Canadian governments should be investing in youth mentorship programs to help build an inclusive, supportive and more progressive society
By Suzanne Tough and Nicole Letourneau University of Calgary The youth of any society constitute the promise of the future – and many of our youth are in trouble. They’re growing up in a divided society. Ethnic, gender and political tensions are at seemingly combustible levels – not just south of the border but in Canada,…
Almost nine million Canadians can’t read well enough to perform everyday tasks. We need a cultural shift to a family-centred approach to literacy
By Erin Schryer Elementary Literacy Inc. and Nicole Letourneau University of Calgary Two out of five Canadian adults – nearly nine million people – can’t read well enough to perform everyday tasks. Reading difficulties start early. Children who aren’t reading well by the end of Grade 1 are never likely to read well. Reduced literacy…
Postpartum OCD is frequently misdiagnosed and misunderstood – but it is treatable, help is available
By Gina Wong Athabasca University and Nicole Letourneau University of Calgary In January of 2018, a new mother in California became part of a viral Facebook post that described her baby’s four-month postpartum checkup. As a result of the thoughts she shared with her health-care providers, the police were called and she was escorted to…
Well-known risk factors undermine children’s health and development, but there are protective factors you can employ
Helicopter parenting. Tiger parenting. Free-range parenting. These are buzzwords we hear all the time that are supposed to describe the ‘best’ approaches for parents to take raising their children. We all want the best for our children, and parents happily and eagerly adopt the latest, greatest advice. Even governments enact legislation that promotes one approach…
We are a long way from identifying definitive biomarkers to illness and personalized gene therapies are likely generations away
By Nicole Letourneau and Suzanne Tough University of Calgary Genetics will save the day – that’s the message you see constantly in the media and even in academic literature. But it's a message that can distract us from providing quality care now. Newspapers herald breakthroughs in finding genetic biomarkers for autism. Magazines trumpet finding a…
The biggest predictors of postpartum depression are prenatal depression and a history of depression before conception
By Nicole Letourneau University of Calgary and Cindy-Lee Dennis University of Toronto A distraught young mother from British Columbia recently took her own life while in the grip of postpartum depression, leaving behind a grieving husband and infant son. She was a registered nurse and had been seeking treatment for depression and anxiety. Tragically, the health-care system…
Members of the public can help by supporting women’s right to breastfeed in public and demanding baby-friendly standards in health-care settings
By Nicole Letourneau University of Calgary and Mary Lougheed Calgary Breastfeeding Matters Group Foundation An Icelandic MP breastfed her baby while delivering a speech in parliament recently. No one reacted to her breastfeeding, because in Iceland, breastfeeding is the cultural norm. The mother stated this was the most natural thing in the world. If only that were the…
Record numbers of children in Canada are living in poverty in spite of an all-party resolution in 1989 to end child poverty by the year 2000
By Erin Schryer Elementary Literacy Inc. and Nicole Letourneau University of Calgary National Child Day has been celebrated across Canada every Nov. 20 since 1993 to commemorate the United Nations' adoption of two documents describing children's rights: the 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. Unfortunately, National…
By honouring treaties and the rights they bestow, Canada can go a long way toward restoring pride, respect and dignity to indigenous peoples
By Leonard Flett Contributor with Nicole Letourneau University of Calgary Canadian indigenous people have been described as “ghosts of history.” To a great extent, they have been ignored, even though Canadians are fully aware that indigenous people were here long before Europeans. Canadians know that indigenous people have been mistreated – their lands and culture stripped…
Supports children receive in infancy have a profound influence on their intellectual and social development
UNICEF recently released a report card ranking child well-being in the 29 richest countries on earth. Canada came 17th, placing us in the bottom half of the pack on factors such as child poverty, emotional well-being and life satisfaction. Clearly, we can do better. It’s time to have a frank conversation about how our country…
By Suzanne Tough and Nicole Letourneau University of Calgary The youth of any society constitute the promise of the future – and many of our youth are in trouble. They’re growing up in a divided society. Ethnic, gender and political tensions are at seemingly combustible levels – not just south of the border but in Canada,…
