Journalism

AbstractThe workplace is a key space where LGBTQ+ people face discrimination leading to mental health distress. This paper shows how spatial attributes of work shape experiences and perceptions of discrimination and mental health distress. Building on minority stress theory, we demonstrate how spatial attributes of work can cause, amplify, or mitigate mental health distress among LGBTQ+ people through direct and indirect mechanisms, such as anticipated discrimination, perceived discrimination, and the availability of coping devices. Our findings suggest that understanding the connection between workplace discrimination and poor mental health requires a more nuanced understanding of the workplace, highlighting how workplace stressors are simultaneously emplaced in and exceed the spatiotemporal bounds of the workplace.

AbstractPersonal protective equipment (PPE) is critical among healthcare professionals, considering that it serves as the first line of defense against infectious diseases and hazards in the healthcare environment. Therefore, the shortage of PPE during the COVID‐19 pandemic exposed a unique vulnerability within the healthcare system, heightening the risk of infection among healthcare professionals. Despite this evidence, few studies have explored whether this negative impact of PPE scarcity extends to mental health among healthcare professionals in Canada. Using the Survey on Healthcare Workers' Experiences During the Pandemic conducted by Statistics Canada (n = 12,246), the current study aims to address this void by exploring the association between PPE shortages and two indicators of mental health—depression and general anxiety disorder. We found that 18% and 26% of healthcare professionals reported depression and general anxiety disorder, respectively. Results from logistic regression analyses indicate that healthcare professionals who faced at least one PPE restriction were more likely to report general anxiety disorder. Additionally, professionals who experienced four or more restrictions were more likely to report depression (OR = 1.28, p<0.01), compared to those who did not experience any restriction. Based on these findings, we discuss whether the stress and anxiety resulting from inadequate protection during the pandemic may point to the importance of understanding the broader implications of PPE shortages on the mental well‐being of healthcare professionals. The current study highlighted that it is essential to craft evidence‐based policies that not only prioritize the physical safety of healthcare professionals but also their mental well‐being, ultimately strengthening the healthcare system's response to crises.

AbstractA reliable transportation network is essential to maintaining and growing a region's economic productivity through the movement of goods, a significant proportion of which is moved by truck. Criticalities in the network should be identified and mitigation measures implemented to ensure that minimal negative impacts arise from link disruptions. Using criticality measures that account for network, freight flow, and economic characteristics, a comparison is made among locations of highly critical segments in the province of Ontario, Canada, and infrastructure improvement projects planned by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. Four highway capacity expansion segments are explored through a scenario analysis, comparing the effects resulting from their implementation to a status quo base case. Freight and passenger flows are forecasted to the year 2036 for the analysis. A comparison is made among the scenarios to assess the network‐wide impacts of each segment's improvements with respect to vehicle and shipment value flows, travel time, greenhouse gas emissions, and each segment's average operating conditions. Of the four segments compared, the improvements of Highway 404 appear to provide the most significant benefits with respect to network performance. Such analysis can inform policy measures for the prioritization of infrastructure improvements to address network criticalities.

AbstractNeighbourhood physical and social disorders are shown to have adverse impacts on residents’ mental health. Identifying and addressing neighbourhood challenges is crucial for promoting social cohesion and mental well‐being. Nonetheless, there is a dearth of research on this important topic within Canada, prompting a comprehensive evaluation of the association between neighbourhoods’ challenges and self‐rated mental health. Using the 2018 (N = 61,021) and 2021(N = 40,988) Canadian Housing Surveys and employing logistic regression models for comparative analysis, we found that residents of neighbourhoods with challenges including harassment, drug use, drunkenness, unsafeness at night, noise, smog/air pollution, garbage litter, and vandalism, reported lower odds of positive mental health (PMH) both pre‐pandemic and during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Also, females reported lower odds of PMH both pre‐pandemic and during the pandemic. However, residents with post‐secondary educational attainment, those from wealthy households, and those in two‐member households, significantly reported PMH before and during the pandemic. Civic engagement with the local community also correlated more with PMH, but pre‐pandemic only. Provincial variations were further observed. Thus, we concluded that neighbourhood challenges contribute to poor mental health. Socio‐economic and provincial differences underscore the importance of tailored interventions and support systems for mental health across regions. However, it is important to highlight that the self‐reported nature of our data may result in biased perceptions. That is, participants’ existing poorer mental health status may influence their opinions about the neighbourhoods. Also, the tendency of social desirability to influence responses may suggest a bidirectional neighbourhood‐mental health relationship.

AbstractIn northern Canada, Indigenous Peoples face rapid environmental and sociocultural changes that disrupt access to traditional places and practices. This disruption limits cross‐generational knowledge transfer and decreases opportunities for youth to connect with the Land. Land‐based education programs aim to provide Indigenous youth with spaces to learn about and connect with the Land, their language, and culture. However, there is limited research on what youth experience, enjoy, and learn during these programs. Our paper explores this through a study with Dene and Métis youth in the Dehcho region of the Northwest Territories. We investigate what youth experience and learn during “on‐the‐land” camps and how these camps provide spaces for youth to connect with the Land. Using a community‐based, Indigenous research methodology, we employed photovoice, allowing youth to share visual stories of their camp experiences and their (re)connection with the Land. Our results are categorized into three themes: (1) connections with the Land; (2) enjoyment of the camp environment; and (3) land‐based learning. We argue that land‐based education programs, such as on‐the‐land camps, are effective for fostering relationships between Indigenous youth and the Land. These camps teach youth various ways to connect with and protect the Land for future generations.

AbstractIn Bridgewater, a small town in Nova Scotia, around 40% of households face energy poverty. Little research has examined energy poverty in Canada and how it affects the well‐being of households. The aim of this study was to identify the ways households cope with energy poverty across socio‐economic characteristics, paying particular attention to the heat‐or‐eat trade‐off. Data were collected using a community‐based survey on housing, energy use and costs, coping strategies, socio‐economic characteristics, and well‐being. Overall, 516 residents of Bridgewater completed the survey. Cross‐tabulations and logistic regressions were used to analyze the data. Results indicate that the use of coping strategies was higher among women compared to men, young adults compared to other age groups, in households with children, and in lower‐income households. Over one‐third of respondents reported using the heat‐or‐eat trade‐off. Women, young adults, those in dwellings in need of repairs, and those with lower education levels and lower household incomes were more likely to use the heat‐or‐eat trade‐off. Our findings reveal that households vulnerable to energy poverty are forced to use a range of coping strategies, including strategies beyond those captured by the heat‐or‐eat trade‐off. Better understanding the experience of households facing energy poverty can inform the creation of effective support programs.

AbstractNorth America is characterized by an expansive continental plain that has been described as platter‐flat. Yet this central continental plain includes isolated uplands that some people call mountains. The hill‐mountain muddle is a classic problem of geomorphology, arising from the challenge of discriminating continuous, attached forms. Here we approach this problem initially by using crisp, terrain‐only classification approaches. We overlay a global mountain classifier with a plain and prairie designation to identify 20 mountains in Canada's continental plain, then apply a landform classification tool to delineate their spatial extents and to locate adjacent, equal‐area lowlands. We then characterize and compare the attributes of uplands and adjacent lowlands with 15 geobiocultural indicators reflective of the intersections of land, life, and people. Supporting our hypothesis that small, isolated uplands in the continental plain have distinctiveness disproportionate to their dimensions, the 20 uplands are indeed modest in elevation, prominence, and isolation, but distinct in geobiological characteristics relative to adjacent lowlands. The geobiocultural distinctiveness of uplands in the plain relative to surrounding lowlands causes these local prominences to stand out, to seem higher than they are, and to be hills described or named as mountains.

AbstractMigrant populations access different social networks due to their cultural contexts and the locations of their social relationships. The COVID‐19 pandemic generated concern about social isolation among older adults. During Ontario's extended lockdown, we investigated the social behaviours of a generally sedentary older Chinese migrant community (n = 77) in the Greater Toronto Area. Using single‐day activity diaries, we grouped respondents using a k‐means clustering approach, which resulted in four categories of socializing characteristics. We then used ANOVA tests and multinomial logistic regression to understand the geographic contexts for these socializing behaviours. Findings reveal that this older migrant community was mostly socializing online, but a small group reported socializing in person. Living in a house, having better physical health, and having children living abroad was associated with a higher likelihood of socializing in person rather than online. Ultimately, it is important to understand the context within which older migrants socialize in order to support social connection and related health outcomes as they age.

AbstractDrawing from the logic of carcerality, and refined through theories of settler colonialism, I argue in this paper the following. First, carcerality is not just a tactic of settler colonization in Canada for bodily controlling populations, but a key feature of settler colonial claims to land and territory; imposing carceral spaces on Indigenous people is a fundamental necessity for the expectations and ambitions of settler colonization, and as settler colonization in Canada is ongoing, the expansion of these carceral spaces likewise continues. Second, carceral theory can be used to analyze how Indigenous people are made to “disappear” from settler‐dominated spaces, and expose the interlocking roles of state power and social prejudice in these “eliminations.” As all kinds of frontier spaces—urban, rural, and otherwise—are assimilated into the settler colonial assemblage, Indigenous people are forced into mobility that itself is both carceral and eliminatory. Understanding carcerality as something pervasive in settler society, and not just limited to the criminal justice system, changes how we must approach decolonization.

AbstractClimate change governance presents challenges and most of the responsibility for it is offloaded to local governments often ill‐equipped to deal with it. In Canada, where climate extremes are on the rise, regional adaptation governance structures have emerged as an avenue for more efficient adaptation. Governance at this scale has the potential to mutualize expertise and means, to involve local population, and favour a vertical integration of the adaptation process. From selected examples of regional collaboration on climate change adaptation, in this short viewpoint paper, we identify some factors favouring such initiatives. The presence of “boundary organizations” such as research centres or non‐governmental organizations that can act as catalysts, is a predictor in all our cases and has been proposed in literature before. Funding opportunities can of course offer a strong incentive for various actors to get together. Other factors such as geographical or cultural particularities can shape communities’ response to the stress of climate change. More research should be led into understanding these factors and translate them into policies favouring the emergence of regional adaptation instances, especially in rural coastal zones, in Canada.