Mental health needs to be a cornerstone of equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives

Story by Keshav Krishnamurty, Part-time Instructor, Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada • THE CONVERSATION

Equity, diversity and inclusion programs have become ubiquitous in the workplace. As organizations publicly express their commitment to diversity and inclusion, there is a growing concern that these concepts are merely buzzwords to make organizations look more socially responsible.

There has also been a growing backlash against the diversity, equity and inclusion movement. So, too, is the recognition that diversity statements can backfire against diverse applicants or reek of tokenism. They can result in unintended consequences, like making organizations less likely to notice discrimination or forcing job applicants to tone down their racial identity to increase their chance of a callback.

There is evidence that bias and diversity training that isn’t grounded in research can be ineffective or even have the opposite of the intended effect. Poorly executed equity, diversity and inclusion programs can provoke resentment among certain groups, like white men, or provide a smokescreen for increased discrimination.

On the bright side, the need to take diversity seriously has grown, too. Arguments for successful equity, diversity and inclusion programs (EDI) often point to how it can grow the bottom line or improve innovation. Others seek to reconcile the business and social justice cases for diversity.

Related video: Mental health training could help neighbors in the Black Community (ABC 27 Tallahassee, FL)   View on Watch

But there is another part of this conversation that is rarely acknowledged: the universal human right to mental health.
Mental health is a human right

Oct. 10 was World Mental Health Day; a day when the World Health Organization seeks to educate people about mental health and combat the stigma associated with it. This year’s theme was “Mental health is a universal human right.”

This message carries significant weight, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns, which led to a worldwide surge in substance abuse, mental health issues and lingering feelings of fear and anxiety. These issues have a broad societal impact, particularly in the workplace, where people typically spend the majority of their adult lives.

Individuals from marginalized communities are disproportionately affected by mental health issues in the workplace. These challenges can encompass a range of issues, from anxiety and depression to feelings of loneliness and exclusion.


The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the mental health challenges faced by marginalized communities, placing additional strain on their mental health.© (Shutterstock)

Part of this is due to the harassment and discrimination women and marginalized individuals experience. According to one study, racial and ethnic minorities suffer race-specific discrimination four to six times more often than their white counterparts, while women are three to four times more likely to face gender discrimination and sexual harassment than their male peers. Belonging to more than one disadvantaged group further increases the likelihood of workplace discrimination.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the mental health challenges faced by marginalized communities, placing additional strain on their mental health.

Read more: Mental health impact of coronavirus pandemic hits marginalized groups hardest

Additionally, structural racism has led to workplace cultures where fear of retribution silences victims of discrimination, preventing them from speaking out.

As such, marginalized employees are at risk of losing more than just pay or a promotion — their voices may be ignored when it comes to planning and implementing the policies that are supposed to benefit them. This situation is exacerbated by the increased emphasis on workplace meritocracy, which can lead to hidden discrimination.
The perils of meritocracy

Meritocracy is the idea that there is a clear standard of merit and that individuals can be assessed, judged, ranked or sorted accordingly.

However, the idea of selection by merit tends to create a bias against marginalized employees, because they’re assumed to have gotten their position because they belonged to a particular category rather than having deserved it.

Additionally, racialized individuals, particularly those of Asian descent, often face the pressure of conforming to the “model minority” stereotype and not speaking out about their needs. They are implicitly expected to work harder and be smarter than others.

Read more: Model minority blues — The mental health consequences of being a model citizen: Don't Call Me Resilient EP 9 transcript

When individuals are unable to meet these artificial standards, they may blame themselves for not being able to succeed. Poorly executed EDI programs can worsen the situation.

Far too many individuals suffer in silence, rather than seek treatment. A survey from 2016 found that Asian-Americans were 51 per cent less likely to use mental health services than European Americans.


Too many individuals suffer in silence instead of seeking support and treatment.

© (Shutterstock)

The pandemic has further compounded these challenges for East Asian Canadians, who have been experiencing increased levels of anti-Asian discrimination. Even indirect experiences of racism can lead to higher levels of anxiety and depression.
More effective EDI initiatives

In light of the pandemic, it’s crucial that workplaces committed to diversity and inclusion don’t overlook the importance of addressing mental health concerns.

Workplace initiatives that support equity, diversity and inclusion should also target mental health. This means any EDI initiative should also address the core problems that cause common mental health issues. There are several potential strategies workplaces should consider:

1. Embrace diverse perspectives: Workplaces should actively encourage diverse personalities and attitudes while fostering a culture of inclusion.

2. Understanding intersectional discrimination: Intersectional discrimination refers to the fact that individuals may face discrimination based on multiple aspects of their identity, such as race, gender and sexual orientation. Recognizing and addressing these unique challenges is essential.

3. Empowering women: Initiatives to help women succeed in the workplace, like mentorship and sponsorship programs, are critical. These approaches have shown to have positive outcomes in breaking down barriers for women in various industries.

4. Fostering a sense of belonging: Ensure employees from diverse backgrounds feel like productive and valued members of their work community. This can help organizations tailor their mental health strategies to be more person-centred and holistic.

5. Building workplace communities: Promote the development of a strong sense of community within the workplace. This can enhance the overall well-being of employees and contribute to a more supportive and inclusive environment.

