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February 17, 2026

Brain injury is almost 10 times more common in unhoused people. Addressing it is key to reducing homelessness

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Mauricio A. Garcia-Barrera, Professor of Psychology, University of Victoria

On any given night, 60,000 people in Canada will go to sleep homeless. Research estimates that more than half of them have had a brain injury at one point in their lives, most of them being injured before becoming homeless. An estimated 22.5 per cent live with moderate or severe brain injuries, a rate nearly 10 times higher than the general population.

Several avenues can lead a person to experience homelessness, including abuse, criminality and other adverse life events, all of which can be interrelated with brain injury. For example, experiencing a brain injury can lead to the onset of a mental health or substance use disorder, impulsivity and aggression, which can, in turn, lead to unemployment, family breakdown or other known causes of homelessness.

“Acquired brain injury” refers to brain damage after birth, either from external physical force (called traumatic brain injury) or internal problems like stroke or infection (non-traumatic). The more severe the brain injury, the greater the impairment, with cognitive abilities often being the most affected.

Cognitive impairment and homelessness

At the CORTEX Lab at the University of Victoria, one of our research interests is the impact of brain injury.

Brain injury often leads to a wide range of cognitive challenges, including mental fog, fatigue, difficulty concentrating and memory problems that disrupt learning and daily functioning. Executive functioning, including decision-making and problem-solving processes, can be particularly affected.

When these impairments go undiagnosed and unsupported, the consequences ripple across every aspect of life: work and school performance decline, relationships suffer and healthy coping mechanisms erode.

Sustaining employment, education and family responsibilities becomes overwhelming. Remembering medications, appointments, and effectively completing tasks such as filling out a form can feel nearly impossible. Financial strain, interpersonal loss and chronic stress compound these difficulties.

Without adequate recovery supports, these factors converge, increasing vulnerability to homelessness and perpetuating a cycle where further brain injuries become more likely.

Systemic gaps in supports

Our research identified several systemic barriers that make it difficult for people living with brain injuries to break the cycle of housing instability and homelessness.

Stigma is pervasive and can undermine the quality of care people receive. People may be discouraged from seeking help when they need it because their trust in systems and service providers is broken.

Health-care and housing systems operate in silos. Long wait-lists, complex application processes and limited communication between organizations make the available services difficult to navigate, especially for people with brain injuries who may require additional support to complete paperwork, attend appointments and advocate for their needs.

Many people with brain injuries rely on income assistance. There is growing concern about the discrepancy between these supplements and the rising cost of living. In today’s rental market, “affordable” housing is financially inaccessible for those relying on income assistance. When housing is obtained, individuals are left with minimal resources to meet their basic needs after rent is paid. This, coupled with under-investment in existing supportive and transitional housing, further limits the availability of appropriate shelter options.

What can we do? Top five solutions

Our community partners’ insights yielded the following recommendations for improving the health and well-being of people experiencing homelessness and brain injury, listed below in order of priority:

1. Provide accessible and affordable housing

People with a brain injury need affordable, accessible housing with special support, including alternative transportation, age-appropriate settings and flexible living options. A housing-first approach with adequate financial help provides the stability needed for successful community living.

2. Enhance resources for service providers

Specialized training for health-care and public service workers who commonly interact with people experiencing homelessness, such as community outreach workers and police, can help to improve the quality of care. The expansion of brain injury health-care services into homeless communities is also key, with particular emphasis on screening and diagnostic services as the first step to connecting people to specialized care.

3. Design needs-based services

Health-care services must consider basic needs that are often overlooked. For example, providers should offer storage, even without ID, so that unhoused patients can safely store their belongings while attending appointments, which can be plentiful following a brain injury.

4. Improve collaboration and adopt a long-term integrated approach

Improving communication between health authorities and housing service providers may facilitate a smoother transition from hospital (post-brain injury) to housing, in turn preventing people from being discharged to the streets. The idea of “care with distinction” is critical, as a team of multidisciplinary health-care professionals are needed to understand needs specific to brain injury, psychiatric or physical conditions, and how these challenges interact in people experiencing homelessness. Continuity of care is also crucial, as brain injury can require lifelong support.

5. Reduce stigma through public health education

Public health education campaigns arose as a promising means for promoting awareness and reducing stigma. By fostering greater awareness for the interconnections between brain injury and homelessness, greater compassion might be promoted.

Supporting a national strategy: Bill C-206

The high burden of brain injury among people experiencing homelessness is undeniable. Bill C-206, an Act to establish a national strategy on brain injuries, represents a critical step toward addressing brain injury in Canada and, as an outcome, addressing homelessness.

The legislation aims to improve prevention, treatment and recovery support for the millions of Canadians affected by brain injury. The bill emphasizes collaboration, public education, and comprehensive care for individuals and families navigating life after a brain injury. A national strategy will have a visible impact not only on affected individuals but on our communities at large.

Mauricio A. Garcia-Barrera receives research funding associated with the work referred in this article from the (former) BC Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, the Vancouver Foundation, Michael Smith Health Research BC, and Mitacs.

Cole J. Kennedy receives funding for the research referenced in this article from the BC Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, Vancouver Foundation, Michael Smith Health Research BC, Mitacs and the BC Brain Injury Association. He is also supported by Island Health and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Grace C. Warren receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s award.

– ref. Brain injury is almost 10 times more common in unhoused people. Addressing it is key to reducing homelessness – https://theconversation.com/brain-injury-is-almost-10-times-more-common-in-unhoused-people-addressing-it-is-key-to-reducing-homelessness-270162

February 17, 2026

Air pollution may directly contribute to Alzheimer’s disease – new study

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Eef Hogervorst, Professor of Biological Psychology, Loughborough University

Air pollution has long been linked to heart and lung disease. But a large US study suggests it may also raise the risk of Alzheimer’s disease – the most common form of dementia.

Researchers tracked nearly 28 million older adults over six years nationwide. They found that those exposed to higher levels of fine particulate air pollution were more likely to develop Alzheimer’s.

These fine particles come mainly from burning fossil fuels, wildfires, deliberate field burning for agricultural clearing and industry. Known as PM2.5, they are smaller than 2.5 micrometres and small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream.

The US study used Medicare insurance claims to confirm Alzheimer’s diagnoses and area data by postcode for fine particle pollution levels. It also looked at other factors that could explain the link, such as the proportion of smokers or overweight people living in more or less polluted areas.

But using postcode data has limitations. It doesn’t account for how close individual homes are to motorways, industry or forests. It also doesn’t capture indoor pollution from things like cleaning products, wood burners or candles – all of which can vary hugely from house to house.

Postcodes also don’t always identify poverty accurately. Poverty is linked to many Alzheimer’s risk factors – lower educational attainment, poorer access to good food and healthcare, and living in more polluted areas.

In this study poverty and deprivation was taken into account by looking at Medicaid eligibility (which was the case for 26% of the group investigated). This type of insurance is for people over 65 who have low incomes or significant disability, or both.

The findings are particularly concerning because pollution levels in the areas studied were, on average, about twice as high as the limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO advises that annual levels of PM2.5 should not exceed five micrograms per cubic metre of air.

