The Conversation – Canada – Page 52

December 7, 2025

AI is perpetuating unrealistic body ideals, objectification and a lack of diversity — especially for athletes

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Delaney Thibodeau, Post-doctoral researcher, Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, University of Toronto

What does it look like to have an “athletic body?” What does artificial intelligence think it looks like to have one?

A recent study we conducted at the University of Toronto analyzed appearance-related traits of AI-generated images of male and female athletes and non-athletes. We found that we’re being fed exaggerated — and likely impossible — body standards.

Even before AI, athletes have been pressured to look a certain way: thin, muscular and attractive. Coaches, opponents, spectators and the media shape how athletes think about their bodies.

But these pressures and body ideals have little to do with performance; they’re associated with the objectification of the body. And this phenomenon, unfortunately, is related to a negative body image, poor mental health and reduced sport-related performance.

Given the growing use of AI on social media, understanding just how AI depicts athlete and non-athlete bodies has become critical. What it shows, or doesn’t, as “normal” is widely viewed and may soon be normalized.

Lean, young, muscular — and mostly male

As researchers with expertise in body image, sport psychology and social media, we grounded our study in objectification and social media theories. We generated 300 images using different AI platforms to explore how male and female athlete and non-athlete bodies are depicted.

We documented demographics, levels of body fat and muscularity. We assessed clothing fit and type, facial attractiveness like having neat and shiny hair, symmetrical features or clear skin and body exposure in each image. Indicators of visible disabilities, like mobility devices, were also noted. We compared the characteristics of male versus female images as well as the characteristics of athlete and non-athlete images.

The AI-generated male images were frequently young (93.3 per cent), lean (68.4 per cent) and muscular (54.2 per cent). The images of females depicted youth (100 per cent), thinness (87.5 per cent) and revealing clothing (87.5 per cent).

The AI-generated images of athletes were lean (98.4 per cent), muscular (93.4 per cent) and dressed in tight (92.5 per cent) and revealing (100 per cent) exercise gear.

Non-athletes were shown wearing looser clothing and displaying more diversity of body sizes. Even when we asked for an image of just “an athlete,” 90 per cent of the generated images were male. No images showed visible disabilities, larger bodies, wrinkles or baldness.

These results reveal that generative AI perpetuates stereotypes of athletes, depicting them as only fitting into a narrow set of traits — lacking impairment, attractive, thin, muscular, exposed.

The findings of this research illustrate the ways in which three commonly used generative AI platforms — DALL-E, MidJourney and Stable Diffusion — reinforce problematic appearance ideals for all genders, athletes and non-athletes alike.

The real costs of distorted body ideals

Why is this a problem?

More than 4.6 billion people use social media and 71 per cent of social media images are generated by AI. That’s a lot of people repeatedly viewing images that foster self-objectification and the internalization of unrealistic body ideals.

They may then feel compelled to diet and over-exercise because they feel bad about themselves — their body does not look like AI-fabricated images. Alternatively, they may also do less physical activity or drop out of sports altogether.

Negative body image not only affects academic performance for young people but also sport-related performance. While staying active can promote a better body image, negative body image does the exact opposite. It exacerbates dropout and avoidance.

Given that approximately 27 per cent of Canadians over the age of 15 have at least one disability, the fact that none of the generated images included someone with a visible disability is also striking. In addition to not showing disabilities when it generates images, AI has also been reported to erase disabilities on images of real people.

People with body fat, wrinkles or baldness were also largely absent.

Addressing bias in the next generation of AI

These patterns reveal that AI isn’t realistic or creative in its representations. Instead, it pulls from the massive database of media available online, where the same harmful appearance ideals dominate. It’s recycling our prejudices and forms of discrimination and offering them back to us.

AI learns body ideals from the same biased society that has long fuelled body image pressure. This leads to a lack of diversity and a vortex of unreachable standards. AI-generated images present exaggerated, idealized bodies that ultimately limit the diversity of humans and the lowered body image satisfaction that ensues is related greater loneliness.

And so, as original creators of the visual content that trains AI systems, society has a responsibility to ensure these technologies do not perpetuate ableism, racism, fatphobia and ageism. Users of generative AI must be intentional in how image prompts are written, and critical in how they are interpreted.

We need to limit the sort of body standards we internalize through AI. As AI-generated images continue to populate our media landscape, we must be conscious of our exposure to it. Because at the end of the day, if we want AI to reflect reality rather than distort it, we have to insist on seeing, and valuing, every kind of body.

Catherine Sabiston receives funding from the Canada Research Chairs program

Delaney Thibodeau and Sasha Gollish 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. AI is perpetuating unrealistic body ideals, objectification and a lack of diversity — especially for athletes – https://theconversation.com/ai-is-perpetuating-unrealistic-body-ideals-objectification-and-a-lack-of-diversity-especially-for-athletes-268735

December 7, 2025

Apparent ancient artifacts are found in a B.C. thrift shop — and archeology faculty are on the case

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Cara Tremain, Assistant Professor, Archaeology, Simon Fraser University

An unusual email arrived in the inbox of a faculty member at the department of archeology at Simon Fraser University in the spring of 2024.

This email was from a thrift shop, Thrifty Boutique in Chilliwack, B.C. — unlike the many queries archeologists receive every year to authenticate objects that people have in their possession.

The shop wanted to determine whether items donated to the store (and initially put up for sale) were, in fact, ancient artifacts with historical significance. Shop employees relayed that a customer, who did not leave their name, stated the 11 rings and two medallions (though one may be a belt buckle) in the display case with a price tag of $30 were potentially ancient.

Thrifty Boutique wasn’t looking for a valuation of the objects, but rather guidance on their authenticity.

Eclectic collection

As archeology faculty, we analyzed these objects with Babara Hilden, director of Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Simon Fraser University, after the store arranged to bring the items to the museum.

Our initial visual analysis of the objects led us to suspect that, based on their shapes, designs and construction, they were ancient artifacts most likely from somewhere within the boundaries of what was once the Roman Empire. They may date to late antiquity (roughly the third to sixth or seventh century) and/or the medieval period.

