate areas of similarity (healthcare needs; difficulty accessing formal support; fear of false accusations) and areas of difference (availability of formal support; types of violence experienced most often; interactions with the justice system). Women and men reported similar types of IPV, with women experiencing higher rates of sexual violence, stalking, and damage to property. Women and men reported similar physical and mental health consequences following IPV. Men were less satisfied than women with the response of the justice system, and both female and male participants encountered gender bias within the justice system. Some women reported being turned away from services that were at their maximum capacity, and men reported difficulty identifying IPV-related services for male survivors. Conclusions: Findings can be used by frontline service providers and the justice system to ensure that services are gender-inclusive and gender-sensitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pope Francis's dream for a synodal Church has implications for Catholic schools globally, but what exactly are these consequences? This paper explores Francis's vision in the context of Canadian Catholic schools in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories (NWT), where these schools are fully-funded by the government and enroll nearly a quarter million students. Ten exploratory interviews with chief superintendents from these schools—which formed the basis of a larger study—were analyzed to understand potential connections to Francis's vision and his four commitments to synodality: focusing on relationships, a culture of encounter, the essentials of the Christian faith, and local decision-making. The pope differentiates synodality from democratic forms of leadership and demands a communal form of listening and discerning God's Spirit. While the superintendents' style of leadership appeared to mirror synodality in many ways, predominant issues remain to be explored: an emphasis on relationships upends the status quo and gives new directions for the schools; encountering others will inevitably demand prophetic leadership by the system leaders; leading with the essentials of faith will not please everyone in Catholic schooling; and shared authority among the superintendents, bishops, and trustees requires further dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on why and how public attitudes towards immigration in Canada have grown more positive between 1998 and 2021, this paper examines whether the changes in attitudes stem from changes in population characteristics or changes in the effect of these characteristics. Our analysis sheds light on the implications of the 2008–2010 financial crisis on the support for immigration. Our logit regression analysis shows that positive attitudes towards immigration are positively related to higher levels of education attainment regardless of the survey years but negatively associated with the support for conservative political parties, especially during and after the financial crisis. By employing decomposition analysis, we investigate the shift in public opinions across individual characteristics before, during, and after the 2008 financial crisis. We find that, for all periods, most of the attitude shift results from the change in the effect of population characteristics rather than the change in the characteristics themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the way in which institutional context shapes legislators' ability to represent women's interests. In recent decades, scholars have turned their attention to the process of representation in parliament, and we develop a novel theoretical framework that accounts for patterns of representational behaviour. Through an examination of the different institutional contexts of the two houses of the Canadian parliament, we argue that unelected, less partisan contexts give legislators more opportunities to act for women's interests than elected, partisan contexts where legislators must respond to the demands of their parties and their constituents in order to maintain power. To illustrate our theory, we examine two instances of legislative policymaking on women's equality issues. Our illustrations justify further investigation of unelected legislators as critical actors in the substantive representation of women in institutions around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the roles of quality managers at community colleges, their experiences balancing accountability and improvement and their insights into the future of quality assurance. Design/methodology/approach: This phenomenological, qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with eight community college quality managers to investigate their roles, experiences and perspectives. A reflexive thematic approach was used to analyze the interview data. Findings: Four themes were identified from participant responses: quality managers frame and enable program quality, quality managers drive program change, quality managers cultivate a culture of quality and quality managers seek system change. The findings illustrate the roles played by quality managers as they work to improve college education at program, institution and system-wide levels. Research limitations/implications: The decision of participants to accept the recruitment invitation might reflect particular attitudes, perspectives or experiences. Practical implications: Quality assurance has emerged as a key mechanism for ensuring postsecondary programs are current, relevant and meeting the evolving needs of students and employers. This study advances the understanding of how quality assurance processes play out at the operational level and explores the experiences of quality managers as they navigate various quality tensions. Originality/value: Quality managers play key roles in leading, evaluating and