You’re probably wondering who I am, and why I was feeling those things. In many ways, I’m your average Jane. Well, an average Jane for my ethnicity and socioeconomic background. I’m from Korean descent, grew up in an Asian-dominated area of Toronto, studied science in university, and went to grad school to do neuroscience research. I have six piercings, but they’re all on my ears. I’ve thought about getting a tattoo, but it hasn’t happened yet. I played it safe most of my life. I conformed to what society told me I should be. To who my parents told me I was meant to be; to the person my friends and acquaintances told me I was capable of being. The following is my story, my experience, and my struggle with identity coming from an immigrant family in Canada.

“Meeeee-chong. That’s a weird name. Where are you from?” I remember in elementary school, when kids would ask where I’m from, I’d tell them I was Korean. “Where’s Korea?” they’d ask. “You’re Chinese right?” When I grew tired of explaining what and where Korea was, I would tell people I was Chinese. To them, it didn’t matter much anyway. I resented being different. It didn’t help that my parents had me use my Korean name in school instead of my English name. I was too young to realize that the fact that I was born and raised in Toronto made me just as Canadian as any of them.

In high school, things changed. I met other Koreans. We gravitated toward each other. And rather than rejecting our culture, we embraced it. We formed an exclusive group of Koreans and spent time basking in our culture – eating Korean food, drinking soju, and spending late nights at karaoke bars. It was liberating, finally being able to feel like I truly belonged.

When graduation came along, we almost all went off to study science, engineering, or business to pursue “successful” careers. I went to University hoping to one day become a doctor, buy a condo in downtown Toronto, and marry an accountant or lawyer. Oh, and he had to be Korean. That wasn’t even a question. Bringing home someone from any other background was as big of an insult to my family as me telling them I was quitting university.

It didn’t take me long to realize that a doctor was not what I wanted to be. The decision to stop pursuing medical school wasn’t an easy one – it was more than just about what I wanted. It was about what would make my parents proud and what would make the sacrifices they made for me worthwhile.

I’ve had one serious boyfriend, and he wasn’t Korean. And although he was what most parents would consider a ‘good guy’ – he was attractive, intelligent, and kind – my parents refused to meet him. While we were dating, I would periodically get phone calls from my mom, who would go on about how my grandparents back in Korea would have a heart attack if I ever married a white man. “How would he communicate with our family?” she’d ask. “Does he even eat Korean food?”

Most of the time, I’d just brush off those comments. Other times though, they’d really get to me. The level of my family’s pervasion into every aspect of my life was infuriating. At the same time, I’d feel a profound sense of guilt anytime my parents were unhappy about a life decision I made. In many ways, I felt – and still feel – a sense of responsibility for their happiness. I want to call this “immigrant child guilt,” though not all immigrant families share this struggle. Yet I’ve found so many Asian-Canadian immigrant children grow up watching our parents work long hours at hard jobs with the constant reminder that their suffering is worth it, because it’ll one day lead to our success. As much as the Korean convenience store or laundromat owner is a stereotype, for many of my friends, this was a reality.

On the outside, you’d almost never see the struggles. Preserving appearances is a big part of Korean culture. Even during times of financial strife, to an outsider, my family appeared to be doing fine. My parents would buy me nice clothes, new electronics, and anything else I needed in order to help me be like my more privileged peers. They pulled together all the money they could to pay for my education and for me to have the full university experience. And they let me go to college away from home. Growing up, I wasn’t allowed to work. I had to focus on my studies. My parents would support me while I studied so I could become the doctor or lawyer I was meant to be. In their eyes, their reward would be seeing my success.

My mom worked seven days a week. She woke up at five in the morning, made lunch for my dad, sister, and I, while often neglecting to take her own as she scrambled out the door to her job at the hospital. She came back home at 6 p.m., made dinner, did the laundry, and cleaned the house. She worked a second job on the weekends. My dad also worked every day, but at a desk job that I knew he hated. Our family knew he was too highly educated and intelligent for the position he had, but language barriers gave him very few options in Canada. I watched him stumble through the doors drunk in the middle of the night on the weekends. When I was younger, I resented that. Now, I understand that he was in pain.

My mom told me a story once. A few years into my parents’ marriage when my mom got pregnant, she decided she wanted to move back to Canada, where she had grown up and where she believed I’d have a better chance at success, or their idea of success. My dad wasn’t ready to leave at the time – he was working at a good job, and he had never lived outside of Korea. They decided on a temporary long distance marriage. This is a relatively common occurrence in immigrant families; mothers and children come to North America for a ‘better life’ while fathers remain in the home country in order to make money to support their family. My dad was there for my birth, but had to return to Korea to work. He took my picture along with him. According to my mom, he slept with my picture every night until he reached a point where he couldn’t be apart from his family anymore. He left his job, his extended family, and his home to come live with us in Canada.

I love that story because it’s a reminder of how much my dad loves me. But at the same time, it acts as a huge burden on my life, because it’s a reminder of the sacrifice my parents made to ensure I had all the opportunities I needed. “You know I work really hard at two jobs because I want the best for my children, right? All I want is to see my children successful and happily married,” my mom constantly reminds me. I know it comes from a place of love, but it draws me further into the cage that surrounds my life; the legacy of my parents’ and grandparents’ sacrifices and their hopes and dreams for my future.

I feel guilty about wanting to do things that will truly make me happy. I don’t need a six-figure salary or a big house in the suburbs. I want to be a freelance journalist and live in different parts of the world. I don’t know if I want to get married or have children. Lately, it’s been easier to make decisions for myself because I live far from home. But the guilt lingers. If I don’t have a stable job or live near home, who will take care of my parents? Can I really keep them out of the equation of my life when I’ve been the primary variable in all of theirs?

This sense of guilt seeps into almost every part of me – even my sex life. My parents still think I’m a virgin despite the fact that I first had sex when I was 19. I can still remember one of the first thoughts I had after my first sexual encounter. “Oh God, what will my parents think?” Even now, whether it is a one-night stand or a significant other, I can almost see my parents hanging their heads in shame at the knowledge that I’ve sacrificed my ‘purity.’ “Don’t sleep over at boys’ places,” my mother would say. “People talk. If they find out, no one will want to marry you.” Sure, maybe that’s true. But would I want to marry a person who’d judge me in the first place?

Korea has long been a patriarchal society, though things are rapidly changing. Traditionally, men were the heads of the households and women were expected to do housework and care for the family. Men were the primary breadwinners, giving them the authority to make most of the household decisions. Even though massive leaps and burgeoning opportunities are available today – the current president of Korea is a woman – gender equality is still far from being a reality. In 2013, the Economist reported that South Korea has held the lowest “glass-ceiling index,” meaning it has the least number of women in senior jobs as compared to other wealthy countries. Because things have changed only very recently, sexism was a part of the culture of my grandparents’ and even parents’ generation, and is prevalent even in mine.

My family is still extremely traditional, particularly on my father’s side. It was strange, growing up with my parents encouraging me to pursue higher education and get a high-status job while watching my mother’s tacit compliance to all of my father’s demands. Was that my future? Would I get a good job just to come home to a husband who saw himself as my superior?

“You’re a girl. You’ve had enough education. Come to Korea and we’ll find you a nice husband,” my grandparents in Korea tell me. Because of the language barrier, I can’t tell them that that’s a completely inappropriate thing to say. I can’t talk to them about feminism and explain that things aren’t the way they were when they were younger. All I can do is grimace and mumble something incomprehensible back to them over the phone. I don’t know if it’s something they will ever understand. I wish they could.

Moving to Montreal changed everything. It was the first time I was able to really separate myself from my Korean identity and just be myself. To be quite honest, I purposely distanced myself from other Koreans. I wanted to be released from the expectations to achieve a very specific type of success and the pressure to preserve appearances. I wanted to explore my passions, interests, and sexuality without the feeling of being constantly watched and judged. Being part of Korean communities for so long meant nothing was ever private. Anytime I decided to change my career path or started dating someone new, the whole community would know about it within a week. They would talk. They judge my experiences.

Before moving here, I think I was afraid to reach beyond the Korean community. Perhaps it was a result of the alienation I felt being the sole Korean in my class when I was in grade school, and the feeling of camaraderie I felt when I first made a group of Korean friends. I didn’t know if I would be able to fit in outside of the Korean community. But I took the leap. And what I found were people who were able to see beyond my Korean exterior and understand that I was a unique person inside. People who were accepting of the decisions I made regardless of how crazy they might be.

The night before the morning on the subway platform, I had my first sexual experience with a woman. We came from the bar and spent a passionate night together. Though it may sound strange, I felt proud of myself, because the person who I was just over a year ago would have never even considered that such a thing would happen. But then, as always, this feeling became flattened as the guilt began to seep in.

