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  • OPEN ACCESS
    Understanding the role of information in marine policy development: establishing a coastal marine protected area in Nova Scotia, Canada
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 1539 - 1569
    Canada has expanded its marine protected area (MPA) coverage in line with the Aichi Biodiversity Target of protecting 10% of its marine territory by 2020. In 2018, a consultation process was launched to designate an Area of Interest surrounding the Eastern Shore Islands area off the coast of Nova Scotia, as the potential 15th Oceans Act MPA in Canada (DFO 2021a). This region has a fraught history with external conservation interventions and, consequently, there was a significant level of local mistrust in the process. This study explored the role of information in the consultation process and how it interplayed with the historical context, political pressures, trust, and mistrust among stakeholders and rightsholders. Drawing on interviews, a detailed desktop analysis, and participant observation at consultation meetings, this paper describes what worked well and what could be improved with respect to the sources of information used and the channels through which stakeholders and rightsholders accessed it. This case study demonstrates that while preferences for information sources and channels are context specific and varied, they are inherently personal and influenced by shared histories, trust, and individual beliefs.
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    Remembering is a form of honouring: preserving the COVID-19 archival record
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 545 - 568
    COVID-19 presents an opportunity to preserve a rich and diverse historical record—one intended to honour all experiences and voices and in recognition of ongoing systemic inequalities shaping the pandemic. But policy changes are necessary in three key areas: how memory institutions are funded and supported, the gaps in our capacity to preserve the digital records that reflect how we communicate with one another today, and how to preserve and make accessible valuable scholarly research into the societal impact of COVID-19. Our goal is to begin a conversation about priorities for archival preservation, the need for greater equity and justice in our preservation practices, and ways to safeguard the existence of historical records that will allow us in future to bear witness, with fairness and truth and in a spirit of reconciliation, to our society’s response to COVID-19.
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    Next steps for ecosystem service models: integrating complex interactions and beneficiaries
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 1649 - 1669
    Accounting for ecosystem services (ES)—the ways in which society and people directly benefit from ecological processes and functions—is crucial for developing sustainable landscape management approaches that consider the interrelationship between people and nature. Previous research has produced models that estimate the provision of potential ES by landscapes to help inform policy and stakeholder decision-making. However, most modelling efforts do not consider the delivery of ES to specific human populations or communities, making it difficult to evaluate any possible human welfare implications from alternative land use planning scenarios. In this paper, we first explore the recent state of science of ES modelling from the perspective of ES provision and delivery to the people that benefit from them. Second, we propose the addition of some essential aspects of complexity using the classic social–ecological system framework, crucial for developing models to inform pragmatic decision-making. Our propositions are illustrated using simplified examples inspired by sea otter conservation in the seascapes of British Columbia. Integrating these concepts in future ES models should serve as a baseline for future management approaches that more adequately capture the important implications of landscape scenarios on human well-being.
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    The state of Canada’s biosecurity efforts to protect biodiversity from species invasions
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 1922 - 1954
    Invasive alien species (IAS) pose threats to native biodiversity globally and are linked to numerous negative biodiversity impacts throughout Canada. Considering the Canadian federal government’s commitments to environmental stewardship (e.g., the Convention on Biological Diversity), the successful management of IAS requires an understanding of how federal infrastructure, strategies, and decisions have contributed to previous outcomes. Here, we present an analysis of current efforts by the federal government to prevent IAS establishment in Canadian ecosystems and the unique challenges associated with Canadian IAS management. We then examine historical and current case studies of IAS in Canada with variable outcomes. By drawing comparisons with IAS management in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, we discuss how the Canadian government may refine its policies and practices to enable more effective responses to IAS threats. We conclude by considering how future interacting stressors (e.g., climate change) will shape how we address IAS threats, and list six lessons for successful management. Most importantly, Canada must regard biodiversity impacts from IAS with as much urgency as direct economic impacts that have historically garnered more attention. Although we focus on Canada, our findings may also be useful in other jurisdictions facing similar challenges with IAS management.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Supporting Canada’s COVID-19 resilience and recovery through robust immigration policy and programs
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 686 - 759
    Canada has been seen globally as a leader in immigration and integration policies and programs and as an attractive and welcoming country for immigrants, refugees, temporary foreign workers, and international students. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed some of the strengths of Canada’s immigration system, as well as some of the fault lines that have been developing over the last few years. In this article we provide an overview of Canada’s immigration system prior to the pandemic, discuss the system’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities revealed by the pandemic, and explore a post-COVID-19 immigration vision. Over the next three years, the Government of Canada intends to bring over 1.2 million new permanent residents to Canada. In addition, Canada will continue to accept many international students, refugee claimants, and temporary foreign workers for temporary residence here. The importance of immigration for Canada will continue to grow and be an integral component of the country’s post-COVID-19 recovery. To succeed, it is essential to take stock, to re-evaluate Canada’s immigration and integration policies and programs, and to expand Canada’s global leadership in this area. The authors offer insights and over 80 recommendations to reinvigorate and optimize Canada’s immigration program over the next decade and beyond.
