Category: The Conversation – Canada

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Douglas Clark, Associate Professor in Human Dimensions of Environment & Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan

Polar bears are intensely curious animals. That curiosity often brings them into contact with people and can put both species at risk from one another.

As the Arctic climate warms, some polar bears are spending more time on shore, away from the sea ice habitats they rely on to hunt seals. As the bears are under nutritional stress due to ice loss, some wonder if they’re being forced to take more risks around people as they seek food, increasing interactions and conflicts between polar bears and people. But until now, there’re been little research into this relationship.

Between 2011 and 2021, research colleagues and I placed trail cameras at three camps in Wapusk National Park in Manitoba and, later, at the nearby Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC) to see how often polar bears visited these sites on the west coast of Hudson Bay.

The project began at the invitation of Parks Canada when their newly constructed field camps at Broad River and Owl River turned out to receive more bear visits than they expected. Those camps had been located away from the coast to reduce the likelihood of polar bear encounters, so answering this immediate question was a priority.

We investigated whether human activity, the length of the ice-free season — or both — were influencing polar bear visits. In approximately 80 per cent of the bear visits, our photos showed enough of the animal that we could rate their body condition using an established fatness index.

We observed 580 bear visits with our cameras, mostly between July and November, when bears are well-known to be abundant in the area. What we found was that human presence at the camps and the CNSC didn’t have any effect on the number of bear visits. The length of the ice-free season each year, however, had a notable effect.

It’s all about ice

The ice-free season can be longer if sea ice breaks up earlier in spring than normal, forms later in fall than normal, or both. During our study period, there was no long-term trend in the ice-free season’s length, but it did vary a lot year to year. We found that the longer western Hudson Bay remained ice-free in a year, the more frequently bears visited our study sites.

Poor body condition is considered an indicator of nutritional stress, and a healthy body condition to survive on-shore fasting is critical for polar bear survival.

But rather than getting visits from hungrier bears that were detectably thinner — which is what we had expected — we found that the more time bears were off the ice, the more likely all bears were to approach our study sites, regardless of their nutritional health.

This result was unexpected since other research shows underweight polar bears are more likely to attack people, which has been taken to mean that those particular bears would take more chances to find food and so be more likely to approach or prey on people.

Instead, what we’re seeing is that body condition may play a different role. Rather than influencing the bears to seek human interactions, body condition might instead influence whether interactions between people and polar bears escalate.

In other words, if polar bears are around people to begin with, a skinny bear might be more likely to aggressively try to obtain human food sources, or even prey on people, than a bear under less nutritional stress.

We were also surprised not to see many lone sub-adult bears in our photos. Those other studies have also shown that they’re usually the ones most likely to come into conflict with people.

These observations, though, are consistent with other research on this sub-population. As the ice-free season has on average lengthened in western Hudson Bay, the production and survival of juvenile bears has dropped. Our unexpected results, then, are probably due to there simply not being many young bears in the population during our study.

Scientific and Indigenous observations

Our findings suggest that sea ice loss probably doesn’t lead to more interactions with people just because polar bears are thinner or hungrier, so we need to better understand what can cause interactions to worsen into attacks.

What does this mean for current approaches to reducing the risk of polar bear-human conflicts? Bringing it back to the Parks Canada’s original question, it appears that the likelihood of bear visits to their camps isn’t affected by anything under human control, but the outcomes of any bear visits that do take place certainly are.

What we found may also help explain why scientific explanations and Indigenous and local observations of polar bear-human interactions have differed. Scientific literature has long maintained that poor body condition drives polar bears into northern communities.

However, documented observations from those communities themselves indicate bears who come into communities are not necessarily in poorer condition than would be expected.

Our findings align more closely with Indigenous observations, highlighting how untested assumptions can, through repetition in scientific literature, solidify into accepted wisdom.

Douglas Clark receives funding from ArcticNet, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Genome Prairie/Genome Canada, the Belmont Forum, the Churchill Northern Studies Centre and the University of Saskatchewan.

– ref. Why do polar bears approach human infrastructure? The answer is more complex than we thought – https://theconversation.com/why-do-polar-bears-approach-human-infrastructure-the-answer-is-more-complex-than-we-thought-279721

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Eden Hoffer, PhD Candidate – Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Western University

When parents separate, decisions about children are often among the most contested aspects of the legal process. In cases involving allegations of intimate partner violence (IPV), judges are often tasked with resolving disputes of extraordinary complexity as they try to balance children’s best interests and safety with parents’ rights to remain involved in their kids’ lives.

In these types of cases, rulings about access to the children are about more than determining parenting schedules. Decisions shape whether children are protected and if abuse continues through the legal system itself.

Bill C-223, the Keeping Children Safe Act, is Parliament’s attempt to address how Canadian courts navigate these tensions. Introduced in September 2025 by Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner, the bill proposes changes to the Divorce Act aimed at strengthening how courts address family violence during divorce and custody proceedings.

Misused parental alienation claims

Research shows that accusations of parental alienation are sometimes used to undermine or silence parents who report abuse or coercive control. This dynamic disproportionately affects mothers.

IPV survivor support groups and advocates have long raised concerns about the weaponization of parental alienation claims against mothers in cases involving IPV — especially against those who raise concerns about their children’s contact with an abusive parent.

This dynamic often follows a familiar pattern — a mother experiencing IPV may seek to limit parenting time due to child safety concerns. In response, the other parent may allege parental alienation.

When courts accept these allegations, the focus shifts away from abuse and toward the primary caregiver’s behaviour, which can then be interpreted as manipulation.

In some cases, this has led to expanded or even court-ordered contact, including reunification interventions, despite children’s expressed fears or resistance to contact with the other parent.

Requiring evidence, facts

Bill C-223 aims to address this by directing courts to rely on evidence-based understandings of coercive control, trauma and abuse dynamics rather than on the assumption that violence stops when partners separate or that children’s resistance to contact with one parent is always the result of influence from the other.

