I caught my aneurysm in time: a health-care exec’s journey into the world of precision health
Spending 30 years in the health-care industry couldn’t prepare me for what was about to happen. Earlier this year, I fought and overcame cancer in my neck. On a trip to my doctor for a follow-up, I noticed something odd on one of my CT scans. I pointed it out to my doctor, who immediately […]
#HearMeToo: women-led grassroots organizations are best chance to end violence
Gloria Suarez will not be quiet. She knows all too well that silence against gender-based violence feeds more violence. Suarez is with the Organización Femenina Popular (OFP), Colombia’s pre-eminent grassroots women’s organization. In a country ravaged by more than 50 years of civil conflict, where rape and other forms of violence against women were used […]
There’s a war for your data, and health care is next
As consumers, we are constantly being encouraged to reveal all manner of data and detail about ourselves. When the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook data scandal exploded into the news headlines, it put into focus what we as consumers are, likely unknowingly, sharing about ourselves and how that same data may be used to the advantage of others. […]
Let’s have an adult conversation about how to improve Canadian health care
It’s important to look to the future needs of the health-care system and ensure that the plans of today meet the demands to come. Canada has an aging population. One in six citizens is a senior today, a figure that within 10 years is predicted to be closer to one in four. An aging population […]
‘Damning’ corrections report reflects Senator concerns about human rights gaps in prisons
Unlike some of her peers, as a social worker and human rights activist Nova Scotia Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard had visited prisons long before the committee she chairs launched its sweeping study of inmates’ human rights. But those visits were in the Atlantic provinces, and as the Human Rights Committee moved west in its tours […]
Single-payer pharmacare is a cure worse than what ails the system
As we approach the 2019 federal election campaign, we seem to be moving towards to a major policy conflict between political parties on pharmacare and the federal role. The debate will hinge on whether we should pursue targeted or sweeping reforms, whether we prioritize clinician and patient choice or cost control, and whether we wish […]
UN official warns of ‘dehumanizing’ political rhetoric amid Canada border-crosser debate
Parliamentarians should be careful not to politicize refugees, especially when their levels are “entirely manageable” like in Canada, says a United Nations refugee official. “I hope those responsible in the political sphere are not instrumentalizing the issue of asylum and migration for political gains that have got nothing to do with the issue at stake,” […]
We need a holistic approach to health care
Looking back, I now realize that I learned many fundamental lessons of good health care at a very young age. The traditional life skills my people demonstrated while living off the land taught that responsibility and resilience through social capital (we-chi-e-twin) were instrumental to the concept of preventing sickness, starvation, and other ailments. I mimicked […]
Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador: neighbours that need to talk
OTTAWA—This month’s majority decision of the Supreme Court to reject Newfoundland and Labrador’s request to reopen the 1969 Churchill Falls power contract was not a surprise to anyone who has followed the case. With one exception (Newfoundland Justice Malcolm Rowe), the judges ruled there was no basis on which to reconsider the contract, which locked […]
Liberal changes to foreign aid bill raise ‘red flag,’ say Grit MP, critics, aid groups
A Liberal MP says he’s “skeptical” a provision tucked in the government’s massive budget implementation bill that makes changes to a law governing foreign aid accountability is as harmless as it appears. Opposition critics and foreign aid groups also say the proposed change to the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act found in Bill C-86 is […]