The initial dating was based largely on the decorative motifs that adorn these objects. The smaller medallion appears to bear a Chi Rho (Christogram), which was popular in the late antiquity period. The larger medallion (or belt buckle) resembles comparable items from the Byzantine Period.

The disparities between the two objects, suggesting different time periods, make it unlikely they’re from the same hoard. We expect they were assembled into an eclectic collection by the unknown person (as of yet) who acquired them prior to their donation to Thrifty Boutique.

With the exciting revelation that the objects may be authentic ancient artifacts, the thrift store offered to donate them to SFU’s archeology museum. The museum had to carefully consider whether it had the capacity and expertise to care for these objects in perpetuity, and ultimately decided to commit to their care and stewardship because of the potential for student learning.

Officially accepting and officially transferring these objects to the museum took more than a year. We grappled with the ethical implications of acquiring a collection without known provenance (history of ownership) and balanced this against the learning opportunities that it might offer our students.

Ethical and legal questions

Learning to investigate the journey of the donated objects is akin to the process of provenance research in museums.

In accepting items without known provenance, museums must consider the ethical implications of doing so. The Canadian Museums Association Ethics Guidelines state that “museums must guard against any direct or indirect participation in the illicit traffic in cultural and natural objects.”

When archeological artifacts have no clear provenance, it is difficult — if not impossible — to determine where they originally came from. It is possible such artifacts were illegally acquired through looting, even though the Canadian Property Import and Export Act exists to restrict the importation and exportation of such objects.

We are keenly aware of the responsibility museums have to not entertain donations of illicitly acquired materials. However, in this situation, there is no clear information — as yet — about where these items came from and whether they are ancient artifacts or modern forgeries. Without knowing this, we cannot notify authorities nor facilitate returning them to their original source.

With a long history of ethical engagement with communities, including repatriation, the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is committed to continuing such work. This donation would be no different if we’re able to confirm our suspicions about their authenticity.

Archeological forgeries

Archeological forgeries, while not widely publicized, are perhaps more common than most realize — and they plague museum collections around the world.

Well-known examples of the archeological record being affected by inauthentic artifacts are the 1920s Glozel hoax in France and the fossil forgery known as Piltdown Man.

Other examples of the falsification of ancient remains include the Cardiff Giant and crystal skulls, popularized in one of the Indiana Jones movies.

Various scientific techniques can help determine authenticity, but it can sometimes prove impossible to be 100 per cent certain because of the level of skill involved in creating convincing forgeries.

Copies of ancient artefacts

Other copies of ancient artifacts exist for honest purposes, such as those created for the tourist market or even for artistic purposes. Museums full of replicas still attract visitors, because they are another means of engaging with the past, and we are confident that the donation therefore has a place within the museum whether the objects are authentic or not.

By working closely with the objects, students will learn how to become archeological detectives and engage with the process of museum research from start to finish. The information gathered from this process will help to determine where the objects may have been originally uncovered or manufactured, how old they might be and what their original significance may have been.

Object-based learning using museum collections demonstrates the value of hands-on engagement in an age of increasing concern about the impact of artificial intelligence on education.

New course designed to examine items

The new archeology course we have designed, which will run at SFU in September 2026, will also focus heavily on questions of ethics and provenance, including what the process would look like if the objects — if determined to be authentic — could one day be returned to their country of origin.

The students will also benefit from the wide-ranging expertise of our colleagues in the department of archeology at SFU, including access to various technologies and avenues of archeological science that might help us learn more about the objects.

This will involve techniques such as X-ray fluorescence, which can be used to investigate elemental compositions of materials and using 3D scanners and printers to create resources for further study and outreach.

Mentoring with museum professionals

Local museum professionals have also agreed to help mentor the students in exhibition development and public engagement, a bonus for many of our students who aspire to have careers in museums or cultural heritage.

Overall, the course will afford our students a rare opportunity to work with objects from a regional context not currently represented in the museum while simultaneously piecing together the story of these items far from their probable original home across the Atlantic.

We are excited to be part of their new emerging story at Simon Fraser, and can’t wait to learn more about their mysterious past.

Cara Tremain receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Sabrina C. Higgins receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

– ref. Apparent ancient artifacts are found in a B.C. thrift shop — and archeology faculty are on the case – https://theconversation.com/apparent-ancient-artifacts-are-found-in-a-b-c-thrift-shop-and-archeology-faculty-are-on-the-case-267064

December 7, 2025

Donald Trump’s Ukraine peace deal would leave the country vulnerable to future Russian attacks

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

United States President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and a key adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kirill Dmitriev, recently agreed to a 28-point peace plan to end the war in Ukraine.

Such an agreement, on the surface, would be cause for good news. The human toll of the conflict, although shrouded in secrecy by both Russia and Ukraine, is high.

Just one problem: the U.S. and Russia did not include Ukraine in the deliberations. Not only is that patronizing, no matter how the Trump administration has sought to spin it, but it means the agreement reflects Russian demands and goals for the war.

As such, not only is the deal a non-starter, but it also puts Ukraine in the unenviable position of saying no to a mercurial American president.

The search for peace

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there have been several initiatives seeking peace.

One of the earliest efforts took place in Turkey soon after the invasion. Despite Russia’s efforts to portray Ukraine’s withdrawal from the talks as being American-led, what ultimately scuttled the peace process were revelations of Russian atrocities in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.

In the aftermath of this failure, both Russia and Ukraine reverted to pursuing their own goals for the conflict. For Ukraine, this meant the complete restoration of its territory from Russian occupation. Ukraine’s failed summer 2023 counter-offensive, however, dashed hopes for a quick victory.

Since this failure, both Ukraine and Russia have accepted that a war of out-manoeuvring one another for a rapid victory is unlikely. Instead, the war in Ukraine is now a protracted, attrition-based conflict.

In such a scenario, the role of outside support is critical. Ukraine has advocated for American participation in peace negotiations, but the talks leading to the 28-point peace plan signalled the Americans were siding with Russia and acceding to Russian demands.

Ukrainian officials have since met with both European and American officials to chart another path forward.