Organizations like the National Association of Women and the Law and Battered Women’s Support Services have argued that the bill addresses well-established research findings that in cases where alienation is alleged and IPV has happened, protective mothers are often penalized for prioritizing their children’s safety.

Limiting alienation claims, then, is not a denial that children can be harmed when one parent undermines their relationship with the other. Instead, it acts as a safeguard against post-separation abuse continuing through the legal process.

Oversimplifying complex family situations

Despite support for the bill among advocacy groups, some legal scholars and family justice researchers have raised concerns about how it may limit judges’ ability to respond effectively. This is particularly the case in situations where one parent has genuinely undermined a child’s relationship with the other parent, even in the absence of IPV.

Critics point out that when children resist contact with one parent, it’s often due to a mix of emotional, relational and environmental factors, including loyalty conflicts, emotional pressures or prolonged exposure to parental conflict or abuse — even if that abuse wasn’t directed at them.

It is precisely because similar dynamics can arise in both abusive and non-abusive situations that critics argue judges require broad discretion to examine multiple possible explanations for a child’s resistance, including — in some cases — deliberate interference by a parent.

This suggests that limiting reliance on alienation-style evidence could restrict how courts evaluate such complexity, raising concerns about how effectively high-conflict parenting disputes can be resolved.

Critics of the bill aren’t defending or overlooking the historic misuse or weaponization of alienation claims. Instead, they question whether the bill risks replacing one flawed framework with another — one that may be poorly suited to ambiguous or less typical cases.

Balancing protection and children’s voices

At the centre of debates over Bill C-223 is a broader question about what effective child protection should look like in family law.

On one hand, the bill strengthens children’s voices and moves away from reducing their views as simply a product of parental influence.

At the same time, there is value in maintaining judicial flexibility. Even though clearer legislation may reduce the misuse of claims like parental alienation, there is still risk when limiting the range of options available to judges faced with complex situations.

Bill C-223 certainly reflects a positive shift in Canadian law towards trauma- and violence-informed approaches. It’s a clear effort to align legal frameworks with the research on abuse, coercive control and child well-being

But whether the bill ultimately achieves its intended goal will depend not only on its final wording, but also how courts interpret and apply its principles in practice.

As debates over Bill C-223 continue, the question is not whether reform is needed, but how to develop legal frameworks that protect children from harm while also preserving the flexibility that is needed to respond to complex, highly individualized cases.

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. Bill C-223 aims to protect kids while navigating complex family violence cases — but will it work? – https://theconversation.com/bill-c-223-aims-to-protect-kids-while-navigating-complex-family-violence-cases-but-will-it-work-280195

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Kathryn Hibbert, Distinguished University Professor, Faculty of Education, cross-appointed to Medical Imaging, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University

Tucked into the Ontario Ministry of Education’s newly introduced Putting Student Achievement First Act is a mandate requiring teachers to use ministry-approved learning resources in classrooms.

Providing learning resources sounds neutral and even helpful. But it raises deeper questions about teacher professional autonomy, and where the Ontario government is directing education dollars.

The most important resource in any classroom is the educator, supported by conditions needed to do the work they were professionally prepared to do.

When problems become products

In a digitized education market, learning resources increasingly arrive as “bundled systems:” assessments, textbooks, subscriptions, scripted lessons, professional development and data-tracking tools.

Researchers have long warned that “edu-business” expands when public systems are described as being in crisis, creating demand for market-based solutions.

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Read more:
Tax ‘pandemic profiteering’ by tech companies to help fund public education

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30 years of literacy reform

Ontario schools have not lacked literacy initiatives. Over three decades, Ontario educators have worked through waves of reform: Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) accountability, early reading expert panels, guides to effective instruction, the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat, as well as reforms targeting putting research into practice, multimedia literacy and serving students with special needs.

In my 44 years in education, I have seen Ontario schools cycle through one purchased literacy program after another, such as Jolly Phonics, Four Blocks and Fountas & Pinnell’s Leveled Literacy Intervention.

Ontario’s Right to Read Inquiry called for evidence-based approaches, particularly for students with disabilities. Within this wider aim, the inquiry also challenged classrooms’ reliance on programs, calling for boards and teachers to “determine on their own what programs, approaches and materials are best and how they can implement them.”

Teaching reading is complex and repeated reforms have not produced the measurable improvements policy frameworks seek to capture.

Right to Read inquiry

The Right to Read inquiry report issued 157 recommendations to improve students’ literacy learning with emphasis on curriculum, teacher professional development and early screening of foundational reading skills.

Beginning in 2023, Ontario required twice yearly screening for all children in kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2.

To support this, Ontario approved commercial suppliers and in 2024–25, allocated $12.5 million for screening tools and another $12.5 million for intervention program licences.

Some resources covered by these agreements are associated with large multinational vendors such as Pearson. Policy researcher Curtis B. Riep examines how this education company is an example of the growing role of corporate “partners, contractors and enablers” in education systems increasingly shaped by market logic.

Parents may recognize marketed resources in classrooms today like scripted lessons, slide decks or worksheets or readers sold by companies like UFLI (University of Florida Literacy Institute) Foundations.

Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner has called for open contracting so the public can see what is purchased, how suppliers are chosen, what contracts cost and who is accountable.

Yet reporting about awarded suppliers on the the Ontario Education Collaborative Marketplace (OECM) — a not-for-profit sourcing organization that partners with Ontario’s education sector and the broader public sector — still gives scarce detail about where public funds are going.

Appeal of ‘the quick fix’

The appeal of the quick fix is not new. As American journalist H.L. Mencken warned more than a century ago: “There is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible and wrong.”

My own research has shown how commercial products can displace teachers’ professional judgment with externally designed systems.

Even when screening tools are efficient and well-designed, teachers often lack the time, class-size conditions and specialist support needed to respond meaningfully to the results.