The researchers found that the increased Alzheimer’s risk in polluted areas remained even after taking high blood pressure, stroke and depression into account. These conditions were linked both to air pollution and to Alzheimer’s, but they didn’t fully explain the relationship between the two.

There are biological reasons why this link makes sense. Air pollution with fine particles may harm the brain by increasing inflammation and promoting oxidative stress, which causes brain cells to malfunction. The polluting particles are small enough to enter the bloodstream, and they can block bloodflow to the brain.

Elderly man doing a puzzle shaped like a human head. — The air we breathe is shaping our brains in later life.
LightField Studios/Shutterstock.com

This study is alarming, but it isn’t the first to find a link between air pollution and dementia. When researchers combined data from 20 studies across America, Europe and Asia, they found a clear pattern: the more PM2.5 particles in the air, the higher the risk of dementia.

For every extra ten micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic metre of air, the risk of dementia rose by around 40%. The risk of Alzheimer’s disease went up by about 47%, and the risk of vascular dementia – a type caused by reduced blood flow to the brain – doubled entirely. Taken together, the evidence is hard to ignore.

The global picture

PM2.5 pollution is especially high in some countries in Africa, India and China. Dementia risk is also increasing at alarming rates in these regions.

Indonesia has areas with very high pollution levels. Research suggests it may have double – or possibly even triple – the percentage of people over 65 with suspected dementia compared to the EU. And China faces very high costs from its growing number of people with dementia. Initially, policy changes in China were able to reduce fine particle emissions. But in more recent years, this seemed less effective.

With the US increasing what was considered a safe fine particulate limit, there’s an urgency to act. These and other countries need to reduce pollution sooner rather than later to prevent the current and future human and economic costs of dementia.

Eef Hogervorst receives funding from ISPF to investigate pollution in Indonesian neonates and stunted growth, a risk factor for later life dementia

– ref. Air pollution may directly contribute to Alzheimer’s disease – new study – https://theconversation.com/air-pollution-may-directly-contribute-to-alzheimers-disease-new-study-275873

February 17, 2026

Iran-US nuclear talks may fail due to both nations’ red lines – but that doesn’t make them futile

Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Nina Srinivasan Rathbun, Professor of International Relations, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto; USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

The latest rounds of nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran are going well enough for now, according to the steady drip of public statements from the main parties involved.

“I think they want to make a deal,” said U.S. President Donald Trump on the eve of the latest round of discussions held in Geneva on Feb. 17, 2026. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, noted progress over the “guiding principles” of the talks.

Such optimism was similarly on display during initial talks in Oman earlier in the month.

But as someone who has researched nonproliferation and U.S. national security for two decades and was involved in State Department nuclear diplomacy, I know we have been here before.

Optimism also existed in spring 2025, during five rounds of indirect talks that preceded the United States bombing of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure as part of a broader Israeli attack. Pointedly, Iran noted in February that a climate of mistrust created by that attack hangs over the efforts for a negotiated deal now.

And underpinning any pessimism over a deal now is the fact that talks are taking place with a backdrop of U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf region and counteraction from Iran, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz for a live-fire drill.

Red lines

But it is more than mistrust that will need to be overcome. The positions of both the U.S. government and Iran have ossified since May 8, 2018 – the date when the first Trump administration withdrew the United States from the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal.

Iran continues to be unwilling to even discuss its ballistic missile program. This is a red line for them.

Yet the United States continues to demand limits to Iran’s ballistic missiles and the ending of Iran’s support of proxy fighters in the region be included in the nuclear talks, in addition to having Iran fully abandon enriching uranium – including at the low civilian-use level agreed on under the 2015 nuclear deal.

The talks are taking place amid a wider trend toward the end of what can be called the “arms control era.” The expiration of New START – which until Feb. 5, 2026, limited both the size and status of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons and maintained robust verification mechanisms – together with the increasing willingness to engage in military actions to achieve political goals heightens the challenges for diplomacy.

Military brinkmanship

So why the apparent public optimism from the U.S. government?

Trump believes that Iran is in a weaker position than during his first term, following the largely successful Israeli attacks on Iran’s regional proxies as well as on Iran itself. The strategic capabilities of Tehran’s two main sponsored groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, are clearly diminished as a result of Israeli action.

The U.S. may also still feel it has the upper hand following the June 2025 Operation Rising Lion, in which Iran’s nuclear infrastructure was attacked in response to an International Atomic Energy Agency’s report that Iran’s stockpile of near-weapons grade enriched uranium surged by over 50% in the spring.

Plumes of smoke are seen above buildings — The aftermath of an Israeli strike in Tehran on June 23, 2025.
Elyas/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

The reopening of talks now also comes in the immediate aftermath of Iran’s bloody crackdown on anti-government protests, leaving thousands of protesters dead.

The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group was deployed near Iranian waters in January as a signal to the protesters of U.S support. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that successful talks must include topics beyond Iran’s nuclear program, including the “treatment of (its) own people.”

Trump continues to consider military options against Iran, warning that “if they don’t make a deal, the consequences are very steep.”

Yet there is a danger that Washington may be overestimating its position.

While the United States maintains that Iranian nuclear sites were “obliterated” in the June attack, satellite imagery indicates that Iran is working to restore its nuclear program. And while Tehran’s proxies in Gaza and Lebanon are severely degraded, Iranian-supported militias in Iraq, including the Kataib Hezbollah, have renewed urgent preparations for war – potentially against the U.S. – and the Houthi rebels have threatened to withdraw from a ceasefire deal with the United States.

Moreover, Iran’s commitment to its ballistic missile program is stronger than ever before, with much of the infrastructure already rebuilt from Operation Rising Lion.

No returning to the 2015 deal

Iran maintains that the talks must be confined only to guarantees about the civilian purpose of its nuclear program, not its missile program, its support of regional proxy groups or its own human rights abuses.

And that is incompatible with the U.S.’s long-held position.

This disagreement ultimately prevented the U.S. and Iran from renewing the now-defunct 2015 political deal during the Biden administration. Signed by China, France, Germany, Russia, the U.K., the United States and Iran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) halted Iran’s development of nuclear technology and stockpiling of nuclear material in exchange for lifting multiple international economic sanctions placed on Iran. Ballistic missile technology and Iran’s proxy support for regional militias were not included in the original agreement due to Iran’s unwillingness to include those measures.

The parties to the Iran deal ultimately decided that a nuclear deal was better than the alternative of no deal at all.

There was a window for such a deal to be resumed in between the two Trump administrations. And the Biden administration publicly pledged to strengthen and renew the Obama-era nuclear deal in 2021.

But by then, Iran had significantly increased its nuclear technical capability during the four years that has passed since the JCPOA collapsed.

That increased the difficulty: Just to return to the previous deal would have required Iran to give up the new technical capability it had achieved for no new benefits.

The window closed in 2022 after Iran removed all of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s surveillance and monitoring under the deal and started enriching uranium to near weapons levels and stockpiling sufficient amounts for several nuclear weapons.

The IAEA, the U.N’s nuclear watchdog, currently maintains only normal safeguards Iran had agreed to before the JCPOA.

