Category: The Conversation – Canada

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Damien Joly, CEO, Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, University of Saskatchewan

Since first being detected in Newfoundland in 2021, a subtype of highly pathogenic avian influenza, HPAI A(H5Nx), has had a dramatic impact on North America.

The poultry industry has suffered the most, with almost 15 million birds dying or being culled to control the virus in Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada recently dismissed a British Columbia ostrich farm’s bid to stop a cull after avian flu was detected on the farm in December 2024.

The problem has been worse in the United States, with more than 180 million birds and over 1,000 dairy cattle farms being affected.

In the wild, the virus has also triggered mass die-offs of birds. In 2022 alone, at least 40,000 wild birds died of HPAI in eastern Canada, including 25,000 northern gannets and thousands of common murres and common eiders. Mortality due to HPAI has continued, with thousands of birds and many wild mammals being affected.

A(H5Nx) refers to avian influenza virus subtypes that share the H5 surface protein but differ in the N protein; current subtypes circulating in North America include H5N1 and H5N5.

As of yet there has been no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission of the A(H5Nx) subtypes, leading the Public Health Agency of Canada to conclude that the most likely spread scenario now is occasional infection of humans from infected animals with no further spread.

That said, the World Health Organization reports that globally since 2003, almost 48 per cent of the 990 people infected have died. Closer to home, a teenager in British Columbia was infected, resulting in severe illness, but they thankfully recovered.

This is a virus that is clearly a threat to livestock and human health. Our team, a collaboration of governments and academics across the country, recently assessed the extent of HPAI A(H5Nx) in at-risk species across Canada.

In each province and territory, a NatureServe Canada Conservation Data Centre conducts status assessments of wild species and makes the data available through NatureServe Explorer. We identified species of conservation concern in each province and territory, then examined our surveillance data to determine which of these species had detections of HPAI A(H5Nx).

What we found

Tracking a fast-moving virus across a country as vast as Canada takes an extraordinary network, from field biologists collecting samples in remote wetlands to laboratory scientists decoding viral genomes.

In order to do so, we formed Canada’s Interagency Surveillance Program for Avian Influenza in Wildlife in 2005, consisting of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative (CWHC), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Parks Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, academic institutions as well as agricultural and environment ministries from all provinces and territories.

By capturing and testing live birds, as well as testing sick and dead wildlife, we identify cases of HPAI A(H5Nx) in wildlife and make the results publicly available through a national dashboard anyone can explore.

We’ve found that HPAI A(H5Nx) had been detected in 41 at-risk species across the 10 provinces, including four species that were assessed nationally by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada as at risk: the barn owl, horned grebe, snowy owl and western grebe.

The affected birds represent remarkable ecological diversity: from predators like the peregrine falcon to seabirds like the northern gannet and wetland species like the horned grebe and western grebe. Smaller or more elusive species, especially those living far from people, are likely underrepresented because they’re less likely to be found and tested.

The power of public reporting

The detection of HPAI A(H5Nx) in so many at-risk species underscores a troubling reality: emerging diseases are now part of the conservation landscape.

A 2024 study found that 16 per cent of wild bird species and 27 per cent of mammal species with H5N1 infections were listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as conservation concerns. These are species already facing a number of challenges, and disease adds yet another one.

For species already pushed to the brink by habitat loss, pollution and climate change, a new infectious threat can tip the balance toward extinction.

This work illustrates the importance of the public in monitoring wildlife diseases. Every time someone reports a sick or dead wild animal, it contributes to our understanding of disease in wildlife.

People across Canada can play a direct role by reporting observations to the CWHC. It’s an easy way for anyone to contribute to national wildlife health surveillance. Without these public reports, we would have far less information about how HPAI A(H5Nx) is affecting wild species, especially in remote areas.

This is citizen science at its most immediate and impactful.

A broader perspective

Our work also speaks to how science and the public can work together in the face of global health challenges. The same systems that detect avian influenza in wildlife also protect the poultry industry, our pets and, indirectly, human health.

It’s a reminder that disease surveillance is a public good that depends on investment and co-operation across disciplines, governments and communities.

Further, these collaborations illustrate the One Health approach, which recognizes that the health of humans, animals and ecosystems are interlinked.

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Without a One Health plan, Canada is vulnerable to future pandemics

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The spread of avian influenza in wildlife, livestock and occasionally people underscores how closely connected our health really is. We are only going to address these challenges by working together in a One Health approach.

Lastly, it’s important to note that this work reflects the efforts of dozens of people across Canada. Folks from many federal, provincial, territorial and academic institutions all contribute to the surveillance network described here. Their collective expertise and commitment make this work possible.

Damien Joly is CEO of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative (CWHC) which receives funding support from several Canadian federal, provincial and territorial government agencies, the Canadian Wildlife Federation and the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. CWHC also benefits from in-kind support of the five veterinary schools in Canada. The complete list can be viewed here: https://www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/reports.php

– ref. How we’re tracking avian flu’s toll on wildlife across North America – https://theconversation.com/how-were-tracking-avian-flus-toll-on-wildlife-across-north-america-264857

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Katrina Barclay, Executive Manager, Telfer Family Enterprise Legacy Institute (FELI), L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Like previous federal budgets, the recently released Budget 2025 fails to acknowledge a pressing generational shift for Canada’s economy: the succession crisis facing most Canadian family-owned businesses.

Over the next decade, 60 per cent of family enterprises will change hands — if those ownership transfers happen at all.

When ownership transfers stall or fail, jobs, investments and tax revenues are lost — not to mention the loss to the social fabric in communities across the country. Yet, despite these stakes, Budget 2025 offers little recognition of this looming challenge.

The government states that it is “ensuring Canadian workers and businesses have the tools they need to drive this transformation and thrive from it.” Yet there is no evidence of any measures to support and equip entrepreneurs and family business owners for generational transitions.

Family businesses are the backbone of the economy

In Canada’s private sector, family firms own nearly two-thirds of all businesses, from mom-and-pop shops to international and global leaders in their respective sectors. Together they employ more than half of workers and generate nearly half of our private sector GDP.

The economic pressures and uncertainties — looming tariffs, the affordability crisis, inflationary price increases, to name a few — currently facing Canada make this moment more perilous.

