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Why Canadian dads are more involved in raising their kids than American fathers
Wednesday, 28 July 2021 05:03 Written by theconversation 
Kevin Shafer, Brigham Young University
Thirty-five years ago, Canadian and American dads were doing a similar amount of child rearing, relative to mothers. Surveys from the mid 1980s showed that Canadian men spent 38% of the time that Canadian women spent on child care, and American men spent 35% of the time that American women spent on child care.
Today, there are significant gaps in fathering between Canadians and Americans. Canadian dads spend significantly more time taking care of their children than their American counterparts. For example, Canadian fathers spend an average of 14 hours on child care each week, while American fathers average about 8 hours a week.
As a sociologist and Canadian studies scholar, I am interested in how social policies affect fatherhood in different countries. I collected data on more than 5,000 men in the two nations from 2016 to 2018 for my upcoming book on the similarities and differences between American and Canadian dads. This data looked at how dads interacted with their children – whether they acted warmly and affectionately, if they provided emotional support and how they disciplined their children.
My data shows Canadian dads were much more likely to show warmth, provide emotional support, engage in caregiving and use positive discipline. In fact, American dads outperformed their Canadian counterparts on only one of the survey measures – the use of spanking and other harsh disciplinary tactics.
Why have Canadian fathers pulled ahead of American fathers in caring for and showing affection toward their children? I believe the answer lies, in part, with four types of social policies in Canada that help fathers be more engaged at home.
1. Family leave
When it comes to family policy, there are major differences between the U.S. and Canada.
Canada has guaranteed paid family leave for mothers and fathers. As part of their employment insurance program, Canadian parents get 35 weeks of shared paid benefits, paid at 55% of regular pay. On top of that, fathers get five exclusive weeks of leave.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is the only rich nation in the world that doesn’t guarantee maternity leave, and one of three rich countries – along with Oman and the United Arab Emirates – without a paternity leave option.
Studies from across the world consistently show that men who take paternity leave tend to be more involved in their children’s lives, have better relationships with family members and help their partners recover from childbirth more quickly.
2. Social inequality
Stagnant incomes, high levels of economic inequality and financial instability have led many American men to work long hours. In my survey, a third of the American respondents work 50 hours or more a week, compared to just one-tenth of Canadian participants.
Financial anxieties permeate parenting in the U.S. The increase in intensive parenting – parents who try to build impeccable resumes for their kids, filled with extracurricular activities, advanced courses and awards – is an effort by middle-income families to keep up with the parenting practices of the well-off.
Such parenting patterns are less common in Canada, a country with more accessible elite educational institutions and less income inequality.
The Canada Child Benefit further alleviates financial anxiety for parents. Unlike child tax credits in the U.S., which were traditionally paid with tax returns, Canada delivers its tax credit in monthly payments to low- and middle-income families with children. The program has cut child poverty by 40% since its introduction in 2017. The U.S. just rolled out a similar temporary program in July 2021.
3. Gender inequality
Fathers tend to be more involved parents in nations with higher levels of gender equality. When women are engaged in the political and economic spheres, fathers provide more physical care to children, are warmer and more emotionally supportive parents, and use less harsh discipline. This is likely caused by more explicit and enforceable expectations about equal partnership between co-parents.
Canada is a more gender-equal country than the U.S. In 2019, the United Nations listed Canada as the 19th most egalitarian nation in the world. The U.S. was 46th. Canada outpaced the U.S. on measures of female health, political power, education and economic empowerment. Solidifying the expectation that dads be highly involved co-parents, these greater levels of gender equality may be a significant reason Canadian fathers outperform their American counterparts.
4. Health care
Even policies that seemingly have little to do with parenting have, in reality, a major impact on how men interact with their children. This includes Canada’s single-payer, provincially administered, universal health care system.
Analyses in my forthcoming book, for example, show that poor physical health has much weaker negative effects on men’s parenting in Canada than in the U.S. This suggests that the U.S. health care system’s high medical costs, coupled with bureaucratic and systemic inefficiencies, drain individuals’ time, energy and resources – making fathering more difficult. The problem is compounded when children have health issues as well.
