Category: The Conversation – Canada

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Brodie Ramin, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

In the early hours of Jan. 1, 2026, a fire ripped through Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, killing 40 people and injuring 116, many of them severely.

Investigators believe the blaze began when sparklers on champagne bottles were held too close to the ceiling, igniting interior materials. The investigation is ongoing, and it is premature to draw conclusions about individual actions or responsibility. But fires do not need villains to be instructive.

What matters is not the spark itself, but the system into which that spark was introduced.

Fire safety, as history keeps reminding us, is not about eliminating ignition. We will always cook, heat, wire, decorate, celebrate and repair. Fire prevention is about ensuring that when ignition happens, as it inevitably will, it does not propagate.

My research has focused on how disasters are prevented, and how warning signs are missed when systems drift or protections are taken for granted. Fire safety is one area I have examined, and it reveals recurring patterns that are relevant to understanding this tragedy.

Fire as a contagion

For one thing, fire behaves less like an accident and more like a virus. It spreads through available fuel, follows paths of least resistance and accelerates when conditions are favourable. The historian Stephen Pyne describes fire as a “contagion of combustion.”

Like disease prevention, fire safety has never relied on a single safeguard. Instead, it depends on layers of them: materials that resist ignition, detection systems that identify problems early, compartmentalization that limits spread, suppression systems that slow or extinguish flames and trained humans who know how to respond when technology falters. When fires become destructive, it is almost always because multiple layers fail at once.

The Reason Model and fire prevention

The Reason Model, often visualized as slices of Swiss cheese, helps explain why disasters occur even in systems designed to be safe.

Each slice represents a layer of defence. Each slice also contains holes, imperfections, gaps and latent weaknesses. Most of the time, those holes do not line up, but when they do, harm passes through.

Latent conditions for fire exist everywhere: dry materials, electrical wiring, human fatigue, budget constraints, informal workarounds. These conditions are usually harmless until they align. The spark is not the cause of the disaster. It is merely the moment when all the holes line up.

Celebration and risk perception

The New Year’s fire at Le Constellation bar occurred in a celebratory setting. That matters, because celebration changes how we perceive risk.

Celebratory spaces often bring together the very conditions fire exploits: crowds, alcohol, decorations, reduced vigilance, temporary installation and informal rule-bending “just for the night.” When those conditions align with flammable materials or limited escape access, the margin for error shrinks dramatically.

Latent conditions are not evenly distributed across time. They cluster during moments of exception — holidays, renovations, special events when normal routines are suspended.

Notre-Dame: when multiple failures occur

When the Notre-Dame Cathedral nearly collapsed in a fire in April 2019, it shocked the world. The building was not neglected. It had a sophisticated fire detection system with more than 160 sensors. Fire wardens patrolled the attic three times daily. A firefighter was permanently stationed on site. The Paris Fire Brigade had trained for exactly such a scenario.

And yet, the fire still spread.

An alarm triggered at 6:18 p.m., but a misinterpreted code sent a guard to the wrong attic. A fatigued technician, covering a double shift, struggled to escalate the alert. The system detected the fire, but it did not automatically summon the fire department. By the time the correct location was identified, 30 minutes had passed. The roof timbers, made of centuries old dry oak, were already burning uncontrollably.

Notre-Dame did not burn because no one cared. It burned because multiple failures aligned: ambiguous alarm codes, human fatigue, delayed escalation and architectural features that lacked compartmentalization or sprinklers. A fire protection engineer later remarked that the only surprise was that the disaster had not happened sooner.

Rarity breeds complacency

One of the paradoxes of modern fire safety is that it works so well it becomes invisible. Between 1980 and 2024, the rate of reported fires per 1,000 people in the United States fell by more than 60 per cent, according to long-term data compiled by the National Fire Protection Association. Sprinklers, fire doors, smoke detectors, compartmentalization and education campaigns have made large fires rare.

But that rarity can breed complacency.

When a system prevents disaster hundreds of times, it becomes tempting to ignore precautions. Doors are left open. Materials are substituted. Alarms are misunderstood. Redundancies are trimmed.

The holes in the safety system widen quietly. Then, eventually, they all line up.

Learning from tragedies

The Swiss fire had its own specific causes, and those details matter. But the broader lesson is neither new nor obscure. Fires do not escalate only because people are reckless. They escalate because systems drift away from the conditions under which they were safe.

Fire safety is an engineering and organizational project. It requires constant attention to small details, especially when nothing seems wrong. It demands respect for fire and its destructive potential.

We have learned, repeatedly, how to prevent fires from spreading. Every major advance, from fire doors to sprinklers to automatic shutoff systems, came from studying failures where containment broke down.

The tragedy is not that we do not know what works. It is that, over time, we forget to be afraid.

Brodie Ramin 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. What the New Year’s fire at a Swiss bar tells us about fire prevention – https://theconversation.com/what-the-new-years-fire-at-a-swiss-bar-tells-us-about-fire-prevention-272777

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Philippe Le Billon, Professor, Geography Department and School of Public Policy & Global Affairs, University of British Columbia

Following Nicolás Maduro’s capture in Caracas by United States military forces, active planning for political transition in Venezuela has intensified in Washington, D.C.

For the U.S., the prize is the prospect of reviving one of the world’s largest proven oil reserves and reshaping global energy markets in its favour.

But the ripple effects would extend well beyond Caracas and the U.S. A Venezuelan oil revival could also subtly increase American leverage over Canada — particularly Alberta — through its impact on oil prices, investment flows and longstanding debates about Canada’s energy future.

At first glance, this may seem counterintuitive. Canada is traditionally a close American ally and its largest foreign oil supplier. Yet Canada and Venezuela largely compete in the same heavy-oil regional and global markets, and shifts in supply from Canada to Venezuela would widely reverberate across the Canadian economy and political landscape.

Heavy crude, lower prices and U.S. refineries

If U.S. sanctions on Venezuela are lifted and the country’s oil sector is partially revived, even a modest increase in production could have outsized effects on prices — especially for heavy crude. American Gulf Coast refineries are specifically configured to process heavy crude, historically sourced from Venezuela, Mexico and Canada’s oilsands.

More Venezuelan barrels on the market would increase competition for these refineries and possibly those in the American Midwest. This could push down the price premium currently enjoyed by Canadian heavy crude, such as Western Canadian Select.

For U.S. refiners, cheaper crude is good news. For Canadian producers, it could squeeze margins already vulnerable to global price volatility and high production costs.

In this sense, Venezuela’s return would not simply add supply; it would challenge Canada’s niche in the U.S. oil import market.

Investment trade-offs and the oilsands dilemma

Oil markets are not just about barrels — they’re about capital. Investors make choices about where to place long-term bets, and those choices are increasingly shaped by climate policies, energy transition expectations and geopolitical risk.