6. Culture-specific interventions: Implement community-based mental health strategies that take into account the unique cultural backgrounds and experiences of individuals and adapt support accordingly.

These suggestions are only the beginning, however. What truly matters is setting up EDI and mental health programs in the workplace that are based on evidence. While there is still a long road ahead, the integration of EDI and mental health initiatives represents a significant step towards more inclusive, equitable and mentally healthy workplaces for all.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:
How organizations can address toxic workplace cultures to tackle sexual harassment

Employers need to prioritize employee mental health if they want to attract new talent

HINDUTVA IS FASCISM

Anti-Muslim hate speech soars in India, research group says

Story by By Kanishka Singh • 

Demonstrators hold placards during a protest against what they say is hate speech against Muslims by Hindu leaders, in New Delhi, India, December 27, 2021. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
© Thomson Reuters

By Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) - Anti-Muslim hate speech in India rose by 62% in the second half of 2023 compared to the first six months of the year, a Washington-based research group said on Monday, adding the Israel-Gaza war played a key role in the last three months.

India Hate Lab documented 668 hate speech incidents targeting Muslims in 2023, 255 of which occurred in the first half of the year while 413 took place in the last six months of 2023, the research group said in a report released Monday.

About 75%, or 498, of those incidents took place in states governed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to the report. The states of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh accounted for the most hate speech.

Between Oct. 7 - when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel, sparking the conflict in the Gaza Strip as Israel retaliated - and Dec. 31, there were 41 incidents of hate speech against Indian Muslims that mentioned the war, the report added. It accounted for about 20% of hate speech in the last three months of 2023.

The research group said it used the United Nations' definition of hate speech - prejudiced or discriminatory language towards an individual or group based on attributes including religion, ethnicity, nationality, race or gender.

Rights groups have alleged mistreatment of Muslims under Modi, who became prime minister in 2014 and is widely expected to retain power after the 2024 elections.

They point to a 2019 citizenship law that the U.N. human rights office called "fundamentally discriminatory;" an anti-conversion legislation that challenges the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief; and the 2019 revoking of Muslim majority Kashmir's special status.

There has also been demolition of Muslim properties in the name of removing illegal construction and a ban on wearing the hijab in classrooms in Karnataka when the BJP was in power in that state.

Modi's government denies the presence of minority abuse and says its policies aim to benefit all Indians. The Indian embassy in Washington and India's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

India Hate Lab said it tracked online activity of Hindu nationalist groups, verified videos of hate speech posted on social media and compiled data of isolated incidents reported by Indian media.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Michelle Nichols and Stephen Coates)

Labor’s Tide Is Rising

Story by David Moscrop • JACOBIN

North American workers are gearing up for pivotal labor actions. With a tight labor market and the tailwind of significant union wins, the coming months promise a royal rumble between labor and capital.

Striking Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) workers march on April 19, 2023, in Kingston, Canada. (Lars Hagberg /AFP via Getty Images)© Provided by Jacobin

This year is set to be a royal rumble between labor and capital in North America. By now, the reasons for the showdown are familiar. We saw a similar phenomenon in recent years, particularly in 2023. The pandemic not only increased the immiseration of workers — it also exposed the plight of working people everywhere. As the rich grew richer, everyone else struggled to feed themselves, fill their prescriptions, and indulge in the rare luxury of a night out.

As the pandemic working conditions laid bare the struggles of workers, the strength of the labor market grew. As wages fell behind inflation, effectively giving workers a pay cut, unions seized the moment — and the attending growth in class consciousness — to agitate for better deals for their members. Capital, naturally, resisted. The reasoning is simple: treating workers as human beings deserving of a fair deal might lead to an expectation of such extravagances as fair wages and job security. What audacity.

Labor Action at Scale

 The United States saw 470 strikes and lockouts affecting nearly 540,000 workers in 2023. That’s more striking workers than in the previous two years combined, which comes in at 364,000. Writing in the New York Times, David Leonhardt and Noam Scheiber note that “labor’s very good year” benefited from momentum and “key milestones,” including a deal between Microsoft and the Communications Workers of America that eased unionization in the sector.

North of the border, there were 133 work stoppages up to October affecting 169,000 workers in Canada. That’s down from 2021 and 2022, but the length of stoppages was way up, averaging seventy-four days in 2023 compared to sixty days in 2022 and twenty-three days in 2021. Labor was willing to put it all on the line to get a fair deal. But the decline in the number of work stoppages in Canada also obscures a more important reality: last year featured significant labor gains in high-profile struggles, including a headline-grabbing strike by British Columbia port workers and one of the biggest public service strikes in Canadian history.

In many cases, workers themselves drove the agenda. As Dave Waddell wrote for the Windsor Star in January, “Workers weren’t afraid to use their bargaining power with businesses to earn double-digit wage and benefit increases or to pressure their own union leadership with sky-high expectations and lukewarm acceptance of contracts that would’ve been ratified easily in years past.” That trend is set to continue, particularly as the federal government in Canada is pursuing anti-scab legislation.

When the Bankers Are Scared, You’re Doing Something Right

A report by Scotiabank recently warned that there is likely to be more Canadian labor action in the coming years. In Ontario alone, 15 percent of the workforce — over one million workers — are facing collective bargaining agreements that expire within two years. The report’s author, Derek Holt, laments recent trends, writing that “fewer and fewer folks want to work as they seek wage gains that are massively above what is justified by tumbling labor productivity through the collective bargaining process that governs about one-third of Canada’s workforce (10 percent in the US).”