Canadian political scientist Janice Gross Stein has warned that public institutions can become so focused on measurable accountability that they lose sight of the broader context. While the Right to Read inquiry identified failures in Ontario’s reading approaches, Canada still scored well above the OECD average in reading in 2022, with Ontario among the stronger-performing provinces.

Strengthening reading instruction is essential. That doesn’t mean buying commercial programs is the answer — especially when deteriorating classroom conditions are driving qualified teachers away, leaving schools increasingly reliant on unqualified supply workers.

Literacy and the opportunity gap

Canadian literacy professor Jim Cummins cautions against moving too quickly, from labelling children “at risk” to buying new programs. The “right to read,” he argues, must also include the “opportunity to read” — early immersion in language and books gives children advantages no commercial package can reproduce.

Often overlooked in the rush to purchase products is the fact that the Right to Read report also called for improving the conditions that make effective instruction possible: sustained professional learning, specialist support and adequate funding. Yet the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario shows that real per-student operating funding has fallen to its lowest level in 10 years.

Those cuts land in classrooms where nearly one in five Ontario children lives in poverty and where educators are responding to rising violence, mental-health concerns, food insecurity and housing instability.

These are the conditions under which purchased programs are being asked to do the work of a properly supported education system.

Invest in people, not just products

Durable outcomes take time and are measured in years, not tests. The broader goal is to cultivate readers whose literacy enables full civic participation.

Comparative research on high-performing education systems points to sustained investment in well-prepared teachers, professional autonomy and coherent public systems.

Ontario stands at a familiar crossroads: keep reaching for solutions that are quick to purchase and easy to measure, or do the harder work of building lasting public capacity.

Equitable conditions for learning

The Right to Read report called for a stronger system grounded in professional knowledge, sustained support and equitable learning conditions: smaller primary classes, restored specialist support, rich early language environments and teacher education grounded in deep literacy expertise.

If we invest in teachers, and in the conditions children need to learn, literacy improvement becomes what it should be: a public education system serious about building our children’s future.

Kathryn Hibbert 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. To improve literacy, Ontario should invest in students and educators – https://theconversation.com/to-improve-literacy-ontario-should-invest-in-students-and-educators-280758

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Rassim Khelifa, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology; Canada Research Chair Tier 2 in Global Change Biology, Concordia University

Canada geese are real-life gangsters. They are large, bold, highly adaptable and thrive in urban landscapes. Wherever they go, they leave their distinctive signature: cigar-shaped green feces.

The population of Canada geese has expanded rapidly in many North American cities, thanks to favourable urban environments — with abundant food from lawns, safe nesting sites and few predators — and supportive conservation actions over the past three decades.

These geese are indeed adorable, but in large numbers they can become a nuisance. They damage crops and compete with other water birds. They produce feces that are unpleasant to step on and carry pathogens — contaminating lawns and leading to the ecological collapse of water bodies.

A single goose can defecate every 20 minutes. Now, imagine how much fecal matter is produced every day by hundreds or thousands of geese in a city. There have been almost no efforts to explore beneficial uses for this waste.

Our research findings, published in the Journal of Environmental Management, suggest that goose poop could be used to create both a source of protein for animal feed and an agricultural fertilizer — using one of nature’s recycling powerhouses, the black soldier fly.

Goose feces to create poultry feed

The larvae of the black soldier fly are known for their remarkable ability to consume and break down organic waste, including animal waste from farms. They have never before been tested on Canada goose feces.

In our study, we fed black soldier fly larvae three different food diets: a standard nutrient-rich feed mixture of corn, wheat and alfalfa (the control), a mix of this feed and goose feces and finally a diet of only goose feces.

We also added another variable, sterilizing some of the feces. This was to help us understand whether fecal microorganisms have any effect on digestion.

The results were surprising: the insect was able to complete its full life cycle on Canada goose feces alone. In fact, it was able to consume a little more than half of this waste. The trade-off was a reduced body size and shorter lifespan, but this was not an issue because it did the job.

The larvae grew faster and gained a higher body weight when the feces were not sterilized, which suggests that microbes in the feces do provide some kind of benefit for insect development. Notably, the larvae that consumed the mixture of goose poop and nutrient-rich feed grew even better than those fed with the nutrient-rich feed alone, and they achieved similar fitness as adults.

These results suggest that black soldier fly larvae and goose poop could be used to power a large-scale organic waste treatment system. Goose feces could be collected from city parks and green spaces and transported to a facility where larvae could be reared on the waste.

These larvae could then be used as protein to feed poultry and in aquaculture, in a circular, “upcycling” approach to urban waste management.

Nutrient-rich fertilizer

Larval digestion also produces a residue known as frass. Black soldier fly frass has been tested in several studies, mainly on terrestrial crops where it has improved plant growth and yield.

We decided to test the potential of frass produced using Canada goose feces — as a fertilizer for duckweed, a fast-growing aquatic plant with high protein content used in animal feed, biofuel production and wastewater treatment.

For this experiment, we tested three different potential duckweed fertilizers. The first (the control) was an ideal solution containing the nutrients necessary for duckweed growth. The second was untreated Canada goose feces. The third was frass from the digestion of Canada goose feces by the black soldier fly larvae.

Duckweed growth increased by 30 per cent when the frass was applied, compared to the control fertilizer. We also found that duckweed roots grown in frass from feces were smaller than those grown in untreated feces — a typical response to a more nutrient-rich environment, where roots can readily access the nutrients.

A sustainable circular economy

Insect-based waste treatment facilities already exist at industrial scale. Entosystem, a company in Québec that produces insect proteins for feeding farm and domestic animals, uses black soldier fly larvae to convert food and organic waste into protein and fertilizer.

Biotechnology company Oberland Agriscience in Nova Scotia also uses black soldier fly larvae, combined with technologies like AI and robotics to transform organic waste into animal feed and soil products. NRGene in Saskatchewan is a research and demonstration centre also testing the black soldier fly for optimizing large-scale conversion of waste to protein.

