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- OPEN ACCESS
- Vanessa Gruben,
- Elaine Hyshka,
- Matthew Bonn,
- Chelsea Cox,
- Marilou Gagnon,
- Adrian Guta,
- Martha Jackman,
- Jason Mercredi,
- Akia Munga,
- Eugene Oscapella,
- Carol Strike, and
- Hakique Virani
The International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy recommend that states commit to adopting a balanced, integrated, and human rights-based approach to drug policy through a set of foundational human rights principles, obligations arising from human rights standards, and obligations arising from the human rights of particular groups. In respect of the Guidelines and standing obligations under UN Treaties, Canada must adopt stronger and more specific commitments for a human rights-based, people-centered, and public health approach. This approach must commit to the decriminalization of people who use drugs and include the decriminalization of possession, purchase, and cultivation for personal consumption. In this report, we will first turn to the legal background of Canada's drug laws. Next, we will provide an overview of ongoing law reform proposals from civil society groups, various levels of government, the House of Commons, and the Senate. We end with a three-staged approach to reform and a series of targeted recommendationscr. - OPEN ACCESSHabitat sensitivity is a consideration for decision-making under environmental laws in many jurisdictions. However, habitat sensitivity has been variously defined and there is no consistent approach to its quantification, which limits our understanding of how habitat sensitivity varies among systems and in response to different pressures. We review various definitions offered in the scientific literature and policy documents before suggesting a universal framework for habitat sensitivity as (i) a habitat trait that defines the ecological impacts from a given pressure, (ii) which is composed of three components (habitat resistance, resilience, and recoverability), and (iii) which is quantified by measuring the change and recovery in the state of key habitat attributes in response to pressures. In addition, we provide guidance toward a consistent approach to assessing habitat sensitivity, which includes the use of pressure benchmarks and standardized metrics of change in key habitat attributes to create a common scale for comparison among habitat attributes and pressures. Our framework and recommendations should help to standardize the way in which habitat sensitivity is defined and assessed, and could be integrated into decision-making processes to improve ecosystem management in different jurisdictions.
- OPEN ACCESSAlberta grizzly bears are classified as a threatened species in the province of Alberta as of 2010, with human-caused mortality and habitat loss a primary threat. The people who live, work, and recreate within bear habitat play a crucial role in their conservation. While the public is often enthusiastic about grizzly bears, and opportunistically report their observations to government staff, these reports are not systematic or rigorously collected and lack key information. As such, we developed GrizzTracker as a community science program. Following several years of successful deployment, we analyzed community scientist data and evaluated the efficacy of the program through an online user survey. We found that the GrizzTracker app was useful as a data collection and public engagement tool, yielding information for applied management, and that community scientists were generally satisfied. We provide considerations for future program development, including considerations for human, social, technological, and financial capital investment related to design, development, and implementation of data collection protocols, the importance of clearly communicating outcomes, and opportunities for educational outreach. While there is continued trepidation by traditionally trained scientists to develop or engage in community science programs, and some noted areas of improvement for our program specifically, we think that GrizzTracker offers a success story in community science.
- OPEN ACCESSAssessing cat local abundance provides information on where wandering cat numbers are highest and what habitats or factors are associated with wandering cats. A variety of stakeholders can lead this research and then use the findings to make scientifically informed decisions to guide the physical locations of cat management actions. Here, we document a framework that engages community members, uses minimal equipment (six trail cameras), and provides scientifically derived information for interested parties to inform, direct, or test the effectiveness of cat management practices. Using these methods in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, we demonstrate how we estimated cat population size and cat local abundances across a variety of co-variates while accounting for non-perfect detection by using 55 trail camera sites and N-mixture models. Urban areas had three-fold higher local wandering cat abundances than parkland areas, and neighbourhoods below the median income had the highest local abundances of wandering cats. We estimated there are between 8905 and 48,419 (mean 21,298) wandering cats in Gatineau, with 18%–73% of those cats being unowned. These findings can be used to identify locations for future cat management. If estimates of cat abundance are repeated, they can assess the effectiveness of management actions.
- OPEN ACCESSLong-term ecological research (LTER) projects are considered valuable training grounds for graduate student researchers, yet student voices are largely absent from discussions of LTER merits in the literature. We aimed to identify benefits and challenges encountered by current and former graduate students in conducting graduate research within LTER projects. To explore graduate student experiences and perspectives, we conducted a survey comprising both closed-ended questions (i.e., multiple choice and Likert scale) and open-ended questions. From the responses, we identified emergent categories related to positive and negative experiences using sentiment analysis. We found agreement with purported benefits in areas including networking and access to established field sites and protocols. However, participants also identified data accessibility, authorship decisions, communication, and interpersonal conflicts as significant sources of challenges. We synthesized survey results with existing literature to provide actionable recommendations for principal investigators in four main areas (data, authorship, communication, and management) through an LTER lens. In addition to providing longitudinal data, LTER projects offer graduate students both physical and methodological infrastructure that can serve as the scaffold for new research questions to be developed. However, the likelihood of success of student research, as well as the success of the students themselves, can be improved when the needs of graduate students are prioritized.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Samantha M. Knight,
- Barbara I. Bleho,
- Melissa A. Grantham,
- Richard Westwood,
- Nicola Koper, and
- Cary D. Hamel
Poweshiek skipperling (Oarisma poweshiek Parker, 1870) populations have declined precipitously in the past few decades, and their global range is now restricted to two isolated regions, one of which is the managed Manitoba tall grass prairie in Canada. In this paper, we used a decade of survey data from 2010 to 2019 to understand how habitat features, management practices, and extreme weather impact Poweshiek skipperling abundance in Manitoba. The strongest predictor of abundance was the density of black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta L.), a primary nectar plant for adults. Poweshiek skipperling abundance also had a negative relationship with both the number of years since a burn occurred and the number of years since grazing occurred. Cumulative precipitation during their active period (May–June) had a negative relationship with skipperling abundance, whereas warm early springs and cool temperatures during the active period had positive relationships. These results suggest that management actions that maintain tall grass prairie habitat in an early successional stage (burning and grazing) and maintain important nectar sources benefit this population. In contrast, extreme weather events had varying effects on Poweshiek skipperling abundance. Results from this study inform ongoing management practices in the Manitoba tall grass prairie to support this endangered population. - OPEN ACCESSDespite the challenges posed by climate change and the biodiversity crisis, most academic research continues to stay within academia and the gaps between conservation science, policy, and practice remain intact. We need to improve the exchange of evidence between researchers and conservation practitioners and focus on solutions-oriented, interdisciplinary science and co-developed research. As we continue to break climate records and lose record numbers of species every year, now is the time for academics to think and act beyond their institutions.
- OPEN ACCESS
- K. Lowitt,
- A. Francis,
- L. Gunther,
- B.N. Madison,
- L. McGaughey,
- A. Echendu,
- M. Kaur,
- K.A. Roussel,
- Z. St Pierre, and
- A. Weppler
This paper examines fish consumption advisories (FCAs) as a site of transboundary governance in the Upper St Lawrence River with the aim of identifying opportunities for enhanced coordination and power sharing to address environmental injustices. The Upper St Lawrence River is part of the Great Lakes watershed of North America and the traditional territory of multiple Indigenous Nations, as well as the present-day jurisdictions of Ontario (Canada), Quebec (Canada), and New York State (USA). Through an analysis of publicly available information on FCA programs, we examine similarities and differences in these programs across jurisdictions. We find an overall lack of coordination in fish monitoring and differences in consumption advice for a waterway in which fish may easily move between transboundary areas. We offer recommendations for improving FCAs in this transboundary waterway from the lens of environmental justice, focusing on (1) a shared and transparent approach to monitoring contaminant levels and fish species; (2) integration of cultural food practices; (3) enhanced outreach to angler populations; and (4) upholding the self-determination of Indigenous communities. We also underscore that FCAs should not be seen as a permanent solution. Preventing and reducing contaminants, including associated harm reduction in communities affected by FCAs, need to be priorities. - OPEN ACCESSContemporaneous reforms to Canada and British Columbia's environmental impact assessment legislation have the potential to advance Access to Environmental Justice. Access to Environmental Justice is the ability of individuals and communities who are disproportionately and negatively impacted by environmental decisions to access legal and regulatory processes and to have their concerns heard and addressed through environmental decision-making and dispute resolution. Access to Environmental Justice connects concepts of environmental justice, public participation, the rule of law, and access to justice to provide a framework for evaluating the implementation of environmental impact assessment laws. We conducted a preliminary analysis of early implementation of legislative reforms in Canada and British Columbia. Our analysis indicates that a number of factors influence who is seeking to access environmental justice through environmental impact assessment, including geography, project type, and the availability of a legislative mechanism that allows anyone to request an assessment. Whether Canada and British Columbia's reforms are advancing Access to Environmental Justice requires continued analysis as projects continue to be assessed under the new laws.
- OPEN ACCESS
- S.E. Cannon,
- J.W. Moore,
- M.S. Adams,
- T. Degai,
- E. Griggs,
- J. Griggs,
- T. Marsden,
- A.J. Reid,
- N. Sainsbury,
- K.M. Stirling,
- Axdii A. Yee S. Barnes,
- R. Benson,
- D. Burrows,
- Gala'game R. Chamberlin,
- B. Charley,
- D. Dick,
- A.T. Duncan,
- Kung Kayangas M. Liddle,
- M. Paul,
- N. Paul Prince,
- C. Scotnicki,
- K. Speck,
- J. Squakin,
- C. Van Der Minne,
- J. Walkus,
- K. West,
- Kii'iljuus B. Wilson, and
- The Indigenous Data Sovereignty Workshop Collective
In this paper, we argue that Indigenous data sovereignty (IDS) is vital for addressing threats to ecosystems, as well as for Indigenous Peoples re-establishing and maintaining sovereignty over their territories. Indigenous knowledge-holders face pressure from non-Indigenous scientists to collaborate to address environmental problems, while the open data movement is pressuring them to make their data public. We examine the role of IDS in the context of cumulative effects and climate change that threaten salmon-bearing ecosystems in British Columbia, guided by content from an online workshop in June 2022 and attended exclusively by a Tier-1 audience (First Nations knowledge-holders and/or technical staff working for Nations). Attention to data is required for fruitful collaborations between Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous researchers to address the impacts of climate change and the cumulative effects affecting salmon-bearing watersheds in BC. In addition, we provide steps that Indigenous governments can take to assert sovereignty over data, recommendations that external researchers can use to ensure they respect IDS, and questions that external researchers and Indigenous partners can discuss to guide decision-making about data management. Finally, we reflect on what we learned during the process of co-creating materials. - OPEN ACCESSIn Quebec, the Act Respecting Threatened or Vulnerable species (ARTV), adopted in 1989, aims to safeguard Quebec's wild genetic diversity by protecting species at risk. However, since its implementation about 30 years ago, it has been repeatedly pointed out that the application of the Quebec legislative framework for the protection of wildlife species at risk was often slow and inadequate. The aim of this article is therefore to make a series of observations on the limits of current legislation and then propose nine urgent recommendations to improve the effectiveness of conservation efforts for species at risk in Quebec. Our recommendations aim to increase the efficiency and transparency of the designation process, reconsider compensation mechanisms for the loss of critical habitat, and harmonize species status between the federal and provincial levels. We hope that our article will pave the way for a constructive discussion leading to an improved protection of wildlife species in precarious situations and their persistence for future generations. The English version of this article is available in the Supplementary material file.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Samira Mubareka,
- John Amuasi,
- Arinjay Banerjee,
- Hélène Carabin,
- Joe Copper Jack,
- Claire Jardine,
- Bogdan Jaroszewicz,
- Greg Keefe,
- Jonathon Kotwa,
- Susan Kutz,
- Deborah McGregor,
- Anne Mease,
- Lily Nicholson,
- Katarzyna Nowak,
- Brad Pickering,
- Maureen G. Reed,
- Johanne Saint-Charles,
- Katarzyna Simonienko,
- Trevor Smith,
- J. Scott Weese, and
- E. Jane Parmley
Given the enormous global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Canada, and manifold other zoonotic pathogen activity, there is a pressing need for a deeper understanding of the human-animal-environment interface and the intersecting biological, ecological, and societal factors contributing to the emergence, spread, and impact of zoonotic diseases. We aim to apply a One Health approach to pressing issues related to emerging zoonoses, and propose a functional framework of interconnected but distinct groups of recommendations around strategy and governance, technical leadership (operations), equity, education and research for a One Health approach and Action Plan for Canada. Change is desperately needed, beginning by reorienting our approach to health and recalibrating our perspectives to restore balance with the natural world in a rapid and sustainable fashion. In Canada, a major paradigm shift in how we think about health is required. All of society must recognize the intrinsic value of all living species and the importance of the health of humans, other animals, and ecosystems to health for all. - OPEN ACCESSWith the influence of climate change on marine systems expanding, climate adaptation will be fundamental for the future of fisheries management. An exponential increase in Atlantic halibut Hippoglossus hippoglossus landings over the past decade has coincided with warming ocean temperatures. Here, we explore how historical changes in abundance have been linked to changing thermal habitat conditions and project trends with a warming climate under different emissions scenarios. From 1990 to 2018, available thermal habitat increased by 11.6 ± 7.35% and growing degree days have increased by 13.5 ± 7.86 °C·days across the region. With warming, the probability of occurrence is projected to increase up to 20.5% in Canada by 2085 under RCP 8.5 for Atlantic halibut. Our results suggest that shifting patterns of halibut distribution and abundance are linked to thermal conditions and that continued warming will likely continue to enhance habitat conditions, leading to increased abundance in the Canadian range. Collectively, these results illustrate the influence of shifting environmental conditions on population dynamics and emphasize the importance of adaptive management practices in a dynamic future climate.