Well, isn’t that just too bad. For decades, labor productivity and profit have been decoupled, with owners enjoying more and more returns on the backs of workers. If anything, people are playing a long-overdue game of catch-up. And owners and bosses are going to have to live with it. As Holt himself concludes, “Those strikes and aggressive wage settlements will persist.”

Excellent. Indeed they will, as they should. This is what it looks like when labor rebalances the playing field somewhat against capital. It shows labor, after facing structural marginalization and exploitation while capital’s power and reach has grown, trying to give as good as it gets.

Emily Leedham points out for PressProgress that the coming labor battles in Canada will be, if you’ll permit the indulgence, epic. She details the struggles to come and notes that the contracts up for renewal in the federal public sector include Canada Post, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and Via Rail. Provincial public sector contract negotiations will happen in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. In the private sector, General Motors and Bell are also set for showdowns. The high-profile negotiations, and potential labor actions, will further draw attention to the cause.

A Bloomberg Law analysis finds that the contracts of 1.1 million workers in the United States will expire in 2024, a decline from last year but one that sets up a chance for labor to leverage and consolidate recent gains. Rebecca Rainey and Ian Kulgren write that while 315,000 postal and rail workers face statutory limits on their capacity to strike, tens of thousands of educators in the country’s largest public school districts don’t — nor do, they note, 30,000 Boeing workers. And, once more, momentum is on labor’s side.

Banks aren’t the only ones taking notice. Last week, Canadian labor minister Seamus O’Regan met with US ambassador to Canada David Cohen and major union leaders, including Unifor and the Teamsters. No doubt they were thinking about what 2024 holds in store for labor struggles — and, perhaps, the future of their governments.

While bankers are concerned about capital, so are politicians, who must also think about political capital. President Joe Biden stares down a tough reelection struggle in November and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals trail in the polls ahead of an election that is scheduled for the fall of 2025. Both will rely on the support of workers to remain in power. Biden won in 2020 in no small part by casting himself as a union president and trying to avoid the errors of the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign, which paid insufficient attention to, among other things, workers in the Rust Belt.

Seizing the Moment

To recap this sunny forecast: labor is set for a big year thanks to a recent tight labor market, growth in class consciousness brought about by the pandemic and the working conditions it induced or exacerbated, and big union wins in 2023 that have produced momentum unseen for decades. Workers also have to their advantage the precarious positions of incumbents in the White House and on Parliament Hill.

This rare convergence of advantages offers an opportunity not only to negotiate better contracts but also to unionize new shops and industries, with a much-needed focus on gig workers. At the same time, unions will be fighting long-term trends, including the ever-growing power of capital and leaps in automation technologies that threaten jobs and livelihoods across industries. Indeed, concerns about automation featured heavily in recent auto and port worker labor struggles. They will continue to feature heavily indefinitely, as they long have, but the pace and extent of emerging technology is something different than we’ve seen for a long time.

The next two years or so will shape labor fortunes for many more years to come. We ought to keep our attention focused squarely on the struggles that will play out in boardrooms and on streets and in the media. We ought to redouble our support for workers. We ought to prepare to join them in solidarity, to contribute in whatever ways we can. As I’ve argued before, supporting workers is not only good in and of itself — it’s also a means of supporting ourselves, too. Because a win for one worker is a win for every worker.

Germany's metal industry union calls for dialogue on Tesla expansion

Story by DPA International • 

The IG Metall logo hangs above the stage at the regular IG Metall trade union conference. Germany's metals industry trade union IG Metall said it supports the planned factory expansion of electric car manufacturer Tesla near Berlin and is calling for dialogue in the face of citizens' concerns.

 Daniel Karmann/dpa© DPA International

Germany's metals industry trade union IG Metall said it supports the planned factory expansion of electric car manufacturer Tesla near Berlin and is calling for dialogue in the face of citizens' concerns.

Following a clear "no" vote in a public consultation in the municipality of Grünheide in Brandenburg, the union appealed to the company to address the concerns. Tesla wants to expand production and also extend the site to include a goods station and logistics areas.

Around two thirds of Grünheide residents voted against the expansion of the site in the survey.

"In principle, IG Metall supports the expansion of the plant, which will create thousands of jobs in the automotive industry," Dirk Schulze, IG Metall district manager for Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony, told dpa.

"It is important that Tesla seeks dialogue with citizens and responds to people's concerns and objections. However, an expansion with an almost doubling of industrial jobs would be a benefit for the state of Brandenburg and for Berlin, and therefore also for a larger basin area," he said.

The car manufacturer wants to build a goods station, warehouses and a company day-care centre on a neighbouring area of around 170 hectares.

Tesla wants to expand production on the existing site and double the planned 500,000 cars per year to 1 million. Conservationists and local residents criticize the fact that more than 100 hectares of forest are to be cleared for the expansion.

The municipal council in Grünheide still has to approve the development plan. Several local councillors have announced that they will honour the citizens' vote.

IG Metall once again campaigned in favour of good and secure jobs with collective agreements.

"The opinion from the local area was quite clear, with over 60% denying the planned expansion," Schulze said.

