Category: The Conversation – Canada

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Michael von Massow, Professor, Food Economics, University of Guelph

Food prices in Canada have been rising at a faster rate than overall inflation for the past several years. In fact, food prices are 30 per cent higher than they were a decade ago.

In the face of this pressure, consumers are increasingly worried about the impact of the war in Iran on food prices. While there is currently a ceasefire in place, it appears fragile, and oil and fertilizer prices will be slow to fall.

The conflict will undoubtedly have an impact food prices, but in the short term it will likely be fairly small. If the disruption lasts longer, we could start to see more significant price increases.

Unlike previous shocks, Iran is not a major food exporter, and no Canadian food imports pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, any impact on food prices will come indirectly through rising petroleum prices driven by uncertainty around oil infrastructure in the Middle East and disruptions to the strait.

Approximately 20 per cent of the world’s oil moves through the strait, and the loss of that flow has dramatically increased fuel prices. Oil is currently trading above US$100 per barrel, up from under $60 at the end of January.

Fuel costs and food transportation

There are three main ways high oil prices can affect food prices. The first is the direct impact on the cost of moving food through the supply chain.

The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that transportation accounts for roughly 3.5 to four cents of every food dollar. This suggests that even large increases in fuel prices will not have a substantial impact on average food inflation.

Fuel is only one component of transportation costs, so increases are not reflected one-to-one on food prices. There are, however, significant differences across food categories.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are the most exposed. Transportation accounts for about eight per cent of of every food dollar for fresh fruits and vegetables — the highest share among food categories.

These products travel long distances and require refrigeration, which can be up to 30 per cent more expensive than dry freight by truck and three times more expensive than dry freight by sea.

Taking into account seasonal variation and Canada’s geography and location, transportation could represent 10 to 15 cents of every dollar spent on fresh produce this time of year. As a result, prices for imported fruits and vegetables could rise quickly in grocery stores.

These effects should moderate in spring as transport distances shorten, the weather warms and production moves closer to domestic markets. Smaller increases may also occur in other less processed foods like meat, which are heavy and also require refrigeration.

Fertilizer prices and pressure on farmers

The second mechanism is the impact of higher oil and fertilizer prices on food producers. Nitrogen fertilizer prices have risen more than 70 per cent since the start of 2026, although many farmers are partially protected in the short-term because fertilizer is often purchased in advance.

There is, however, a risk of fertilizer shortages since 25 per cent of the world’s urea flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

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Read more:
How the Iran war could create a ‘fertiliser shock’ – an often ignored global risk to food prices and farming

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In practice, shortages are unlikely in Canada. Western Canada exports more than 700,000 tonnes of urea, with most of it going to the U.S., while Eastern Canada imports similar volumes from regions outside the Middle East. Prices will likely be higher, but supply constraints should be limited.

Farmers, rather than consumers, are likely to bear the brunt of higher fuel and fertilizer costs. Because commodity prices are determined by global supply and demand, farmers have limited ability to pass higher input costs down the supply chain.

Typically, crop and fertilizer prices move in tandem, allowing higher costs to be at least partially offset by higher returns. For example, the most recent fertilizer price spike followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which also drove up commodity prices amid concerns about reduced wheat production from a major growing region.

In response to higher input costs, farmers may reduce fertilizer application rates or shift away from fertilizer‑intensive crops. While these adjustments can ease some pressure, crop producer margins will remain under strain unless commodity prices rise enough to offset higher energy and fertilizer costs.

Broader impacts across the food system

The third mechanism is the more diffuse effect of petroleum-based products used in food supply chains. Plastics and many chemicals are derived from petroleum, so higher oil prices will increase the cost of producing these goods.

Plastic food packaging alone represents approximately one-third of all plastic packaging in Canada. Canadians throw out more than four million tonnes of plastic waste a year, with only a small portion recycled.

Higher production costs in food processing are typically passed on to consumers through food processing and packaging. As a result, a sustained increase in oil prices will gradually scatter through the food value chain.

A muted impact on fuel prices — for now

The war in Iran will undoubtedly affect prices, particularly through higher fuel costs that are already affecting transportation and other energy-intensive sectors.

However, this may be one of the few instances in recent years where food inflation trails general inflation. The war in Ukraine had a more dramatic impact on food prices because Ukraine is a major exporter of food, and that food disappeared from the market.

By contrast, the effects of the conflict in Iran are more indirect and will take time to work through the system.

If the war in Iran persists, however, it could have profound global impacts, with most of them extending beyond food prices. The duration of the conflict is the primary consideration for what the longer-term impact will be on food prices.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Food prices are already high in Canada. Will the Iran war make them worse? – https://theconversation.com/food-prices-are-already-high-in-canada-will-the-iran-war-make-them-worse-279161

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Susan Dianne Brophy, Associate Professor in Legal Studies, St. Jerome’s University, University of Waterloo

Ontario’s recent announcement of a tuition increase and major changes to grant and loan structures have prompted student protests at the provincial legislature.

The province has said the changes are required for sustainability.

But changes to financial aid will have significant implications for many students who rely on grants and loans. As The Toronto Star reports, the reforms have almost reversed the ratio of non-repayable grants and loans students can access.

Education is a pillar of “social reproduction,” meaning it’s a social service necessary for maintaining daily life now and for future generations. When governments alter access to education and the way they deliver it, they shape everyday lives today and beyond.

Since legal and regulatory changes shape how society is reproduced, it is possible to draw from these changes some ideas about the government’s social values. From this perspective, Ontario’s Doug Ford government is sending the message that education is about generating private wealth and social order.

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What are universities for? Canadian higher education is at a critical crossroads

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These changes risk entrenching inequalities and raise questions about students’ freedom and their futures.

For a precedent, it’s possible to look at the record of a past U.S. president, namely Ronald Reagan.

Education as a private asset

Currently, students can access up to 85 per cent grants and 15 per cent loans from the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). But under the financial aid reforms, a maximum of one quarter of a student’s OSAP funding will be non-repayable grants and a minimum of 75 per cent will be loans.

These changes mean there’s an upside for banks. With less funding through grants, students will be funnelled into private sector financial arrangements. Canada’s banks stand ready with student lines of credit.