Even with the 2025 U.S. strikes, Iran currently has the ability to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb within weeks to several months. This is up from over a year under the 2015 deal.

LArge ships are seen at sea — The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other vessels sail in formation in the Arabian Sea on Feb. 6, 2026.
Jesse Monford/U.S. Navy via Getty Images

US and Iran talks today

Although most analysts doubt that Iran has developed the weaponization knowledge necessary to build a nuclear bomb – estimates vary from several months to about two years due to the lack of access to and evidence on Iran’s weaponization research – Iran’s technical advances reduce the value for the U.S. government of returning to the 2015 deal. Iran’s knowledge cannot be put back into Pandora’s box.

But talks do not necessarily need an end point – in the shape of a deal – for them to have purpose.

With the increased military brinkmanship, talks could help the U.S. and Iran step back from the edge, build trust and perhaps develop better political relations. Both sides would benefit from this stabilization: Iran economically, from being reintegrated into the international system, and the U.S. from a verifiable lengthening of the time it would take Iran to break out.

None of this is guaranteed.

When I worked in multilateral nuclear diplomacy for the U.S. State Department, we saw talks fail in 2009 regarding North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, after six years of on-and-off progress. The consequence of that failure is a more unstable East Asia and renewed interest by South Korea in developing nuclear weapons.

Unfortunately, the same dynamic appears here. The shape of a potential new deal is unclear. As time passes with no deal, both sides harden their negotiating starting points, making a deal less likely.

Military escalations may lead to a new willingness to compromise on the part of Iran or precipitate its decision to build nuclear weapons.

But even should the talks prove a failure, the effort to dampen the confrontational responses and heightening tensions would still be valuable in reducing the possibility of regional conflict.

Nina Srinivasan Rathbun does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Iran-US nuclear talks may fail due to both nations’ red lines – but that doesn’t make them futile – https://theconversation.com/iran-us-nuclear-talks-may-fail-due-to-both-nations-red-lines-but-that-doesnt-make-them-futile-275530

February 17, 2026

España seguirá pescando anguilas hasta su extinción

Source: The Conversation – (in Spanish) – By Miguel Clavero Pineda, Científico titular CSIC, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC)

El mundo está inmerso en una espiral de descrédito del conocimiento científico, promovido por intereses económicos y auspiciado por corrientes políticas populistas. Europa se está subiendo a ese carro, por ejemplo al relajar las regulaciones ambientales que afectan a actividades contaminantes.

El rechazo a la protección de la anguila europea en España por parte de las comunidades autónomas, materializado este martes 17 de febrero, podría considerarse otro ejemplo de esta corriente.

La anguila europea (Anguilla anguilla) se encuentra al borde de la extinción. Desde 1980 su población se ha derrumbado. Los declives superan el 90 % en todos los indicadores, y la tendencia sigue siendo negativa. A pesar de esa pésima situación, la especie es aún objeto de pesca comercial y se vende y se consume con total normalidad.

El Consejo Internacional para la Exploración del Mar (ICES) es el organismo asesor de la Unión Europea en temas de pesca. Su grupo de trabajo sobre la anguila lleva 25 años aconsejando que cese la explotación de este animal. Inicialmente se recomendaba “llevar las capturas a valores tan cercanos a cero como sea posible”, pero desde 2021 se pide de forma inequívoca el cierre de las pesquerías.

El pobre estado de conservación de la anguila europea llevó a su catalogación como especie “en peligro crítico de extinción” en 2008, según los criterios de la Lista Roja de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (IUCN).

Recientemente se ha llevado a cabo una evaluación de la especie en España. El resultado, preocupante pero poco sorprendente, ha sido el mismo que el de la evaluación global: “En peligro crítico de extinción”.

La evaluación española fue independiente de la global y se basó exclusivamente en datos españoles. Buena parte de ellos fueron generados por las comunidades autónomas que ahora se oponen a su protección.

La propuesta de protección

El Catálogo Español de Especies Amenazadas (CEEA), creado por la Ley del Patrimonio Natural y de la Biodiversidad, incluye los componentes de la biodiversidad amenazada. En él se consideran “en peligro de extinción” las especies “cuya supervivencia es poco probable si los factores causales de su actual situación siguen actuando”.

Parece poco opinable que la anguila cumple las condiciones para estar en este catálogo ya desde su primera versión, publicada en 2011. Pero, por sorprendente que pueda parecer, la anguila no está amparada por ninguna figura de protección. Y seguirá sin estarlo.

El Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico (MITECO) cuenta con dos dictámenes de su Comité Científico, de 2020 y 2024, que promueven la protección de la anguila.

El último, apoyado unánimemente por las 19 personas que integran ese comité, todas ellas reconocidas expertas en conservación de la biodiversidad, proponía su inclusión en el Catálogo Español de Especies Amenazadas como especie en peligro de extinción. Esta catalogación implicaba el fin de la explotación comercial.

A finales de enero, la ministra del MITECO Sara Aegesen se rodeó de reconocidos chefs para anunciar que propondría a las comunidades autónomas la protección de la anguila siguiendo el consejo del Comité Científico.

El papel de las comunidades autónomas

En España la competencia de los listados estatales de protección es del MITECO, pero éste ha delegado esa responsabilidad en la Comisión Estatal para el Patrimonio Natural y la Biodiversidad. Se trata de un organismo consultivo con representación del Estado y las comunidades autónomas. Dentro de éste, los temas de biodiversidad se tratan en el Comité de Flora y Fauna Silvestres, el que se ha reunido este martes y ha decidido, contra toda evidencia científica, aparcar la protección de la anguila.

Durante los días previos a la reunión varios responsables políticos autonómicos se han pronunciado en contra de la protección de la anguila. Usaban dos tipos de argumentos: que la anguila es el medio de vida de muchas familias y que falta información.

La Consellera do Mar de la Xunta de Galicia, Marta Villaverde, decía en Instagram que la protección de la anguila no está avalada por informes técnicos, mientras el Director General de Pesca del Gobierno de Asturias, Francisco J. González, defendía que la gestión de la especie en la región, donde sólo se pesca angula, es “un modelo de sostenibilidad […] cuyos buenos resultados son verificables”.

El director general de Política Marítima y Pesca Sostenible de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Antoni Espanya, también considera que su administración hace una gestión sostenible, que la pesca tiene un efecto “mínimo” sobre la anguila, y que faltan datos completos de la situación.

Estos ejemplos son fácilmente desmentidos con la información disponible. En el Delta del Ebro, por ejemplo, la propia Generalitat tiene un seguimiento científico a largo plazo que debería ser un modelo en el Estado, y que aporta esos “datos completos” de la situación de la anguila que esa misma administración dice necesitar. En la reunión de este martes se ha acordado la creación de un grupo de trabajo para promover nuevos seguimientos y tener más datos científicos, cuando los ya existentes justifican más que de sobra la protección.

Respecto a la importancia socioecómica de la explotación de la anguila, los datos hablan por sí mismos. En el Delta del Ebro, Antoni Espanya habla de 250 familias que “complementan sus ingresos” con la anguila. En Galicia se estima que casi 100 embarcaciones generaron algo menos de 600 000 euros con la pesca de esta especie (no llega a 6000 euros por embarcación). En Euskadi, en la última campaña de pesca de angula, 150 licencias generaron unos 100 000 euros en ventas (ni 1000 euros por licencia). Está claro que en España no se puede vivir de pescar anguilas.