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    The need for a federal Basic Income feature within any coherent post-COVID-19 economic recovery plan
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 394 - 402
    COVID-19 has shone a harsh light on the extent of poverty in Canada. When normal economic activity was interrupted by the exigencies of public health driven lockdowns, the shutdown disproportionately affected people who, before the pandemic, were living on incomes beneath the poverty line or dependent upon low-paying hourly remunerated jobs, usually part time and without appropriate benefits. Those living beneath the poverty line in Canada, three million of welfare poor and working poor, include a disproportionately large population of Black and Indigenous people and people of colour. This paper addresses the challenge of inclusive economic recovery. In particular, we propose that the federal government introduce a Basic Income guarantee for all residents of Canada as part of a comprehensive social safety net that includes access to housing, child care, mental and physical health care, disability supports, education, and the many other public services essential to life in a high-income country. Residents with no other income would receive the full benefit that would be sufficient to ensure that no one lives in poverty, while those with low incomes would receive a reduced amount.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    A scoping review of the digital agricultural revolution and ecosystem services: implications for Canadian policy and research agendas
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 1955 - 1985
    The application of technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, blockchain, cellular agriculture, and big data analytics to food systems has been described as a digital agricultural revolution with the potential to increase food security and reduce agriculture’s environmental footprint. Yet, the scientific evidence informing how these technologies may impact or enhance ecosystem services has not been comprehensively reviewed. In this scoping review, we examine how digital agricultural technologies may enhance agriculture’s support of ecosystem services. Keyword searches in academic databases resulted in 2337 records, of which 74 records met review criteria and were coded. We identify three clusters of digital agricultural technologies including those that make farm management more precise, increase connectivity, and create novel foods. We then examine modelling and empirical evidence gaps in research linking these technologies to ecosystem services. Finally, we overview barriers to implementing digital agricultural technologies for better ecosystem services management in the Canadian context including economic and political systems; lack of policies on data management, governance, and cybersecurity; and limited training and human resources that prevents producers from fully utilizing these technologies.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Canadian wildlife health surveillance—patterns, challenges and opportunities identified by a scoping review
    FACETS • Vol. 7 • pp. 25 - 44
    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 ACCESS
    Assessing gage: an online tool for improving gender visibility in STEMM
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 1601 - 1609
    Women continue to be underrepresented and less visible in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). 500 Women Scientists created and launched in January 2018 a global (>140 countries to date), online, open-access directory of women in STEMM fields. This directory—recently renamed gage—now also includes gender diverse persons (i.e., additional underrepresented genders) in STEMM fields. The purpose of the directory is to make these scientists’ expertise easier to locate and access for conference organizers, journalists, policy makers, educators, and others. Here, we undertake an assessment of the directory using surveys, Google Analytics, and focus groups to understand its efficacy and direction to date and identify future improvements we pledge to undertake. Through this assessment—conducted externally and in accordance with privacy protocols by Concolor Research—we identified who and how people are using our directory, why people signed up to be a resource, and areas for improvement. Through such assessment, we can learn how to enhance the directory’s efficacy and our broader efforts to boost the visibility of underrepresented people in STEMM.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Time to be counted: COVID-19 and intellectual and developmental disabilities—an RSC Policy Briefing
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 1337 - 1389
    The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the lives and well-being of all people globally, with consequences being observed across all domains from physical and mental health, to education and employment outcomes, to access to community supports and services. However, the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated public health restrictions on individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) has largely been overlooked. Not only do people with IDD have a greater risk of severe complications and death from the virus as shown in large-scale studies, but they also face significant short- and long-term consequences of COVID-related public health measures on their mental health and well-being. At a time when this vulnerable population is already feeling undervalued, ignored, and forgotten, it is imperative that the risks facing adults and children with IDD—as well as their families and caregivers—are recognized, valued, and addressed through a disability-inclusive approach to Canada’s pandemic policy response planning. This requires both a mainstreaming of disability inclusion into all COVID-19 response and recovery policies as well as disability-specific policies to address the unique barriers and challenges encountered by people with IDD during the pandemic. The recommendations in this policy briefing aim to achieve a more inclusive, accessible, and sustainable Canada for people with IDD both during and after the pandemic—an approach that will result in benefits for all of society.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Correction: Hydroponic fodder and greenhouse gas emissions: a potential avenue for climate mitigation strategy and policy development
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 870
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Assessing a proponent-driven process for endangered species threat mitigation: Ontario’s Endangered Species Act, American Eel, and hydropower
    FACETS • Vol. 7 • pp. 153 - 173
    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
    The right to burn: barriers and opportunities for Indigenous-led fire stewardship in Canada
    FACETS • Vol. 7 • pp. 464 - 481
    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 ACCESS