Similar systems could be used for upcycling goose feces by the black soldier fly, rather than directing this waste to traditional waste facilities or landfills.

In this way, waste is converted into valuable resources for the agri-food industry: larvae can be used as feed for poultry or in aquaculture, frass can be applied as an organic fertilizer for various crops.

This eco-friendly approach reframes an urban wildlife conflict as an opportunity. It contributes to a sustainable circular economy where waste materials are reused, recycled or transformed into new resources.

Rassim Khelifa receives funding from NSERC CRC Tier 2 (CRC-2022-00134) and NSERC Discovery Grant (RGPIN-2024- 04564).
Rassim Khelifa is a member of The Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science and The Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution.

Carlos Antonio Lopez Manzano receives funding from Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies (FRQNT) through the Merit Scholarship for Foreign Students (PBEEE). Member of the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science (QCBS) and the Aquatic Resources Quebec (RAQ).

– ref. We found a way to turn Canada goose poop into chicken feed and crop fertilizer – https://theconversation.com/we-found-a-way-to-turn-canada-goose-poop-into-chicken-feed-and-crop-fertilizer-281226

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Rassim Khelifa, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology; Canada Research Chair Tier 2 in Global Change Biology, Concordia University

Canada geese are real-life gangsters. They are large, bold, highly adaptable and thrive in urban landscapes. Wherever they go, they leave their distinctive signature: cigar-shaped green feces.

The population of Canada geese has expanded rapidly in many North American cities, thanks to favourable urban environments — with abundant food from lawns, safe nesting sites and few predators — and supportive conservation actions over the past three decades.

These geese are indeed adorable, but in large numbers they can become a nuisance. They damage crops and compete with other water birds. They produce feces that are unpleasant to step on and carry pathogens — contaminating lawns and leading to the ecological collapse of water bodies.

A single goose can defecate every 20 minutes. Now, imagine how much fecal matter is produced every day by hundreds or thousands of geese in a city. There have been almost no efforts to explore beneficial uses for this waste.

Our research findings, published in the Journal of Environmental Management, suggest that goose poop could be used to create both a source of protein for animal feed and an agricultural fertilizer — using one of nature’s recycling powerhouses, the black soldier fly.

Goose feces to create poultry feed

The larvae of the black soldier fly are known for their remarkable ability to consume and break down organic waste, including animal waste from farms. They have never before been tested on Canada goose feces.

In our study, we fed black soldier fly larvae three different food diets: a standard nutrient-rich feed mixture of corn, wheat and alfalfa (the control), a mix of this feed and goose feces and finally a diet of only goose feces.

We also added another variable, sterilizing some of the feces. This was to help us understand whether fecal microorganisms have any effect on digestion.

The results were surprising: the insect was able to complete its full life cycle on Canada goose feces alone. In fact, it was able to consume a little more than half of this waste. The trade-off was a reduced body size and shorter lifespan, but this was not an issue because it did the job.

The larvae grew faster and gained a higher body weight when the feces were not sterilized, which suggests that microbes in the feces do provide some kind of benefit for insect development. Notably, the larvae that consumed the mixture of goose poop and nutrient-rich feed grew even better than those fed with the nutrient-rich feed alone, and they achieved similar fitness as adults.

These results suggest that black soldier fly larvae and goose poop could be used to power a large-scale organic waste treatment system. Goose feces could be collected from city parks and green spaces and transported to a facility where larvae could be reared on the waste.

These larvae could then be used as protein to feed poultry and in aquaculture, in a circular, “upcycling” approach to urban waste management.

Nutrient-rich fertilizer

Larval digestion also produces a residue known as frass. Black soldier fly frass has been tested in several studies, mainly on terrestrial crops where it has improved plant growth and yield.

We decided to test the potential of frass produced using Canada goose feces — as a fertilizer for duckweed, a fast-growing aquatic plant with high protein content used in animal feed, biofuel production and wastewater treatment.

For this experiment, we tested three different potential duckweed fertilizers. The first (the control) was an ideal solution containing the nutrients necessary for duckweed growth. The second was untreated Canada goose feces. The third was frass from the digestion of Canada goose feces by the black soldier fly larvae.

Duckweed growth increased by 30 per cent when the frass was applied, compared to the control fertilizer. We also found that duckweed roots grown in frass from feces were smaller than those grown in untreated feces — a typical response to a more nutrient-rich environment, where roots can readily access the nutrients.

A sustainable circular economy

Insect-based waste treatment facilities already exist at industrial scale. Entosystem, a company in Québec that produces insect proteins for feeding farm and domestic animals, uses black soldier fly larvae to convert food and organic waste into protein and fertilizer.

Biotechnology company Oberland Agriscience in Nova Scotia also uses black soldier fly larvae, combined with technologies like AI and robotics to transform organic waste into animal feed and soil products. NRGene in Saskatchewan is a research and demonstration centre also testing the black soldier fly for optimizing large-scale conversion of waste to protein.

Similar systems could be used for upcycling goose feces by the black soldier fly, rather than directing this waste to traditional waste facilities or landfills.

In this way, waste is converted into valuable resources for the agri-food industry: larvae can be used as feed for poultry or in aquaculture, frass can be applied as an organic fertilizer for various crops.

This eco-friendly approach reframes an urban wildlife conflict as an opportunity. It contributes to a sustainable circular economy where waste materials are reused, recycled or transformed into new resources.

Rassim Khelifa receives funding from NSERC CRC Tier 2 (CRC-2022-00134) and NSERC Discovery Grant (RGPIN-2024- 04564).
Rassim Khelifa is a member of The Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science and The Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution.

Carlos Antonio Lopez Manzano receives funding from Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies (FRQNT) through the Merit Scholarship for Foreign Students (PBEEE). Member of the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science (QCBS) and the Aquatic Resources Quebec (RAQ).

