The Conversation – Canada – Page 5

March 10, 2026

Why is Mark Carney rejecting gender equity efforts?

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jeanette Ashe, Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Women’s Leadership, King’s College London

The past year marked the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the world’s most comprehensive plan to achieve the equal rights of women and girls.

Adopted in 1995, it called on governments to fight for gender equality, to protect women’s rights and to rebalance power structures so that everyone has an equitable chance in the world.

Thirty years later, Canada is still falling short. One of Beijing’s core commitments was for governments to create permanent, well-resourced institutions dedicated to advancing gender equality. Yet across Canada, some provinces still lack full, stand-alone ministries of Women and Gender Equality (WAGE), and the federal ministry of WAGE has been deprioritized.

A fragile federal commitment

Prime Minister Mark Carney initially dropped the Women and Gender Equality (WAGE) portfolio from his first cabinet, reinstating it only after pushback from women’s and social justice organizations.

More recently, reports of deep budget cuts to WAGE have renewed concern that gender equality remains politically expendable. Without sustained funding, programs vital to women’s safety and economic security could be decimated at a time when a number of urgent issues demand gender expertise.

As a recent UN Women media advisory reports, “the spread of digital misogyny poses a direct and urgent threat to progress on gender equality.” While much of this activity results in various forms of cyberbullying and harassment, the impact of these networks goes far beyond the digital world and shows up in real life spaces like our public schools.

Wavering commitment

Yet, Canadian governments have done little to respond, as exemplified by AI Minister Evan Solomon’s decision against banning Elon Musk’s X or his AI chatbot Grok despite the growing problems of “nudification” and personalized pornography .

This wavering commitment echoes global patterns of institutional gender rollback, with the UN warning of a “post-feminist retrenchment.”

These trends are part of an international shift against equity and inclusion exemplified by recent court cases and policy changes in the United States — a shift glaringly evident as the Donald Trump administration blames gangs of “wine moms” for ICE protests and violence, including the killing of 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis. Good’s death was described by Vice President JD Vance as a “tragedy of her own making.”

While this anti-equity rhetoric is circulating in Canada, a recent report reveals that “most Canadians view EDI measures in the workplace positively, with strong support among equity deserving groups, younger workers and those with positive job experiences.”

A provincial patchwork

Six provinces currently maintain full, stand-alone ministries dedicated to women and gender equality:

Manitoba — Minister Responsible for Gender Equity (also responsible for Accessibility and Families)
Saskatchewan — Minister responsible for the Status of Women (also Parks, Culture and Sport, and other portfolios)
Québec — Minister responsible for Women’s Equality (also Health and Seniors)
New Brunswick — Minister responsible for Women’s Equality (also Seniors)
Prince Edward Island — Minister responsible for the Status of Women (also Workforce, Advanced Learning and Population)
Newfoundland and Labrador – Minister responsible for Gender Equality (sole portfolio)
All three territories, Nunavut, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories, also maintain full ministers responsible for women’s equality.

By contrast, four provinces still lack a dedicated ministry:

British Columbia — No ministry; a parliamentary secretary for Gender Equity is housed within the Ministry of Finance
Alberta — A minister for Arts, Culture and Status of Women shares the file among several unrelated responsibilities
Ontario — An associate minister for Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity reports to a senior minister, without a full department
Nova Scotia — The Attorney General and Minister of Justice holds the equality and anti-racism file alongside multiple other portfolios

Opaque and easily cut

When gender equality has a ministry of its own, citizens can see its budget, monitor its priorities and hold governments accountable. Where it does not, gender programs are buried inside larger departments; invisible in financial statements and easily cut.

Even federally, where WAGE exists, proposed cuts and decreased funding show how vulnerable these portfolios remain.

Carney’s mandate letter to cabinet clearly indicated a shift from his predecessor’s feminist brand. There is no reference at all to feminism or gender equality. In fact, Carney’s cuts to WAGE seem to reflect a larger rejection of feminist policies, including foreign policy.

But while governments stall, the public is ahead. Recent Abacus Data polling found that 86 per cent of Canadians support equal numbers of women and men in politics and 58 per cent support requiring political parties to nominate a minimum number of women candidates — up four points from last year.

This data shows Canadians are ready for legislated gender quotas and for the institutions needed to help deliver them. Fully funded ministries for Women and Gender Equality are one such institution.

Why now matters

The Beijing anniversary arrived amid a global gender backlash, from the rollback of reproductive rights in the U.S. to rising online abuse of women in politics. At precisely this moment, governments should be strengthening equality initiatives rather than weakening them.

If gender equality is a priority, it’s simply not enough to celebrate the growing number of women in our legislatures. Real progress demands institutional power and stable funding of gender equality mandates. As UN Women recently reported, “achieving gender parity could cumulatively add US$342 trillion to the global economy by 2050.”

Repositioning Canada in the global hierarchy does not mean leaving 50 per cent of the population behind. Now, more than ever before, it’s critical to double down on the commitment to equity. In troubled times, leaders need to embrace equity wholesale, and taking leadership on equity must be a cornerstone of Carney’s supposed “values-based” pragmatism.

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. Why is Mark Carney rejecting gender equity efforts? – https://theconversation.com/why-is-mark-carney-rejecting-gender-equity-efforts-273677

March 9, 2026

B.C.’s switch to permanent DST adds to the ‘perfect storm’ for poorer adolescent sleep and mental health

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Elizabeth Keys, Assistant Professor (Nursing), University of British Columbia

The British Columbia government recently announced the province will adopt permanent daylight saving time (DST). It framed the decision as a way to improve health, reduce disruptions, simplify scheduling and provide more evening daylight.

The adoption of permanent DST raises significant concerns about social jetlag and long-term health impacts. Scientific evidence indicates that permanent DST results in a chronic mismatch between people’s daily clock-based schedules and their internal biological clock.

This mismatch is known as social jetlag, results in sleep deprivation and negatively impacts health, as detailed by the Canadian Sleep Society, Canadian Society for Chronobiology, Canadian Sleep Research Consortium and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

As nurses conducting pediatric sleep research, our focus is on promoting adequate sleep for children, adolescents and their families. We are particularly concerned about the effect of permanent DST on adolescents’ sleep because they already experience social jetlag.