Without thoughtful policy support, Canada risks losing not just businesses, but the jobs and community investments they sustain.

The looming succession crisis

Succession is notoriously difficult to navigate for businesses. Two-thirds of businesses don’t have a formal succession plan.

Of those that do, most rely on accountants and lawyers for guidance. While accountants and lawyers are needed, they’re rarely equipped for the family dynamics and communication breakdowns that derail even the best financial plans.

Even more worrying, 39 per cent of business owners surveyed by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said they relied on no one or did it themselves.

Running a business and successfully transferring ownership are two very different skill sets. Yet Ottawa continues to treat succession as a matter of tax incentives for the owners — for example, by cancelling the proposed capital gains increase — while ownership succession is also (and often foremost) a deeply human and strategic challenge.

The government must confront the most complex parts of succession: enabling solid business governance, responsible next-generation owner development and fostering healthy family dynamics to support smooth ownership transitions that ensure the continuity and growth of the firm.

This is especially important as more enterprising families begin to exit their firms to invest in family foundations or offices, or bring in outside investors and leadership for the first time.

The incumbent generation of business owners who built this country will only pass on their business once. The government need to give them the tools to do it right.

3 things the government should do

If Budget 2025 truly aims to ensure that Canadian businesses “thrive from transformation,” it must invest in succession readiness. Here’s what the government should do to accomplish this:

1. Assess the state of Canada’s family businesses

Canada lacks comprehensive, detailed and continuous national data about family firms. The government should support the collection of nuanced family business data. This should be done by Statistics Canada in partnership with universities and institutes like ours, the Family Enterprise Legacy Institute at the University of Ottawa. This would provide reliable evidence to measure the pulse of the largest part of our economy, highlight major issues and inform effective policy.

2. Scale owner empowerment

Few programs exist to help businesses navigate succession. The current offering amounts to a few paragraphs on the Government of Canada website. The government should support the creation and delivery of multilingual programs to train any potential successors in best practices on topics such as family dynamics management, succession processes, resilience in times of uncertainty and effective governance.

3. Build hubs of excellence

Canada already has world-class family business researchers, advisers and peer networks, but they are disconnected and underfunded. What’s missing is a federally supported institute bringing together associations, institutes, centres, foundations and organizations to pursue a co-ordinated strategy to connect research, training and advisory support. Along with owners and successors, the hub could help prepare advisers, accountants and lawyers.

A high-yield investment in Canada’s future

Supporting successful succession is not a subsidy. It is a high-yield investment with returns for every community and society at large. It is also a safeguard for the 6.9 million Canadians who depend on family businesses for jobs and nation-building projects.

Consider the federal Major Projects Office, which has been tasked with fast-tracking nation-building projects. As with every project in Canada, they are supported by small, medium and large family-owned construction firms, trucking companies, suppliers, tradespeople, Indigenous enterprises, manufacturers, fabricators and other service providers.

Without healthy, well-transitioned family businesses, those projects and the jobs they sustain are at risk.

Succession planning is about preserving Canadian ownership during the largest intergenerational transfer in our history. Without thriving family businesses, our economy will not prosper. Ignoring succession could end up being not just a policy oversight, but a nation-building failure.

Peter Jaskiewicz receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). He has collaborated on research, teaching, and knowledge dissemination with all major associations in the national and global family enterprise ecosystem, including Family Enterprise Canada (FEC), Family Enterprise Foundation (FEF), the Family Business Network (FBN), and the Family Firm Institute (FFI).

Katrina Barclay 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. Budget 2025 ignores the looming succession crisis facing Canada’s family businesses – https://theconversation.com/budget-2025-ignores-the-looming-succession-crisis-facing-canadas-family-businesses-269249

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Eric Story, Postdoctoral researcher, Department of History, Western University

Perhaps you’ve heard the name John McCrae, the famous poet who wrote “In Flanders Fields.”

But have you heard of George Hincks and Marshall McDougall?

While conducting research on disabled veterans, I came across their names in an old veterans’ magazine that briefly mentioned their plan to hike from Calgary to Ottawa in 1923. Curious, I searched the microfilmed newspapers to find out what became of their journey.

As it turned out, these two ex-servicemen of the the First World War (1914–18) hiked more than 2,000 kilometres to raise awareness of the issues facing disabled veterans after the war.

Historians have typically identified the birth of the disability rights movement in the post-1945 period.

But the forgotten hike of Hincks and McDougall and the related advocacy efforts of the Amputations Association of the Great War — a predecessor organization of today’s War Amps — speaks to an earlier generation of activism that remains largely untold.

The journey begins

Calgary’s Daily Herald was the first to report on Hincks and McDougall. It published a striking photograph of the two men before their hike, smiling and standing shoulder to shoulder. What draws the reader’s attention, however, is the lower half of the picture. Both men are amputees, each having lost a leg on the First World War battlefields.

To understand what drove these two disabled men to embark on such an arduous journey, we must turn to the 19th century, when Canada began to transition its economy away from rural agricultural production towards urban industrial capitalism.

As cities industrialized in the second half of the 19th century, the nexus of the Canadian economy shifted from the home to the factory floor. Historian Sarah Rose has examined how this shift impacted disabled peoples’ ability to work in a newly industralized economy.

Employers began to prioritize able-bodied labourers for their strength, skill and what Rose calls “interchangeable” bodies, which alienated many disabled people from the workforce.

By the eve of the First World War, Canada’s economic transformation had cast people with disabilities as inefficient workers and, ultimately, unproductive members of society.

Challenging notion of being ‘unproductive’

At a time of rigid social and identity roles, if men could not independently earn a wage and support their families, they risked being labelled as unproductive.

When a reporter asked why Hincks and McDougall were making their trek, Hincks answered: “Primarily, it is to prove that an amputation case has as much stamina as the average citizen who has not lost a faculty.”

Despite being unemployed, he saw their journey as a direct challenge to the notion that he and McDougall were somehow unproductive members of society.

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Trek after surviving Western Front

Two weeks after the men’s departure from Calgary, a Medicine Hat News reporter observed their blistered hands and feet, aching muscles and sore armpits rubbed raw from the padding of their crutches when they arrived in Medicine Hat, Alta.