The peace plan’s many problems

Ukraine’s supporters have rightfully argued that the 28-point peace plan heavily favours Russia. The plan’s bias was so evident that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly told senators it represented a Russian “wish list,” although he later denied saying that.

There are multiple provisions that make the deal unworkable from a Ukrainian perspective.

The first is that under the plan, Ukraine must cede all of Donetsk and Luhansk in the eastern reaches of the country to Russia. While Russia has seized Luhansk in its entirety, key portions of Donetsk remain under Ukrainian control.

Ukraine’s control of these parts of Donetsk goes beyond symbolic value. These areas consist of terrain and fortifications that are ideal for defensive operations. If Ukraine surrendered this territory to Russia, central Ukraine would be left vulnerable to rapid Russian assaults in the future.

Accepting a bad deal?

Ukrainian officials have struck a delicate balance since Trump announced his peace plan. If Ukrainian officials outright reject it, Trump will probably abandon Ukraine at a moment of need. If Ukraine fully acquiesces, it will be left vulnerable to future aggression. It’s also doubtful any officials who sign the Russia-friendly agreement will survive politically.

Ukrainian officials have consequently cultivated their ties with European officials while playing for time on the more contentious issues in the plan. Specifically, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the territorial aspects of the proposed agreement are the most troublesome.

Realistically, Ukraine isn’t likely to recover areas like Crimea. But Trump asking Ukrainian officials to surrender territory they have not yet lost in Donetsk is a bridge too far.

Unfortunately, Trump appears desperate to reach an agreement, regardless of the cost, judging by the people he has placed in charge of negotiating with Russia — Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law.

Witkoff and Kushner are most notably involved when Trump wants results, regardless of the consequence.

Since entering politics in Trump’s first term, Witkoff has been an apologist for Russia and its actions. This stance has not changed in Trump’s second term. In fact, it appears Witkoff coached Russia on how to ingratiate itself to Trump, seemingly placing Russian interests above American.

Kushner’s past diplomacy efforts appear to have enriched him personally, something that does not bode well for the required neutral stance in Russia-Ukraine talks.

A lost moment

Unfortunately for Ukraine, these peace plan complications could not come at a worse time for their war efforts. While Russia pummels Ukrainian cities and is claiming it’s seized the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainians are simultaneously making sustained attacks on the Russian energy industry.

Direct disruption of Russian energy is perhaps the one area where Ukrainian pressure could affect Putin’s war efforts.

Trump’s attempts to achieve a peace deal at any cost, however, could scuttle any Ukrainian breakthroughs.

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

– ref. Donald Trump’s Ukraine peace deal would leave the country vulnerable to future Russian attacks – https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-ukraine-peace-deal-would-leave-the-country-vulnerable-to-future-russian-attacks-270556

December 5, 2025

Fairness for whom? The impact of Alberta’s trans-exclusionary sports law

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Gio Dolcecore, Assistant Professor, Social Work, Mount Royal University

Alberta’s Fairness and Safety in Sport Act promises protection. We believe that it discriminates and decides who gets to belong in sport.

The act, which received royal assent in December 2024 and came into effect on Sept. 1, 2025, requires organizations like school divisions, post-secondary institutions and provincial sport bodies to create and implement policies for athlete eligibility, including limiting eligibility for female-only divisions to people assigned female at birth.

While framed by the province’s United Conservative Party government as a measure to protect competition and ensure athletes “are able to participate in the sports they love fairly, safely, and meaningfully,” the act bans transgender girls aged 12 years and older from participating in competitive sports for women.

As there is no consistent or conclusive scientific evidence to show that transgender athletes have an inherent advantage, the act appears to be part of an organized anti-trans backlash occurring across the country, and a broader targeting of transgender and gender-nonconforming athletes internationally.

Far from just a local or niche issue, the implementation of this act exposes inconsistencies in sport policy and raises urgent questions about how anti-trans politics are shaping access to sport.

The impact on youth

The Fairness and Safety in Sport Act empowers just about anyone to file a complaint related to an organizations’ eligibility determinations. Incidents like one in British Columbia in 2023 —
a man attending a girls’ track and field meet demanded that a nine-year-old cisgender girl with a pixie cut prove she was not a boy through documentation — demonstrate the impact of this type of gender policing.

The consequences fall on transgender and gender non-conforming youth. For them, being banned from participation brings not only the loss of athletic opportunities, but also heightened experiences of exclusion and stigma.

Teammates and coaches must also navigate fractured team dynamics and a school-based athletic culture that risks becoming less about belonging and more about surveillance. The policy undermines the very developmental and educational values that sport is meant to cultivate.

It also places heavy and often invisible demands on the people who support these children. Parents and caregivers are left to shoulder the emotional work of helping their children process the psychological repercussions of exclusion in ways that surpass the normal responsibilities of parenting.

Research consistently shows that parents of transgender and gender-diverse children face significantly elevated levels of stress compared to parents of non-transgender children. This is largely due to the chronic strain of stigma, discrimination and navigating hostile environments along with the emotional labour of advocating within schools, health care and peer groups.

The impact on society

The act also has implications for varsity athletics and broader sporting cultures at post-secondary institutions.

Universities across the province have been forced to create new internal policies and procedures to align with the act, which place incoming and existing athletes participating in women’s varsity sport under increased scrutiny.

An inconsistency emerges when Alberta athletes step onto fields, rinks and courts outside the province.

Since the national institution for post-secondary sport in Canada (U Sport) still allows transgender athletes to compete according to their gender identity, Alberta now risks excluding its own youth while requiring them to compete under different eligibility standards when facing athletes from other provinces.

In addition, implementing this act will eventually create financial strain for organizations. Administering exclusionary rules requires new systems of eligibility verification, monitoring and appeals — an administrative burden that smaller leagues in particular are ill-equipped to manage.

A 2024 statement by the Alberta 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce even urged the government to reject this trans-exclusionary legislation on the basis that it would also reduce Alberta’s market share of tourism and 2SLGBTQI+ travel revenue.

Resistance is necessary

Public response so far to the Fairness and Safety in Sport Act has been mixed.