As household assets (including financial investments, like Registered Retirement Savings Plans) continued to increase in value in the third quarter of 2025, it may seem rational and even attractive to view education as an asset meant to generate private wealth.

When Ford unveiled these changes, the private asset approach to education was clear when he responded to reporters:

“I mentioned to the students, you have to invest in your future, into in-demand jobs.”

Yet this approach ignores record-setting levels of household debt. It also glosses over the fact that the wealth gap is increasing. In the third quarter last year, the top 20 per cent wealthiest households accounted for 65.5 per cent of net worth, and the bottom 40 per cent accounted for 3.1 per cent.

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Read more:
What Doug Ford could learn from Wisconsin about higher education

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Just as we have seen with a profit-driven, wealth-generating housing market and the housing crisis, a private asset approach to education risks dividing society further into haves and have-nots.

This is not lost on students, as reflected in a recent University Affairs article quoting Grade 12 student Radhika Cappelletti:

“Things won’t run if people don’t continue to be educated and they can’t even choose to be educated because they can’t afford it.”

When students are financially bound to banks and dependent on their families, they face lasting pressures beyond the campus.

Revisiting Reagan

Ontario’s changes reflect a trend across the provinces that has been ongoing since the 1990s. They also follow a similar pathway as the Reagan era in the United States, with greater emphasis on student loans instead of grants.

As social and political theorist Melinda Cooper argues in her book Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism, Reagan pursued student discipline and budget cuts for universities, relying on police for one and the introduction of tuition fees for the other.

As California governor between 1967-1975, Reagan sat on the University of California’s Board of Regents. Considered the “crown jewel of American public universities,” the university system benefitted from public funding during the post-Second World War era.

Bipartisan support for this was based on the belief that post-secondary education was a public good benefitting the whole state, not just graduates.

Later, as president throughout the 1980s, Reagan’s appetite to curb public spending grew, leading him to expand the role of loans and limit the availability of grants.

Cooper’s research shows that, as inflation outpaced wage growth in the early 1980s, growing wealth meant growing the value of assets — for those who had them. For those without assets, acquiring them required taking on debt. As the financial burden of education spreads through the family unit, it reinforces student dependency on the family, which encourages deference toward more traditional forms of authority.

Cooper finds that Reagan’s legacy was to make “parental responsibility” and “private-debt-based inclusion” the bases of access to education.

In these ways, socially conservative values resonate in what might otherwise be read as pragmatic, even politically and morally neutral financial decisions.

Narrowing educational paths

Ford’s plan to increase tuition sits in stark contrast beside his April 2023 announcement of free tuition for police trainees. This shows that the government’s approach to education reflects certain social values, which have consequences for the future.

Research suggests that viewing student debt primarily as an investment in their personal job prospects invites cuts to post-secondary degree offerings and opens the door to predatory for-profit institutions.

There is also a question of how students can even achieve a brighter future. As long as they remain dependent on existing power structures, it is difficult to expect anything other than an ever-widening wealth gap.

Another Ford initiative has been a push to allow students to opt out of fees that are the lifeblood of campus groups. The Student Choice Initiative failed several court challenges, but a version reappears in the fast-tracked Supporting Children and Students Act that passed in November 2025.

Critics say that this scaling back of student fees could have detrimental effects on equity-seeking groups and also potentially weaken student governance — something Ford has derided in the past.

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Read more:
Ontario’s Bill 33 raises serious concern about campus equity and student rights

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For all of Ford’s talk of choice and the future, then, changes in post-secondary funding limit the choices students have over their own lives. By deepening inequalities, Ford is casting a long shadow over the future of all Ontarians.

Susan Dianne Brophy is a member of the federal New Democratic Party.

– ref. How Ontario’s post-secondary student funding changes echo Ronald Reagan reforms – https://theconversation.com/how-ontarios-post-secondary-student-funding-changes-echo-ronald-reagan-reforms-279534

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Abbas Yazdinejad, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Regina

As the capacity of artificial intelligence (AI) increases at an exponential rate, so do concerns about the privacy of user data.

Increasingly, organizations around the world are adopting something called federated unlearning that enables AI training without centralizing sensitive data. This allows hospitals, banks and government agencies to collaborate while keeping data local — an approach that’s regarded as a major advance in privacy.

Federated unlearning promises that user data can be removed from a trained AI system. A hospital, for example, could ask its AI system to forget a patient’s data.

In the European Union, this is defined as the “right to be forgotten.” Similar data deletion rights exist globally, though with different legal strengths and technical interpretations.

But what if the request to forget is not itself trustworthy? Our research shows that while federated unlearning appears to be a natural extension of data rights, it also introduces new hidden security risks that undermine trust in our digital world.

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Silent cyber threats: How shadow AI could undermine Canada’s digital health defences

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New stealth vulnerabilities

During a process of federated unlearning, participants train local models on personal data, then send updates for those models to a central server. The server aggregates these updates to learn a single, shared system, which allows models to benefit from both the scale and scope of data.

Researchers already know these federated systems can become affected by data poisoning attacks where attackers bias the data they use to train their local model to alter the shared model’s performance.

Poisoning attacks can create stealth vulnerabilities, also known as “backdoors,” that only activate under specific conditions.

Federated unlearning introduces a new and subtle dimension to this threat.

An attacker could first inject harmful patterns into the model. Later, they could submit a request to remove their data. If the unlearning process is imperfect — as many current methods are — the visible traces of the attack may disappear, while the hidden effects remain.

A new security blind spot

This issue creates a new kind of cross-sectoral national security vulnerability that is easy to overlook.

In one hypothetical scenario, repeated unlearning requests could gradually degrade a model’s performance — a slow, hard-to-detect disruption. Unlike traditional cyberattacks, this would not cause the immediate failure of a model, but would erode its reliability over time.

In another case, carefully timed data removal could bias outcomes. A financial risk model, for instance, could be subtly shifted by removing certain data contributions at key moments.

These risks are amplified by the very nature of federated systems. Because data remains distributed, there is often limited visibility into how individual contributions affect the final model.

What emerges is a security blind spot — a mechanism designed to enhance privacy that may also weaken system integrity.

Why current solutions fall short

Many federated unlearning techniques are designed with efficiency in mind. Instead of retraining a model from scratch — which can be costly — the techniques attempt to approximate the removal of data influence. While practical, this approach has limits.