"We think this is also an expression of the fact that Tesla unfortunately does not present itself as a model employer in the region."

The union accused the company of "poor treatment of employees" and of being "closed-minded towards the population." Tesla has rejected the accusations. Prior to the consultation, the car manufacturer informed the residents of the region during an information tour.

Tesla is sticking to its expansion plans, despite the residents' rejection, but wants to go forward in a spirit of cooperation.

According to the company, it wants to coordinate further steps with all those involved on the basis of the feedback received in recent weeks. The logistical optimization of the plant is a great benefit for the community.

The aim is to shift a lot of lorry traffic to rail and expand the infrastructure around the factory.

The relationship between the car manufacturer and IG Metall is considered tense. Following a production stop due to the Houthi rebel attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea, the union wanted to obtain more time in court for the planned second Tesla works council election.

The Labour Court in Frankfurt-an-der-Oder near the Polish border granted an application by IG Metall for a temporary injunction to stop the election and referred to procedural errors by the election committee.

Online safety a key part of Ottawa's new gender plan — and to world peace, says envoy

Story by The Canadian Press • 

OTTAWA — Authoritarian countries are leveraging social media to set back progress for women worldwide, a Canadian special envoy says, as Ottawa refreshes its cross-government gender policy.

Canada's ambassador for women, peace and security, Jacqueline O'Neill, says these threats require supporters of gender equality around the world to work together. 

Western countries must help buck a global trend of strongmen leaders seeking to prevent women from having meaningful roles in public life, she said in a recent interview. 

"Authoritarian governments are very much cracking down on space for communities to organize, for the media to have free speech and for women's rights activists to pursue their work," said O'Neill, who advocates for women both abroad and at home.

She pointed to research such as that of Harvard University professor Erica Chenoweth, who has documented how resistance movements are more successful when they integrate women in leadership and frontline roles.

One way that governments are trying to stifle such opposition is by using social media to support, spread and even fund a narrative that women's rights are a foreign import meant to challenge traditional values, O'Neill said.

She calls it technology facilitated gender-based violence.

Women in Canada are no strangers to online harassment. 

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon convened female politicians, activists and journalists last year to strategize on how to deal with vile online abuse. 

And Global Affairs Canada has started adding security expenses to grants it gives to human-rights activists abroad, O'Neill said, for everything from physical office locks to training on digital hygiene so people can protect themselves online. 

The department says Liberal ministers approved the third national action plan on women, peace and security in December.

The recently approved policy is meant to provide guidance across the government — from its approach to diplomatic summits to how it conducts domestic policing and welfare programs.

Though it has not been released publicly and O'Neill said she can't share the details, she suggested it will address online harms.

She signalled it will also include considerations around how climate can affect women's security. 

"We're seeing a lot of armed groups around the world taking advantage of climate disruptions to both recruit women into their forces (and) to abduct girls to be, effectively, sex slaves," she said.

She noted that natural disasters and other climate emergencies, such as drought, can cause families to pull their girls out of school so they can work or be part of forced marriages. 

As part of her role, O'Neill was in East Africa last month taking stock of the situation for women in countries that recently experienced conflict but have since lost global attention. 

"We wanted to convey that they're equally important to us now, and that we're equally engaged," she said.

There, too, she heard activists speak to an increasing chill on their freedom of speech. 

O'Neill visited the Tigray region in Ethiopia, where a terrible war ended in late 2022. Hundreds of thousands of people died and there were widespread accounts of rape. 

There, she said she met with women who were receiving help because of Canadian aid as they recovered from sexual violence perpetrated by militants. 

"They did things like inserting objects in women's wombs that would prevent them from ever having babies again," she described. 

Many survivors said they’d been knocked out during these attacks, and only learned what happened years later when an infection emerged or they couldn't get pregnant, and medical tests found evidence of foreign objects such as nails or rocks. 

"There was an ethnic dimension to this in wanting them to never reproduce," said O'Neill, emphasizing that systemic acts such as those go beyond domestic or gender-based violence.

"It’s equally horrific, but it also requires a different kind of response, and it requires justice on a different level."

The Canadian envoy said she saw a concerning lack of services to reintegrate women in the country — meaning efforts to allow women to resume employment, including in politics, rather than being left to provide basic services and support to their communities in the wake of war. 

In Mozambique, O'Neill saw that reintegration has been a major part of the effort to help reach a lasting peace following a long civil war. 

The success of the country's 2019 peace treaty depends in part on making sure female combatants are included in reintegration efforts, she said. 

In Kenya, O'Neill visited a training centre for peacekeepers that tries to reconcile the roles of police, military and civilians in conflict areas. 

She said the curriculum included information about how to find signs of sexual violence on a systemic level. 

The training might help Kenyan police officers on a planned deployment to Haiti, O'Neill said, as part of a mission that aims to stabilize the Caribbean country for which Canada announced a $80.5-million contribution on Thursday.

O'Neill is not the only envoy in the international community with a title focused on women, peace and security. 

But the Canadian version of that role is unique, O'Neill said. 

In addition to advocating for women abroad and telling their stories to Canadians, she is also tasked with seeing what Canada can learn from how countries rich and poor are making gains for women. 