Since it’s provincial law, school districts and universities have complied, creating internal policies and processes to fulfil the requirements of the act even while its trans-exclusionary nature runs counter to many of their values and commitments to equity, diversity and inclusion.

Some, however, have taken action. One University of Lethbridge faculty member, for example, resigned from the Board of Governors after it was forced to accept the new act.

Egale Canada, a national 2SLGBTQI organization — which, along with Calgary-based non-profit support organization Skipping Stone — has launched legal action against the Alberta government, challenging the constitutionality of the province’s anti-trans laws, and released a statement condemning the Fairness and Safety in Sport Act.

On Nov. 17, the Alberta government tabled legislation that seeks to invoke the notwithstanding clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to insulate its laws from legal challenges. Using the clause would prevent courts from striking down laws for being unconstitutional, and in this context specifically, overrides the Charter rights of gender-diverse people.

This action has spurred widespread condemnation, including from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Alberta Medical Association. Albertans are also making their views heard through MLA recall petitions and public protests.

The human toll of the Fairness and Safety in Sport Act must be recognized and challenged. When people refuse to accept exclusion and the overriding of basic human rights in sport, it can become a space for play, belonging and personal growth.

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. Fairness for whom? The impact of Alberta’s trans-exclusionary sports law – https://theconversation.com/fairness-for-whom-the-impact-of-albertas-trans-exclusionary-sports-law-265565

December 4, 2025

Managing food allergies and dietary restrictions during the holidays

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jennifer LP Protudjer, Associate Professor and Endowed Research Chair in Allergy, Asthma and the Environment, University of Manitoba

A plate of freshly baked cookies, a glass of perfectly garnished eggnog. For many, these images may conjure up warm memories and the anticipation of the forthcoming holiday season.

But for those with dietary restrictions, these goodies — and other holiday treats — can contribute to other emotions as well. During a season filled with parties and food, navigating the holidays while avoiding certain foods can be harrowing.

Well-intentioned hosts may prepare a selection of treats in a kitchen that includes flavours of the season. But without clear communication, detailed food labels and assurance of good practices to prevent cross-contact of foods, navigating a holiday tray or buffet line involves risk.

As an allergy researcher, my focus is on understanding the impacts of a food allergy diagnosis on people, families and communities, and what types of food allergy supports are most meaningful.

Many Canadians are increasingly aware of the foods they are eating, for reasons including but not limited to food costs, health and medical dietary restrictions. This latter reason can include efforts to reduce sodium or refined sugars, or avoid certain carbohydrates such as lactose or gluten for those with lactose intolerance or celiac disease, respectively.

But for the seven to nine per cent of Canadians with food allergies, the need to avoid is critical because of the risk of an acute allergic reaction. The most severe presentation of allergic reaction is anaphylaxis, which is potentially life-threatening.

Allergies and diet restrictions during holidays

Canadian research shows that, unlike holidays like Halloween and Easter during which children “hunt” for candy, rates of emergency department visits due to anaphylaxis during the winter holiday season are similar to the rates seen throughout the year. But that doesn’t mean food allergy restrictions don’t have an impact during these holidays.

Dietary restrictions can involve the need to avoid a range of foods. Health Canada has identified 11 priority allergens that are commonly associated with food allergies and allergic reactions: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, crustaceans and molluscs, fish, mustard, sesame seeds, soy, sulphites, and wheat and triticale. Notably, many of these foods commonly appear as ingredients in a holiday recipe, or as a single food item.

In a series of interviews with 21 families, colleagues and I identified that families dealing with food allergy learn quickly how to “decline something politely” stressing that they cannot eat the food, rather than being a picky eater. Nonetheless, they note feelings of grief, depression and anxiety as they strive to navigate events with their extended family and social circles. In some cases, families who manage multiple food allergies feel isolated, while some note that they are not invited to events because of their food allergy.

There are many ways that both those with dietary restrictions, and hosts, can lessen these impacts.

Practical actions

For anyone with a dietary restriction, there are certain actions that make holiday visiting more enjoyable and safer.

First, be certain to clearly communicate, in writing, any dietary restrictions to the host, at the time of accepting the invitation. Detailing which food options work within your dietary restrictions provides opportunity for the host to consider the menu, and to ask any questions at a calmer time than with a room full of guests.

You may also wish to bring a holiday treat that meets your restrictions. Eating a small snack ahead of any festivities can keep hunger at bay in case there are limited safe food options available. When in doubt about a food, do not consume it. Even if you have previously consumed the food, ingredient lists change occasionally.

Specific to those with food allergies, additional steps are warranted. Before leaving home, ensure that you have at least one epinephrine autoinjector that a trusted person can easily locate and use if anaphylaxis is suspected.

Food Allergy Canada offers some other practical tips for dining out. Awareness of the potential for co-factors to worsen the severity of a reaction is also needed. In addition to co-existing medical conditions, such as heart disease or asthma, research supports that alcohol, exercise, medication/drugs and possibly emotional stress may influence reaction severity.

Hosting this holiday season?

Welcoming guests can be joyful. But as the Canadian Psychological Association notes, there may be expectations of perfection, which — when not achieved — can contribute to stress. When inviting guests, ask about any dietary restrictions and bear these in mind while planning menus. Single food items or simple dishes may help your guests navigate food choices. Having a list of ingredients on hand, and adding labels and dedicated serving utensils to each dish, are similarly helpful.

The holiday season often involves sharing festive treats. By emphasizing joy and togetherness, memories can be made to cherish for a lifetime. With greater awareness of the needs of those with dietary restrictions, we can collectively work to ensure that everyone can safely indulge.

