The common eider nests in colonies on islands of the St. Lawrence estuary. The down that the female duck takes to fill her nest has exceptional insulating properties.
The Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence is one of, if not the largest estuarine system on Earth. It plays an intrinsic role in the history of Canada and is the cradle of Quebec’s economy, and its identity.
(Gwénaëlle Chaillou)
Climate change is causing the deep waters in parts of the St. Lawrence River to lose their oxygen, and it’s damaging the health of the ecosystem.
A policy decision to allow the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway — a company with a poor safety record – to run its trains through a town in Québec with single person crews resulted the fourth deadliest railway disaster in Canadian history in 2013. Eight years later, Transport Canada is still suffering from safety issues.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Industries have blocked or delayed new regulations and pushed to remove or dilute existing regulations by framing regulations as detrimental to creating jobs and wealth.
Quebec’s bill may be seen as part of on-going ‘culture wars,’ and alongside Ontario and Québec conservative governments’ grandstanding about ‘free speech’ on university campuses.
(Shutterstock)
In addition to undermining universities’ and faculty members’ autonomy, the bill blurs distinctions between free expression and academic freedom, and turns academic freedom into a political weapon.
Supporters gather to demand action against anti-Muslim hate after a white man attacked two Muslim women wearing hijabs in June 2021.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
About 10 million people live in Canada’s earthquake-prone zones. Yet few have practical knowledge of what to do with new early warning system alerts which aim to save lives and protect livelihoods.
Québec Premier François Legault defended Bill 96 saying he doesn’t want the province to become Louisiana.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
For most Québec residents, there is broad consensus that French should be protected. But many of us believe that multilingualism need not threaten French.
Paludiculture in action. Chain-drive equipped tractors are a prerequisite for agricultural activities on rewetted peat soils.
(Tobias Dahms)
Drained peatlands contribute five per cent of global carbon emissions. Paludiculture, or agriculture on wet peatlands, protects peatlands and allows farmers to maintain their livelihoods.
Spring herring and Atlantic mackerel fisheries are among the most lucrative in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and brought in more than $1.3 billion to Québec and Atlantic fishers in 2020.
(Shutterstock)
Suspending mackerel and spring herring fishing in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence will impact the fishing industry on many levels.
An abandoned forest road that has become impassable due to the washout of the culvert fill. The beaver dam has also contributed to road erosion.
(Forest Hydrology Laboratory of Université Laval)
By mismanaging its forestry road system, Québec and the forestry companies operating in public forests have made significant savings, to the detriment of protecting aquatic environments.
The Sunwing saga highlighted the role of influencers, which in this case was negative, but they are still considered role models followers identify with, or whose example they want to follow.
(Unsplash/Mateus Campo Felipe)
Can the government mandate vaccines? Canadians have rights to make decisions about vaccination, but these rights are not absolute, and do not mean those decisions will have no consequences.
Jean-Marc Vallée attends a press conference to promote the film ‘Demolition’ at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2015. His unfinished work was an ode to human complexity.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
If Vallée’s films are so moving, it is because for him, cinema and television are an act of communication. He said he hoped his stories would “give back a little.”
Police in Montréal stop and question a woman at the start of a curfew in Quebec from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. intended to help curb the rise of infections due to COVID-19.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Peter McCabe
There’s a continued necessity to develop the legal limits of police discretion, especially in advance of subsequent pandemic related restrictions that may occur.
The Parc-Extension neighbourhood has a large number of immigrants from Southeast Asia. A survey reveals that, far from what you hear in the media, they integrate very well and are enjoying their lives.
Shutterstock
A survey of high school students highlighted the tensions they faced when classes moved online during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Left to right, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Finance Minister Allan MacEachen and Québec Premier René Lévesque attend the constitutional conference in Ottawa on Nov. 5, 1981 — the morning after eight premiers hastily pieced together a constitutional accord.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ron Poling
The constitutional reform agreement reached in November 1981 has produced a bitterness in national relations that lingers to this day and imposes on Canada a cost that has weakened the nation.
Cities in Eastern Canada, like Montréal, are at risk of damage from earthquakes.
(Life-of-Pix/Pixabay)
Some of the worst risks of earthquakes are in a zone running from the Great Lakes to the St. Lawrence River that includes major cities like Toronto, Ottawa and Québec City.
Six-year-old Makai'ryn Terrio, centre, cools off with his brothers as they play in water fountains in Montréal. The city had its hottest August on record.
The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes
Southern Québec is warming twice as rapidly as the rest of the world due to the progressive loss of snow cover. An average annual warming of 3 C to 6 C is expected by the end of the century.
In February, the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit and the Minganie Regional County Municipality declared the Muteshekau Shipu (Magpie River) a legal person, a move that may provide greater certainty for this majestic river’s future.
(Boreal River)
A recent declaration of a river as a legal person in Canada recognizes Indigenous laws and governance, and champions people as the guardians of nature.
Professor, Research Chair in Language Rights, Faculty of Law | Professeur, Chaire de recherche Droits et enjeux linguistiques, Faculté de droit. 2021 Fellow, Fondation Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa