The Conversation – Canada – Page 57

November 25, 2025

Reconciliation without accountability is just talk — especially when it comes to Indigenous health

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jamaica Cass, Director, Queen’s-Weeneebayko Health Education Partnership, Queen’s University, Ontario

Canada’s latest auditor general’s report reveals an uncomfortable truth: billions of dollars and countless commitments later, the federal government still cannot demonstrate meaningful improvement in health services for First Nations.

As a family physician working in my First Nation, Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in southern Ontario, I see the evidence of this failure not in spreadsheets but in people — patients navigating a health system that remains structurally unequal.

Nearly 10 years after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Calls to Action, it is clear that reconciliation without accountability delivers only rhetoric, not care.

The report states:

“Increasing First Nations’ capacity to deliver programs and services within their communities is critical to improving outcomes for First Nations people and supporting reconciliation.”

Yet the same report concludes that the department has taken a “passive and siloed approach” to supporting First Nations. It found unsatisfactory progress on five of 11 recommendations first issued in 2015 regarding access to health services for remote communities.

Encountering racism

A decade later, systemic barriers remain — geography may vary, but inequity is consistent.

Even in communities like mine, which sit within driving distance of tertiary care, accessing culturally safe services is far from guaranteed.

Patients still encounter racism in hospitals and clinics. Providers still rotate through Indigenous communities rather than build lasting relationships. And families still find themselves falling through the cracks between federal and provincial systems that debate who pays instead of who helps.

The auditor general’s report acknowledges some progress — more nurse practitioners and paramedics working in First Nations communities — but the average monthly vacancy rate remains 21 per cent. Constant turnover and short-term contracts erode trust, continuity and quality of care.

The auditor general also found no satisfactory progress on any previous recommendations to ensure that First Nations communities have ongoing access to safe drinking water. Clean water is the most basic determinant of health, yet its absence continues to expose the limits of Canada’s political will.

A decade later, inequity remains

The TRC Calls to Action related to health — numbers 18 through 24 — called for eliminating inequities, recognizing Indigenous healing practices, increasing Indigenous professionals in health care and ensuring Indigenous leadership in governance.

But the Yellowhead Institute’s September 2025 report, Braiding Accountability, shows that Canada remains mired in performative progress. Institutions have reached the “strengthen” phase — hiring Indigenous staff or creating advisory councils — but rarely the “change” phase, where Indigenous Nations co-develop priorities, indicators and accountability measures.

Under Call 19, the report notes, the goal of measurable progress toward health equity is undermined by the “absence of Indigenous data sovereignty.” Instead, “institutions report on activities, not results, using settler-defined metrics that obscure ongoing inequities.”

As a medical educator, I see this mirrored in our training systems. Under Call 23, governments were urged to increase Indigenous representation in health professions.

Yet, Braiding Accountability points to ongoing gaps in representation and a lack of meaningful data on whether Indigenous professionals are actually being retained or advancing into leadership. It notes that recruitment efforts often amount to a revolving door: institutions bring Indigenous staff into environments that remain unwelcoming, and then attribute their departures to supposed cultural issues rather than addressing the systemic problems that drove them away.

And perhaps the sharpest critique of all: Failing to shift authority and decision-making to Indigenous communities simply continues the very colonial dynamics that made the push for Indigenous health professionals necessary in the first place.

At Queen’s, through the Queen’s-Weeneebayko Health Education Program — which I lead — we are trying to do things differently by building pathways for Indigenous learners to study in their own regions, guided by Indigenous leadership and values.

The goal of this program is to transform who holds power in the health system.

A moment of possibility

There is, however, a reason for cautious optimism. With recent cabinet appointments, Canada now has its first Indigenous minister of Indigenous Services Canada (ISC). Mandy Gull-Masty’s appointment represents the first time an Indigenous woman leads the very department responsible for addressing these systemic failures.

Her lived experience as an Indigenous woman positions her to see what others have not: that reconciliation cannot be achieved through bureaucratic procedure, but through the transfer of decision-making power to Indigenous governments and communities.

Real progress will mean dismantling silos, resourcing First Nations to design and deliver their own health systems and holding all levels of government accountable to measurable outcomes.

It will mean embedding Indigenous data sovereignty and governance into every facet of health planning so Indigenous Peoples can finally define what success looks like on their own terms.

The human cost — and the hope

Every audit finding has a face. For me, it’s the patient who avoids seeking hospital care after a racist encounter, the Elder who still boils her water each morning and the young Indigenous medical student who tells me she wonders if she truly belongs.

These stories are a reminder that inequity does not end where the roads begin. Reconciliation will never be achieved through rhetoric or reports alone. It demands courage — the courage to transfer power, to embrace accountability and to care enough to change.

The appointment of an Indigenous minister offers a moment of possibility. If Gull-Masty can insist that reconciliation be measured in lives improved, systems restructured and trust rebuilt, then perhaps Canada will see real transformation.

Jamaica Cass works for Queen’s University. She receives funding from the National Circle on Indigenous Medical Education, the CPFC and the CMA. She is a board member of the Indigenous Physicians’ Association of Canada and the Medical Council of Canada.

– ref. Reconciliation without accountability is just talk — especially when it comes to Indigenous health – https://theconversation.com/reconciliation-without-accountability-is-just-talk-especially-when-it-comes-to-indigenous-health-268140

November 25, 2025

Growing pains: An Ontario city’s urban agriculture efforts show good policy requires real capacity

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Richard Bloomfield, Assistant Professor in Management and Organizational Studies at Huron University College, Western University

Staff members sharing their harvest at Urban Roots, an urban farm in London, Ontario. Urban agriculture can improve access to fresh food, especially for low-income communities, immigrants and seniors. (Urban Roots London)

Canadians are paying more for food than ever. Canada’s Food Price Report 2025 estimates that a family of four will spend up to $801 more on food this year, with overall prices expected to rise three to five per cent.

In response, more people are growing their own food. A 2022 national survey found that just over half of respondents were growing fruits or vegetables at home, and nearly one in five started during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Municipal governments have taken note, developing food and urban agriculture strategies that promise more green space, better access to fresh food, stronger communities and sometimes climate benefits. But do they actually change conditions on the ground?

That question sits at the centre of our new study published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.

London, Ont., adopted Canada’s first stand-alone Urban Agriculture Strategy in 2017. It was a hopeful signal that food and urban agriculture finally had a place on the municipal agenda. Yet, almost eight years later, many of the strategy’s goals remain unrealized.

Based on interviews and a workshop with 56 urban growers, community organizations and city staff in London, we found how a promising strategy can stall without clear leadership, resources and follow-through.

Why urban agriculture matters

Urban agriculture encompasses everything from backyard and balcony gardens to community gardens, small commercial operations, rooftop farms and community projects that process and distribute food.