Circadian rhythm

Our internal body clock uses morning light to help us “reset” our circadian rhythm. Light helps regulate our internal body functions, such as digestion, metabolism, hormone regulation and mood. This daily light reset helps people synchronize their biological clocks with the sun.

Canada’s northern latitude gives Canadians a morning dose of daylight in the summer months. The switch back to standard time in the fall provides some morning daylight as the days shorten. That will not occur with permanent DST, which — unlike maintaining standard time all year round — maintains the artificial one-hour time switch of DST permanently.

DST changes the clock time without changing sun time, so circadian rhythms are not synchronized with school and work obligations, resulting in social jetlag. Social jetlag increases the risk of smoking, higher alcohol and caffeine consumption, and a higher incidence of mental health problems. It also increases risk for obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular problems.

One in three Canadian adolescents do not get the recommended eight to 10 hours of sleep per night. Recent estimates suggest more than half of teens do not get enough sleep.

Social jetlag is already common in adolescents, who experience a “perfect storm” for sleep deprivation. This perfect storm is caused by biological (such as hormonal) and psycho-social shifts towards later bedtimes and wake times. Social jetlag occurs because they have to get up for school on weekdays. Layering permanent DST on already existing social jetlag will likely worsen the perfect storm for adolescent sleep deprivation.

The severity of adolescent’s sleep deprivation and social jetlag is shown by the difference in the amount and timing of sleep they get on weekdays (when they have to get up for school or work) compared to weekends (when many people can sleep in). On average, Canadian adolescents sleep about one hour more on weekends than weekdays, with larger differences observed for female adolescents and those who identified beyond a gender binary.

Chronic sleep loss in adolescents is linked to problems with attention, behaviour and learning, and to increased risk of depression and self-harm. A recent review reported that adolescents’ shorter sleep duration was associated with a 55 per cent increase in the likelihood of mood deficits, such as anger, depression, negative affect and anxiety. Even younger adolescents (14 years) with less than seven hours of sleep had increased risk for drug use, anti-social behaviour and sensation-seeking.

Sleep duration is a relatively modifiable factor that can protect the mental health of adolescents. When Russia adopted permanent DST in 2011 (before switching back in 2014), adolescents experienced higher rates of sleep deprivation, increased social jetlag and increased depressed mood in the winter, especially for those located in more northern communities.

Late sunrises

Canada’s wider variations in day and night lengths will exacerbate effects of permanent DST. For example, adopting permanent DST means that sunrise in cities like Victoria, Vancouver and Kamloops won’t happen until after 9 a.m. in the middle of winter. This would apply to many other cities, including Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg and Saint John if permanent DST were adopted in those regions.

Late sunrises will especially impact more northern communities, like Fort Saint John where the sun won’t rise until after 10:30 a.m. in December. More northern communities, including many Indigenous, rural and remote communities, often already experience health inequities, including reduced access to medical services and other mental health resources. This reduced access may worsen the impact of permanent DST on sleep and mental health.

The experiment with permanent DST is likely to have significant effects over time. Evidence suggests negative effects on adolescents’ sleep and well-being. Researchers, health-care providers, policymakers and the public will need to work together to monitor the sleep duration, mood, health behaviours, and other intended and unintended consequences of the transition to permanent DST for adolescents.

Funded research examining changes at the population level is important to provide evidence about the effects of permanent DST for adolescents living in British Columbia.

Elizabeth Keys receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and Michael Smith Health Research BC.

Wendy Hall receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

– ref. B.C.’s switch to permanent DST adds to the ‘perfect storm’ for poorer adolescent sleep and mental health – https://theconversation.com/b-c-s-switch-to-permanent-dst-adds-to-the-perfect-storm-for-poorer-adolescent-sleep-and-mental-health-277587

March 9, 2026

Is someone watching you? Facial recognition tech is here and Canada offers little privacy protection

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Neil McArthur, Director, Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics, University of Manitoba

Amid the recent, dizzying advances in generative AI, it’s been easy to miss the slow but steady progress in facial recognition over the last decade. In the past few months, it has broken containment.

In the United States, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deployed a technology known as Mobile Fortify, which uses facial recognition on officers’ cellphones to “quickly verify subjects of interest during operations.”

In the United Kingdom, the Metropolitan Police scanned 4.2 million people’s faces during 2025 using live facial recognition cameras in public areas across London. And the British government recently promised to further “ramp up facial recognition and biometrics.”

Face scans may soon be everywhere and Canada’s patchwork of privacy rules is not ready to protect us. The most striking gaps concern personal and household surveillance.

Let’s look at three examples.

Ring doorbell cameras

First, there are Ring doorbell cameras. Ring, which is owned by Amazon, has sold its cameras to millions of people around the world, including many in Canada.

Last September, Ring announced it was adding facial recognition to its cameras in the form of its “Familiar Faces” feature, which scans the face of everyone who comes to your door and identifies anyone you have added to a database. That same month, it also announced “Search Party,” an AI feature that activates cameras throughout a neighbourhood to scan outdoor footage to help find a lost dog.

This provoked concerns that these two features — Search Party and facial recognition — will ultimately be combined, allowing Ring to use its network of cameras to track people as well.

These fears were seemingly confirmed by a leaked email from the company founder in which he said, though the feature was “first for finding dogs,” the company’s ultimate goal was to use it to “zero out crime in neighbourhoods.”

Equally concerning, the feature was initially supposed to operate through a partnership with Flock Safety, a surveillance technology company that works with law enforcement. After an outcry, Ring cancelled the partnership.

Meta smart glasses

The second example involves Meta, the parent company of Facebook. The New York Times revealed that Meta wants to add facial recognition to its smart glasses, according to a leaked internal memo. The company sold more than seven million pairs of smart glasses last year.

If the “Name Tag” feature works the way the company apparently hopes, it will allow the glasses to identify anyone the wearer looks at and give them information about that person using Meta’s vast database of user profiles.