Until I entered university, I used my Korean name: Mee-chong. It’s strange saying it now, because along with stripping that name from myself, I’ve stripped away the person who had that name. Now I use my English name: Diana. It’s finally become who I am. It’s a name I feel is full of interesting experiences, hope, and the exciting future I wish to have. Mee-chong is another person. She’s shy, conservative, and afraid. She is a past self, but a part of her still remains. She judges my actions and reminds me what a disgrace I am to my family when I do something that doesn’t fit the mould of who I’m expected to be. “Get a stable job, get married, and have children,” she says, “It’ll make your parents so happy. Your dreams are too selfish.” No, I tell her. I only have one life. I want to experience things. I want to explore the world. I want to be happy without feeling guilt. I want to be me.

I wanted to throw Mee-chong off that subway platform that morning. I hated her constant reminders of the dishonour I was bringing to my family. I wanted to finally be free of her for good. But I couldn’t. She’s still there. And I’m afraid she’ll always be.

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Microsaccades are the largest and fastest of these involuntary eye movements, and occur once or twice per second during gaze fixation. Although scientists still debate their exact function, studies have found evidence for their role in preventing visual fading of stationary images. One of the areas of the brain associated with microsaccades is the middle temporal (MT) area, which is located in the visual cortex (at the back of the brain) and is important for perceiving motion. Neurons in the MT, like other neurons in the visual system, are prone to adaptation. A prime example is the “waterfall illusion,” where staring unblinkingly at a moving waterfall and then shifting gaze to an unmoving object will make that object appear to be moving upward. The MT is one brain area that Eric Cook, a researcher in McGill’s Physiology department, and his lab are studying in order to understand conscious visual perception.

In a study published this month in the McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal (MSURJ), two students in the Cook lab used small electric currents to stimulate neurons through electrodes implanted in area MT of monkeys – a technique known as microstimulation – to see if it affected the production of microsaccades. Haider Riaz, a U2 student in physics and Ashkan Golzar, a PhD student in physiology, conducted this experiment, which is a part of a larger study in the lab looking at whether microstimulation could influence perception.

The researchers had two monkeys participate in a random dot motion task, which involves identifying the direction of motion of a small group of dots in a larger cloud of randomly moving dots. The task is relatively easy if a large portion of the dots is moving together and becomes more difficult as the number of coherently moving dots become smaller. Experimenters recorded the monkeys’ eye movements and microstimulated neurons in area MT while they were carrying out the task. They found that microstimulation resulted in an increased frequency of microsaccades.

If the MT stimulation was the cause of the eye movements, there would be a clear temporal link between the two, which would look like a small “pulse” associated with the microstimulation shortly before the microsaccade. The experimenters looked for this effect but could not find a significant association. “The answer I got was ambiguous. There is more analysis that can be done, [but] microstimulation could cause an increase in microsaccades – we haven’t ruled it out,” explained Riaz.

One of the biggest problems faced by brain researchers is how to determine a causal link between brain activity and behaviour. Functional magnetic resonance imaging, a popular method for studying the brain, is only able to correlate the two, without establishing whether the activity was necessary to cause the behaviour. On the other hand, with electrical microstimulation, if stimulating a neuron results in a specific action, there is a strong case for a causal relationship between the two.

People have long believed eyes to be the “windows” to the soul. Since scientists first identified eye tracking as a way to determine where a person is looking, they have slowly been able to peek inside. Microstimulation may allow scientists to not only observe what’s happening behind these windows, but also influence it from within.

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“Our current economic model is jeopardizing the very planetary conditions that sustain life […] Our governments are willing to bail out the economic elite, while the rest of us are stuck with the bill.”

Kristian Gareau, Climate Justice Montreal (CJM)

A look back on the year in climate change research and policy in Canada presents a bleak picture. School kicked off with “Stand Up for Science” rallies in September, where demonstrators gathered to protest the Canadian government’s muzzling of scientists and the general lack of regard for evidence-based decision making. Little has been made in the way of progress, as the Harper government is still silencing scientists, cutting funding to basic science, and prioritizing industry-friendly research.

Scientists are largely in agreement that a change as ‘small’ as 2 degrees Celsius could have a major impact on the earth’s ecosystems. Since the year 1800, global temperature has risen by 0.8 degrees Celsius (although two-thirds of that has been since 1975), pointing to the urgent need to slow down and reverse global warming. The most recent report produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released in September, presented overbearing evidence that human activity and climate change were directly related. Despite being “the most peer-reviewed documents there is,” according to James Ford, professor and leader of the Climate Change Adaptation Research Group at McGill, the reports were met with skepticism by some – including Canada’s environment and former natural resource ministers – who suggested that the concerns surrounding climate change are exaggerated and remain debatable.

If progress has been made this year, it’s been in the wrong direction. In early March, the National Energy Board approved the Enbridge Line 9 pipeline reversal, despite outcries from critics who pointed to the negative environmental and health effects of this decision. Meanwhile, Environment Canada revealed its plans to cut spending from $1.01 billion in 2014-15 to $698.9 million in 2016-17. Funding cuts have also been made across the board for environmental research, and the National Research Council has been restructured to fit its increasingly industry-driven attitude toward science.

Canada is currently facing a carbon bubble with a great amount of value being put into fossil fuel extraction. While the rest of the world shifts their attitudes to target climate change, Canada has been shutting out scientific evidence for the sake of profit.

—Diana Kwon

“By taking out this whole liability aspect, you are really just encouraging this whole backdoor of personal information going into the hands of police officers without there being probable cause.”

Charmaine Borg, Member of Parliament for the New Democratic Party (NDP)

This year has been revolutionary in terms of internet privacy and security. In the U.S., a leak by National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden of confidential NSA documents revealed that the government was collecting data on its citizens as well as foreign individuals. The leak caused a global uproar, along with questions in Canada regarding the conduct of our NSA equivalent, the Communications Security Establishment Canada. The revelations served as a reminder for people to be cautious when sharing information on the internet, and posed the need for civilian oversight of government policies. The U.S. has been cracking down on individuals who have attempted to leak information about the government’s breach of individual privacy. Recent years have been marked by the sentencing of Chelsea Manning and hacktivist Jeremy Hammond, as well as the proceedings against activist-journalist Barrett Brown.

In Canada, the federal government proposed Bill C-13, or the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act. The bill provides legislation regarding information access and cyberbullying. If passed in the spring of 2014, the bill would lower thresholds for law enforcement agencies to obtain warrants for tracking data. It would also reduce the checks and balances in place to prevent internet service providers from sharing our personal data. Though the new legislation aims to criminalize cyberbullying by making it illegal to share intimate pictures of persons without their explicit consent, many Canadians, including Shaheen Shariff, an associate professor at McGill and founder of Define the Line, a program dedicated to cyberbullying research, remain skeptical. Bill C-13 is seen as an ineffective solution to cyberbullying that may cause more harm than benefit. The loosening of privacy protection is concerning, particularly in light of the NSA leaks.

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—Zapaer Alip

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“This is really the last stage of what has been an immensely long project, starting from the early 2000s and beating so many obstacles along the way [such as] lack of institutional support [and] lack of faculty support. It was really a big student push that catalyzed this.”

Claire Stewart-Kanigan, Arts Senator

After around a decade of advocacy and struggle, McGill finally approved the Indigenous Studies minor at a Senate meeting on February 19. The minor, which will start being offered in the 2014-15 academic year, will provide a chance for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to learn about history, culture, and worldviews, and develop a broader understanding of contemporary issues. Student groups have supported the minor this year, such as when the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) passed a motion regarding support for an Indigenous Studies program, but this is not the only support it has garnered.

Since the early 2000s, advocates have been pressing for the establishment of an Indigenous Studies minor, but were constantly faced with hurdles, such as lack of support from both the University and the Faculty. Since many other universities around Canada have comparable programs, some established as early as 1969, the creation of this minor is a long-overdue step at McGill. The University is complicit in colonialism, which is still ongoing: investment in resource exploitation plans in Northern Quebec is one example. Proponents see this minor as a first step toward a better relationship with Indigenous people, whose rights are still abused by the government and many institutions to this day.

—Joelle Dahm

“It’s not about doing more with less. It’s about finding things we don’t need to do anymore.”

Christopher Manfredi, Dean of Arts

2013-14 saw continued debate over the People, Processes & Partnerships initiative, the Arts faculty plan that would restructure Leacock and adjacent Arts buildings in order to consolidate administrative positions within the faculty. The discussion began in 2012-13 when the faculty unveiled plans to create administrative “hubs” within the Leacock building, though it has since backed down from its proposal to turn the third floor of Leacock into a reception area. This year has seen a continuation of question-and-answer periods and presentations to AUS Council, coming on the heels of last year’s complaints that the faculty had not done enough to elicit feedback from the Arts community.