Research links these activities to better mental health, stronger social connections and improved access to fresh food, especially for low-income communities, immigrants and seniors.

In London, demand for local food and garden space surged during the pandemic. The London Food Bank reported a 92 per cent increase in demand for food donations from 2021 to 2023. Community gardens across the city have long waiting lists. There is no shortage of interest or need for local food; the question is whether city policies support it.

What the strategy changed — and what it didn’t

We found that the city’s urban agriculture strategy helped advance urban agriculture in meaningful ways. Research participants told us it helped “put food on the agenda” at city hall, supporting updates to zoning and bylaws that make it easier to grow food in the city.

But when we asked urban growers and community organizations how much the strategy shaped their day-to-day work, the picture became more complicated. Roughly one-third of the people we spoke with had never heard of the strategy at all, despite actively participating in urban agriculture.

Others knew it existed but were unsure which actions had actually been implemented. Several described it as a “good starting point” that had not been backed by the staffing or funding needed for full implementation.

The strategy came with no dedicated position or budget. Responsibility was scattered across city departments, with no one tracking progress. Supportive staff helped where they could, but limited capacity meant they relied on the community to drive change.

Common challenges mentioned by urban growers and community organizations were unclear zoning and permitting processes, a lack of available land for long-term gardening and minimal financial support, leading to over-reliance on volunteers. The strategy helped normalize urban agriculture in London and opened some doors, but didn’t transform the system.

One of the strongest themes in our research was the strain on community capacity. Like many cities, London’s urban agriculture is powered by volunteers, small non-profit organizations and social enterprises. These groups are deeply committed but face rising demand, complex social needs and unstable funding. Asking them to carry a municipal strategy without matching support is unrealistic.

This echoes findings from other cities. Reviews of urban agriculture policies in Canada and the United States show that local enthusiasm often runs ahead of institutional support.

Strategies tend to celebrate urban agriculture’s potential but pay less attention to equitable land access, labour conditions and the economic realities of growing food in cities.

How cities can help urban agriculture

If other cities want to avoid London’s growing pains, our research points to several concrete steps they can take:

Assign clear responsibility. Task a specific department, name a lead staff person and allocate ongoing funding. Without this, actions are likely to be delayed, forgotten or handled piecemeal.

Simplify the rules and centralize information. Create accessible one-stop web pages and guidance documents that spell out what’s allowed, what permits are needed, how to access land and who to contact.

Secure space for growing. Map under-utilized land, integrate food production into parks and use long-term leases or land trusts to provide more security for community-led projects.

Treat community partners as co-planners. Develop strategies alongside practitioners, including those from under-represented and marginalized communities. Bring them into the process early and support their full participation, rather than seeking their feedback after decisions are set.

Urban agriculture won’t fix food insecurity — the biggest determinants remain income, housing, social supports and broader food-system policy. But our findings from London indicate that it can still deliver public value.

By committing to implementation and treating food growing as a key piece of urban infrastructure, municipalities can build healthier, better connected and more sustainable cities.

The research in this article was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Richard Bloomfield served as a board member before 2023 of Urban Roots, a participating organization in this study that did not benefit in any way from this research.

Kassie Miedema and Rebecca Ellis 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. Growing pains: An Ontario city’s urban agriculture efforts show good policy requires real capacity – https://theconversation.com/growing-pains-an-ontario-citys-urban-agriculture-efforts-show-good-policy-requires-real-capacity-269804

November 25, 2025

An art historian looks at the origins of the Indigenous arts collection at the Vatican Museums

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Gloria Bell, Associate Professor of Art History, McGill University

Image showing ‘Hall of North America’ at the 1925 Vatican Missionary Exhibition in Rome.

Pope Leo XIV met with the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops on Nov. 15 to, in the words of the Vatican, “gift” the return of 62 Indigenous “artifacts” held in the Anima Mundi collection of the Vatican Museums.

The papal narrative that these belongings are “gifts” needs correction. The Vatican says the artifacts are “part of the patrimony received on the occasion of the Vatican Missionary Exhibition (VME) of 1925.” However, as I document in my book Eternal Sovereigns: Indigenous Artists, Activists, and Travelers Reframing Rome the majority of the Indigenous belongings in the Vatican Museums were stolen from Indigenous communities during the 1920s and displayed at this exhibition.

The study divulges an important story, examining the history of the 1925 Vatican exhibit alongside destruction of Indigenous cultures, communities and lives through the Indian Act and residential schools in Canada, and genocidal activities by missionaries in partnership with the government carried out in residential schools. The book includes details of my encounters with artists, curators and archives.

As a scholar of art history and communication studies concerned with a broader anti-colonial approach to understanding Indigenous heritage, I use the terms “belongings,” “ancestral art” and “ancestors” instead of speaking of Indigenous artifacts at the Vatican.

My research aims to unpack the sovereignty of Indigenous art and ancestors held at the Vatican Museums. Currently I am tracing the life of Anthony Martin Fernando, an Aboriginal protester with Dharug ancestry. As I document in the book, Fernando handed leaflets to visitors outside the VME in 1925 about the ongoing genocide of First Peoples and the need to recognize Indigenous sovereignty.

Indigenous communities, government officials, scholars and artists have advocated for the return of Indigenous ancestors from the Vatican Museums as part of wider calls for truth, reconciliation and justice.

A joint statement from the Vatican and CCCB said Pope Leo “desires that this gift represent a concrete sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity,” and the CCCB says it will “transfer these artifacts” to Indigenous organizations that will “ensure that the artifacts are reunited with their communities of origin.”

Culture of conquest

Indigenous belongings from nations including Cree, Lakota, Anishinaabe, Nipissing, Kanien’kehá:ka, Wolastoqiyik and Kwakwaka’wakw have remained in the Anima Mundi collection without Indigenous care for 100 years.

Now some of them will be returned home.

As I discuss in my book, thousands of Indigenous ancestors were stolen from Indigenous communities by the Catholic Church. Beyond what the Vatican has now committed to repatriating, many more belongings also need to be returned home and brought back into Indigenous care and hands.

I uncovered documents about the 1925 Vatican Missionary Exhibition through a lengthy process of research in archives across Rome and Turtle Island (North America).

The 1925 exhibit was a kind of ground zero for residential schools in Canada, as it celebrated missionary labour following amendments to the Indian Act in 1920 that made attending residential schools compulsory for children between the ages of seven and 15.

This scholarship involved tracing the provenance of many Indigenous belongings and linking them with different missionary orders. It also probes religious imperialism that continues to this day in the form of the current museum display of Indigenous belongings.

