A New Dawn for Canadian Platform Workers? : Evaluating The Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act 2022

In December 2021, the Ontario government passed into law Bill 88, the Working for Workers Act, 2022. Among other developments, the Working for Workers Act, 2022 introduced the Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, 2022 (the “Act”), establishing a number of rights for platform workers. This Article is a brief, non-exhaustive evaluation of the provisions of the Act, with particular emphasis on how it impacts the salient issues associated with the regulation of platform work. This Article concludes that, notwithstanding its limitations, the Act is a major step in the right direction towards effective regulation of the working conditions for platform workers

If Not, Clouds

Video art project by queer new gothic artist Morris Fox. Fox is an Interdisciplinary Humanities PhD candidate at Concordia U, situated in Tiohtiá:ke-Mooniyang-Montréal. He gratefully acknowledges the Kanien’kehá:ka from Kahnawake and Kanehsatà:ke who continue to care for the unceded land on which he resides. Fox’s interdisciplinary practice tongues and cruises the haunted house for feelings of community. In his practice, words and materials become an enmeshing net that forms a necropolis: a cemetery of desire. His work interconnects self-performance, digital video, VR environments, self fashioning, eco-poetry and textiles (including chainmaille) with material and queer historiographic research—rubbing against the ruins of memory and the haunted shimmering of an apocalyptic imaginary

Probability distributions arising from isoperimetric random triangles

We analyze the family of triangles whose sides come from a random subdivision of a given line segment into three segments. The usual geometric measurements on these random triangles (heights, bisectors, medians, angles, area, radii of the incircle, excircles, circumcircle) become random variables for which we determine the distribution function, the probability density, the expectation, the variance and higher order moments. This work can serve as a basis for activities at the college or university level. It is located at the crossroads between probability, geometry, integral calculus, special functions and computer algebra

A Primer on the Economics of Antimicrobial Resistance

Antimicrobial resistance is a global issue that threatens to alter the treatment and management of infections. For many decades, antibiotics have successfully kept numerous bacterial pathogens at bay and have reduced post-surgery infection rates. This article presents research and projections on the economic implications of antimicrobial resistance. Development of new antibiotics comes at a substantial cost. The economic incentives of different stakeholders affected by antimicrobial resistance are also discussed

"We can do our own thing here on Haida Gwaii": The Haida Nation's response to COVID-19

The Council of the Haida Nation (CHN) is the National government of all Haida citizens—and their response to the COVID-19 pandemic on Haida Gwaii—is the central focus of this study. The CHN’s response is contextualized through an analysis of governance structures, consideration of previous epidemics, diseases, and health inequalities. The research questions for this project include: (1) How did the CHN’s role shift during the COVID-19 emergency response on Haida Gwaii; (2) What lessons can be garnered from the CHN’s response to inform future Haida Nation governance? To explore these research questions I conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with a sample of seven people who were living on Haida Gwaii during the pandemic and had some involvement with the CHN. Following an iterative process of data analysis, four main themes emerged from the data. These themes encompassed the inclusive approach taken by the CHN, the tireless work a small group of people did, and the importance of jurisdiction and self-determination while also considering lessons learned and capacity. The findings demonstrated the importance of continued pushes for self-determination as well as the ability of the CHN to expand its governance role.

Analysing the inconsistent recognition of Indigenous rights in early childhood policy documents from the Australian Government’s "Closing the Gap" strategy between 2008-2018

We analysed Australian government strategic policy documents related to the "Closing the Gap" (CTG) strategy in early childhood circa 2008-2018 to explore the extent to which Indigenous rights are named and recognised in written policy. Our analysis of the policies was informed by Bacchi’s What’s the Problem approach and showed inconsistency in the recognition of Indigenous rights. These rights are sometimes undermined and ignored, sometimes implied and sometimes named and recognised. Silences within the CTG strategy are discussed and reveal the ongoing nature of colonisation and deficit framing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities. Findings from this research are relevant for the current era of the "Closing the Gap" strategy

The effect of host population heterogeneity on epidemic outbreaks

In the first part of this paper, we review old and new results about the influence of host population heterogeneity on (various characteristics of) epidemic outbreaks. In the second part we highlight a modelling issue that so far has received little attention: how do contact patterns, and hence transmission opportunities, depend on the size and the composition of the host population? Without any claim on completeness, we offer a range of potential (quasi-mechanistic) submodels. The overall aim of the paper is to describe the state-of-the-art and to catalyse new work

Kiskisom : Can a Plastic Brain be Decolonized Through Stories?

As an urban Indigenous academic, I struggle to comprehend and work within the schism between Indigenous and Western ways of knowing and being.  Kiskisom, a Cree verb meaning 'to remind [someone],' argues that the cultivation of a plastic brain provides a unique opportunity for Indigenous sovereignty through the decolonizing action of reading Indigenous stories. The understanding that we have the power to rewire the brain through the mindful engagement of colonial ontology, or neurodecolonization, is a unique opportunity for change

A Review of Locke on Persons and Personal Identity by Ruth Boeker

A review of Ruth Boeker's recent book Locke on Persons and Personal Identity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).&nbsp