Tag: social issues

A researcher at the University of Manitoba has won a Community Builder Award presented by United Way East Ontario. Warren Clarke, professor in the department of anthropology, won the award for research and community work stemming from his recent doctoral research at Carleton University. 

There is a strong tendency in the Canadian public school system that assumes teaching curriculums that maintain the status quo in our social lives is somehow politically neutral. Teachers steer clear of hard and polarizing topics in the humanities and social sciences to avoid angry parents who might disagree with them. As a result, high school often consists of preparing students for the sciences while leaving social topics to English class and a selection of outdated western literature that has little relevance to a large portion of the class.

Businesses should not stand to profit from climate initiatives. Instead, businesses should be required to contribute all fees collected and put them toward climate action plans. Without mandates on how to spend these fees, franchise owners may be tempted to pocket the money to make up for revenue lost as a result of COVID-19. Worse, they may be tempted to hoard the extra income for a rainy day fund to offset potential losses in the event that COVID-19 restrictions lead to more closures. We cannot afford to leave the decision up to businesses any longer — with the climate emergency we find ourselves facing, it is imperative corporations prioritize the environment over profit.

A University of Manitoba researcher has been named one of Reach Magazine’s top five rising star researchers. Meghan Azad, associate professor in the department of pediatrics and child health, is co-directing the Manitoba Interdisciplinary Lactation Centre (MILC) alongside Nathan Nickel. 

A valuable tool for those who seek to blur the lines of necessary action is to obfuscate terms. Today, people confront a variety of terms with distinct meanings under the umbrella of environmental concern daily. Under this umbrella, policies seeking to reduce the amount of plastic in the ocean, fossil fuels used by consumers and the protection of green spaces are all given equal merit. While all of these goals are noble, our current emergency requires us to examine, prioritize and institute specific actions to counter human-caused climate change.