Appallingly, the memo stated that the company plans to take advantage of current events in the United States, launching the feature while civil society groups “that we would expect to attack us” have “their resources focused on other concerns.”

Meta’s smart glasses have already been at the centre of a controversy after an investigation by Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet and Goteborgs-Posten reported that subcontractors in Kenya reviewed intimate film and images from Meta glasses of people on the toilet, watching porn and having sex, seemingly unaware they were being recorded.

Police use of facial recognition

A third example is Canadian law enforcement. In 2024, York and Peel regional police in Ontario started using facial recognition software to, in the words of York Police Const. Kevin Nebrija, “help speed up investigations and to identify suspects sooner.”

Nebrija told the CBC that, in terms of privacy, “nothing has changed because security cameras are all around.”

In December 2025, Axon, the main supplier of body cameras in Canada, partnered with the Edmonton police department on a pilot project that allowed officers’ body cameras to identify people on a “high-risk” watch list of around 7,000 people.

Canada’s patchwork of privacy rules

Canadian privacy laws currently offer no explicit protections for our biometric data, with the exception of Québec, where Law 25 contains provisions governing its collection and use.

Everywhere else, citizens face an uneven patchwork of general privacy rules. Their application to biometrics depends on who is using the technology and in what context.

When it comes to law enforcement, Section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does protect citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures by the police. However, whether facial recognition qualifies as a search depends in part on whether the target had a reasonable expectation of privacy.

It’s an unresolved question whether biometric scans should be subjected to a higher standard than, say, cellphone cameras, when people are scanned while walking down the street or attending a protest.

Federal law enforcement is also governed by Canada’s Privacy Act, while provinces have their own privacy acts to govern provincial and municipal police. Federal and provincial privacy commissioners, who are tasked with interpreting these acts, have emphasized the sensitivity of biometric data and the importance of due process constraints in the use of facial recognition.

They have not decreed that police must get a warrant to use facial recognition. And neither they nor the courts have ruled on programs like the one in Edmonton, where police say the database only contains known offenders.

Biometric surveillance by corporations

A federal statute — the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) — governs the collection of data by private companies and its use in commercial activity.

Under PIPEDA, companies must obtain meaningful consent before collecting personal information. The law also requires that this data collection has a legitimate purpose, and be reasonable and proportionate to that purpose.

However, the act was written before the emergence of widespread biometric surveillance. It remains unclear how it would apply when companies capture and analyze the faces of people who have no direct relationship with the organization collecting the data.

Is someone watching you?

The most striking gap in our current privacy laws appears when it comes to the actions of private individuals. The laws exempt personal and household surveillance. This means that if someone uses smart glasses or a doorbell camera to identify you or trace your movements, this would normally be legal.

Civil remedies — such as provincial privacy torts or intrusion-upon-seclusion claims — might apply in specific cases where the victim could show there was targeted or harmful misuse. But not all provinces allow such claims. And even in those that do, the legal process is reactive and fact-specific, and it depends on the victim being willing to go to court.

Canada’s privacy framework is not designed for our current moment — one in which mass surveillance is becoming a reality.

Lawmakers need to act. We should demand new, stronger privacy laws, ones that deal explicitly with facial recognition. Otherwise we may find ourselves living in a world that we no longer recognize — but one that recognizes us.

Neil McArthur 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. Is someone watching you? Facial recognition tech is here and Canada offers little privacy protection – https://theconversation.com/is-someone-watching-you-facial-recognition-tech-is-here-and-canada-offers-little-privacy-protection-276852

March 9, 2026

The federal government’s Musqueam agreements raise questions about who truly owns land

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Daniel Sims, Associate Professor of First Nations Studies; Adjunct Professor of Education, University of Northern British Columbia

Canada’s federal government recently signed three agreements with the Musqueam First Nation that, among other things, recognize the Musqueam People’s Aboriginal title to their traditional territory — which includes most of Vancouver.

For that reason, it’s surprising that rather than making headlines immediately, most media outlets didn’t report on the agreements until a week after Ottawa’s announcement. The situation was reminiscent of how the Cowichan case in the summer of 2025 didn’t make news until the City of Richmond started informing residents in October that it might affect their fee simple title, a term referring to ownership of full, permanent property rights.

Given how many residents not only in Richmond and Vancouver, but also the rest of British Columbia, have responded with concern about what this ruling means — including some who blame reconciliation efforts — the delay in informing the public is less than ideal and only causes further anxiety.

It hasn’t helped that when asked in the B.C. legislature, provincial government officials simply responded they weren’t involved in reaching the three agreements.

Cowichan

The Cowichan case is potentially precedent-setting because it stated that Aboriginal title could co-exist with fee simple title, the form of title most Canadians associate with land ownership.

In doing so, it transformed the general understanding of treaty-making in Canada — that only the Crown could acquire Aboriginal title, and having acquired it, could then grant title to third parties.

This concept is enshrined in the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which is referenced in the Canadian Constitution and often cited as the reason why treaties were — or are — signed with Indigenous nations.

In fact, this belief was so entrenched in Canadian legal thought that in 1923, the federal government and the province of Ontario rushed through what are known as the Williams Treaties — final historic land cessions involving seven Mississauga and Chippewa First Nations — when they realized Aboriginal title had not been dealt with throughout the province.

One of the major exceptions to this way of handling Aboriginal title is British Columbia. Aside from the Douglas Treaties — negotiated by the colony of Vancouver Island, and Treaty 8, negotiated by the federal government without the province — treaties were not historically signed in B.C..

That means most Aboriginal title in B.C. has not been dealt with. They’re
currently being negotiated because past leaders refused to do so.

Perspectives on treaties

There has been a wealth of research and discussion regarding treaties between the Crown and Indigenous nations, and at times they come to some radically different conclusions.

For example, some First Nations view them as sacred agreements while others regard them in less than ideal terms.

The Conversation Canada ran a powerful piece two years ago that reconsidered the Williams Treaties from Anishinaabe perspectives.