– ref. We found a way to turn the poop of Canada geese into chicken feed and crop fertilizer – https://theconversation.com/we-found-a-way-to-turn-the-poop-of-canada-geese-into-chicken-feed-and-crop-fertilizer-281226

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Melanie Denomme, PhD Student, Biological Sciences, Brock University

Every day, millions of people watch their pet reptiles run, dig, swim or climb up against the walls of their enclosure. Reptile keepers call this “glass surfing,” but among scientists, this conduct is typically considered to be a type of repetitive behaviour, akin to pacing in polar bears.

Repetitive interactions with the barriers of a tank or cage might initially be endearing — because it seems like the reptile is eager to explore — but can quickly become distressing if a reptile simply does not stop. Many people feel helpless as they watch their beloved pet rub the scales on their nose off, causing ulcerations or deformities, or dig at the walls of an enclosure until streaks of blood are left behind.

Why do they do this, and how can we stop them?

Our lab examined the behaviour of one of the most popular pet reptiles around the world — the bearded dragon — and discovered some interesting similarities between repetitive behaviours in reptiles and mammals.

A common desire to escape

Mammalian carnivores, such as mink, polar bears and lions, sometimes perform repetitive pacing in captivity. And while there may be multiple reasons for the behaviour, researchers have found that thwarted escape is a common motivation.

In other words, mammalian carnivores may pace when they want to escape, and anything that increases their motivation to escape might elicit pacing.

We wanted to find out whether the same is true for reptiles. Inspired by a study of the repetitive behaviours of caged mice from the 1990s, we examined exactly where lizards directed their repetitive behaviours within their homes. After all, if this behaviour represents a motivation to escape, then it should be biased towards escape routes.

Our results supported the common theory: Lizards climbed up, dug at or walked against the only “door” in their enclosure more than any other barriers. When this door was partially obscured, their behaviour became even more focused on the remaining transparent portion.

Pooping away from home

But this raises the question: What are reptiles trying to escape from?

Enclosures that are too hot, small or boring may be a common cause of wanderlust. As a result, increasing the size or complexity of a reptile’s home can often reduce rubbing on enclosure barriers. However, there are also cases where this hasn’t worked, suggesting we don’t yet have the full picture.

Remarkably, in our study, we found that defecation was 15 times more likely to occur within periods when bearded dragons were performing repetitive barrier interactions. This suggests that — like rodents and other lizards — bearded dragons may prefer to do their business away from where they sleep and eat. Though whether defecation results in repetitive behaviours, or repetitive behaviours cause defecation, is still unclear.

Wild females roam in spring

We also found that female bearded dragons rubbed incessantly against enclosure barriers more in the spring compared to the winter and compared to males.

This may reflect how, during springtime, female lizards in the wild tend to roam widely whereas male lizards typically patrol a territory. Captive females could be more motivated to escape in the spring compared to captive males, who can still patrol the inside of their tank.

There were also some interesting things we didn’t find. For example, although repetitive pacing in mammalian carnivores often correlates with feeding, the same was not true for our lizards. This may be because, compared to mammalian carnivores, bearded dragons are much less active foragers. As adults, they are primarily vegetarians and may wait for insects to come to them. Therefore, feeding may not influence their motivation to escape.

Furthermore, although our lizards sometimes performed a lot of repetitive rubbing, digging or scrambling, they never got stuck performing those behaviours, as can happen for many other vertebrates. Whether this holds true for all reptiles may provide valuable insight into how repetitive behaviours change and develop over time.

Owners must observe and adapt

Our research shows that reptiles may sometimes scrabble against the walls of their enclosures for relatively benign reasons, like the need to poop.

It also shows how important it is to understand a species’ natural habitat and behaviour. For example, if female bearded dragons want to explore new areas in the spring, regularly moving the items inside the lizards’ home may simulate this exploration, reducing their need to escape.

Resolving repetitive behaviours in reptiles will not have a one-size-fits-all solution — decades of research have examined repetitive pacing in mammals, and these behaviours are still troublesome. The motivation behind a reptile’s behaviour could even differ day-to-day.

Caring for reptiles means that we must learn and observe with an open and curious mind, accept when we are wrong and adapt. Large and naturalistic enclosures will often improve a reptile’s welfare, but are not a one-time cure-all. As reptile keepers, we have the unique privilege of rising to this challenge.

Melanie Denomme receives funding from Natural Sciences and Engineering Council (NSERC).

– ref. Why your pet reptile ‘surfs’ the glass or rubs against the barriers of their enclosure – https://theconversation.com/why-your-pet-reptile-surfs-the-glass-or-rubs-against-the-barriers-of-their-enclosure-281298

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

In February 2025, the Canadian government announced Alto, a high-speed rail line that will eventually connect Toronto to Québec City. In November, the government said it would introduce new legislation to speed up the project.

One of its proposed benefits is that electrified, high-speed rail will help Canada reduce emissions and meet its climate targets. Alto says the project will help prevent many short-haul flights and remove the carbon emissions equivalent to 100,000 cars from the road each year.

But Alto is unlikely to meaningfully reduce Canada’s GHG emissions. There are indeed benefits from high-speed rail development, including bolstered regional connectivity and economic growth. However, a significant reduction in emissions is not a realistic outcome.

Claimed emissions reductions

Alto — the federal Crown corporation developing the project — said that by getting passengers out of vehicles, “we can collectively remove up to 90 billion vehicle kilometres travelled from the roads over the project’s lifecycle, equivalent to approximately 100 thousand cars’ worth of travel removed annually from the roads.”

While 39 million tonnes may sound large, it’s a relatively small GHG reduction from the point of view of a national-scale infrastructure project lasting more than 60 years. It’s akin to only 0.65 megatonnes of CO2 per year of the project through to the mid-2080s.

For reference, Canada’s annual emissions today are about 1,000 times greater than that. When framed in the context of existing annual emissions, the claimed reductions are modest.