A perceived opening in Venezuela could redirect some international investments away from Alberta’s oilsands. Even if Venezuela remains risky, the idea of accessing vast reserves at lower costs may appeal to investors looking for short-term gains in a declining oil market.

This shift could further undermine already fragile (and climate-threatening) prospects for new oilsands expansion and make additional pipeline projects to Canada’s West Coast even harder to justify.

If global capital sees fewer long-term returns in high-cost, high-carbon oil, Alberta may find itself competing not just with renewables, but with other oil producers closer to U.S. markets. This could play in favour of an additional pipeline to Canada’s West Coast to reach China, which may not see so many shipments from Venezuela, especially if the U.S. pressures Caracas to privilege its own market and companies.

Economic pressure and the politics of separatism

Weaker oil revenues could also reshape Alberta politics. Much of the province’s separatist rhetoric has historically rested on the idea that Ottawa “takes” Alberta’s oil wealth through federal transfers and environmental regulations.

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Read more:
Alberta has long accused Ottawa of trying to destroy its oil industry. Here’s why that’s a dangerous myth

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If oil revenues decline structurally due to lower prices and reduced investment, the economic foundation of this grievance weakens. A less oil-dependent Alberta may have fewer material incentives to push for sovereignty, even if political frustrations remain.

This doesn’t mean discontent would disappear. But it suggests that long-term changes in global energy markets could quietly reduce the appeal of resource-based nationalism in Canada’s West.

The urgent case for diversification

For Alberta and Canada more broadly, the lesson is clear: economic diversification is no longer optional; it’s an urgent necessity. Betting on sustained high oil prices has always been risky; betting on them in a world of messy energy transition is increasingly untenable.

This means doubling down on alternative export revenues, from clean technologies and critical minerals to advanced manufacturing, agri-food and knowledge-based services. It also means investing in workforce transitions, regional innovation and infrastructure that supports economic resilience beyond oil.

The prospect of Venezuela’s return to oil markets underscores why Canada cannot rely indefinitely on being the “safe” oil supplier to the United States.

A Venezuelan oil boom remains unlikely

All of this, however, rests on a big “if.” A rapid and large-scale revival of Venezuela’s oil sector is improbable. Years of mismanagement, underinvestment and sanctions have left infrastructure in poor condition.

Production costs are high, oil quality is low and the carbon footprint of Venezuelan heavy crude is significant, a growing liability in a carbon-constrained world.

What’s more, U.S. oil company interests don’t always align with American energy security and geopolitical policy objectives, and expectations of an oil surplus in the coming decades dampen enthusiasm for massive new investments.

Political uncertainty remains acute, and even American firms like Chevron operate under fragile arrangements that could be reversed. Though it’s unlikely, a more revolutionary, post-American intervention government in Venezuela might even seek retribution against the U.S. and other foreign companies seen as complicit in past pressure campaigns.

In short, Venezuela’s oil is vast, but monetizing it at scale is another matter.

Lessons from past regime change efforts

History offers sobering lessons about past efforts to bring about regime change.

In Iraq, Iran and Libya, attempts to reshape energy sectors through regime change or coercive pressure often backfired. Production disruptions, political instability and nationalist backlash frequently undermined both investor confidence and geopolitical objectives.

There are some reasons to assume Venezuela would be different, including ongoing negotiations between U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and the regime in Caracas, limited economic and military options for the former Maduro regime and a growing consensus among major powers that they can gain from a return to imperialist “spheres of influence.”

But energy markets reward stability more than ideology, and regime change rarely delivers it quickly.

Who else loses from lower oil prices?

Finally, it’s worth noting that lower oil prices would not hurt Canada alone. In the U.S., the first casualties would likely be some oil producers, particularly smaller shale firms with high debt and thin margins. While a few large American oil companies might benefit from cheaper acquisitions and refinery gains through access to cheaper Venezuelan supply, many smaller U.S. producers could suffer.

This complicates the notion that the U.S. would unambiguously “win” in the event of a Venezuelan oil revival. Energy geopolitics creates winners and losers on all sides.

In the end, Venezuela’s political future may matter less for Canada because of what happens in Caracas and more because it highlights a deeper reality: oil no longer offers the geopolitical and fiscal certainty it once did. For Canada, adapting to that reality, rather than betting against it, may be the most strategic move of all.

Philippe Le Billon 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. A regime change in Venezuela could have grim consequences for Canada’s oil sector – https://theconversation.com/a-regime-change-in-venezuela-could-have-grim-consequences-for-canadas-oil-sector-272694

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Michael Baker, Sessional Lecturer, Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba

Disabled students continue to face barriers constructed and enforced by our schools. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization estimates that, globally, children with disabilities are twice as likely to be denied access to education.

Students and their support networks, families, advocates and experts can no longer accept school systems that uphold inequality for the disabled community. Ableist barriers continue to impede the human rights of disabled students in Canada.

The Manitoba Human Rights Commission released the first phase of its report exploring the right to access evidence-based reading interventions in Manitoba’s public education system on Oct. 30, 2025.

The inquiry was initiated in 2022 after the commission continued to hear that students with reading disabilities were experiencing barriers to accessing timely reading interventions in their local public schools.

Related to this, the Manitoba government has passed Bill 225 to require universal early reading screenings for all kindergarten to Grade 4 students.

Upholding student rights

In a landmark 2012 case, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that human rights laws in Canada protect every student’s right to an equal opportunity to learn to read.

The court’s Moore v. British Columbia (Education) decision affirmed that learning to read is not a privilege or luxury, but a basic and essential human right in Canada. The court said:

“Adequate special education … is not a dispensable luxury. For those with severe learning disabilities, it is the ramp that provides access to the statutory commitment to education made to all children.”

While this decision is celebrated as a significant step toward advancing the rights of students with disabilities, in the years since it was released, barriers continued to be reported. This led to the different respective special investigations in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario.

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Read more:
Reading disabilities are a human rights issue — Saskatchewan joins calls to address barriers

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Important step in Manitoba

The recommendations from the October 2025 Manitoba report Supporting The Right to Read in Manitoba: The ABCs of a Rights-Based Approach to Teaching Reading are a first step in addressing the discrimination against children with reading disabilities in Manitoba’s public education system.

The report details how education is essential for unlocking opportunities, personal growth and allowing students to access their other fundamental rights, as well as promoting equality and belonging.

Reading is the foundation of learning and a fundamental skill that shapes every aspect of life. Students who cannot read well are more likely to face challenges in school, work and everyday life.

When students cannot access reading instruction, it affects their confidence, mental health and long-term opportunities.