Emerging evidence shows that machine learning models can retain complex patterns even after attempts to remove data and, in adversarial settings, harmful effects may persist even after “unlearning.”

At the same time, there are few safeguards to verify whether an unlearning request itself is legitimate. This gap is not only technical, but also structural, and can lead to multiple security vulnerabilities.

Unlearning is a security problem

Federated unlearning is often framed as a privacy feature. This framing is incomplete. In practice, removing data from a model changes its behaviour — sometimes in unpredictable ways. This makes unlearning a security-sensitive operation, and not just a data management tool.

Like other critical system actions, federated unlearning should be subject to verification, auditing and monitoring. These additional actions could include:

• Validating the origin of unlearning requests.
• Tracking how model behaviour changes after data removal.
• Detecting repeat or suspicious requests.
• Designing methods that ensure complete removal of harmful influence.

A critical moment for AI governance

AI systems are increasingly used in decisions affecting people’s lives — from medical diagnoses to financial approvals. Here, privacy and reliability both matter.

Federated unlearning sits at this intersection. It aims to protect data rights, but may introduce risks not widely understood. If ignored, systems which are designed to enhance trust could become undermined.

Canada is at an important juncture in shaping how AI systems are governed. Policies around data deletion, accountability and transparency are evolving rapidly.

Federated unlearning will likely become part of this landscape. As it’s adopted, it must be treated with the same level of scrutiny as other security-critical mechanisms.

The challenge is no longer to just make AI forget data. It is to ensure that, in the process of forgetting, we are not allowing something more dangerous to remain.

Abbas Yazdinejad is an Assistant Professor at the University of Regina and a Balsillie Scholar at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. He does not work for, consult for, own shares in, or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article.

Ann Fitz-Gerald 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. Does ‘federated unlearning’ in AI improve data privacy, or create a new cybersecurity risk? – https://theconversation.com/does-federated-unlearning-in-ai-improve-data-privacy-or-create-a-new-cybersecurity-risk-279640

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Travis Leicher, Doctoral Student, Politlical Studies, Queen’s University, Ontario

Marilyn Gladu is the most recent MP to cross the floor to the Liberals, the fifth to do so since Mark Carney became prime minister a year ago.

As the Liberal government inches closer to a majority, its legitimacy is being called into question since it would not be based on voter preference.

While floor crossing is permissible within a Parliamentary system and has historical precedent, both public opinion and voter behaviour suggest it’s unpopular among Canadians. Why?

One common response is that floor crossing is undemocratic, which explains frequent calls for by-elections. But this charge isn’t necessarily warranted — it depends on context, including whether voters were primarily choosing a party or an individual candidate when they voted in the previous federal election.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre recently posted on X: “The people in her [Gladu’s] community voted for our Conservative vision of a Canada … not for the costly Liberal government she has now joined.”

But this rhetoric rests on an unresolved empirical question: did voters in Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong vote for the Conservative Party or for Gladu? It’s unclear. Political science research suggests that party loyalty doesn’t fully determine how people vote.

Interpretations and expectations

In the absence of local data on voters’ motivations, it’s more useful to consider two questions about the role of representation. First, what does it mean for someone to “represent” a constituency? Second, how should elected officials behave once in office?

In The Concept of Representation (1967), American political theorist Hannah Pitkin introduced a now-classic way of thinking about representation: descriptive, symbolic, formal and substantive.

Setting aside the first two, formal representation is about the rules that give politicians their authority and hold them accountable — like elections — while substantive representation asks a simpler question: Do they actually act in the interests of the people they represent?

From a formalistic perspective, any action a politician takes counts as representation as long as it falls within their authorized powers. In contrast, the substantive view holds that a representative is required to act as the voters themselves would act in the same situation.

Elections rest on an implicit expectation of substantive representation: representative democracy only works if elected officials make their constituents’ interests present through what they do. Without that, there’s no real reason to prefer one candidate over another and no clear basis for holding them accountable.

Still, there has been an ongoing debate about the expectation that representatives act as “trustees” or “delegates” once in office. The delegate model holds that representatives simply convey the preferences of their constituents, while the trustee model gives representatives the latitude to use their own judgement in pursuing constituents’ interests.

Taking initiative or betraying trust?

If representatives are meant to advance their constituents’ interests, is floor-crossing a necessary freedom to respond to changing circumstances rather than to adhere rigidly to a party platform? Or does it amount to a betrayal of the mandate voters expressed at the ballot box?

In November 2011, Parliament debated a private member’s bill tabled by NDP MP Mathieu Ravignat to amend the Parliament of Canada Act and require floor-crossers to resign, thereby triggering by-elections. Ravignat said the bill would “ensure that politicians are held accountable for the choice made by their constituents.”

But Conservative MP Michelle Rempel warned the bill “would seriously undermine the independence of members of this House … [and] would also impede members of Parliament in representing the interests of their constituents, which is one of the fundamental duties under our Constitution.”

This argument draws on the trustee versus delegate debate, which ultimately centres on how much independence representatives should exercise.

Because a pure delegate model sharply limits representatives’ discretion, critics of the trustee model often settle on some blended approach.

For example, the fourth president of the United States, James Madison, argued in his essay “Federalist No. 10” that representation should respond to public views. This delegate-style thinking reflected a flexible responsiveness intended as a safeguard against the tyranny of the majority that can arise when public interests are treated as uniform and easily determined.

British philosopher and politician Edmund Burke endorsed a pure trustee view, arguing in one famous speech: “Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”

This view appeals to those who see political leadership as requiring a high degree of competence: representatives are elected to exercise informed judgment in the interests of their constituents, even when that judgment runs counter to public opinion.

Is floor crossing undemocratic?

The extent to which someone believes representatives should have independence influences whether they regard floor-crossing as a threat to democracy. But instead of catastrophizing about the danger floor-crossing poses to our democracy, Canadians should instead focus on how the electoral system shapes whether their expectations and understandings of representation are actually feasible in practice.

In doing so, they might accept floor-crossing but take issue with certain systemic features like party discipline, which makes floor-crossing one of the few available acts of defiance when a representative feels their party’s platform no longer serves their constituency.