Seven years ago, historian Sheldon Krasowski, who was born in Treaty 6 territory in Saskatoon, published his book No Surrender: The Land Remains Indigenous challenging the Crown’s perspective that treaties extinguished Aboriginal title. It illuminates why not all First Nations in British Columbia are negotiating treaties.

These discrepancies do not mean, however, that First Nations aren’t interested in having their Aboriginal title recognized. Instead, some nations, like the Tšilhqot’in, decided to take the matter to court. In 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized the Tšilhqot’in had Aboriginal title to a portion of their traditional territory.

This prompted other First Nations to make similar legal claims, including the Cowichan and Musqueam, which brings us back to the Cowichan case and the Musqueam agreements.

Put simply, provincial and federal governments appear to be taking a calculated approach when it comes to these claims, fighting those they think they might win in the courts and simply recognizing Aboriginal title if they think they’ll lose.

‘Canadian dream’

As someone who researches this topic, I am amazed by how seemingly OK people are with the Haida Aboriginal Title Agreement in 2024 given that it also stated Aboriginal title can co-exist with fee simple title.

This brings us back to fee simple title. It’s important to remember it’s a legal concept that developed over time. In this sense, saying it can co-exist with Aboriginal title is a new development. That being said, given the place home ownership and land ownership play in the Canadian dream, it’s understandable that people who own property are concerned.

No one wants to worry that their land is not really theirs. Many people think of land ownership as absolute, even though strictly speaking, fee simple title starts with a Crown grant and can be revoked and infringed upon for a number of reasons. It also does not automatically include mineral rights.

In other words, no one has complete control over their land, and Aboriginal title is simply another layer of legal obligation.

Only time will tell what the co-existence of Aboriginal title with fee simple title will mean. The Cowichan case is currently being appealed, and given that in December 2025 the Wolastoqey ruling in New Brunswick found they could not co-exist, it’s possible the Cowichan ruling will be overturned.

Daniel Sims is a member of the Tsay Keh Dene First Nations. Currently he holds an Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to research failed economic developments and concepts of wilderness in Tsek’ehne traditional territory (the Finlay-Parsnip watershed).

– ref. The federal government’s Musqueam agreements raise questions about who truly owns land – https://theconversation.com/the-federal-governments-musqueam-agreements-raise-questions-about-who-truly-owns-land-277219

March 9, 2026

Treaty 4 raises hard questions like how did ‘Crown land’ come to be?

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ken Wilson, Assistant Professor, Department of English and Creative Writing, University of Regina

In my recently published book, Walking the Bypass: Notes on Place from the Side of the Road, I describe standing beside the Regina Bypass, a new (and politically controversial) highway around Saskatchewan’s capital, asking myself how settlers came to own the land that stretched to the horizon in all directions.

Canadian courts have generally treated the numbered treaties as land cessions, though they also recognize them as solemn agreements requiring honourable interpretation.

I recalled what the late Stó:lō Elder Lee Maracle wrote in My Conversations With Canadians: settlers like me rarely get curious about “how the shift from Indigenous authority over the land to Canadian authority over the land occurred.”

I decided to get curious, and what I learned surprised me.

The official story: Surrender

Regina is in Treaty 4 territory. In September 1874, treaty commissioners representing the Crown negotiated that treaty with Cree, Saulteaux and Nakoda chiefs at Fort Qu’Appelle, now a town east of Regina, but then a Hudson’s Bay Co. trading post.

What Treaty 4 means depends on whose story you believe. The federal government tells one story; First Nations treaty Elders and legal scholars tell another. Those stories offer radically different versions of that treaty.

According to the federal government, First Nations surrendered their title to the land through the historical numbered treaties, including Treaty 4. That interpretation depends on the words of the treaty document: First Nations “do hereby cede, release, surrender and yield up” their land.

There’s a problem, however. As historian Sheldon Krasowski points out in No Surrender: The Land Remains Indigenous, there’s no evidence those words were mentioned by the treaty commissioners during the negotiations, or that their translator, Charles Pratt, a Cree-Nakoda catechist who often translated for Anglican missionaries, would have been able to convey the treaty’s legalese into the chiefs’ languages.

When pioneering Cree lawyer Harold Cardinal and historian Walter Hildebrandt explained the meaning of what’s come to be known as the “surrender clause” to First Nations Treaty Elders, those Elders were incredulous that anyone would think the chiefs would have agreed to give up their rights to the land. Elder Kay Thompson (Treaty 4) told Cardinal and Hildebrandt:

“We never gave it up; we never surrendered anything.”

If that interpretation is wrong, then Canada’s legal claim to much of the land west of Ontario rests on uncertain ground.

A different account of Treaty 4

If the so-called “surrender clause” wasn’t interpreted, and if contemporary Treaty Elders say no surrender of land took place, then the federal government’s story about the treaties doesn’t make much sense. And, if there was no surrender of land, then what gave the federal government the right to survey, sell or give away to settlers everything outside of reserves?

How did the notion of “Crown land” come about? How did the shift in authority that Edler Maracle describes happen?

First Nations legal scholars and Elders offer a completely different account of Treaty 4 and the other historical treaties: they were about sharing the land and establishing an ongoing relationship with settlers.

The most important speech of the Treaty 4 negotiations, the one that brought the talks to a conclusion, was made by Chief Loud Voice on the last day of the discussions. He said:

“Let us join together and make the treaty; when both join together it is very good.”

Those words suggest a desire to create a relationship with the newcomers to the Plains, not a surrender of land. Contemporary Indigenous legal scholars agree with this interpretation.

In Two Families: Treaties and Government, writer and lawyer Harold Johnson argues that the treaties represent sacred ceremonies in which First Nations adopted settlers as their kin. That’s why the Elder he consulted suggested he use the Cree word kiciwâminawak — “our cousins” — to refer to settlers.

For Johnson, the key element of the negotiations was the Sacred Pipe Ceremony, which solemnized that adoption, not the treaty document. “The paper at treaty was ancillary to ceremony,” he explains. “My ancestors recognized your paper as your ceremony and participated so as not to offend.”