- OPEN ACCESSMismatches between institutions and social–ecological systems (SESs) are one of the foremost challenges in natural resource management. However, while mismatches are often cited in the literature as a major challenge, empirical evidence of mismatches and their consequences is limited. This is particularly true for complex SESs, such as on the Pacific Coast of North America, where salmon drive interactions across multiple environments, jurisdictions, and scales. Here, I use the theoretical concept of fit to examine institutional alignment in a large-scale Pacific salmon SES, the Skeena River watershed in British Columbia, Canada. Utilizing Canadian federal environmental assessments as a proxy for colonial environmental governance institutions, I describe the common causes and consequences of mismatches between institutions and salmon SESs. This case study suggests that mismatches are threatening salmon sustainability and negatively affecting Indigenous People’s rights, livelihoods, and approaches to resource management and stewardship. I argue that improving social–ecological fit in salmon SESs will require new or revitalized forms of environmental governance that consciously fit the underlying social–ecological dynamics. While these findings are based on the Skeena River watershed, they may be generalizable to other salmon SESs in which mismatches between social and ecological processes and institutions exist.
- OPEN ACCESSTrash capture devices (TCDs) are a rapidly evolving tool for municipal governments, non-governmental organizations, and industries to divert litter from our waterways. Here, we introduce protocols to initiate trash trapping projects to quantify and characterize captured anthropogenic litter based on a case study using Seabins. In addition, we have introduced a network for global data collection via TCDs. Our first protocol is a visual audit of the potential site to inform the type and location for TCD deployment. Our next two protocols quantify and characterize the litter captured by TCDs: (1) a simple protocol intended for daily monitoring and (2) a detailed protocol to characterize and quantify all large debris (>3 cm) and a subset of the small debris (2 mm–3 cm) caught in the devices. Using Seabins in the Toronto Harbour to test our methodology, we found that our subsampling methodology has a 6.9% error rate. Over a 19-week period, the Seabins captured ∼85 000 pieces of small debris. Our study highlights the utility of TCDs and proposes methods to realize this utility globally. TCDs should become more widespread and utilized as a triple threat: a cleanup tool, a data collection tool, and a platform for outreach and education.
- OPEN ACCESSClimate change is affecting the ocean, altering the biogeography of marine species. Yet marine protected area (MPA) planning still rarely incorporates projected species range shifts. We used the outputs of species distribution models fitted with biological and climate data as inputs to identify trends in occurrence for marine species in British Columbia (BC), Canada. We assessed and compared two ways of incorporating climate change projections into MPA planning. First, we overlaid 98 species with modelled distributions now and by the mid-21st century under two contrasting (“no mitigation” and “strong mitigation”) climate change scenarios with existing Provincial marine parks in BC, to ask which species could overlap with protected areas in the future. Second, we completed a spatial prioritization analysis using Marxan with the projected future species ranges as inputs, to ask where priority regions exist for the 98 marine species. We found that many BC marine parks will lose species in both climate scenarios that we analyzed, and that protecting 30% of important marine species will be challenging under the “no mitigation” climate change scenario. Challenges included the coarse resolution of the data and uncertainty in projecting species range shifts.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Alana A. E. Wilcox,
- Jennifer F. Provencher,
- Dominique A. Henri,
- Steven M. Alexander,
- Jessica J. Taylor,
- Steven J. Cooke,
- Philippe J. Thomas, and
- Lydia R. Johnson
The braiding of Indigenous knowledge systems and Western-based sciences offers insights into ecology and has emerged as a way to help address complex environmental issues. We reviewed the publicly available ecological research involving the braiding of Indigenous knowledge systems and Western-based sciences to support collaborative work in the Alberta oil sands region of Canada. We conducted a systematic review, coding for 78 questions in six categories: (1) literature search and bibliographic information; (2) research themes; (3) study setting and design; (4) knowledge systems; (5) power relationships, colonization, and ethical considerations in research; and (6) benefits and challenges of braiding. We identified six articles that braided knowledge, with those articles focusing on environmental management and monitoring for impacts of industrial activity in northern Alberta. Researchers used a broad range of approaches to gather Indigenous knowledge and scientific data and identified multiple challenges (e.g., asymmetries of power, resource availability, and funding) to research. Our findings show that more support is needed to foster, promote, and disseminate interdisciplinary collaborative work involving braiding. Additional support is also required to address Indigenous community research needs related to the assessment of environmental impact and reclamation, as well as the understanding of ecological threats across the region. - OPEN ACCESS
- Michèle Hamers,
- Angie Elwin,
- Rosemary-Claire Collard,
- Chris R. Shepherd,
- Emma Coulthard,
- John Norrey,
- David Megson, and
- Neil D'Cruze
In Canada, there have been calls for increased research into and surveillance of wildlife trade and associated zoonotic disease risks. We provide the first comprehensive analysis of Canadian live wildlife imports over a 7-year period (2014–2020), based on data from federal government databases obtained via Access to Information requests. A total of 1 820 313 individual animals (including wild-caught and captive-bred animals but excluding fish, invertebrates, Columbiformes (pigeons), and Galliformes (game birds)), from 1028 documented import records, were imported into Canada during 2014–2020. Birds were the most imported taxonomic class (51%), followed by reptiles (28%), amphibians (19%), and mammals (2%). In total, 22 taxonomic orders from 79 countries were recorded as imported. Approximately half of the animals (49%) were imported for the exotic pet market. Based on existing literature and a review of the Canadian regulatory apparatus, we gesture to these importations' potential implications for zoonotic disease risk and discuss potential biosecurity challenges at the Canadian border. Finally, we identify data gaps that prevent an extensive assessment of the zoonotic disease risk of live wildlife imports. We recommend data collection for all wildlife importation and improved coordination between agencies to accurately assess zoonotic disease risk. - OPEN ACCESSTitles of scientific papers play a key role in their discovery, and “good” titles engage and recruit readers. Humour is a particularly interesting aspect of title construction, but little is known about whether funny titles boost or limit paper impact. We used a panel of scorers to assess title humour for 2439 papers in ecology and evolution, and measured associations between humour and subsequent citation (self-citation and citation by others). Papers with funnier titles were cited less, but this appears to reflect confounding with paper importance: self-citation data suggest that authors give funnier titles to papers they consider less important. After correction for this, papers with funny titles have significantly higher citation rates (P < 2.2 × 10−16; roughly doubling from lowest to highest humour score)—suggesting that humour recruits readers. We also examined associations between citation rates and other features of titles. Inclusion of acronyms and taxonomic names was associated with lower citation rates, while assertive-statement phrasing and presence of colons, question marks, and political regions were associated with somewhat higher citation rates. Title length had no effect on citation. Our results suggest that scientists can use creativity with titles without having their work condemned to obscurity.
- OPEN ACCESS
- OPEN ACCESSThis perspective essay examines the role of conservation law in contributing to biodiversity decline by exploring how current conservation laws exacerbate the challenges Canada faces. We contend that there are three intertwined foundation-setting functions of conservation law: they codify priorities and values, define and influence acceptable conservation behaviour, and drive the establishment of the institutions, programs, and governance arrangements of today’s conservation regime. We describe these functions and then assess whether conservation laws in Canada are adequately fulfilling the functions. We find that the federal conservation law regime is sub-optimal and likely incapable of halting and reversing the negative biodiversity trends. Based on this, we suggest a set of conservation legislative principles capable of catalyzing change and supporting the transition to a more sustainable conservation future.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Juliano Palacios-Abrantes,
- Sarah M. Roberts,
- Talya ten Brink,
- Tim Cashion,
- William W.L. Cheung,
- Anne Mook, and
- Tu Nguyen
The world has set ambitious goals to protect marine biodiversity and improve ocean health in the face of anthropogenic threats. Yet, the efficiency of spatial tools such as marine reserves to protect biodiversity is threatened as climate change shifts species distributions globally. Here, we investigate the ability of global marine reserves to protect fish biomass under future climate change scenarios. Moreover, we explore regional patterns and compare worlds with and without marine reserves. We rely on computer modeling to simulate an utopian world where all marine reserves thrive and ocean governance is effective. Results suggest that climate change will affect fish biomass in most marine reserves and their surrounding waters throughout the 21st century. The biomass change varies among regions, with tropical reserves losing biomass, temperate ones gaining, and polar reserves having mixed effects. Overall, a world with marine reserves will still be better off in terms of fish biomass than a world without marine reserves. Our study highlights the need to promote climate resilient conservation methods if we are to maintain and recover biodiversity in the ocean under a changing world. - OPEN ACCESSAn exponentially growing body of international research engages with plastic pollution using different ideas on the right ways to frame, research, and intervene in the problem. The premise of this study is that all scientists work with understandings of what is right and wrong and why that is (models of justice) in their research, even when it is not explicitly stated, reflected upon, or a conscious part of the discussion. We surveyed 755 published articles on marine debris and plastic chemical additives and found that all evoked at least one model of justice, and often more. The most routinely used models included: developmental justice, distributive justice, and procedural justice. More rarely, we found appeals to environment-first justice and Indigenous sovereignty. While occasionally these multiple models worked synergistically, more often they conflicted. Our findings ground a call for fellow researchers to use a more intentional and systematic approach to evoking models of justice in our work. Our goal is to offer descriptions and insights about models of justice that are already being deployed to increase the sophistication of the ethical and normative orientations of our research and our fields, both in plastic pollution sciences and beyond.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Nicolas Mansuy,
- Diana Staley,
- Sharlene Alook,
- Brenda Parlee,
- Alexandra Thomson,
- Danika Billie Littlechild,
- Matthew Munson, and
- Fred Didzena
Wilderness and national parks play a fundamental role in defining Canadian identity, yet Indigenous Peoples have historically been excluded from conservation decisions, resulting in systematic dispossession and oppression. In this article, we collaborate with Dene Tha'First Nation to discuss the recent paradigm shift towards Indigenous-led conservation and propose guiding principles to advance and assert the critical role of Indigenous Peoples in conservation. We begin with a brief history of Indigenous Peoples in conservation, followed by the concept of Indigenous protected and conserved areas (IPCAs). Our analyses show that IPCAs have gained momentum recently, driven by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Canada's commitment to global conservation goals. With one of the largest landmasses and Indigenous populations in the world, IPCAs in Canada have the potential to make immense contributions to environmental and cultural conservation rooted in an intrinsic relationship to the land. Despite this biocultural diversity, as of 2022, less than 1% of Canada's landmass is declared as Indigenous-led protected areas. However, more than 50 Indigenous communities across the country have currently received funding to establish IPCAs or to undertake early planning and engagement that could position Canada as a global leader in Indigenous-led conservation. As the Government of Canada aims to designate 25% of the territory as protected space by 2025 and 30% by 2030, embedding Indigenous rights, knowledge, and values in the national conservation strategy will be essential to simultaneously honoring the commitments to reconciliation and meeting the ambitious targets stipulated in the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. - OPEN ACCESSDinerstein et al. present a spatially explicit global framework for protected areas needed to reverse catastrophic biodiversity losses and stabilize climate. The Province of Ontario (Canada) stands out in this “Global Safety Net (GSN)” as a critical jurisdiction for meeting those goals, because of both the large extent of roadless lands and high carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems. Simultaneously, pressure is increasing to develop unmanaged lands in Ontario, particularly in the Far North, for resource extraction. Here, we extract data from the GSN to identify and calculate the areal extent of target regions present in Ontario and critically review the results in terms of accuracy and implications for conservation. We show that when region-specific data are incorporated, Ontario is even more significant than what is shown in the GSN, especially in terms of carbon stocks in forested and open peatlands. Additionally, the biodiversity metrics used in the GSN only partially capture opportunities for conservation in Ontario, and the officially recognized extent of Indigenous lands vastly underestimates the role of First Nations in conservation. Despite these limitations, our analyses indicate that Ontario plays an outsized role in terms of its potential to impact the trajectories both of biodiversity and climate globally.