But Hincks and McDougall were no strangers to pain.

Hincks lost his left leg in 1915 after a German machine gunner pumped 36 bullets into it at the Second Battle of Ypres. His bullet-riddled leg was amputated at a prisoner of war camp later that spring.

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Remembrance Day: How a Canadian painter broke boundaries on the First World War battlefields

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At the Battle of Cambrai in 1918, a spinning piece of shrapnel lodged deep into McDougall’s right leg. His doctor immediately opted for surgery, amputating his leg the same day.

Despite their aches and pains at Medicine Hat, Hincks and McDougall carried on.

Camaraderie among amputees

Nearly three weeks later, the Morning Leader reported their arrival in Regina, Sask., where they were greeted by fellow veteran P.J. Brotheridge. Having lost his arm in the war, he invited Hincks and McDougall to stay with him before their departure the following day.

These interpersonal connections suggest a certain camaraderie among war amputees, finding commonality in the shared experience of living without a limb.

These shared experiences of disability led to the formation of the Amputations Association of the Great War in 1920. Brotheridge, Hincks and McDougall were all members when the hikers passed through Regina.

Speech about disabled veterans

On the hottest day of the summer, the exhausted duo arrived at their final destination on the Prairies — Winnipeg.

According to a story in the Winnipeg Evening Tribune, Hincks’ gave a bold and impassioned speech about the struggles of disabled veterans to a crowd at the Fort Garry Hotel. He said:

“The veteran with an amputated limb is unable to compete in the employment market … He is under the handicap of visibility of disability.”

Instead of instructing his fellow disabled veterans to overcome the barriers they faced in Canadian society, he asked able-bodied Canadians to confront their own ableist prejudices that kept war amputees like him from attaining gainful employment in post-war Canada.

In testimony before the House of Commons in the 1920s, the Amputations Association had already voiced these concerns. They argued that the visibility of their members’ disabilities made it easier for prospective employers to discriminate against them and refuse their employment.

These prejudicial attitudes were the same ones that disability rights advocates confronted 50 years later.

The end of the road

The Globe reported that Hincks and McDougall reached the Manitoba-Ontario border in mid-June, heading east towards Kenora, Ont. for the last leg of their hike.

But Kenora would actually mark the beginning of the end of their journey across Canada.

Plagued with worsening pain in his leg, McDougall decided then that his part in the hike was finished.

But Hincks pressed on. He walked several hundred kilometres more to the western shores of Lake Superior. Nearly 60 days after he and McDougall departed from Calgary, The Globe printed a front-page story from present-day Thunder Bay headlined: “One Legged Hikers Forced to Quit.”

The 1923 protest hike was over.

Even though they never reached their desired destination, Hincks and McDougall’s journey across Canada more than 100 years ago is a testament to the determination of two war amputees to bring awareness to the challenges disabled veterans faced in post-war life.

On this Remembrance Day, let’s remember not only Hincks’ and McDougall’s wartime service, but also their early contributions to disability rights activism in Canadian history.

Eric Story receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

– ref. How two Canadian war amputees hiked 2,000 kilometres and shaped disability rights activism – https://theconversation.com/how-two-canadian-war-amputees-hiked-2-000-kilometres-and-shaped-disability-rights-activism-269135

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Gordon Cleveland, Associate Professor Emeritus, Economics, University of Toronto

Why is Prime Minister Mark Carney’s budget pressing the pause button on early learning and child care?

Carney believes he is “protecting” the $10-a-day child-care program — but with its substantial shortages and unsatisfied families, staying still means going backwards.

The budget says Carney will continue the child-care funding that was already committed before he became prime minister — around $8 billion per year that extends federal transfers to provinces and territories for five years, mostly for operating funding, but about $150 million per year for the next couple of years for capital. It also notes more than 900,000 children benefit from the $10-a-day program so far.

However, the Liberal electoral platform promised 100,000 new spaces by 2031 on top of the 250,000 already promised by 2026. It also promised good wages for early educators, expansion of child care in public infrastructure and linking child care with housing developments that receive federal funds. None of this gets so much as a mention in the budget.

The Liberal platform also said the $10-a-day child-care program “has become a core part of Canada’s social infrastructure. We cannot let it be taken away or weakened.” But that may be what is happening.

Access to high-quality care

The goal of the federal government’s early learning and child-care program was “to ensure that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and inclusive early learning and child care no matter where they live.”

Canada is still a long way from that goal. True, there are more than 900,000 children currently in licensed child care at drastically reduced fees compared to 2021, and that is a big accomplishment.

But according to my analysis of Statistics Canada data from the 2023 Canadian Survey on Early Learning and Child Care, when looking at the number of children on waiting lists for child care outside Québec, Canada needs about 278,000 more child-care spaces.

To take a different metric, if looking instead at the goal of providing spaces for 59 per cent of all children aged zero to five (written into a number of the federal-provincial child-care agreements), Canada would need about 384,000 more child-care spaces. Whichever way you look at it, Canada needs to invest a lot more in building child care to meet its goals.

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Staffing shortages risk Ontario’s $10-a-day child care

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Prior to the budget, larger provinces were already complaining that existing federal funding levels are too low to support existing spaces, let alone additional expansion or higher wages.

Canada’s Auditor General has also found that fewer than half of the spaces promised over the first five years have been created.

Quality of expansion matters

This is a time of pivotal decisions for Canada in building its early learning and child-care system — and we should heed policy and outcome lessons from Québec.

The Parti Québecois launched Québec’s child-care program in 1997 and rapidly built up non-profit and family child-care capacity to provide $5-a-day child care to Québecers. But when Liberal Jean Charest became premier, there were only spaces for about 50 per cent of children and waiting lists were long.

Charest invited in the private sector by providing parents with a tax credit to fund their child-care spending. That allowed for-profit operators to enter the market and charge whatever fee the market would bear.

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Read more:
Ottawa’s $10-a-day child care promise should heed Québec’s insights about balancing low fees with high quality

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Child-care capacity grew quickly, because parents were desperate for a space. But as Québec’s Auditor General found, the quality and staffing of these new centres were very poor.