Ceremony, not paper, constituted the agreement.

What if the story isn’t true?

Interpreting Treaty 4, like the other historical treaties, as a sharing agreement rather than a surrender of land raises profound questions. How did so much land in Saskatchewan, as in other parts of Canada, come to belong to settlers?

This disagreement is not simply about history; it is about what counts as law.

In Saskatchewan, as elsewhere, reserves are a tiny part of the total area. The rest belongs to the Crown or has been sold or given to settlers.

How can that situation be considered sharing? How did the Crown come to possess the land? On what basis was the land sold or given away? Is our title to the land the product of a story that simply isn’t true? Did that shift from Indigenous to Canadian authority happen through a misunderstanding, at best, or trickery, at worst?

These two interpretations aren’t just trivia. The unsettling questions they raise block genuine reconciliation today because the official interpretation relies on a version of the treaty that partners reject. Thinking about those questions, and discussing them with Indigenous Peoples, won’t be easy for settlers, but it needs to happen.

As Dallas Hunt and Gina Starblanket, Cree authors and advocates for Indigenous thoughts, point out:

“Treaty is work; it takes labour to be in relationship with other people.”

Are we settlers ready for that work? The first step might be reconsidering which story about the treaties we believe.

Ken Wilson 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. Treaty 4 raises hard questions like how did ‘Crown land’ come to be? – https://theconversation.com/treaty-4-raises-hard-questions-like-how-did-crown-land-come-to-be-270036

March 9, 2026

How the U.S.-Israel attack on Iran helps Russia in its war against Ukraine

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By James Horncastle, Assistant Professor and Edward and Emily McWhinney Professor in International Relations, Simon Fraser University

The American and Israeli attacks on Iran and the confusion within the United States over the war’s objectives are making headlines.

The attacks, and Iran’s countertactics of targeting American military bases and allies in the region, is having geopolitical ramifications beyond Iran’s borders. The surge in oil prices is just one way the war is affecting people around the world.

The war is also having a significant impact on other conflicts globally — especially the Russia-Ukraine war. The assault on Iran is helping advance Russian interests as it prepares for a spring offensive against Ukraine.

Impact of the war on Russia

The current phase of the Russia-Ukraine war is entering its fifth year, with the cost of the conflict in terms of resources and human casualties mounting on both sides.

One U.S. think tank estimates Russia’s total number of casualties at over 1.2 million, forcing Russia to rely on North Korean soldiers and illicit recruiting practices, primarily in Africa and Asia, to make up for a shortfall.

Russian casualty levels have impacted how it approaches the conflict, but equally important from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s perspective is maintaining support among both the broader populace and the Russian oligarchs. Preventing the Russian economy from collapsing has been critical to Putin’s endeavours.

The linchpin of the Russian economy is oil revenues, which are a critical component of the country’s federal budget. Efforts by Ukrainian allies to limit Russia’s ability to profit from oil revenues has resulted in oil reaching the lowest percentage of Russia’s budget in 2025 in over five years.

But the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, however, is likely to reverse this trend and indirectly further Russia’s war efforts.

The oil factor

Rising oil prices are the most immediate impact of the American-Israeli attack on Iran. In response to the attacks, Iran has shut down the Strait of Hormuz — a critical juncture in global energy responsible for one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.

Iran has also targeted hydrocarbon production in surrounding states to further increase the strain upon the U.S., Israel and their allies.

Rising oil prices benefit Russia. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is having a disproportionate impact on Asia because the majority of the oil that goes through the strait is bound for Asian markets. That means Asian countries will have to look elsewhere to replace it.

The likely replacement source for Middle Eastern oil is Russia. Despite efforts by Ukraine’s allies to impose a price cap on Russian oil, Russia’s shadow fleet has succeeded in evading western sanctions.

China and other Asian countries will seize upon relatively cheaper Russian oil to insulate their economies against the energy shocks created by the war on Iran.

The oil profits generated by Russia as a result will help it continue its war in Ukraine. Given the declining state of the Russian economy, this turn of events couldn’t have happened at a better time for Putin.

Ukraine’s need for global support

The Ukraine-Russia conflict has become a war of attrition. The resources needed for victory go beyond the immediate resources that either Russia or Ukraine possess. Ukraine in particular needs its allies to focus on developments in the conflict.

The war on Iran, however, is diverting global attention from Russia-Ukraine. This works to Russia’s advantage.

America’s bombing campaign against Iran is also rapidly exhausting its stockpile of munitions. U.S. President Donald Trump has blamed former president Joe Biden for the shortage.

While the U.S. has cut supplies to Ukraine under Trump, Ukraine still relies on its European allies purchasing munitions from the U.S. due to Europe’s atrophied arms industry. As the war drags on, Ukrainian needs are likely to take a backseat to American needs.

Glimmer of hope?

Trump commented last year that Ukraine had no cards left to play in the war against Russia. Iran’s attacks, however, have exposed a critical weakness in American capabilities: drone warfare.

While the U.S. and its Gulf allies have shot down most Iranian drones thus far, they’ve done so at a disproportionate cost and are rapidly exhausting their air defence capabilities.

Ukraine has mastered drone warfare and countermeasures and is now arguably the most innovative state in these areas. A war game in 2025 between Ukraine and NATO in Estonia demonstrated Ukrainian superiority in this area of warfare.

Trump, in fact, has asked Ukraine for assistance in this area. It’s an opportunity Ukraine should seize upon to counter the many existential risks it faces due to the war in Iran.

James Horncastle 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 the U.S.-Israel attack on Iran helps Russia in its war against Ukraine – https://theconversation.com/how-the-u-s-israel-attack-on-iran-helps-russia-in-its-war-against-ukraine-277724

March 8, 2026

What pet cats can tell us about human cancer

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Geoffrey Wood, Professor, Co-Director, Institute for Comparative Cancer Investigation, University of Guelph

Pet cats get cancer at a rate similar to humans and often develop the same types of cancer. (Unsplash/Andy Quezada)

They live in our houses, drink our water and even sleep in our beds. Cats have become an integral part of many households and share much of our lives.