Learning disabilities are the most prevalent disability in the K-12 education system, and reading disabilities are by far the most prevalent type of learning disability. Importantly, many prefer the term dyslexia over reading disability.

‘Attitudinal barriers’

The Manitoba Human Rights Commission found that “attitudinal barriers and stigma impacting the uptake and efficacy of accommodations” continue to maintain inequalities for the dyslexic community.

These attitudinal barriers amount to systemic ableism, a topic I have previously explored. Ableism is enacted and upheld by a system that harbours negative attitudes, stereotyping and discrimination towards people with disabilities.

Importantly, like other systems of oppression like racism and sexism, ableism continues to exist because of the combination of prejudice and power, particularly in schools.

One of the consistent findings of the Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan Human Rights Commissions is the need to implement a universal early reading screening, as recently acknowledged by Manitoba legislation.

Such a tool allows educators to identify reading challenges as early as possible. This is a critical step in enabling earlier access to evidence-based interventions when they are most effective.

Reading and literacy approaches

Manitoba’s report also highlights issues around teacher education and practice, noting that:

“Some teachers do not understand accommodation principles, the role of clinicians in supporting accommodations, or have limited knowledge of reading disabilities, foundational reading skills or teaching reading through a direct, explicit and structured approach.”

Currently, some researchers or educators are concerned that a focus on phonics-based learning (an aspect of direct instruction in reading) and early screening could undermine children’s agency and critical thinking.

There are also concerns that an emphasis on direct instruction could risk ignoring important insights about children’s sociocultural contexts and situations.

Given the spectrum of abilities within Manitoba classrooms, multiple approaches to literacy should be implemented, providing inclusion and access.

Manitoba must provide access to reading interventions that provide structured literacy while honouring linguistic and cultural diversity, the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions Calls to Action — and are grounded in the five tenets of inclusive education: togetherness, belonging, affirmation, opportunity and agency.

Nothing about us, without us: Community voice

Across Canada and globally, the dyslexia community has initiated a “Right to Read” movement to advance the rights of children, both with and without dyslexia, to gain access to reading instruction and, more broadly, education.

Challenging power in any system of oppression is often met with resistance and defensiveness. Redressing ableism is no different.

Encouragingly, one Yukon First Nations school board reports tremendous success with students’ reading when implementing both sounding out words (phonics) — part of direct reading instruction — and embedding cultural values in teaching.

Canadian education systems must confront ableist processes, attitudes and practices if all children, including those with dyslexia, are able to realize the right to read. Our children are capable; we just need to provide them the opportunities and approaches that fit their needs.

This story was co-authored by Natalie Riediger, who has two children with dyslexia and is an associate professor, Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, at the University of Manitoba.

Michael Baker 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. Dyslexic students have the right to read — and Manitoba has joined other provinces to address this – https://theconversation.com/dyslexic-students-have-the-right-to-read-and-manitoba-has-joined-other-provinces-to-address-this-269854

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Tom Janssen, PhD candidate, McMaster University

Getting out of a chair shouldn’t be a struggle. Yet for many older adults, simple everyday movements like this become increasingly difficult as our muscles break down and weaken with age, a process called sarcopenia. The consequences build quietly: trouble climbing stairs, more hospital visits and, eventually, losing the ability to live independently.

The encouraging news is that you do not need long workouts or heavy training to push back. Even modest amounts of strength training can meaningfully preserve muscle and maintain your ability to move with confidence.

Building a buffer

Being hospitalized or immobilized for short periods of time can have profound consequences for our muscles. During these short (around five days) and sometimes longer periods of inactivity and immobilization, we lose muscle and get weaker.

The bad news is that it’s hard to get that muscle and strength back, particularly as we age. Therefore, prevention is always better than a cure. However, sometimes accidents or illnesses just can’t be avoided. This is why we need to create a bit of a buffer or “muscle savings account.”

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: you will lose muscle during periods of immobilization, whether from illness, surgery or injury. The loss is inevitable. What’s not inevitable is whether you can afford that loss. If you’re already low on muscle mass, losing even a small amount can push you over the edge from independence to dependence. The same loss that barely affects someone with a larger amount of muscle can leave someone with less muscle unable to function independently.

This matters especially as we age, because older adults don’t bounce back the way younger people do. A 20-year-old loses muscle in the hospital and regains it within weeks. A 70-year-old might never get it back. That’s why building a buffer shouldn’t be thought of as optional; it’s essential insurance for your future independence.

Here’s how age-related muscle loss typically unfolds: it’s not a gentle slope but a staircase going down step by step. You’re stable for months or years, then something happens — a fall, a surgery, pneumonia — and you drop to a new, lower level. Then another incident, another drop. Each time you lose muscle, and never fully regain it.

Maybe you’ve seen this in your own family. “Everything changed after that fall.” “Dad was never the same after his knee surgery.” These stories share a common thread: insufficient muscle reserves meeting an inevitable health challenge.

The good news? This trajectory isn’t set in stone. The muscle you build now determines whether future setbacks become temporary obstacles or permanent limitations.

Maintaining strength

Physical activity, specifically strength training, is key to maintaining and increasing muscle mass and strength. Strength training refers to lifting weights, either dumbbells, workout machines or resistance bands.

Remaining physically active (walking, gardening and the like) as we age is crucial for our heart and brain health, and helps prevent the development of Type 2 diabetes. However, there are some unique and specific benefits to strength training.

Moving weights and other types of resistance training emphasizes the development of power and strength, which are crucial in daily activities like climbing stairs or lifting a heavy bag of groceries, and in reducing fall risk. Resistance training is irreplaceable in this respect.

Despite this, only 42 per cent of Canadians over age 65 follow strength training guidelines, a gap that leaves many vulnerable to the muscle loss that can make daily activities a struggle.

Heavy vs. lighter weights: can a little be enough?

Some people may be thinking, “Lifting heavy weights in a gym full of muscular young folks is just not for me, thanks.” But what if you don’t need to lift heavy weights to maintain or even gain muscle?

Our research and that of others consistently demonstrates that you don’t have to lift heavy weights to gain muscle and strength. Heavier weights offer a slight advantage for strength gains, but lighter weights work remarkably well, enough to make a real difference in your daily life.

A good indicator to know if a weight is heavy enough, is to see if you are fatigued after 20-25 repetitions. If you can do more then 25 repetitions you should probably go slightly heavier in weights. This weight will be different from person to person and from time to time.

Here’s encouraging news: Stuart Phillips’ exercise metabolism research group at McMaster University found that one weekly session of lighter-weight strength training builds both muscle and strength.

Yes, more sessions produce faster results, but the most important threshold isn’t between adequate and excellent; it’s between zero and one. A single weekly workout shifts you from declining muscle mass to actually gaining ground, building the buffer that safeguards independence as you age.