Negar la evidencia

Las comunidades autónomas han negado la protección de la anguila. Se basan en información falsa o tendenciosa y niegan o minimizan el amplio, sólido e inequívoco conocimiento sobre el estado de la especie. El desprecio al saber acumulado para favorecer intereses cortoplacistas resulta en un perjuicio para el bien común.

Las dificultades para proteger a la anguila nos ponen en el espejo de cuánto estamos dispuestos a cambiar como sociedad para paliar las diversas crisis ambientales a las que nos enfrentamos. Parece que es casi nada. Dejar de pescar, vender y comer anguila debería ser muy fácil. Los sacrificios personales de los consumidores son minúsculos y la sociedad puede perfectamente dar alternativas y asumir compensaciones para las personas que pudiesen verse afectadas.

Si no podemos afrontar un cambio tan sencillo y respaldado por una información científica tan abrumadora como es la protección de la anguila, ¿cómo encararemos los retos gigantescos que tenemos por delante? Por ejemplo, la aridificación del territorio, la pérdida de costa y las invivibles olas de calor.

Miguel Clavero Pineda no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado.

– ref. España seguirá pescando anguilas hasta su extinción – https://theconversation.com/espana-seguira-pescando-anguilas-hasta-su-extincion-276240

February 17, 2026

CEOs who experience natural disasters are more likely to lead safer workplaces

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Michel Magnan, Professeur et Titulaire de la Chaire de Gouvernance S.A. Jarislowsky, Concordia University

Every year, millions of workers are injured or die on the job, imposing enormous human and economic costs. The socio-economic impact of workplace safety is hard to avoid and presents governments and organizations with a major challenge.

In the United States alone, more than 2.6 million work-related injuries occurred in 2023. These incidents resulted in an estimated economic cost of US$176 billion and a loss of around 103 million workdays, according to national data.

In Canada, a recent report estimates the economic costs of workplace injuries at $29.4 billion, which is even higher than in the U.S. once population size is taken into account.

A large body of research shows that external pressures shape workplace safety, with finances, regulatory enforcement and corporate governance being key drivers. However, emerging evidence points to the influence of corporate leadership itself — particularly the “tone at the top” set by chief executive officers (CEOs).

Previous studies suggest that certain executive traits can undermine safety. Overconfidence, equity-based pay incentives and regulatory compliance can impact safety policies, often negatively. What remains less explored is the role of a CEO’s personal traits and backgrounds. Our recent study sought to fill that gap.

Early adversity and executive decision-making

Our study examined whether CEOs’ formative experiences help explain differences in workplace safety outcomes.

Our analysis focused on more than 500 CEOs of large U.S. corporations between 2002 and 2011. We identified where each CEO lived between the ages of five and 15, and matched this information to county-level evidence of natural disasters that caused significant economic damage.

CEOs in the top decile of disaster-related economic damage were classified as having experienced an early traumatic experience.

We then assessed whether such exposure translated into better workplace safety performance. We measured this using government injury and illness data, scaled by the total number of hours worked by employees.

After accounting for firm and CEO attributes, we found that firms led by CEOs who grew up amid severe disasters — such as floods, hurricanes or earthquakes — reported significantly fewer workplace injuries than comparable firms (about 24 per cent less, on average).

Further tests revealed that such results were not an outcome of CEO risk aversion preferences. Instead, the differences appeared to reflect distinct managerial choices.

When character counts the most

One plausible explanation for our findings lies in how early adversity shapes values. Experiencing a disaster during childhood may foster empathy and a sense of responsibility toward others.

In a corporate setting, such prosocial tendencies may motivate CEOs to translate their empathy into concrete organizational actions that prioritize employee welfare. These include improving safety standards, investing in employee safety training or adopting technologies designed to mitigate workplace hazards.

Importantly, these effects were nuanced. The relationship between early-life disaster exposure and workplace safety was strongest where CEOs had more power relative to their boards, faced intense pressure to meet earnings targets or operated in industries with weaker union representation.

In such environments, a CEO’s personal values and character may matter more. Leaders who experienced disasters earlier in life appear to be more willing to protect workers, even when it is costly or inconvenient.

Consistent with this interpretation, we also found that firms led by these CEOs were more likely to make concrete operational changes linked to safer workplaces, including investing in health and safety programs and easing excessive employee workloads — practices that are typically linked to lower injury rates.

Implications for governance and policy

Early adversity does not automatically produce better leaders, nor should personal history replace regulation, enforcement or collective bargaining. That said, our findings suggest that leadership is shaped not only by training and incentives, but by life itself.

The findings are noteworthy from governance, leadership and societal perspectives, as they suggest there are some corporate leaders who are willing to confront short-term financial constraints and corporate resistance to making workplaces safer.

For boards, investors and policymakers, understanding leaders’ formative experiences may offer new insight into who is most likely to truly put human safety first.

In an era in which corporate responsibility is increasingly scrutinized, who leads firms can have tangible consequences for millions of workers.

Yu Wang receives funding from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project-ID:
72302033).

Michel Magnan and Yetaotao Qiu 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.

– ref. CEOs who experience natural disasters are more likely to lead safer workplaces – https://theconversation.com/ceos-who-experience-natural-disasters-are-more-likely-to-lead-safer-workplaces-275061

February 17, 2026

The Peace-Athabasca Delta is at risk. Here’s what we can do to evaluate the threats

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Laura Neary, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Waterloo

River deltas are among the most complex and productive environments on Earth. Yet, they face serious threats from upstream industrialization and climate change, which alter supplies of water, sediment and contaminants. Even deltas distant from densely populated and industrialized areas are not immune to these stressors.

Nestled in a remote area of northeastern Alberta is the world’s largest freshwater boreal delta. Spanning 6,000 km², the Peace-Athabasca Delta is the traditional territory of Indigenous nations and a haven for biodiversity. The Delta is recognized internationally as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance. It also contributes to Wood Buffalo National Park’s designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Despite these recognitions, concerns have persisted for decades that hydroelectric dams on the Peace River, oilsands mines along the Athabasca River and climate change are degrading the Delta by reducing freshwater availability and increasing contaminants.

In 2014, the Mikisew Cree First Nation highlighted these concerns and petitioned UNESCO to include the park on UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites in danger.

This designation would be a first for Canada.

This has renewed calls to establish a lake monitoring program to track environmental changes and their causes. Yet, the Delta’s vast size, remoteness and hydrological complexity pose challenges that are difficult to overcome.

Freshwater availability

During our 25 years of research in the delta, we also recognized the need for lake monitoring to track environmental changes caused by the threats. After engaging with stakeholders and rightsholders, we launched an intensive, multi-faceted seven-year research program in 2015. The research demonstrates methods for ongoing monitoring of freshwater availability and contaminants across the Peace-Athabasca Delta.

Our research highlights that water isotope tracers are effective for tracking freshwater availability across space and time. This method measures ratios of naturally occurring stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen in water molecules. It can identify the roles of snowmelt, rainfall, river flooding and evaporation on lake water balance.