Induced demand

Alto’s expected reduction in vehicle and air travel is likely an overestimate. Research into 210 projects in 14 nations found that ridership forecasts for high-speed rail are often higher than what eventually comes to pass. This gets at another challenge with high-speed rail’s energy impacts: induced demand.

One of the real benefits of high-speed rail development is economic growth. This arises because a new high-speed train makes new forms of economic activity possible.

It reduces the time it takes to travel between cities, making greater connectivity possible, while also increasing tourism opportunities. In theory, it also expands the distance that workers are willing to commute, which could create new housing development opportunities in regions that otherwise would not have experienced them.

Nevertheless, these same benefits potentially undermine some of the environmental arguments for high-speed rail. These new economic opportunities induce new transport demand — not only for the new train but for other modes of travel as well.

Research in this area suggests that about 20 per cent of high-speed rail traffic could be made up of new travellers who would not have made the trip otherwise. That does leave up to 80 per cent of high-speed rail travellers switching from another mode of transportation. However, there are a couple of reasons why that may not result in significant GHG reductions in Canada.

First, many travellers will be those who would have taken the conventional train and who will merely switch to the high-speed train instead. This would indeed mark a lower emissions journey given that VIA Rail’s current trains are diesel-powered. But it’s not as substantive a reduction as switching from air travel, for example.

In addition, sales of electric vehicles are expected to increase rapidly in the coming years. If EVs become more commonplace, or even the norm, the government must consider whether a diverted automobile trip in the decades to come would be diverting a passenger from a (GHG-emitting) combustion engine or a (non-emitting) electric one.

Much of the diverted automobile traffic for high-speed rail — by the time the train line is built — will likely come from EVs. That leaves diverting traffic from aircraft as the main way to reduce transport emissions. Yet even this sector is also expected to electrify in the coming decades.

In fact, it is precisely the short-haul flight market within the busy Québec City-Windsor corridor where small electric aircraft are set to debut in Canada. Airlines have already put in orders for electric planes, which may even enter into service before the first rail link is built.

Emissions from construction

Another significant effect that could increase GHG emissions would be the construction of the rail infrastructure itself. This would not be inconsequential: 1,000 kilometres of dedicated tracks within a swathe of land several dozen metres wide, featuring overpasses and tunnelling to ensure there are no grade crossings with roads, not to mention the need for overhead power lines.

The sheer amount of concrete, steel and copper required to build Alto will be immense, and would contribute to Canada’s GHG emissions during construction.

This is not to say Alto shouldn’t be built, nor that it’s a bad idea. The construction and operation of a high-speed rail line would generate growth and socioeconomic value for Canada.

It would create tens of thousands of construction jobs, billions of dollars in new opportunities annually and could help revive Canada’s suffering steel sector (currently dealing with tariff pressures from the United States).

Such infrastructure could very well be operated without producing much GHG emissions, and fit well within Canada’s aims for a future net-zero society. But this doesn’t mean that introducing a high-speed train itself would substantially help in Canada’s near-term climate mitigation efforts. It won’t.

Ryan M. Katz-Rosene 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. Proposed high-speed rail will not make a big dent in Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions – https://theconversation.com/proposed-high-speed-rail-will-not-make-a-big-dent-in-canadas-greenhouse-gas-emissions-280893

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Louis Volante, Distinguished Professor, Faculty of Education, Brock University

The Ontario government recently introduced Bill 101, the Putting Student Achievement First Act that the province says intends to move “Ontario toward a more accountable, consistent and modern model of high-quality education.”

Given that I was a member of the faculty advisory group that helped develop Ontario’s current assessment, evaluation and reporting policies, I was naturally interested in seeing what this new bill entails and the implications for our provincial education system.

Unfortunately, the bill in its current form is likely to create new challenges with implications both for public schools serving children and youth as well as for university Faculties of Education aiming to prepare the next generations of teachers.

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Read more:
What Ontarians need to know about ‘student achievement’ reforms that will run school boards like businesses

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More, not less, data needed

Effective teaching and learning are dependent on having timely data related to how students are doing and the working conditions of educators. My own research has demonstrated that education systems that collect and monitor detailed data on their students are better positioned to track learning outcomes and respond accordingly.

Effective teaching and learning depend on having timely data, but Ontario plans to scrap the requirement for boards to administer surveys that gauge important issues such as students’ sense of belonging.

Under Ontario reforms, school boards would no longer be legally required to administer the school climate survey — surveys that gauge students’ sense of belonging in schools, reported bullying and engagement in extra-curricular activities.

They often ask questions related to school safety, engagement, health and well-being, self-efficacy and other factors known to support learning in a safe and inclusive environment.

The argument that there are too many inconsistencies across schools regarding how these surveys are constructed and administered as a rationale for eliminating them as a mandatory requirement does not hold.

Ironically, these inconsistencies underscore the need to develop a provincewide survey that all schools would administer to provide comparative data. I guess if you don’t collect data that shows there’s a problem, then you don’t have a problem.

But school climate surveys point to what might otherwise appear as intangible factors that make for a meaningful and effective education.

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In 2025 and beyond, schools need to teach more than just ‘the basics’

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A sense of belonging and “non-cognitive” skills like having a flexible mindset directly relate to overall student achievement, partly explain performance patterns across countries, including Canada.

These surveys provide an oversized return on the investment needed for their development, analysis and monitoring.

More nuanced approach to attendance

Bill 101 has an explicit focus on providing students across Ontario with more consistent and effective learning experiences.

To achieve consistency in grading practices, it will mandate attendance and participation being worth 15 per cent of the final course mark for Grades 9 to 10 and 10 per cent for Grades 11 to 12.

To its credit, the government has qualified that this new policy will not be negatively impacted for excused absences, such as illnesses and holy days. However, some researchers who have examined absenteeism caution that many factors influence whether an absence is recorded as excused.