Relying on for-profit expansion

Profit-making and good quality child care don’t really go together; the federal program takes this into account. So far, the federal government has insisted that the expansion of child care should take place predominantly in the non-profit, public and family child-care sectors.

But it hasn’t provided enough capital support for non-profits, so some provinces want to emulate Charest and rely mostly on for-profit expansion.

According to the 2021 federal budget, $10-a-day early learning and child care is “a plan to drive economic growth, secure women’s place in the workforce, and give every Canadian child the same head start.” These objectives would seem to align quite well with Carney’s budget priorities.

Employment rates affected

Take mothers’ employment for instance. In Québec, more than 85 per cent of mothers with children are employed. In Canada as a whole, that number is 79.2 per cent.

If Canada moved up to Québec’s employment rate, there would be more than 220,000 additional women in the workforce, more money in families’ pockets and more tax money in federal and provincial coffers.

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Investment in child care yields countless social and economic returns

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This is the same point Stephen Poloz, then the governor of the Bank of Canada, made back in 2018, arguing that if the rest of Canada mimicked Québec’s child-care system, it could raise Canada’s potential output by tens of billions of dollars per year.

Unlock loan program

What do I think Carney should do? If there isn’t enough funding for new agreements to be signed with provinces and territories, reduce the priority placed on continuing to lower fees for everyone.

The top priority right now should be improving access for those who are not yet served. Make capital money available for expanding non-profits.

Child-care expansion should be as high a priority for public capital investment as housing and other infrastructure. Unlock the $1 billion loan program promised in last year’s federal budget through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for non-profit child care.

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Canada-wide child care: It’s now less expensive, but finding it is more difficult

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Manage waiting lists to make access more fair. Make sure low- and middle-income families gain access by ensuring them room on the waiting lists and making sure child-care subsidy systems are not cancelled. Encourage non-profit and public expansion on public lands. Encourage provinces and territories to at least match total federal dollars.

The prime minister should be inspired by the new mayor of New York City — universal child care is both popular and economically positive.

He needs to find some federal dollars for continued investment in early learning and child care.

Gordon Cleveland receives funding from SSHRC Partnership Grant “What is the Best Policy Mix for
Diverse Canadian Families with Young Children? Reimagining Childcare, Parental Leave, and Workplace Policies” Principal Researcher Andrea Doucet, Brock University.

Gordon Cleveland is a member of the National Advisory Council on Early Learning and Child Care, advisory body to Minister Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families. This article does not reflect the opinions of the National Advisory Council.

– ref. Federal budget: Mr. Prime Minister, child care is infrastructure too – https://theconversation.com/federal-budget-mr-prime-minister-child-care-is-infrastructure-too-269177

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Susanna Klassen, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Sociology, University of Victoria

Canada’s ongoing trade dispute with the United States has increased consumer awareness of domestic food products, with some experts arguing that food should be considered a matter of national defence.

While support for buying local food is increasing — one study found two-thirds of Canadians were willing to pay more for local food — there is still much that gets left off the table in conversations about local food.

The “buy local” adage doesn’t address the deeper issues with Canada’s food production systems. Inter-provincial trade barriers, outdated pesticide regulations, food insecurity and other gaps in Canadian food policy all undermine Canada’s ability to build an equitable and sustainable food system.

Most critically, discussions about local food often overlook the very people that make food production possible: farm workers. These workers form the backbone of the agricultural sector, yet many face unsafe working conditions, inadequate pay and exclusion from basic labour protections.

The human cost of agriculture

Improving job quality in agriculture is important not just for the economic viability of regional food systems, but also because agricultural work is notoriously dangerous, dirty, demeaning and devalued.

An increasing proportion of Canada’s agricultural labour — about one-quarter — is performed by migrant workers from the Temporary Foreign Worker program. These workers are tied to their employers, and often face dismissal or repatriation if something goes wrong at work. This institutionalized deportability leaves many farm workers vulnerable to exploitation.

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Canada needs to overhaul the Temporary Foreign Worker program, not just tinker with it

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Agricultural work in Canada is defined by precarity, suppression and exclusion. Workers often face a lack of access to health care, unhealthy living conditions and unsafe workplaces.

This is not by chance. Farm work has historically been exempt from labour-protective laws due to a long-standing belief in agricultural exceptionalism — the idea that because it’s subject to uncontrollable factors such as weather, and contributes to national food security, agriculture should be afforded special state support and regulatory exemptions.

In practice, many believe agricultural work should not be held to the same standards as jobs in other sectors. Farm workers are often excluded from important safeguards in many jurisdictions, like overtime pay.

When combined with precarious immigration status, even the limited protections that farm workers have access to on paper may not be accessible in practice.

Why organic farmers are struggling

To better understand why some employers provide better conditions for hired farm workers, we surveyed organic farmers growing vegetables — a nutritionally important and labour-intensive industry — in British Columbia.

We asked farmers about what motivates their farming decisions, the characteristics of their farm and about their perceptions of how to improve job quality for hired workers.

We focused on organic farmers because organics are often viewed by consumers as more sustainable, and the industry has aligned itself with the value of fairness in Canada, including worker well-being. In theory, organic farmers should be among the most motivated to provide good jobs for their employees.

Despite this ethical alignment, we found that both certified and non-certified organic farms in B.C. scored poorly on most aspects of job quality that we measured, including employment and grievance procedures, paid time off and extended health benefits.

Organic farms performed better on practices related to occupational health and physical strain, such as using strategies to reduce repetitive motion for workers.

The limits of good intentions

Many farmers reported social justice-oriented motivations for job quality improvement, but they were often unable to translate these ideas into practice.

The most commonly reported barrier to improving job quality was cost, while the strongest predictor of better practices was farm economic size, measured by farm revenue and income.

In larger enterprises, investments in infrastructure and procedural improvements to labour quality can be justified because they are perceived to benefit more workers and support more complex farm operations.

However, the link between larger farms and higher job quality may belie another relationship: bigger farms are better positioned to hire workers through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, which has specific requirements for wages and terms of employment. At the same time, the program produces power imbalances that can lead to the mistreatment and structural disempowerment of migrant workers, which is certainly bad for job quality.