Using water isotope tracers, freshwater availability can be expressed as evaporation-to-inflow (E/I) ratios. This metric compares how much water flows into a lake versus how much water leaves by evaporation.

Maps of E/I ratios reveal where lakes are prone to drying from evaporation (areas in orange and red). It also reveals where lakes receive large inputs of river floodwater and precipitation (blue areas).

Time-series graphs reveal a strong influence of climate on freshwater availability. They demonstrate that E/I ratios at 60 lakes across the Delta correspond with a climate index. Departures from this correspondence would potentially signal that freshwater availability is being altered by other human activities.

Industrial contaminants

In 2010, freshwater scientist David Schindler drew attention to the inability of existing monitoring programs to determine “the extent to which mining has increased concentrations of contaminants in the [Athabasca] river over natural background levels.” A key missing piece was that natural background levels, before mining began, remained unknown.

Following subsequent recommendations of a federal Oilsands Advisory Panel report in 2010, we determined the natural (baseline) concentrations of contaminants in lake sediment deposited before oilsands mining began. We then compared this to concentrations in sediment deposited afterwards to assess for pollution.

As shown in the above graph, we applied this method to measurements of vanadium, a metal abundant in bitumen and mine wastes. Results show enrichment at a lake near the mines due to emissions from the mines, but no enrichment at lakes in the Delta. In other words, mining has not increased vanadium concentrations in the lakes of the Delta.

Monitoring is needed to inform policy

Continued use of these approaches is critical for tracking freshwater availability, detecting pollution and determining causes of change. Such information is needed to inform upstream land-use and water-use decisions and policies, and to evaluate their effectiveness.

Water releases from the W.A.C. Bennett Dam on the Peace River are being considered as a strategy to increase freshwater availability in the Delta. Also under consideration is the release of treated oilsands mine wastewater into the Athabasca River to enable landscape remediation.

These decisions come with costs and risks, and their effectiveness must be evaluated if implemented.

Evaluating strategic water releases could be done by measuring water isotope tracers and depth variation at lakes across the Delta before and after each release. These measurements have been adopted for lake monitoring elsewhere in Northern Canada. Their benefit is that these measurements allow us to determine the impact of river floodwaters versus snowmelt on the amount of freshwater in a lake.

New legislation may allow the release of treated mine wastewater into the Athabasca River. If so, robust baselines generated from lake sediment deposited before oilsands development can be used to detect pollution in recently deposited surface sediment.

More than 50 years ago, the Peace-Athabasca Delta Project Group identified the need for long-term monitoring in the Delta. Many years later, UNESCO’s first fact-finding mission recommended expanding monitoring and project assessments to include possible individual and cumulative impacts of industrial developments on Wood Buffalo and the Peace-Athabasca Delta.

This year, UNESCO will conduct another fact-finding mission to decide on Wood Buffalo National Park’s World Heritage status. The approaches we have developed for monitoring directly address long-standing recommendations from UNESCO and many other governance bodies. They also provide stakeholders with tools to safeguard this world-renowned Delta now and in the future.

Laura Kendall Neary received funding from Polar Knowledge Canada’s Northern Scientific Training Program for fieldwork in the Peace-Athabasca Delta and doctoral scholarships from NSERC and Weston Family Foundation.

Brent Wolfe received funding for the research from the NSERC Collaborative Research and Development program (contributing contracts from BC Hydro, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Suncor Energy, and the Alberta Environmental Monitoring Evaluation & Reporting Agency (now Alberta Environment and Protected Areas)), NSERC Discovery and Northern Research Supplement programs, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Polar Continental Shelf Program of Natural Resources Canada, Northern Water Futures program of Global Water Futures and Parks Canada Agency.

Roland Hall received funding for the research from the NSERC Collaborative Research and Development program (contributing contracts from BC Hydro, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Suncor Energy, and the Alberta Environmental Monitoring Evaluation & Reporting Agency (now Alberta Environment and Protected Areas)), NSERC Discovery and Northern Research Supplement programs, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Polar Continental Shelf Program of Natural Resources Canada, Northern Water Futures program of Global Water Futures and Parks Canada Agency.

– ref. The Peace-Athabasca Delta is at risk. Here’s what we can do to evaluate the threats – https://theconversation.com/the-peace-athabasca-delta-is-at-risk-heres-what-we-can-do-to-evaluate-the-threats-272495

February 17, 2026

Big feelings: 5 ways parents can help kids learn to regulate their emotions

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Marissa Nivison, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of Calgary

Parenting can be hard and can feel especially overwhelming when children have strong emotions, such as anger, frustration or excitement, that they are not always able to regulate on their own.

Although children may struggle to manage strong emotions, parents play a critical role in helping them navigate them.

Drawing on our work with children and families, we share practical tips and resources to help parents support their children through emotional ups and downs — big feelings.

The development of processing emotions

Children are not born knowing how to regulate their feelings — it’s a skill they learn as they grow. The ability to process emotions is often learned from modelling, including watching how their parents deal with their own emotions.

In infancy, we see that babies’ cries are a form of emotional communication. For example, this is how babies let their parents know that they are in distress, such as being hungry or needing a diaper change.

As toddlers, children often experience new and more complex emotions that they cannot always identify. For example, a two-year-old may feel anger and jealously when introduced to their new baby sibling because their parent’s attention is suddenly focused on the baby instead of them. With limited understanding of their big emotion, they may act out by directing anger toward their baby sibling or parent.

As children grow older, they gradually develop their own skills to manage big feelings. Parents can help to build up their child’s “emotional tool kit” through modelling good emotion regulation strategies as well as explicitly teaching children these skills.

Big feelings aren’t necessarily negative. Children often have difficulty regulating big, positive emotions as well, such as excitement or joy.

How parents can help

There are several ways that parents can help children learn how to manage big feelings.

Stay calm. Children are sensitive to the emotions of the adults around them. When possible, approaching your child’s big feelings with a calm presence can help them feel safe and supported. Of course, staying calm is not always easy, especially in the middle of a stressful moment. Many caregivers find that strong emotions can feel contagious or overwhelming.

If you notice this in yourself, it can help to take a short pause. Taking slow, deep breaths, leaving the room momentarily (if possible) or turning away from your child to give yourself time to collect your own emotions can be a valuable reset.

The good news is that there are several resources — many of which are free — that can help strengthen a parent’s ability to regulate their own emotions and promote emotion processing in their children.

Praise positive behaviour. Noticing, recognizing and reinforcing positive behaviours is incredibly important. While it’s natural to react to negative challenging behaviours, it’s just as (if not more) important to acknowledge when your child is handling their emotions well. Reinforcing these positive behaviours has been shown to reduce the number and intensity of negative outbursts over time.

Identify and validate emotions. After a child has settled down from an intense emotional reaction, it can help if the parent explicitly identifies what the child was feeling — for example, “I know you are angry and sad because you cannot have a cookie before dinner.” By identifying the feelings, children are slowly learning to how to recognize their own emotions. This is an important first step in knowing which skills to use to help calm themselves down.