Critics of the plan, including students, faculty, and non-academic staff, have cited failed examples at other universities. They have also expressed doubt over the feasibility of increased workload for administrative staff, if they were to become responsible for several departments instead of a single department. The administration continues to cite the context of austerity and the Quebec provincial government’s imposed hiring freeze on administrative positions as reasons for moving ahead with the plan. As of November 2013, the plan includes creating two administrative hubs in the Leacock building.

The proposed changes to the departmental structure and organization within the Leacock building are set against the backdrop of parallel changes made at the Ferrier building and 688 Sherbrooke. The Department of East Asian Studies was moved out of its rowhouse on McTavish last summer to 688 Sherbrooke, and the Department of Jewish Studies is expected to follow suit by moving into the Leacock building.

—Anqi Zhang

“A diagnosis can have a major impact on the way one lives, and yet here we have groups of people who can’t access resources if they don’t fit into the proper category.”

Ethan Macdonald, Inclusive Mental Health Collective

The past decade has seen a dramatic major increase in students seeking help at the McGill Mental Health Services (MMHS), following the larger trend of increased mental health issues among university students. Attempts have been made in recent years to improve services at MMHS, with the implementation of non-medicinal anxiety treatment, mindfulness groups, and an eating disorder treatment program. Yet, MMHS’ shortage of staff and expedited care require additional funding and structural reconfiguration in order to address the needs of students who may require long-term care.

Moreover, both Mental Health and Counselling Services, which receive funding from Student Services, have recently suffered a loss of almost $500,000 as a result of the university-wide budget cut. These cuts have put additional strain on an already struggling system. As a result of this, a $20 registration fee for Mental Health and Counselling services was implemented in September 2013. It was removed later in the month after being brought forward to the Fee Advisory Committee in September, since the fee was not approved in a student referendum. Officials from the Mental Health Counselling Services, however, noted that this would not have an impact on the quality of mental health services within McGill.

This February, a new mental health policy focused on creating a mental health network of student resources was adopted by the SSMU Legislative Council. The adopted policy includes a five-year plan, which aims to hire a SSMU mental health coordinator, improve student-accessible resources on mental health, and increase awareness and advocacy of mental health on campus.

—Diana Kwon and Alice Shen

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Last Tuesday, scientists and non-scientists gathered at Redpath Museum to hear and discuss the issues pertaining to the Harper government’s “war on science.” The panellists were Chris Turner, author of the book The War on Science, Katie Gibbs, executive director of Evidence for Democracy, an advocacy group for the transparent use of science, and Mike De Souza, a freelance environment and science journalist.

The audience’s distaste for Harper was evident – audible groans could be heard in response to the description of the Conservatives’ recent atrocities against science; applause followed statements about ridding Canada of Harper and his policies.

The Conservative government has been particularly adamant about turning a blind eye to climate change.

Environmental science has been at the front lines of Harper’s “War on Science.” The Conservative government has been particularly adamant about turning a blind eye to climate change. In June 2012, the Harper government passed the omnibus bill C-38 – cleverly dubbed the “Jobs, Growth, and Long-term Prosperity Act,” which struck a huge blow to environmental protection and research. It imposed restrictions on reporting environmental effects and weakened habitat and species protection while easing the process for approving new pipelines.

Since 2012, the government has gutted environmental agencies and research centres responsible for gathering important data that often provide damning evidence against many of the Conservative government’s economic plans. They stripped funding from the Centre for Offshore Oil, Gas, and Energy Research, the one agency responsible for environmental assessments for offshore drilling. The National Round Table on Environment and the Economy, an independent policy agency aimed at discussing sustainable development, has also since been abolished.The Experimental Lakes Area, the world’s leading freshwater research centre, also lost its federal funding, but was later saved by the provincial governments of Ontario and Manitoba.

And it doesn’t stop there. Environment Canada’s recent report on financial plans has revealed that it plans to cut spending from $1.01 billion in 2014-15 to $698.9 million in 2016-17. Meanwhile, Environment Canada’s projections indicate that Canada will not meet its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020 – in fact, current measures show that emission levels have remained almost unchanged. To top it off, the National Energy Board approved the Enbridge Line 9 pipeline reversal earlier this month – a decision opposed by critics who argue this will put communities at risk and threaten water supplies and surrounding wildlife.

“The idea is simple and straightforward – to make Canada the most attractive country for resource investment and development.”

Chris Turner, author of “War on Science”

This trend of ignoring inconvenient scientific evidence arguably began much earlier than the current Conservative government. The cod fishery collapse from over two decades ago provided what Turner called a “sneak preview” of what the relationship between science and the government has become today.

The Grand Banks of Newfoundland, once overflowing with fish, were nearly depleted in the early 1990s. Between 1960-75, large scale fisheries collected the same amount of fish as the previous 250 years combined. During this time, previously ‘arms-length’ governmental bodies – developed by Mulroney and the last Conservative government – began to mesh with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. This meant that the science would be ‘massaged’ by bureaucrats before getting to the policy level – which prevented the much-needed reductions in quotas, ultimately leading to the collapse of the cod fishery. “The lesson should have been that whatever you’re going to do, get the science right […] what the current government seems to have learned is that if there are bodies [that] keep coming up with evidence you don’t like, get rid of them,” said Turner.

Science in Canada has largely become about progress and prosperity rather than curiosity and discovery. This has been made clear by the recent shifts in federal funding to industry-friendly areas of research, and the incentives to increase collaboration with industry partners. The National Research Council has undergone restructuring to shift focus from basic science to applied science, introducing a concierge service for industries seeking resources for growth. A recent announcement was made by the National Research Council that $50,000 vouchers would be given out for industry research through their Industrial Research Assistance Program. “The idea is simple and straightforward – to make Canada the most attractive country for resource investment and development,” Turner told the audience.

“Once journalists mention a term like ‘oilsands,’ requests will automatically be filtered by the government.”

Mike De Souza, freelance environment and science journalist

Canadian scientists have begun to publicly speak out against Harper and his policies. This year, scientists gathered in “Stand Up for Science” rallies all across Canada; however, frustration is mounting as no visible improvements are being made. According to Gibbs, part of the problem is that scientists are not always willing to talk to the media, she claimed that “Often they’ll self-censor themselves […] There is a culture of fear that’s going to be hard to overcome.”

These fears are not unfounded – the government has implemented strict communication policies to control the information flowing from scientists to the media. Journalists are unable to talk to government scientists without going through communications officers, who are often present during interviews, and will stop scientists from sharing sensitive information. “Once journalists mention a term like ‘oilsands,’ requests will automatically be filtered by the government,” says De Souza. A telling audio recording of an interview between David Tarasick, a government scientist, in the presence of a media relations officer, and De Souza, is posted on Youtube. In it, Tarasick says, “I’m only available when media relations say I’m available.”

Even if Harper’s policies are reversed, some of the damage incurred by the Conservatives is permanent. There will be gaps in long form census, loss in data from shuttered research centres, and the loss of scientists who could not do research due to funding cuts.

There are many issues that Canada will face in the coming years, but climate change is the biggest and most pressing issue. In order to develop solutions, the government’s policies must consider the evidence presented by scientists. The cod fishery collapse serves as an example of what will happen if we do not. If we fail to address the environmental issues of our time, we will have a much bigger problem on our hands.

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Global Engineering (GE) Week, which will be hosted by the McGill chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) this week, aims to address these issues. EWB hopes to promote the global engineering movement and highlight the importance of non-technical skills in engineering that are often overlooked in engineering curricula.

Engineers without Borders is a Canadian not-for-profit organization that aids in global development projects and aims to raise awareness about related social and political issues. They distinguish themselves from other sustainability-oriented groups at McGill such as Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design (TISED), and Sustainability in Engineering at McGill (SEAM). Marc Chelala, director of communications at EWB, told The Daily, “[EWB] has been misconceived by faculty as being another sustainability group and overlapping with SEAM and TISED, but [sustainability] is just one of our goals. There is also a focus on human issues, ethics, and social responsibility.”

Topics covered during GE week will include green building, water justice, and gender equality. “There’s not a lot of focus for electrical engineering students on the impact of their work on the environment. There are discussions in civil, mechanical, and chemical engineering on how to be environmentally friendly, but there is a not a lot for information technology.” said Paul Takayesu, vice president of Global Engineering McGill.

One of the ways GE week will try to improve skills outside the classroom is by holding debates on various controversial issues such as nuclear energy and genetic engineering. According to Takayesu, “The idea behind that is that engineers know how to communicate. We’re not really taught that much and some people don’t take it too seriously in class.”

On the national level, Global Engineering is trying to implement GE certificates in universities. The program aims to expand the role of engineers as global citizens while complementing existing engineering programs. Steps are already being made across Canada; the idea has been drafted and accepted at electrical engineering department at the University of Calgary.

It is possible that the GE certificate will be seen at McGill in coming years. “They are now looking at McGill and Concordia, and are trying to set up meetings. […] So things are moving, but it’s always going to be slow,” said Takayesu.