- OPEN ACCESSWildlife health surveillance is important in rapidly expanding urban areas, where wildlife live in close association with humans and face unique health risks. Urban areas are not homogeneous, and social and environmental factors may affect the distribution of surveillance data we receive from these environments. The Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative (CWHC) operates a national wildlife surveillance programme that receives carcass submissions for diagnostic evaluation. Our objective was to evaluate sociodemographic and environmental factors associated with CWHC submissions within two cities in Ontario, Canada. Submissions were mapped at two geographic scales and linked with census and environmental data. The results of mixed multivariable Poisson and negative binomial regression analyses suggest that natural (e.g., percent parkland) and anthropogenic environmental (e.g., presence of a zoo) and social variables (e.g., low income) are associated with submissions at both administratively relevant scales. Associations that are common across scales may represent robust intervention points and inform surveillance methodology/messaging. Surveillance data may influence public health policy, wildlife management, and other decision-making regarding the benefits/risks associated with coexistence with wildlife. This study highlights gaps in surveillance methodology that may prevent equal opportunity for participation in wildlife health surveillance and enable equal opportunity to benefit from the associated outputs.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Rachael Cadman,
- Megan Dicker,
- Mary Denniston,
- Paul McCarney,
- Rodd Laing,
- Eric C.J. Oliver, and
- Megan Bailey
With Inuit organizations leading the way, there is a growing opportunity for meaningful partnerships between Inuit and visiting researchers to create impactful research programs and policy initiatives that reflect Inuit priorities. Collaborative research methods, where Inuit and visiting researchers work together to meet community needs, offer a potential avenue for braiding knowledge systems, and therefore have become an increasingly popular way to conduct research in the Arctic. In this paper, we outline our use of the data analysis method known as the “Framework Method” during the Imappivut Knowledge Study, a participatory mapping project led by the Nunatsiavut Government. We reflect on both the method's applicability and its usefulness for future research conducted in collaboration between Inuit and non-Inuit researchers. We find that the Framework Method allowed us to work in an iterative and adaptive manner, resulting in comprehensive findings for marine spatial planning. The method also supported data sovereignty for the Nunatsiavut Government. The Framework Method can be used to allow Nunatsiavut greater control over the data internally and self-determining access to external researchers. - OPEN ACCESSSeasonal variation in seagrass growth and senescence affects the provision of ecosystem services and restoration efforts, requiring seasonal monitoring. Remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) enable frequent high-resolution surveys at full-meadow scales. However, the reproducibility of RPAS surveys is challenged by varying environmental conditions, which are common in temperate estuarine systems. We surveyed three eelgrass (Zostera marina) meadows in Newfoundland, Canada, using an RPAS equipped with a three-color band (red, green, blue [RGB]) camera, to evaluate the seasonal reproducibility of RPAS surveys and assess the effects of flight altitude (30–115 m) on classification accuracy. Habitat percent cover was estimated using supervised image classification and compared to corresponding estimates from snorkel quadrat surveys. Our results revealed inconsistent misclassification due to environmental variability and low spectral separability between habitats. This rendered differentiating between model misclassification versus actual changes in seagrass cover infeasible. Conflicting estimates in seagrass and macroalgae percent cover compared to snorkel estimates could not be corrected by decreasing the RPAS altitude. Instead, higher altitude surveys may be worth the trade-off of lower image resolution to avoid environmental conditions shifting mid-survey. We conclude that RPAS surveys using RGB imagery alone may be insufficient to discriminate seasonal changes in estuarine subtidal vegetated habitats.
- OPEN ACCESSAlthough Canada’s oceans are a public resource, commercial fisheries data are routinely withheld from researchers and the general public by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) due to privacy obligations. However, data can be released if considered sufficiently de-personalized through an internal guideline called the “rule of five,” under which data sources are aggregated to a threshold of five to allow for data publication or disclosure. This article provides an overview of the “rule of five,” summarizes key legislative provisions that have bearing on the “rule” and potential for its reform, and discusses the findings from two tools used to collect information on the “rule” and its use in Canada: (1) an Access to Information and Privacy request and (2) an anonymous survey conducted to evaluate the impacts of the “rule” on various stakeholders. The “rule of five” is not mandatory but rather represents a conservative approach to access to information that can be detrimental to independent researchers and the public interest in transparent fisheries data. The article concludes with recommendations to further a rebalancing of privacy and access to information, including emphasizing existing legislative exemptions that could allow for data disclosure when the “rule of five” is not met.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Tim Alamenciak,
- Dorian Pomezanski,
- Nancy Shackelford,
- Stephen D. Murphy,
- Steven J. Cooke,
- Line Rochefort,
- Sonia Voicescu, and
- Eric Higgs
Much has been achieved by research into ecological restoration as a nature-based solution to the destruction of ecosystems, particularly in Canada. We conducted a national-level synthesis of Canadian restoration ecology research to understand strengths and gaps. This synthesis answers the following questions: Who is studying restoration? What ecosystem types are studied? Where is restoration studied? Which themes has restoration research focused on? Why is restoration happening? And how is restoration monitored and evaluated? We employed systematic searching for this review. Our results show that restoration research is conducted mainly by academics. Forest, peatland, grassland, and lake ecosystem types were the most commonly studied. There was a concentration of research in four provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia). Research into restoration has changed its thematic focus over time from reforestation to climate change. Legislation was the most common reason given for restoration. Restoration research frequently documented results of less than 5 years of monitoring and included one category of response variable (e.g., plant response but not animal response). Future research could investigate the outcomes of restoration prompted by legislation. At the dawn of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, this work demonstrates Canada's momentum and provides a model for synthesis in other countries. - OPEN ACCESSProtected areas (PAs) are a key component of most conservation strategies because they are thought to enhance biodiversity value relative to similar habitats in working landscapes. To examine whether PAs in Nova Scotia are functioning to enhance the biodiversity value of the landscapes in which they are embedded, we surveyed breeding bird communities in forested wetlands inside and outside of a large PA during 2018 and 2019. We found significantly higher species richness and diversity at sites in the working landscape relative to those inside the PA. Bird communities from different wetland types inside the PA were distinct from each other and those outside the PA, whereas bird communities at outside sites were homogenized and comprised of more early-successional species. There were numerous species of conservation concern at both inside and outside sites, indicating that both types of sites are playing important conservation roles. Abundances of these key species were driven by a combination of local (e.g., water table depth, herb, and shrub cover) and landscape scale factors (e.g., edge density and human disturbance). The higher abundance of long-distance migrants and insectivores at inside sites suggests PAs are providing critical additional support to key guilds that are in steep decline.
- OPEN ACCESSClimate change affects virtually all marine life and is increasingly a dominant concern for fisheries, reinforcing the need to incorporate climate variability and change when managing fish stocks. Canada is expected to experience widespread climate-driven impacts on its fisheries but does not yet have a clear adaptation strategy. Here, we provide an overview of a project we are developing, the Climate Adaptation Framework for Fisheries, to address this need and support climate adaptation in Canadian marine fisheries. The framework seeks to quantitatively and flexibly evaluate species, fishing infrastructure, and the management and operation of fisheries to assess climate vulnerability comprehensively and provide outputs that can support climate adaptation planning across different sectors, agencies, and stakeholders. This new framework should allow future climate scenarios to be evaluated and identify actionable climate vulnerabilities related to the management of fisheries, creating a systematic approach to supporting climate adaptation in Canada’s fisheries.
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- Clare L. Ardern,
- Nadia Martino,
- Sammy Nag,
- Robyn Tamblyn,
- David Moher,
- Adrian Mota, and
- Karim M. Khan
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) commenced a Quality Assurance Program in 2019 to monitor the quality of peer review in its Project Grant Competition Peer Review Committees. Our primary aim was to describe the performance of CIHR grant peer reviewers, based on the assessments made by CIHR peer review leaders during the first 3 years of the Research Quality Assurance Program. All Peer Review Committee Chairs and (or) Scientific Officers who led peer review for CIHR in 2019, 2020, and 2021 completed Reviewer Quality Feedback forms immediately following Peer Review Committee meetings. The form assessed Performance, Future potential, Review quality, Participation, and Responsiveness. We summarised and descriptively synthesised data from assessments conducted after each of the four grant competitions. The performance of peer reviewers on 4438 occasions was rated by Chairs and Scientific Officers. Approximately one in three peer reviewers submitted outstanding reviews or discussed additional applications and one in 10 demonstrated potential as a future Peer Review Committee leader. At most, one in 20 peer reviewers was considered to have not performed adequately with respect to review quality, participation, or responsiveness. There is a need for more research on the processes involved in allocating research grant funding. - OPEN ACCESSMarine Protected Areas (MPAs) are conservation tools that promote biodiversity by regulating human impacts. However, because MPAs are fixed in space and, by design, difficult to change, climate change may challenge their long-term effectiveness. It is therefore imperative to consider anticipated ecological changes in their design. We predict the time of emergence (ToE: year when temperatures will exceed a species’ tolerance) of 30 fish and invertebrate species in the Scotian Shelf-Bay of Fundy draft network of conservation areas based on climate projections under two contrasting emission scenarios (RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5). We demonstrate a strong Southwest-to-Northeast gradient of change under both scenarios. Cold water-associated species had earlier ToEs, particularly in southwesterly areas. Under low emissions, 20.0% of habitat and 12.6% of species emerged from the network as a whole by 2100. Under high emissions, 51% of habitat and 42% of species emerged. These impacts are expected within the next 30–50 years in some southwestern areas. The magnitude and velocity of change will be tempered by reduced emissions. Our identification of high- and low-risk areas for species of direct and indirect conservation interest can support decisions regarding site and network design (and designation scheduling), promoting climate resilience.
- OPEN ACCESSThere is a global focus by governments on retrofitting buildings, as well as incorporating energy efficiency into new construction, as a means to address climate change. Initiatives to reduce energy use, source renewable electricity, and use low-carbon materials are aimed at leading by example, where governments attempt to showcase innovation through green building strategies. Greening government initiatives are promoted to reduce operating costs, improve energy system resilience, grow the “green” economy, support clean energy development, and encourage sustainable building practices. Here, we outline the benefits of greening government initiatives by examining Canada's Greening Government Strategy as a case study approach for transitioning to a low-carbon building portfolio. We focus our review on initiatives that outline how public institutions can transition buildings to reduce their carbon footprint by (1) pairing greening government mandates with adequate support structures for public agencies, (2) using an integrated energy management process for the planning and development of carbon-neutral portfolios, and (3) overcoming barriers to low-carbon project implementation with procurement standards, financial instruments, and staff training. These approaches are defined to offer leadership in the green building industry, strategically identify carbon reduction projects, and reduce barriers to a low-carbon building portfolio.
- OPEN ACCESSIn some cases, managing an established invasive species may do more harm to an ecosystem than allowing the invader to persist. Given limited resources available to land managers and the realities of conservation triage, we recognized the need for systematic guidance for management decisions made at the “late end” of the invasion curve. We gathered an interdisciplinary group of experts and practitioners to address the question of “under what circumstances is the active management of an established aquatic invasive species warranted?” Our working group identified three key dimensions to this question: (1) the efficacy of available management options; (2) the net benefits of management actions weighed against the null scenario of no control; and (3) the socio-ecological context that defines management goals, a manager’s ability to achieve said goals, and perceptions of management outcomes. These considerations were used to structure a consensus decision tree that supports a multi-criteria approach to decision-making. Our approach promotes interdisciplinarity and systems thinking and emphasizes the need to consider costs and benefits comprehensively, for example by considering the persistence or reversibility of impacts from both the invasive species and from efforts to suppress or eradicate it.
- OPEN ACCESSInvertebrate pollinators are in trouble: particularly documented are declines among bees and butterflies. Interacting stressors include pesticides, pathogens, habitat loss, nonnative species, and climate change. Many governments have strategies to reduce negative pressures on pollinators, but Canada does not despite widespread public interest in pollinator health. This study serves as a needs assessment for science-based policy solutions for wild pollinator conservation in Canada. We designed a Policy Delphi survey technique to identify solutions that experts deem both desirable and feasible. Our secondary aim was to identify research priorities that would inform the implementation of these solutions. Sixty % of the 83 unique solutions were supported and feasible at a high consensus level (10% were “strongly” supported and “definitely” feasible). General themes included improving the Canadian government's approach in assessing pesticide risk to pollinators, curbing pathogen spillover/spillback between managed and wild pollinators, and reducing the reliance of Canadian agricultural systems on pesticides, among others. We discuss solutions in reference to pollinator conservation policies recommended by the broader scientific community and identify policy levers within the context of Canada's highly decentralized approach to biodiversity conservation/management and a political economy that uses high numbers of managed, mostly nonnative bees for pollination services.