Keep in mind that a range of 20-25 repetitions is most likely an ideal range for lighter weight strength training. Anything lower than that might not have the same beneficial effects.

To maximize gains with lighter weights, you’ll eventually want to train to voluntary failure, which means until you physically can no longer complete the exercise with appropriate form.

But here’s what beginners need to hear: don’t worry about that just yet. Your first workout doesn’t need to be perfect or exhausting. It just needs to happen. As you build confidence and consistency, you can push harder. And making that first workout happen can be easier than you think. A basic set of dumbbells or resistance bands means you can begin today, at home, without a gym membership or intimidating equipment.

The bottom line is simple. One strength session per week beats zero. Lighter weights beat no weights. Starting imperfectly beats never starting at all. The muscle buffer you build now, however gradually, is insurance against the loss that comes with age and illness. Your future self, still climbing stairs and carrying groceries independently, will thank you for beginning today.

Matthew Lees is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Postdoctoral Fellowship award (Funding Reference Number 187773).

Tom Janssen 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 low can you go (and still build muscle)? Why strength training matters at any age – https://theconversation.com/how-low-can-you-go-and-still-build-muscle-why-strength-training-matters-at-any-age-270938

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Mandi Baker, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, University of Manitoba

The new year starts for many by making resolutions to live healthier lives. This can mean getting fitter by joining a gym, signing up to Pilates classes or starting a new diet.

For many, these resolutions are hard to maintain and the new habits slip away. Unfortunately, there are many reasons why our best intentions fail; the kids get sick so you can’t get out for a class, the costs of equipment or membership become too steep, and kale just isn’t cutting it for dinner anymore. In the end, motivation for our new habits runs out.

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Read more:
The science behind building healthy habits can help you keep your New Year’s resolution

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When we choose activities for our leisure that do not bring intrinsic enjoyment and/or satisfaction, we find it hard to preserve. External motivations, like gaining a reward (a particular body shape) or avoiding a consequence (minimizing the risks related to heart health), can only take us so far.

When we do things that we truly love, that are aligned with our values and/or sense of self, or we would do even if no one was watching, then the chances of maintaining those physical activities are much higher. That means the goal of resolution-setting is to find the things that tap into our intrinsic motivations.

How we frame health

Another challenge to sticking with new health-related habits, is the very individual way that health is framed. Health is positioned as being not only an individual’s responsibility, but that the individual is to blame if they are unwell. While the medical model serves a purpose in identifying problems and addressing them, applying a deficiency-model rationality obscures critical awareness about the complex and many ways that social factors impact health.

Social models of health, such as The Social Determinants of Health by Dahlgreen & Whitehead (1991), demonstrate that not only do our physiology, lifestyle choices, social and community networks matter, but socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions do too. This shifts the responsibilities for health away from loading individuals up on guilt to shared collective responsibilities among all strata of community, government and institutions for a population’s health.

The notion that health is an individual problem, or deficiency, can be isolating, making the work of an individual’s wellness goals an effort that they feel they must do alone, and against broad systemic constraints.

Sociologists have long warned us of how these ideas, among others, lead us to think and treat ourselves poorly when it comes to moving our (fabulous and functional) bodies. Blaming ourselves or seeing physical activity, fitness and health as beyond our reach is both demoralizing and demotivating. Let alone added layers of social, economic, geographical and political inequities. This can be as heavy, if not heavier, than anything you might “lift” at the gym.

Getting physically active

Getting physically active for the first time, or after years, or only after the holidays means exercising your mental prowess. This list offers some insights into how to do the mental exercise to get your body moving and enjoying it:

• Be in your body: be embodied. Often made popular by mindfulness movements, the idea is to slow down your sophisticated mental processing to focus on your five senses and simply be in the moment. This teaches our nervous systems to take a break from processing stressful stimulus.

• Get active for no other reason than to enjoy yourself! Leisure theory tells us that seeking external rewards can make free time feel like work. Look for physical activity that brings you joy — make it the thing you look forward to rather than dread.

• Focus on what your body can DO rather than how it looks. Views of beautiful, attractive or healthy bodies constantly change. Focusing on what your body can and does do (a strengths-based approach to vitality) can be a subtle yet powerful mental shift to improve your quality of life.

• Find your activity people. Get active with people who share your philosophies about health. Find supportive people who don’t judge, who understand motivation’s ups and downs, who acknowledge that bodies come in different shapes and sizes AND that bodies are capable and beautiful things of joy.

• Get outside. Science tells us that heart rates and worrying (anxiety, depression and rumination) come down when spending just a little time in nature. No need for remote corners of the Earth — just a walk down the street can make a big difference.

Engaging in physical activities that are joy-filled is not only a pleasure but can be a political act of hopefulness and self-respect. It acts to resist social norms about individuating discourses about health and associated assumptions of body shape, size and fitness.

Celebrating bodies in their diversity, getting out and enjoying movement, representing that healthy bodies are diverse and getting active with friends can all be political acts that celebrate countercultural ideas about health.

Movin’ and groovin’ with friends celebrates community and the value-altering, motivational shift of joy-filled embodiment and physical activity.
This subtle shift in thinking, and moving, could be the puzzle piece you’ve been missing for maintaining healthy habits.

Mandi Baker receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and has received funding from summer camps organisations and government bodies such as the Departments of Jobs, Precincts and Regions in Victoria, Australia, the Australian Camps Association and the YMCA Camps Victoria, Australia. She is affiliated with the Canadian Camps Association, the American Camp Association and Outward Bound Vietnam.

– ref. Your new health habit may be just a mental shift away – https://theconversation.com/your-new-health-habit-may-be-just-a-mental-shift-away-271923

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Hetty Roessingh, Professor, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary

The Alberta government recently introduced Bill 6, a proposed amendment to the Education Act, that it says will “prioritize literacy and numeracy and ensure the province’s youngest learners receive the help they need as early as possible.”

Large classes with students who have a range of learning needs, including tailored learning plans, are among the factors that can make it difficult for teachers to ensure each child’s needs are being met. Implementing early literacy and numeracy tests with the intent of early intervention for at risk learners has intuitive appeal.

If passed, Alberta’s Bill 6 legislation would mandate reading and math tests from kindergarten to Grade 3, effective by fall 2026. According to ministry officials, its goal is to identify learning gaps early using short, simple and non-graded activities.

The announcement has received swift and forceful reaction from academics, the Alberta Teachers’ Association and senior-level school administrators.

Their concerns relate to the validity and reliability of the tests, how they were developed and their instructional value. Critics also raise concerns over the lack of teacher consultation and involvement, additional time teachers will need to administer and score the tests and whether the test results will change teaching and learning practices.