Certainly, measures to boast student engagement are laudable, but the policy could undoubtedly result in teachers merely generating a grade by simply counting up missed classes.

A more nuanced approach is needed — one that connects this new requirement more closely to curriculum expectations. For example, participation can and should be assessed in relation to the oral communication expectations that already exist within Ontario’s curriculum.

More detail needed on resources

The government has also indicated that it will be providing online classroom resources This will be welcome by many educators, particularly novice teachers, who may be struggling to find suitable materials to help them teach lessons and units of study.

Nevertheless, specifics are needed — namely, will these resources be developed and approved by teachers and subject experts, or simply become the purview of for-profit companies?

Ultimately, Ontario’s curriculum and teaching resources should be based on the expertise of educators.

Post-secondary changes

Given that I work in a Faculty of Education with one of the largest teacher education programs in the country, I was also concerned to find that amendments to Schedule 4 of the bill related to the Ontario College of Teachers Act suggests the province is preparing to exert stronger influence over teacher education programs.

While the province has already signalled an intent to drop the length of teachers’ college to a year, the wording of the bill mentions “addressing any other matter relating to the design, delivery or learning outcomes of professional teacher education programs.”

Another part of proposed reforms oddly bundled under Bill 101 involve plans for the province to absorb the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO). The council’s mandate has been “bringing evidence-based research to the continued improvement of the post-secondary education system in Ontario,” and it’s also been charged with reporting on the government’s “free speech” on campus policy.

These disconcerting proposed shifts signal interference in universities, including traditional roles of academic review committees and university senates, which approve all new programs and amendments. This threatens university governance.

Publicly assisted, post-secondary study

This encroachment is unwarranted, particularly in Ontario, which has become a “publicly assisted,” instead of a “publicly funded,” system. That is: tuition revenues have surpassed government operating grants, meaning university students pay the largest relative proportion of their education.

The Ontario government provides a significant contribution, just under 40 per cent, but far less than other provinces.

I wonder which private-sector company would allow a minority shareholder group to override the wishes of the other shareholders and exert ultimate authority over key decisions?

Moving forward

The Ontario government has the ability to clarify and amend aspects of this bill.

In the absence of the latter, it falls short of putting students first, and it certainly could mark a terrible precedent for school board and university governance.

Although education policies can help address problems, on the surface, Bill 101 appears to have created new ones.

Louis Volante receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

– ref. School boards and universities will both be affected by Ontario’s Bill 101 sweeping changes – https://theconversation.com/school-boards-and-universities-will-both-be-affected-by-ontarios-bill-101-sweeping-changes-281412

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sarah Elton, Assistant Professor, Eakin Chair in Critical Qualitative Health Research Methodology, University of Toronto

If you’ve been to the supermarket recently, you know food prices are high. Politicians looking for a fix are considering government-run grocery stores.

Toronto city council recently voted to approve a public grocery store pilot, a policy made famous by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Newly elected federal NDP leader Avi Lewis’s platform also included public supermarkets.

The idea of a government-run store might seem like an appealing political response and a simple solution. Some argue the government’s buying power could secure lower food prices.

But the idea is just that: simple. It assumes the problem is merely retail margins, ignoring many other factors that determine food prices, like what’s available for sale, how it gets there, where it’s grown, who grows it and all the other stages of production.

The infrastructure behind your produce

Instead of looking only to public supermarkets, governments need to employ a food-systems perspective and look for solutions in time-tested ways — ways that governments have already invested in infrastructure commons. One such example is the Ontario Food Terminal.

The terminal is situated north of Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway in the inner suburb of Etobicoke. It’s one of the largest wholesale food terminals in North America and the only such public facility in Canada.

As a wholesale market, it serves dealers, wholesalers and farmers who sell fresh fruits and vegetables to clients, including restaurants, supermarkets, food banks and other organizations.

If you enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables in the Toronto area — whether from a corner fruit stand, a grocer or a supermarket that isn’t a major chain or franchise — you likely consume food that has passed through the terminal.

This public infrastructure supports a variety of food businesses that would otherwise struggle to compete with the buying power of major supermarket chains.

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Read more:
Public grocery stores won’t fix Canada’s food affordability crisis

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Public investment built the food system

It’s easy to overlook the key role the government has played in making the food terminal possible.

After the Second World War, when farmers struggled to sell their crops at prices that could support their livelihoods, the Ontario government recognized a role for itself in the food system. What followed was nearly a decade of preparatory work by a professional civil service.

This effort was funded by taxpayer dollars and involved a variety of institution-building tasks. These included drafting the Ontario Food Terminal Act, establishing a board to operate the facility, selecting an appropriate location and designing the site. Experts helped select land that could connect to both rail lines and the expanding North American highway network, which was also the result of government investments.

A civil servant named George Frank Perkin was the visionary behind this project, working under a Conservative government that strongly supported the idea. The Ontario Food Terminal Board secured funding in the form of a bond from Ontario Hydro’s pension fund to complete the project.

Today, the terminal is financially self-sufficient, covering its operating costs through rents and fees charged to the businesses that use its infrastructure. However, the public investment that established it — such as legislation, civil service and institutional design — laid the groundwork for everything that followed.

It remains a lasting example of how government can influence a food system without operating a single store.

Lower prices start long before the checkout

Our research on urban food systems shows that public infrastructure investment supports food access across Toronto and Ontario. More than 70 years later, the terminal still fulfils its original goal of connecting Ontario farmers with city buyers while also functioning as a marketplace for produce from around the world.

When we tracked fruit and vegetable prices through the terminal to small independent retailers, we found them selling for significantly less than at major chain supermarkets. Many common produce items were 20 to 40 per cent cheaper at independent green grocers than at large chains — savings that are critical, as 25.5 per cent of Canadians currently face food insecurity.

A public supermarket makes an eye-catching headline. However, if we want lasting, meaningful change in food prices and food security, we need to consider the entire system rather than a narrow focus on downstream retail.