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- Mohsen Alayche,
- Kelly D. Cobey,
- Jeremy Y. Ng,
- Clare L. Ardern,
- Karim M. Khan,
- An-Wen Chan,
- Ryan Chow,
- Mouayad Masalkhi,
- Ana Patricia Ayala,
- Sanam Ebrahimzadeh,
- Jason Ghossein,
- Ibrahim Alayche,
- Jessie V. Willis, and
- David Moher
Adherence to study registration and reporting best practices is vital to fostering evidence-based medicine. All registered clinical trials on ClinicalTrials.gov conducted in Canada as of 2009 and completed by 2019 were identified. A cross-sectional analysis of those trials assessed prospective registration, subsequent result reporting in the registry, and subsequent publication of study findings. The lead sponsor, phase of study, clinical trial site location, total patient enrollment, number of arms, type of masking, type of allocation, year of completion, and patient demographics were examined as potential effect modifiers to these best practices. A total of 6720 trials were identified. From 2009 to 2019, 59% (n = 3,967) of them were registered prospectively, and 32% (n = 2138) had neither their results reported nor their findings published. Of the 3763 trials conducted exclusively in Canada, 3% (n = 123) met all three criteria of prospective registration, reporting in the registry, and publishing findings. Overall, the odds of having adherence to all three practices concurrently in Canadian trials decrease by 95% when compared with international trials. Canadian clinical trials substantially lacked adherence to study registration and reporting best practices. Knowledge of this widespread non-compliance should motivate stakeholders in the Canadian clinical trial ecosystem to address and continue to monitor this problem. - OPEN ACCESSThe creation and deployment of plastic structures made out of pipes and panels in freshwater ecosystems to enhance fish habitat or restore freshwater systems have become popularized in some regions. Here, we outline concerns with these activities, examine the associated evidence base for using plastic materials for restoration, and provide some suggestions for a path forward. The evidence base supporting the use of plastic structures in freshwater systems is limited in terms of ecological benefit and assurances that the use of plastics does not contribute to pollution via plastic degradation or leaching. Rarely was a cradle-to-grave approach (i.e. the full life cycle of restoration as well as the full suite of environmental consequences arising from plastic creation to disposal) considered nor were decommissioning plans required for deployment of plastic habitats. We suggest that there is a need to embrace natural materials when engaging in habitat restoration and provide more opportunities for relevant actors to have a voice regarding the types of materials used. It is clear that restoration of freshwater ecosystems is critically important, but those efforts need to be guided by science and not result in potential long-term harm. We conclude that based on the current evidence base, the use of plastic for habitat enhancement or restoration in freshwater systems is nothing short of littering.
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- Tyler D. Eddy,
- Daniel Duplisea,
- Matthew D. Robertson,
- Raquel Ruiz-Díaz,
- C. Abraham Solberg, and
- Fan Zhang
Fish populations are dynamic; their productivity depends on the environment, predator and prey interactions, and fisheries harvest rates. Failure to account for these factors in fisheries science and management can lead to a misestimation of stock dynamics and productivity, resulting in overexploitation or forgone fisheries yield. Using an online survey, we asked fisheries scientists, industry stakeholders, Indigenous partners, and non-governmental organizations whether changing ecosystem productivity was a problem in their experience, how often dynamic approaches to fisheries reference points have been adopted, what methods had been used, and what fisheries they had been applied to. Changing fisheries or ecosystem productivity was reported as an issue by 96% of respondents; however, 74% of respondents said they had never seen dynamic reference points implemented, 16% said in very few instances, while 10% said frequently. The most common barriers to implementation of dynamic approaches in fisheries management were institutional inertia and uncertainty about whether a change in productivity was lasting. We discuss trade-offs between fisheries management performance and stability. - OPEN ACCESSDespite some progress, successful co-management in Canada has remained the exception rather than the rule, and especially so in jurisdictions not covered by a comprehensive land claims agreement. As such, our aim in this perspective is to identify and describe some of the primary factors that may impede more rapid progress toward successful co-management and to explore why they persist, with particular attention to fisheries and marine contexts. Specifically, we outline several institutional conditions that are likely to impede broader adoption of co-management approaches in Canada, including (1) antiquated and incomplete legislative arrangements; (2) a co-management policy vacuum that has not grappled with emerging expectations for co-governance; (3) relative absence of the knowledge co-production systems needed to create the precursors for successful co-management initiatives; and (4) financial and human resource capacity limitations. Such conditions must also be situated in a dynamic context that includes the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, ongoing reconciliation processes, and shifts in the ownership and use of fisheries and other marine resources. We offer, finally, some suggestions to augment co-management efforts and ultimately achieve its promise.
- OPEN ACCESSA boil water advisory (BWA) informs the public that there is an increased level of risk associated with their water and that they should boil it before consuming. Studies show that small communities in Canada are particularly likely to experience repeat and long-term BWAs. Climate change has led to changes in precipitation and temperature patterns, leading to region-specific impacts such as increased frequency, severity, or variance in floods, forest fires, droughts, freezing rain, and sea water intrusion. Academic and non-academic “grey” literature was reviewed to establish the most likely impacts of climate change on water treatment and infrastructure. Anonymized data from public drinking water systems in Canada was analyzed to determine the most common causes of BWAs between 2005 and 2020. Most BWAs reported were related to breakdowns/malfunctions along the distribution, though inadequate disinfection residual and turbidity or coliforms in the treated water were also common. Furthermore, statistical analysis of the data showed seasonal trends in some of these parameters. The results of this study suggest that increased precipitation, flooding, permafrost degradation, and forest fires are likely to have significant impacts on water safety in Canada.Highlights:Climate change effects are expected to worsen many current water challenges.Climate change will disproportionately impact small, rural, and remote water utilities.Water distribution systems are the main source of water safety risk in Canada.Groundwater-supplied systems experience a disproportionate number of BWAs.Seasonal trends in BWA reasons provide opportunities for targeted mitigation.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Linda Rabeneck,
- Chris McCabe,
- Mark Dobrow,
- Arlinda Ruco,
- Melissa Andrew,
- Sabrina Wong,
- Sharon Straus,
- Lawrence Paszat,
- Lisa Richardson,
- Chris Simpson, and
- Andrew Boozary
The purpose of this policy briefing is to examine our health care systems through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic and identify how we can strengthen health care in Canada post-pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided compelling evidence that substantive changes to our health care systems are needed. Specifically, the pandemic has emphasized structural inequities on a broad scale within Canadian society. These include systemic racial and socioeconomic inequities that must be addressed broadly, including in the delivery of health care. We make recommendations about what we can do to emerge stronger from the pandemic. While these recommendations are not novel, how they are framed and contextualized differs because of the problems in our health care system that have been highlighted and exacerbated by the pandemic.The evidence is clear that socioeconomic circumstances, intergenerational trauma, adverse early life experiences, and educational opportunities are critical factors when it comes to health over the life course. Given the problems in the delivery of health care that the pandemic has revealed, we need a different approach. How health care was organized prior to the COVID-19 pandemic did not produce what people wanted and needed in terms of health care and outcomes. How do we emerge from COVID-19 with an effective, equitable, and resilient health care system for all Canadians?To address health inequities and emerge from the pandemic with strengthened health care in Canada, we must consider how Amartya Sen's capabilities framework on social well-being can be operationalized to achieve better health care and health outcomes. Specifically, we address the need to: strengthen primary care and improve access to primary care;utilize a community-embedded approach to care; andimplement better integration across the care continuum, including integration between primary care and public health.Coherent governance and leadership that are charged with realizing benefits through collaboration will maximize outcomes and promote sustainability. Only when we provide access to high-quality culturally competent care that is centered around the individual and their needs will we be able to make true headway in addressing these long-standing health inequities. - OPEN ACCESS
- Alexandra Langwieder,
- Angela Coxon,
- Natasha Louttit,
- Stephanie Varty,
- Felix Boulanger,
- Sanford Diamond,
- John Lameboy,
- Anderson Jolly,
- George Natawapineskum,
- Derek Okimaw, and
- Murray M. Humphries
Wildlife conservation is informed by detailed understanding of species demographics, habitat use, and interactions with environmental drivers. Challenges to collecting this information, particularly in remote places and on widely ranging species, can contribute to data deficiencies that detract from conservation status assessment and the effectiveness of management actions. Polar bears in James Bay face rapidly changing environmental conditions at the southern edge of their global range, but studying their ecology has been limited by community concerns about the methods typically used in polar bear research. Using a community-led and non-invasive approach, we deployed hair snare and camera trap sampling stations across 400 km of the Eeyou Marine Region in eastern James Bay. Stations collected >100 hair samples and thousands of photographs in one eight-week period that allowed for a novel investigation of this population’s distribution and body condition during the ice-free season. Polar bears were in average to above average body condition, and model selection of detections at stations revealed distance to mainland as a significant predictor of polar bear presence. Given its high potential, we suggest community-based monitoring using this method become a standard protocol to expand the scope and local leadership of polar bear research across the North. - OPEN ACCESSThe impact of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence American lobster (Homarus americanus) fishery on species bycatch is currently unknown. The composition of the incidental catch, both nonharvestable lobster (by fisheries regulations) and nonlobster species, was systematically collected over the 2015 spring and summer fishing seasons. A total of 51 948 (7147 were nonlobster taxa) individual organisms weighing 13 987.60 kg (1223.91 kg of nonlobster taxa) were captured as bycatch during 73 fishing trips. By weight per trip, the most common lobster bycatch were undersized male and females, and the highest nonlobster species catch were Atlantic rock crab (Cancer irroratus). A semiquantitative assessment of injury and vitality was applied to bycatch as a proxy for discard mortality. The majority of the individuals assessed for visible injury were deemed uninjured (98% both fish and invertebrates); however, postrelease mortality was not measured. A smaller study in 2019 corroborated the 2015 catches and supported current assumptions that the passive gear type, the low diversity of bycatch, and the rapid hand-sorting of the trap minimize the impact of the lobster fishery on incidentally captured taxa. Further scientific monitoring is recommended to better account for all sources of mortality in stock assessments and rebuilding plans.
- OPEN ACCESSInvasive species are a leading cause of biodiversity loss and species extinctions across ecosystems on a global scale. The historical and ongoing focus on single-species management of invasive species and species at risk contributes to inefficiencies in management strategies that present an obstacle to achieving desired outcomes. A holistic approach that consolidates and maps linkages between the broader collective of invasive species and species at risk in an area provides a more appropriate entry point for issue-based, rather than species-based, management planning. We present a case study of this approach from British Columbia, Canada, which synthesized the identity, mechanisms of impact, mechanisms of spread, and magnitude of impacts across 782 unique pairs of invasive species and federally listed species at risk, based on a literature review of species at risk documentation. The resulting dataset was used to summarize the nature of interactions across species pairs and taxonomic groups to help guide the development of invasive species response strategies that make the best use of limited management resources. As species invasions and extinctions become increasingly interconnected, holistic approaches rooted in cumulative effects assessment and ecosystem-based management can provide a stronger foundation for reducing or mitigating this growing threat.
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- James Conklin,
- Maryam Mohammadi Dehcheshmeh,
- Douglas Archibald,
- Jacobi Elliott,
- Amy Hsu,
- Anita Kothari,
- Paul Stolee, and
- Heidi Sveistrup
Long-term care (LTC) residents have an increased risk of social isolation and loneliness, and these risks were exacerbated by pandemic policies that restricted visitors. The designated care partner (DCP) program was introduced in some LTC homes to allow designated family members to safely enter the homes and provide support for residents. We undertook a developmental evaluation (DE) to support the development and implementation of the DCP program in three Ontario LTC homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from 65 staff and DCPs through seven iterations of a DE process. Analysis used directed and inductive coding and theming procedures to create a description of the DCP experience. Themes illustrated the barriers and facilitators to the DCP program and revealed a pervasive deficit of care due to inadequate funding, staff shortages, and an acrimonious relationship between staff and family members. Our project demonstrated a need for additional resources and stronger partnerships between staff and family caregivers. - OPEN ACCESSWith growing attention to the ethical and equity implications of Western-based approaches to research, the urgency of decolonizing research has emerged as a critical topic across academic disciplines, including the field of sustainability. The complexity and messiness of this endeavour, however, may translate into uncertainty among researchers about how and where to start. This is partly due to a lack of guidance, training, and accountability mechanisms through Western academic institutions. In this paper, we advance a three-step process that systematically guides critical reflection toward respectful engagement of local and Indigenous communities, as well as other marginalized groups, by drawing on the literature and on learnings from a recent graduate student-led initiative. The process we develop aims to provide a pragmatic starting point for decolonizing research and a counterpoint to conventional modes of research. Such a process will not only foster accountability, respect, and reciprocity but also movement toward locally relevant, context-appropriate, and action-oriented research outcomes. Our three-step process also challenges Western-based and extractive research practices and seeks to facilitate a shift in mindset about the purpose of research and how to approach it.