Many members of the engineering faculty like the idea in principle, but are not ready to implement it just yet. “I think it’ll take a few more steps to get people on board,” admitted Takayesu, “I think there is not a doubt that profs want to see change as well […] but they don’t want to put themselves out there and put in all this extra time when they don’t have support from everyone else. And that’s where EWB can come in to help and give their support.”

Chelala continued, “It’s interesting because everyone defines sustainability in their own way. It’s not just about the environment and being eco-friendly. It’s about being considerate of the cultural, human, and social aspects.”

***

Global Engineering Week will be held from March 18 to the 21. More information can be found on the Global Engineering Week at McGill Facebook event. All events are free.

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Today, all forms of doctor-aided death are illegal in most parts of the world; however, with an aging population and advances in medical technology that allow the prolonging of life even with terminal illnesses, physician-aided death is coming to the forefront of discussion in both medicine and law. Society is trying to reconcile the difficult problem of preventing suffering while preserving the sanctity of life. Physician-assisted suicide has been legalized in Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg, as well as a few U.S. states (Oregon, Washington state, and Vermont). The conversation has recently gained fuel in Canada, and Quebec may become the first province in Canada to legalize physician-assisted death.

Physician-aided death in Canada

In Canada, physicians who aid a person in committing suicide are held criminally liable under the Criminal Code. This law has been challenged a number of times over the years – one of the most recent cases being Carter v. Canada (Attorney General), which involved Gloria Taylor, a woman who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease that involves muscle paralysis, and chronic pain while maintaining cognitive function, and leads to a slow, but eventual death. Taylor sought out physician-assisted suicide, and the British Columbia (BC) Supreme Court ruled in favour of providing an exception in her case; however, the BC Court of Appeal held the ban on assisted suicide. Though Taylor eventually died of an infection, the case is now being brought to the Supreme Court of Canada.

“I’d like to stress that ‘medical aid in dying’ is an expression that is well-chosen.”

The various definitions surrounding “end-of-life” interventions are poorly understood by the general public. Under the current law, discontinuing life-sustaining treatment (‘pulling the plug’) at a patient’s request is legal. All individuals have the right to refuse treatment, even if it means accelerating death. Potentially life-shortening symptom relief – such as palliative sedation, which involves using medications such as morphine to decrease a patient’s level of consciousness to relieve severe pain – is also considered legal, as long as the intent is not infliction of death. This is not to be confused with terminal palliative sedation, the practice of administering a lethal dose of sedative in order to accelerate the patient’s death. Euthanasia (the deliberate act of ending someone’s life in order to relieve suffering) and assisted suicide (providing the means or knowledge needed for an individual to commit suicide), and any act carried out with the intent of killing a patient are illegal under federal law.

Quebec’s Bill 52

A game changer in Canada may be Bill 52, termed “An Act respecting end-of-life care.” This bill was first introduced in 2013, and is currently being discussed at the National Assembly of Quebec. The bill defines “end-of-life” care as palliative care for individuals at the end of their lives, and includes the options of “terminal palliative sedation” and “medical aid in dying.”

The specific criteria for access to medical aid in dying are also outlined in the bill. Individuals must be of full age, be capable of giving consent, and the possession of an incurable serious illness with irreversible decline in capability and constant and unbearable physical or psychological pain.

A double-edged sword

Bill 52 has sparked heated debates, with strong supporters both for and against; however, both sides advocate for what they believe is the solution in the best interest of patients and society, and raise important considerations, making it difficult to define an easy solution.

This particular legislature uses the terms “medical aid in dying” and “terminal palliative sedation.” This has become one major area of contention – proponents of the bill see this as a necessary step in avoiding the negative connotation that comes with the terms “euthanasia” and “suicide,” while the opposing side has argued that this lack of clarity hides the reality of what it really is.

“I’d like to stress that ‘medical aid in dying’ is an expression that is well-chosen,” Veronique Hivon, the Quebec Minister for Social Services and Youth Protection, told The Daily. According to Hivon, the main differences are that euthanasia does not imply that all requests come directly from the person suffering, and assisted suicide does not make it necessary for a physician to be present when an individual carries out the act. “Here, the focus is on the ‘continuum of care,’ and the comforting and supporting aspect is very important,” Hivon added.

“In palliative sedation, people are made unconscious with the assumption that they will die. The problem is that we don’t know when it will happen – it could be days, hours, [or] weeks. The problem won’t be for the patient who is unconscious, but for the family that will have no end.”

Some opponents argue that because patients can be asked to be taken off life support – and palliative sedation provides the means to alleviate suffering – other options are not required, and should remain closed to prevent the risk of abuse.

To this, supporters of physician-assisted death argue that keeping people sedated without life support is inhumane and the length of time before a person passes away is often uncertain. “In palliative sedation, people are made unconscious with the assumption that they will die. The problem is that we don’t know when it will happen – it could be days, hours, [or] weeks. The problem won’t be for the patient who is unconscious, but for the family that will have no end,” asserted Dr. Yves Robert of the Quebec College of Physicians.

The slippery slope

One of the most commonly heard arguments against these death-inducing interventions is the “slippery slope” argument. Recently, a number of controversial cases have been arising in Belgium, where euthanasia has been legal since 2002. In September 2013 Nathan Verheist, a trans man, was given legal euthanasia for “unbearable psychological pain” after several unsuccessful surgeries. Earlier that year, Marc and Eddy Verbessem, two deaf twins who were going blind, were given legal euthanasia on similar grounds by the same doctor. These cases sparked the legal euthanasia debate in Belgium, raising the question of whether assisting death for “mental suffering” without terminal illness was pushing ethical boundaries. Additionally, Belgium’s recent moves to attempt legalizing euthanasia for patients with dementia and for terminally-ill minors have added fuel to this debate.

Arguing for the need to protect vulnerable populations from misuse of euthanasia, opponents of Bill 52 suggest that these issues could arise if Quebec legalized medically-assisted death. “I think everybody should object to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide even if they don’t think it’s inherently wrong, because of the possibility of abuse and what it means for the values of our institutions and society,” said Margaret Somerville, a law professor at McGill.

“Whatever happens, there needs to be clear guidelines about how the process happens – and we need very good data. The slippery slope argument makes sense, but we don’t have very good baseline data.”

Policymakers and proponents, on the other hand, assure that the stringent requirements in Quebec’s bill make it impossible for these types of cases to occur legally. Unlike the laws in Belgium, which state that individuals suffering unbearable psychological or physical distress as a result of incurable medical conditions are eligible for euthanasia, Quebec’s laws additionally require the individual to be at the end of life. “For Quebec, it’s a combination of criteria similar to Oregon or Washington state that are based on the “end of life,” whereas in Belgium and the Netherlands it is based on suffering,” Hivon explained.

Yet, with little data regarding the state of physician-aided death currently occurring in Quebec, it is very difficult to know whether this slippery slope might materialize. “Whatever happens, there needs to be clear guidelines about how the process happens – and we need very good data. The slippery slope argument makes sense, but we don’t have very good baseline data,” says Emmanuelle Belanger, a researcher in palliative care at McGill.

Access to palliative care

Currently, not all individuals who need palliative care receive it. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, only 16 to 30 per cent of individuals who need palliative care actually receive it. Palliative care physicians are one of the groups that have been vocally against the adoption of Bill 52. One of their concerns is that the knowledge of the option to receive “medical aid in dying” may act as a barrier for patients seeking alleviation from suffering. Additionally, they argue that most individuals don’t fully understand all the options available and the various terminologies surrounding physician-assisted death.

Hivon assures that the bill takes measures to improve palliative care, describing the bill as being based on the idea of a “continuum of care,” with medically-assisted death being reserved for exceptional cases at the very end of the spectrum. The PQ government publicly acknowledged the need to improve palliative care services, announcing last May that it would invest $15 million into palliative care.

Not all physicians will be willing to carry out the act. A survey by the Quebec Medical Association revealed that only 41 per cent of doctors surveyed would be willing to grant the requests for medical aid in dying. “I’ve tried to get specialists to understand that if they referred me to a patient who did not want palliative care, I’d refer them back to them, because I can’t help them. They aren’t aware of the fact of who would be willing to do it. It’s one thing to support the idea in principle, and another to implement it,” Manuel Borod, a palliative care physician at the McGill University Health Centre, told The Daily.

End of the debate?

Though questions still surround the long term effects of passing a bill that will allow medical aid in dying, Bill 52 has aimed to address most of these issues, and is likely to move forward in the National Assembly. Physician-assisted death is a deeply divisive issue with individuals on both sides ready to fight for what they believe. Emotions run high. There is one point on which both groups agree: people deserve compassion and respect at the end of life. Even if Bill 52 is adopted in Quebec, it won’t be the end of the issue. All forms of physician-assisted death are illegal at the federal level, and the federal government has expressed that they will keep it this way, meaning that adoption of this bill could lead to a constitutional challenge. The debate will, seemingly, continue on indefinitely.