    A centralized rare disease database and whole-genome sequencing as a standard of care: two essential implementations for the future of health
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 1831 - 1834
  • OPEN ACCESS
    “I see my culture starting to disappear”: Anishinaabe perspectives on the socioecological impacts of climate change and future research needs
    FACETS • Vol. 7 • pp. 509 - 527
    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 ACCESS
    A more nuanced analysis of evidence-based decision-making by Canada’s protected area managers: a comment on Lemieux et al. (2021)
    FACETS • Vol. 7 • pp. 1 - 9
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Emerging issues for protected and conserved areas in Canada
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 1892 - 1921
    Horizon scanning is increasingly used in conservation to systematically explore emerging policy and management issues. We present the results of a horizon scan of issues likely to impact management of Canadian protected and conserved areas over the next 5–10 years. Eighty-eight individuals participated, representing a broad community of academics, government and nongovernment organizations, and foundations, including policymakers and managers of protected and conserved areas. This community initially identified 187 issues, which were subsequently triaged to 15 horizon issues by a group of 33 experts using a modified Delphi technique. Results were organized under four broad categories: (i) emerging effects of climate change in protected and conserved areas design, planning, and management (i.e., large-scale ecosystem changes, species translocation, fire regimes, ecological integrity, and snow patterns); (ii) Indigenous governance and knowledge systems (i.e., Indigenous governance and Indigenous knowledge and Western science); (iii) integrated conservation approaches across landscapes and seascapes (i.e., connectivity conservation, integrating ecosystem values and services, freshwater planning); and (iv) early responses to emerging cumulative, underestimated, and novel threats (i.e., management of cumulative impacts, declining insect biomass, increasing anthropogenic noise, synthetic biology). Overall, the scan identified several emerging issues that require immediate attention to effectively reduce threats, respond to opportunities, and enhance preparedness and capacity to react.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    The impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of Canadian children and youth
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 1628 - 1648
    Children and youth flourish in environments that are predictable, safe, and structured. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted these protective factors making it difficult for children and youth to adapt and thrive. Pandemic-related school closures, family stress, and trauma have led to increases in mental health problems in some children and youth, an area of health that was already in crisis well before COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. Because mental health problems early in life are associated with significant impairment across family, social, and academic domains, immediate measures are needed to mitigate the potential for long-term sequalae. Now more than ever, Canada needs a national mental health strategy that is delivered in the context in which children and youth are most easily accessible—schools. This strategy should provide coordinated care across sectors in a stepped care framework and across a full continuum of mental health supports spanning promotion, prevention, early intervention, and treatment. In parallel, we must invest in a comprehensive population-based follow-up of Statistics Canada’s Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth so that accurate information about how the pandemic is affecting all Canadian children and youth can be obtained. It is time the Canadian government prioritizes the mental health of children and youth in its management of the pandemic and beyond.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    COVID-19 school closures and social isolation in children and youth: prioritizing relationships in education
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 1795 - 1813
    We pursue an evidence-informed argument that interpersonal relationships in childhood and adolescence are central to achieving learning outcomes and that school closures across various parts of Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic have compromised these critical relationships, jeopardizing educational attainment. We highlight how the centrality of relationships with peers and educators in achieving learning goals is well established in the literature. So too is the importance of peers in creating stable mental health and wellness for children and youth. The pandemic context has drastically interfered with ongoing wellness, exacerbating feelings of loneliness and social isolation, which takes a toll on what children and youth can achieve in the virtual classroom. In the interest of reducing harm, we call on provincial/territorial governments to move quickly to ensure schools are open in the fall and to think carefully and consult effectively before any further closure decisions are made. We understand that safety is paramount and as such offer a framework for planning a safe return where necessary. Now more than ever there is a need to prioritize social–emotional learning opportunities to protect young people from the lasting effects of social isolation and threats to the fundamental need to belong that have been induced or exacerbated by the pandemic.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    School recess and pandemic recovery efforts: ensuring a climate that supports positive social connection and meaningful play
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 1814 - 1830
    As Canada’s schools reopen, attention to healing the school community is essential. Given the considerable stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is unsurprising that recent studies find Canadian children’s mental health in decline. As social connection is tightly entwined with children’s mental health, supporting school-based spaces for quality social interactions and play will be an important postpandemic recovery strategy. Children will need opportunities to re-establish positive social connections at school, and informal spaces such as recess and lunch are an ideal time to afford these opportunities. Yet many schoolyards have long been challenged by social conflict that can interfere with children’s need to connect with peers. Therefore, efforts should be directed not only at mitigating the effects of social harm, but also toward ensuring social and physical landscapes that are meaningful, inclusive, and engaging for children and adolescents of all ages. Recommendations for postpandemic recovery are provided.