- OPEN ACCESSIn 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted all aspects of human activity, including environmental research and monitoring. Despite a lack of laboratory access and other restrictive measures, we adapted an existing community science monitoring program to continue through the summer of 2020. We worked with local community groups to recruit 58 volunteers who collected lake water samples from 60 sites on 16 lakes in south-central Ontario from June to September 2020. We organized drop-off depots and had volunteers freeze samples to monitor nearshore nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) and chlorophyll-a. A survey was distributed to volunteers to analyze lake-front property owners’ activities during the pandemic. We found spatial patterns in nearshore water quality across the lakes, with sub-watershed development being a significant predictor of nutrients and chlorophyll-a. Additionally, pre-pandemic (2019) and pandemic (2020 and 2021) nutrient concentrations were compared, but there was no clear impact of the pandemic on nearshore nutrient concentrations, despite changes in lake-front property owners activities. Overall, this study demonstrated the ability of community science to provide water quality data on a large spatial scale despite a major societal disruption, providing insight into regional nutrient trends during the first year of the pandemic.
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- Manjulika E. Robertson,
- Samantha M. Chu,
- Anika Cloutier,
- Philippe Mongeon,
- Don A. Driscoll,
- Tej Heer, and
- Alana R. Westwood
When researchers are sufficiently resourced to conduct research and communicate their findings, the knowledge produced can benefit the environment and society through policy. However, interference with the research process and its subsequent knowledge mobilization (“interference in science”) has been observed in several countries, particularly for environmental researchers. Using a mixed-methods approach, we surveyed environmental researchers in Canada (n = 741) to investigate the perceived prevalence, source, and effects of interference and considered whether these perceptions differ by region, career stage, research area, and membership in any scientific society. Although over half of researchers were not restricted from speaking to the media (54%), and most had never been asked to make “undue modifications” to their work (84%), the vast majority (92%) reported at least some degree of interference in their work during their careers. Consequences of interference were more prevalent among early-career researchers and included negative impacts on job satisfaction, mental health, and undue modification to work leading to inaccurate or incomplete science communication. Although environmental researchers in Canada deem themselves overall better able to conduct and communicate their work than under previous federal governments, reports of ongoing political interference remain concerning. We recommend increased support for researchers and further investigations into interference. - OPEN ACCESSResearchers in the environmental studies and sciences play a critical role in influencing real-world decision-making and policies. However, interference during research and sharing of results has been documented in Canada and around the world. Further, research has shown that workers from marginalized social identitie(s) experience discrimination in the workplace. Whether interference in research is related to social identity has never been examined. Using a mixed-methods design, we surveyed 741 environmental researchers in Canada to understand the relationship between social identity (gender, disability status, 2SLGBTQI+ status, race, and perception of racial identity) and reported experiences of interference. Results found that researchers with marginalized identities experienced worse outcomes across 11 of the 25 quantitative measures. For example, most marginalized groups experienced significantly greater fear of misrepresentation by media and (or) fear of negative career consequences due to public commentary, and racialized and disabled persons reported greater external interference in their work (e.g., from management and workplace policy). Given these findings, we express concern that the experience of interference in research can (1) threaten the personal well-being of marginalized researchers, (2) limit the representativeness of information disseminated, thererby impacting environmental decision-making and policy, and (3) contribute to inequities in representativeness of marginalized researchers in environmental sciences in Canada.
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Can fisheries be “regenerative”? Adapting agroecological concepts for fisheries and the blue economy
Regenerative design, in which agricultural practices are organized to work with nutrient cycles and successional processes, is increasingly being explored in food systems research and practice. In this commentary, I explore whether regenerative design concepts can be adapted to marine contexts, given increased global interest in the potential of marine ecosystems to support sustainable development, i.e., the blue economy. There are numerous fundamental ecological differences between terrestrial and marine ecologies that make it difficult to directly translate regenerative farming's focus on managing the nutrient cycle. However, building on a framework for regenerative food systems that focuses on how production activities are organized rather than the specific practices and technologies in use, I find multiple useful parallels to familiar patterns in the fisheries literature, specifically, fishing down the food web, poverty traps, and portfolio-based fishing. I conclude with a discussion of directions for research on regenerative fisheries and concerns regarding the potential for greenwashing under the banner of a regenerative blue economy. - OPEN ACCESS
- Andrea Bryndum-Buchholz,
- Julia L. Blanchard,
- Marta Coll,
- Hubert Du Pontavice,
- Jason D. Everett,
- Jerome Guiet,
- Ryan F. Heneghan,
- Olivier Maury,
- Camilla Novaglio,
- Juliano Palacios-Abrantes,
- Colleen M. Petrik,
- Derek P. Tittensor, and
- Heike K. Lotze
Climate change is altering marine ecosystems across the globe and is projected to do so for centuries to come. Marine conservation agencies can use short- and long-term projections of species-specific or ecosystem-level climate responses to inform marine conservation planning. Yet, integration of climate change adaptation, mitigation, and resilience into marine conservation planning is limited. We analysed future trajectories of climate change impacts on total consumer biomass and six key physical and biogeochemical drivers across the Northwest Atlantic Ocean to evaluate the consequences for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) in Atlantic Canada. We identified climate change hotspots and refugia, where the environmental drivers are projected to change most or remain close to their current state, respectively, by mid- and end-century. We used standardized outputs from the Fisheries and Marine Ecosystem Model Intercomparison Project and the 6th Coupled Model Intercomparison Project. Our analysis revealed that, currently, no existing marine conservation areas in Atlantic Canada overlap with identified climate refugia. Most (75%) established MPAs and more than one-third (39%) of the established OECMs lie within cumulative climate hotspots. Our results provide important long-term context for adaptation and future-proofing spatial marine conservation planning in Canada and the Northwest Atlantic region. - OPEN ACCESSAnthropogenic pressures, including urban and agricultural expansion, can negatively influence a lake's capacity to provide aquatic ecosystem services (ES). However, identifying lakes most at risk of losing their ES (i.e., higher vulnerability) requires integrating information on lake ecological state, global change threats, and ES use. Here, we provide a social–ecological framework that combines these features within a regional context by evaluating the ecological state of 659 lakes across Canada. Using the deviation of impacted lakes from reference ones, we identified much higher total nitrogen and chloride concentrations as the main indicators of an altered lake ecological state in all regions identified. Lake ecological state was mapped using an additive colour model along with regional scores of threat levels and recreational ES use. Urban and agriculturally developed areas were linked to higher lake vulnerability and ES loss. Lakes in Southern Ontario were most concerning, being highly altered, under threat, and heavily used. Lakes near coastal urban centers were altered and used, but less threatened, whereas those in the Prairies were altered and threatened, but less used. Our novel framework provides the first social–ecological geography of Canadian lakes, and is a promising tool to assess lake state and vulnerability at scales relevant for management.
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- OPEN ACCESSMarine debris is ubiquitous across the global ocean and is an increasing threat to human health, economies, habitats, and wildlife. While local to national action plans are important in addressing this issue, they do not necessarily reflect the needs of coastal communities most heavily impacted. Remote island and coastal communities, particularly in Alaska, do not generate the majority of marine debris impacting their ecosystems; however, they are often left with the task of removal and disposal. Thus, the detrimental effects of marine debris are not only an ecological problem but an issue of environmental justice. This project aimed to catalyze the inclusion of place-based knowledge in marine debris solutions for St. Paul Island, a predominantly (>85%) Alaska Native community in the Bering Sea. We interviewed 36 community members during 2017–2020, documenting their observations of marine debris types, amount, distribution, and impacts over recent decades. Participants reported increasing plastic debris since the 1980s, particularly plastic bottles and fishing gear. Nearly 80% expressed concern about impacts to subsistence resources, including entanglement and ingestion. St. Paul Island community members’ experiences highlight that solving marine debris issues requires broader policies and mitigation strategies addressing sources of debris and advancing environmental justice by impact reduction. Furthermore, this case study can serve as an example of how locally relevant action plans can be developed in other coastal communities around the world by including knowledge and concerns of community members, as they are the most heavily and personally impacted by the marine debris on their shorelines.
- OPEN ACCESSExpanding and creating protected area networks has become a central pillar of global conservation planning. In the management and design of protected area networks, we must consider not only the positive aspects of landscape connectivity but also how that connectivity may facilitate the spread of invasive species, a challenge that has become known as the connectivity conundrum. Here, we review key considerations for landscape connectivity planning for protected area networks, focusing on interactions between network connectivity and the management of invasive species. We propose an integrative adaptive management framework for protected area network planning with five main elements, including monitoring, budgeting considerations, risk assessment, inter-organizational coordination, and local engagement. Protected area planners can address the dynamic aspects of the connectivity conundrum through collaborative and integrative adaptive management planning.
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- Jeremy R. Brammer,
- Allyson K. Menzies,
- Laurence S. Carter,
- Xavier Giroux-Bougard,
- Manuelle Landry-Cuerrier,
- Melanie-Louise Leblanc,
- Mikhaela N. Neelin,
- Emily K. Studd, and
- Murray M. Humphries
Traditional food systems based on harvest from the local environment are fundamental to the well-being of many communities, but their security is challenged by rapid socio-ecological change. We synthesized literature and data describing how a fundamental form of biodiversity, animal body size, contributes to the security of traditional food systems through relationships with species availability, accessibility, adequacy, and use. We found larger vertebrate species were more available, accessible, and used on a per kilogram basis, particularly for mammals. Conversely, larger species were no more or less adequate from a combined nutritional, health, and cultural perspective. Larger species represented more biomass, and this biomass required less time to harvest, with greater but more variable mean caloric returns over time. Smaller species provided more consistent caloric returns and were harvested during documented shortages of prey. This reliance on species with a range of body sizes is consistent with optimal foraging theory and the evolutionary value of flexibility, and highlights the importance of a biodiverse pool of species for traditional food security in times of change. Our synthesis of published literature and data highlights the many socio-ecological correlates of species size and how these relate to the security of traditional food systems. - OPEN ACCESS
- Jolene A. Giacinti,
- E. Jane Parmley,
- Mark Reist,
- Daniel Bayley,
- David L. Pearl, and
- Claire M. Jardine
The protection and promotion of healthy wildlife populations is emerging as a shared goal among stakeholders in the face of unprecedented environmental threats. Accordingly, there are growing demands for the generation of actionable wildlife health information. Wildlife health surveillance is a connected system of knowledge that generates data on a range of factors that influence health. Canada recently approved the Pan-Canadian Approach to Wildlife Health that describes challenges facing wildlife health programs and provides a path forward for modernizing our approach. This scoping review was undertaken to describe the range of peer-reviewed Canadian wildlife health surveillance literature within the context of the challenges facing wildlife health programs and to provide a quantitative synthesis of evidence to establish baselines, identify gaps, and inform areas for growth. This review describes patterns related to species, location, authorship/funding, objectives, and methodology. Five areas are identified that have the potential to propel the field of wildlife health: representativeness, expanded/diversified collaboration, community engagement, harmonization, and a shift to a solutions-focused and One Health mindset. This scoping review provides a synopsis of 10 years of Canadian wildlife health surveillance, challenges us to envision the future of successful wildlife health surveillance, and provides a benchmark from which we can measure change. - OPEN ACCESSThe degree to which human actions affect marine fisheries has been a fundamental question shaping people’s relationship with the sea. Today, divergences in stakeholder views about the impacts of human activities such as fishing, climate change, pollution, and resource management can hinder effective co-management and adaptation. Here, we used surveys to construct mental models of the Maine lobster fishery, identifying divergent views held by two key stakeholder groups: lobster fishers and marine scientists. The two groups were differentiated by their perceptions of the relative impact of pollution, water temperature, and fishing. Notably, many fishers perceive the process of fishing to have a positive effect on fisheries through the input of bait. Scientists exhibited a statistically significantly stronger concern for climate change and identified CO2 as one of the dominant pollutants in the Gulf of Maine. However, fishers and scientists agreed that management has a positive impact, which appeared to be a change over the past two decades, possibly due to increased collaboration between the two groups. This work contributes to the goal of decreasing the distance between stakeholder perspectives in the context of a co-managed fishery as well as understanding broader perceptions of impacts of human activities on marine ecosystems.
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- Hilary Sadowsky,
- Nicolas D. Brunet,
- Alex Anaviapik,
- Abraham Kublu,
- Cara Killiktee, and
- Dominique A. Henri
Community leadership in Arctic environmental research is increasingly recognized as one of many pathways to Indigenous self-determination in Nunavut, Canada. While experienced Inuit hunters, trappers, and other recognized environmental knowledge experts are commonly included in research, similar opportunities for Inuit youth to meaningfully engage in environmental research remain limited. Finding ways to increase scientific literacy, particularly among Inuit youth, has been identified as an important step in the continuation of high-quality Arctic environmental research. This paper examines community perspectives on the roles and contributions of Inuit youth in environmental research in Nunavut, barriers that Inuit youth face in becoming meaningfully engaged in field-based environmental research, and strategies for enhancing Inuit youth engagement. Our study was conducted in Pond Inlet, Nunavut, and used interviews, workshops, and observation to gather stories and knowledge from community members about field- and land-based experiential learning pathways. This study found that a complex set of barriers, including a lack of credentials and support systems, among others, may inhibit meaningful Inuit youth engagement in environmental research. Key findings from the study support the view that collaborative land-based research activities can be an effective and meaningful method of enhancing scientific literacy among Inuit youth. - OPEN ACCESSResearch integrity (RI) has been a focus of society in recent years as a means to create and to keep trust in science. Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a key role in promoting a culture of RI and responsible conduct of research (RCR). The understanding and practice of RI can vary across cultures. This article aims to outline initial insights into university students’ RI mindsets based on five RI facets: understanding, importance, value–action gap, enforcement approaches, and training. A qualitative exploratory cross-cultural study was conducted with participants from Germany and Bulgaria via semi-structured guided group interviews. An explicit transcultural agreement regarding the significance of RI was categorically indicated. Intercultural differences between the two European countries were revealed and discussed in reference to understanding RI, the value–action gap, enforcement approaches, and training preferences.