Our results also suggest that the price premiums from selling food organically don’t appear to be enough to overcome the perceived financial barriers of implementing job quality measures.

A resilient and affordable food system depends on good quality jobs in agriculture. Failing to address job quality for farm workers is a missed opportunity. Many low-cost improvements to support safe and decent working conditions exist, and programs to ensure living wages for farm workers should ensure organic and ecologically produced food is affordable for all Canadians.

Susanna Klassen receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Hannah Wittman receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

– ref. Canada’s food sovereignty depends on better jobs for farmworkers – https://theconversation.com/canadas-food-sovereignty-depends-on-better-jobs-for-farmworkers-268166

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Michael Kehler, Research Professor, Masculinities Studies, School of Education, University of Calgary

In a marathon Game 7 of the 2025 World Series at the Rogers Centre, the Toronto Blue Jays fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 11 innings. It was a devastating finish to a series defined by unforgettable plays.

The series left fans with indelible memories of hits, runs and near-misses — unbelievable and inexplicable moments that few will forget in the years to come. But that wasn’t all the stood out.

From chants for Vladdy — first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — to calls for a “Springer Dinger” from designated hitter George Springer, fans also witnessed something deeper: the unmistakable emotional connection among these elite male athletes.

In a post-Game 7 interview, utility player Ernie Clement tearfully expressed his love for his teammates while acknowledging the emotional toll of the series.

Pitcher Chris Bassitt described the bond between the team as “true love.” The sentiment echoed by many of the players was one of love, gratitude and deep friendship — qualities often reserved, if rarely expressed, among men for other men.

With the public outpouring of elation, tears and unabashed love, we are left to wonder if men’s sport culture is beginning to move beyond the toxic masculinity that has too often dominated headlines.

Rather than uphold a dominant, all-too-familiar hyper-masculine image of male athletic competitors, this years’ World Series might have opened our eyes to a counter-narrative in sport.

Masculinity and sport in Canada

Our expectations of sport culture and masculinity in Canada have largely been defined by Canada’s other national pride, hockey. Its narratives frequently valourize toughness, stoicism and physical dominance, reinforcing a narrow vision of what it means to “be a man” in sport.

Recent controversies, including Hockey Canada’s failure to address sexual assault allegations and the misuse of registration fees to settle claims, have highlighted how entrenched these norms can be.

Research shows that boys and men yearn for close male friendships. Yet in national sport, we rarely see the close intimacy, level of support and caring that were evident among the Blue Jays this year.

Men are expected to compete, not care, especially in the gladiatorial arenas of sport.

The more common, and often troubling, side of male bonding in sport has been associated with violence, aggression and locker room cases of bullying, homophobia and misogyny.

A different model of male bonding

While sport culture is often centred around competition, dominance and showmanship, interactions among the Blue Jays gave a rare glimpse at how sport culture could be different among men.

A recurring theme among all players was a genuine sense of caring for one another. “It’s not very often you get a group together that genuinely likes one another and genuinely cares about one another,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider after Game 7.

The media and fans were drawn to what appears to be an authentically, emotionally connected group of men. Globe and Mail reporter Marcus Gee called it a “fellowship,” noting how much the players “liked each other.”

Individually and collectively, the Blue Jays were emotionally vulnerable. Gee suggested the lesson the Jays offered was “the power of unity, the power of connection, the power of love.” Whether we call it connection, love or fellowship, there is no mistake that what fans witnessed was a rare and possibly enduring lesson also about sport, masculinity and caring.

Challenging traditional masculinity

Research has shown that while boys and men are aware of the expectations for fitting in and being accepted among their peers, they also have the capacity to resist conventions of sport masculinity. Male athletes can resist the cultural norms associated with being “one of the boys.”

What we witnessed among the Blue Jays’ players was a rare public display of affection and intimacy in sport, going beyond sportsmanship, camaraderie and fellowship. The relationships, respect, friendships and love went beyond the implicit licence granted by being on the field to hug another player.

The traditional codes of masculinity when among the boys were disturbed and maybe challenged by repeated expressions of affection that men regularly avoid off the field.

The level of respect and outpouring of support along with the kindness of words signalled ways that men and boys can resist narratives of stoicism and the enduring challenge of expressing themselves.

There are indeed important lessons that sports fans might all take away along with the vivid memories of this World Series — lessons of caring among men.

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Suffering in silence: Men’s and boys’ mental health are still overlooked in sport

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The power of friendship

Images of Guerrero Jr. hugging rookie pitcher Trey Yesavage, the emotional honesty of Clement and the visible love the Blue Jays have for their teammates remind us of the significance of friendships among boys and men, and the power of healthy relationships in which men care for, and about, others.

Sport culture among men and boys is historically a bastion of elite, privileged masculinities. Too often, boys and men are complicit in the lessons we learn about being accepted, about belonging among the boys, about being like the rest of the boys.

Men often fear the isolation and alienation if they do not subscribe to the rules and norms typically promoted and upheld in sport culture, echoed in chants of “man up” or “no pain, no gain.”

Perhaps one of the greatest lessons from this World Series was captured in one final image: a red-haired boy collapsed in tears with his father resting his hand on his back, considering the future, not of sport, but of a son able to cry openly, unashamedly.

Michael Kehler 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. Boys do cry: The Toronto Blue Jays challenge sport’s toxic masculinity with displays of love and emotion – https://theconversation.com/boys-do-cry-the-toronto-blue-jays-challenge-sports-toxic-masculinity-with-displays-of-love-and-emotion-268971

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ryan M. Katz-Rosene, Associate Professor, School of Political Studies, with Cross-Appointment to Geography, Environment and Geomatics, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Shortly before COP30 talks begin in Brazil, tech billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates has launched a “narrative grenade” into the discourse of climate politics by publishing a lengthy memo calling for a rethink of how the climate crisis is framed and addressed.

Gates calls for a “strategic pivot” in climate strategy. That appears to have hit a nerve. Both social and traditional media were ablaze with erroneous assertions about Gates’ supposed reversal of opinion on climate change.