Questions also remain about whether schools will need additional resources to address learning gaps identified by way of the tests, since the bill doesn’t include any mention of this. The $11 million dollar pricetag of Bill 6 may not reap the insights needed to identify and meaningfully intervene for young children at risk.

Why early literacy matters

The testing proposed in Bill 6 misses important dimensions of literacy development. Early reading proficiency depends largely on two skills: phonemic awareness (the awareness to notice and work with different sounds) and phonics (mapping sounds to letters).

These foundational concepts and skills are learned by the majority of young children by the end of Grade 2, including English language learners (ELL) and children disadvantaged by socio-economic status. Exposure to two languages may heighten ELLs’ keen perception of sounds, helping them to apply their knowledge of how letters and their sounds relate and different letter patterns to correctly pronounce written words.

A learning-to-read school book I had as a child, Friends and Neighbours, is still on my bookshelf. As a newly arrived immigrant to Canada at age four from Indonesia, I was relatively proficient in conversational English by Grade 2. I learned the process of reading, including how to sound out letters and their English language patterns, by drawing on the vocabulary I developed and by interacting with native English-speaking children in the neighbourhood, on the playground and in the classroom.

However, a child’s strengths in recognizing and working with the sounds that make up individual words — phonemic awareness and phonics — may provide a false sense of security. These strengths can mask the needs of children at risk of reading failure as they transition to Grade 4, when the focus shifts from learning to read to reading to learn. At this stage, vocabulary knowledge becomes critical.

Beginning in Grade 4, the litmus of reading success is a child’s ability to comprehend increasingly complex and academically demanding texts. The testing proposed in Bill 6 misses the important role of vocabulary knowledge in this process.

The fourth-grade slump

The well-documented “fourth-grade slump” refers to the drop in reading performance many students experience around Grade 4. Children must shift from learning to read to reading to learn — a shift that is dependent on vocabulary depth and breadth.

A seminal 2003 study from researchers Jeanne S. Chall and Vicki A. Jacobs underscored the crucial role of vocabulary knowledge in reading success in Grade 4. They found that disadvantaged learners in Grades 2 and 3 scored as well as peer learners from higher socio-economic backgrounds.

At this early stage of reading development, phonemic awareness and phonics provides an important foundation for learners. The researchers found that it is not until Grade 4 that scores decelerate for children from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Without attention to vocabulary knowledge, young children may find themselves woefully under-prepared for the accelerating demands of Grade 4.

What Bill 6 overlooks

Given decades of research on reading development, Bill 6’s current focus is too narrow and offers only limited utility in early identification of young learners who will be at risk by Grade 4. Most children readily learn these skills already. The relative minority who struggle with these skills respond well to direct, explicit and intensive interventions.

To support students effectively, Alberta must measure vocabulary knowledge among young children. In addition, handwriting should also be assessed. Handwriting plays an enormous role in unlocking vocabulary in Grade 3, and as a skill, unfolds from kindergarten to Grade 3 years along a developmental continuum.

Devising tools to assess vocabulary and handwriting is more than a matter of short, simple and non-graded activities. More comprehensive assessments, such as studying samples of children’s writing on a familiar and engaging topic, would provide much more useful data for transforming classroom pedagogy and practice.

Such assessments would take more time to administer and score, but they would be a far better use of $11 million than narrow assessments that capture only the tip of the iceberg of what matters for long-term literacy success.

Hetty Roessingh 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. Alberta’s proposed $11-million reading tests won’t actually help struggling learners – https://theconversation.com/albertas-proposed-11-million-reading-tests-wont-actually-help-struggling-learners-269791

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Igor Grossmann, Professor of Psychology, University of Waterloo

It’s that time of year when the internet turns into a giant group chat about self-improvement. New year, new you. Better habits. Better boundaries. A year older, and maybe wiser.

Right on cue, the wisdom hucksters appear. They are the “one weird trick” crowd — the gurus with a microphone, a smirk and a promise of instant ascendance if you just buy the book, sign up for the training program, use their AI tool or subscribe to their Substack.

But there is no “enlightenment pill” that works overnight and never wears off. The evidence points the other direction: wisdom isn’t a permanent halo you wear. It’s a set of mental processes you can practise — and lose — depending on whether it’s a calm Tuesday or a stressful Sunday.

To understand why we often fail to be wise when we need it most, we must stop treating wisdom like a fixed personality trait.

What is wisdom?

In modern psychology, wisdom isn’t an ethereal, mystical quality. It’s made of specific metacognitive skills — mental processes that help us navigate the crazy uncertain world we live in.
These include:

• Intellectual humility: Admitting you could be wrong or that your knowledge is limited.

• Recognition of uncertainty: Understanding that situations can unfold in many different ways.

• Consideration of diverse viewpoints: The ability to see how a situation looks from another side.

• Integration and compromise: Searching for solutions that balance competing interests rather than just scoring points.

These mental processes are ways of thinking that matter when life gets messy — whether dealing with interpersonal conflict, political disagreement or financial challenges. But here is where the “magic pill” story starts to collapse.

Wisdom isn’t a fixed personality trait

If you have ever successfully navigated a complex political disagreement at work on a Thursday, only to lose your temper over a broken dishwasher on a Sunday, you know that wisdom doesn’t work like a software update.

For a long time, psychologists treated wisdom as a stable personality trait, as something you have, like blue eyes or extraversion. The assumption is that if you measure a person once, you’ve basically captured who they are.

But major scientific advances, including a new yearlong study our team just conducted, suggest that this is exactly where the culture goes wrong.

We often use static snapshots to make big claims about how people change over time. This practice risks committing an “ecological fallacy,” which is the trap of assuming that what makes one person different from another (between-person differences) explains how a single person changes over time (within-person change).

Translation: Just because “wiser people” on average are doing better doesn’t mean each individual becomes wiser in the same way, on the same timeline or for the same reasons.

New research: Wisdom acts like a system

To test this idea, our team conducted a year-long, multi-wave study of nearly 500 North American adults. The results recently appeared in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

We asked participants to reflect on real adversities — social conflicts, health scares, job losses — as they occurred over the course of a year.

Participants rated their use of four core wisdom features: intellectual humility, recognizing uncertainty and change, consideration of diverse viewpoints and searching for compromise.

The headline results are disruptive for anyone selling instant transformation.

First, wisdom fluctuates. While personality traits like extraversion or neuroticism remained stable, wisdom features fluctuated significantly from moment to moment. You can be wise on Thursday and a fool on Sunday.

Second, it’s a network, not a monolith. We found that wisdom is best modelled as a network of loosely interconnected skills rather than a single underlying “wisdom trait.”