As society emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, data suggests that a more comprehensive family policy would benefit American fathers, mothers and children. Doing so can ease the especially difficult burdens mothers face and help remove structural barriers that make it hard for fathers to be highly involved and engaged parents. Canada may provide the United States with a useful example on how to implement supportive family policies.
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Kevin Shafer, Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Canadian Studies, Brigham Young University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Lost to religious misstep, illustrious Kayode Badru is why we must critique the dead
Tuesday, 06 July 2021 12:54 Written by nigeriabroadN |
Earlier, the Lagosian had reportedly given scholarships to 40 Nigerian boys through his Academy for Innovative Art and Technology—ACIATECH. On Wednesday, May 5 2021, he was at a Celestial Church of God parish in Lagos, happily attending the boys’ graduation ceremony.
According to several reports, Badru was the subject of a religious ritual during the thanksgiving: some spiritual perfume was emptied on him from head to toe—amid lit candles that encircled where he was made to kneel, another planted in his palms. Suddenly, fire engulfed his entire body from the candles. He sustained severe burns and later died at a hospital.
One can glean from accounts of his death that the deceased was virtually soaked in highly flammable substance before naked flames. And one may perhaps criticize his failing in all this: a man of his exposure should have known better. Perfumes often have fire warnings: “Because they contain various amounts of ethyl alcohol, perfumes are considered a flammable liquid, hazard class 3; the solvent in most perfumes is ethyl alcohol which has a flashpoint of 55 degrees Fahrenheit, certain to burn,” says a comment on Quora.
Though I know nothing of Badru’s education, his philanthropy in the sector spoke to his refinement. It is heartbreaking to lose such an asset to what I deem religious rascality. Rascality, at least considering the church’s response.
Leadership of the Celestial Church, in one of whose branches the ugly incident took place, later issued a ridiculous statement—not an apology or condolence to the victim's family; rather, a directive to its branches to henceforth ensure that “spiritual perfumes” were diluted with water before use. Often, this is how religion treats human life: capture, distort, destroy, and move to the next.
In November 2019, 20-year-old Chinanu, a phone and computer hardware technician, was murdered by religion in Abia State.
On his way from work, he had suffered injuries from resisting hoodlums who had attacked to dispossess him of gadgets in his custody. Stabs from the attack easily would heal from medical intervention—except that he declined medication even as his condition worsened; instead, he was taken to a church.
The church abhorred medicine. Chinanu was asked to have faith, and faith sealed his fate—another promising youth lost. After writing about his death on Facebook, I was assailed online and offline by some members of his church. They explained that a person at the point of death should not seek or be offered medical help but should depend only on faith to live. Religion has been that committed to human slaughter, even in the time of Germany’s Karl Marx in 1843.
Sociologist and economic theorist, Marx, in his work A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, uttered that famous line: "Die Religion...ist das opium des Volkes"—Religion is the opium of the people. The full quote offers more clarity: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."
Marx was annoying as hell on his own, but you get his point.
For those who don't know opium, it's a reddish-brown, heavy-scented addictive drug, often used illicitly as a narcotic, and occasionally in medicine as an analgesic. So, like every other abused substance, people get addicted to it, and its abusers usually get high or sedated.
The figurative opium has no mercy. It takes captive many on its way—educated or not, especially in Nigeria where the education of the learned and commonsense of the uneducated tend to buckle under faith. Islamist jihads, for instance, are in part fueled by a belief that Allah rewards those who kill infidels. For criticizing a certain Catholic priest in southern Nigeria known for dubious prophecies, I was threatened by his followers and a colleague blocked me on Facebook. Even the man’s followers later destroyed their own church’s property in a rage that could only be holier than faith itself!
Like Chinanu, we lost Kayode Badru in such a horrifying way, but we must bravely look ourselves in the eyes and say the bitter truth: those deaths were avoidable. Badru died by fire, one that was lit years ago by religion—and merely exploded on May 5.