Infrastructure like the terminal demonstrates that the supply chains and systems that deliver food to the city influence what we buy, who we buy from and the cost.

There are many more policy levers for the government beyond opening a public grocery store. We can build more wholesale markets like the terminal in other jurisdictions, as well as public cold-storage and processing hubs to enable small- and mid-scale farms and food businesses to compete in a highly consolidated food sector.

Governments can create a public market action plan, like the City of Toronto recently established, and invest in infrastructure that links producers to the communities most at risk of food insecurity.

These might not be simple solutions, but they do prioritize the public good more holistically than the idea of a government-run supermarket.

Sarah Elton receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Meighen Family Foundation.

Aparna Raghu Menon receives doctoral funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Burstow Award Foundation.

– ref. Worried about food prices? Investment in public infrastructure pays – https://theconversation.com/worried-about-food-prices-investment-in-public-infrastructure-pays-280527

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By James K. Rowe, Associate Professor of Political Ecology, University of Victoria

United States President Donald Trump has apparently dodged yet another bullet.

If history is any indication, the latest alleged attempt on his life at the White House Correspondents dinner couldn’t have happened at a better time given his sagging popularity. But amid widespread skepticism and the Trump team’s efforts to promote the construction of a White House ballroom in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, it’s far from clear whether this incident will benefit the president.

Assassination attempts often make elected politicians more popular. In 1981, Ronald Reagan was shot in the same Washington Hilton Hotel that was the site of Trump’s latest assassination attempt. Reagan’s approval ratings jumped after he survived the attack.

Why does political violence help bolster approval ratings?

The obvious answer is that being subject to violence can humanize victims, softening criticism from supporters and critics alike.

The less obvious reason is that dodging or surviving bullets can super-humanize politicians, making them seem “touched” by God or like they have command over the vital powers of life and death.

Trump as superhero

When Trump lifted his fist in defiance, a trickle of blood on his face in Butler, Pa., a few months before the 2024 presidential election, he created an iconic image that bolstered his campaign and created a myth of invincibility.

This is the same man who claimed in 2016 that he “could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and…wouldn’t lose any voters.” Despite two impeachments, convictions on 34 felony charges, an admission of sexual assault on a hot microphone and multiple assault allegations, Trump was re-elected in 2024. Where others might have whithered, his forward march continued.

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Ego, hubris and narcissism: Where Donald Trump ranks among the other 45 American presidents

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While Trump once claimed the ability to shoot people in downtown Manhattan and survive politically, the Butler shooting gave the impression that he himself could also be shot without losing his life, that he isn’t subject to normal vulnerabilities and that he is somehow superhuman. Trump himself has cited divine intervention as key to his ongoing survival despite multiple assassination attempts.

Terror management

Terror management theory (TMT) is a school of psychology that tracks how our relationships to life and death shape political outcomes.

According to TMT, we cope with our anxieties about death by pursuing “earthly heroism” — meaning we seek esteem according to our chosen world views. There is a growing body of experimental evidence to support this hypothesis.

Trump is walking confirmation of TMT.

He is a known germaphobe obsessed with perceptions of vitality. He obsesses over his hair since he sees baldness as weakness and defeat. By ruthlessly pursuing money — the measure of worth in capitalist economies — and by stamping his name on everything from buildings, vodka and Bibles, he has sought heroism. Even before he ran for president, you could buy a Trump-branded action figure.

According to American anthropologist Ernest Becker, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Denial of Death laid the intellectual groundwork for TMT:

“The real world …tells man that he is a small trembling animal who will decay and die. Illusion changes all this, makes man seem important, vital to the universe, immortal in some way.”

From his fixation on gold, grandiosity and golden locks despite his age, Trump is a master of illusion, crafting a mirage of super heroism for his MAGA base.

Heroism can also be pursued vicariously. This is something many of us do with our preferred sport teams, celebrities and politicians, feeling their victories and losses like our own.

Good timing?

Trump’s victory over death in Butler two years ago — an incident that is now being questioned even by his MAGA supporters — helped carry him across the finish line. His chief of staff, Susie Wiles, said Butler was a “big part” of his victory in 2024.

And so what to make of the recent apparent attempt on his life? Will it help resuscitate his historically low approval ratings?

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Read more:
Donald Trump’s US ratings fall to a record low amid Iran war

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In crass political terms, historical precedent suggests the assassination attempt couldn’t have happened at a better time. Tarred by his association with deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and prosecuting an unpopular war of choice against Iran that is costing billions while raising gas prices for voters, Trump needed a lifeline.

The timing is so good for him that conspiracy theories immediately began to swirl that the attack was an inside job aimed at bolstering Trump’s slumping approval ratings.

Avoiding political death?

It is unlikely, however, that this recent incident will stave off political death. After the political failures of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Epstein files and a risky war with no clear exit, Trump is politically weakened.

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Panicking scientists, canceled experiments – federal funding cuts turned my work as a research dean into crisis management

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Influential members of his own base, including former Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson, are no longer lionizing him, instead musing whether he might be the anti-Christ.

Images from the recent shooting suggest weakness, not vitality. Secret service agents struggled to get him out of his seat likely due to ongoing mobility issues (though Trump claims his sluggishness was due to courageously overseeing the action).

Likewise, instead of lifting his fist triumphantly like in Butler, Trump fell down as he was rushed off stage (again, he claims he was told to get down, but his exit looks weak).

While his team will spin the latest shooting as further evidence of his super humanity, Trump is looking more politically and existentially mortal by the day.

Trump had his time in the sun, but like Icarus, his hubris and overreach are finally melting his wings. While illusion can obscure the inevitable for a while, what goes up must always come down.

James K. Rowe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Another alleged attempt on Trump’s life: A political lifeline or a damaging display of weakness? – https://theconversation.com/another-alleged-attempt-on-trumps-life-a-political-lifeline-or-a-damaging-display-of-weakness-281675