For example, when a child recognizes they are angry, they may know that taking deep breaths makes them feel better. This can also help children to feel that they are in a comfortable environment where they can actually express how they are feeling. Using an emotions wheel or chart that names and illustrates facial expressions of a range of feelings can help parents and children identify and validate emotions.

Practice. Take the opportunity to teach your children about emotions outside of their own feelings. For example, identifying emotions can be turned into a game by making different faces and asking your child what emotions they think you are feeling. Parents can also pause during reading books and ask their child what the characters may be feeling. The Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consolation at Georgetown University has put together an extensive list of activities that can help you teach your child emotions in everyday life.

Finally, know when to seek additional help. Temper tantrums, outbursts and emotional displays are very common in the toddler and preschool years. Young children are still developing the brain systems that support self-regulation. However, if a child’s outbursts are unusually intense, frequent or prolonged, additional supports may be helpful, such as from a family doctor or pediatrician.

Marissa Nivison receives funding from The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Gizem Keskin receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Sheri Madigan receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Calgary Health Foundation, and the Canada Research Chairs program.

– ref. Big feelings: 5 ways parents can help kids learn to regulate their emotions – https://theconversation.com/big-feelings-5-ways-parents-can-help-kids-learn-to-regulate-their-emotions-275173

February 17, 2026

Why mass shootings can’t be reduced to a mental illness diagnosis

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Samuel Freeze, PhD Student in Clinical Forensic Psychology, Simon Fraser University

In the aftermath of violent tragedies like the recent mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., a common panic-fueled and grief-stricken reaction is to rush to simple, tidy explanations. Mental illness, for example, is often used to make sense of what appears to be senseless.

The explanation is appealing because mass shootings feel shocking and sudden, and mental illness offers a way to wrestle with them and try to understand. But the reality is that although mental illness sometimes plays a role in violence, it’s rarely the most important factor.

Regardless, politicians proceed to call for improvements to the mental health-care system, sidestepping more difficult conversations about violence prevention. Framing mass shootings as a mental illness problem misrepresents the evidence, and redirects our attention away from the other psychological, social and structural conditions that increase the risk of violence.

Why mental illness is a poor predictor of violence

Most people living with a mental illness are never violent, and most people who are violent are not living with a mental illness. One estimate suggests that even if all mental illnesses were somehow eliminated, about 95 per cent of violent acts would still need to be explained.

In fact, people living with mental illness are themselves more likely to be victims of violence. And mental illness is much more strongly associated with suicide than violence, especially when guns are involved.

It shouldn’t be treated as a single explanation — it’s a broad label covering hundreds of conditions. Some symptoms of mental illness, like psychosis, are associated with a slightly higher risk of violence. But the vast majority of people experiencing these symptoms will never be violent.

The appeal of mental illness as an explanation is driven in part by stigma. It resonates with people because there’s a commonly held belief that those with mental illness are dangerous, despite evidence to the contrary.

In most cases, other risk factors play a much larger role in explaining violent acts.

Violence risk is about probability, not prediction

Research on violence shows that it rarely emerges from a single cause, but from the interaction and accumulation of multiple risk factors over time in particular contexts and situations.

Professionals who assess the potential for violence focus on specific risk factors — personal, situational and contextual characteristics identified through research — that help to understand someone’s likelihood for future violence.

Even those risk factors simply point to the probability of violence, not certainty.

Substance misuse and intoxication, antisocial traits and attitudes that support violence, experiencing victimization or past trauma, negative peer influence and access to lethal means like firearms are examples of risk factors other than mental health problems that are statistically associated with violence.

These factors often interact with each other and build up over time, potentially shaping motivation, lowering inhibitions and destabilizing decision-making.

Psychiatrists and psychologists involved in the investigation of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado described perpetrators Eric Harris as a psychopath and Dylan Klebold as an “angry depressive.” They noted that Klebold likely would not have carried out the attack on his own. What proved important for attempting to explain his involvement was not depression, but the interaction between anger, grievance, negative peer influence and access to firearms.

This case illustrates how diagnosis alone explains little without paying attention to other factors like social dynamics and access to weapons.

The common pathways behind mass shootings

Mass shootings only make up about one per cent of gun deaths in the U.S., yet they tend to shape the overall discussion about gun violence. The risk factors and motivations involved in mass shootings vary by context (workplace, school) and differ somewhat from those involved in more typical violence.

The definitive role of mental illness in mass shootings isn’t clear, given how complex, unique and statistically rare these tragedies are.

Part of the challenge is that mental illness is defined differently across studies. Overall, severe mental illness appears overrepresented among mass shooters, and having a history of mental health problems, more broadly, is also common. However, rejection, despair, grudges and rage appear to be far more important in explaining why these attacks occur.

Mass shooters tend to be young white men who are socially isolated, struggling at work or in school, and experiencing a sense of alienation. Many report histories of childhood trauma, bullying and social rejection, or at least perceive themselves to have been repeatedly wronged.

Perpetrators may fixate on and ruminate about negative experiences, which can harden into grievances directed at groups or institutions that they feel wronged by. Violence, in this context, then seems justified and can offer a sense of power, revenge or recognition.

Some mass shootings are also tied to extremist ideologies and are intended to garner attention, communicate a message or assert identity within a movement. This may increase a perpetrator’s sense of belonging or purpose. Online environments can act as echo chambers that promote and accelerate radicalization, particularly when someone feels they have been rejected elsewhere.

Many mass shooters also develop an intense interest in weapons and “leak” their plans or grievances to others before an attack.

Recognizing these warning signs can help create opportunities for intervention. At the same time, many people who fit these descriptions will never be violent, highlighting the uncertainty involved in risk assessment.

The future of violence risk assessment

The uncomfortable truth is that we just don’t know for sure what leads to a mass shooting. But focusing on a single risk factor distracts from the many others that research shows are important to pay attention to before they lead to violence.

Preventing future tragedies requires a clearer understanding of how risk develops along a pathway to violence and early intervention to handle warning behaviours.

Viewing violence as a complex process is essential. Reducing it to cursory labels like “mentally ill” makes it harder to address.

Samuel Freeze 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.

– ref. Why mass shootings can’t be reduced to a mental illness diagnosis – https://theconversation.com/why-mass-shootings-cant-be-reduced-to-a-mental-illness-diagnosis-275920

February 17, 2026

Fonderie Horne : quand les citoyens prennent le relais

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Laurie Gagnon-Bouchard, Doctorante en science politique, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Quand les autorités assouplissent les normes pour l’industrie, le fardeau retombe sur les citoyens. À Rouyn-Noranda, protéger sa santé est devenu un acte quotidien de vigilance.

Le 3 février dernier, l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) rappelait que des millions de cancers sont évitables, notamment en réduisant l’exposition à des contaminants environnementaux comme l’arsenic. Deux jours plus tard, le gouvernement de la Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) a accepté de maintenir l’autorisation de la concentration d’arsenic de la Fonderie Horne à 45 ng/m³ pour 18 mois supplémentaires. Cela malgré les avertissements d’octobre dernier de la Direction régionale de la santé publique de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue sur les risques sanitaires liés à ce niveau d’émissions. En modifiant sa position initiale, le gouvernement revient sur les normes imposées en 2023.