- OPEN ACCESSEarly career researchers in developing countries like Nepal have faced many barriers while learning and practicing research integrity. Having easy access to appropriate resources for learning research integrity is essential to ensure academic integrity in higher education in Nepal and promote responsible research practices. This paper presents an approach to collective learning that will help stakeholders initiate learning and foster research integrity at their own level. Methodologically, the learning interventions were conducted in four phases: preparation, planning, implementation, and learning. Throughout the process of each phase, social exchange theory and collaboration in social learning were considered as new literacy models to promote research integrity knowledge. The interpretation of experiential learning interventions led to the development of the 4Co collective learning model. This model is contextually applicable for gaining deeper knowledge and skills and new networks of research integrity. With the purposes of awareness and development, this article is divided into two sections: the first part explores the actions taken and the second explores experiential learning that provides insights about the 4Co collective learning model.
- OPEN ACCESSOrganisations in Europe differ significantly in how they promote research integrity (RI). Higher education institutions play a pivotal role in disseminating a culture of RI and responsible conduct of research (RCR). Adhering and strengthening mentoring systems, implementing codes of conduct, and raising awareness are just a few initiatives among many to enhance students’ training in RCR. This article describes the Path2Integrity Learning Card (P2LIC) programme, a proactive training programme to foster RI. This programme was further developed in 2020 and the updated feedback loops took place in four countries (Germany, Denmark, Spain, and Poland). We outline the P2ILC development and final design, the trainer feedback on the programme from the second year of operation, and suggest future considerations for RCR training to strengthen research integrity.
- OPEN ACCESSThere is a growing interest in training on responsible conduct of research (RCR). The availability and range of such training materials, for a diversity of audiences and addressing a diversity of RCR related topics, is growing too. This is of great help to all who are looking for materials to set up their RCR training, but how can one select what topics to include within the often-limited time available for training? In this paper we propose a step-by-step approach to set the agenda for RCR training, using the target audience as a narrative guide. The process consists of six steps: (1) mapping the needs and translating them into learning objectives; (2) prioritizing, selecting, and combining objectives and themes; (3) demarcation of the training; (4) completion of the program; (5) development or adaptation of training materials; and (6) pilot and evaluation. The development process of a training program for researchers in Dutch Universities of Applied Sciences is used as an example to illustrate the step-by-step process.
- OPEN ACCESSNatural resources in northern regions are often data-limited because they are difficult and expensive to access. Indigenous ecological knowledge (IEK) can provide information similar to, different from, or complementary to Western scientific data (WSD). We evaluated the general hypothesis that congruence in outcomes of IEK and WSD for population monitoring parameters is determined by temporal and spatial scale of the knowledge type. Parameters included population structure, degree of philopatry, morphological variation (and conservation status for one species), and genomics was a key Western scientific method. We evaluated this hypothesis in three subsistence and recreational fisheries (walleye, lake trout, and northern pike) in Mistassini Lake, Quebec, Canada. Concordance of outcomes was varied. IEK provided richer information on the biology, distribution, and morphological variation observable with the eyes. However, IEK cannot “see” into the genome, and WSD identified population structure and history more precisely than IEK. Both knowledge types could “see” change in populations, and the nature of what was seen both converged and was complementary. Determining when IEK and WSD are complementary or reach common conclusions may allow Indigenous communities to use both together, or one knowledge type over another when either is more desired, appropriate, or time- or cost-efficient to adopt.
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- Dirk A. Algera,
- Kate L. Neigel,
- Kerri Kosziwka,
- Alice E.I. Abrams,
- Daniel M. Glassman,
- Joseph R. Bennett,
- Steven J. Cooke, and
- Nicolas W.R. Lapointe
American Eel (Anguilla rostrata) were used as a case study to assess whether Ontario’s Endangered Species Act proponent-driven regulatory approach resulted in successful imperilled species management outcomes. American Eel observation databases and proponent-prepared mitigation plans and monitoring data were used to assess whether: (i) facilities within the distribution range were registered, (ii) effects monitoring protocols were adequate to evaluate adverse effects of facilities, (iii) proponents implemented mitigation actions that followed best management practices (BMPs), and (iv) effectiveness monitoring designs were adequate to evaluate effectiveness of mitigation actions. Less than half of the facilities (8 of 17) within the extant species range were registered. Few eels were observed at each facility, precluding proponents from effectively evaluating the facilities’ effects. Mitigation actions following BMPs were only implemented for eel out-migration at three facilities. Half of the registered facilities implemented effectiveness monitoring, but experimental designs did not follow best practices and standards. To improve this proponent-driven approach, regulators could reduce ambiguity in regulation language and provide clearer, quantitative requirements for facility registration, effects monitoring, mitigation actions, and effectiveness monitoring. Proponents could improve monitoring efforts to establish species occurrence and generate baseline data to measure facility effects and mitigation action effectiveness. - OPEN ACCESS
- Kira M. Hoffman,
- Amy Cardinal Christianson,
- Sarah Dickson-Hoyle,
- Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz,
- William Nikolakis,
- David A. Diabo,
- Robin McLeod,
- Herman J. Michell,
- Abdullah Al Mamun,
- Alex Zahara,
- Nicholas Mauro,
- Joe Gilchrist,
- Russell Myers Ross, and
- Lori D. Daniels
Indigenous fire stewardship enhances ecosystem diversity, assists with the management of complex resources, and reduces wildfire risk by lessening fuel loads. Although Indigenous Peoples have maintained fire stewardship practices for millennia and continue to be keepers of fire knowledge, significant barriers exist for re-engaging in cultural burning. Indigenous communities in Canada have unique vulnerabilities to large and high-intensity wildfires as they are predominately located in remote, forested regions and lack financial support at federal and provincial levels to mitigate wildfire risk. Therefore, it is critical to uphold Indigenous expertise in leading effective and socially just fire stewardship. In this perspective, we demonstrate the benefits of cultural burning and identify five key barriers to advancing Indigenous fire stewardship in Canada. We also provide calls to action to assist with reducing preconceptions and misinformation and focus on creating space and respect for different knowledges and experiences. Despite growing concerns over wildfire risk and agency-stated intentions to establish Indigenous Peoples as partners in wildfire management, power imbalances still exist. The future and coexistence with fire in Canada needs to be a shared responsibility and led by Indigenous Peoples within their territories. - OPEN ACCESSEfforts are underway in Canada to set aside terrestrial lands for conservation, thereby protecting them from anthropogenic pressures. Here we produce the first Canadian human footprint map by combining 12 different anthropogenic pressures and identifying intact and modified lands and ecosystems across the country. Our results showed strong spatial variation in pressures across the country, with just 18% of Canada experiencing measurable human pressure. However, some ecosystems are experiencing very high pressure, such as the Great Lakes Plains and Prairies national ecological areas that have over 75% and 56% of their areas, respectively, with a high human footprint. In contrast, the Arctic and Northern Mountains have less than 0.02% and 0.2%, respectively, of their extent under high human footprint. A validation of the final map, using random statistical sampling, resulted in a Cohen Kappa statistic of 0.91, signifying an “almost perfect” agreement between the human footprint and the validation data set. By increasing the number and accuracy of mapped pressures, our map demonstrates much more widespread pressures in Canada than were indicated by previous global mapping efforts, demonstrating the value in specific national data applications. Ecological areas with immense anthropogenic pressure highlight challenges that may arise when planning for ecologically representative protected areas.
- OPEN ACCESSMore and more research institutions are implementing courses in research integrity (RI). Recent studies indicate that teachers of RI courses are increasingly adopting a “phronetic” approach to their teaching, where the focus is on nurturing values and practical wisdom—what Aristotle called phronesis. When adopting a phronetic approach, it is important to understand what phronesis in relation to RI entails and how and to what extent an RI course can contribute to the development of research phronesis. This paper contains a practice-based discussion of the realistic aims of RI courses and a first step towards a specification of the skill set necessary for developing research phronesis drawing on experiences from the PhD courses on Responsible Conduct of Research at the University of Copenhagen. We discuss the limited extent to which research phronesis can be taught in short courses and examine the broader implications of this for the role of RI courses in the training of good researchers.
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- A.K. Menzies,
- E. Bowles,
- M. Gallant,
- H. Patterson,
- C. Kozmik,
- S. Chiblow,
- D. McGregor,
- A. Ford, and
- J.N. Popp
Climate change disproportionately affects Indigenous Peoples because of strong connections between environmental, cultural, and spiritual well-being. While much of the global discourse surrounding climate change is founded in Western science, the holistic, place-based knowledge of Indigenous Peoples offers a complementary way of understanding and mitigating climate change impacts. The goal of this research was to elevate Anishinaabe concerns, observations, and perspectives about climate change impacts and future research needs. We organized a workshop called “Connecting Guardians in a Changing World” where participants shared concerns about animal and plant life cycles, water cycles and water quality, and impacts to ways of life, including reduced capacity to perform cultural practices and erosion of their knowledge. Participants highlighted the challenge of prioritizing a single impact of climate change, emphasizing that impacts to the environment and ways of life are interconnected. Participants also expressed the need for research and policy that move beyond interdisciplinarity to include intercultural philosophy and research that better reflects Indigenous worldviews and incorporates Indigenous methodologies. Moving forward, meaningful partnerships and opportunities for knowledge sharing should be prioritized in climate change discourse to ensure solutions are generated together, with all of the tools and knowledge available. - OPEN ACCESSIn Canada, the participation of Indigenous communities in research and monitoring is growing in response to calls for partnerships and heightened interest in bridging Indigenous and Western science-based knowledge. Yet, as settler scholars, we have noted inconsistencies in the articulation and operationalization of community participation in peer-reviewed literature. We conducted a scoping review of community participation in coastal and marine research and monitoring across Inuit Nunangat. This resulted in 72 studies, most of which were undertaken in Nunavut. Fourteen terms were used to articulate community participation, the most common being: participate, collaborate, community-based, consult, or variations of these terms. Among the studies that used community participation terms, we found that authors only defined terms 10% of the time. Community participation was operationalized primarily through interviews, mapping, and field observations. We assessed studies across a spectrum of community participation levels and found that most studies (81%) reflected minimal levels of participation (i.e., consultative, contractual, and less than contractual). Our results highlight the need for clarity in language use, transparency in reporting research practices, and stronger efforts to support Indigenous leadership and decision-making authority, all of which must be defined on a community or project basis.
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- OPEN ACCESSThe performance of graduate students in research varies greatly across countries due to various factors, mainly socioeconomic and linguistic. The current situation is critical because the wealthiest countries are also the most linguistically equipped to navigate the English-dominant landscape of academia. Here, we assess the language of citations and the publishing performance of graduate students from three French-speaking countries: Algeria, Canada, and France, where Algeria is the least English proficient and the most economically disadvantaged. We found that the bibliography of PhD theses were English dominated in all regions (72.5% in Algeria compared with >93.1% in Western countries), whereas those of Masters theses were French dominated in Algeria (63.3%), relatively bilingual in France (47.6% French), but English dominated in Canada-Québec (94.7%) and Canada-BC (98.7%). Algerian PhD students produced fewer papers, were less likely to publish in journals with calculated impact factors, and received fewer citations than students who graduated from universities in France or in two Canadian provinces, British Columbia and Québec. Our results suggest that the economic and linguistic disadvantages faced by graduate students from non-Western backgrounds affect their academic performance, highlighting important issues in facing future global challenges.
- OPEN ACCESSThis article explores the “wholistic” as a central concept of “the good life” as expressed by the Bnkis, Tayal Indigenous Elders, who participated in the Day Club, Tayal territory of Northern Taiwan. In particular, we analyze the stories of care experienced by the Bnkis from the standpoint of wholistic relationships. The stories were recorded primarily between 2015 and 2018. In this analysis we used a critical qualitative design approach, privileging Tayal epistemology and informed by Tayal hermeneutics. Our results show that the concept of well-being for the Bnkis is closely linked to their relationships with people and with the land and spirituality. Through these relationships, the continuation of Gaga—Tayal law and cosmology—has been adapted organically over time. We argue that Gaga is central to Tayal Elder/Bnkis care and essential to Bnkis’ well-being. We propose that the concept of wholistic relationships embedded in the Tayal law of Gaga is vital in developing an elderly care system that is genuinely culturally relevant in the long run. This research demonstrates how the wholistic concept can improve human health and well-being, and ultimately provides an implication to sustainable development.