Female corrections officer jailed for sex with inmate in front of 11 others
Tuesday, 06 July 2021 00:15 Written by lindaikejiblog
A female California corrections officer has been jailed for reportedly having sex with an inmate in full view of 11 other inmates. Tina Gonzalez, 26, who worked as a Fresno County corrections officer since 2016 was arrested in May 2020 following an investigation into her conduct. The Sheriff's Office was reportedly given a tip-off that an inmate had been having sex with a correctional officer and that she had smuggled in a phone. The investigation also revealed that alongside the phone, Gonzalez had smuggled in razors, which could have been used as weapons. It was also revealed that she cut a hole in her uniform pants to make it easier to have sex in Fresno County Jail, according to The Fresno Bee. Her former boss, Assistant Sheriff Steve McComas, told the court that he had witnessed many “pretty disgusting things” during his 26-years on the job but nothing as shocking as hearing of Gonzalez’s sex session in full view of other inmates. “That is something only a depraved mind can come up with,” McComas told the court, according to the local paper. “She took an oath which she betrayed and in doing so endangered her coworkers’ lives,” McComas said. “But she has shown no remorse. She continually calls and has sexually explicit conversations with the inmate in question and boasts about the crimes she carried out,” he told the court, according to the Bee. Gonzalez pleaded no contest in April to sexual activity by a detention facility employee with a consenting inmate, as well as possessing drugs or alcohol, and a cell phone to give to an inmate, the outlet said. Her former boss called for her to get the maximum sentence of three years and eight months in prison. But Judge Michael Idiart refused, noting that her early plea and lack of criminal history and instead sentenced her to seven months in the county jail followed by two years of probation. “I think what you did was terrible, stupid and you have ruined your career,” Idiart told Gonzalez.
“But I also believe that people can redeem themselves and you have the rest of your life to do that. Good luck,” the judge told her.
Why did the Miami apartment building collapse? And are others in danger?
Sunday, 27 June 2021 02:05 Written by theconversation 
Trivess Moore, RMIT University and David Oswald, RMIT University
Just before 2am US Eastern Daylight Time on June 24, the Champlain Towers South Tower in Surfside, South Florida, partially collapsed.
The 12-storey building with 136 apartments was built in 1981 on reclaimed wetlands. More than 55 apartments have been destroyed. At least one person is confirmed dead — with some reports claiming three — and about 100 people remain unaccounted for. Many others have been injured.
It’s unclear at this stage why the building collapsed, but it has been speculated that it had been sinking over time, which may have contributed to the collapse. It’s likely the actual cause of the collapse won’t be known for months, if ever.
However, it is important to find out exactly what happened, and what it might mean for similar buildings in Miami and around the world.
A domino effect
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said:
There’s no reason for this building to go down like that unless someone literally pulls out the supports from underneath or they get washed out or there’s a sinkhole or something like that, because it just went down.
Video footage suggests the building experienced a progressive collapse. This happens when there is failure of a primary structural element, which then causes failure of adjoining members. For example, if one floor can’t support the floors above it, those floors collapse and “pancake” the floors below.
While such apartment buildings are designed to carry heavy loads under normal static conditions, they provide little resistance against dynamic moving masses — such as an upper section pancaking a section below.
The Miami building’s progressive collapse is a similar effect to that witnessed on September 11, 2001, when fires inside the World Trade Centre twin towers weakened the buildings’ structure and triggered a progressive collapse. However, in the case of the recent collapse, there was no evidence of a fire.
Potential causes
While the cause of the disaster isn’t immediately clear, some explanations are more likely than others for this type of collapse.
It has been reported the building, which was constructed on reclaimed wetlands, was sinking. Building on unstable land could have caused damage to the foundations over time. When buildings experience lots of ground movement, large cracking can occur, causing structural damage.
There was also construction work ongoing nearby, and investigators will need to consider whether this could have disturbed the foundations. This nearby construction work could have created ground movement under nearby buildings due to vibrations or deep excavations work.
The recent work on the building’s roof will also have to be investigated, although it’s less likely this extra load would have caused the collapse. The building was also undergoing a 40-year recertification, as is required in Florida, and early media reports are that this process had not identified any major issue with the building.
Others may be at risk
The building foundation for such high-rises will typically rely on a type of “pile” foundation. Piles are essentially long, slender columns, made of materials such as concrete and steel, which transfer the load from the building deep into the ground.
If there was a reduction in the capacity of the soil to support these loads, such as in the event of a sinkhole, there would be nothing underpinning the building. Given the information that has emerged so far, it’s likely the sinking of the building over time may have been a key factor in its ultimate collapse.
