ABSTRACT
In the Canadian Maritimes, many beekeepers rent honey bee, Apis mellifera Linnaeus (Hymenoptera: Apidae), hives to growers of lowbush blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium (Ericaceae), for pollination services. Anecdotally, hives have less vigour following pollination, potentially due to higher Nosema spp. (Nosematidae) spore loads, the microsporidian causing nosemosis. We undertook a study to determine whether sending honey bee hives to lowbush blueberry fields for pollination (blueberry hives) results in higher Nosema spp. spore loads relative to hives remaining in apiaries (home hives). Nosema spp. spore loads were quantified using light microscopy. Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae were differentiated using polymerase chain reaction and sequencing. Nosema spp. spore loads were greatest in April and May and declined to low levels from June to September. Ninety-eight per cent of Nosema detections were positive for N. ceranae. In April, blueberry hives had a lower spore load than home hives did;however, in June, spore loads were significantly higher in blueberry hives. No other differences in Nosema spp. spore loads were observed between hive types. We conclude that Nosema ceranae is the dominant Nosema species in the Canadian Maritimes and that using hives for lowbush blueberry pollination does not appear to influence long-term Nosema spp. spore loads.
ABSTRACT
In the spring of 2020, African Nova Scotians were faced with two emerging pandemics: the ongoing pandemic of anti-Black racism, and the pandemic of COVID-19. The Association of Black Social Workers created a response specific to the needs of African Nova Scotians, employing the six practice principles of Africentric social work. They established a partnership with community and government partners to manage a phone line to triage based on need, and a virtual community check-in to connect about the pressing Black Lives Matter movement. This paper contextualizes the historic and current systemic racial inequities faced by African Nova Scotians within the context of the current public health emergency, and the need for an equitable, community-based emergency response. This specialized, Africentric service provision model can be used to inform the development of emergency responses for other Black communities in Canada.Alternate :Au printemps 2020, les Néo-Écossais d’origine africaine ont été confrontés à deux pandémies émergentes : la pandémie continuelle de racisme anti-Noir et la pandémie de la COVID-19. L ’Association of Black Social Workers a créé une réponse spécifique aux besoins des Néo-Écossais d’origine africaine, en utilisant les six principes d’intervention du travail social afrocentrique. Elle a établi un partenariat avec des partenaires communautaires et gouvernementaux pour gérer une ligne téléphonique de triage en fonction des besoins, et une communauté virtuelle permettant de rester connecter au sujet du mouvement « La vie des Noirs compte » (Black Lives Matter). Ce document met en contexte les inégalités raciales systémiques, historiques et actuelles, auxquelles sont confrontés les Néo-Écossais d’origine africaine dans le contexte de l’urgence sanitaire actuelle, et la nécessité de mesures d’urgence équitables et communautaires. Ce modèle de prestation de services afrocentriques spécialisés peut être utilisé pour éclairer l’élaboration de mesures d’urgence pour les autres communautés noires du Canada.
ABSTRACT
The Wabanaki Two-Spirit Alliance, a regional Two-Spirit organization, administered an online survey in May of 2020 to identify priorities and concerns of Two-Spirit individuals and Indigenous 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in Atlantic Canada during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The respondents (n = 149) shared health concerns including deterioration(s) of mental health (56.32%). They described mental health supports (68.42%), health supports for Two-Spirit individuals (57.89%), healing gatherings (46.05%) and trans-specific supports (44.74%) as interventions in fostering Two-Spirit health. The Alliance's immediate response was to develop community-led responses to address urgent concerns. Our key promising practice has been hosting Two-Spirit gatherings as community-based health/cultural supports;the gatherings also serve as an opportunity for the Alliance to consult the Two-Spirit community about priorities and concerns. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Alliance explored ways to keep the TwoSpirit community united by maintaining social support(s). We designed a survey that provided essential feedback, resulting in the Alliance shifting priorities toward developing methods of bringing Two-Spirit people together safely by virtual means;seeking sustainable resources to address emerging health concerns;and increasing the Alliance's capacity development.
ABSTRACT
Recent research on the effects of school cancellations because of snow or storms confirms what school authorities in Canada and the United States have understood for some time: missed school days have a detrimental effect upon student learning. Disrupted instructional time and student learning have been analyzed in Massachusetts and in policy studies conducted in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. One 2012 study in Massachusetts showed a strong relationship between student absences and achievement, but little or no impact attributable to inclement-weather school closures. Yet on balance, most research studies link school-day cancellations with declining student test scores. This research note assesses the impact of storm closings in Nova Scotia between the school years 2008-2009 and 2017-2018. There, the number of snow days is normally double that of Massachusetts and reported rates of student absenteeism are higher. This study assesses the ‘accumulative effect’ of missing whole school days, planned and unplanned, on student mathematics scores and high-school completion, and it proposes a some policy responses. Some consideration is given also to the profound impact of COVID-19 school disruptions and remote learning experiments on the changing policy landscapes in both Nova Scotia and Massachusetts.