- OPEN ACCESSIn response to colonial research paradigms that have subjugated Indigenous Peoples, knowledges, lands, and waters, Indigenous research methodologies have emerged to center Indigenous visions and voices in research practice. Here, we employ such methodologies to improve collective understanding of the state and future of wild Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and fish–people–place relationships across British Columbia’s three largest salmon-producing rivers: the Fraser, Skeena, and Nass. Through partnerships with 18 communities of “Salmon People” and semi-structured interviews with 48 knowledge holders (i.e., Elders), we learned that, on average, Elders spent more than half of a century actively engaged in salmon fishing and processing. Modern salmon catches are reported to be approximately one-sixth of what they were estimated to be five to seven decades ago, and the top five threats to salmon identified by Elders included (i) aquaculture, (ii) climate change, (iii) contaminants, (iv) industrial development, and (v) infectious diseases. Threat priorities varied regionally, reflecting distinct lived experiences and regional variation in the prevalence and impact of different threats. Elders perceived threats to salmon equally as threats to aquatic health and human well-being, with evidence that the relationships between people and water, and salmon and people, are being profoundly transformed.
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- Chief Adam Dick (Kwaxsistalla Wathl’thla),
- Daisy Sewid-Smith (Mayanilth),
- Kim Recalma-Clutesi (Oqwilowgwa),
- Douglas Deur (Moxmowisa), and
- N.J. Turner (Galitsimġa)
Indigenous Peoples’ lives, cultures, and values are defined largely by their long-term relationships with the lands, waters, and lifeforms of their territories. Their stories, names, ceremonies, and connections with the plants and animals on which they have depended over countless generations are cornerstones of their knowledge systems, systems of governance and decision-making, traditions of intergenerational knowledge transmission, and values and responsibilities associated with natural and human domains alike. For First Nations of North America’s Northwest Coast, as for many other Indigenous Peoples, the arrival of European newcomers disrupted both the natural world and associated cultural practices in interconnected ways. The industrial exploitation of lands and resources had wide-ranging effects: traditional land and resource appropriation; impacts on culturally significant habitats by industrial-scale fishing, logging, and mining; and discrimination and marginalization contributing to resource alienation. This paper documents some experiences of Kwakwaka’wakw and other Coastal First Nations in coping with the cultural effects of environmental loss. It highlights their concern for the ecological integrity of lands and waters formerly under their stewardship but reshaped by non-Native extractive economies, and describes how these losses have affected the cultural, social, and physical health of Kwakwaka’wakw peoples up to the present time. - OPEN ACCESS
- Mylène Ratelle,
- Andrew Spring,
- Brian Douglas Laird,
- Leon Andrew,
- Deborah Simmons,
- Alexa Scully, and
- Kelly Skinner
Resource development and climate change are increasing concerns regarding safe water for Indigenous people in Canada. A research study was completed to characterize the consumption of water and beverages prepared with water and identify the perception of water consumption in Indigenous communities from the Northwest Territories and Yukon, Canada. As part of a larger research program, data for this study were available from a 24-hour recall dietary survey (n = 162), a health messages survey (n = 150), and an exposure factor survey (n = 63). A focus group was conducted with Elders in an on-the-land camp setting. The consumption of water-based beverages in winter was 0.9 L/day on average, mainly consisting of tea and coffee. Of the 81% of respondents who reported consuming water-based beverages in the previous 24 hours of the survey, 33% drank more bottled water than tap water. About 2% of respondents consumed water from the land (during the winter season). Chlorine smell was the main limiting factor reported to the consumption of tap water. Results from the focus group indicated that Indigenous knowledge might impact both the perception and consumption of water. These findings aim to support public health efforts to enable people to make water their drink of choice. - OPEN ACCESSForested vernal pools serve an integral role in the recruitment of amphibians in glaciated northeastern North America. In south-central Ontario, vernal pools exist in relatively unimpacted forest networks, but the amphibian communities face uncertain challenges from anthropogenic-induced climate change. We surveyed amphibian larvae and collected measurements of habitat characteristics from vernal pools to collect baseline information on amphibian community structure and species–habitat relationships. Amphibian communities were influenced by hydroperiod length and canopy openness, and the relative abundances of early breeding amphibians were affected by changes in the structure of vegetation communities within pools. Our study suggests that, even across moderate ranges of breeding habitat characteristics, the structure of amphibian communities is dynamic. With anthropogenic-induced climate change leading to more drought-prone summers, the conservation of intact forests that support diverse wetland assemblages will be a necessary component of future legislation.
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- Ben R. Collison,
- Patrick A. Reid,
- Hannah Dvorski,
- Mauricio J. Lopez,
- Alana R. Westwood, and
- Nikki Skuce
In British Columbia (BC), Canada, there is increased attention on mines and their impacts on water resources. In BC, many proposed mines undergo provincial environmental assessment (EA), which predicts a mine’s risks and involves government oversight and public engagement. After approval, mines can apply for amendments that alter the project’s undertakings, including in ways that may harm water resources. We examined all amendment documents for mines undergoing provincial EA in BC from 2002 to 2020. Of the 23 approved mines, 15 (65%) requested a total of 49 amendments, of which 98% were approved. Most mines applied for their first amendment within 3 years of approval. We deemed 20 of the approved amendments (associated with 10 projects) likely to have negative impacts on water resources, including changes to effluent discharge, increased volume of water extraction, or degradation of fish habitat. Amendment applications and approval documents lacked specific, quantitative information to reinforce claims or decisions. We present the first known summary of EA amendments in any jurisdiction. Given that most mines in BC receive amendments, and many are related to water, we express concern that amendment processes increase risk to water resources without meeting standards of evidence and public scrutiny required by the regular EA process. - OPEN ACCESS
- Jordanna N. Bergman,
- Rachel T. Buxton,
- Hsien-Yung Lin,
- Magdalena Lenda,
- Kayla Attinello,
- Adrianne C. Hajdasz,
- Stephanie A. Rivest,
- Thuong Tran Nguyen,
- Steven J. Cooke, and
- Joseph R. Bennett
Given its extensive volume and reach, social media has the potential to widely spread conservation messaging and be a powerful tool to mobilize social change for conserving biodiversity. We synthesized gray and primary academic literature to investigate the effects of social media on wildlife conservation, revealing several overarching benefits and risks. We found that social media can increase pro-conservation behaviours among the public, increase conservation funding, and incite policy changes. Conversely, social media can contribute to species exploitation and illegal trade, cause unprecedented increases in tourism in protected areas, and perpetuate anti-conservation behaviours via misinformation. In most cases, we found that content sharing on social media did not result in a detectable impact on conservation; in this paper, however, we focus on providing examples where conservation impact was achieved. We relate these positive and negative outcomes of social media to psychological phenomena that may influence conservation efforts and discuss limitations of our findings. We conclude with recommendations of best practices to social media administrators, public social media users, nongovernmental organizations, and governing agencies to minimize conservation risks while maximizing beneficial outcomes. By improving messaging, policing online misconduct, and providing guidance for action, social media can help achieve wildlife conservation goals. - OPEN ACCESSImpact assessment (IA) processes rely on the ability of assessment boards and their assessors to gather, synthesize, and interpret knowledge from a variety of sources, making IA a knowledge-based activity. IA boards in northern Canada operate in a context that prioritizes pluralism, where Indigenous knowledge is a key element of decision-making and the ability of practitioners to interact with knowledge—research capacity—affects process effectiveness, credibility, and legitimacy. Drawing on common principles from existing research capacity frameworks, we identify the dimensions of capacity most relevant to more fully realizing inclusive impact assessment processes. We then examine the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board (YESAB) as a specialized environmental governance organization with assessors whose research capacity directly impacts process outcomes. Results show that while common dimensions across knowledge-based disciplines, such as sufficient resources (e.g., financial support), are often addressed in the YESAB context, others unique to IA, like contextual understanding, require further examination. The interaction between individual and organizational research capacity is a complex balance between investing in individuals and investing in organizational supports. The proposed framework facilitates multi-scalar supports for individual assessors and assessment bodies alike to navigate balancing technical and value-driven knowledge in assessments.
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- A. Bryndum-Buchholz,
- K. Boerder,
- R.R.E. Stanley,
- I. Hurley,
- D.G. Boyce,
- K.M. Dunmall,
- K.L. Hunter,
- H.K. Lotze,
- N.L. Shackell,
- B. Worm, and
- D.P. Tittensor
Climate change and biodiversity loss are twin crises that are driving global marine conservation efforts. However, if unaccounted for, climate change can undermine the efficacy of such efforts. Despite this, integration of climate change adaptation and resilience into spatial marine conservation and management has been limited in Canada and elsewhere. With climate change impacts becoming increasingly severe, now is the time to anticipate and reduce impacts wherever possible. We provide five recommendations for an inclusive, proactive, climate-ready approach for Canada’s growing marine conservation network: (1) integrating climate-resilience as a universal objective of the Canadian Marine Conservation Network, creating and implementing (2) national transdisciplinary working groups with representation from all knowledge holders and (3) necessary tools that integrate climate change into conservation design, (4) defining operational and climate-relevant monitoring and management objectives, and (5) strengthening communication and increasing knowledge exchange around the roles and benefits of protected areas within government and towards the public. Canada’s extensive marine and coastal areas reflect national and international responsibility to engage on this issue. Canada is well positioned to assume a leading role in climate change adaptation for marine conservation and help accelerate progress towards international commitments around mitigating ongoing biodiversity loss and climate change. - OPEN ACCESS
- Andrea C. Tricco,
- Wasifa Zarin,
- Fiona Clement,
- Ahmed M. Abou-Setta,
- Janet A. Curran,
- Annie LeBlanc,
- Linda C Li,
- Christina Godfrey,
- Pertice Moffitt,
- David Moher,
- Heather Colquhoun,
- Ian D. Graham,
- Ivan D. Florez,
- Linda Wilhelm,
- Wanrudee Isaranuwatchaia,
- Jackie Mann,
- Marina Hamilton,
- Vasanthi Srinivasan,
- Stephen Bornstein, and
- Sharon E. Straus
This is the introductory paper in a collection of four papers on the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) Evidence Alliance, a pan-Canadian research initiative that was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in September of 2017. Here, we introduce the SPOR enterprise in Canada, provide a rationale for the creation of the SPOR Evidence Alliance, provide information on the mandate and approach, and describe how the SPOR Evidence Alliance adds to the health research ecosystem in Canada and beyond. - OPEN ACCESSThis research examines the potential challenges and opportunities for Mi’kmaq, the Indigenous peoples who have inhabited modern-day Nova Scotia and other areas of Eastern Canada for millennia, to play a greater role in marine protected area (MPA) governance in Canada. Given Canada’s marine conservation objectives of 30% by 2030, there is a growing need for decisions affecting the establishment of MPAs to respect Indigenous rights, values, and knowledge. Using the Eastern Shore Islands (ESI) in Nova Scotia, Canada, an area of interest for MPA establishment, as a case study, we conducted 17 semi-structured interviews with both Mi’kmaq and non-Mi’kmaq participants involved in the ESI consultation processes. We used content analysis to identify key themes that respondents perceived to be affecting Mi’kmaq involvement in the federal MPA governance processes. Barriers to overcome included those deemed to be systemic within the current decision-making processes; limited understanding of Mi’kmaq culture, governance, and rights; limited clarity of Mi’kmaq rights, particularly those resulting in fisheries conflicts; and limited capacity. Opportunities highlighted the importance of meaningful consultation and understanding of Indigenous worldviews as well as the need for alternative approaches to state-led/top-down governance to improve Mi’kmaq participation in MPA governance in Atlantic Canada.