Despite reaffirming support for ambitious decarbonization, his letter is being celebrated by climate skeptics while angering some climate scientists. United States President Donald Trump weighed in, writing: “I (WE!) just won the War on the Climate Change Hoax. Bill Gates has finally admitted that he was completely WRONG on the issue.”

This is false. Gates makes no such admission. In fact, he specifically writes that “climate change will have serious consequences — particularly for people in the poorest countries.” He emphasizes that “every tenth of a degree of heating that we prevent is hugely beneficial because a stable climate makes it easier to improve people’s lives.”

Gates goes further, calling for major investments into global health and development (particularly on vaccines), and expresses continued support for pursuing net zero carbon emissions — all of which seems to fly in the face of Trump’s climate and foreign aid agenda.

Given this, why are so many climate skeptics celebrating Gates’ letter? And why are some climate scientists frustrated, despite his steadfast support for decarbonization?

What the memo actually says

The core of Gates’ memo is a request for climate negotiators to consider “three truths:”

First, that they consider climate change a “serious problem” but not the inevitable “end of civilization.”

Second, that temperature targets like the 2015 Paris Agreement’s focus on limiting warming below 2 C are not the best goalposts for measuring progress on climate change.

And third, that the best way to defend humanity against climate change is to pursue global health and economic prosperity.

The centrepiece of Gates’ analysis is the claim that technological innovations — like electric vehicles, renewable energy and battery storage —have already started to reduce the carbon intensity of global economic activity and that new, more consequential innovations in the future will be driven by economic development and healthy societies.

He provides as evidence changes in the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) carbon dioxide emissions forecasts — pointing out that a 2014 IEA projection expected significant growth in emissions, while a 2024 projection now sees significant reductions (though some commentators have contested Gates’ interpretation on this specific point).

Gates wants readers to know progress is being made on climate change thanks to growth and technological innovation, and as such, the “worst-case scenarios” are no longer plausible.

Why climate skeptics see this as a win

It is Gates’ initial framing — that climate change is “not the end of the world” — that seems to have resonated most strongly with climate skeptics. The memo begins by critiquing the “doomsday view” that “cataclysmic climate change will decimate civilization.” Instead, he argues that “people will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future.”

From that point, climate contrarians seized on the memo. One of the largest conspiracy accounts on X falsely declared that “today Bill Gates admitted himself that Climate Change is all a lie.” Others followed suit.

Even media outlets contributed to the confusion, with Futurism running an article with the deeply misleading headline “Bill Gates Says Climate Change Isn’t So Bad After All.”

This reaction is not surprising. The claim that climate change is not a civilization-ending threat aligns closely with long-standing skeptic rhetoric that mainstream climate science relies on fear to justify politically motivated change.

Research shows that climate skeptics interpret the issue through black-and-white thinking, where cognitive binaries are used to help simplify complex systems.

Within this world view, if climate change is not apocalyptic, then it can be dismissed as exaggerated, and by extension, climate policy is unnecessary, or worse, a cover for social control.

Why some climate scientists are frustrated

The idea that climate change will not literally end civilization is not new — even for Gates. In my own work on the growth-environment debate, I’ve shown how dominant sustainability discourses have long rested on the assumption that even the most pressing environmental problems can be managed, and that economic growth and technological innovation are the best means of addressing them.

For some climate scientists, however, Gates’ memo places too much emphasis on technology — especially exploratory and high-risk technologies like small modular reactors, carbon capture and storage, and geoengineering.

The worry, as climate scientist Michael Mann expressed in reference to the Gates memo, is that this focus on “technofixes for the climate … leads us down a dangerous road,” because such approaches can distract from proven mitigation strategies and provide cover for continued business-as-usual burning of fossil fuels.

Other climate scientists found the memo downplayed the severity of global warming seen to date, not least the warming expected by the end of this century (which, in Gates’ telling could be up to +2.9 C above the pre-industrial era).

For instance, scientist Daniel Swain noted his “dismay and deep frustration” about the framing in Gates’ memo (despite agreeing with some of its central claims), precisely for glossing over the known harms and systemic risks that lie ahead. Swain invoked the late environmental studies professor Stephen Schneider’s reminder that when it comes to global warming, “the end of the world” and “good for humanity” are the two lowest-probability outcomes.

What now?

Like a dazed battlefield after a grenade is detonated, the terrain of climate politics has been unsettled by Gates’ missive, but it is not altogether transformed. The debate will continue. Skeptics will likely add screenshots of misleading headlines about Gates’ “admission” to their repertoire of doubt-casting memes.

Climate scientists, meanwhile, will continue to grapple with the difficult task of communicating climate risk, urgency and uncertainty, in a political environment that is not well-suited to nuance and complexity.

The memo does not change the science. But it does reveal how sensitive climate politics is to framing, and how the same message can become ammunition for very different projects.

Ryan M. Katz-Rosene was the recipient of an Insight grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to study discourses of the growth-environment debate.

– ref. Why Bill Gates’ climate memo is being celebrated by skeptics while frustrating scientists – https://theconversation.com/why-bill-gates-climate-memo-is-being-celebrated-by-skeptics-while-frustrating-scientists-268940

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Omid Asayesh, Postdoctoral fellow, Sociology, University of Calgary

With more than 85 million people naming it their top choice, Canada has become one of the most desired migration destinations in the world over the past decade.

Yet even in 2024, its highest year on record, Canada only admitted about 480,000 new permanent residents, a small fraction of global demand.

Despite earlier plans to increase admissions, the intake is now set to decline in response to mounting pressures on housing and public services. There’s also been political pushback from opposition parties and segments of the public who argue that the government’s rapid expansion of immigration targets has outpaced Canada’s ability to absorb newcomers.

The challenge, however, is not how few people get in; it is how unpredictable the system has become.

A shifting framework

In June 2022, the federal government amended the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to give itself more flexibility.

It rolled out a new immigration stream to prioritize in-demand occupations in health care, engineering and agriculture, as well as French-speaking applicants.

In the earlier system, fixed points for education and high-skilled work experience provided applicants with a clear way to assess their eligibility. In contrast, the new category-based approach relies on occupational needs that shift rapidly.

The goal was to respond quickly to labour shortages and economic goals by consulting with provinces, industries, labour groups and the public. However, this category-based selection has been rolled out with little consistency or transparency. Announcements come with no clear timelines, fixed numbers or indication of when a stream might close.