The Vatican Museums now has an online database, not available even five years ago. This can be used to do research on Indigenous belongings held in its collections, in a step towards more transparency.

Origins of ‘Anima Mundi’

In December 1924, pope Pius XI opened the holy doors to the Vatican Missionary Exposition. Standing in the Hall of North America, one of the main exhibition spaces, he welcomed tourists and pilgrims to view First Nations, Métis and Inuit material, cultural and sacred belongings sent in especially for the exhibition.

The exhibition celebrated missionaries as noble and heroic labourers, but positioned Indigenous Peoples as needing redemption. The global exhibition, was unique in that it was the largest Catholic missionary exhibition of its time, competing with Protestant exhibitions in a race to convert souls.

Pope Pius XI decreed that everything that could be sent in from missions — including sacred and secular cultural belongings, Indigenous language materials and living human beings — should be included.

Before the exhibit, in 1923, The New York Times ran an Associated Press report that “one of the most attractive features would be ‘Natives brought specially to Rome, showing the customs and modes of living.’”

One million visitors attended the exhibition, and more than 100,000 Indigenous belongings were sent in for the expo. About 40,000 belongings remain in the Vatican Museums and became part of the permanent collection that’s now called Anima Mundi.

Not inadvertently, the 1925 exhibition was created like an adventure game where visitors could encounter wax models of Indigenous people, missionary children’s games, cultural belongings and touch materials. Missionary orders including the Jesuits, Verbites, Grey Nuns, Oblates and Cappucins all sent displays.

Indigenous ancestors put on display included beaded octopus bags, sacred masks, Cree moccasins, ledger art, photographs, potlatch regalia and an Inuvialuit sealskin kayak.

Parallel removal of children from communities

At the same time, missionaries acting under the Indian Act were forcibly removing Indigenous children from their communities across Canada and the United States.

Some missionaries sent materials made by these Indigenous children to the exhibit. Evidence of this includes photographs in the Indian Sentinel of Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Sioux) children at residential schools, alongside missionaries’ own commentary about material.

For example, Rev. Florentin Digman of St. Francis Mission, Rosebud Reservation of South Dakota, wrote in May 1925 in the summary of the photograph of young Očhéthi Šakówiŋ girls:

“Dear Father, many thanks for informing us that Indian articles have been sent to the Vatican Mission Exposition. I hope that the articles will be as welcome as dessert at the feast.”

One of the most chilling finds in my archival research was uncovering drawings made by Indigenous children held in residential schools in British Columbia displayed at the 1925 VME. The language many missionaries used to describe these and other Indigenous belongings were “trophies of the pope.”

The 1925 exhibition created a visual reminder of the Vatican’s celebration of Catholic conquest.

‘Anima Mundi’ exhibit today

Although the 1925 exhibition was a century ago, the same values of Indigenous erasure are present in current display techniques and the overall curatorial message.

In the Anima Mundi exhibit today, the curators don’t address the genocide of Indigenous children during the colonial era by missionaries in partnership with the state. Indigenous artists’ names, communities and languages are often not mentioned and Indigenous belongings are still described as gifts of the pope.

Pope Leo needs to acknowledge the harm caused by the patronizing and colonial narrative represented in Anima Mundi. The return of 62 Indigenous ancestors to Indigenous communities on Turtle Island is a first step, but much more needs to be done.

Gloria Bell receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

– ref. An art historian looks at the origins of the Indigenous arts collection at the Vatican Museums – https://theconversation.com/an-art-historian-looks-at-the-origins-of-the-indigenous-arts-collection-at-the-vatican-museums-270239

November 24, 2025

The gift that keeps on giving: How solar panels on farms can help increase crop yields

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Joshua M. Pearce, John M. Thompson Chair in Information Technology and Innovation and Professor, Western University

An agrivoltaic setup in southern Ontario. (U. Jamil), CC BY

Solar farm projects in the Canadian province of Alberta have been put on hold or cancelled because of a recent increase in regulations in the province. The new regulations ban solar panels from agricultural land and force solar developers to fully fund decommissioning upfront.

As a result, many originally profitable projects have been made unfeasible because of rules aimed at preventing a repeat of the orphaned oil and gas wells fiasco.

Agrivoltaics is the practice of purposefully shading agricultural crop lands with solar panels in order to enjoy the dual benefits of solar electricity and increased food production.

A new study I co-authored with my colleague, Uzair Jamil, found that partial shading to benefit crop production even works when the solar panels do not. This has interesting policy ramifications, particularly in Alberta.

How does shading crops make more food?

Studies from all over the world have shown crop yields increase when food crops are partially shaded with solar panels. Agrivoltaic yield increases are possible because of the microclimate created underneath the solar panels that conserves water and protects plants from excess sun, wind, hail and soil erosion. The temperatures are cooler, milder and all around more pleasant for plants.

Last year, we found that you could increase strawberry yield by 18 per cent under solar panels compared to strawberries in an open field. This agrivoltaic crop yield bump has been shown for dozens of other crops and solar panel combinations all over the world, including basil, broccoli, celery, corn, grapes, kale, lettuce, pasture grass, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes and more.

Agrivoltaics makes more food per acre, and could help bring down food prices while also supporting farmers in Canada. Such agrivoltaic farming can help meet Canada’s food and energy needs and reduce its fossil fuel reliance and greenhouse gas emissions as well as the rest of the world.

Our new study shows that the microclimate that benefits plants beneath agrivoltaics is maintained even when the solar is not generating any electricity.

We analyzed the lifespans of key agrivoltaic system components, experimentally measuring microclimate impacts of two agrivoltaic arrays. The results showed agrivoltaics still benefit crops even when unpowered.

What about Alberta?

Agrivoltaics also benefits renewable energy companies, farmers and everyone who eats food. However, to ensure “proper” site restoration after solar projects are complete, Alberta law demands land is returned to its original undisturbed state.

The newly passed Alberta’s Conservation and Reclamation Regulation makes it incumbent on the renewable energy developers to submit financial security. Specifically, new solar projects are required to post 30 per cent of the estimated security amount, while the projects already in operation are required to pay 15 per cent.

The comparison to orphaned oil and gas wells with a remediation cost estimates of $100 billion prompted preemptive legislation targeting solar farms, but is that fear justified?

Agrivoltaics could serve as a potential exception to solar photovoltaic development on agricultural land in Alberta, which is otherwise effectively not permitted.

Moving forward with agrivoltaics in Alberta

To ensure Agrivoltaics co-exist well with farming, Alberta mandates agricultural impact assessments before solar panels are installed, but it offers little guidance on how to optimize their co-use.

Some flexibility emerges through the assessment process, but it is not consistently built into infrastructure regulations.