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Euthanasia and assisted suicide laws around the world

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Human lifespans have doubled since the 1800s. In recent years, the possibility of radical life extension has captured the interests of many. Aubrey de Grey, a researcher in aging, believes that the first person to live to 1,000 has most likely already been born. Ray Kurzweil, a prominent inventor and futurist, believes that humanity will soon be capable of achieving immortality. Google recently announced its investment in Calico, a company that plans to tackle the problems of aging.

Though the promises of youth and longevity are compelling, there are still many unknowns when it comes to the underlying biology in the field of anti-aging. Changes in environment and lifestyle are the main causes of the increased lifespan of humans. Access to sanitation systems, medicine, and healthy diets led to the drastic increase in life expectancy seen over the last few decades.

Despite the lack of proof that a pharmaceutical or biology-based approach can improve life span directly, these ideas have given rise to treatments, and for some, a lucrative business scheme. In recent years, the anti-aging industry has made huge profits by selling customers ‘treatments’ through products such as hormone replacement therapies and dietary supplements (dubbed ‘nutraceuticals’). Not only is there a lack of empirical evidence for the effectiveness of these treatments, there is also very little regulation. “Generally speaking, things in the anti-aging realm are not regulated by the FDA (Food and Drug Adminstration) or Health Canada because they are being used by physicians as an off-label treatment, or they are supplements that [aren’t subjected] to the same types of tests as prescription drugs,” Jennifer Fishman, a bioethics professor at McGill, told The Daily.

One of most popularized groups of nutraceuticals is antioxidants. These arose from the “free radical theory of aging,” – the belief that the cellular damage caused from oxidation of free radicals is one of the main mechanisms contributing to aging. The idea is that antioxidants would sweep up these free radicals and prevent their deteriorating effects. Yet, this theory has been the topic of contention as scientific findings are providing evidence that the free radical question is not so black and white. For example, Seigfried Hekimi, biologist and aging researcher at McGill, and his lab are working on debunking this theory of aging, and have, to date, found that increased levels of free radicals led to increased lifespans in the Caenorhabditis elegans worm, a primary organism used in the study of aging.

Another large contender for anti-aging treatment is hormone replacement therapy, which has largely arisen from the fact that certain hormones such as growth hormone and testosterone decrease with age; however, to date, there is no evidence that this form of therapy has any effect on the rate of aging.

People may be looking for a ‘quick fix’ to aging, but such a solution has yet to exist. “There is no current way to affect the aging process per se, which is of the nature of a pharmacological agent. Nothing, not even the beginning of one,” Hekimi told The Daily.

The anti-aging rhetoric has also gained hold in the technology community, with Google most recently embracing and funding anti-aging solutions. The community includes several proponents of the ‘singularity principle’ – the idea that science has solved so many of our problems to date that given enough time it will eventually be able to solve the problem of aging once and for all.

Though the exact plans that Google-funded venture Calico has to combat aging are not known, they will likely be using big-data analysis to identify the major causes of age-related diseases in order to shift research focus and funding into these areas.

Though humans have been able to skirt many diseases and ailments that afflicted past generations, others have taken their place. Maladies that would have meant certain death in the past – such as cholera or pneumonia – are no longer a death sentence. Today, heart disease and cancer – largely age-related ailments – are taking the top spot as the most deadly diseases in the developed world. The question remains as to whether, once these age-related diseases become curable, humans will be able to have radically extended lifespans.

“One of the major questions in the biology of aging is whether there is a finite lifespan,” said Fishman. Radical life extentionists believe that even if we do have finite lifespan, science and technology will eventually be able to surpass it. Kurzweil likens biology to a software process which, like other forms of information technology, can be modified to reach optimality. And judging by the rate of technological advancement, Kurzweil predicts that humans will be able to achieve immortality by the year 2045.

Though scientists have found potential genetic links to longevity, science is still far from understanding the human aging process to the point of being able to isolate a process whose manipulation may allow us to live longer.

“There is only one element to suggest we’ve reached the maximum potential – [the fact] that there have been people [in the past] who lived as long as we do now. […] But there have been no historically documented case[s] of people living to 200. This might have to do with the “intrinsic process” that we’d like to touch on,” said Hekimi.

Barring the discussion on the possibilities of anti-aging and radical life extension, there are ethical concerns with these goals. According to Fishman, there are two main ethical questions when it comes to anti-aging research, one being the question of who will be able to afford the treatment. Anti-aging treatments are not cheap, and their high cost may mean the promises of increased longevity and youth are only available to those who can pay for it. The other question is whether this is what we should be spending research money on. As Fishman put it, “Even if it were available to everyone, is it the right place to be spending our money in light of other issues?”

Will we live to be 1,000? We really don’t know enough yet to be sure. The one thing we can count on is that humans will continue on in search of the answer.

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Sarnia was rated by the World Health Organization as the Canadian city with the worst air quality in 2011. According to a 2007 EcoJustice report, the facilities in ‘Chemical Valley’ collectively released over 100 million kilograms of pollution in 2005.

This industrial playground can be found within a 25 kilometer radius of the Aamjiwnaang Reservation, where over 800 people reside. The close proximity of this community to Chemical Valley poses various concerns due to the high level of exposure to industrial pollutants.

There have been a number of reported health concerns in the Aamjiwnaang community, including respiratory problems, high blood pressure, headaches, and behavioural and learning problems, among others. A 2005 study in Environmental Health Perspectives found a declining ratio of male to female birth over a ten year period between 1984 and 2003. However, despite the strong belief that these are a result of the toxic chemical exposure faced by this population, there is little evidence of a direct link.

“Our ultimate goal is to come up with a very tightly linked, well-proven, and scientifically rigorous linkage between chemical exposures and adverse health outcomes”

Niladri Basu, a professor in McGill’s Department of Natural Resource Science and the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, along with a group at the University of Michigan, conducted a study in order to quantify the levels of chemical exposure in the Aamjiwnaang community. These scientists conducted a careful analysis of blood, urine, and hair samples – to assess levels of chemical exposure in mothers and children in the community.

Findings from the study confirmed that these individuals were being exposed to environmental pollutants. The level of chemical compounds such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (such as DDR and HCH) were higher in assessed individuals than the average Canadian mother and child. Many of the chemicals assessed are either products of industrial applications or are used in industries, and have been linked with various health concerns.

Though this study confirms chemical exposure in the Aamjiwnaang community, the direct effect of this exposure to the health of the individuals has yet to be scientifically quantified. In their recommendations, the scientists state the need for epidemiological and ecological studies to further analyze sources of exposure. “Our ultimate goal is to come up with a very tightly linked, well-proven, and scientifically rigorous linkage between chemical exposures and adverse health outcomes,” Basu told The Daily.

The study of the Aamjiwnaang community was funded by various U.S.-based organizations. “While I was at [the University of Michigan] we raised money from [sources in] the U.S. Many people [in the Aamjiwnaang community] were surprised and quite pleased that outside entities were funding this work. They have been asking for this kind of study for decades, and from my understanding, the types of funding they ask for have not been given – especially in Canada,” Basu explained.

“In public health, my field of research, we spend so much time finding problems, but the best solution is one of prevention.”

The Aamjiwnaang are not the only group of First Nations people living in close proximity in areas of high pollution due to extractive industries such as oil and gas. There are various known health implications for the harmful chemicals released by industries, but limited numbers of studies directly quantifying the impact of having homes so close to large industrial centres exist. A larger scale study is needed – one that will cost millions of dollars and take many years – in order to influence decision makers. According to Basu, the next steps for this particular study will depend on what the Aamjiwnaang community decides.

“There will not be a one size fits all solution. But there are things that can be done at the political and legal level to regulate the use of chemicals, release of wastes, and the proximity of an industry to a community […],” Basu explained. “In public health, my field of research, we spend so much time finding problems, but the best solution is one of prevention.”

As Canada changes the ways that resources are being harnessed for energy and development, the health concerns of the people living within proximity of these industrial complexes continue to be called into question. “We need to be aware that there are risks associated with these activities so we can balance the public health and environmental health risks with the greater benefits for Canada,” said Basu. He hopes that the results of this study will encourage Canadian funding agencies to get on board with conducting studies of this kind.

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Scientific studies on criminality have begun to shed light on the fact that the question of criminal responsibility is not so black and white. Genetic and environmental factors shape our biology, and determine the person we become. For some, these factors lead to a greater vulnerability to commit criminal action. This knowledge begs the question: to what extent are criminals responsible for their behaviour?