In this new framework, broad categories such as health care or STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) encompass hundreds of distinct occupations. Yet the government may single out only a handful of these occupations for invitations while excluding the rest, which makes outcomes unpredictable even within the announced priority categories.

Migration is a long-term project

What this changing immigration policy fails to consider is that immigration is not an instant decision, but a long-term project.

My research shows that people may spend more than a decade preparing for migration by carefully choosing a field of study, seeking related work experience, saving aggressively and even reshaping their personal lives. Some even avoid intimate relationships or postpone having children in hopes of migrating. However, those plans fall apart when the qualifying requirements change quickly.

The uncertainty created by shifting immigration policies is not felt only abroad. Within Canada, roughly three million people are on temporary permits, and many of them are hoping for a chance at permanent residency. They spend years establishing roots in their communities, with the belief that it will ultimately lead to a more secure future. But when policy priorities change unexpectedly, their lives are thrown into limbo.

International students are a clear example. Many spend tens of thousands of dollars on tuition, averaging $41,746 for international undergraduates in 2025–26, encouraged by the promise that a Canadian education will improve their chances of staying.

Yet, as the rules change, they may find themselves with no option to stay in Canada once their studies end. Similarly, temporary foreign workers may fill urgent labour shortages, only to see pathways to permanence narrow or close before they can apply.

A problem for everyone

Quick and unpredictable changes in rules make immigration seem like a lottery rather than a structured system. Success now often depends not on careful planning or merit, but on being in the right place at the right time.

The lottery effect erodes confidence in Canada’s immigration policy. It conveys the idea that long-term planning and investment might not be essential and that today’s standards might change tomorrow.

Uncertainty also fuels a darker consequence: fraud.

When pathways open and close overnight, some people take shortcuts by fabricating credentials, work experience or job offers that match the latest requirements.

These patterns of instability and deception pose significant concerns for a nation that relies on immigration to maintain its labour force, economy and demographic balance. At the same time, immigration has become increasingly politicized in recent years.

Consequently, the political climate has shifted toward risk-averse immigration policies that focus on immediate results instead of developing sustainable approaches.

A more sustainable system

Immigration is essential to Canada’s future because it sustains the workforce as the population ages, with nearly all of Canada’s labour force growth now coming from newcomers.

Despite myths about migration, economic immigrants generally contribute more in taxes than they consume in public services over the long term. Additionally, immigrants start businesses at higher rates, bring diverse skills and perspectives and establish global connections that drive innovation and long-term economic growth.

However, many newcomers struggle to find employment in their designated fields due to barriers such as credential recognition or social integration.

Meanwhile, many temporary residents who have studied, worked in highly skilled jobs and paid taxes for years are ineligible to apply for permanent status because their occupations are not on the list. They end up leaving despite their contributions.

The immigration system should include defined criteria, realistic deadlines and transparent information that lets people inside and outside Canada plan with confidence. Consistency is crucial.

A more sustainable approach would connect permanent residency more closely to proven success in the Canadian labour market. At the end of the day, immigration should be based on preparation, abilities and dedication — certainly not on luck.

Omid Asayesh 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. Canadian immigration policy has become a moving target – https://theconversation.com/canadian-immigration-policy-has-become-a-moving-target-264100

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Denise Suzanne Cloutier, Professor, Health Geography and Social Gerontology, University of Victoria

With Canadians now living longer than ever, the question of who will care for them — and under what conditions — when they can no longer care for themselves has become one of the country’s most pressing issues.

According to 2021 census data, the population aged 85 and over and 100 and over are growing at rates much faster than other population cohorts.

And the reality is that the longer we live, the more likely we are to experience chronic, multiple and complex health conditions like hypertension, osteoarthritis, heart disease, osteoporosis, chronic pulmonary disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia.

While most older people will continue to “age in place” in their own homes and in relatively good health, about eight per cent, or roughly 528,000, will require the specialized care provided in long-term care (LTC) or assisted living facilities.

This is especially true if they are experiencing progressive and intense illness or disease, disabilities or injuries, and if home care and family supports are limited.

The LTC workforce under pressure

As the demand for long-term care grows, Canada is simultaneously witnessing an exodus of LTC workers through retirement or by seeking employment elsewhere due to chronic and sustained sector challenges, including lack of funding and the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roughly 14 per cent of the Canadian health-care workforce, or just over 50,000 people, are engaged in LTC. This number does not include every member of the care team but does include those who spend the most time providing care at residents’ bedsides.

These practitioners include personal support workers, licensed practical nurses (LPNs), registered nurses (RNs), nurse practitioners and occupational and physiotherapists — most of whom are racially diverse and female. Many feel overwhelmed and unheard.

Caring for the care providers

It is a well-worn but still valid cliché to say the pandemic shone a spotlight on longstanding challenges within LTC, including rising privatization trends and rigid hierarchical organizational structures.

During and after the pandemic, workers said they felt pulled in all directions. Overtime hours, absenteeism, mental-health issues and sick time escalated as staff performed dual roles as both workers and acting family members due to restrictive distancing protocols.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information reported that in 2023, the number of LPNs, RNs and occupational therapists declined by 6.1 per cent, 2.1 per cent and 9.1 per cent respectively. Despite of these conditions, the LTC workforce is known to go above and beyond the call of duty in providing care.

In the same year, a government consultation aimed at developing national standards for quality of care and safety in LTC reported that LPNs, aides and allied health professionals were calling for action on working conditions, emphasizing the importance of job stability, equitable wages, training, advancement opportunities, reasonable workloads and limits on mandatory overtime in support of their health, well-being and job satisfaction.

Sociologist Pat Armstrong, a leading Canadian expert in transforming care for older adults, has said that “the conditions of work are the conditions of care.” This is a poignant reminder of the critical relationship between workers and each LTC environment in the care of residents.

Her words underline a hard truth — without attending to this relationship adequately, the level of care for residents becomes compromised.

A new model for aging well with dignity

The costs of providing LTC in large-facility settings bear further scrutiny.