"Every country in the world has something to share about what they're doing," O'Neill said — and "so many things to learn."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2024.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

Ottawa to create regulator to hold online platforms accountable for harmful content: sources

Story by Naama Weingarten •

Sources confirm a new regulator to hold tech giants accountable for harmful online content is part of impending federal legislation.© Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images

The Online Harms Act, expected to be introduced by the federal government on Monday, will include the creation of a new regulator that would hold online platforms accountable for harmful content they host, CBC News has confirmed.

The new regulatory body is expected to oversee a digital safety office with the mandate of reducing online harm and will be separate from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), sources say

Two sources, including one with the federal government, with knowledge of Monday's legislation confirmed the creation of the office, saying it will require Canadian websites to uphold a "duty to reduce harm" and comply with federal law. CBC News is not identifying the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter before the bill is tabled in Parliament.

It's not clear whether the regulator will have power only over online platforms hosted in Canada or over all websites accessible by Canadians.

The Canadian Press first reported that a new regulator would be part of forthcoming online-harms legislation. The government is also planning to establish a new ombudsperson whose job would be to field concerns from members of the public who encounter problematic material or scenarios online, CP previously reported.

Sources say some components of the new bill will be modelled on the European Union's Digital Services Act. According to the European Commission, its act "regulates online intermediaries and platforms such as marketplaces, social networks, content-sharing platforms, app stores, and online travel and accommodation platforms.

In an interview on Sunday, Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and e-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, told CBC News there's a need for some kind of governance structure to tackle harmful online content, but "the devil will be in the details" of what regulations will entail.

"The government already saddled the CRTC with many issues that fall beyond its expertise," he said. "It's hard to judge the new governance structure until we see it, it's actually a bit of a wild card."

The government's proposed legislation will focus on protecting children and youth from the dangers of the internet, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"We need to do a better job as a society of protecting our kids online the way we protect them in schoolyards, in our communities, in our homes across the country," Trudeau told reporters in Edmonton on Wednesday.

Privacy concerns around age verification

Monday's legislation by the government is expected to present an alternative to Bill S-210, proposed by Independent Sen. Julie Miville-Dechêne. That bill requires Canadians to verify their age to access porn online, with the establishment of a digital ID verification system as a potential method.

A House of Commons committee is set to study S-210, as the owners of Canadian adult website Pornhub said they won't rule out blocking Canadians from the site if measures to verify the age of users are passed.

"We will never, ever take the private identifying information of our users," Solomon Friedman, a partner and vice-president of compliance at Ethical Capital Partners, which owns Pornhub's parent company, said in a previous interview.

Trudeau said his Liberal government is opposed to age-verification systems for porn websites, an option endorsed by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre last week. Poilievre's office later clarified that the Conservatives oppose any kind of digital ID as a method of doing so.

When age-verification laws passed in Utah last summer, Pornhub blocked access to its site, and demand for Virtual Private Networks surged by 847 per cent, according to Top 10 VPN, which analyzes spikes in VPN demand. Montana, one of the states where age-verification laws passed last year, saw a 482 per cent increase in demand for VPN, which is used to hide people's location online.

The possibility of age-verification systems rang alarm bells among privacy experts, who worry about the risks of Canadians sharing their personal information with external sources.

The regulations echo the online harms bill that Trudeau's government proposed ahead of the 2021 election. It would have created a digital safety commissioner as a watchdog for social media companies, required to weed out child pornography and other harmful content.

Public consultations for these rules were met with strong criticism from privacy experts and civil liberties groups, who said a proposed measure giving companies 24 hours to remove flagged harmful content would encourage platforms to be overly cautious and result in suppression of free speech. The bill ultimately died on the order paper when the Liberals called an election.

Trudeau then said he would table an online harms bill within 100 days after the election, a years-old promise that faced mounting pressure with the rise of online hate speech and multiple reports of teenagers who died by suicide after being victims of online sextortion.

Overworked and unheard, South Korean doctors on mass walkout say

Ryu O. Hada, 25, holds his white coat in front of the hospital where he worked in Seoul. REUTERS/Kim Soo-Hyeon© Thomson Reuters

By Ju-min Park and Minwoo Park

SEOUL (Reuters) - Ryu Ok Hada always wanted to help people, but now the South Korean trainee doctor has walked off the job and stands outside the hospital where he worked, holding his medical gown in his hand.

Park Dan, who recently realised his childhood dream of being an emergency physician, is also one of over 7,800 interns and residents who have resigned in a confrontation with the government, which threatens to arrest them.

Ryu and Park say the junior doctors, a crucial cog in South Korea's highly regarded medical system, are overworked, underpaid and unheard.

Hospitals have turned away patients and cancelled surgeries after about two-thirds of the country's young doctors walked off the job this month in protest.

The young doctors say their pay and working conditions should be the priority, rather than the government's plan to boost the number of physicians. The authorities say more staff are needed to increase healthcare services in remote areas and meet the growing demands of one of the world's most rapidly ageing societies.




Park Dan, head of the Korean Intern Resident Association, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Seoul, South Korea, February 25, 2024. REUTERS/Daewoung Kim© Thomson Reuters

"The current medical system in South Korea, which is a great one, is run by making cheap trainee doctors keep grinding," Ryu, 25, told Reuters.

Senior doctors and private practitioners have not walked out but have held rallies urging the government to scrap its plan, with 400 gathering in Seoul on Sunday.