They also share much of their biology with humans. Pet cats get cancer at a rate similar to humans and often develop the same types of cancer. Just like in humans, as health care and diets have improved, cats are living longer, which puts them at a higher lifetime risk of cancer.

a dark grey cat in a garden — Cats have become an integral part of many households and share much of our lives. They also share much of their biology with humans.
(Geoff Wood)

But how similar are cat cancers to human cancers at the genetic level? Research colleagues and I have conducted the largest-ever cancer DNA sequencing study of cat tumours. Our research reveals striking similarities between feline and human cancers, and the results reveal benefits for cats as well as humans.

Newly published work from our international collaboration studied the tumours of 500 cats, including 13 different tumour types. We isolated DNA from these tumours, and mapped the sequence of 1,000 genes that are often found mutated in human cancers.

Cat and human cancers

Overall, the most commonly mutated gene was a cancer protective gene called TP53, which is also the most commonly mutated gene in human cancers. Another example is the gene PIK3CA, which is mutated in about 40 per cent of human breast cancers and was found to be altered in about 50 per cent of cat mammary cancers.

There are drugs that have been specifically developed to work on human cancers with certain mutations like those in PIK3CA. Now that we know what mutations are common in cat cancers, there is an opportunity to test these drugs for treating cats.

How do we study cancer in cats? Since 2009, the Ontario Veterinary College’s Veterinary Biobank, part of the Institute for Comparative Cancer Investigation at the University of Guelph, has been banking samples of tumours from cats treated at the Animal Cancer Centre.

With owner consent, part of a cat’s tumour that is already being removed during surgery is saved and frozen for future studies. Also banked are blood samples, which serve as a resource for developing more non-invasive cancer tests using cancer-associated molecules found in blood.

Recently, the Veterinary Biobank has joined the Ontario Biobanks consortium of human biobanks to help facilitate more cross-species cancer studies. In addition, cancer clinical trials are being conducted in cat and dog patients to help translate research findings into better outcomes for pets with cancer, and to better inform us about human cancers as well.

Cats can potentially teach us quite a lot about human cancer. There are several cancers or cancer subtypes that are common in cats but rare in humans. “Triple negative” breast cancer — which lacks estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and a growth factor receptor called HER2 — is by far the most common subtype in cats. However, it accounts for only 15 per cent of human breast cancers.

This subtype tends to occur in younger women, Black women and women with an inherited genetic predisposition (BRCA1 gene mutation) and is particularly aggressive and hard to treat.

Another example is pancreatic cancer. The acinar subtype that cats get most commonly is relatively rare in humans. Studying these rare human subtypes is potentially easier to do in cats as there are more cases.

Our cat sequencing study also found a few differences in mutation patterns between cat and human cancers. About 25 per cent of human cancers have mutations in RAS genes, whereas RAS mutations are rare in cat cancers. Studying these cancers in cats can help us to understand the biology of RAS genes in cancer.

Cat and mouse genomes

Cancer charities and agencies that provide grants to study human health routinely support studies that use rodent models of human cancer, but studying cancer in other species has been a harder sell.

Rodent models are either genetically engineered to develop cancer or are engineered to have a severely deficient immune system so that they can host human cancer cells.

These models are very powerful for examining the molecular mechanisms of cancer but have a poor track record for developing cancer drugs. More than 90 per cent of new cancer treatments developed using mouse models fail in human cancer trials and are never approved for clinical use.

In stark contrast, cat cancers frequently develop spontaneously in the same environment as humans. They also often have many of the same underlying or co-occurring medical conditions as humans, such as obesity, autoimmune diseases, kidney disease, diabetes and various other endocrine disorders.

Cat and human genomes are much more similar than mouse and human genomes, and the organization of cat genomes (the order of genes on the chromosomes) is much closer between cats and humans than between dogs and humans.

The (human) Cancer Genome Atlas is a massive open-access resource of mutations found in different types of cancer. Until now, no such resource existed for cats.

The data from our recent publication is available through the Wellcome Sanger Institute and will serve as a fundamental — and free — resource for researchers studying cancer in cats and humans for the benefit of both species.

Geoffrey Wood receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Pet Trust, and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.

– ref. What pet cats can tell us about human cancer – https://theconversation.com/what-pet-cats-can-tell-us-about-human-cancer-276620

March 8, 2026

Budget cuts at Environment and Climate Change Canada threaten Arctic science

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Roxana Suehring, Assistant Professor in Environmental Analytical Chemistry, Toronto Metropolitan University

The Arctic has been in the news a lot lately. Between the increased geopolitical interest in Greenland, claims over sovereignty, resource exploitation and the devastating impacts of climate change, the region has become a sentinel for global change.

But away from these headlines, a quieter crisis is unfolding that threatens Canada’s role in global environmental science, law and policy: the dismantling of research teams at the department responsible for Canada’s environmental policies and programs. The federal government’s plan to reduce the public service by 15 per cent over three years means that more than 800 positions at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) will be cut.

As an environmental scientist who has been involved in the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) since 2016 and an interdisciplinary legal scholar focused on water governance in Canada, we have seen how science can shape policy. For decades, ECCC research scientists have been integral to the work of AMAP, a working group that provides advice and assessments to the Arctic Council.

This intergovernmental group comprised of Indigenous Peoples, Arctic states and non-Arctic states with observer status is the major platform for protecting the environment and co-ordinating sustainable development initiatives in the Arctic.

Scientists at ECCC have played a leading role in more than 20 international reports on persistent organic pollutants and mercury. In fact, ECCC researchers have acted as the largest group of chapter leads in these global assessments since the 1990s.

Budget cuts at ECCC raise concerns about how governments will develop effective polices and laws that rely upon scientific research.

The risks from budget cuts

Many of the scientists who lead projects on the long-term trends of toxins in Arctic wildlife face cuts or might lose their jobs entirely. Scientists at ECCC are often the ones to identify and assess “chemicals of emerging Arctic concern” — newly discovered chemical threats to human and environmental health that scientists are only just beginning to understand.