Once the initial emergency search for survivors is completed, and the remaining part of the structure is deemed safe, attention will turn to what exactly caused the collapse. A range of experts (such as structural engineers) will be involved in this review.
In previous similar building collapses in the United States, the causes have typically been identified following investigations. For instance, in the case of one 2013 Philadelphia building accident, the catastrophe was attributed to the reckless and unsafe removal of structural supports during demolition work on a vacant building. This caused the vacant building to collapse onto a store, causing multiple deaths.
In the case of the Miami building, however, the exact cause may not be as easy to identify. The building had undergone several inspections during the ongoing recertification process, yet it appears imminent danger was not detected.
Investigating a building collapse typically takes months, and a full answer is sometimes never found. Right now in Miami, this process should be as rapid as possible, as nearby buildings may also be in danger.
For residents’ sake, the question of whether this incident was an isolated freak event will need to be answered quickly and comprehensively.
Trivess Moore, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University and David Oswald, Senior Lecturer in Construction, RMIT University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Popular News
99 people still trapped in Florida building collapse
Saturday, 26 June 2021 09:07 Written by dailypostAt least 99 people are unaccounted for after a building partially collapsed in Surfside, Florida, United States on Thursday.
Miami-Dade Police Department spokesperson Alvaro Zabaleta confirmed the development to Cable News Network.
One person was reported killed and at least 10 were injured in the overnight collapse.
Officials say rescue efforts are currently paused due to a thunderstorm in the area.
Emergency officials are also asking people to call 305-614-1819 if they have relatives who are unaccounted for.
Previous reports were that 51 people were unaccounted for in the incident at the Champlain Towers South condominiums.
According to State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis, tactical units working the collapsed building heard sounds from the rubble earlier today as they did search and rescue efforts.
Patronis said that rescuers heard an individual earlier today in the parking garage area that they are having difficulty getting to.
“The rescuers are hearing sounds from the rubble, it’s kind of hit or miss. You get into the zone where you are so passionate and so focused and so determined to make sure you are doing everything possible to save a life in an event like this,” he said.
Why Alberta must rethink its ban on Canada-China university collaborations
Thursday, 24 June 2021 07:53 Written by theconversation 
Sibo Chen, Ryerson University; Henry Yu, University of British Columbia, and John Price, University of Victoria
Alberta’s Ministry of Advanced Education recently ordered the province’s four major research universities to suspend pursuing new or renewed partnerships with organizations linked to China or the Chinese Communist Party. This order has triggered serious concern among Canadian scholars and academic institutions.
Both Gordon Houlden and Wenran Jiang — former directors of the University of Alberta’s China Institute — have defended the importance of fostering a better understanding of China among Canadian policy-makers as well as the general public.
The Alberta government’s order is not in isolation. It was a direct response to a May 3 news report that criticized the University of Alberta’s extensive scientific collaboration with China.
Earlier this year, the federal government also issued a research security policy statement warning, while not naming China specifically, that “Canada’s world-class research, and its open and collaborative research environment, are increasingly targeted by espionage and foreign interference activities.”
Equally noteworthy has been the push for additional anti-China measures immediately following the Alberta government’s order. Federal Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole, for instance, has urged the federal government to take a harder line against Beijing by scrutinizing Canada-China collaborative research activities in sensitive areas.
Anti-China hysteria
The push for curbing research ties with China increases anti-China hysteria at a time of heightened tensions between Canada and China.
Read more: It's time for Canada and China to tone down the rhetoric
This alarming trend not only negatively impacts Canada’s research and innovation system, but also stokes public hostility against scholars working on China-related subjects and creates difficulties for anyone having any kind of relationship with China. That includes, in particular, Canadians of Chinese descent and those seen as Asian in general, thereby fuelling the flames of anti-Asian racism in Canada.
Human knowledge is often created in isolation. Globalization and technological innovation have significantly lowered barriers in international mobility and communication. As a result, international research collaborations have become a norm for many disciplines.
As Alejandro Adem, president of Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, noted in a 2018 interview with University Affairs:
“Science is an international, global endeavour, with ideas transcending borders and no country controlling the marketplace of ideas.”
Scholars collaborate internationally for a variety of reasons.