In addition, Canadian zoning laws do not recognize agrivoltaics as a distinct land-use classification. That means that while provincial legislation might allow for agrivoltaics development, no explicit regulations are available.

To make things more clear for both farmers and financial backers, Canada could benefit from looking to other countries that have agrivoltaic legislation, such as France and Italy, to ensure land is being used in the most efficient way possible.

Experimental results from our research indicate that the shade provided by solar panels moderates soil temperatures and enhances soil moisture. Agrivoltaic systems, even when not used for power generation, can continue to deliver meaningful value for farmers through shading.

Government policy must adapt to this dual-use reality. Alberta’s current rules not only hurt the solar industry but also prevent farmers from making use of agrivoltaic infrastructure to help them grow more food for all of us.

Joshua M. Pearce has received funding for research from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Mitacs, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). In addition, his past and present consulting work and research are funded by the United Nations, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, many non-profits and for-profit companies in the energy and solar photovoltaic fields. He is a founding member of Agrivoltaics Canada. He does not directly work for any solar manufacturer and has no direct conflicts of interest.

– ref. The gift that keeps on giving: How solar panels on farms can help increase crop yields – https://theconversation.com/the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving-how-solar-panels-on-farms-can-help-increase-crop-yields-269264

November 24, 2025

How ‘relationship anarchy’ is changing the nature of connection for millennials and Gen Z

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Treena Orchard, Associate Professor, School of Health Studies, Western University

When the term anarchy pops up in everyday conversations, images of lawlessness and chaos after a government breakdown or catastrophic event come to mind. Think of the anti-hero comic character the Joker or the famed Sons of Anarchy series about an outlaw biker club that values family loyalty as much as violent crime.

Yet anarchy can also be understood as a belief system that emphasizes freedom and equality over authoritative rule, individuality over conformity.

These values are central to relationship anarchy, which is an approach to intimacy and human connection that’s becoming especially popular among millennials and Gen Z.

A recent survey from the Feeld dating app shows that 50 per cent of its members practise relationship anarchy, particularly those who are trans, non-binary, gender diverse or pansexual.

With an emphasis on relationships that decentre prescribed notions of love and power, relationship anarchy is a compelling new approach to interpersonal and communal connection. But what exactly is it and how can people use relationship anarchy to reinvent their relationships?

Dating today can feel like a mix of endless swipes, red flags and shifting expectations. From decoding mixed signals to balancing independence with intimacy, relationships in your 20s and 30s come with unique challenges. Love IRL is the latest series from Quarter Life that explores it all.

These research-backed articles break down the complexities of modern love to help you build meaningful connections, no matter your relationship status.

What is relationship anarchy?

First introduced in 2006 by Swedish tech developer, writer and producer Andie Nordgren, this approach to relating uses anarchic principles like anti-capitalism, anti-hierarchy and mutual aid to resist traditional relationship models.

Nordgren outlines four building blocks of relationship anarchy:

The rejection of interpersonal coercion
The importance of community
Mutual aid as essential support
Commitments as communication, not contract

The idea is that replacing the codependence of coupledom with more expansive and effective forms of interpersonal care can build stronger communities that emphasize interdependence among people, animals and the environment.

Relationship anarchy is a fundamentally queer and inclusive framework that is predicated upon creating relationships that suit what people really want versus adhering to social conventions, whether because of obligation, family pressure or fear of expressing true desires.

Doing relationship anarchy means giving equal importance to friends, lovers and companions, and most practitioners are in alternative relationship structures, such as non-monogamy.

Given the social embarrassment now attached to certain kinds of relationships — as a recent Vogue piece questioning whether “having a boyfriend is embarrassing” suggests — alongside the steady rise in the number of unmarried people, many may already be adopting these radical approaches without realizing it.

How to practice relationship anarchy

If you’re interested in exploring relationship anarchy in your own life, a great place to start is by reflecting on the kinds of relationships you have been in, and the ones you desire.

How do you want these connections to feel? Have you been pressured into a monogamous partnership but really want to try something else? Do you miss friends who often slip away when you’re in a long-term relationship? Do you want to reduce the rigid boundaries that define and differentiate your relationships with friends, lovers, colleagues and family members?

Maybe you’re struggling to navigate family commitments that feel overwhelming because they crowd out the time you want to devote to self-care routines.

There are multiple entry points for bringing relationship anarchy into your life. You could tell your partner that you’d like to learn more about it and see how they respond when you share resources. You could focus your relationship energies on fostering meaningful connections with people who make up your chosen family or live in a more communal way.

Because relationship anarchy rejects labels like “friends,” “lovers” or “life partners,” you might abandon these categories in favour of more integrated ways of connecting that revolve around customized connections.

Perhaps you want to re-evaluate your consumptive patterns, which are often linked to traditional relational structures, and live in less resource-intensive ways.

Is the future of love non-hierarchical?

Whether it’s the decline of dating apps, the rise of AI matchmakers, or books about celibacy, love is at the beating heart of countless conversations and debates.

Given the growing interest in non-traditional relationships and resisting political systems that continue to tap our Earth for depleted resources, it makes sense that relationship anarchy is on the ascent. A lot of us are eager for new ways of relating that we define and navigate in our own unique ways.

Relationship anarchy also offers a way of enriching our social networks and community bonds, both of which can go a long way to reduce the social isolation and disconnection many millennials and Gen Zers experience. No relationship can address all of the complex challenges and conditions impacting younger generations, but how you relate evolves over time and relationship anarchy might offer another way of connecting that appeals to you.

You can reinvent your ideas about love and relationships so that they align with what you actually want. No, it’s not easy or straightforward — welcome to life and love — but it is possible.

In a media-saturated world that often prioritizes profit over meaningful connection, we can create alternate ways of relating that feel kinder, more collaborative and fun. Relationship anarchy might just offer the non-hierarchical antidote a lot of us are looking for.

Treena Orchard has received funding from CIHR, SSHRC, and Western Ontario but no research monies were used in the creation of this article.

– ref. How ‘relationship anarchy’ is changing the nature of connection for millennials and Gen Z – https://theconversation.com/how-relationship-anarchy-is-changing-the-nature-of-connection-for-millennials-and-gen-z-268640

November 24, 2025

‘Quiet piggy’ and other slurs: Powerful men fuel online abuse against women in politics and media

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Tracey Raney, Professor, Politics and Public Administration, Toronto Metropolitan University

Tuesday is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the beginning of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. It’s a global call to action by the United Nations to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.

This year’s theme — “End digital violence against all women and girls” — aims to draw attention to the rapid rise of hate directed at women online. Sadly, this problem is all too common in today’s political world.

Why do we need attention drawn to this issue in politics?