Losing the scientists who lead and interpret contaminant data in Arctic wildlife will take much more from Canada than scientific expertise; we risk losing our ability to understand and effectively react to chemical threats and their potential environmental and health impacts.

Data collection for unique monitoring datasets spanning up to 50 years is at risk of being discontinued. Even more concerning is the potential loss of national tissue archives if monitoring and research projects are cut. Contaminant data in Canadian wildlife have been instrumental to the listing of toxins under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, an international treaty to control the global production and use of particularly hazardous chemicals.

Similarly, monitoring for mercury in Arctic air and biota is an important part of the rationale for the Minamata Convention, a global treaty designed to protect human and environmental health from mercury contamination.

In many ways, these global agreements exist because Canadian data, produced by ECCC scientists, proved that chemicals used thousands of miles away end up in the bodies of Arctic wildlife and Indigenous Peoples who rely on healthy wildlife for food security, cultural identity and practices.

These international treaties set out the norms, legal principles and regulatory schemes that have been incorporated into Canadian law. They support the risk assessment and management of many toxic chemicals under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

Losing these samples and monitoring programs would set back Canadian and global contaminant research and reinforce criticisms that Canada is a laggard in environmental law and policy.

Risk for Indigenous communities

Budget cuts could also intimately impact the daily lives of those living in the Arctic and raise questions of environmental justice. Indigenous communities in the Arctic face higher exposure to many toxins than other Canadians due to their reliance on foods like fish, belugas and seals.

Despite global efforts, blood mercury levels in many Inuit communities remain higher than the general Canadian population. Furthermore, concentrations of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, also known as “forever chemicals,” are consistently higher in these communities than in the south.

Without ongoing research, we risk creating a vacuum in environmental governance and law. Current legislation, like the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, aims to protect vulnerable populations and uphold the right to a healthy environment and environmental justice. But we cannot uphold these rights if we stop measuring how contaminants are impacting the health of the environment, food and water of the populations most affected by these chemicals.

Across Canada, the cuts undermine effective chemical management. Canada’s chemical management plan depends heavily on the expert assessment of government scientists. This expert-based risk assessment has enabled the discovery and monitoring of new chemical risks with comparatively few bureaucratic hurdles. However, it also means that the proposed cuts are particularly devastating to this program.

If we remove the scientists the regulatory system depends on, the system breaks. This means that these proposed cuts could not only cost jobs and reduce scientific excellence in Canada, but also leave the health of Canadians and our environment less protected.

Roxana Suehring receives funding from NSERC, Tri-Council, Mitacs, NCP, MECP, and ECCC.

Patricia Hania receives funding from SSHRC and NSERC.

– ref. Budget cuts at Environment and Climate Change Canada threaten Arctic science – https://theconversation.com/budget-cuts-at-environment-and-climate-change-canada-threaten-arctic-science-276606

March 8, 2026

The tryptophan switch? Why exercise boosts your mood

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Meghan McCue, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University

One in five Canadians is living with mental health challenges such as anxiety and depression at any one time.

This number has climbed steadily in recent years, and while we have improved how we talk about mental health, significant stigma remains. In fact, people are almost three times less likely to report a mental illness than a physical one.

There are many effective mental health treatments available. However, access to diagnosis and treatment can take years. Sometimes prescriptions used to treat mood disorders have side-effects that can cause people to avoid or stop taking their medication. Traditional therapy can be costly and is not always covered by insurance or benefits.

Meanwhile, there is another tool — regularly prescribed for improving heart health and metabolic health — that can be an incredibly useful addition to mental health care and management. What tool could possibly treat so many conditions? Exercise!

Yes! Lifting weights does lift your mood

Many people have experienced the feeling of post-workout bliss, but
can hitting the gym actually help with depression and anxiety? The science says — absolutely!

Exercise has been proven to actually improve symptoms of anxiety and depression in both the short and long term. It can help with mood regulation, and in particular, emotional resilience to acute stress. While reports on improved mood following a workout can seem subjective, the benefits of exercise on mental health can actually be observed at the biochemical level.

You may have heard the term “runner’s high,” which stems from the feeling of bliss or euphoria many people experience following exercise. This is largely caused by an increase in what we call endocannabinoids and endorphins — hormones and molecules that make you feel happy or content.

‘Good’ and ‘bad’ tryptophan metabolites

There may also be another important molecule to thank, though — tryptophan.

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that we absorb through our diet, and it plays many important roles within the human body. Tryptophan makes serotonin — often called the feel-good hormone — but it can also be broken down to produce molecules that have differing effects on the brain and body.

The main pathway responsible for breaking down tryptophan is called the kynurenine pathway. Some of the products from this pathway, like kynurenic acid, can be protective against inflammation, and good for brain health. Others, like quinolinic acid, can be associated with toxicity and inflammation.

In fact, many chronic conditions such as depression, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer have been associated with increased levels of “bad” kynurenine metabolites.

Given tryptophan’s association with both mental health and neurodegenerative conditions, researchers have started to investigate how we can generate more of the good molecules, and less of the bad. By influencing which route is taken in the kynurenine pathway, we may be able to switch towards a healthier, neuro-protective state.

Exercise seems to be a strong regulator of this switch.

An immediate return on investment

Studies have shown that working out can cause immediate and direct increases in brain-protective molecules like kynurenic acid, which have been measured within the blood and muscle following exercise. These beneficial changes have been found following endurance cycling, weight lifting and HIIT training.

Populations with additional metabolic conditions, like Type 2 diabetes, have also seen beneficial changes to tryptophan metabolites following a single exercise session.

Better yet, these improvements have been reported across different age groups, suggesting benefits for both younger and older populations.

So far, laboratory-based studies have largely used traditional exercise protocols like cycling and resistance training. However, being more physically active in general appears to improve your profile of these metabolites, meaning you don’t necessarily need to workout in a lab to see improvements.

While exercise shows a lot of promise as a source of mood enhancement and brain protection, research in this field is still growing. More work is required to understand the exact mechanisms at the molecular level that explain how and why exercise plays such an important role in regulating these metabolites.