Collaboration involving multiple institutions is often a prerequisite for projects demanding expensive infrastructure. To scholars in humanities and social sciences, working with international colleagues brings valuable intercultural perspectives.
Scholars’ global mobility also affects the impact of their research. A 2017 peer-reviewed study published by Nature found that “limiting the circulation of scholars will damage the entire scientific system.”
Isolationism during COVID-19
Extensive collaborations among scientists, universities, biotech companies and pharmaceutical companies paved the way for the rapid development and clinical success of COVID-19 vaccines.
On the other hand, isolationism has also resulted in tragic consequences during the pandemic. In the early months of the crisis, knowledge about the coronavirus amassed by experts from China as well as other Asian countries was marginalized, discredited and distrusted. We have paid a terrible price for such ignorance.
Read more: Writing from 130 years ago shows we're still dealing with the same anti-Asian racism
The Alberta government’s embrace of academic isolationism comes at a time when climate action demands concerted research efforts across borders. Alberta cited national security and intellectual property concerns in defence of its decision. But whether such concerns warrant cutting off all research ties with China requires a thorough examination instead of a unilateral order from the province’s Ministry of Advanced Education.
A recent Nature editorial argued that escalating geopolitical tensions should not diminish mutually beneficial exchanges of people and knowledge.
COVID-19 vaccine development presents a good case study illustrating the inherent limits of intellectual property rights. There is a growing worry that future research and development of mRNA technology may be impeded by legal barriers put in place by pharmaceutical companies due to the patents, trade secrets and know-how they own. This is why waiving patents on COVID-19 vaccines presents a crucial step toward ensuring access to them around the world.
Cold War mentality
Considering the timing of the Alberta government’s order, we can’t help but ask whether China is being used as as a bogeyman to invoke an ill-intentioned new Cold War mentality — a dangerous trend.
Besides irreversibly damaging valuable social ties that contribute to the vigour of the academic community, such anti-China measures will disproportionately threaten instructors and students of Chinese descent.
If banning research ties with China is implemented at the federal level, for example, would Chinese-Canadian academics be obligated to impose continuous self-censorship when talking to family members and colleagues back in China? If so, this seems the dawning of a chilling new era of McCarthyism — a troubling period in American history that saw peoples’ lives destroyed in the 1950s due to false allegations they were communist sympathizers.
Far from claiming that “questioning government policy on China is not fomenting racism,” as one newspaper columnist recently did, these policies can and will do exactly that.
It’s rare to find public discussions that make a rational distinction between a state and its people in today’s polarized media environment. As shown in the return of “Yellow Peril” tropes incited by former U.S. president Donald Trump’s “China virus” rhetoric, propaganda use to amplify external threats directly contributes to the surge of xenophobia and hate crimes.
Read more: Anti-Asian racism during coronavirus: How the language of disease produces hate and violence
The Canadian government has its own history of xenophobia, detaining thousands of innocent immigrants and citizens by declaring them “enemy aliens” during the Second World War.
Systemic racism against Indigenous, Black and racialized communities has been ingrained in the Canadian socio-political system. Now more than ever, any policy that may lead to increased discrimination against racialized groups requires critical and thorough scrutiny.
For this reason, banning research ties with China should be vetoed not only by the academic community, but also the general public for its recklessness in fanning the flames of anti-Asian racism.
Sibo Chen, Assistant Professor, School of Professional Communication, Ryerson University; Henry Yu, Professor, History, University of British Columbia, and John Price, Professor Emeritus, Asian and Pacific history, University of Victoria
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The terrorism charge filed in the London attack is the first of its kind in Canada
Friday, 18 June 2021 10:41 Written by theconversation 
Jack L. Rozdilsky, York University, Canada
One week after the intentional truck attack that targeted a Canadian-Muslim family in London, Ont., killing four members of the same family and orphaning a child, the alleged attacker has had terrorism charges filed against him.
It is significant because it’s the first use of Canada’s antiterrorism laws to prosecute an alleged Islamophobic act.
According to the Public Safety Canada 2018 Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada, there have been 55 people charged with terrorism offences under the Criminal Code. A vast majority of them were charged with international terrorism offences inspired by al-Qaida or the Islamic State, not homegrown domestic attacks.
The addition of terrorism to the murder charges already being faced by the London truck attack suspect is indicative of a pattern of domestic extremists increasingly facing terrorism charges for their violent criminal acts.