But the government's plan to boost medical school admissions is popular, with about 76% of respondents in favour, regardless of political affiliation, a recent Gallup Korea poll found.


Medical workers walk at The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul ST. Mary’s Hospital, ahead of the protests by doctors against the government's medical policy, in Seoul, South Korea, February 25, 2024. 

REUTERS/Kim Soo-Hyeon© Thomson Reuters

TORN BETWEEN PATIENTS, POLICY

Intern and resident doctors in South Korea work 36-hour shifts, compared to shifts of less than 24 hours in the U.S., according to the Korean Intern Resident Association. It says half the young U.S. physicians work 60 hours a week or less, while Korean doctors often work more than 100 hours.

Ryu said he worked more than 100 hours a week at one of the country's most prestigious university hospitals, for 2 million won to 4 million won ($1,500-$3,000) a month including overtime pay. A first-year U.S. resident averages about $5,000 a month, according to American Medical Association data.




Ryu O. Hada, 25, one of the thousands of South Korean trainee doctors who resigned en masse to protest the government's medical policy, holds his white coat in front of the hospital where he worked in Seoul, South Korea, February 25, 2024

. REUTERS/Kim Soo-Hyeon© Thomson Reuters

Hospitals have not processed the resignations of the protesting doctors, who say they are not on strike. The government has ordered them back to work, threatening to arrest them or revoke their licenses, saying their collective action cannot be justified and people's lives must come first.

Park and other doctors say the order is unconstitutional, forcing them to work against their will.

The doctors on walkout represent just a fraction of South Korea's 100,000 doctors, but they can make up more than 40% of staff at large teaching hospitals, performing crucial tasks in emergency rooms, intensive care units and operating rooms.

Emergency rooms at South Korea's five biggest hospitals were on "red alert" on Sunday, meaning they were running out of beds. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said on Friday that public hospitals would stay open longer and on weekends and holidays to meet demand.


A patient is wheeled at The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul ST. Mary’s Hospital, ahead of the protests by doctors against the government's medical policy, in Seoul, South Korea, February 25, 2024. 

REUTERS/Kim Soo-Hyeon© Thomson Reuters

Park, 33, who heads the Korean Intern Resident Association, wants the authorities to bring doctors into essential disciplines such as paediatrics and emergency departments at large hospitals.

Doctors want better legal protection from malpractice suits and changes to a system where many hospitals rely on a low-paid workforce and off-insurance services to stay afloat in a country often praised for providing universal quality medical coverage affordably, Park said.

He said he was torn between his patients and a government enforcing policy without listening to the doctors, but that he had little choice."With pride to save patients I came this far. As many doctors say, it was heartbreaking and difficult to leave patients behind," Park said. "But the current system is distorted, so we need better than that."

($1 = 1,329.9500 won)

(Reporting by Ju-min Park and Minwoo Park; Editing by William Mallard)

LILLEY: Lynx Air, like Flair, owes millions in unpaid taxes to Ottawa

Opinion by Brian Lilley • TORONTO SUN

An airline passenger passes by the new Lynx Air Boeing 737 on the tarmac at the Calgary International Airport in Calgary 

Jim Wells/Postmedia© Provided by Toronto Sun

When Lynx Air announced they were shutting down late last week, their court filings showed they owed more than $25 million in GST for importing aircraft. The news came as The Toronto Sun reported exclusively that Flair Airlines owed more than $67 million in GST for the same issue before the feds came knocking.

It seems that owing significant tax money to the federal government is something the airlines shared as they looked to merge recently.

Some details of the merger plan and the names of high-profile investors like Mitch Garber, minority owner of the NHL’s Seattle Kracken and a longtime Liberal donor, and Stephen Bronfman, Justin Trudeau’s chief fundraiser.

Combined, Lynx and Flair owed $92 million in GST payments before both companies eventually entered into repayment agreements.

While Lynx Air is shutting down, Flair struggles on.

According to the repayment plan Lynx agreed to with the feds, the airline was required to pay $100,000 per month at the start of December, January and February. On March 1, the payment was scheduled to increase to $200,000 and on April 1, to $700,000 per month.

Payments were supposed to continue and increase until the total value of $25,030,382 was paid in full by November 2026. It’s unclear what will happen to the monies owed now that Lynx has sought creditor protection.

The arrangement between CRA and Lynx, filed with their creditor protection pleadings, states that the amount owing was for the period between May 4 and Sept. 14, 2023. It was signed and dated Nov. 17, just six days before CRA got a court order to seize and sell Flair’s planes and other assets to recoup the $67 million it owes for failing to pay GST.

Readers who are also business owners were in shock at Flair being able to have $67 million owing in GST over several years.

“This is crazy, I own two restaurants and have had my account frozen three times over 10Gs in HST owing,” Tom wrote via email.

Others told stories of aggressive collection methods used by CRA that clearly did not apply to Flair or Lynx.

In their application to the court under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, Lynx interim chief financial officer Michael Woodward stated that the company owed various creditors $599 million but had just $429 million in assets. Listed among the creditors is a deferred tax liability of nearly $24.5 million, the remaining GST debt.

Whether that money will ever be collected, like the Flair money, remains to be seen.