ABSTRACT
Some Canadian farms produce fox or chinchilla fur, but their numbers are dwarfed by the number of mink farms.2 In a similar vein, trapping is a fur-gathering practice that continues to exist in Canada to some extent, but it predominantly occurs in other areas of the country and is not discussed in this paper.3 Second, this paper does not explore the animal rights theory that it is inherently unethical for humans to use animals as resources. Enterprising farmers began to move with greater frequency into Canada's burgeoning fur farming sector.9 A group of mink farmers established themselves in Nova Scotia's Digby County during the 1930s.10 The availability of fish and eels made this a logical location to capture, breed, and raise the carnivorous and semi-aquatic mammals.11 The Nova Scotia Mink Breeders' Association formed in 1938,12 and its farmers reaped high profits as mink became the fur en vogue in the years following the Second World War.13 The Digby farmers followed in the footsteps of the Prince Edward Island ranchers who developed so many fox farming techniques. In practice, only one Canadian fur farmer has been convicted of violating this provision.20 The Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farmed Mink (the "Code") is a publication offering a detailed set of guidelines for the proper treatment of mink.21 However, animal law scholars have criticized this Code, along with others crafted by the National Farm Animal Care Council, for being of indeterminate legal force.22 These Codes are also flawed because they are written by farm operators rather than independent third parties.23 Nova Scotia has enacted more legislation that applies to fur farming than any other province. The Fur Industry Regulations focus on the adverse environmental impacts of mink farming.30 The Regulations address topics like feces and carcass disposal and soil tests.
ABSTRACT
Saving Blood Product in Nova Scotia Dr. Calvino Cheng, a staff hematopathologist at Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre (QEII), the centre's former Blood Transfusion Director and current Director of Pathology Informatics, and Professor in the Department of Pathology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has developed an algorithm in conjunction with his colleague Dr. Jason Quinn, the Blood Transfusion Director at Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre. Theywere motivated to look at a strategy to minimize expired red blood cell units in the hospital's blood bank and improve the efficienc of the red cell inventory ordering process. The automated algorithm calculates the number of red blood cell units to be ordered from Canadian Blood Services based on both retrospective daily use and prospectively based on hemoglobin values on all patients in the hospital system. Bridging a Physical Gap for Patient Care in Alberta It was at a medical conference in late 2019 when Wade Hawkins, principal investigator at the Southern Alberta Institute for Technology's Centre for Innovation and Research in Unmanned Systems, had an informal chat with infectious diseases physician Dr. John Conly, a professor in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta, about the concept of using drones to deliver medical supplies to remote First Nations communities.
ABSTRACT
For almost 60 years, the Canadian Tax Foundation published an annual monograph, Finances of the Nation, and its predecessor, The National Finances. In a change of format, the 2014 Canadian Tax Journal introduced a new "Finances of the Nation" feature, which presents annual surveys of provincial and territorial budgets and topical articles on taxation and public expenditures in Canada. This article surveys the 2021-22 provincial and territorial budgets. The underlying data for the Finances of the Nation monographs and for the articles in this journal will be published online in the near future.
ABSTRACT
Government-led legislation is a key strategy to reduce plastic pollution;however, societal perception can heavily influence government intervention for environmental issues. To understand the public acceptability of government action to reduce plastic pollution, we examine the perception of existing and upcoming legislative action on single-use plastics (SUPs) by means of a structured survey with additional semi-structured interviews. Our focus is on the four Atlantic provinces of Canada, which was the first region in Canada to implement provincial-wide legislation for plastic reduction at the consumer level in 2019. Results show strong public support (77%, n = 838) for bans of SUP bags at the consumer level, and for further plastic pollution reduction legislation. However, the level of support differed between regions and by demographics. Semi-structured interviews show that decision makers should increase efforts in raising consumer awareness and standardizing regulations across jurisdictions for smoother transitions prior to legislative action.
ABSTRACT
The central question grappled with in this paper is: How can the University of The Gambia (UTG) be renewed in the post-Covid-19 era in a way that will enable it to reclaim its space in the international higher education landscape? To answer this question, this conceptual paper relies on document study, interdisciplinary discourse analysis and an insiders' perspective. It is argued that the present and future state of UTG can best be understood when located within a historical and international context. While Covid-19 has ruined the academic project at UTG, the establishment of this institution remains a noble idea which deserves to be applauded. With targeted funding and other forms of support especially from the government of Gambia, UTG is well poised to renew and reclaim its space in the international higher education landscape. Theoretically, these recommendations are distilled from the major findings of the research of this paper which has been shaped largely by the decision making approach.