Alternatively, Canadians may object to floor-crossing on the grounds that, given the many pre-existing barriers to representative independence, it further weakens the remaining role of party policy commitments as the main mechanism through which voters can anticipate and secure the policies that matter to them.

Travis Leicher 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. Another MP jumps to Carney’s Liberals, igniting concerns about the health of Canada’s democracy – https://theconversation.com/another-mp-jumps-to-carneys-liberals-igniting-concerns-about-the-health-of-canadas-democracy-280342

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ruolz Ariste, Adjunct Professor, School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University

As Canada celebrates meeting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) target of spending two per cent of GDP on defence, it’s important to remember this spending isn’t counted within the concept of what’s known as social GDP, an alternative metric focused on measuring a nation’s social development, well-being and sustainability rather than just monetary production.

Excessive military spending, in fact, can harm economic and social development, which raises concerns about NATO’s new five per cent target
by 2035, transitioning to 3.5 per cent by 2029.

GDP measures the total value of goods and services produced in an economy. It’s an accounting of economic activity, not a judgment of social value. Therefore, military expenditures are included in the GDP.

But the social GDP concept used in the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) does not regard military spending as a positive contribution. In fact, such spending doesn’t contribute to the HDI at all, and represents significant costs to national economies.

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Read more:
Are Canadians ready to ditch GDP as a key prosperity indicator?

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Military spending erodes other investments

The current global environment is volatile and inequitable. While every country needs the ability to defend itself against another nation’s threats, that shouldn’t lead to states becoming more aggressive or defending themselves disproportionately or recklessly.

Military spending should not come at the cost of public investments in health, education, the environment or transportation, because it carries significant tangible and opportunity costs.

It’s clear in many countries around the world that military spending erodes and crowds out civilian spending.

The United States is a case in point. The second Donald Trump administration has been attacking countries with no regard for national or international law. The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran is the latest case in point.

While the Trump administration has increased military spending by about 13 per cent from 2025 levels to reach more than $1 trillion for the first time, it’s been cutting spending in areas specified as critical by the UN’S HDI.

The Trump administration wants massive cuts to civilian appropriations for 2026 — a 21 per cent reduction compared to 2025 — but U.S. congress has largely rejected those proposals. Nevertheless, approved 2026 funding for social programs doesn’t keep pace with inflation; it’s nearly two per cent below the 2025 level and seven per cent below 2020 levels after adjusting for inflation.

This has been also the case for Russia and Israel.

Canadian sacrifices

Canada certainly hasn’t waged war on any country and doesn’t have a strong military culture. But it’s not exempt from the “guns versus butter” funding challenge.

It reached the two per cent NATO target by increasing the Department of National Defence (DND) budget by $9 billion, counting defence-related spending across departments and shifting some programs to DND.

In the process, other federal departments are required to reduce their budgets by 15 per cent over a three-year period, though some temporary social programs have been maintained (school food program, Build Canada Homes office) or created (funding for Women and Gender Equality Canada). This may suggest a more moderate guns versus butter approach in Canada than in countries like the U.S., Russia and Israel.

However, with a new 3.5 per cent NATO target by 2029 and five per cent by 2035 that the Carney government has suggested it endorses, deeper cuts to social programs and bigger budget deficits are probably on the horizon.

The impact of war on well-being

As the war in Ukraine approached its fourth year, the number of casualties had reached 1.8 million (1.2 million in Russia and 600,000 in Ukraine). This includes as many as 465,000 deaths (325,000 in Russia and 140,000 in Ukraine).

Between Oct. 7, 2023 and Jan. 5, 2025 during the Israeli-Hamas war, there were 75,200 violent deaths and 8,540 deaths attributed to disease, lack of care and malnutrition.

The majority of deaths in Gaza have been women and children. Peacekeepers, journalists and medical personnel have also died.

In the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, more than 1,000 people have been killed; there have been 3,000 casualties.

War increases the ranks of displaced people as well. Close to 10 million Ukrainians have been displaced because of the conflict with Russia (3.7 million internally and 5.9 million refugees). This represents about a quarter of the total Ukrainian population, making it the largest displacement crisis in Europe since the Second World War.

At least two-thirds of Gaza’s population of 2.1 million people has been displaced due to war. They are sheltered in precarious conditions across approximately 1,000 displacement sites.

As for Lebanese, the war has already displaced nearly one million or close to 15 per cent of Lebanon’s total population.

Reconstruction costs

The costs of physical destruction and reconstruction are also part of war. Estimates suggest the total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine will be almost US$588 billion over the next decade, which is nearly three times the estimated nominal GDP of Ukraine for 2025.

A staggering 84 per cent of all structures in Gaza were destroyed or damaged during the war. That will require more than US$70 billion in reconstruction.

For the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war (up to December 2024, so not including the series of attacks starting on March 2026), the World Bank estimates US$11 billion will be needed to rebuild Lebanon.

There are also direct and indirect costs incurred by the displaced.

Direct costs include loss of employment and income, increased cost of living in general and health-care costs in particular. Indirect costs involve poor mental health and long-term well‑being, loss of livelihoods and businesses, education disruption, poverty and criminality. These costs are massive, multi‑layered and long‑term, and they compound the aforementioned broader national economic losses.

Making aggressors pay

How can sharp increases in military spending be justified given their potentially catastrophic consequences? And how can the world shift the way it thinks about war?

When countries expand their military budgets or enter into conflict, the costs go far beyond equipment and munitions. One possible approach would be to establish an international mechanism requiring aggressor states to bear the full economic and human costs imposed on the countries they attack.

This could include estimating the loss of human life using measures such as the value of a statistical life — an economic tool that assigns a monetary value to risk and mortality — alongside reconstruction costs and broader economic damage. These combined costs could then be imposed on the aggressor.

Such a framework could help curb the arms race and discourage ever-increasing military spending. With NATO targets rising toward 3.5 or even five per cent of GDP, the risk of crowding out social investment grows. Reconsidering these targets could ultimately benefit societies around the world.

Ruolz Ariste 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. Guns over people: Rising military spending is eroding quality of life around the world – https://theconversation.com/guns-over-people-rising-military-spending-is-eroding-quality-of-life-around-the-world-279601

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By J. Andrew Deman, Professor of English, University of Waterloo

Comics are more than a reading experience. They are a culture.