Deep inside the CRA court filings submitted Thursday are some of the details of the rumoured merger between Flair and Lynx. The way the deal is described by Lynx, the plan sounds more like Lynx would be taken over by Flair and the money from the transaction would be used to pay off investors in Lynx, in particular the bridge financing loans provided.

Lynx was backed by Indigo Partners, an American firm headed by Bill Franke that has built and run low-cost airlines Frontier, JetSmart and Wizz Air. The Canadian investors included Torquest Partners, a Toronto-based venture capital firm, as well as Stephenson Management controlled by Mitch Garber, and Stepworth Holdings controlled by Stephen Bronfman.

Start-up airlines in Canada face a number of problems in getting up and running, including — as has been recently documented — outrageous taxes and fees charged by governments in Canada as opposed to other parts of the world.

The federal government will collect nearly $500 million in airport rents this year, which gets passed on to consumers in the form of higher ticket prices. Canada’s taxes on jet fuel are significantly higher than in the United States, even before the carbon tax and GST are added on top of the higher tax.

Security charges per passenger in Canada are also higher and are about to go up 33% on May 1.

There are many ways that the Trudeau government could act to make low-cost carriers viable in this country, but they haven’t shown a desire to do so.

'A white man's war': Calgary military museum focuses on Black Canadian soldiers

© Provided by The Canadian Press

CALGARY — Oral Virtue first met Newfoundland-based Canadian soldiers as a child growing up in Jamaica, never forgetting their friendliness, openness and the way they spoke this “funky foreign language.”

More than five decades later, Virtue, 61, recalls a lifetime of service as a soldier while viewing the Black History Month exhibition at the Military Museums in Calgary.

"It never left my heart. Up to this day, I can still remember seeing those first Canadians (in Jamaica),” Virtue said in an interview.

“They are so polite, so nice. But we can't understand a single word they're saying because they're speaking this funky, foreign language," he said with a laugh.

Memories of the Maple Leaf meshed with Virtue’s family history and his innate love of all things military.

His father served in the Second World War with Great Britain.

Virtue and his family moved to Ontario, and Virtue eventually joined the Canadian Armed Forces, serving on deployments in Cyprus, Bosnia and elsewhere in Europe before retiring in 2007 from the Lord Strathcona's Horse armoured regiment.

Virtue said while everyone was supposed to serve as equals, shoulder to shoulder, he signed up with his eyes wide open as a Black man.

"I wasn't blind to what was happening," Virtue said.

"I was definitely aware of the racism.

“When I joined, there were a couple of guys that were from the Caribbean, and they talked to me about what I should expect. Their experience paved the way for me."

Allan Ross, a volunteer researcher who curates the Black History Month exhibit, said the roots of military service for Black Canadians dates back two centuries — helping the British fight off the Americans in the War of 1812 and assisting in stopping the rebellion in Upper Canada in 1837.

Canada’s first Black physician, Anderson Abbott, served in the U.S. Civil War, he added. Abbott was also an attending physician to U.S. president Abraham Lincoln.

Ross said any underlying racism became glaringly obvious during the Boer War in South Africa from 1899 to 1902 — a conflict that saw 7,000 Canadians volunteer for service alongside British forces.

Ethnic soldiers, said Ross, were eager to enlist but were turned away, given the prevailing sentiment that they would not fight or would falter when bullets started flying.

"We first hear the term, 'It's a white man's war' in the Boer War,” said Ross.

As Canada’s participation in conflict continued, discrimination marched in lockstep.

Many Black Canadians were turned away from serving in the First World War, although they were eventually allowed in — not to fight but to work in service roles.

An all-Black battalion, the No. 2 Construction Battalion, was formed in Nova Scotia and was dispatched to France in 1917 to provide lumber for trenches, roads and railways.

In the Second World War, air force and navy officials feared Black soldiers would struggle aboard ships and planes, said Ross.

"They thought the tight confines of an airplane or in a ship might cause conflict or disagreement with some of the other men."

Ross said acceptance was better in later conflicts in Korea, the Baltics and Afghanistan. The will of Black Canadians to serve has remained strong throughout.

"Why did these men want to fight?” said Ross.

"They wanted to say, ‘We're Canadians as well. We're all in this together and we want to prove we are part of this greater group.’”

Virtue said history, in some ways, still repeats itself.

Female soldiers later experienced what Black soldiers went through when it came to combat roles, he said.

"When I was in (CFB) Cornwallis, we had females in our platoons, and they were promised combat roles. Not a single one of them got it," he said.

"Years later, I went to Europe and I came back, and then we had the very first females inside our vehicles.

“They did end up having a very, very hard time,” he added.

“Discrimination is discrimination."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2024.

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press

The colour of farmed salmon comes from adding an antioxidant to their feed, with benefits for everyone

Story by Stefanie Colombo, Canada Research Chair in Aquaculture Nutrition, Dalhousie University • 

Salmon's distinctive colour comes from carotenoids in their diet.© (Shutterstock)

Abarrage of messages from social media influencers, along with other online blogs and articles, have claimed that farmed salmon are bad for you because the fish are fed dyes to turn their flesh red.

Some have claimed that farmed salmon is naturally gray, suggesting they are malnourished, and consumers should avoid eating it for this reason.

These claims are utterly false and perpetuate a myth that can confuse or scare salmon consumers. The truth is that the colour of salmon fillets is red due to naturally occurring molecules called carotenoids, such as astaxanthin. This is part of a natural diet of wild salmon, and is added to the food for farmed salmon.