Consider Charles Whitman – a Texan man who in the span of two days killed his wife and mother and went on a mass shooting rampage, killing 17 and injuring many more. The night before the massacre, Whitman sat at a typewriter and wrote this letter:

“I don’t really understand myself these days. I am supposed to be an average reasonable and intelligent young man. However, lately (I can’t recall when it started) I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts […] after my death I wish that an autopsy would be performed to see if there is any visible physical disorder.”

Whitman himself was at a loss to explain his sudden violent behaviour. As per his wishes, an autopsy was performed. When medical examiners opened Whitman’s skull, they found a nickel-sized tumor affecting several of his brain regions, most notably the amygdala – a region known to be involved in emotional regulation. Cases like Whitman’s are rare, but they provide evidence that individuals do not always possess the free will to act as they please.

Criminal responsibility and the brain

Under Section 16 of the Canadian Criminal Code, individuals who commit a crime without the capacity to understand its wrongful nature are deemed not criminally responsible for their actions. Those who fall under the Code’s definition of not criminally responsible (NCR) generally only include a select group of individuals who have a mental illness or are severely medicated at the time of the trial.

Criminal responsibility runs under the presumption that criminals are autonomous, rational decision makers; however, advancements in studies on decision making by neuroscientists such as Daeyeol Lee at Yale University and Michael Shadlen at Columbia University are shedding light on the fact that decisions people make may not, in fact, be as autonomous as once believed.

The field of neuroscience and law – known as neurolaw – seeks to bring neuroscientific findings to the courtroom. Neuroscientists and psychologists are working to understand how social and biological factors shape our brains in order to identify predictors of criminality. It is known that genetic and environmental factors play a role in shaping people’s brains and their decisions, and some of these lead to higher predispositions for criminal behaviour.

In The Atlantic, David Eagleman, a neuroscientist who directs the Initiative for Neuroscience and Law at the Baylor College of Medicine, describes genetic predispositions to crime: “If you are a carrier of a particular set of genes, the probability that you will commit a violent crime is four times as high as it would be if you lacked those genes. You’re three times as likely to commit robbery, five times as likely to commit aggravated assault, eight times as likely to be arrested for murder, and 13 times as likely to be arrested for a sexual offense. The overwhelming majority of prisoners carry these genes; 98.1 per cent of death-row inmates do.”

Genes are plasticity variables; in other words, they alter our sensitivity to our surroundings. Young children are particularly responsive to their surroundings, as their brains are not fully developed until adulthood. From as early on as in the womb, influences such as mothers’ alcohol and drug abuse can change the brains of young children.In a study published in Development and Psychopathology, scientists described a set of children whose genes made them extra sensitive to their environment. They called these individuals “orchid children.” Orchid children, when raised under conditions of adversity such as poor parenting and abuse, are much more susceptible to developing behavioural and conduct problems – both risk factors for delinquency later in life. However, remarkably, when raised under nurturing circumstances, these children thrive and become more resilient than their peers. These children, like orchids, will blossom under good conditions, but wither under bad ones.

Behaviour and conduct disorders have been consistently found to be strong predictors of adolescent and adult criminal behavior. Sheilagh Hodgins, a researcher of antisocial behavior and mental disorders at the Université de Montréal and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, conducted a longitudinal study that assessed the ability of teachers’ behavioural ratings in over 3,000 six-to ten-year-old children to predict criminal convictions in young adulthood. The study was published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry and revealed that children with high conduct and behavioural problems were four to five times more likely to commit both violent and nonviolent crimes later in life.

Prevention is protection

These findings point to the importance of prevention and early intervention programs. Providing programs for at-risk children has been shown to prevent criminal behaviour later in life. According to Hodgins, “There is much evidence that conduct problems in childhood precede adolescent and adult criminality. There are interventions that have been shown to be effective for reducing childhood conduct problems and yet they are not widely available. Why do we wait until a child commits a crime before intervening? Why build new prisons and penitentiaries instead of intervening with young children who are having difficulty?”

Prevention programs can be of use both before and after a crime is committed. Individuals who are released from prison do not often have a supportive social circle and face more difficulty finding a job. High recidivism rates can be partially attributed to the lack of services addressing these individuals’ psychological and social needs.

Relapse prevention through rehabilitation could also be effective for those who have already been incarcerated. According to a 2011-12 report from the Office of the Correctional Investigator in Canada, correction programs in prisons are known to be valuable when provided in a timely, accessible, and appropriate manner. However, assessment of programs available in Canadian institutions revealed that only 12.5 per cent of individuals were enrolled in these programs, while those on waitlists exceeded 35 per cent. “The problem is that there are so few places available for the programming that people end up on waiting lists for a long time,” Ivan Zinger, the Executive Director and General Counsel at the Office of the Correctional Investigator, told The Daily.

In Canada’s prisons, the proportion of people with mental health issues is also increasing. According to the same report, people with mental health issues are over-represented in the prison system, and between 1997 and 2008 the number of individuals admitted with mental health problems doubled.

Anne Crocker is a researcher at the Douglas Mental Health Institute whose work focuses on mental health and law. She has been involved in the Programme d’accompagnement justice-santé mentale – a mental health court in Montreal. Mental health courts are one-way prevention programs that provide help and resources for people in the criminal justice system with mental health disorders. Those with mental health disorders who are not placed in the category of “not criminally responsible” under the law are given the option to enter this program. Preliminary assessments have found that participation in mental health courts are associated with lower recidivism rates, compliance to treatments, and decreased costs. However, mental health courts currently only exist at the municipal level, and there are no known parallels in the provincial and federal systems.

Crocker emphasized the shortage of preventative measures in the current Canadian justice system. “We’re not putting enough energy into the preventative part. We’re doing a lot of reactive things [and] only when something happens do they intervene,” she told The Daily.

The Canadian justice system

In March 2012, the Canadian government passed Bill C-10 – colloquially known as the “Safe Streets and Communities Act.” Changes in legislation included increases in mandatory minimum penalties, more difficult procedures for obtaining parole, and restricted use of conditional sentences.

The Bill was passed at a time when Canada was experiencing its lowest crime rates in almost 40 years.

According to the 2011-12 Correctional Investigator report, “increasing costs of corrections in Canada and rising inmate numbers are inseparable from a number of significant legislative measures.” The policy reforms implemented by Bill C-10 will lead to an increase in the number of incarcerations in an already strained prison system.

The same report states that the increased number of incarcerations has resulted in overcrowded prisons, forcing institutions to resort to double-bunking in cells. In response to these increases, the government plans to add approximately 2,700 new or renovated cells to over 30 existing facilities at a cost of more than $630 million in the next two to three years.

More recently, the Canadian government passed Bill C-54, known as the “Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act,” another bill that received much criticism and opposition from psychiatrists and mental health groups. This bill, which the government said will enhance the safety of victims, involved creating a “high-risk designation” for those in the “not criminally responsible” category who have committed particularly terrible crimes. These changes mean tighter restrictions including a three-year wait to be reviewed by a mental health board and non-eligibility for unescorted passes. Additionally, this high-risk not criminally responsible designation would only be able to be revoked by the courts.

Though the government assured that these individuals will still be provided with the services they need, there are concerns that this bill would make it more difficult for these individuals to adjust back into the community and stigmatize those with mental illness. Criticism has surrounded the fact that these changes are not evidence-based and were proposed without consulting mental health groups or criminal justice organizations. Howard Sapers, the Correctional Investigator of Canada, also expressed concerns that this bill will result in more people in prison than in hospitals.

“In terms of intervention, risk assessment, and services for people with more impulse-type behaviours, there is a big gap between what science has shown in the last 20 years and what’s actually being done in practice,” explained Anne Crocker, whose researcher focuses on forensic psychiatry.

A forward-thinking legal system

Canada could benefit from implementing a more forward-thinking legal system. While keeping criminals behind bars may serve the purpose of temporarily punishing wrong-doers and protecting victims, it is not the end all be all solution. Well-funded and properly implemented rehabilitation and prevention programs are known to reduce crime rates and create a safer, more inclusive society. As science moves forward, time will only tell if the justice system will do the same.

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The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) is a non-profit organization that researches, encourages discussion, and brings awareness to the development of modern cities. According to the ICF, an intelligent community is one that has been able to understand and take steps toward addressing the problems brought up by a broadband economy, such as increasing migration from rural areas to large cities. Louis Zacharilla, along with co-founders John Jung and Robert Bell, began this initiative in order to find ways to marry access to information and communications technology (ICT) with economic development and restoration of cities.

The ICF has named 21 of the world’s ‘top intelligent communities’ since 1999 in an attempt to bring greater visibility to their initiative and encourage discourse among communities. This year, Montreal was named as one of the “Smart21,” along with other cities such as Hsinchu City, Taiwan, and Nairobi County, Kenya.