Third, context matters. People were generally wiser when reflecting on social conflicts than when dealing with personal health issues or trauma.

Most importantly, we found that patterns between people didn’t match patterns within individuals over time. What predicts who is generally wiser doesn’t necessarily predict how individuals become wiser.

Therefore, if you’ve ever thought to yourself “I know what the wise thing is… why can’t I do it when I’m emotional?” — congratulations! Your lived experience is more scientifically accurate than half the pop-science advice market.

The good news about wisdom

If wisdom isn’t an update you install, is there anything you can actually do?

Yes. In our yearlong study, we found a specific predictor of growth. When people reported higher-than-usual self-distancing at one point in time, they reported higher levels of wisdom-related features three months later.

In other words, when people step back and view a difficult situation from a third-person perspective, they are more likely to reason wisely in the future, including by practising intellectual humility, searching for compromise and recognizing uncertainty and change.

That finding is correlational. But in a separate experiment published in Psychological Science, we tested whether training in distanced reflection changes wise reasoning.

For one month, participants kept a daily diary about the most important issues of the day. One group wrote typically (first-person), while the other group was trained to write about their daily challenges using the third-person (for example, asking “What did Chris feel?” rather than “What did I feel?”).

The result? The group trained in distanced reflection showed significant increases in wise reasoning about interpersonal challenges compared with the control group. This shift in language helped broaden their self-focus, breaking the egocentric cycle that often blocks wisdom.

How to practise wisdom (no app required)

So, what do you do practically when life gets heated? Based on this research, here’s a toolkit of repeatable practices for spiralling arguments, regrets or looming decisions in the year ahead:

1. Practise self-distancing. Instead of asking “Why am I like this?” try asking “What is [Your Name] missing right now?” It might feel awkward, but it helps with your mental geometry: you are widening the frame.

2. Ask the humility question. Ask yourself: “What would change my mind here?” If the answer is “nothing,” you aren’t reasoning but defending a position.

3. Allow two truths to coexist. Wisdom is rarely a knockout punch; it is usually an integration. Ask: “What is true on my side, and what might be true on theirs?”

Will this make you instantly wise forever? No. That’s the point. Wisdom is closer to physical fitness than a magic pill: it is trainable, context-dependent and annoyingly easy to lose when you’re tired, stressed or flooded with emotion.

The more evidence we gather, the clearer the message: if someone is promising enlightenment now, they aren’t teaching wisdom. They are selling false certainty. And certainty is often the opposite of what wisdom requires.

Igor Grossmann receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Insight Grant 435-2014-0685), John Templeton Foundation (grant 62260), and Templeton World Charity Foundation (grant TWCF-2023-32568).

Jackson A. Smith receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) through the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship.

– ref. Why you’re wise on Tuesday and foolish on Sunday: Practising wisdom in uncertain times – https://theconversation.com/why-youre-wise-on-tuesday-and-foolish-on-sunday-practising-wisdom-in-uncertain-times-272230

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Leda Stawnychko, Associate Professor of Strategy and Organizational Theory, Mount Royal University

As the new year starts, it’s natural to feel torn between gratitude and restlessness. December often disrupts routines: fewer meetings, quieter inboxes and a rare chance to take stock and reflect.

During this time, people may feel pride in how far they have come, alongside a growing sense that the path they are on no longer fits.

This discomfort is especially common at stages of life when professionals expect to feel more settled, yet instead feel stagnant. It’s easy to dismiss such feelings as impatience or a lack of commitment.

But research on adult learning and development suggests that feeling stuck is often a signal of growth. It’s evidence that our internal development has outpaced our external circumstances.

In educational research, this tension is often described as a disorienting dilemma: an experience that unsettles our assumptions and highlights a mismatch between how we see ourselves and the contexts we are in.

While these moments are often uncomfortable, they act as necessary catalysts for meaningful learning and change, motivating people to reassess their goals, values and direction. Seen this way, yearning for new beginnings is a rational response to growth.

Diagnosing the source of restlessness

If you’re ready for change but unsure of where to begin, a useful first step is clarifying what is driving the sense of restlessness. Is it the work itself, the people you work with or the broader organizational culture?

When organizations are generally supportive, growth doesn’t necessarily require leaving. Change may be possible within the same environment. In these cases, conversations with supervisors can reveal opportunities that are not immediately obvious, such as stretch assignments, special projects or support for further learning.

Research shows that people who stay with organizations over the long term often do so because of strong relationships, a good fit with their broader lives and what scholars call “job embeddedness” — the financial, social and psychological benefits of the position that make leaving costly.

But when the cost of staying is stifling your growth, it’s worth exploring how you might either renegotiate growth where you are or thoughtfully prepare to move on.

Re-evaluating what matters now

Whether you’re considering a shift within your organization or beyond it, taking time to reassess your needs, goals and values is essential. What mattered to you earlier in your career may not matter in the same way now. Income, learning, flexibility, stability and meaning all rise and fall in importance across life stages.

Clarifying your values does not mean choosing one priority forever. It simply provides a clearer map for evaluating opportunities.

Some people prioritize mentorship or employer-supported education. Others need predictable schedules, strong health benefits or flexibility to care for family members.

Understanding what matters most now helps narrow your options and reduces the paralysis that often accompanies big decisions.

Focusing on activities rather than titles

Another way to gain clarity is to imagine your ideal role without fixating on job titles.

Titles can be misleading and often mask the day-to-day reality of the work. Instead, focus on activities. How will you spend most of your time? What skills will you be using day to day?

One useful question is what activities you would gladly do without being paid. These often point to core strengths and motivations worth taking seriously. Organizational psychologists describe this as intrinsic motivation — the internal drive to engage in an activity because it is inherently satisfying.

For example, early in my career, I began to notice a pattern in my volunteer work. I was consistently drawn to supporting professionals through moments of career transition, conflict and change. Over time, that realization helped me recognize that mentoring and coaching were activities I already valued enough to do for free.

With that insight, I began targeting roles in my own career that rewarded those same activities, ensuring that my work consistently included elements that felt both meaningful and energizing.

Preparing for the next step

Once priorities and interests are clearer, look closely at the qualifications and experiences the roles you are drawn to actually require and begin developing them intentionally.

This can occur through low-risk avenues, including projects in your current job, entrepreneurial or side work, volunteer roles or targeted learning opportunities.

Consistently taking small, purposeful steps can help you systematically bridge the gap between your current capabilities and the demands of your next chapter. By actively cultivating these skills, you transform a period of restlessness into a constructive phase of professional readiness.

As you consider what comes next, use your network strategically to learn and ask questions. New beginnings unfold through conversations, experiments and choices made over time.