Technology-facilitated gender-based violence is a serious and growing threat to women and girls. It’s defined by the UN as:

“Any act that is committed, assisted, aggravated, or amplified by the use of information communication technologies or other digital tools that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological, social, political, or economic harm, or other infringements of rights and freedoms.”

It includes hate speech, violent threats, cyber-harassment, doxxing, image and video-based abuse, astroturfing, gendered disinformation and defamation.

Silencing prominent women

Marginalized women and women with public-facing roles — especially politicians, journalists and activists — often bear the brunt of attacks, with the intent to silence and push them out of the public arena.

While popular assumptions about online misogynists view them as “bearded white dudes in a basement” ranting about women on their computers anonymously, some political leaders are also unfortunately spreading misogyny openly online.

What motivates leaders to spread gendered hate online?

Politicians who are most likely to use misogynistic rhetoric are those who seek to uphold a “masculinist strongman ideal,” according to research by British scholar Nitasha Kaul. She explains how public figures like Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi have all used misogyny to assert their power.

By positioning women (and men who do not conform to dominant masculine norms) as inferior, strongmen are signalling their dominance to their followers and to other “strong” men.

When it’s directed at women in the public eye, political misogyny serves to suppress the voices of political opponents and people with differing views, posing threats to freedom of expression and fundamental human rights.

American public policy scholar Suzanne Dovi explains how political misogyny unfolds through an evolving process, and includes three stages:

Political elites advance “nasty claims” about high-profile women in politics;
Those “nasty claims” connect with and/or activate conscious and unconscious prejudices regarding women in politics; and finally
The audience receives and accepts the nasty claims as their own.

Online political misogyny is violent

Given their vast reach, digital platforms have become ideal spaces for leaders to spread their misogynistic views. In 2017, a Conservative MP referred to former environment minister Catherine McKenna as “Climate Barbie” on social media (the MP later apologized).

Since then, McKenna has shared details about the online violence she experienced in connection with this slur, with one meme featuring a Barbie Doll being crushed by a sledgehammer and another saying, “Tick Tock, Barbie Bitch.”

In 2023, former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer shared a post on his X account (which today has more than 250,000 followers) styled as a “wanted” poster, featuring the photos and office phone numbers of two women senators.

He urged his followers to call their offices, falsely claiming they had deliberately shut down debate on a Conservative-backed bill. Afterward, Sen. Bernadette Clement, who identifies as Black, received racist online abuse and a phone call from an unknown man threatening to come to her home. Sen. Chantal Petitclerc also reported her office being inundated with sexist voicemail messages.

‘Play dirty’

Women journalists are also being attacked, fuelled by misogynistic online posts from political leaders. In 2021, several Canadian women journalists — almost all of whom were racialized — were targeted by an online hate campaign encouraged by Maxime Bernier, leader of the People’s Party of Canada.

After the journalists raised questions about white supremacy inside the party, Bernier told his X followers to “play dirty” with them. The reporters were subsequently inundated with rape and death threats, as well as racist abuse. While X forced Bernier to take down the post and briefly restricted his account, the damage had been done.

In the United States, Trump has frequently relied on gendered attacks on women journalists as a way to humiliate, discredit and silence them. Just recently, Trump responded to a question from a woman journalist by telling her “quiet, piggy.” He has previously described women journalists as “dogs and pigs.”

The cost of online political misogyny

Online political misogyny has real-world consequences. After Trump’s Nov. 20 Truth Social post inciting violence against his Democratic rivals, congresswoman Jasmine Crockett’s office in Washington, D.C., was threatened by a white supremacist.

Writing on Blue Sky, Crockett vowed she would not back down and reminded the public that “when leaders promote hate, hate shows up — sometimes right at our door.”

As my research with Canadian political science professor Cheryl Collier shows, gender-based violence in politics has democratic costs, diminishing diverse voices and expertise in public office.

In journalism, research by Australian scholar Julie Posetti and her colleagues at the International Center for Journalists shows that online attacks against women reporters have a chilling effect, reducing their willingness (along with those of their sources, colleagues and audiences) to participate in public debate.

These attacks also undermine journalistic accountability and trust in facts during a time when mis- and disinformation have become a scourge.

How to bring about change

The UN’s global campaign challenges us to reflect on how online political misogyny can be stopped. Worldwide, governments must pass public policies and enforce laws that criminalize hate-motivated digital violence. Technology companies must ensure platform safety and enforce robust, transparent codes of conduct.

Men and boys need access to mental health support and positive role models who encourage healthy forms of masculinity, rather than framing toxic masculinity as the ideal. Concerned citizens can donate to organizations dedicated to eradicating gender-based violence, such as the Native Women’s Association of Canada, WomanACT, White Ribbon or to a women’s shelter in their local community.

Finally, public leaders must actively refuse to engage in political misogyny and lead efforts to uphold respect and civility in public discourse. Campaigns like Gov. Gen. Mary Simon’s “Building a Safer and Respectful Digital World” and Elect Respect, initiated by Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, are positive steps in the right direction.

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

– ref. ‘Quiet piggy’ and other slurs: Powerful men fuel online abuse against women in politics and media – https://theconversation.com/quiet-piggy-and-other-slurs-powerful-men-fuel-online-abuse-against-women-in-politics-and-media-270435

November 24, 2025

Social media can be understood as a role-playing game like Dungeons & Dragons

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Stephen M Yeager, Professor of English, Concordia University

It’s a cliché that any “geek” who knows how to program computers will also probably play Dungeons & Dragons, or D&D. If you need to find someone at work who can explain to you the latest episode of Stranger Things, then you could probably safely start in the IT department and the D&D fans working there.

This isn’t an accident, and it isn’t a new development. The history of D&D and the history of the personal computer are closely aligned, and today’s social media platforms are basically just free-to-play mobile role-playing games.

D&D is more popular than it’s ever been. In October 2024, D&D’s owners, Wizards of the Coast, estimated that 85 million people either played the game or engaged with the brand, either through its physical “table-top” games or through smash success video games like Baldur’s Gate 3.

A 2022 survey determined that the average age of a D&D player was 30 years old, and that more than 40 per cent of players identified as female, non-binary or gender-fluid.

Jon Peterson, a major D&D historian, traces the origins of D&D back to the war-game hobbyists of the late 1960s. He refers to them as a “conservative youth movement” of overwhelmingly white male gamers who kept in touch through a loose social network based in hobby magazines.

D&D’s growth over the last 50 years was driven by digital social networks in the same way that the evolution of digital social networks was driven by D&D.

Progression mechanics

Social media platforms like X, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn all make money from views, refreshes and eyeballs on advertisements. To motivate their users to stay on the apps, these platforms have developed algorithms to govern what posts are seen by which users.

These algorithms deploy what game designers call “progression mechanics,” which is to say systems of points where the more points you have, the more control you have over events in the game.