While reading a comic has traditionally been the centrepiece of that culture — with comics being the “social object” that binds and unites the culture, in the words of sociologist Jyri Engeström — the social experience doesn’t end when you put the comic down.

Comics culture has a storied history of conventions, shop conversations, swaps and sale events, collector exhibits and even academic courses on the subject.

And now we can add social media and the rise of webcomics — some of which even begin online, and then move to book format. So how do comic fans engage on Instagram and TikTok?

In a new media era, they share their comics experience with others online — debating, reflecting, recommending and enjoying.

As a scholar who specializes in comics media (graphic novels, comics, manga, and so on) and professional communications, I’m also interested in how we might add “learning” to that list since social media represents, arguably, the largest and most potent information dissemination network in human history. And when it comes to comics, there’s no shortage of things to discuss in this new media age.

Different eras of comics

Without social media, the previous “ages” or eras of English-language comics worked differently. The notion of different ages of comics evolved from discussion among fans, editors and scholars, and these include, as comics scholar Adrienne Resha explains: The Golden (1930s-50s), Silver (1950s-70s), Bronze (1970s-90s) and Modern (1990s-2010s) Ages.

These ages each have their own peculiarities, generic tendencies and political themes, but they can all be united by what Resha terms “corporate mandates and collector markets.”

Our current age of comics (for which Resha proposes the term “The Blue Age”) is one in which comics can be consumed through global digital platforms like Marvel Unlimited, Webtoons, Shonen Jump and so on, all without readers and fans ever purchasing a paper copy.

More importantly, it’s also an age in which comics fans form communities across social media platforms, allowing them to hold all manner of conversations with each other in order to express and enhance their experiences.

Respectful or toxic fan spaces?

These platforms create what new media expert Henry Jenkins defines as “affinity spaces” — places where readers and fans socialize while communally working through the meaning and importance of the social object (in this case, a comic) that they’ve all read.

While gathering around comics is longstanding and some dedicated comic-book shops persist despite shifts in the publishing industry, many readers now come together online.

The reputability of these online spaces is debatable, though, living as we do in an era of misinformation and disinformation. Online communities, just like real-life communities, can become toxic.

The Comicsgate scandal of 2017-18 that involved online backlash to gendered, racialized and cultural diversity in comics — in real spaces as well as comics storylines and representation — lead to widespread threats of violence.

But there is little doubt that the conversations fans are having about comics, and the affinity spaces surrounding them, are changing, with online conversations making up for losses of the traditional comic-book store.

As Resha notes: “The letters columns that once graced the back pages of comic books have been all but replaced and in some cases augmented by Twitter and, to a lesser degree, Tumblr and Facebook.”

Shaping comics culture

Powerhouse comics publishers have been quick to enter these affinity spaces. Marvel, DC and Image all joined Twitter, now called X, by 2008 in order to mediate and facilitate conversations about their products and outputs.

Comics artists have done the same. Many now have active followings of their social media accounts which allow them to promote their work, share works in progress and dialogue with their fans directly.

Social media has been able to draw fans, creators and publishers into a robust digital conversation that celebrates and shapes the art of comics as we know it.

Comics scholarship, public discussion

More recently, comics scholarship projects have sought to bring the academic consideration of comics as a medium into the public realm as well.

Such projects include education researcher Zachary Rondinelli’s “Welcome to Slumberland,” my own project “The Claremont Run” related to subverting gender in the X-Men or my co-project with Canadian communications scholar Anna Peppard, “Sequential Scholars.”

These projects, and others like them, allow readers the opportunity to peruse and consider university-level research on comics while they simultaneously weigh fan opinion, creator perspective and publisher mandate, all in the same network.

Informed attention and art circulation

This scholarly perspective adds a unique value to the conversation. In a 2023 article, literary studies researcher and critic Tim Lanzendörfer argues literary studies play an important role in how the public ascribes meaning to literature when scholars engage in public discussion.

The famous essay “A Habitable World” by author and comic scriptwriter Carter Scholz named some benefits of this process:

“So a commercial art form absolutely needs critical attention if it is to survive as an art. Otherwise, it gets its direction only from seeing what sells this month or this year; such observations are prone to error, impossible to interpret and worse than useless to the artist.”

His essay precedes the comic Music for Mechanics that he scripted, part of the acclaimed Love and Rockets series drawn by the Hernandez brothers.

Sharing love of the medium online

If comics are going to survive and to thrive as an art form, embracing social media can create an enhanced and empowered comics culture, one that is informed by varied stakeholders — like fans, creators, publishers, educators, critics and scholars — interacting with each other and spreading the good word about comics, so to speak, collectively.

And this might be the power of The Blue Age of comics — to leverage the information-sharing potential of social media to create an online experience of shared affinity for comics that is visual, networked, accessible (convenient even) and informed. For researchers across fields, this could also mean thinking about leveraging the accessibility of comics to contribute to the public good.

If you haven’t read a comic in The Blue Age, or simply haven’t attempted to share your love of the medium online, now’s a good time to jump back in. It’s an entirely new experience.

J. Andrew Deman receives funding from SSHRC to study and post about comics online through “Sequential Scholars.”

– ref. Want to talk comics? Today, that often means going online – https://theconversation.com/want-to-talk-comics-today-that-often-means-going-online-277151

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Aly Bailey, Assistant Professor in Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of Waterloo

What happens when our joyful activities become another way to make money? In an era defined by hustle culture and rising living costs, many people feel pressured to turn their hobbies into side-hustles.

The gig economy has made this monetization easier than ever. A growing share of work now takes place through short-term, flexible, remote and freelance contracts. Digital platforms like Uber, TaskRabbit, Rover, Skip The Dishes and Etsy make it simple for people to monetize their hobbies.

For some, these opportunities offer flexibility or a way to supplement income in an expensive economy. But they can also turn activities that once provided relaxation into yet another source of productivity.

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Hobbies can bring joy, well-being and focus to our busy lives, but so many of us don’t have one. If you’re ready to replace scrolling with stitching, or hustle with horticulture, The Hobby Starter Kit (a new series from Quarter Life) will help you get going.