Also pay attention to the beliefs shaping your actions. Assumptions about what you can or cannot do can limit options more than skills ever do. Feeling stuck is an invitation to evolve and may mark the start of an exciting new chapter you can begin writing today.

Leda Stawnychko receives funding from SSHRC.

– ref. Feeling stuck at work as the New Year begins? It may be a sign of professional growth – https://theconversation.com/feeling-stuck-at-work-as-the-new-year-begins-it-may-be-a-sign-of-professional-growth-270878

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Lisa Kowalchuk, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Guelph

Like much of the western world, Canada is facing a crisis in waste disposal as landfills reach their capacity. In Ontario, a live countdown gives municipal landfills just eight more years before they are full. We urgently need to reduce our garbage.

The scramble for a solution has governments considering and even approving questionable alternatives like incineration and opening new or dormant landfills in rural areas.

Colleagues and I conducted a study between 2022 and 2024 with a non-profit service provider called the St. James Town Community Corner in Toronto, and found an overlooked opportunity for greater waste diversion among renters in multi-residential buildings.

Our research team included Trisha Einmann, a PhD candidate in sociology at the University of Guelph, Alaa Mohamed, a client engagement worker with The Neighbourhood Organization and Aravind Joseph, a former co-ordinator with The Neighbourhood Organization.

St.James Town is a vibrant, densely populated neighbourhood with a high proportion of immigrants, racialized people and those with lower-than-average household incomes. At its core are 19 rental towers of 14 to 30 storeys that house about 18,500 people.

Policymakers must bring multi-residential buildings fully into the effort to divert household waste from landfill, so that communities like St. James Town can be part of the solution.

Residential building waste

There is a glaring need to increase the amount of waste diverted from landfills in Ontario, where the institutional commercial and industrial sector generates 60 per cent of the province’s waste, yet the sector’s diversion rate is only 15 per cent.

The residential sector also merits attention. Here, the overall diversion rate of 50 per cent is highly uneven between multi-residential buildings and single family dwellings.

While nearly 47 per cent of Torontonians reside in multi-residential buildings of five storeys or more, they divert just 27 per cent of their waste from landfills, compared to 61 per cent for single-family homes.

Our research

In our study, we focused on two St. James Town high-rises: a social housing building and a privately owned rental building.

We conducted a resident survey, focus groups and interviews with experts and authorities to understand residents’ values, practices and challenges related to household waste.

The vast majority of our 103 survey respondents — 93 per cent — agreed or strongly agreed that sorting waste is very important; 91 per cent agreed that it protects the environment; and 78 per cent said it is part of their daily routine. These figures were virtually the same for private and social-housing renters, and were higher for immigrants than those born in Canada.

Just over half of our respondents, however, found it inconvenient or difficult to sort waste, and the challenges they identified confirmed the spatial and infrastructural hurdles documented elsewhere.

In high-rises like those in St. James Town, which were built before waste separation programs were commonplace, the typical disposal option is the single, narrow garbage chute on each floor and tall bins in an outdoor enclosure for bulky waste or recyclables. Apartments typically lack space to store sorted waste.

Landlords are off the hook

Another barrier to better waste management was the lack of managerial willingness to work with concerned residents, a crucial ingredient in achieving greater waste diversion in multi-residential buildings.

In the private building, the fundamental problem was the absence of managerial commitment to waste diversion, making it impossible for residents to divert waste there.

This is rooted in past municipal decisions and current provincial policy. City service obligates the separate collection of all major waste types. In 2009, the City of Toronto allowed private multi-residential buildings to choose private instead of municipal waste services so that they could avoid the expense and hassle of collecting organics.

Multi-residential buildings that contract with private haulers (40 per cent in Toronto) become subject to the regulation governing waste in the commercial and industrial sector, which omits organics and calls for “reasonable efforts” to participate in recycling.

This weak wording and minimal enforcement by the province allows the hollowest of gestures toward recycling on the part of landlords.

In the privately owned building in our study, there were outdoor blue bins, but no separate bins for non-recyclable trash, and the blue bins were observed to contain all manner of waste. Unsurprisingly, we saw the hauling company combining blue bin and compactor content together, though the property manager claimed otherwise.

Participants at both buildings complained of an information vacuum. In the private building, 63 per cent of survey respondents reported disposing of organics in the trash chute at least some of the time; for recyclables this was 28 per cent.

The fact that people were sorting organics before putting them in the trash chute suggests they believed it will be properly sorted by the waste management company after collection. This belief was also shared by one of the maintenance staff at the building who deals with waste.

This echoes a tendency observed elsewhere, and likely reflects a misguided belief that the waste will eventually be sorted at a facility.

Many respondents told us they aren’t being properly directed on where to put any of the different forms of waste, including hazardous items. For example, in the private building, there was nothing to tell them that there’s no organics collection, or what can and cannot be recycled.

Misplaced or unsorted waste reflects the lack of information residents receive. Without stronger regulations, landlords have little incentive to invest in waste management to keep recycling separate from trash.

Waste management and housing conditions

With a savings-above-all approach to waste management, the practices of some can make surroundings unpleasant for others. In disposal areas and other common spaces, residents frequently complained of the smell and of cockroaches from organic waste piled up by the chutes, or bedbugs from furniture and other items left in hallways.

Some were reluctant to have visitors. Some also worried about batteries in the garbage, a justified concern given that 71 per cent of survey participants across both buildings sometimes dispose of batteries in the trash or blue bins.

Tenants are often fearful to take such concerns to landlords or government.

There are, of course, other major contributors to landfill waste that we should not overlook: the over-production of non-recyclable plastics and under-regulation of the industrial, commercial and institutional sector.

But policymakers must also recognize the challenges facing renters in multi-residential buildings. Failing to address these will result in more waste ending up in ever-growing landfills.

Lisa Kowalchuk receives funding from the University of Guelph Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada institutional grant.

– ref. Reducing household waste poses serious challenges in residential high-rises – https://theconversation.com/reducing-household-waste-poses-serious-challenges-in-residential-high-rises-270406

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Rackeb Tesfaye, Knowledge Mobilization Lead and Senior Scientist at the Bridge Research Consortium, Simon Fraser University

As Canadian federal election candidates prepared for their final debate in April 2025, youth across the country were preparing for collaborative conversations around timely and potentially divisive issues for the National Ethics Bowl at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg.

Ethics Bowl Canada is a non-profit organization that hosts competitions where high school and university students explore complex ethical issues through respectful dialogue in teams.

Rather than trying to undermine their opponents’ arguments, as in traditional debates, Ethics Bowl competitors win by engaging constructively, responding positively to reasonable criticism and refining or amending their views.