If you get a high score in Tetris, you still start over at zero the next time you play. But if you get a high number of likes and followers on Facebook, then it’s more likely that other people will see your posts, and in that sense your high scores are a form of “progress.”

The most important precedent for social media progression mechanics is the “experience points” of D&D’s collaborative story-telling game system. When D&D players choose actions to shape the story surrounding their characters, they roll dice, which determines if their actions succeed or fail.

Experience points — or “XP” — reward player successes by improving the odds in future rolls, thereby giving them more control over the shared narrative of their D&D adventure. Similarly, social media progression mechanics give users control over what public relations specialists call “the narrative” about whatever subject those users choose to discuss.

There’s a long history of D&D progression mechanics in the design of social media platforms, going back to the dial-up “BBS” or “Bulletin Board System.”

A BBS was a computer hooked up to a modem that let users log in one at a time to leave messages for other users to read, like a cork bulletin board in a community space. Like D&D, the community of computer hobbyists who built and ran the very first BBS systems were mostly white, male and midwestern — the first edition of D&D was published in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in 1974, and the first BBS was started in Chicago in 1978.

Also like D&D, BBS communities started out as subscribers to hobby magazines: the Avalon Hill General for D&D, Byte for BBS users.

The role of BBS

In 1986, a programmer named Guy T. Rice launched a BBS named TProBBS, which in Version 4.2f was both an early social media platform and an early digital role-playing game.

Like other BBS systems, TProBBS 4.2f required its users to create user profiles. But 4.2f took this a step further to ask users to create D&D characters for themselves: you weren’t just “User3788,” but “User3788 the Novice Bard.” The more you logged into the system, the more treasure and experience points you could gain, and so the more motive you had to log in to make use of the resources you’d accumulated.

In his book The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media, Internet historian Kevin Driscoll identifies another BBS designed around fantasy role-playing progression mechanics: Seth Able Robinson’s Legend of the Red Dragon (LoRD), launched in 1989.

In LoRD, players were allowed a limited number of “actions” per day: exploring, trading, duelling, hunting, hanging out in the tavern. The more days you dialled in, the more actions you could complete, and so the more “progress” you could make in the fantasy world of the BBS.

In 2006, Facebook introduced the first social media algorithm, EdgeRank. It curated the posts on each users’ feed, assessing, among other factors, the evidence of each poster’s engagement to promote certain posts over other posts. The more you liked other users’ posts, the more “affinity” you built with those other users, and so the more likely your posts would be visible to a wider audience.

These progression mechanics aren’t just similar to the progression mechanics of D&D — they co-evolved alongside the progression mechanics of D&D towards the same ends.

Stephen M Yeager receives funding from SSHRC.

– ref. Social media can be understood as a role-playing game like Dungeons & Dragons – https://theconversation.com/social-media-can-be-understood-as-a-role-playing-game-like-dungeons-and-dragons-266440

November 23, 2025

Reality check: The Supreme Court actually did the right thing in its child pornography ruling

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Meg D. Lonergan, Contract Instructor and Doctoral Candidate, Legal Studies, Carleton University

The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in the Attorney General of Québec v. Senneville struck down one-year mandatory minimum sentences for accessing or possessing child pornography. Immediately, politicians and commentators denounced the ruling.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith have urged Ottawa to invoke Section 33, also known as the notwithstanding clause, of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The clause allows Parliament or provincial legislatures to override certain Charter rights for five years.

Their alarm fits a broader pattern of constitutional populism in which politicians move to sidestep court rulings and Charter protections whenever they obstruct political objectives — whether that’s targeting the unhoused, trans rights, labour rights or now criminal sentencing.

One media commentator accused the Supreme Court of trying to “help” sex offenders, while Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew declared offenders should be “buried underneath prisons.” His reaction echoes last year’s episode in which he apologized for his caucus’s move to expel Mark Wasyliw — a criminal defence lawyer and NDP member of provincial parliament — after Wasyliw’s colleague, Gerri Wiebe, represented convicted sex offender Peter Nygard.

What the court actually did

In her seminal 1984 essay “Thinking Sex,” queer theorist and scholar Gayle Rubin observed that few political tactics are as effective at generating moral panic as invoking the need to “protect children.”

That remains true today, in part because voices across the political spectrum are vulnerable to the same knee-jerk, sensationalized responses whenever sexual harm involving children is at issue.

While the furious response to Senneville shows Canada in the grip of a new moral panic, the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down mandatory minimums for child pornography offences reflects constitutional fidelity — not leniency.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms must apply to everyone if it’s to have any meaning at all. Section 12 of the Charter, in fact, guarantees that everyone has the right not to be subjected to cruel or unusual punishment.

Generally, mandatory minimums are constitutionally suspect, since they remove judicial discretion in sentencing based on the evidence and the specific situation at hand, and infringe upon the legal doctrine of stare decisis that requires precedence be followed.

In Senneville, the court held that mandatory minimums violate Section 12 Charter rights because they prevent judges from imposing proportionate, individualized sentences based on the facts of the case. The court also noted that Section 12 acknowledges innate human dignity and the inherent worth of individuals.

Proportionality, the Supreme Court emphasized, is a constitutional limit on state punishment, not a discretionary preference. At no point did the court diminish the gravity of child exploitation; on the contrary, it devoted an entire section in its ruling to detailing the profound harm caused by these offences.

This is consistent with the similar R. v. Friesen ruling in 2020, when the Supreme Court reaffirmed that the seriousness of child pornography does not erase the need for principled, proportionate sentencing. To cast this careful reasoning as “helping” sex offenders is not only wrong, it distorts the role of sentencing in a constitutional democracy and diminishes justice and rehabilitation in favour of punishment for its own sake.

A ‘flimsy’ hypothetical isn’t flimsy at all

An overlooked part of the majority decision in Senneville is that the appellants (the Attorney General of Québec) did not argue that, if the mandatory minimums were found to infringe the Charter’s Section 12, those minimums could be saved by Section 1.

Section 1 of the Charter guarantees that rights and freedoms are protected, but allows for “reasonable limits” that can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

This section gives governments the power to override Charter rights and freedoms when they can justify limiting them — most often in the name of protecting the rights and freedoms of others. Historically, this is what has made obscenity and hate speech laws constitutionally valid.

Many commentators claimed the Supreme Court relied on a “flimsy” and “far-fetched” hypothetical of an 18-year-old who receives an intimate image of a 17-year-old girl from a friend as one example of why the mandatory minimum sentences violate Section 12 of the Charter.

