Health Sociologists in the News
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Families shoulder the costs in Canada’s failing care economy
Jan 13, 2026
Growing numbers of Canadians struggle to care for children and aging parents while also holding down full-time jobs.
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Standing up for Inuit-led research in Canada’s changing Arctic
Nov 19, 2025
As a sociologist and an Inuk who was raised in Canada’s northernmost city — Iqaluit in the territory of Nunavut — Jessica Penney has spent much of her professional career studying the country’s Inuit communities. During this time, she has seen growing threats to the food security, cultural practices and mental health of the Inuit and other northern Indigenous peoples.
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Watch analysts break down what Budget 2025 means for public health care in Canada
Nov 17, 2025
Canada cannot afford to not invest in public health care. Carney’s first budget, released on Nov. 4, has money for hospitals and beds but fails to support the retention of health care workers. Nor does it offer new funding for the expansion of pharmacare.
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Parliamentary committee revises order to share federal grant applicant data
Nov 6, 2025
A parliamentary committee has amended a controversial order that seeks 25 years’ worth of data on researchers who applied for health and science grants.
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The Manosphere and Mental Health
Nov 1, 2025
Less than a year ago, a survey conducted by the gender-based violence prevention organization White Ribbon and pollster Angus Reid found the majority of Canadians were completely unfamiliar with the “manosphere”— a digital space that watchdogs say is being used to promote hateful and misogynistic views amongst young men.
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AGLC launches 4 in 20 cannabis education campaign
Oct 6, 2025
Alberta’s Cannabis Sense program, managed by Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC), has recently launched its ‘4 in 20’ campaign, featuring a series of Q&As with researchers and subject experts who answer questions and bust myths about cannabis.
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Fitness is being promoted in seniors’ homes across Canada for better health, social connection
Aug 2, 2025
Ninety-two-year-old Jean Mitchell has been active for as long as she can remember. She played sports while growing up in Saskatchewan – tennis, skating, volleyball – but admits that anything requiring hand-eye co-ordination was not where she shone.
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Boluwaji Ogunyemi is set to become the Canadian Medical Association's first Black president
Jul 14, 2025
Coming from a family of trailblazers, Dr. Boluwaji Ogunyemi was raised with the belief that limitations are meant to be challenged and paths created, not just followed.
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Some Acadia University staff working 4 days a week after successful pilot program
July 14, 2025
Some Acadia University staff are working four days a week instead of five this summer after a pilot program showed positive results.
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Why Canada is losing its skilled immigrant doctors
Jun 30, 2025
Canada prides itself on being a welcoming nation for immigrants, particularly those with advanced professional qualifications. However, Canada persistently underemploys highly skilled immigrant professionals, especially physicians. An official report by the Conference Board of Canada and the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC) in 2023 confirmed that growing numbers of immigrants are leaving Canada within seven years of landing.
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Meet Patricia Thille, 2024 Rh Award Winner in the Social Sciences category
May 22, 2025
Dr. Patricia Thille, an associate professor of physical therapy in the College of Rehabilitation Sciences, uses sociological and, more recently, arts-informed methods to expose and disrupt stigma in health care. With a background in both physiotherapy and sociology, Thille focuses on issues such as body size, chronic pain and self-management in community-based care.
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Dalhousie University professor looks at dangers of ‘looksmaxxing’ trend
Jun 4, 2025
A Dalhousie University sociology professor is exploring the dangers of the “looksmaxxing” trend among young men.
Michael Halpin was the lead author of the study “When Help is Harm: Health, Lookism and Self-Improvement in the Manosphere,” which explored more than 8,000 message board posts in an online looksmaxxing community that receives six million unique visitors per month. -
McGill researchers highlight disparities in ‘aging in place’
May 12, 2025
Study delved into the social factors that influence whether older adults are able to remain in their homes and communities.
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Why seniors’ care should have been on the election agenda
Apr 27, 2025
I was hopeful that when the COVID-19 pandemic drew attention to the plight of senior citizens, the attention might result in meaningful change. Instead, seniors seem to be getting blamed for high costs and high living.
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Senior care deserves priority action in the aftermath of the election
Apr 30, 2025
The federal government did fund the development of new standards for nursing homes but then it has done little with those standards. We need more beds, more staff and enforced standards. As with hospital care, the federal government could use its spending power to play a critical role, doing so through the promised Safe Long-term Care Act. . .Of course good and fair health care costs money. But we have to remember that investments in care are an investment in the economy, in equity and in solidarity. . . We need to put senior care back on the agenda in the aftermath of this election,” wrote Pat Armstrong, Canadian Health Coalition Board member and Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology, York University, in The Conversation, April 18, 2025.
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Your face looks grotesque': How looksmaxxing can harm young men and boys
Apr 22, 2025
Most of us likely have days when we feel we're not looking our best.
Maybe our hair's a little wonky, or we look more tired than usual. Or perhaps there's a feature of our physical appearance that we've never quite made peace with.
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Alumni Feature: Jason Edward Pagaduan
Mar 31, 2025
Jason Edward Pagaduan has a PhD from the University of Toronto and is an evidence synthesis scientist at the Alberta Research Center for Health Evidence (ARCHE). His research interests span socio-cultural perspectives on aging, epistemology, and, more recently, evidence synthesis and knowledge translation. For the first time since he wrapped us his CAnD3 training journey in 2022, he reflects on his experiences during and after CAnD3.
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Four new UM Canada Research Chairs focus on Indigenous research
Mar 13, 2025
Today, the federal government announced support for four new Canada Research Chairs (CRC) and three renewals at UM.
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Need a Knee Replacement? You Can Get It at the Mall
Mar 13, 2025
Canadians are paying to jump the surgical wait list. It’s unravelling the fabric of public health care.
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Doomscrolling in a time of tariffs: Expert insights on the news cycle and mental health
Mar 5, 2025
Constant access to news keeps us informed in a fast-moving world, but it’s important to find ways to navigate the news cycle to protect our mental health, a McMaster sociologist says.
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Six USask researchers honoured for influential work in health-related research
Jan 31, 2025
Honouring Saskatchewan-based researchers, this award recognizes researchers who have made significant contributions to advancing knowledge and advancing health, economic and social impact.
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Loneliness is tied to health concerns, but study suggests some are OK with having no friends
Dec 30, 2024
Shari MacDonald tries to make sure there are plenty of social activities for people at P.E.I.'s Miltonvale Community Hall — everything from coffee clubs and movie nights to exercise classes and line dancing.
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As demand for disability accommodations in universities grows, professors contend with how to handle students’ requests
Dec 27, 2024
In Thomas Abrams’s second-year sociology course at Queen’s University in Kingston last year, about one-third of students were registered with the school’s disabilities office.
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Pinaymootang Health Centre helps fill health-care gaps for First Nation, surrounding communities
Dec 3, 2024
A Manitoba First Nation is helping to bridge the gap in health-care services not only for its members, but for multiple surrounding Interlake communities.
The Pinaymootang Health Centre helps care for thousands of Manitobans every year, but nearly half of its clientele comes from outside Pinaymootang First Nation.