Pendant que le débat se cristallise autour d’un chiffre, l’expérience quotidienne des personnes vivant avec ce risque sanitaire s’efface. À Rouyn-Noranda, la gestion du risque ne se joue pas seulement dans les rapports d’experts : elle se déplace dans les cours arrière, les écoles, les corps. Et elle repose de plus en plus sur les citoyens eux-mêmes.

En tant que doctorante à l’École d’études politiques de l’Université d’Ottawa, je m’intéresse aux violences environnementales et aux formes de care citoyen – c’est-à-dire aux pratiques de vigilance, d’entraide et de protection mises en place par les communautés elles-mêmes – qui émergent face aux défaillances institutionnelles.

Choc citoyen et imprégnation à l’arsenic

En 2019, la population de Rouyn-Noranda apprenait que les enfants du quartier Notre-Dame étaient en moyenne 3,7 fois plus imprégnés à l’arsenic que ceux d’Amos. La toxicité de cette substance est connue depuis des siècles. Pourtant, malgré ces connaissances, la Fonderie a maintenu un seuil d’émission largement supérieur à la norme provinciale.

Les historiens des sciences Erik N. Conway et Naomi Oreskes ont montré comment certaines industries fabriquent le doute pour retarder l’action politique : multiplication d’études, brouillage des certitudes dans les médias, contestation des expertises scientifiques.

C’est ce qui s’est produit dans le cas maintenant célèbre de l’étude écrite par Monsanto sur le glyphosate. Il s’agit également du type de tactiques auxquelles nous semblons avoir assisté lorsque la Fonderie Horne a lancé son programme de biosurveillance sur l’arsenic. L’enjeu avec cette étude, hormis son manque d’indépendance, est qu’elle pourrait servir à contester les données indépendantes de la santé publique.

Contrôle du dicible

La pression ne se limite pas au terrain scientifique. Le 10 février, une citoyenne dénonçait au conseil municipal les pressions exercées de la part de certaines entreprises pour décourager la prise de parole critique contre la Fonderie Horne.

Quand la communauté d’affaires affirme ne pas croire la santé publique et que des citoyens se sentent surveillés ou rappelés à l’ordre, le signal est clair : certaines critiques dérangent. Dans ce climat, défendre la science et la santé publique devient difficile.

Dans les entretiens que j’ai réalisés avec des citoyens de Rouyn-Noranda, plusieurs dénoncent une forme d’omerta et l’imposition d’une alternative insoutenable. L’un dit :

La violence environnementale, c’est aussi l’omerta, la désinformation et la division de la communauté sur cet enjeu. Quand on proteste, qu’on parle publiquement contre le pollueur, on perd des amis de longue date et des membres de notre famille nous excluent.

L’enjeu est alors réduit à une question d’opinion ou de croyance – être pour ou contre la santé, croire ou non la santé publique. Pendant ce temps, les impacts concrets sur la population, y compris sur les travailleurs, passent au second plan.

Care entravé ou communautaire

Ces impacts s’inscrivent dans des histoires intimes, familiales, intergénérationnelles de problèmes de santé que plusieurs soupçonnent liés aux rejets historiques de contaminants de la Fonderie. Ce n’est d’ailleurs pas anodin que ce soient principalement des personnes touchées ou en rôles de soin (mères, parents, médecins) qui dénoncent l’injustice environnementale et sanitaire vécue.

Découvrir que l’on a été exposé, ou que ses proches ou ses patients l’ont été, est un bris dans leur relation de soin. Plusieurs parents de Rouyn-Noranda ont d’ailleurs exprimé un sentiment de culpabilité en réalisant avoir exposé leurs enfants sans le savoir. Ce sentiment de trahison fragilise la confiance envers l’État.

Pour les Mères au front, comme Jennifer Ricard Turcotte le développe dans Il en va de notre dignité (2025), se mobiliser pour protéger la santé de sa communauté est un geste d’amour et une nécessité face à un État perçu comme défaillant. Les pratiques de vigilance citoyenne et de sensibilisation du comité Arrêt des rejets et émissions toxiques (ARET) et des Mères au front visent alors à pallier aux lacunes des dispositifs institutionnels.

Quotidien altéré

Derrière le débat autour des chiffres, de la norme et des emplois se cache un quotidien altéré pour les personnes vivant près de la Fonderie. Prendre conscience du risque sanitaire transforme le quotidien et crée un stress important.

Cette situation impose des choix que la majorité des Québécois ne connaissent pas et ne connaîtront pas. Laisser ou pas son enfant jouer dans sa cour bien que son terrain est contaminé ? Prendre ou non une marche dans son quartier alors que le goût de la mine est présent ? Cette conscience du risque modifie les pratiques quotidiennes et instille une vigilance individuelle et collective.

Ajuster ses habitudes pour limiter l’exposition lorsque le risque est perçu comme plus important, s’avertir entre voisins lorsque les signes de rejets sont présents et alerter les autorités lors d’épisodes extrêmes de contamination, deviennent des mécanismes de protection.

Ce soin contraint, façonné par le risque, s’ajoute à une vigilance face aux stratégies de relations publiques de l’entreprise. Les documents promotionnels envoyés par la Fonderie aux résidents, vantant ses efforts environnementaux, réactivent l’incertitude sur le respect réel de ses engagements. Récemment, l’entreprise a conditionné ses investissements environnementaux à une permission gouvernementale de continuer à dépasser la norme d’arsenic pendant plusieurs années.

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Joute politique et risque évitable

Dans les médias, le care communautaire quotidien, assumé par les personnes qui œuvrent à se défendre de l’injustice environnementale, demeure largement invisible. La couverture médiatique se concentre principalement sur la menace de fermeture brandie par la Fonderie, qui lie son avenir à une « prévisibilité » du seuil sur l’arsenic.

Le gouvernement de la CAQ a d’abord semblé tenir tête aux menaces de fermeture de la Fonderie. Mais les concessions récentes laissent planer le doute : cette posture de courage n’était-elle qu’un mirage ?

D’autant plus que cette décision s’inscrit dans une série d’accommodements face aux demandes de la multinationale suisse, dont l’assouplissement en 2022 de la norme sur le nickel. Elle illustre une fois de plus un compromis politique où les intérêts et considérations économiques du secteur industriel et extractif des minéraux critiques semblent avoir primé sur la santé publique, laissant à la communauté le fardeau de se protéger d’un risque connu.

Laurie Gagnon-Bouchard a reçu des financements des Bourses de l’Ontario.

– ref. Fonderie Horne : quand les citoyens prennent le relais – https://theconversation.com/fonderie-horne-quand-les-citoyens-prennent-le-relais-275780

February 17, 2026

Promesse de référendum : quand le PQ néglige sa base sociale

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Michel Roche, Professeur de science politique, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)

Chaque fois que le Parti québécois a cherché à avancer son projet de souveraineté, il l’a fait en s’appuyant sur une coalition sociale progressiste. Or, sous la direction de Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, cette stratégie semble mise en veilleuse. Le parti peut-il encore prétendre rassembler sans miser d’abord sur la solidarité sociale ?