The naming of the ‘Smart21’ is largely a venture promoting the idea of intelligent cities. “What we meant to do was to give visibility to the idea […] even though to a large extent, this kind of stuff is always somewhat arbitrary,” Zacharilla admitted. When cities submit their applications for nomination, academic analysts assess these cities based on five criteria developed by ICF: broadband infrastructure, innovation, knowledge workforce, digital inclusion, and marketing and advocacy. Another challenge described by Zacharilla was the difficulty in conducting quantitative analysis on the largely qualitative data provided by cities – and in comparing cities like Montreal that are populated with over a million people with cities such as Wanganui, New Zealand that have less than 20,000 people. Though the selection process may be less than perfect, the value in this process comes from the conversations and subsequent changes that are born out of this initiative.

 “I always had my hometown in mind – how could it have been different, what happened, and how is it happening again?”

The trend of increasing migration of individuals toward cities brings up concerns. “More people now live in cities than ever before in human history, which means a lot of places are being largely depopulated […] and the economies are suffering – making this a real global problem,” Zacharilla told The Daily. Zacharilla grew up in a small railroad town in upstate New York that he saw deteriorate as the railroad became less of an important infrastructure. Businesses eroded, and the ‘best and brightest’ migrated to the cities. When describing the motivation behind getting involved with ICF, Zacharilla explained, “I always had my hometown in mind – how could it have been different, what happened, and how is it happening again?”

TechnoMontréal, the information and communication technology cluster of Montreal, was responsible for the city’s submission to the ICF. TechnoMontréal has been working on the Montréal Digital Metropolis project since 2010. This project has focused on three major axes – collaborative ecosystems, smart data, and digital infrastructures – with the hope of creating awareness, mobilizing the public sector, and developing projects.

Collaborative ecosystems include the development of ‘living labs,’ which allow for innovation to occur with the user at the forefront of the development process. One example is the Living Lab SAT (Société des Arts Technologiques) at the Ste. Justine University Hospital Centre. Here, digital arts are being used for the development of treatment for patients. Developing digital infrastructures involve initiatives such as bringing accessible Wi-Fi to all citizens. In Montreal, this is being done through collaboration with organizations such as Île sans fil by creating areas of free internet access throughout the city.

By facilitating the use and access to open data sets, changes can be made from various systems that range from health to transportation. A major consideration for Montreal is developing smart transportation. “Transport is one of the things that really need to be worked on,” Lidia Divry, CEO of TechnoMontréal, told The Daily.

Divry emphasized the importance of being labelled one of the Smart21, “I think it will be very important for Montreal in terms of accelerating progress. With the municipal elections happening, there are a number of candidates who have [brought up] smart cities, [and] since two years ago, we’ve been talking to the government about moving toward smart cities.” Despite the research that is being done, and changes that are happening at grassroots levels, the support of the government is needed for widespread implementation of the various smart initiatives.

Though Montreal was labelled one of the top intelligent communities, there are considerations that must be made in order to maintain this status. Montreal has a ways to go in order to develop a ‘smart’ transportation system, and still have room to grow in terms of making the internet accessible for all. Montreal does not stand on its own however, and its acknowledgement as an intelligent community should be used, as Zacharilla stated, to allow for broader knowledge transformation across communities to allow improvements to other participating communities.

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The scientists in the Neural Circuit Formation Lab at McGill are among those studying the mysteries of the brain. Brian Chen and his lab work to decipher the ‘instructions’ underlying the formation of neural circuits by uncovering different molecules and strategies used by the brain to build neural connections. Through developing an understanding of how these elements work, these researchers hope to offer insights into how genes can malfunction and disrupt the brain’s wiring – with the ultimate goal of ‘building a brain.’

The lab uses the fruit fly as the model of choice due to the fact that many of its behaviours have been hard-wired through years of evolution. Research is done under the assumption that a hard-wired behaviour is likely to be ‘predestined,’ meaning that it has been written into the genome. By manipulating genetics and observing subsequent changes in behaviours, researchers can map out the underlying circuitry of the brain. Fruit flies are easy models to manipulate, but the lab also studies mammalian nervous systems, such as mice and rats, to see how well these discoveries translate to humans.

Both Down syndrome and Fragile X syndrome – two common genetic conditions that often result in developmental delay and impaired cognitive functioning – are associated with excess protein production. A recent finding in the lab, published in Nature Neuroscience this May, points to a potential link between the two disorders. The Fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP), which is depleted in Fragile X syndrome, was found to bind to a molecule implicated in Down syndrome (Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule, or Dscam). The depletion of FMRP causes elevated levels of Dscam, which have been associated with the altered neural wiring that causes impaired cognitive functioning in both Down syndrome and Fragile X syndrome. The lab is currently investigating these mechanisms further to find out how the changes in protein levels may give rise to these abnormalities.

By manipulating genetics and observing subsequent changes in behaviours, researchers can map out the underlying circuitry of the brain. Chen and the researchers in his lab are working on developing new technologies to improve the ease of research. One of the major projects, a new protein quantification technique, was born out of frustrations that existing techniques were time-consuming and unreliable.

“Our ability to quantitate protein amounts is still in the Dark Ages,” Chen told The Daily. Traditional forms of protein quantification include techniques like Western blotting that require collecting tissue levels from multiple animals, grinding them up, adding a fluorescent molecule that binds to proteins, and observing these using microscopy.

The new model developed by the Chen lab is a much simpler alternative that will hopefully allow researchers to quantify protein levels in live animals. Chen described this technique as a “protein translation reporter.” In simple terms, this technique is uses a fluorescent label that will express itself anytime a protein is produced. By observing the quantities of fluorescence in live cells, scientists would be able to observe a real-time picture of the amount of protein being produced in live animals. The hope for this technique is that it will provide a simpler means of protein quantification that will overcome the shortcomings of current techniques. “I’ve been told that it seems like a lot of my research is formed out of frustration,” admitted Chen.

So how far are scientists from successfully building a self-assembling brain? According to Chen, this is notoriously difficult to predict. With current technologies, we may be an estimated 50 to 60 years away. However, as scientific techniques develop and accelerate progress, that number grows smaller and smaller. It may be closer than we think.

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The theme of this year’s forum was the social impacts of technology. While the forum itself may have been sparsely attended – mainly due to insufficient marketing or not targeting diverse groups of people – the panels were thought-provoking. They featured talks from researchers all around the world, and covered a wide range of topics relevant to our modern lives. Below, we provide reviews of some of the most notable panels.

“Social Transformations and the Digital Age”  

The internet has become a channel for the flow of huge amounts of information. This panel explored the need for a change in self-governance and a push for collaboration between the public and the government to meet the needs of a digitized society.

“What we’re moving to is a digital society that is fundamentally different to what we’ve seen before,” said John Verdon, a member at Defense Research and Development Canada.
Social computing and the digitization of society have given rise to democratization of services such as journalism and science.

Since the beginning of civilization, humans have formed communities that allowed individuals in a society to generate collective benefits through the diverse contributions of its people. According to Christopher Wilson, a professor at the University of Ottawa, for communities to prosper, there must also be strategies in place to prevent conflicts.

“While the government has traditionally performed both of these functions, the government today is being transformed as conversation is being enabled through the internet,” Wilson told the audience. The internet has enabled wider discourse around today’s major problems – such as climate change, global access to resources, and the aging population – putting increased pressures on today’s governments.

Thom Kearney, a part-time professor at Algonquin College and a change agent at management consultation website Strategy Guy, described the current government’s fail-safe structure is inherently oppressive. He explained that the fail-safe mechanisms put in place in today’s government try to design for every possible contingency, limiting people’s freedoms.

A general consensus among the panelists was that the existing government infrastucture is insufficient to meet the demands of a digital society. “What leadership has become is a romanticized myth, an avenue for obtaining perks and benefits,” said Wilson, citing the recent construction industry investigation into Montreal’s municipal government. “Leadership is an opportunity for [people] to service themselves […] An increasing number of studies are showing that the population no longer has confidence in their leaders,” Wilson asserted.

Wilson went on to explain that current governments have put mechanisms in place to limit the free and open exchange of information – providing the example of intellectual property regimes. However, the internet is reducing the government’s monopoly on goods and services by allowing greater public access to resources.

“We have asymmetry. [The internet] is not open and transparent for anyone,” Wilson described. While anonymity has provided a means for people to more openly express themselves on the internet, it has also opened avenues through which new threats to society’s well-being could emerge – cyberterrorism being one example. The current governments are not properly prepared for these types of issues.

Steps are being made by the Canadian government to try and catch up to the changes of the digital society. GCpedia is an internal wiki made to increase collaboration and sharing of information between government staff. However, this is not enough. Wider access to the public is necessary in a society where information can be easily shared.

In some ways, the internet is forcing governments to become more transparent. Organizations such as Wikileaks have leaked secret government documents, making information available to the public.

Whether they like it or not, governments will eventually need to change to meet the standards of a digital society.

