The Latest Breaking News from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

The theme of the recent United Nations International Day for the Eradication of Poverty was Dignity for All in Practice.

Newfoundland and Labrador made history in September as the first Canadian province to implement a sugar-sweetened beverage tax. Sugar-sweetened beverage taxes also exist outside of Canada, including in Mexico, Philadelphia, Penn. and the United Kingdom. In Newfoundland and Labrador the tax amounts to 20 cents per litre of sugar-sweetened beverage.

Canada needs to build more homes, faster, according to a recent report by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The report estimates that British Columbia alone will need 570,000 new units by 2030 to meet a moderate affordability level of 44 per cent.

Over the past 20 years, housing prices in Canada have increased at double the rate of income growth. As a result, a growing number of Canadian households are grappling with housing affordability.

For many students, heading off to university means moving away from home and to a new place, facing the prospect of making new friends or adjusting to larger class sizes. For some it will also mean readapting to in-person learning.

Nostalgia made a comeback under COVID-19. In the context of enforced lockdowns, there was an increase in nostalgic activities such as watching classic films, baking and reminiscing with family and friends.

Last summer brought scorching hot temperatures and record-breaking heatwaves to British Columbia. Unfortunately, the heat was not the only record that skyrocketed — what followed was a chain of extreme weather events.

We normally associate the arrival of warmer weather with positive experiences, such as vacations, walks on the beach and evenings eating on outdoor patios with friends. However, exposure to heat can also generate negative feelings that lead to socially inappropriate behaviour, such as excessive violence in sports.

Restorative justice was introduced in the western world in the late 1970s as a way to rethink crime and punishment. It’s an approach to criminal justice that sees crime as a violation of people and relationships and makes it the obligation of those responsible to put right the wrongs committed.