It’s a word we’re all familiar with, whether it’s from old-time Western movies or just a descriptor for Indigenous women that we heard tossed around as kids – often in a derogatory manner. In today’s edition of The Conversation Canada, Darin Flynn, associate professor of linguistics at the University of Calgary, argues convincingly and passionately that we must simply stop using the S-word, even though it’s part of some place names in Alberta. “It’s like using the N-word with a Black colleague and reassuring her that it simply meant "Black” in the 17th century,“ Prof. Flynn writes. "If we accept the reality that Indigenous people are our neighbours, our colleagues and our friends, then we should put the S-word behind us for good – in the dustbin of our shared history.”

As students head back to university this month, there’s a growing recognition that female students are at risk of on-campus sexual assault. Charlene Senn, a researcher at the University of Windsor, is the creator of a sexual assault resistance program for university students that is seeing impressive results. In fact, Senn writes, the EAAA (Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act) program is the only one of its kind proven to decrease sexual violence – and it does so in part by placing “women’s own values and desires at the centre of the discussion.”

Tech giant Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods resulted last week in immediate price slashes at the organic food mecca. And there are more major changes to come, predicts Sylvain Charlebois, professor of food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University. That’s because of Amazon’s “newfound access to an incredible organics ecosystem that encompasses well-established farms, suppliers and wholesalers” paired with its mammoth distribution system, Prof. Charlebois writes. Overnight shipping for bags of kale chips, anyone?

Regards,