Carotenoids are common in the natural world among different plants and animals. Salmon have it in their diet from eating algae, krill and other small crustaceans. Carotenoids are essential pigments produced by bacteria, fungi, algae and plants. Animals cannot make carotenoids on their own, so those found in animals are either directly accumulated from food or partly modified through their own metabolic reactions.

The colour of salmon fillets is from the same pigment that we see in shrimp, lobsters and even flamingos.



The colour of wild salmon’s flesh comes from naturally occurring carotenoids in their diet, which needs to be added to the feed of farmed salmon.© (Shutterstock)
Why are salmon red?

The red colour of salmon flesh — their muscle tissue — is a unique trait in several types of salmon. It’s an evolved genetic trait that likely occurred as an evolutionary mutation and distinguishes salmon from other types of fish.

While the flesh colour is a direct result of carotenoids in their diet, there is also a unique genetic component The gene beta-carotene oxygenase 1 is responsible for carotenoid metabolism, and most likely explains flesh colour variation in salmon.

Carotenoids, including astaxanthin, can be manufactured and added to the diet of farmed salmon. These can be produced synthetically on a commercial scale, or from natural sources, such as algae; the freshwater green microalgae, Haematococcus pluvialis, is a popular source. H. pluvialis is an excellent source of astaxanthin for farmed salmonids like rainbow trout.

More importantly, astaxanthin is a health-sustaining molecule that plays a critical role in fish health and survival, and has benefits for humans too.
Health benefits to fish

Astaxanthin is a potent antioxidant, meaning it prevents some types of cellular damage. Antioxidants have multiple health benefits for both fish and humans.

Astaxanthin’s antioxidant activity is 100 times higher than vitamin E, which is a popular antioxidant in human supplements. In fish, it has many important functions related to immunity and reproduction.

Research has shown that astaxanthin has a significant impact on reproductive performance in many different fish species, like egg production and quality, sperm quality, fertilization rate and survival of newly hatched larvae.

Salmon eggs are red or orange in colour because of the accumulation of astaxanthin, which plays a beneficial role in protecting the eggs.


Salmon eggs in the Adams River, B.C. — the carotenoid astaxanthin gives the eggs their distinctive colour.© (Shutterstock)

Astaxanthin plays an important role in immune function and enhances the production of antibodies and the proliferation of immune cells. It improves liver function in fish, increases defences against oxidative stress, serves as a source of vitamin A and boosts its activity in fish.


New Canadian research is underway to investigate the role of dietary astaxanthin in inflammatory control and immunity in Atlantic salmon. Overall, studies have consistently found that dietary astaxanthin is an important nutritional factor in stimulating growth and maintaining health and survival of aquatic animals.
Health benefits to humans

In humans, astaxanthin’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects have been shown to protect against stress-associated and inflammatory diseases. There are also potential effects on various diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and obesity.

Additionally, pre-clinical trials predict that astaxanthin may regulate intestinal microbiome and glucose metabolism. People can get astaxanthin in their diet by eating salmon or other salmonids like trout as well as shrimp, crab, krill or supplements.

Astaxanthin in farmed fish feeds is not only for pigmentation, but is also a necessary nutrient for health and reproduction in fish. In turn, it increases the nutritional value of the fish fillets for consumers.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:
The science and politics of genetically engineered salmon: 5 questions answered

GM salmon may be safe but they’re not coming to a store near you just yet

Stefanie Colombo receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada, and the Ocean Frontier Institute through an award from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. She is affiliated with the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia.

Joel Kim Booster Says AI Would Be Better Suited to Replace Executives Rather Than Creators

© Provided by Hollywood Reporter

Joel Kim Booster is sharing his thoughts on the future of artificial intelligence as a creator in Hollywood.

Ahead of the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards Sunday afternoon, the writer-actor-comedian spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the controversial technology that had sparked fears across the entertainment industry (and beyond) about AI displacing people from their jobs.

"I think if anyone's job should be replaced by AI, it should be the execs, you know, in terms of the skill sets," the Fire Island star explained. "I think it aligns a little bit more with what AI is able to do in terms of just sort of distilling algorithms and what can be bought and sold and things like that."

Booster, who has worked in all facets of the industry, including writing, producing and acting, said that he is "absolutely" scared about what's to come with AI.

"I think it's nerve-wracking, and I think the advances that we're seeing, it's happening quicker than I think we're able to adjust to it," the Loot actor added. "But I think at the end of the day … listen, our jobs, what we bring to it, what human beings, what artists bring to the work, I think is undeniable and I think people can see through it and sense like the real heart. And I think especially awards like the Indie Spirits really demonstrate that, like what the power of human storytelling can bring to art."

Artificial intelligence has been a hot-button topic in the entertainment industry in recent years, as well as a sticking point during the writers and actors strikes last year. While both the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA were able to secure protections against the technology in their contracts with studios, there are still many unknowns about what the future of AI looks like.

A recent study surveying 300 leaders across the industry also estimates that nearly 204,000 positions will be adversely impacted by AI over the next three years.

The 39th Spirit Awards, hosted by Saturday Night Live alum Aidy Bryant, are taking place on Sunday. Check out the star-studded red carpet arrivals here.