Jennifer LP Protudjer receives funding from from Canadian Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Foundation; Canadian Institutes of Health Research; Research Manitoba; Health Sciences Centre Foundation (Manitoba); Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba; University of Manitoba; and, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

JLP Protudjer is Section Head, Allied Health; and Co-Lead, Research Pillar for the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and is on the steering committee for Canada’s National Food Allergy Action Plan. She reports speaker fees from Ajinomoto Cambrooke, Novartis, Nutricia, ALK Abelló, and FOODiversity, and Texas Children’s Food Allergy Symposium . She is an associate editor for Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology; and, and editorial board member, Pediatric Allergy & Immunology; and, Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

– ref. Managing food allergies and dietary restrictions during the holidays – https://theconversation.com/managing-food-allergies-and-dietary-restrictions-during-the-holidays-270265

December 4, 2025

Preventing gender-based violence in trades is both a labour issue and an education one

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Shannon Welbourn, Assistant Professor and Technological Education Program Coordinator, Brock University

The recent killing of a 20-year-old tradeswoman in Minnesota has struck a nerve across Canada’s skilled trades community. Amber Czech, a welder, was slain by a male colleague while on a work site.

Statements from labour unions and personal stories from tradeswomen shared recurring themes of harassment, exclusion, unsafe conditions and retaliation for reporting.

This tragedy is not isolated to the United States, and exposes a larger pattern of hostile and unsafe work sites for women and gender-diverse workers.

The timing of Czech’s death has fuelled calls to action. In Canada, Dec. 6 marks the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, honouring 14 women students murdered in 1989 at École Polytechnique. Preventing gender-based violence is not only a labour issue, but also an education issue.

A long-standing pattern

As a researcher and educator in technological education, I see an opportunity. I help experienced tradespeople become high school teachers. They become certified to teach in one of the 10 broad-based technology subject areas — communications, computers, construction, green industries, hairstyling and esthetics, health care, hospitality and tourism, manufacturing, technological design or transportation.

The culture of industry has an impact on the adults who enter teacher education, and those teachers in turn shape the culture of tomorrow’s shops and labs. For safer workplaces, the work of prevention must start long before anyone steps onto a job site.

Czech’s death reflects painful familiarity that research has documented for decades. Studies across construction, transportation and manufacturing show that women and gender-diverse workers continue to face barriers.

These extend beyond individual incidents, including exclusion from key tasks, minimal mentorship and ineffective or risky reporting systems.

Canadian reports from the Canadian Labour Congress, the B.C. Centre for Women in the Trades and the Canadian Association of Women in Construction highlight recurring issues. These problems are rooted in workplace culture and everyday norms that determine who gets opportunities, whose concerns are taken seriously and how co-workers respond when something goes wrong. These shape whether workers feel safe.

These patterns are not new. Interviews with tradeswomen from the 1970s and ‘80s described similar conditions. The fact that the same issues are still being raised decades later reveals a deep systemic culture that has been slow to transform.

Efforts at progress

There are initiatives happening aimed at bringing about change. Fostering women in trades, the federal Canadian Apprenticeship Strategy announced several projects in March 2024. These were funded under the Women in the Skilled Trades Initiative.

The Canadian Apprenticeship Forum, a non-profit organization that connects the country’s apprenticeship community, has an initiative entitled Supporting Equity in Trades (SET).

In Ontario, the province says its recently announced Skills Development Fund is investing more than $8.6 million to support women in the skilled trades. The province’s College Trades organization highlights young women’s initiatives and pathways to the trades.

Shared responsibility is also highlighted in the federal government’s National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence:

“Preventing and addressing GBV (gender-based-violence) in Canada requires a co-ordinated national approach, with federal, provincial and territorial governments working in close partnership with survivors, Indigenous partners, direct service providers, experts, advocates, municipalities, the private sector and researchers … Joint efforts in support of this National Action Plan will align with and complement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ Calls for Justice.”

A broader context of violence

Global statistics are reinforcing the urgency. The United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women report 50,000 women and girls were killed by intimate partners or family members in 2024, or one every 10 minutes.

While home is unsafe, so too are workplaces. Violence reflects broader societal norms that shape all institutions, including education. Yet many trades and apprenticeship systems lack the structures to protect women.

At first glance, the slaying of a U.S. welder may seem distant from Canadian high school classrooms. But in technological education, the connection is direct.

In Ontario, the pathway to becoming a technological education teacher begins with years of related industry experience. Those, who are transitioning from the trades in favour of a second career as a high school teacher, come from spaces where these cultural issues persist.

They bring valuable practical expertise but also the norms, assumptions and coping strategies formed in their prior workplace environments.

Some have spent years navigating exclusion or witnessing harassment. Others come from supportive workplaces and are surprised to learn how widespread these issues are. This means teacher education programs cannot assume shared understanding of safety, inclusion or harassment.

Instead, programs must deliberately prepare future teachers to recognize and challenge the norms that reproduce inequity.

This dynamic creates both a responsibility and an opportunity. Technological Education teachers shape learning spaces where young people first encounter trades culture. They influence whether girls, gender-diverse students and other underrepresented learners feel welcome or pushed out, long before they reach apprenticeships.

4 ways to help aspiring teachers tackle GBV

Teacher education programs can help shift ingrained attitudes in trades-related fields. Research on adult learning, workplace culture and gender-equity education points to several effective strategies:

1. Explicitly teach about gender-based violence in trades contexts

Gender-based violence is often taught as a general social issue, not as a trades-specific concern. Programs should address how harassment and exclusion appear in shops, labs, apprenticeships, co-operative placements and how school reporting structures differ from those in industry.

2. Use experiential, reflective learning

Experiential learning emphasizes structured reflection. Case studies, workplace scenarios and opportunities to practice inclusive responses in realistic contexts deepen learning more effectively than policy readings alone. For second-career learners, connecting personal experience with broader patterns is especially meaningful.

3. Teach candidates to identify early warning signs

High school technological education environments can subtly reproduce workplace hierarchies, for example with task assignments, uneven access to tools or normalizing jokes about who is naturally mechanical. Teacher candidates need practice spotting and interrupting these patterns early.

4. Position tech ed teachers to lead and advocate workplace culture

Technological education teachers often maintain close ties to industry, apprenticeship and co-ops. They can advocate for safe placement sites, challenge stereotypes about who belongs in the trades and create spaces where all students feel welcome. Preparing candidates for these responsibilities means inspiring them to be culture shapers.

Cultural change begins before the job site

The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women reminds Canadians to confront the roots of gender-based violence and commit to dismantling them.