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When a hobby becomes a job

I learned this first-hand when a hobby I loved became part of my livelihood. During graduate school, when I was barely making ends meet, I became a certified fitness instructor to earn money from activities I loved: yoga, running and weightlifting.

What I didn’t realize was that the joy I once found would quickly turn into burnout. I no longer exercised for fun; instead, it was a means to an end and my body grew exhausted. I was precariously employed by multiple employers and was driving across town at any hour of the day.

My experience reflects a broader cultural pressure to treat hyper-productivity as a virtue. Hustle culture celebrates long working hours, limited work-life balance and a relentless pursuit of money, job advancement and prestige.

Social media has amplified these norms.

Popularized hashtags like #Grindset, #ThankGodItsMonday and #HustleHard promote the idea that every skill or spare moment should be monetized — an outlook endorsed by billionaires like Elon Musk and Kim Kardashian.

Why hobbies matter for well-being

Hobbies play an important role in well-being because they provide repeated and ongoing joyful activity not tied to professional or financial incentives.

The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated how essential hobbies are for our health and well-being. During lockdowns and periods of social isolation, many people turned to hobbies to cope with stress, boredom and uncertainty.

There is no shortage of evidence about how hobbies contribute to personal development as well as mental and physical health.

Activities that involve any type of exercise like powerlifting, for example, can improve blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Creative hobbies like crocheting, knitting, photography, music and scrapbooking can similarly boost health and well-being.

When passion turns into work

Many hobbies naturally lead to skill development. Over time, people gain expertise, build communities and develop transferable skills.

Because hobbies often generate valuable skills, it can be tempting to monetize them. Sociologist Robert A. Stebbins coined the term “serious leisure” to describe the pursuit of recreation, hobby or volunteer activities to find career satisfaction.

Serious leisure is distinct from “casual leisure,” which involves intrinsically rewarding short-lived joyful and pleasurable activity.

Turning a passion into income can sometimes be rewarding. But in today’s gig economy, monetizing hobbies is less about following one’s passion and more about financial growth or necessity.

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Read more:
Gig platform workers need better health and well-being protections

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Many people — particularly those in low- and middle-income brackets — are forced to string together multiple gigs to make ends meet. These jobs often come without permanence, benefits, paid leave or pension, and income is unpredictable.

Research also shows that racialized workers are over-represented in this type of precarious work, indicative of the many racial disparities that exist in labour.

As a result, for many people, monetizing hobbies is about economic survival amid endless structural barriers.

Rest as resistance to hustle culture

Growing awareness of these pressures and systemic injustices has sparked movements that challenge the expectation to constantly produce and perform.

One example is America performance artist Tricia Hersey’s Nap Ministry, which promotes rest as a form of resistance to grind culture, capitalism and white supremacy. Hersey argues that rest should be understood not as laziness, but as a fundamental human right that has historically been denied to many people, especially racialized communities.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, people impacted by hustle culture have increasingly scrutinized the pressures to overwork. People want work-life balance, which includes more time for hobbies.

But maintaining that balance requires resisting the trap of making hobbies your work and sacrificing your joy.

Protecting your joy

Protecting your hobbies today often means setting intentional boundaries in a culture that constantly pushes (hyper)productivity.

If possible, resist the urge to turn your hobbies into work, or keep monetization minimal. Hobbies are sacred. They represent time away from labour, which is essential for well-being.

It is also worth being critical of tropes that promise more working hours will lead to greater financial success. The truth is that a large share of wealth comes from inheritance or structural advantages rather than individual effort. When people are exploited and overworked, it benefits the elite class more than anyone else.

Lastly, lean into rest as resistance. Rest can look different for everyone. For me, yoga has returned to being a respite from work rather than a job. For others it might be knitting, swimming in a lake or simply getting more sleep.

Whatever form it takes, protecting your joy matters in a culture that wants to exploit it.

Aly Bailey 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. How to protect your hobbies in a culture that wants to exploit them – https://theconversation.com/how-to-protect-your-hobbies-in-a-culture-that-wants-to-exploit-them-277817

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Alexander Lewis Peace, Associate Professor, Structural Geology, McMaster University

Recent seismic imaging off Vancouver Island has revealed something extraordinary: a tear in the subducting oceanic plate beneath the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

The finding briefly raised the public’s hopes that Cascadia might be “shutting down,” potentially lowering earthquake risk in North America’s Pacific Northwest.

A subduction zone is a boundary where tectonic plates collide, forcing a heavier plate to dive, or subduct, below a lighter one. Recent research suggests that part of the Cascadia Subduction Zone, just off the coast of Vancouver Island, may be slowing down due to a newly identified tear in the subducting plate.

It’s an eye-catching idea: a major plate boundary winding down, perhaps even reducing earthquake risk, would be a comforting thought for millions of people living with seismic hazards in the Pacific Northwest, particularly given the challenges of predicting earthquakes.

But while the discovery is real, the interpretation that the subduction zone is winding down gets ahead of the science.

What the new research actually shows is far more complex — and more interesting. But before we can understand what this tear means, we need to go back to plate tectonic theory.

Understanding the science

Plate tectonic theory, first formalized in the 1960s and 1970s, revolutionized our understanding of the planet.

In this framework, which was built on the earlier concept of continental drift, there are two types of crust: the lighter continental crust and heavier oceanic crust. Oceanic crust forms at large underwater mountain chains that transect the oceans, known as mid-ocean ridges.

After millions of years of cooling and becoming denser, the oceanic crust sinks back into the Earth at subduction zones. Traditionally, this cycle has been framed as relatively straightforward, but recent work continues to reveal exceptions and complexities.

Continental interiors are not the stable, rigid places they were once thought to be. Microcontinents, small pieces of the Earth’s outer shell, continue to be identified, and even the simple distinction between oceanic and continental crust is being challenged through the discovery of hybrid and transitional type crusts.

A new example of this ongoing refinement of plate tectonic theory comes from the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a major piece of North America’s western plate boundary.

What researchers recently discovered

The oceanic plate beneath North America is not a single, intact slab. Instead, it appears to be fragmenting and tearing apart. This is not something that plays out over human timescales — it unfolds over millions of years. Still, it challenges long-held assumptions about how the Cascadia Subduction Zone works.