Terrorism charges laid
One day after the June 6 attack on five pedestrians, the London Police Service moved quickly to charge the alleged attacker with four counts of first-degree murder. London police said that it was a premeditated act, motivated by hate, and the victims were targeted because they were Muslim.
In the investigation, London police are being assisted by the RCMP, Canada’s national law enforcement agency. The RCMP has specific duties related to national security that are based on its capability to conduct specialized criminal investigations involving potential terrorism. To that end, the RCMP has deployed its Integrated National Security Team to London.
At some point in the first eight days of the investigation, the joint local and federal investigative team was able to provide evidence to prosecutors making the case that the murders constituted terrorist activity. At that point, both federal and provincial prosecutors consented to adding terrorism charges to the multiple first-degree murder counts.
On June 14, the suspect made a brief court appearance to have additional terrorism charges laid against him. From a practical perspective, if the alleged attacker is convicted under any one of the four first-degree murder charges, he will automatically face a life sentence with no parole for 25 years. The terrorism portion of the charges will not add jail time to what may already be a life sentence.
The investigation and legal manoeuvring has determined that the original first-degree murder charges can be now more accurately described as “murder — terrorist activity” per Sec. 231 (601) of the Criminal Code.
What terrorism legally means in Canada
Current terrorism laws in Canada can be traced back to the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001, which enacted Part II.1 of the Criminal Code — now considered today’s Canadian anti-terrorism criminal laws.
For the terrorism charges to be successfully prosecuted, being able to prove the motives of the attack becomes critical. In the June 14 news release outlining the terrorism charges, a key takeaway was the mention of Sec. 2, 83.01(1)(b) of the Criminal Code. That section, defining terrorist activity, reads in part:
“An act or omission, in or outside Canada, that is committed in whole or in part for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause, and in whole or in part with the intention of intimidating the public, or a segment of the public…”
The implication is that for terrorism charges to legally stick to the alleged London truck attacker, those portions of the case will hinge on the ability of the prosecution to prove that the motive for the attack is consistent with Canada’s definition of terrorist activity.
Important firsts in prosecuting terrorism
In February 2020, a machete attack at a Toronto massage parlour left one woman dead and two others wounded. A 17-year-old was charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder. The investigation uncovered evidence that the attack was motivated by misogynistic incel ideology.
Read more: Why charging incels with terrorism may make matters worse
In May 2020, the charges were updated to include terrorism, a significant first in treating a violent act of incel misogyny as terrorism.
Another first for terrorism prosecution in Canada was the charges against the London truck attack suspect that have linked the incident to Islamophobia.
This shows that both misogynistic and Islamophobic acts are increasingly considered terrorist acts that pose risks to the security of Canada. The Canadian government defines these types of extremist threats as driven by a range of grievances across the traditional ideological spectrum.
After the London truck tragedy, the prime minister’s national security adviser said that such ideologically motivated attacks pose a growing threat to Canadian national security, and is our most deadly extremist threat.
The decision to update the first-degree murder charges to murder and terrorism charges for the London truck attack suspect sends the message that Canadians who kill other Canadians based on political, ideological and religious motivations are, in the eyes of the law, not just murderers but terrorists too.
Jack L. Rozdilsky, Associate Professor of Disaster and Emergency Management, York University, Canada
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Canada needs a national public transportation system — here’s why
Thursday, 17 June 2021 03:43 Written by theconversationA major transit gap was created when Greyhound Lines stopped providing intercity bus services in Central Canada in May. Greyhound had previously withdrawn from Western provinces in 2018 following a decrease in ridership. This time, the company cited financial pressure related to COVID-19 for ending service on the rest of its Canadian routes.
Greyhound’s exit illustrates the need for a publicly funded national transit system.
The federal government’s recently announced $15 billion in transport funding is a step in the right direction. However, such announcements do not necessarily lead to improvements in public transportation because provincial governments have the final decision.
In 2018, when the federal government provided funding to fill gaps created by Greyhound’s initial cuts, some provinces refused it.