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- Carole Lunny,
- Wasifa Zarin,
- Sabrina Chaudhry,
- Sonia M. Thomas,
- Annie LeBlanc,
- Sophie Desroches,
- Tanya Horsley,
- Heather Colquhoun,
- Priscille-Nice Sanon,
- Minnie Downey,
- Zahra Goodarzi,
- Nancy N. Baxter,
- Kelly English,
- Elliot PausJenssen,
- Shanon McQuitty,
- Linda Wilhelm,
- Annette McKinnon,
- Alison M. Hoens,
- Linda C. Li,
- Fiona Clement,
- Janet A. Curran,
- Ahmed M. Abou-Setta,
- Christina Godfrey,
- David Moher,
- Pertice Moffitt,
- Jennifer Walker,
- Janet Jull,
- Cheryl Koehn,
- Wanrudee Isaranuwatchai,
- Sharon E. Straus, and
- Andrea C. Tricco
The Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR) Evidence Alliance is a research initiative in Canada whose mission is to promote the synthesis, dissemination, and integration of research results into health care and public health decision-making and clinical practice. The aim of this paper is to (i) outline the governance and committee structure of the SPOR Evidence Alliance, (ii) outline the procedures for patient and health system decision-maker engagement, and (iii) present the capacity-building strategy for governance members. The governance structure includes the following six standing committees: the International Advisory Committee, Steering Committee, Executive Committee, Knowledge Translation Committee, Partnerships Committee, and Training and Capacity Development Committee. The guiding principles embrace inclusiveness, support, mutual respect, transparency, and co-building. There are currently 64 committee members across the six committees, 13 patient and public partners, 8 health system decision-makers, 7 research trainees, and 36 researchers. A multi-disciplinary and diverse group of people in Canada are represented from all regions and at various levels of training in knowledge generation, exchange, and translation. This collaborative model makes the SPOR Evidence Alliance strong and sustainable by leveraging the knowledge, lived experiences, expertise, skills, and networks among its 342 members and 12 principal investigators. - OPEN ACCESSCumulative human impact analysis is a promising management tool to estimate the impacts of stressors on ecosystems caused by multiple human activities. However, connecting cumulative impact scores to actual ecosystem change at appropriate spatial scales remains challenging. Here, we calculated cumulative effects (CE) scores for 187 seagrass beds in Atlantic Canada that accounts for both bay-scale and local-scale anthropogenic activities. We then developed a CE threshold to evaluate where degradation of seagrass beds from multiple human activities is more likely. Overall, the CE score was the best predictor of human impacts for seagrass beds. Locations with high watershed land alteration and nitrogen loading had the highest CE scores; however, we also identified seagrass beds with high CE scores in regions characterized by generally low levels of human activities. Forty-nine seagrass beds exceeded the CE threshold and, of these, 86% had CE scores that were influenced by three or more stressors that cumulatively amounted to a large score. This CE threshold approach can provide a simplified metric to identify areas where management of cumulative effects should be prioritized and further highlights the need to consider multiple human activities when assessing anthropogenic impacts to coastal habitats.
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- Wasifa Zarin,
- Carole Lunny,
- Sabrina Chaudhry,
- Sonia M. Thomas,
- Annie LeBlanc,
- Fiona Clement,
- Ahmed M. Abou-Setta,
- Janet A. Curran,
- Brian Hutton,
- Ivan D. Florez,
- Linda C. Li,
- Stephen Bornstein,
- Clayon B. Hamilton,
- Pertice Moffitt,
- Christina Godfrey,
- Louise Zitzelsberger,
- Leanne Gardiner,
- Christine Fahim,
- Sharon E. Straus, and
- Andrea C. Tricco
Canada has made great progress in synthesizing, disseminating, and integrating research findings into health systems and clinical decision-making; yet gaps exist in the research-to-practice continuum. The Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) Evidence Alliance aims to help close gaps by providing decision-makers with evidence that is timely, context sensitive, and demand driven to better inform patient-oriented practices and policies in health systems. In this article, we introduce a model established in Canada to support decision-maker needs for high-quality evidence that is patient oriented to enhance health systems performance. We provide an overview of how this model was implemented, who is involved, who it serves, as well as its organizational structure and remit. We discuss key milestones achieved to date and the impact this initiative has made within the health research community. The strength of the SPOR Evidence Alliance lies in its unique ability to simultaneously: (i) serve as a national platform for researchers to stay connected and collaborate to minimize duplication of efforts and (ii) facilitate access to research knowledge for patient partners and decision-makers. In doing so, the SPOR Evidence Alliance is supporting health policy and practice decisions that support and strengthen Canada’s dynamic health systems. - OPEN ACCESS
- Linda C. Li,
- Alison M. Hoens,
- Linda Wilhelm,
- Vikram Bubber,
- Elliot PausJenssen,
- Annette McKinnon,
- Jenny Leese,
- Thalia Otamendi,
- Clayon B. Hamilton,
- Wasifa Zarin,
- Andrea C. Tricco, and
- for the SPOR Evidence Alliance
The Evidence Alliance (EA) is a Canada-wide multi-stakeholder organization providing national-level support in knowledge synthesis, clinical practice guidelines development, and knowledge translation. With a mandate to deliver the best available evidence to inform health policy and improve patient care, the EA involves patients and their caregivers in its governance, research priority setting and conduct, and capacity building. To reflect on the experiences of patient involvement in its first three years, the organization conducted a self-study with 17 actively involved patient partners. They answered the Patient Engagement in Research Scale 22-item short form (PEIRS-22) and open-ended questions. Of the 15 respondents, 12 were women with a mean age of 62.6 years (SD 10.1). The mean PEIRS-22 score was 82.1 (SD 15.9), indicating perceived meaningful engagement. Analysis of the free-text answers identified three themes: (i) communication: successes, changes, and improvements; (ii) a respectful and welcoming environment; and (iii) opportunities to learn and contribute. Patient partners noted the EA made genuine efforts to welcome them and value their contributions. They also identified a need for the organization to increase patient partner diversity. This self-study was perceived as rewarding as it provided a foundation for further growth in patient involvement within the organization. - OPEN ACCESSEthnobiological studies on folk, common, or popular names that fishers use to identify fish can help improve fisheries monitoring and collaborations between fishers and researchers. This study investigates fishers’ knowledge (recognition, naming, and habitat use) on 115 and 119 fish species, respectively, in the Negro and Tapajos Rivers, two megadiverse rivers in the Brazilian Amazon, and investigates the relationship between such knowledge and fish importance to fisheries, fish abundance, and fish size. We also compared fishers’ perceptions on fisheries and fish abundance with literature data on fish harvests and fish sampling. We interviewed 16 fishers in 16 communities (one fisher per community, 8 communities along each river). These fishers recognized an average of 91 ± 10.4 species in the Negro River and 115 ± 7.2 species in the Tapajos River, but all fishers recognized 114 species in Negro and all species in Tapajos. The fishers’ knowledge of fish species was positively related to fishers’ perceptions on fish abundance, size, and importance to fisheries in the Negro, but only positively related to fish size in the Tapajos. Our results highlight the usefulness of fishers’ knowledge to providing data on use and cultural relevance of fish species in high diversity aquatic ecosystems.
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- Sharon E. Straus,
- Brian Hutton,
- David Moher,
- Shannon E. Kelly,
- George A. Wells, and
- Andrea C. Tricco
In 2009, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Health Canada, and other stakeholders established the Drug Safety and Effectiveness Network (DSEN) to address the paucity of information on drug safety and effectiveness in real-world settings. This unique network invited knowledge users (e.g., policy makers) to submit queries to be answered by relevant research teams. The research teams were launched via open calls for team grants focused in relevant methodologic areas. We describe the development and implementation of one of these collaborating centres, the Methods and Application Group for Indirect Comparisons (MAGIC). MAGIC was created to provide high-quality knowledge synthesis including network meta-analysis to meet knowledge user needs. Since 2011, MAGIC responded to 54% of queries submitted to DSEN. In the past 5 years, MAGIC produced 26 reports and 49 publications. It led to 15 trainees who entered industry, academia, and government. More than 10 000 people participated in courses delivered by MAGIC team members. Most importantly, MAGIC knowledge syntheses influenced practice and policy (e.g., use of biosimilars for patients with diabetes and use of smallpox vaccinations in people with contraindications) provincially, nationally, and internationally. - OPEN ACCESS
- Morgan L. Piczak,
- Jill L. Brooks,
- Brittany Bard,
- Christian J. Bihun,
- Andrew Howarth,
- Amanda L. Jeanson,
- Luc LaRochelle,
- Joseph R. Bennett,
- Nicolas W. R. Lapointe,
- Nicholas E. Mandrak, and
- Steven J. Cooke
A seminal report by Peter H. Pearse (1988; Rising to the Challenge: A New Policy for Canada’s Freshwater Fisheries, Canadian Wildlife Federation, Ottawa) outlined 62 policy recommendations focused on the management of Canada’s inland fisheries. Over three decades later, freshwater ecosystems and inland fisheries in Canada are still facing similar challenges with many emerging ones that could not have been foreseen. Here, we reflect on the contemporary relevance of the Pearse Report and propose recommendations that policy makers should consider. Broadly, our recommendations are: (1) manage fishes, fisheries, and habitat using a holistic co-management framework, with clearly defined fishery jurisdictions and partnerships with Indigenous governments; (2) engage in transparent, inclusive, and agile research to support decision-making; (3) facilitate knowledge co-production, involving interdisciplinary projects with diverse groups of actors and sectors including Indigenous Peoples, anglers, policy makers, scientists/researchers, governments, and the public; (4) embrace technological advances to support freshwater fisheries stock assessment and management; and (5) align policy and management activities in Canada with global initiatives related to increasing the sustainability of inland fisheries. We advocate for an updated comprehensive report such as the Pearse Report to ensure that we embrace robust, inclusive, and sustainable management strategies and policies for Canada’s inland fisheries for the next 30 years. It is time to again rise to the challenge. - OPEN ACCESS
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- Shelby Fenton,
- Emma K Quinn,
- Ela Rydz,
- Emily Heer,
- Hugh W Davies,
- Robert A Macpherson,
- Christopher B McLeod,
- Mieke W Koehoorn, and
- Cheryl E Peters
A media surveillance analysis was conducted to identify COVID-19 workplace outbreaks and associated transmission risk for new and emerging occupations. We identified 1,111 unique COVID-19 workplace outbreaks using the Factiva database. Occupations identified in the media articles were coded to the 2016 National Occupational Classification (V1.3) and were compared and contrasted with the same occupation in the Vancouver School of Economics (VSE) COVID Risk/Reward Assessment Tool by risk rating. After nurse aides, orderlies, and patient service associates (n = 109, very high risk), industrial butchers and meat cutters, and poultry preparers and related workers had the most workplace outbreaks reported in the media (n = 79) but were rated as medium risk for COVID-19 transmission in the VSE COVID Risk Tool. Outbreaks were also reported among material handlers (n = 61) and general farm workers (n = 28), but these occupations were rated medium–low risk and low risk, respectively. Food and beverage services (n = 72) and cashiers (n = 60) were identified as high-risk occupations in the VSE COVID Risk Tool. Differences between the media results and the risk tool point to key determinants of health that compound the risk of COVID-19 exposure in the workplace for some occupations and highlight the importance of collecting occupation data during a pandemic. - OPEN ACCESSShortcomings in the rigour and reproducibility of research have become well-known issues and persist despite repeated calls for improvement. A coordinated effort among researchers, institutions, funders, publishers, learned societies, and regulators may be the most effective way of tackling these issues. The UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN) has fostered collaboration across various stakeholders in research and are creating the infrastructure necessary to advance rigorous and reproducible research practices across the United Kingdom. Other Reproducibility Networks, modelled on UKRN, are now emerging in other countries. Canada could benefit from a comparable network to unify the voices around research quality and maximize the value of Canadian research.
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- Anna Bazzicalupo,
- Susana C. Gonçalves,
- Rémi Hébert,
- Sigrid Jakob,
- Alfredo Justo,
- Gavin Kernaghan,
- Renée Lebeuf,
- Bruce Malloch,
- R. Greg Thorn, and
- Allison K. Walker
Despite the ecological importance of fungi, we still know little about their diversity in Canada. One of the largest hurdles to implementing fungal conservation initiatives is the lack of fungal distribution data. As anthropogenic impacts accelerate the speed of environmental change, it is imperative that we fill this major information gap, critical for fungal protection. To gain insight on the conservation status of Canadian macrofungi, we took advantage of the large and growing body of fungal biodiversity data from government research (Wild Species 2020), citizen science, trained independent mycologists, university, and museum biodiversity research. The majority of macrofungi are data deficient; we do not know their geographic distribution or habitat requirements, occurrence, or abundance in Canada. For mushrooms that fruit only a few days of the year and are often difficult to positively identify, there is a lot of work to overcome the uncertainty of distinguishing under-sampling from rarity. Our work stresses the importance of building a strong network of professional and amateur mycologists to develop resources, disseminate information to make educated decisions, and advance conservation actions. We found that several fungi can be prioritized; we present a short list for consideration for formal conservation assessment. - OPEN ACCESSThe drivers of the harassment and intimidation of researchers are complex, widespread, and global in their reach and were being studied across many disciplines even before COVID-19. This policy briefing reviews some of the scholarship on this wide-ranging problem but focuses on what can be done to help ensure that Canadians fully benefit from the work of Canada’s researchers while also preserving the security and safety of those researchers. It identifies policies and actions that can be implemented in the near term to gather information on the problem, better frame public research communications, and ensure that mechanisms are readily available to support researchers who are threatened. The policy briefing is concerned with researchers, but these behaviours are also harming journalists, politicians, public health communicators, and many others more fully in the public eye than researchers. Some recommendations here may help to address this wider problem.