True reconciliation in action on BC’S coast

 ABOVE: Ryan Cootes, Erin Bremner Mitchell, Bill Collins, and Mike Williamson at a Cascadia Seaweed harvesting site in Barkley Sound, BC. Along the pristine coastline of British Columbia, the ocean is inspiring opportunities to address food security, climate action and Indigenous reconciliation. Together, BC First Nations are partnering with Cascadia Seaweed to

How Doctors Can Tackle the Their Patients’ Poverty Without Leaving the Office

 Can a question asked in a doctor’s office contribute to ending poverty for patients and their families?  This is what we asked ourselves 10 years ago, as we set out to convince health providers to tackle poverty. There were two factors that pushed us into this work: first, the evidence

Why the Federal Government Needs to Keep its Promise to End Income-Splitting

 Children’s Health More About Good Social Policy than Medicine Alone. More of Canada’s children are living in poverty than ever before. A new report reveals that child poverty rates in Canada remain unconscionably high. Almost one-third of children in Toronto live in low-income households. Population measures of child health in Canada are also troubling,

Spur Celebrates Politics, Art and Ideas

 Photo by Beibei Lu As the fervour surrounding the election wanes and Ottawa adjusts to new leadership on the Hill, the air is rife with a variety of questions raised in October: From the local: How is it that in a city and country as wealthy as this one, more

Growing Income Gap Poses a Health Risk to All

 Certain Canadian commentators are bringing forth a strange critique of public health, suggesting that physicians and public health experts, charged with caring for the health of Canadians, should not concern themselves with the root causes of illness and stick to a narrow range of health interventions. Fortunately, Canadian health experts

Health in all Policies Approach Gaining Traction Across Political Spectrum in Canada

 By Danyaal Raza and Ryan Meili When counselling patients on health, physicians often focus on lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise or smoking. This kind of advice can be important for the individual, but does little to change underlying drivers of health like income, education and employment. These factors are

Brutal Farm Killings in South Africa: How do Victims Carry on?

 Statistical analysis shows South African farmers are three times more likely than ordinary citizens to be the victims of violent crime. They also show it is twice as dangerous to produce food than it is to be a policeman. Approximately two thousand farmers and farmworkers have been killed or injured