Many communities in Canada currently lack intercity and regional transportation and are “under-served with intermittent, expensive and sometimes unsafe transportation options.” Federal, provincial and Indigenous governments therefore need to collaborate to develop an integrated national public transportation system that is safe, equitable, climate friendly and accessible — especially for rural, vulnerable and racialized communities.
An integrated national public transportation system could be designed to improve connectedness between communities and to needed services — including health care, education, financial services, government programs and food retail. It would promote environmental justice, health equity, human dignity and mobility rights.
Our research looks at how governments’ political choices influence these social determinants of health and health outcomes. We have focused on how budget cuts to public transportation worsen health outcomes. This Saskatchewan-based research shows that public transportation cuts can be especially detrimental to vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, seniors and people with low incomes.
A new study called Here Today, Gone Tomorrow will look at vulnerabilities linked to the absence or presence of public transportation in rural and remote locations.
Why public transportation?
Transportation affects health because of its connections to service access and climate change.
Globally, 1.5 million people die from road transport — more than from HIV, malaria or tuberculosis. Canada had the fourth highest rate of traffic fatalities in 2009 among OECD countries. The most recent data shows that road traffic fatality in Canada continues to be higher (5.2 per 100,000 inhabitants) than the European Union average (4.9 per 100,000 inhabitants).
Investment in public transportation would reduce these deaths. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States found that while 76.6 per cent of traffic fatalities were people in private cars, only 0.1 per cent were bus occupants.
Public transportation can reduce poverty while ensuring health-care access. A 2019 study found that almost one million urban Canadians are at risk of “transportation poverty” because lack of reliable public transportation separates people from economic opportunities.
Our own research on the dismantling of the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) revealed reduced health-care access and increased waste within the health system because hospitals had relied on the public bus network to transport equipment, blood samples and medicines. Similarly, in the United Kingdom, the large-scale dismantling of public transportation options has left many communities stranded.
Public transportation is a future-facing, climate friendly option. Transportation accounts for 28 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions — higher than the global rate of 23 per cent. This contributes to the effects of global climate change, which disproportionately impact those who are poor. As a solution to the climate crisis, public transportation is far more feasible than other suggested approaches like electric cars.
Read more: The myth of electric cars: Why we also need to focus on buses and trains
Lack of public transit affects vulnerable people
Apart from the reasons above, a national public transportation system is necessary because its absence normalizes the oppression of already disadvantaged groups. In Western Canada, the tragedy of the highway of tears offers a cautionary tale.
Between 1969 and 2011 an estimated 40 women, mostly Indigenous, disappeared or were murdered on Highway 16 in northern British Columbia. The national inqury into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls concluded that “lack of supportive infrastructure and transportation” has played a role in exposing Indigenous women to danger and violence.
Absence of public transportation also disproportionately affects people with disabilities. People with
of Saskatchewan Transportation Company’s ridership. Consequently, dismantling the STC disproportionately affected these groups.Although a patchwork of private providers emerged after the STC closure, accidents were reported and services were not accessible to people with disabilities. It took a complaint by a former STC rider to the Canadian Transportation Association and two years of back-and-forth for a ruling to be made that private bus service providers must be accessible to all.
Such outcomes illustrate the need for an integrated national public transport system in Canada.
Re-imagining the way forward
Although national public transportation is being taken seriously in some parts of the world, public transportation is often targeted by austerity-driven government cutbacks. In Canada, deregulation made intercity transportation a provincial jurisdiction in 1987, which led to public transportation cuts.
Current concerns for climate justice, reduction of social inequalities, accessibility and mobility rights call for an integrated transportation system linking communities and services throughout Canada. Treating transportation as an essential service and mobility as a human right would go far in eliminating existing inequalities.
In re-imagining future solutions, Canada should pay special attention to the social dimensions of transportation, including its impact on women, the poor, people with disabilities, the elderly and Indigenous and racialized people.
Canada needs a national, publicly funded system integrated across provinces and informed by social, environmental, economic, health and accessibility concerns. Although countries like Estonia or Luxemburg differ from Canada in contexts such as size, their national public transportation networks can provide examples.
Such a radical vision may only be possible if transportation again becomes regulated in Canada.
Jacob Albin Korem Alhassan, Instructor, Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan; Cindy Hanson, Professor, Dept of Sociology and Social Studies, University of Regina, and Lori Hanson, Professor, Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