influencing quality assurance processes in postsecondary education yet they are underrepresented in the literature. The findings of this study shed new light on the aspirational and influential roles they play in advancing quality assurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although literature on energy cooperation highlights that cooperation is more successful at the regional level, it largely fails to understand and conceptualize energy cooperation as part of the wider phenomenon of regionalism. Energy cooperation tends to be analyzed through prisms of security and geopolitics, thus, downplaying other important regional integration processes. The present paper addresses this lacuna, defining energy regionalism and conceptualizing its various dimensions, logics, motivations, and interests. We apply a comparative perspective, examining two regions which exhibit extensive energy cooperation yet differ in several ways: North America and the European Energy Community. Our findings suggest various trajectories and models, and indicate that formal institutionalization is neither a necessary condition for nor a guarantee of strong energy regionalism. We discern that regional anchor is key in North American and European energy regionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wheat market integration between the US and the UK before the "first era of globalization" (in the second half of the nineteenth century) was frequently interrupted by policy and "exogenous" events such as wars. This paper adds Canada to this story by looking at trade and price data, as well as contemporary debates. This allows us to triangulate the role of policy and wars, since Canada as a small open economy was part of the British Empire. We find that, despite its privileged access to British markets, Canada faced similar barriers to the US, suggesting that membership of the British Empire provided only a modest benefit to trade. We also describe the limitations she faced accessing the US market, in particular after American independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching quality assurance has become a common concern and a common pursuit for institutions of higher learning around the world. This paper takes teaching quality as a governance issue in higher education, as different governance systems entail different approaches to quality assurance. Through a detailed examination of the Chinese system in teaching administration in comparison with the Canadian system, this study aims to provide insights on different approaches to teaching quality assurance in more centralised and decentralised governance structures. Based on the findings of this study, no winner can be declared between centralised and decentralised systems in the area of teaching quality assurance. Instead, the study points to different strengths in each system. With more local autonomy, the decentralised system better respects disciplinary uniqueness and academic freedom in teaching. With more national planning, the centralised system secures a system-wide threshold in teaching quality and an optimal long-term development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act is an example of symbolic legislation that bulwarks a façade of government protection and democratic participation in the face of relative public political powerlessness. Rather than protect railway stations, the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act creates an illusion of preservation. The Act's weak regulatory framework, the emotionality and legal complexity of railway station protection, and the disparate political experience of railway companies versus heritage advocates all imply the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act is symbolic legislation. This paper challenges discourse analysis's predominance within critical heritage studies. It demonstrates the importance of considering heritage law's real-world effects when analyzing its political import. It calls on critical heritage scholars to consult a broader range of sources and consider the political implications of heritage law beyond recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Indigenous populations in Canada and the United States (US) have maintained reciprocal relationships with nature, grounded in respect for and stewardship of the environment; however, disconnection from traditional food systems has generated a plethora of physical and mental health challenges for communities. Indigenous food sovereignty including control of lands were found to be factors contributing to these concerns. Therefore, our aim was to conduct a scoping review of the peer-reviewed literature to describe Indigenous disconnection from Indigenous food systems (IFS) in Canada and the US. Methods: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-SR) and Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines, we searched MEDLINE, SCOPUS, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, Sociological Abstracts, and Bibliography of Native North Americans. Data was extracted from 41 studies and a narrative review completed based on study themes. Results: The overarching theme identified in the included studies was the impact of colonization on IFS. Four sub-themes emerged as causes for Indigenous disconnection from traditional food systems, including: climate change; capitalism; legal change; and socio-cultural change. These sub-themes highlight the multiple ways in which colonization has impacted Indigenous food systems in Canada and the US and important areas for transformation. Conclusions: Efforts to reconnect Indigenous knowledge and values systems with future food systems are essential for planetary health and sustainable development. Traditional knowledge sharing must foreground authentic Indigenous inclusion within policymaking. Highlights: • The main theme identified amongst the SR literature