Czech’s killing is a painful reminder that the trades remain a vocation where cultural transformation initiatives are urgently needed.

But responsibility cannot rest solely with employers and unions. It must extend into teacher education programs and the high school classrooms where young people first experience skilled trades instruction.

By equipping future technological education teachers to recognize, prevent and challenge gender-based violence, we take meaningful steps toward safe workplaces and a skilled trades sector where everyone truly belongs.

Shannon Welbourn 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. Preventing gender-based violence in trades is both a labour issue and an education one – https://theconversation.com/preventing-gender-based-violence-in-trades-is-both-a-labour-issue-and-an-education-one-270932

December 4, 2025

Fairness for whom? The human toll of Alberta’s trans-exclusionary sports law

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Gio Dolcecore, Assistant Professor, Social Work, Mount Royal University

Alberta’s Fairness and Safety in Sport Act promises protection. The reality is that it discriminates and decides who gets to belong in sport.

As there is no consistent evidence to show that transgender athletes have an inherent advantage, the act appears to be part of an organized anti-trans backlash occurring across the country, and a broader targeting of transgender and gender-nonconforming athletes internationally.

Far from just a local or niche issue, the implementation of this act exposes inconsistencies in sport policy and raises urgent questions about how anti-trans politics are shaping access to sport.

The impact on youth

The impact on society

The act also has implications for varsity athletics and broader sporting cultures at post-secondary institutions.

An inconsistency emerges when Alberta athletes step onto fields, rinks and courts outside the province.

Resistance is necessary

Public response so far to the Fairness and Safety in Sport Act has been mixed.

Some, however, have taken action. One University of Lethbridge faculty member, for example, resigned from the Board of Governors after it was forced to accept the new act.

– ref. Fairness for whom? The human toll of Alberta’s trans-exclusionary sports law – https://theconversation.com/fairness-for-whom-the-human-toll-of-albertas-trans-exclusionary-sports-law-265565

December 4, 2025

Why Canada needs to recognize the crime of femicide — on Dec. 6 and beyond

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Myrna Dawson, Professor, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, University of Guelph

It’s been 36 years since a mass femicide occurred at École Polytechnique in Montréal. A man shot and killed 14 women because of their sex.

Described as “violent misogyny” by the federal government, the killings have nonetheless never officially been called femicide in Canada despite its global recognition as one of the most vivid examples of femicide in the western world.

Women and girls continue to be killed every two days somewhere in Canada, mostly by men. And the numbers continue to rise.

The majority of these killings are femicide, according to the United Nations statistical framework for measuring the gender-related killing of women and girls. Femicide is broadly defined as the killing of a woman or girl because of their sex or gender.

Podcast focused on femicide

podcast promotional material — The podcast tells the stories of 580 Canadian women and girls killed by men since 2020.
(Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability), CC BY

For these reasons, the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability (CFOJA) launched its Too True Crime podcast on Nov. 25, 2025, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The podcast spotlights the stories of 580 women and girls killed by men in cases of femicide since 2020.

It only includes cases where available information indicated it was a femicide; some may have flown under the radar of authorities and remain unknown. But since the observatory launched in 2018, more than 1,100 women and girls were documented to have been killed by men.

Part of the podcast’s calls to action include a petition asking Canada to officially recognize the crime of femicide and include it in the Criminal Code.

Laws help bring about change

Italy is the most recent country to create a stand-alone femicide offence in its national laws. According to the World Bank, 30 countries now define femicide in law.

This approach has its critics. They argue:

It does not emphasize prevention;
It does not address the culture facilitating femicide;
It may produce unintended consequences;
It’s difficult to achieve consensus on a definition of femicide;
It has not reduced femicide.

But criminalization versus prevention is not an either/or question.

Laws are a key element of a public health approach to violence prevention. National femicide laws have generally been accompanied by prevention programs, training for law enforcement and public awareness campaigns. Italy’s law, for example, includes stronger measures against gender-based crimes like stalking and revenge porn.

Laws are not stand-alone responses. They are only one part of multi-sector responses to a social problem that must include monitoring of implementation processes and outcomes.

Changing laws can change cultures

In Italy, some women’s advocates have complained the law doesn’t go far enough, especially in changing the country’s culture. In Canada, one feminist lawyer suggests that a “radical rethink” about the entire issue may be required instead of creating a new offence in the Criminal Code.

But to call the crime femicide — a sex- or gender-specific term — is in fact a radical rethink in a climate of neutrality that too often masks the disproportionate burden women and girls bear for some forms of male violence.

State responses through laws reflect cultural values. At the moment, these values regard femicide as an individual problem rather than the product of social structures and processes built on entrenched inequalities.

A femicide law would recognize that male violence against women and girls is systemic and requires attitudinal shifts in Canada’s cultural values.

Helping women and marginalized populations

Laws meant to provide protections for women can have unintended consequences, as documented by mandatory charging for intimate partner violence where police are required to lay charges if they have reasonable grounds to believe an assault occurred. And gender-neutral laws may work against rather than for women, especially some women and girls, when applied within a sexist and racist environment.

That’s why Canada needs to include femicide in its Criminal Code. Femicide is not gender-neutral, and recognizing it formally will help define how and why women are killed by men, which is crucial for effective prevention.

Such a law could also benefit particular groups of women and girls whose deaths are often discounted because of who they are and where, how and by whom they were killed.

A femicide law isn’t about increasing penalties; it’s about ensuring charges, convictions and sentences are appropriate and perpetrators are held accountable in the killings of women and girls from all walks of life.

Achieving consensus is possible

Canada needs to achieve consensus on what is meant by femicide and to clearly identify its elements.

All countries with femicide laws have achieved consensus, although not all have defined femicide the same way. But there is significant guidance to be found in model protocols and model laws available to countries that are considering including femicide in their national laws and criminal codes.

Some research suggests femicide laws are failing; they haven’t reduced cases of femicide. But others point out femicide laws have increased accountability and improved reporting, survivor protections and awareness about all forms of gender-based violence.