For decades, the subduction zone was treated as a relatively continuous plate boundary. Mounting evidence now shows that it is segmented and divided into smaller, structurally complex parts.

The new seismic imaging off Vancouver Island’s Pacific shore sharpens this picture, revealing that fragmentation is not only present but ongoing. The plate boundary is more complex than a classic textbook image of one plate smoothly sliding beneath another.

A tear in the subducting plate does not mean the plate boundary stops functioning. Instead, it means a tectonic reorganization is underway. And this is not only expected, but inevitable. Subduction will likely continue on either side of the tear and deformation may become more distributed across the region.

In other words, rather than of a single, coherent system, we may end up with multiple smaller pieces interacting with one another. This evolution may make the system more dynamic and its future behaviour harder to predict.

What this could mean for earthquakes

The recent finding has important implications for seismic hazards in the region, which continue to be a major concern. Large earthquakes in the Cascadia Subduction Zone are determined by how strain accumulates and is released along the boundary between the plates and associated faults.

Studies show that parts of this boundary remain strongly locked, meaning that strain is still building and could be released in future large earthquakes. A tear in the plate may influence where ruptures start and stop, or how far they propagate, but it does not remove the underlying seismic hazard.

If anything, increased structural complexity can make behaviour harder to predict. Segmentation may limit the size of some earthquakes, but it could also concentrate deformation in unexpected ways.

Smaller plates and microplates can rotate, interact and transfer stress across a region. These are processes geoscientists are still working to understand in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere.

Over millions of years, this evolution will reshape the entire plate boundary, perhaps transforming it into a more diffuse system of smaller interacting plates. But for people living in the Pacific Northwest, this long-term trajectory does not change the near-term reality.

Cascadia remains an active subduction zone capable of producing large earthquakes. Rather than signalling the end of Cascadia, this discovery highlights just how dynamic and complex it really is — and how much more there is to learn.

Alexander Lewis Peace receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council of Canada and MITACS.

– ref. The Cascadia Subduction zone isn’t shutting down – but it’s more complicated than we thought – https://theconversation.com/the-cascadia-subduction-zone-isnt-shutting-down-but-its-more-complicated-than-we-thought-279730

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sophie M Phillips, Post-Doctoral Associate, School of Occupational Therapy, Western University

Motor skills are foundational for a lifetime of movement. For children, they play a vital role not only in facilitating physical activity levels but also for cognitive and socio-emotional development and school readiness.

Motor skills are broadly separated into two groups: fine and gross motor skills. Fine motor skills are movements that use smaller muscles, specifically related to the hand, like grasping a pen. Gross motor skills are movements that use larger muscles, and these can be categorized into three main groups:

1) Locomotor skills, which include movement co-ordinated in a specific direction, to transport the body from one location to another (like walking, running, jumping, hopping);

2) Object control skills, or manipulative skills, which involve controlling, manipulating or moving objects with the body (like throwing, kicking, catching);

3) Stability skills, which entail maintaining balance of the body when still or in motion.

Motor development experts recommend that children should have adequate competency in motor skills by around the age of seven. This supports children’s full engagement in school, from developing fine motor skills for writing to physical activities that require more specialized skills. However, many young children are not achieving adequate motor skill proficiency by this age, with rates declining in the past few decades.

While adults recognize the importance of motor skills for children’s participation in everyday activities, there is evidence that many parents don’t feel knowledgeable about how to help their children develop these skills.

Some parents have reported perceiving that motor skills will develop naturally. But children develop motor skills through practice, and they require opportunities for this.

Informed by our work, and that of others, and in co-operation with early childhood educators, parents and children, we offer strategies and suggestions to support parents and educators in helping the young children in their care develop motor skills.

Equipping adults with knowledge

Parents and early childhood educators serve as important role models for young children. There are numerous ways adults in children’s lives can help support motor skill development.

Researchers have shown that parents taking part in motor skill practice through everyday activities and play alongside their children can improve children’s competence.

This may include development of fine motor skills through activities like drawing, colouring or cooking together, or gross motor skills through activities like playing catch or kicking a ball back and forth.

Given that many young children spend much of their week in child care, early childhood educators also play an important role in influencing children’s overall development, including their motor skills.

The TEACH e-learning course (TEACH stands for Training EArly CHildhood educators in physical activity) has been shown to improve educators’ knowledge about physical activity opportunities for young children, as well as their confidence and plans to support this.

Young children whose early childhood educators received training via the TEACH e-Learning course had significantly improved locomotor skills compared to children whose educators hadn’t received this training.

This means ensuring early childhood educators are equipped with the knowledge, skills and confidence to provide motor skill development opportunities for the children in their care is paramount to helping children acquire these competencies.

Engaging in physical activity

Children acquire gross motor skills through physical activity. This can include providing opportunities for children to engage in physical activities of a moderate-to-vigorous intensity, like brisk walking, running, cycling and skipping.

Active travel, involving walking, cycling or using a scooter as a method of transport, can provide opportunities for children to be physically active and develop their motor skills.

Our analyses of data from children attending child care have shown that children spending more time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, relative to lower-intensity activity, demonstrate better overall gross motor skills and in particular, object control skills.

Other approaches include children participating in sports, where they can practise their motor skills, for example by kicking a soccer or football.

Active outdoor play

While interventions that directly target specific motor skills through structured activity have shown substantive benefits for motor skill development, active outdoor play is another way parents and educators can help children acquire motor skills.

The outdoors is a perfect playground for children to develop motor skills. Trails and grassy or forestry areas provide naturally occurring, uneven ground where children can improve their stability and balance. The ample space allows children to run around and develop locomotor skills, while naturally occurring objects like bark and sticks can be used to enhance motor creativity by playing games such as building dens.

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Read more:
From obesity to allergies, outdoor play is the best medicine for children

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Swap out screen time

Increased screen time reduces opportunities for the development of motor skills. Research links young children’s excessive screen time with negative effects on motor development both during early childhood and into later childhood.

This includes a particular focus on manual dexterity (being able to co-ordinate hand and finger movements).

Recent evidence suggests that while all screen use is associated with poorer fine motor skill development, newer media like smartphones and tablets are linked to worse outcomes than traditional media such as TV viewing.