But there is nothing flimsy about this scenario. Canadian criminal justice scholars ranging from Alexa Dodge to Lara Karaian and Dillon Brady have shown that peer-based image-sharing among youth is common, and that criminal law routinely miscasts such behaviour through the lens of child porn, casting ordinary sexual expression as exploitation.

Karaian, in particular, shows how moral panic over “sexting” has long cast teenagers — especially girls — as simultaneously lacking agency and being responsible. This framing has helped create a legal landscape in which consensual, near-age image sharing is reinterpreted as criminal behaviour.

Familiar outrage

Since their introduction in 1993, Canada’s child-pornography laws have been criticized as overly broad.

One of the first tests came in the Eli Langer case, when police raided a Toronto art gallery and seized works — an early alarm bell about the law’s sweeping reach and capacity to criminalize artistic expression unconnected to exploitation.

The Supreme Court confronted these issues directly in the 2001 case R. v. Sharpe _[2001], ruling that existing child-pornography laws ensnared materials that posed no realistic risk of harm, including fictional writings and drawings. The court also carved out narrow exceptions to prevent criminalizing constitutionally protected expression.

Canadian law professor Brenda Cossman observed that moral panic around child pornography shields the law “from any and all criticism” to the point that: “Nothing can be said. And if it is, the speaker is denounced as a pedophile.”

The Senneville case reflects the realities of life, not some abstraction — and definitely not the carceral mindset that sees harsh punishment as moral and treats empathy as a weakness.

To normalize overriding Charter rights using the notwithstanding clause erodes not only public trust in judicial independence, but also the very rights and freedoms it enshrines.

The outrage of Poilievre, Smith, Ford and Kinew serves to assert their own moral authority and to repeat a familiar message: only incarceration protects the innocent. But if Canada is serious about keeping children safe, it must also invest in the social services, education and community supports that prevent harm.

As the Supreme Court itself reminded us in its ruling: “Criminal justice responses alone cannot solve the problem of sexual violence against children.”

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. Reality check: The Supreme Court actually did the right thing in its child pornography ruling – https://theconversation.com/reality-check-the-supreme-court-actually-did-the-right-thing-in-its-child-pornography-ruling-270014

November 23, 2025

Weak infrastructure leaves Jamaican schools devastated in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Giselle Thompson, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta

The devastation in Jamaica caused by Hurricane Melissa exposed a harsh reality that’s been hidden in plain sight for decades — most schools were not structurally sound enough to sustain high winds, heavy rainfall and storm-surge flooding.

Almost 800 government schools were designated as community shelters before Hurricane Melissa descended. More than 600 were damaged when the hurricane hit. Roofs were blown off. Walls collapsed. Windows broke. Debris scattered everywhere.

Citizens found themselves in “shelters” that could not protect them from the elements and for this reason have had to find alternative living arrangements.

As education researchers based in the Jamaican diaspora whose combined work has examined the Jamaican education system, we are deeply concerned about the future of Jamaica’s schools and their ability to not only serve students and teachers — but to be safe havens in natural disasters.

These thoughts came to mind as we watched reels of footage of Hurricane Melissa’s destruction on social media with feelings of helplessness and regret.

Personal exchanges with friends, research collaborators and family members — who are fortunate to have electricity, cellular service or access to WiFi — told us about harrowing experiences on the ground, especially in communities in western and southern parishes such as Hanover, Westmoreland, St. James and St. Elizabeth.

Principals raise red flags

Previous research carried out by Giselle Thompson, the lead author of this story, has examined education spending in Jamaica and how members of the Jamaican diaspora in Canada support schools “back home” through formal and informal fundraising initiatives.

This research was undertaken in partnership with a primary school community, including the principal, teachers, students, families and neighbours in Hanover. They welcomed Giselle to work with them as a supply teacher, recess monitor and in other supportive roles they needed in 2018.

Being immersed in their everyday, under-resourced environment and having one-on-one conversations with them forged lasting personal and professional bonds that form the foundation of current research. It also offered insight into the structural inequities and related vulnerabilities inherent in the Jamaican school system.

At a media briefing before Hurricane Melissa struck, Jamaica’s minister of local government and community development criticized schools that were designated emergency shelters for electing not to open to the public.

But in June 2025, the Jamaica Gleaner reported that some principals raised concerns about the schools, saying they lacked adequate sanitation facilities, weren’t furnished with items that people would need in a shelter or were in need of repair.

These issues were recently echoed in a conversation with a Jamaican principal and research collaborator on Giselle’s current research project, funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada and Killam Trusts. The study involves three public primary schools in Hanover and Westmoreland and examines Afro-Jamaican women teachers’ care work in these rural areas.

The principal noted her concerns were ignored when she brought them to the attention of personnel from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) when her school was assessed and put on the emergency shelter list before the hurricane. Ninety per cent of ODPEM-designated shelters were schools, and close to 78 per cent of them were destroyed.

She also said the expectations of school staff during sheltering periods were unclear, and she was worried about the implications of leaving schools with scant resources unlocked without oversight.

Given the extensive and likely irreparable damages to her school, her decision to keep its doors closed may have been a life-saving move.

An account like this stands in contrast with the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information’s announcement that it had “taken deliberate and comprehensive steps to ensure the resilience of the education sector” and that the school “facilities are prepared for what is forecast to be an active hurricane season.”

Structural vulnerabilities

Approximately $5.5 million (J$628 million) was spent to prepare 204 schools for hurricane season in the 2025-26 academic year after Hurricane Beryl, a Category 4 storm, damaged 101 institutions in 2024.

This injection of capital was part of a more than $50 million (J$5 billion) government infrastructure preparation project for Hurricane Melissa’s descent.

Although not all schools were damaged in the hurricane, the high percentage of those impacted is a cause for concern. But the structural vulnerability of many Jamaican schools to the effects of climate change is nothing new.

It is directly linked to decades of under-resourcing, particularly in the “era of structural adjustment” (1977 to present) as the state has had to adopt severe austerity measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund and other international financial institutions to reduce its spending on public goods such as education.

Such fiscal belt-tightening is meant to help Jamaica and other heavily indebted countries placate their debt to external creditors. But this economic growth formula is seldom associated with social development.

The cost of inflation and the forced devaluation of the Jamaican dollar — additional austerity measures required by international financial institutions — have reduced government capacity to adequately resource school infrastructure.

Jamaica Teachers’ Association advocacy

Since 1977, the year that structural adjustment programs took root in Jamaica, education spending has fluctuated between five and six per cent of the country’s GDP. However, many stakeholders, including the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), have been vocal about the negative implications of inadequate spending on education for several years.

In 2024, the JTA president said such low spending puts the nation “woefully” behind. Much needed physical infrastructure and maintenance (and, we might add, books and other learning materials, nutritional programs and transportation) have lagged as a result.