was the lasting impacts of colonization on Indigenous food systems in Canada and the US, which is described through four key areas: climate change; capitalism; legal changes; and socio-cultural changes. • Less than 20% of included papers report author positionality, with only 7% of included papers reporting Indigenous authorship, emphasizing an opportunity for more reporting and Indigenous engagement in the future. • Loss of cultural knowledge and practices was highlighted by many articles reviewed. • Revitalisation of IFS must include authentic Indigenous engagement, support Indigenous knowledge frameworks, community sharing networks, education programs and co-management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Canada legalized medical assistance in dying (MAID) in 2016, it has become one of the most permissive regimes in the world for euthanasia and assisted suicide. The number of deaths has risen rapidly and the categories of eligibility continue to expand. The country is poised, as of March 2024, to allow MAID for those whose sole underlying condition is mental illness, generating considerable debate. Advocates of MAID for mental illness often frame it as a question of equal access, but this extension involves considerable complexities not present in other cases. This paper examines psychiatric MAID in the Canadian context, engaging directly with the most pertinent arguments of the practice􀂶s advocates. The paper argues that independent of any prior commitments vis-à-vis the permissibility of MAID per se, there is a clear ethical and legal necessity to oppose extending MAID on the grounds of mental illness if we follow the parameters set up within the Canadian regime. The paper advances three arguments: first, that mental illnesses cannot be deemed irremediable, as required by the Canadian law; second, that we cannot establish with adequate certainty that a mentally ill patient has the decision-making capacity to choose MAID; and third, that allowing psychiatric MAID will have a devastating impact on care and support of the mentally ill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Purpose:: To assess the utility of personal digital assistants for documentation at the bedside on an acute pain service. Methods:: This reality-based unblinded randomized trial recruited 35 patients on the personal digital assistant (PDA) arm and 39 patients on the paper arm. The primary outcome measure was assessment time and comprehensiveness between patient visits documented on paper versus the PDA. Secondary objectives were to gather qualitative information about the use of PDAs at the point-of-care. Results:: The median time to complete the initial patient assessment was 2.8min on the PDA arm and 2.7min on the paper arm. The median total patient encounter time (assessment and recording) was 6.1 and 4.6min on the PDA and paper arms, respectively (Z = −2.28, P-value = 0.00). Pain scores were documented on 65% of assessments on the PDA arm and 44% of the assessments on the paper arm. Nausea, pruritis and sedation were collected on 100% of PDA assessments, compared to 13–33% of paper assessments. Conclusions:: This study found that patient encounter time was longer but more information was collected on the PDA compared to paper. Non-PDA owners took significantly longer to document on the PDA compared to paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Since its original formulation, various extensions of the Kuznets hypothesis have been proposed. In this paper, we make use of a unique panel dataset of Canadian regions to test whether inter‐personal income inequality increases once the initial inverted‐U pattern is completed. Our results support the notion of a sideways S‐shaped curve describing a wavelike decrease to increase shift, with a turning point in the late‐1990s/early‐2000s where inter‐personal inequality across regions "bottoms out" before alternating to an upward‐sloping trajectory. While there are many factors associated with this reversal of trends, we find evidence that a region's size plays a role in explaining the more recent rise in inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Due to ongoing inequities in the social determinants of health and systemic barriers, homelessness continues to be a significant concern that disproportionately impacts racialized communities. Despite constituting a small proportion of the population, Black individuals are over-represented among people experiencing homelessness in many Canadian cities. However, although Black homelessness in Canada is a pressing issue, it has received limited attention in the academic literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reported prevalence of Black homelessness across Canada. Design/methodology/approach: By consulting enumerations from 61 designated communities that participated in the 2018 Nationally Coordinated Point-in-Time Count and two regional repositories – one for homeless counts supported by the government of British Columbia and another from the Rural Development Network – this paper reports on the scale and scope of Black homelessness across Canada. Findings: Significantly, these reports demonstrate that Black people are over-represented among those experiencing homelessness compared to local and national populations. These enumerations also demonstrate significant gaps in the reporting of Black homelessness and inadequate nuance in data collection methods, which limit the ability of respondents to describe their identity beyond "Black." Originality/value: This research provides an unprecedented examination of Black homelessness across Canada and concludes with recommendations to expand knowledge on this important and under-researched issue, provide suggestions for future iterations of homeless enumerations and facilitate the development of inclusive housing policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]