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After mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton claimed the lives of at least 31 people over the weekend, many are calling for greater gun control in the United States. Many are also asking how did we get here? Canada’s history is also “littered by mass shootings committed by young men,” says historian R. Blake Brown of Saint Mary’s University in today's The Conversation Canada. Prof. Brown explains how the Canadian government once taught boys to love guns, linking youth, masculinity and guns.
Other missteps by the Canadian government are explored in a story about endangered species. From the Trans Mountain pipeline decision which puts killer whales at risk – to recent decisions made in Alberta – leaders have put profit over the survival of endangered cranes and caribou. These decisions are made in favour of business development despite environmental assessments that warn of the risks, says Shaun Fluker, law professor at the University of Calgary.
Moving along, following the missteps of our business and political leaders, a story about the upcoming Canadian federal election “raises the spectre of interference and disruption through the misuse and abuse of personal data.” This is something citizens and officials responsible for the conduct of elections should consider, say David Lyon, director of the Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen's University and Colin Bennett, professor of political science at the University of Victoria.
In today's final story, Simon Fraser University scholar Genevieve Fuji Johnson and co-author Kerry Porth criticize a citizens-watch program designed by police forces to help stop trafficking. Fuji Johnson and Porth say the program is not evidence-based and actually curbs the rights and freedoms of sex workers.
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The relationship between guns and masculinity was once sanctioned by governments and businesses, making it entrenched and difficult to challenge.
Kyle Johnson/Unsplash
R. Blake Brown, Saint Mary’s University
The relationship between guns and masculinity was once sanctioned by governments and businesses, making it entrenched and difficult to challenge.
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Whooping cranes, a critically endangered species, breed in one location, a wetland in Wood Buffalo National Park. Yet a federal-provincial review panel has approved an oilsands mine that could kill some of the birds.
(Shutterstock)
Shaun Fluker, University of Calgary
Are our brains wired to favour growth over environmentally rational decisions?
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Using data during election campaigns is nothing new. But as the Canadian federal election approaches, authorities must be diligent that data tracking doesn’t become surveillance.
(Shutterstock)
David Lyon, Queen's University, Ontario; Colin Bennett, University of Victoria
Data analytics have played a role in elections for years. But today’s massive voter relationship management platforms use digital campaigning practices to take it to another level.
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Sex worker rights – fought for at this red umbrella protest in Vancouver – are under threat by ‘hospitality’ programs which ask civilians working in hotels to ‘report’ on their guests.
Caroline Doerksen
Genevieve Fuji Johnson, Simon Fraser University
Citizens-watch programs designed by police to aid anti-trafficking efforts threaten the rights and safety of sex workers.
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From The Conversation US
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Lacey Wallace, Pennsylvania State University
More than 40 percent of U.S. adults have a gun in their household, making it hard to get guns off the streets – even if new gun restrictions are passed.
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From our archives
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J.M. Opal, McGill University
Proposals for gun control run into vehement opposition from many Americans who, for deep historical reasons of race and revolution, continue to claim the right to use deadly force.
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Cynthia Levine-Rasky, Queen's University, Ontario
White supremacists push an agenda that have their followers believing they are in danger of extinction. But their 'race suicide' ideas are based on 100-year-old unscientific and racist research.
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