It’s therefore not difficult to comprehend why the scale of Hurricane Melissa’s assault on schools was so significant.

Casting a hopeful vision

Through our ongoing engagements in Jamaica as scholars, educators, activists and community members, we have borne witness to, and are involved in, ongoing efforts to support numerous aged, decrepit and crumbling school structures, which are the result of the state’s neglect and weather systems that are growing increasingly harsh.

We write with hope for the future, one that includes new ecologically resilient schools for teaching and learning and where community members can shelter safely when natural disasters hit. This is essential because Jamaica, and the wider Caribbean region, is susceptible not only to hurricanes, but also floods, landslides, earthquakes and other hazards.

Yet we are not optimistic that the state alone can effect necessary changes because of its heavily indebted status, and therefore, relatively weak capacity.

Although not an explicit admission, the creation of the National Education Trust in 2010 to raise funds and resources for schools, demonstrates this. The state has already begun its official solicitation of support from the international community.

But as members of the Jamaican diaspora in Canada, we urge others in our communities who are interested in supporting the reconstruction of schools in Jamaica to engage with principals, teachers, students and local community members directly so they are able to convey their institutions’ immediate and long-term needs.

This will increase the efficacy of our support and strengthen our ability to work together as Jamaicans at home and abroad.

Giselle Thompson received funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Killam Trusts. She is affiliated with the not-for-profit organization, World Class Jamaica.

Meshia Brown 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. Weak infrastructure leaves Jamaican schools devastated in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa – https://theconversation.com/weak-infrastructure-leaves-jamaican-schools-devastated-in-the-aftermath-of-hurricane-melissa-269783

November 23, 2025

Motherhood changes how women spend, save and think about money

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Oriane Couchoux, Assistant Professor of Accounting, Carleton University

Mothers aren’t just losing the income, promotions and career advancements that we’ve known about for quite some time. They’re also quietly spending their own money, absorbing more day-to-day costs and making financial sacrifices that place them at a long-term disadvantage.

We already knew about the impact of motherhood on women’s income. A 2015 study by Statistics Canada shows that mothers earn 85 cents for every dollar earned by fathers. Ten years after the birth of their first child, mothers’ earnings are still around 34.3 per cent lower than they would have been without children.

But our research also reveals that women’s relationship with money is rewired with motherhood and that having children changes their financial decisions and spending habits.

Study participants describe two competing narratives when discussing their personal finances. On the one hand, they view motherhood as a financial project they must manage independently, within the limits of budgets and cost-benefit considerations. On the other hand, they also see motherhood as a role that requires financial sacrifice, where children’s needs and well-being take priority over all financial considerations.

The true cost of motherhood

Motherhood comes with a price. Studies have shown that becoming a mother negatively affects women’s finances and career.

Some research suggests that among other changes, their colleagues might start to perceive their competence and commitment to their professional work less favourably. Mothers also face intensified work-life balance pressures, often leading to part-time employment.

Women are 19 times more likely than men to cite “caring for children” as the primary reason for working part-time.

But beyond the well-documented motherhood penalty — the name given by social scientists to this phenomenon of workplace disadvantages — and the impact of motherhood on women’s income, our qualitative study reveals that motherhood alters the relationship women have with money.

We interviewed mothers living in the Canadian province of Québec to better understand how they manage their finances after having children, and found that motherhood reshapes how mothers spend and think about money.

When asked about how they manage expenses related to their children, participants in our study said they feel they must navigate competing societal expectations that drive them to juggle two narratives — seeing the financial aspect of motherhood as, one, a project to manage, and, two, as a sacrifice to make for their children.

Taking on the role of financial strategist

Mothers, on one hand, strive to be autonomous financial managers capable of developing financial strategies and making decisions considered economically responsible for their families.

As a study participant described:

“Everything goes through my account, I manage everything. I like it that way too. I’m a very meticulous person […] I like to be in control of the budget.”

This leads them to create “baby budgets,” tracking and comparing the prices of different diaper brands in spreadsheets, or setting up savings strategies for their children’s potential future education.

This vision of themselves as independent financial managers, coupled with their desire to fully take on the financial responsibilities of having children, sometimes leads participants in our study to shoulder certain child-related expenses on their own without sharing full details with their co-parent or asking the co-parent to contribute to everyday costs such as food, clothing or family activities.

Another person in the study explained:

“I know that I buy more things for the children. I put them on my card so I know that there are more expenses that I incur as extras … But, at the same time, that’s what I like. I love shopping for them. It’s a gift for me too. But sometimes, I find it a little annoying. I really devote myself a lot to the family, buying things for the house, the family.”

The cultural script of maternal self-sacrifice

Mothers also see themselves as the primary caregivers responsible for making financial sacrifices for their children.

Within this narrative, participants in our study tend to believe that being a good mother means putting their children first, doing everything possible to ensure their happiness and well-being and not tracking the time and money they devote.

As another shared:

“That’s what being a good mom is all about […] you can’t count that. You don’t count the time, being present, taking care of them, the activities, the clothes, everything. You don’t count the expenses, you’re the person they go to.”

This can lead mothers, for example, to put their children’s future ahead of their own, prioritizing education savings or splurging on non-essential items they believe will make their children happy over their own retirement.

This view of motherhood that normalizes financial sacrifice also appears in mothers’ reluctance to calculate the full cost of raising their children and the overall impact of these expenses on their own financial situation, as if determining the amount of money spent on a child were somehow incompatible with the maternal ideal of selfless devotion.

Gender inequality’s long-term financial fallout

This shift in women’s financial perspective highlights some factors behind the persistent gaps between women’s and men’s personal finances. In Canada, the gender pension gap is at about 17 per cent, meaning that “for every dollar of retirement income men receive, women get only 83 cents”.

The additional mental load carried by mothers doesn’t just cost them time and energy, it takes a real toll on their budgets too.

In fact, financial burdens can fall unevenly within couples and between co-parents. Many participants said that they focus on shouldering the financial responsibilities of motherhood independently, no matter the impact on their finances or the contribution from the other parent.

Over time, all of this can contribute to reduced savings and lowered retirement security for mothers, reinforcing the disparities in wealth accumulation and the gender pension between men and women.

Our findings highlight that the true cost of motherhood goes beyond what meets the eye and the need for a broader recognition of the financial labour that mothers bear. We, as a society, must better support them.

Oriane Couchoux received funding from the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Centre for Research on Inclusion at Work (CRIW) at the Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Canada.

Gabrielle Patry-Beaudoin received funding from the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Centre for Research on Inclusion at Work (CRIW) at the Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Canada.

– ref. Motherhood changes how women spend, save and think about money – https://theconversation.com/motherhood-changes-how-women-spend-save-and-think-about-money-268737