Creative, motor-enhancing activities

Manipulative play (building blocks, bead threading), arts and crafts (cutting with scissors, colouring and drawing) and tactile play (using playdough or clay) can have benefits for children’s fine motor skills and object control.

These forms of play, like children’s free play, are also enriching for other aspects of development.

Everyday activities such as helping with preparing and cooking food, using cutlery at mealtimes, as well as buttoning or zipping clothes, can improve key skills.

Reducing screen time and replacing screen-based activities with something physically active or other beneficial sedentary activities can help children develop object control and finer motor skills. This said, understanding that we live in a digital world, the Canadian Paediatric Society has provided guidance about how screen time can be intentionally used.

Moving bodies for happy and healthy lives

Providing young children with the opportunity to develop motor skills is as simple as practice makes perfect.

Practising key motor skills in the ways suggested can help ensure young children are equipped with the competencies and abilities to move and use their bodies, preparing them to lead happy and healthy lives.

Sophie M Phillips receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Dan Jones received funding from NIHR for a research project exploring young children’s use of interactive electronic devices.

Trish Tucker receives funding from the Canada Foundation of Innovation, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the Children’s Health Research Institute.

– ref. What are motor skills? Evidence-based ways to support children’s fine and gross motor development – https://theconversation.com/what-are-motor-skills-evidence-based-ways-to-support-childrens-fine-and-gross-motor-development-278645

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Marcus Mazzucco, Adjunct Lecturer in Sports Law, University of Toronto

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada recently announced the outcome of its investigation into the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), concluding a years-long examination of the organization’s data-sharing practices.

The investigation followed a complaint that we filed with the Privacy Commissioner. We alleged WADA violated Canadian privacy law by disclosing athletes’ doping data to international sport federations for the purpose of sex testing.

In order to resolve the commissioner’s investigation, WADA has agreed to adopt remedial measures to ensure that doping data under WADA’s control is used only for anti-doping purposes.

While WADA agreed to the measures, it has maintained that it did not violate privacy laws. At the same time, it has signalled a willingness to work with regulators around data protection.

The decision is expected to have significant implications for sex-testing policies in women’s and girls’ sport, and the journey to reach it reveals a broader problem concerning data protection in international sport.

Complaint grounded in research

Our complaint was based on our own peer-reviewed research published in August 2024 showing that doping data under WADA’s control was being accessed by international sport federations to monitor athletes’ blood testosterone levels and determine their eligibility to compete in women’s sport.

These international federations have eligibility regulations banning women with sex variations and transgender women from women’s sport, unless their testosterone levels fall below certain thresholds.

Our study examined how WADA’s Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) — a database containing doping test results — enabled this data sharing.

We found that when international federations access doping data in ADAMS for sex-based eligibility determinations, there is a disclosure of that data by WADA that is subject to Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). WADA, a Montréal-based organization, became subject to PIPEDA in 2015 in respect of its collection, use and disclosure of personal information for interprovincial and international activities.

Legal and ethical concerns

In our view, WADA’s disclosure of doping data for sex testing violated PIPEDA in two ways.

First, the disclosures occurred without the knowledge or consent of athletes. Second, the disclosures were not for an appropriate purpose under the law. It was inappropriate due to the lack of scientific evidence and lack of consensus that women with testosterone levels above the thresholds have a competitive advantage.

In addition, the data disclosures could cause significant harms to women athletes, including stigma, humiliation and the loss of business and professional opportunities.

Concerns about such practices were already raised by human rights organizations and investigative journalists.

Nonetheless, WADA’s 2021 World Anti-Doping Code permitted international sport federations to use doping data for purposes unrelated to anti-doping, including monitoring the eligibility of transgender athletes.

This permissive stance enabled the expansion of sex-testing policies by international federations.

Response to the complaint and investigation

Initially, WADA’s response to the privacy complaint suggested it viewed the issue as relatively minor, both in comments to the media and in its own internal board meetings.

This position was reflected in early drafts of the 2027 World Anti-Doping Code, which maintained the ability of international sport federations to use doping data for purposes unrelated to anti-doping, including sex testing.

That approach shifted after the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Philippe Dufresne, launched a 16-month investigation into WADA in November 2024.

The inquiry ultimately led WADA to agree to prohibit international sport federations and anti-doping organizations from using doping data stored in ADAMS for purposes other than anti-doping.

WADA has since revised the 2027 World Anti-Doping Code to include this prohibition. It must now communicate these changes to relevant organizations and develop mechanisms to ensure compliance.

This outcome is likely to force international sport federations that have relied on doping data in ADAMS for sex testing to rethink how they regulate eligibility in women’s and girls’ sport — including considering more gender-inclusive approaches for competitions.

A reactive approach to athletes’ rights

While the outcome of the investigation is a success for athletes’ data-protection rights, it’s disconcerting that it was needed in the first place.

Privacy experts and scholars have long criticized the global anti-doping system for not respecting athletes’ data-protection rights.

Too often, international sport organizations deprioritize the human rights of athletes in their quest to govern sport. This stems from their lack of accountability to athletes and the mistaken belief that they are outside the reach of national legal systems.

As a result, protections for athletes’ rights often occur only after an international sports organization is compelled or pressured to do so through legal processes.

Legal challenges ahead for global sport

These concerns are increasingly being tested through legal challenges.

The Court of Justice of the European Union is considering whether the mandatory public disclosure of athletes’ anti-doping rule violations complies with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.

A ruling against such practices will require significant changes to the anti-doping system — something WADA could have pursued years ago if greater attention was paid to athletes’ data protection rights.

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Read more:
The return of sex testing in sport risks harming women athletes rather than protecting them

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Similar issues are emerging elsewhere in sport. The International Olympic Committee’s recent decision to require genetic sex testing for women’s events likely violates the data protection laws of many jurisdictions. Despite this, the IOC is pushing ahead with its policy.

As a result, athletes and their advocates must continue to seek the intervention of courts and regulators to ensure athletes’ data protection rights are upheld.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. How our research led to a privacy complaint that pushed the World Anti‑Doping Agency to change its rules – https://theconversation.com/how-our-research-led-to-a-privacy-complaint-that-pushed-the-world-anti-doping-agency-to-change-its-rules-279315