The Conference Board of Canada suggested that 199,000 additional LTC beds will be needed between 2018 and 2035, an investment of $64 billion in capital spending and $130 billion in operating expenditures.

A 2021 survey of about 2,000 Canadians conducted by Ipsos and reported by the Canadian Medical Association noted that 97 per cent of those aged 65 and over are concerned about the state of Canada’s LTC system. Over 95 per cent of those same seniors said they will do everything they can to avoid moving into a LTC home.

Older people want to remain at home for as long as possible. But when they cannot, a growing global movement advocates for the development of smaller, less institutional, more home-like environments, including dementia-friendly communities, to care for older people, especially those living with dementia.

These new models are expanding across Canada, based on the De Hogeweyk Care Concept developed in the Netherlands in the 1990s, with the first village established in 2009. These villages offer settings that support social interaction and engagement in everyday life, provide access to outdoor spaces and gardens and help people retain dignity and autonomy for as long as possible.

For people living with dementia and older adults who desire to remain at home as long as they can, this is a silver lining.

Evidence is growing that these inclusive, age-friendly, home-like settings not only give residents a greater sense of comfort, control and autonomy; they also also provide an environment for direct-care workers to thrive and do meaningful work that makes a difference in their lives and in the daily lives of those they care for.

Creating environments that better support the conditions of care — quality of life for residents and workers, and having care labour recognized, respected and adequately remunerated across all sectors, with opportunities for training and career advancement — will encourage long-time workers to remain in the sector and help ensure that new health-care graduates continue to see LTC as a viable and rewarding career path.

If Canada wants to ensure dignity in aging, it must treat care work as essential infrastructure.

Denise Suzanne Cloutier is part of the C.A.R.I.N.G Dementia Collaborative funded by the University of Victoria, Aspiration 2030 initiative.

– ref. Why Canada must transform its long-term care system – https://theconversation.com/why-canada-must-transform-its-long-term-care-system-267285

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Judy Fudge, Professor Emeritus, School of Labour Studies, McMaster University

From hoodies and T-shirts to baseball caps, apparel with university and collegiate names and logos is a booming business in Canada and the United States.

Colleges and universities earn revenue each year by licensing their trademarks to major apparel companies, including Lululemon and Fanatics. These companies, in turn, rely on vast supplier networks located primarily in countries with weak labour protections and regulations.

The result is a disconnect between the values many universities espouse and the practices they enable. Canadian universities have a critical role to play in the advancement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 8, which promotes sustainable economic growth and decent work for all.

Yet workers who make university-branded apparel often receive low wages, face gender-based violence and harassment, experience retaliation for union involvement and work in unsafe buildings.

As an expert in labour exploitation and modern slavery in supply chains, I believe universities and colleges have a responsibility to ensure these workers have decent working conditions.

Rise of student activism and monitoring

Concerns about labour conditions are not new. Since the late 1990s, student activism has led many universities to adopt codes of conduct for licenses for upholding workers’ labour rights. However, finding out if these rights were actually being upheld was challenging.

Universities turned to certification programs and social auditing firms to monitor compliance, but research shows these programs are often lax and fail to disclose violations. These monitors are too close to the companies they work for, leading to conflicts of interest and limited transparency.

Because of this, the student anti-sweatshop movement pressed for independent monitoring. In 2000, United Students Against Sweatshops established the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), an independent organization that was initially set up to help colleges and universities enforce their manufacturing codes of conduct. It also performs independent investigations for other organizations and companies when asked to do so.

Unlike most corporate social auditors, the WRC is the only independent organization serving the university community that isn’t affiliated with the apparel industry.

It investigates factories based on worker testimonies. These investigations can be triggered by reports from universities, workers or local non-governmental organizations. Investigations are designed to ensure transparency through public reporting, and the WRC works with apparel brands and factories to secure remediation.

According to the WRC, it has helped more than 700,000 workers through factory investigations and helped them win more than US$150 million of legally owed back pay. It has also helped reverse terminations for 1,810 workers who were wrongfully fired for exercising their right to associate.

Lessons from Rana Plaza

The importance of independent monitoring of corporate labour rights codes was highlighted by the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh in April 2013, which killed 1,131 workers. Factories in the building produced garments for several major brands, including the Loblaw’s Joe Fresh line.

Despite some of the brands having codes of conduct and audits, none identified or corrected safety violations in the months before the collapse.

In the aftermath, the WRC helped implement and enforce the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, a five-year independent, legally binding agreement between global brands, retailers and trade unions to build a safe Bangladeshi garment industry. Reports of the accord show significant improvements in fire and building safety.

Expanding the fight for workers’ rights

Beyond Bangladesh, the WRC has devised ways for brands to use their economic leverage to persuade suppliers to address systemic problems like gender-based violence and harassment in the garment sector.

Its investigations led to two agreements to eliminate these issues: one in Lesotho in 2018 and one in Central Java in 2024. The WRC’s university-affiliate program was crucial in Central Java, since the supplier produced university-logo goods.

This work shows that reducing and addressing labour abuse in global garment chains is possible. The WRC’s success stems from its institutional features that enhance its legitimacy: independence from unions and corporations, its investigative nature and its focus on workers.

Why university participation matters

University affiliation is crucial for the WRC’s success. While many universities have signed on, the number of affiliates has declined from 186 in 2010 to 154 in 2025.

To become an affiliate, a university must adopt a manufacturing code of conduct, incorporate it into contracts with apparel companies, share a list of factories involved in producing their merchandise and pay an annual affiliation fee.

Only six Canadian universities are affiliates: McGill University, Queen’s University, Thompson Rivers University, the University of Guelph, the University of Winnipeg and the University of Toronto. McMaster University, where I taught in the School of Labour Studies until this year, recently withdrew after 23 years.

For Canadian universities that market themselves as global citizens and champions of the sustainable development goals, affiliation should be seen as a moral obligations. By choosing to become an affiliate, universities demonstrate their commitment to protecting the rights of workers producing the apparel and goods that carry their names.

Judy Fudge receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

– ref. Canadian universities must do more to ensure their branded clothing isn’t made in sweatshops – https://theconversation.com/canadian-universities-must-do-more-to-ensure-their-branded-clothing-isnt-made-in-sweatshops-266330