Parler de « gauche » ou de « droite » éclaire peu la situation actuelle, ces notions étant trop subjectives. La vraie question est celle de la solidarité sociale. Car l’indépendance n’avance que lorsqu’elle s’incarne dans un projet collectif capable de rallier syndicats, groupes communautaires, artistes et jeunesse autour d’une critique – même modérée – de l’ordre établi. C’est ce que j’ai tenté de démontrer dans mon dernier ouvrage.

Leçons des référendums de 1980 et 1995

Comparons l’attitude de la direction actuelle du PQ avec celle des périodes ayant précédé les référendums de 1980 et de 1995. En 1980, le référendum avait lieu après l’adoption d’une série de mesures progressistes par le gouvernement Lévesque, élu en 1976, notamment la Charte de la langue française, la Loi sur la protection des terres agricoles et la Loi sur les normes du travail.

On peut aussi mentionner la Loi sur l’assurance-automobile, le congé de maternité, la limitation de la semaine de travail à 44 heures, la loi contre l’emploi de briseurs de grève, la hausse significative du salaire minimum, la création du BAPE et l’abolition des clubs de pêche privés.

Le gouvernement Parizeau (1994-1995) s’est concentré essentiellement sur le référendum qu’il voulait tenir au plus tard dans l’année suivant son élection. Néanmoins, pendant cette courte période, il a mis fin à quelques mesures contestées par les syndicats et introduit la perception automatique des pensions alimentaires. Il a également créé les carrefours jeunesse-emploi et posé les bases de la future assurance-médicaments et de la Loi sur l’équité salariale.

Par ailleurs, le gouvernement a reconnu officiellement les groupes communautaires en créant le Secrétariat à l’action communautaire autonome et le Fonds d’aide à l’action communautaire autonome (loi 111). À la demande des syndicats, il a aussi adopté la loi 46, rétablissant la réglementation sur la construction résidentielle.

C’est dans ce contexte qu’est formée la coalition « Partenaires pour la souveraineté », réunissant des organisations comme les centrales syndicales, les fédérations étudiantes, l’Union des Artistes, l’Union des écrivains, la Fédération des femmes du Québec et divers organismes communautaires. Son programme résolument progressiste visait à mobiliser la société civile pour soutenir la souveraineté. Françoise David et François Saillant, alors respectivement militants de la Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ) et du Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU), ont ainsi évalué ce gouvernement :

Le 4 juin 1995, Jacques Parizeau vient lui-même devant une foule estimée à 18 000 personnes annoncer que, oui, il construira des logements sociaux avec soutien communautaire. Oui, il augmentera le salaire minimum de 45 ¢ de l’heure. Oui, nous aurons une loi sur l’équité salariale. Nous sommes alors à quelques mois d’un référendum crucial. Cela a-t-il contribué à ses réponses satisfaisantes aux revendications des femmes ? Bien sûr que oui.

Certes, le premier ministre Parizeau se voulait également un ardent partisan du libre-échange avec les États-Unis, position qu’il ne nuancerait que quelques années plus tard. Il n’empêche que son passage à la tête du Parti québécois et à titre de premier ministre a été principalement marqué par une volonté de construire une large coalition souverainiste, en misant davantage sur la solidarité sociale que sur les principaux fondements du néolibéralisme.

De Bouchard à PSPP : rupture ou continuité ?

Ce ne sera guère le cas chez Lucien Bouchard, un ancien ministre conservateur qui, tout en adoptant diverses mesures sociales, a misé sur la politique du « déficit zéro », aux conséquences particulièrement négatives pour le réseau de la santé, les écoles et les universités.

Cette politique s’est traduite par un recul de l’appui à la souveraineté, qui avait pourtant grimpé jusqu’à 56 % au cours de l’année 1996. Dans ce contexte, la coalition des Partenaires pour la souveraineté perdait des membres. Dès 1998, la Centrale de l’Enseignement du Québec (CEQ) et la Confédération des Syndicats nationaux (CSN) s’en retiraient. Prétendant créer des « conditions gagnantes » pour un troisième référendum, le gouvernement Bouchard a échoué. Le mouvement indépendantiste avait été démobilisé par ses politiques.

Sous la direction de PSPP, le PQ – au moins jusqu’à maintenant – ne semble guère chercher à construire une coalition progressiste en vue du référendum qu’il promet. À moins d’un revirement inattendu, les mesures annoncées jusqu’à maintenant et les positions adoptées par le parti se révèlent peu susceptibles de mobiliser le monde syndical, la jeunesse, les artistes et le milieu communautaire, base historique du mouvement indépendantiste.

Parmi ses principales promesses pour la première année de son éventuel gouvernement, il évoque son intention de s’en prendre à la « surbureaucratie ». Les syndicats de la fonction publique ont rapidement compris ce que cela signifie puisqu’il prévoit de réduire le nombre de fonctionnaires. « Recentrer » l’État sur ses activités et en « réduire la taille » se traduit généralement par l’élimination de divers programmes dont les principaux bénéficiaires paieront le prix.

Sa vision de l’économie tranche avec celle des gouvernements péquistes plus interventionnistes, en particulier ceux de Lévesque et Parizeau, qui considéraient que l’État devait jouer un rôle dans le développement de secteurs porteurs d’avenir. Même le gouvernement Bouchard/Landry s’y est employé, avec l’industrie du numérique. Dans le cas de PSPP, il a affirmé que « le rôle d’un gouvernement, ce n’est pas de se substituer au marché, en disant : “moi, au pif, je vais vous dire quel secteur a de l’avenir”, c’est de créer un environnement qui est propice aux affaires. »

Un tel discours, fidèle au laissez-faire néolibéral, détonne par rapport à la tendance dominante alors que, à l’échelle mondiale, la plupart des pays s’en détournent du fait de la désindustrialisation et de la perte de contrôle qu’elles entraînent sur les économies nationales.

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Du côté environnemental, le PQ a rejeté par une forte majorité une proposition visant à interdire la construction ou l’agrandissement de gazoducs et d’oléoducs. Une telle position risque non seulement d’entrer en contradiction avec les engagements du Québec, mais se révèle peu susceptible d’attirer la sympathie des organisations et individus préoccupés par le réchauffement climatique. Le gouvernement Marois avait été durement critiqué pour son intention d’exploiter le pétrole de l’île d’Anticosti.

Une question sociale au cœur de l’identité nationale

Certes, le parti s’engage à maintenir les principales missions de l’État. Mais à la lumière de l’expérience passée des premiers référendums, force est d’admettre une certaine rupture. La plate-forme électorale comprendra probablement quelques promesses progressistes, mais à quelques mois des élections, la direction actuelle ne semble guère portée à vouloir mobiliser la base sociale du mouvement indépendantiste.

En somme, j’estime que la question nationale est aussi une question sociale. L’identité est intimement liée à la solidarité au sein d’une communauté politique donnée. Ne pas tenir compte de cette dimension risque fort d’entraîner l’échec du projet national véhiculé par ce parti.

Michel Roche ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Promesse de référendum : quand le PQ néglige sa base sociale – https://theconversation.com/promesse-de-referendum-quand-le-pq-neglige-sa-base-sociale-275730