Don’t sweat the small stuff; get sweaty!

Ultimately, exercise is a potent tool for contributing to improved mental health. There is strong evidence to support the use of exercise for stress management and production of extra feel-good hormones and metabolites which can aid in the management of mood disorders.

Exercise can also offer an important change of scenery, social outing or simply a dedicated distraction for a short period of time. These factors can be important for mental health. Group activities, like run clubs and pickle ball leagues, could serve as multipurpose mood enhancers.

So, while working out may feel like the very last thing you want to do, especially in the midst of a Canadian winter, the benefits are absolutely worth braving the cold for.

As with any factor of health, there is no “cure-all” approach. Exercise can be a powerful tool for the brain but may not be sufficient to manage complex mental health conditions. Decisions regarding treatment should always be made in consultation with a primary care provider. If you or someone you know needs mental health assistance please see the following resources.

Meghan McCue, Ph.D. received salary support as a post-doctoral researcher from a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) project grant, and has previously received funding from the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer.

– ref. The tryptophan switch? Why exercise boosts your mood – https://theconversation.com/the-tryptophan-switch-why-exercise-boosts-your-mood-275411

March 8, 2026

Digital media is using negativity to steal our attention — here’s how to reclaim it

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Megan Shipman, Behavioural Neuroscientist and Fellow at the Cascade Institute, Royal Roads University

With the internet and its widespread accessibility, many of us have front-row seats to widespread suffering and death across the globe for the first time in history, even when we are not directly affected.

We’re living in what scholars describe as a “polycrisis” — a set of interconnected crises that compound and intensify one another. Climate change intensifies displacement and conflict, economic precarity fuels political extremism and public health emergencies expose structural inequality.

As a result, the future can feel more uncertain than ever. If you feel overwhelmed by the constant influx of bad news and find it difficult to focus on day-to-day tasks, that response is understandable.

But research in psychology and cognitive science suggests there are ways to fight back against this and reclaim your attention.

No one’s 20s and 30s look the same. You might be saving for a mortgage or just struggling to pay rent. You could be swiping dating apps, or trying to understand childcare. No matter your current challenges, our Quarter Life series has articles to share in the group chat, or just to remind you that you’re not alone.

Read more from Quarter Life:

The business model of outrage

Developing a critical awareness of how digital systems operate is an important first step. This sense of overwhelm is deliberately amplified by the way digital platforms and their profit-driven algorithms are designed.

Many of us go online to cope with stress or to escape, but the content that captures our attention most effectively often makes it worse.

Content that provokes anger, fear or moral outrage generates higher engagement. Negative headlines tend to attract more clicks than positive ones, creating incentives for media outlets to push content that increases engagement.

One study found that social media users are nearly twice as likely to share negative news articles that evoke strong negative emotions. Each interaction — a like, share or comment — signals to algorithms that similar content should be shown again. Increased engagement also reinforces users’ continued posting of negative material.

The result is a positive feedback loop in which emotionally charged content is amplified, often leading to the spread of misinformation and sowing of conflict.

Your brain in a 24/7 threat environment

Part of why we are so drawn to outrage lies in human neurobiology. Studies show that we choose to read more negative or cynically framed news stories even when positive stories are also available.

Much of this is just how humans have been wired: we evolved to pay attention to the most threatening stimuli. From a very early age, we show a biased attention toward spiders, snakes and threatening faces, which activate an acute stress response from the sympathetic nervous system and trigger a fight-or-flight response.

However, we have only just recently started living in a world where negative stimuli are constantly at our fingertips. Digital media now intentionally uses these neural biases to hijack our attention for profit.

At the same time, we can only pay attention to so much at once. Our cognitive capacity is limited by what psychologists call our perceptual load.

If you’ve ever tried to work in an environment with many distractions — like in an office with construction next door — or attempted to juggle multiple tasks at once, you have experienced how quickly your attention can fragment. Multitasking typically results in poorer performance across tasks.

Doomscrolling and the stress spiral

This is where doomscrolling enters the picture. Doomscrolling refers to compulsive scrolling through negative news on digital platforms.

An unlimited stream of negative information that our brains must both react to (through sympathetic arousal) and sort through (perceptual load) can lead to information overload and chronic stress.

Stress and perceptual load interact to worsen our attention and diminish performance on certain attention-demanding tasks, suggesting that each utilize similar attentional resources.

You may find yourself in a vicious cycle: stress impairs your attention and task performance, leading to more stress, which then worsens your attention. You may then reach for your phone seeking distraction or relief, only to encounter more alarming content.

Research shows doomscrolling is more likely to cause psychological distress and worsen mental well-being, since the content that we are using to distract ourselves is often negative.

How to reclaim your attention

In the face of our current global polycrisis, the algorithmic manipulation of our emotions poses a serious challenge. If you want to interrupt this cycle, research suggests there are several practical steps you can take.

First, try to reduce time online. A particularly healthy time to be screen-free is before bed as screens can negatively impact sleep. Notably, poor sleep can lead to stress, and high stress can impair sleep.

Second, replace screen time with new hobbies. Behavioural economics shows that reducing unwanted behaviour, such as drinking alcohol, may be easier when people engage with other activities they enjoy. Ride a bike, do a puzzle or take a cooking class.

Third, reduce stress through exercise, meditation or spending time with friends to break the negativity cycle. Form new, healthy habits that bring you joy.

But perhaps the most important step is simply becoming more aware of the behind-the-scenes forces vying for our attention that exploit our most visceral emotions. While we shouldn’t completely disengage from the news media, we need to better equip ourselves to defend against these threats to our attention and well-being.

Megan Shipman is affiliated with Cascade Institute

Zachary Pierce-Messick receives funding from The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and is a postdoctoral research fellow (T32DA007209)

– ref. Digital media is using negativity to steal our attention — here’s how to reclaim it – https://theconversation.com/digital-media-is-using-negativity-to-steal-our-attention-heres-how-to-reclaim-it-274101