Polarization and engaging with disagreement

The Public Policy Forum’s 2023 report Far and Widening: The Rise of Polarization in Canada documented serious issues around how young people think about their futures. It highlighted that, among young people’s concerns like pandemics, climate emergencies and a declining economy, their deepest fear for Canada’s future is growing political and ideological polarization.

The erosion of trust in institutions like government, industry and media contributes to people seeking alternative sources of information.

Alternative sources sometimes contribute to healthy social empowerment and democratic participation. But we are also living with cascading misinformation — sometimes sewn by groups seeking to destabilize society — with harmful effects. Through algorithmic filtering we’ve seen a growth of ideological echo chambers.

Philosophers like John Stuart Mill, John Rawls and Seyla Benhabib have long proposed that engaging with diverse and sometimes contrary points of view is part of what legitimizes democracy.

Conflict and disagreement are healthy parts of a democracy. But these need to be engaged with productively.

How the Ethics Bowl works

The Ethics Bowl is a “gamified” way of engaging in deliberative dialogue about civic issues. More than 1,500 high school and university students now participate in Ethics Bowls each year.

Ethics Bowl teams conduct research on cases created by philosophers and subject matter experts, and then form their opinions and arguments on them. Teams of three to five students then participate first in regional competitions, where they present their arguments, listen to other arguments, provide comments and respond to feedback.

A panel of judges (including philosophers, subject matter experts and community members) scores the teams. Their rubric rewards acknowledging nuance, refining positions and being respectful. Regional winners then compete nationally.

Evidence shows thinking and talking about ethics alone can be a driver for social change. The Ethics Bowl is also an intervention that allows participants to develop their civic discussion skills.

Research shows that engaging in this kind of dialogue can help participants acquire civic virtues, such as tolerance, respect for diverse viewpoints and willingness to engage in conversation.

Vaccines as a timely topic

While the legitimization of anti-vaccine rhetoric continues in the United States, Canada is not immune to divisiveness around vaccines.

Since the pandemic, Canada has seen a rise in vaccine hesitancy, a resurgence of measles and a shift in COVID-19 vaccine accessibility.

Among young people in Canada, vaccination is now one of the most polarizing topics of discussion.

To support young people reflecting upon ethical tensions around vaccines, Ethics Bowl Canada partnered with the Bridge Research Consortium (BRC), a national consortium of social scientists and humanity scholars. BRC scholars have a broad range of expertise to support public trust and equitable access to new vaccines.

Vaccine case studies

BRC Bioethicists developed timely case studies for the National Ethics Bowl:

• One case deals with family disagreements around vaccine mandates.

• Another case centres on navigating the use of preventative health measures on farms, including preventive vaccinations for farmers and the culling of animals, if an avian influenza (H5N1) outbreak leads to a pandemic. This case was inspired by the first confirmed positive case of H5N1 on an ostrich farm in British Columbia, which made worldwide headlines.

Participants in the National Ethics Bowl found these cases the most challenging in the competition. One participant said:

“Public health is not something we often think about.”

A graphic illustration visually captured the many themes and reflections emerging from six teams discussions, and a version with links to the case studies is available on the Ethics Bowl website.

Engaging in civil dialogues is a transformative experience for students. As one teacher explained:

“These discussions matter. This type of dialogue has the power to change individuals.”

They also contribute to a sense of belonging. One high school student shared:

“Being around people who care about real world issues feels good.”

An educational model to train scientists

Scientists have also been caught in the crosshairs of political partisanship on vaccines. Despite a decline of trust in many institutions, scientists are still trusted sources of information by the public globally.

As evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, confidence in and the adoption of immune-based innovations moves at the speed of trust. Yet, rather than a loss of trust, scientists are losing influence to other information sources.

The need for scientists to strengthen trust and resonate with the public among the sea of other voices was addressed by a second mini Ethics Bowl with science graduate students in Montréal in June 2025. Before the event, 86 per cent of the science graduate students indicated they rarely or sometimes discussed the ethical implications of their work.

Student participants were part of RAMP-UP, a Québec-based research initiative developing reliable, scalable and adaptable biomanufacturing processes to produce vaccines and immunotherapies ahead of a future health emergency.

This mini ethics bowl was a teaching and learning tool to support students’ deeper engagement with the moral and ethical implications of their work, and to instil more socially informed science engagement.

Science researchers deliberate ethical concepts

As part of the full day of the mini Ethics Bowl training, students were introduced to ethical and philosophical concepts and engaged with experts in multiple disciplines. They competed in an Ethics Bowl with their peers discussing the above described vaccine-related case studies.

As captured in an illustration of events, not only did students feel stimulated and learn new knowledge, they came away calling for more integration of the social sciences and humanities in their education.

They also reflected on other ethical tensions in their work — like pharmaceutical companies profiting from their research.

We recommend this novel model of learning be introduced into curricula for scientists working on polarizing topics like immunology.

How to engage in productive dialogue

From election periods to holiday dinners with family, here is a blueprint for how people can collectively engage in productive dialogues:

1. Disagreement isn’t a failure: Instead of viewing someone disagreeing with you as having failed in some way (perhaps by being irrational), view them as an intellectual equal. Rational processes can result in more extreme (farther in content from other opinions) and radical (more strongly held) opinions. The processes that produce more extreme and radical opinions can also work on you.

2. Listen and try to understand: Be curious about, and interested in, interpreting what your conversation partner is saying with empathy. This can allow you to evaluate their points more fairly. Empathizing might allow you to better understand where others are coming from.

3. Set realistic expectations: People rarely change their minds during a conversation. But if sustained conversation focuses on practical issues, as opposed to foundational values, parties change their minds more often while reflecting between conversations.

Cem Erkli, program co-ordinator for Ethics Bowl Canada, and Pierre-Jean Alarco, knowledge mobilization officer for RAMP-UP, co-authored this story.

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Immunity and Society is a new series from The Conversation Canada that presents new vaccine discoveries and immune-based innovations that are changing how we understand and protect human health. Through a partnership with the Bridge Research Consortium, these articles — written by experts in Canada at the forefront of immunology, biomanufacturing, social science and humanities — explore the latest developments and their impacts.

Rackeb Tesfaye receives funding from the Bridge Research Consortium (BRC), part of Canada’s Immuno-Engineering and Biomanufacturing Hub, which in turn is funded by the Canada Biomedical Research Fund, Canada Foundation for Innovation and the BC Knowledge Development Fund.

Nicolas Fillion is chair of the board of Ethics Bowl Canada.

– ref. More dialogue, less debate: At an ‘Ethics Bowl,’ students learn to handle tough conversations – https://theconversation.com/more-dialogue-less-debate-at-an-ethics-bowl-students-learn-to-handle-tough-conversations-271822