Policy Options

With the world in crisis, Canada’s foreign minister, Lester B. Pearson, arrived in New York in November 1956 to participate in UN General Assembly proceedings. Following a highly suspect...

As mining and resource extraction companies across the North continue to ride out a worldwide slump in commodity prices, there are several things that Matawa and other remote First...

The so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us, altering the way Canadians live and work. As we look at how the future of jobs might unfold, a dominant and...

For years, the ‘Namgis and Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw have been fighting controversial open-net fish farms in their territorial waters, in the Broughton archipelago near the northern end of Vancouver Island....

It is widely agreed that Canada’s use of solitary confinement is excessive, in both federal (inmates with sentences of two years or more) and provincial prisons (under two years)....

Canada has enjoyed relative stability in its recent elections. But our stability and insulation from technological change cannot be relied upon to continue. Indeed, that one electoral exercise after...

“Nothing about me without me” is a common trope in health care, particularly in research, practice and legislative measures aimed at advancing patient- and family-centred care. But even where...

In 1990, I wrote an article for Policy Options titled “Social Policy by Stealth” under the pseudonym Grattan Gray. The article was a comprehensive critique of social and tax...

Lorsqu’un de vos parents, votre partenaire ou votre enfant tombe subitement malade et a besoin de soins médicaux, sera-t-il soigné en toute sécurité ? Le cas d’Elizabeth Wettlaufer, cette...

When my parents decided to immigrate to Canada in the 1980s, they were sponsored by family members who they knew would be waiting for them at the airport. When...

How we debate immigration and related issues is as important as the issues themselves. Whether these be broad political or media debates, or more focused consultations or workshops, care...

June has gained a reputation for yielding landmark court rulings on LGBTQ issues. This reputation is fitting: June is Pride Month. In June 2003, same-sex marriage made its debut...

Inuktut, the collective name for the languages Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun, is the mother tongue of 65 percent of the Nunavut population. The language is central to Inuit culture and...

(This article has been translated into French.) Canada, like most federal countries, needs equalization to ease the consequences of regional inequalities, namely the uneven quality of public services across provinces...

Newly elected Premier Doug Ford has declared that resource development within northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire mining area will be a priority for his government. However, from an environmental...

Getting citizens engaged with politics and mobilizing them to participate in elections is a significant challenge at any level of government. There is a great deal of concern with...

Public health researchers have long known that poverty and poor health are linked, but new evidence suggests that social assistance — the government system designed to provide those in...

Next year’s federal budget may be months away, but preparations have already begun in earnest. The House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance’s call for prebudget submissions was launched...

March Madness keeps much of Ottawa up at night. No, not the sports tournament! I’m talking about the spending binge that happens every March as federal government departments urgently...

It’s now official: as of October 17, 2018, Canada will become the first G7 nation to legalize both medical and adult-use recreational cannabis. It’s a historic, disruptive and uncertain...

The stability and efficiency of the international financial system are important concerns of the international community. Money laundering is a key transnational challenge facing international financial institutions and individual...

As part of Ottawa’s proposed Recognition and Implementation of Rights Framework, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in February there would be “a new fiscal relationship” established with Indigenous peoples....

Hospital overcrowding is not a new issue. Limited bed spaces have plagued Ontario hospitals for years and are increasingly straining our system. Not only are long wait times a...

Comparatively speaking, Inuktut is a strong Indigenous language. In Nunavut, 65 percent of the population identify Inuktut as their mother tongue. This means that Nunavut is the only jurisdiction...

Il existe un lien bien établi entre la grossesse chez les adolescentes et les services de protection de l’enfance. Les filles qui, à un moment ou un autre, ont...

Driving electric vehicles (EVs) is a relatively new experience for Canadians, but they are becoming more popular. EV sales in Canada grew 68 percent from 2016 to 2017 alone,...

Ottawa’s Name-Blind Recruitment Pilot Project was launched in April 2017 to explore whether masking applicants’ names would remove bias in the hiring process for the federal public service. There...

Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in Canada in the idea of a guaranteed or basic income. The essential idea is that everyone would be entitled to...

A recent report published by the University of Southern California entitled Refugees and Migration Movements in the Middle East contains 15 chapters about refugees and displaced persons in the...

As the Trump administration persists with its harsh immigration policy south of the border, calls are mounting for Canada to suspend or rescind the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement...

The Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (Ethics committee) released its interim report on the “breach of personal information involving Cambridge Analytica and Facebook.” The...

In 1992, Quebec implemented an agricultural pest-management strategy aimed at reducing pesticide use by half by the year 2000. Despite undeniable progress, this objective was not met. The government...

How do you usually get to work? Do you walk or bike? Do you take public transit? Do you drive in a car that you own? Do you take...

Les Canadiens s’inquiètent de la protection de leurs renseignements personnels. C’est pourquoi le Commissariat à la protection de la vie privée du Canada avait commandé en décembre 2016 un...