The varying impacts of a law depends on context, including who knows about it, whether it’s clear and concise and whether those tasked with applying it are responsive.

Femicide laws on their own won’t immediately reduce the number of women being killed by men or other forms of gender-based violence. Few laws have that kind of power. The key challenge is whether and how a femicide law is implemented.

A whole-of-society response

Femicide laws are about prevention and they can change our culture. They could benefit women and girls, particularly those whose lives and deaths are now marginalized and discounted.

Like many countries have, Canada can reach a consensus on what femicide is and produce a femicide law that leads to meaningful change. But it requires proactive consultations, political will and leaders who listen.

The 580 stories in Too True Crime demonstrate clearly and starkly that the lives of women and girls depend on it.

Myrna Dawson has received prior funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canada Research Chair program.

– ref. Why Canada needs to recognize the crime of femicide — on Dec. 6 and beyond – https://theconversation.com/why-canada-needs-to-recognize-the-crime-of-femicide-on-dec-6-and-beyond-271055

December 3, 2025

Governments need to prepare for more frequent large floods

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Samadhee Kaluarachchi, PhD Student in Forest Hydrology, University of British Columbia

Flood management is a priority for many governments around the world. Recent floods have led to hundreds of deaths and caused significant damage in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Albania, Kenya and elsewhere.

Canada too is no stranger to floods. Notably, in 2021, flooding in British Columbia cut off access to Metro Vancouver from the rest of the country and caused up to $14 billion in damages.

While many scientific and technical reports show that floods are becoming larger and more common, these reports may be underestimating how their frequency is changing. Flood sizes get the spotlight, however governments and experts need to also consider their frequency to address implications overlooked by traditional management methods.

Frequency and size together must tell the story, because even modest increases in size can lead to surprisingly big jumps in frequency. For example, timber harvesting in the B.C. Interior has led to a 19 to 26 per cent increase in flood size, and turned the former 100-year flood into a once-a-decade flood. Despite floods becoming more frequent, today’s practices still dominantly focus on flood size.

The consequences are severe. We can build infrastructure like dikes and dams bigger so they withstand larger once-in-a-century floods. But if we don’t capture how floods of all sizes (including the 100- and 200-year events) are becoming way more common, infrastructure can weaken and fail faster than we expect.

In our recently published study, we examined a range of scientific, technical and governmental documents to assess whether practices today help us reliably predict flood risks. We found that many of the factors contributing to the severity of a flood could respond much more strongly to climate and landscape changes than traditional methods imply, calling for change in our flood prediction practices.

We’re underestimating flood risk

tractors and diggers clear debris following a flood — Restoration work underway following November 2021 flooding damage at Tank Hill on Highway 1 in B.C.
(B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Transit/flickr), CC BY-NC-ND

Nature’s flood “ingredients” include rainfall, snow, soil wetness and energy for snowmelt, which combine in many “recipes” to trigger floods. Human influences like climate change, land use and land cover changes can alter these recipes, making floods bigger and more common. Understanding how human activity causes these effects on floods means predicting flood frequency and size together.

However, short flood records make it difficult to estimate the frequency and size of large floods. Without overcoming this challenge, assessments can produce unreliable results.

Additionally, many studies lump distant flood records with more recent records, suggesting that floods today have similar odds as those decades ago. Yet, experts agree that changes in the climate and landscape alter floods more strongly today.

These practices together produced a widespread perception in risk assessments where flood sizes rise rapidly, or steeply, per change in frequency (called a “heavier tail”).

Our recently published study challenges that perception, which implies that human influence shouldn’t greatly alter floods. In many places, human activities are making large floods more common. By giving little attention to how our activities affect flood frequencies, our practices don’t seem to capture just how sensitive floods are and how much they’re changing.

Without adapting our practices, we risk the loss of lives and livelihoods, misallocating funds, economic losses and lawsuits against governments, municipalities and professionals. Reliable flood projection and management is vital.

Considering flood frequency

To make reliable flood projections, we first need to identify a region’s natural flood frequencies and sizes, and which climate and landscape features drive them. With this solid baseline, we can determine how human activities shift flood frequencies and sizes, if floods are sensitive to human influence and what this means for society.

We can do this by predicting how different human activities affect floods through modelling or landscape experiments. We can work with flood records, using methods that recognize how current and future floods are far more affected by human activities than past floods.

We can use existing techniques to overcome challenges with short records and ensure that our estimates reflect a strong understanding of the natural and human drivers of flood frequencies and sizes.

By adopting stronger practices, our study predicts that many regions could see very different frequency-size relations: flood sizes could increase more slowly per change in frequency.

It signals a more “fragile,” or super sensitive, flood regime than what current methods imply. When we disturb the climate or landscape, large floods can react strongly; they become much more common, reflecting what we see in many places today.

This knowledge can help governments effectively manage the land while mitigating major jumps in flood frequency.

The way forward

Muddy floodwaters submerge a highway — Floodwaters wash away part of Highway 8 in B.C. in November 2021.
(B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Transit/flickr), CC BY-NC-ND

Effective flood management must include strong policies, nature-based solutions, and infrastructure designed for size and strength to withstand both larger and more frequent floods.

Nature-based solutions such as green areas, permeable surfaces and water-retaining features are being adopted by governments worldwide. Studies suggest that measures like increased forest cover have little impact on large floods; however, this may reflect the focus on flood size. Natural landscapes like forests can greatly reduce flood frequencies, even for very large floods.

In B.C., landscape features like mountains, forests, lakes, wetlands and floodplains spread out floods, lowering their peaks and making large events rarer. However, these same features make floods react strongly to changes in the climate and landscape.

Flood risk management must work with nature, maintaining or increasing the landscapes’ ability to store floodwaters. Our policies must address flood risk at the source through effective land management, recognizing that key causes of urban floods could lie thousands of kilometres away in the distant uplands. With strong policies and interventions both upstream and downstream, we can proactively manage floods.

Samadhee Kaluarachchi receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia, the Gordon and Nora Bailey Fellowship in Sustainable Forestry, and the Mary and David Macaree Fellowship.

Younes Alila receives funding from Mitacs Canada and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

– ref. Governments need to prepare for more frequent large floods – https://theconversation.com/governments-need-to-prepare-for-more-frequent-large-floods-269251

December 3, 2025

Disability rights are shaped by the narratives embedded in policies like the Accessible Canada Act and MAID

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Alfiya Battalova, Assistant Professor in Justice Studies, Royal Roads University

This year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities centres on “fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress.”

The theme recognizes persistent barriers faced by disabled people: disproportionate poverty, employment discrimination, inadequate social protection and the denial of dignity and autonomy in care systems.

Accessibility gains and losses

In 2022, the disability rate for people aged 15 years and over in Canada was 27 per cent. Nearly eight million people identified as having one or more disabilities, an increase of 1.7 million people over 2017, when the disability rate was 22 per cent.

The United Nations’ latest review of Canada’s implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities praised Canada’s progress in adopting the Accessible Canada Act and accessibility legislation at the provincial/territorial levels.

At the same time, the committee identified several areas of deep concern, such as the expansion of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) for disabled people whose death is not foreseeable. The report warns that inadequate supports risk normalizing death as a “solution” to poverty, lack of services and discrimination, and that the concept of choice can create a false dichotomy, enabling death without guaranteeing support.

All policies tell stories

All policies convey narratives and stories that carry values. They deal with questions of “why” as well as “how.”

Narratives distil and reflect a particular understanding of social and political relations. A story about disability as a phenomenon can be told from different perspectives. A medical model of disability views disability as a personal problem, a social model focuses on removing the barriers, and a human rights model introduces a language of rights and their protection. We often hear deficit-based stories rooted in the medical model about disability.

The Accessible Canada Act (ACA) and Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) Track 2 in Canada tell contradictory stories about disability rights and state responsibility.

A young person using crutches shakes hands with a person holding open a door — The Accessible Canada Act is framed as a landmark piece of human rights legislation, emphasizing inclusion, accessibility and the removal of barriers.
(Pixabay)

The ACA is framed as a landmark piece of human rights legislation, emphasizing inclusion, accessibility and the removal of barriers to ensure full participation for people with disabilities, with a vision of a barrier-free Canada by 2040. Disability activists played a central role in its development, and the law is celebrated for its systemic, proactive approach to tackling exclusion and discrimination, offering rights to consultation, representation and accessible information.

In contrast, the MAID regime, especially after the expansion through Bill C-7, has been criticized for normalizing assisted death as a response to suffering caused by lack of access to medical, disability and social support, rather than addressing the underlying barriers and systemic failures that the ACA promises to remove.

Research shows that the odds for having unmet needs for health-care services, medications, assistive aids or devices, or help with everyday activities increases with disability severity. A coalition of disability rights organizations and two personally affected individuals have filed a Charter challenge with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice opposing Track 2 of the MAID law, which extends eligibility to people whose death is not reasonably foreseeable.

Narrative accounts like the ones below, and research in bioethics, highlights that many people seek MAID not because they are terminally ill, but because they face poverty, inadequate housing and lack of care. This reveals a troubling contradiction: while the ACA proclaims a commitment to inclusion and support, MAID often functions as a default solution for those failed by the very systems the ACA aims to fix.

The stories told by these two policies — on one hand, the promise of full inclusion and on the other, the normalization of state-facilitated death for those marginalized by inadequate support — reveal a profound tension in Canada’s approach to disability rights and social responsibility.

Troubling cases

Cases are emerging where people access MAID due to intolerable suffering caused by systemic failures. There is a story of 66-year-old Normand Meunier who requested medical assistance in dying following a hospital stay last year that left him with a severe bedsore. He died a few weeks later.

The coroner’s report on Meunier’s case highlights the need for guaranteed and prompt access to therapeutic mattresses for patients with spinal cord injuries. Québec coroner Dave Kimpton also calls on the province to create an advisory committee aimed at preventing and treating bedsores with new tools and training. Kimpton observes:

“It is now undeniable to me, after this research, that the body of someone with a spinal cord injury speaks a different language, and that health-care professionals must learn to decode it if they are to anticipate and effectively manage medical complications.”

The stories of disabled people advocating for life-saving treatment is an example of continuing devaluation of disabled lives. Jeremy Bray of Manitoba pleaded for continued coverage of medication for his Type 2 spinal muscular atrophy. In British Columbia, Charleigh Pollock’s family fought for continued coverage of the medication for her neurological disorder. These stories individualize disability and promote a medical model approach.

Disability justice, as championed by the late activist Alice Wong and her Disability Visibility project, insists that storytelling is not “add-on” advocacy — it is evidence that exposes how policies like MAID, income-testing and institutionalization feel on the ground. Wong’s work demonstrates that disabled people’s stories are a powerful form of resistance, providing evidence that disabled people exist in societies that often erase them.

In her book Dispatches from Disabled Country, activist, educator and researcher Catherine Frazee provides an alternative vision of living with a disability. She uses a metaphor of Disabled Country to describe a “place of refuge for outlaws from the rules of fitting in a place where the value of human life is intrinsic, not contingent on a place that yields itself to our being and our capacity to flourish.”

Re-examining Canada’s disability policy story

From a policy-research perspective, understanding these narrative dynamics is essential for evaluating the effects of laws such as the ACA and for anticipating the implications of MAID expansion.

Scholars argue that policy narratives influence everything from budget priorities to program eligibility criteria and institutional cultures. They also shape how disabled people imagine their futures — an increasingly important dimension of well-being research.

As Canada reflects on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, emerging evidence underscores the importance of aligning disability policy with the lived realities documented through research, monitoring processes and personal accounts.

Examining the narratives embedded in policy frameworks can help clarify how laws and institutions either support or hinder long-term flourishing for disabled people, and can offer insights into how stories told in policies ultimately align with societal values.

Alfiya Battalova 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. Disability rights are shaped by the narratives embedded in policies like the Accessible Canada Act and MAID – https://theconversation.com/disability-rights-are-shaped-by-the-narratives-embedded-in-policies-like-the-accessible-canada-act-and-maid-271094