“Knowledge as Commons”

An academic paper goes through a whole series of obstacles before being published in an online journal. The problem with online journals is that they’re usually looking to publish ‘hot topic’ papers in order to increase their readability. Often, journals in the West look for papers that may only concern their part of the world. Furthermore, a user has to pay to access these journals – usually an exorbitant fee. Ongoing competition among journals means that budding online journals from developing countries cannot compete with those from the West. The solution? “Creating platforms which incorporate putting symbolic value on the journal articles: their level of quality, legitimacy, and visibility,” said one of the lecturers.

Two of these platforms were presented at the panel: Redalyc, a system made up by the leading journals of all the knowledge areas edited in and about Latin America, and Social Science Research Network (SSRN), a platform dedicated to the dissemination of academic articles in the social sciences and humanities. These open access platforms help archive and preserve data by taking into account the relations of production and the geopolitical sphere within which academic articles are written. Furthermore, they guarantee transparency on behalf of the producer, and protection of intellectual property for the author. On SSRN, for example, a user can download any article for free with the click of a button.

While open access websites like SSRN and Redalyc seem to be on the right track with making academic articles – whether from the developing world or otherwise, – accessible for everyone to read, open access is not without its faults. Most open access content is subject to a system of hierarchy when it comes to the structuring of knowledge. This comes in many forms: inequality in the process of distribution of academic articles, the nature and topic of one’s work, journal bias, and one’s position in the academic system and the world. Peer review, a largely successful system, can still be highly subjective.

Unfortunately, there is a long way to go in the social sciences, where academics witness a marginalization of their alternative and radical views from the mainstream journal publishing process.

“Minority Languages”

Most of the roughly 8,000 languages of the world are endangered. 97 per cent of the world’s population speaks 4 per cent of the its languages.

Sarah McMonagle, a European minority language scholar at the University of Hamburg, asserted that “Indigenous languages of states have been actively marginalized,” either by a harsh, dominant school system, or by marginalization of the Indigenous community.

This is where, for her, language sustainability comes in. In the same vein, for the world’s endangered languages, the interactive internet – or “Web 2.0” – is a key player in trying to keep linguistic diversity alive, asserted McMonagle.

Most Europeans speak languages that are not the official language of the state. The emergence of blogs in local or minority languages, local government websites (such as one in Welsh and English for Wales), and Wikis (which are available in over 300 languages), all play a part in promoting local languages. Facebook and Twitter pages in local languages also exist, with Facebook in the lead in terms of application of local languages.

Grassroots organizations that promote the use and education of minority languages, along with digital technology, can help revive some of these local languages that are threatened with extinction, especially in the West. Niamh Ní Bhroin, the second speaker, emphasized the role of homogeneous minority groups in promoting their own languages within and outside of their group. “Birds of a feather flock together,” she said – the slogan for a phenomenon called Homophily, where relatives, friends, or acquaintances write to each other in minority languages on social networking websites such as Facebook or Twitter.

“Privacy & Surveillance”

The issues of privacy, surveillance, and control over our personal information are worse than we believe. This panel sought to address the threats concerning privacy in the digital age, rethinking privacy in the 21st century, and the ways in which people can work their way around the top-down surveillance methods actively employed by government and conglomerates. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) – tech that enables users to access, store, send, and interact with information – are a huge issue regarding this topic, as they allow for easy breach of privacy. The legal framework governing their use is very weak. Governments and conglomerates store all our daily activities from these ICTs, “but most people don’t care,” said Panayotis Antoniadis, a lecturer and senior researcher at ETH Zurich, because we willingly give up our personal information in exchange for self-promotion or other services. One of the ways around this issue is to establish local neighbourhood networks, similar to Facebook, but that are not internet-based. Antoniadis’ aim is to create a simple software that anyone can configure, allowing users to connect privately with the people around them, whether familiar or strangers.

Another issue that was brought up at the panel was shaping privacy in Facebook. Professor María Belén Albornoz, a professor and researcher at FLACSO Ecuador, asserted that Facebook’s technical code (the code programmers use within Facebook) “makes users do what Facebook [wants them] to do.” This code creates an illusion of freedom and privacy within the social networking website. Facebook then turns users’ information into profit through advertising revenue. According to Albornoz, “Control of the content shared can fade away without notice.” People will simply forget that their private information is being controlled because of the seemingly ‘free’ framework of the site.

The talk then moved to the fact that, as full-time users, we cannot switch off our connection to the web. Furthermore, there is no idea of consent when our personal information comes into play, because our relationship with the entities utilizing our privacy is unequal. The panel closed with a lecture on rethinking transparency, focusing on creating internet infrastructure that certain countries cannot shut off or censor, and demanding access to information about private data and internet habits from government and businesses. According one of the lecturers, Christopher Leslie, Co-director of the Science and Technology Studies at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, the transparent society works and is revealed when blockage or censorship is a blatant practice of the regime. In Antoniadis’ words, “Everything we do is recorded.”

“Higher Education and Research”  

As information moves online, education is slowing following suit. This panel explored how technology is changing and impacting the educational institution.

Imtiaz Ahmed, a researcher at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, described technology as “post-nationalist” because of its ability to go past borders and allow discussion across different countries. According to Ahmed, future universities won’t be “land-based,” but will instead become virtual. Ahmed has been involved with developing technology to connect students in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka through the virtual space. He believes that virtual universities will have the ability to overcome conflict and foster better international relations through broader discourse across countries.

Ahmed’s ideas were met with some criticism from other panel members for being too idealistic. Jennifer Jenson, a professor at York University, pointed out that “Current models of online universities were far from being perfect.” Massive open online courses (MOOCs) has been a buzzword as of late, but these courses have yet to go beyond the traditional university lecture structure and make themselves more compelling for students.

Jenson asserted that we need to change existing frameworks before we make them into virtual structures. The problem with online education is that we have huge educational institutions that are very slow to change, or adapt to it. Though a hopeful picture, education that transcends borders and virtual schools still have a long way to go.

“From Technostress to Online Intimacy”

This panel explored how the use of social media is changing human connections. As online social networks are easy platforms for people to make connections, they have also become avenues for researchers to look at human behaviour.

With a study assessing the different ways people use the social media sites Facebook, Badoo, and Couchsurfing, Cristina Miguel ñ a researcher at the University of Leeds, found that there are three main functions of social media websites: making new friends, dating or hooking up, and maintaining relationships.

The way that people view intimacy is also changing in a society where relationships are increasingly moving online. For some people, the level of intimacy that can be achieved online is greater than what they can achieve offline, but for others, online relationships are believed to be more superficial compared to those made offline.

Social networking also has a large impact on adolescents. Jennifer Lavoie and Daniel Vallée, researchers at McGill, spoke about how technology has affected adolescent sleep patterns. As late-night cellphone use and multitasking with technologies increase, sleep deprivation is becoming a harder problem for teenagers. Technology is largely an identity-building platform, and is valued more than sleep by many adolescents.

Psychotherapy is another area in which technology is creating change. The hope is that technology can used to enhance psychotherapy. According to Terra Kowalyk, a researcher at McGill, traditional methods are not always effective for all individuals.

Kowalyk explained that studies have found that the majority of clinicians thought they were doing much better than they were in terms of client assessment. Technology will help mitigate this issues as well as barriers such as access to information, time, and cost.

From romantic relationships to physician-patient interactions, the impact of social media has been found in various modes of human relationships around the world.

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Carroll is one of the many practicing music therapists in Montreal. Music therapists are trained to utilize the therapeutic qualities of music and musical elements to restore, preserve, and improve individuals’ well-being in the physical, emotional, and social domains. From neonatal care to mental health, music therapy’s applications are incredibly wide-ranging and can help people across all age groups with any level of musical aptitude.

Though documentation of music’s healing power has existed for thousands of years, formal training for music therapy only began after the Second World War. It was realized at the time that music could alleviate pain and some of the psychological symptoms of brain injuries and shell shock in soldiers (known today as post-traumatic stress disorder). As a result of this breakthrough, musicians were recruited into military hospitals in order to provide this new form of treatment. It was soon recognized that a system was needed to train these musicians to assess and establish treatment goals, giving birth to professional music therapy programs.

“We have a lot to teach people about the human condition. We need to work with people as human beings and understand what they bring as individuals rather than [giving them] pills,” described Curtis.

“[Music therapists use] the aspects of music that are inherently therapeutic … [Music] can be relaxing or stimulating, can mirror emotions, and allow us to reflect [on] how we feel,” Carroll told The Daily. Music therapy tries to improve an individual’s quality of life by using music’s ability to reflect the whole range of human emotions, allow nonverbal communication, and foster social interactions through shared musical experiences.

In today’s healthcare system, the go-to response for mental health issues is often drug prescription. This model has been criticized in the field of psychiatry, where piling prescriptions and diagnoses can become an endless loop. Sandi Curtis, a professor of music therapy at Concordia University, is hopeful for music therapy’s future integration into the medical institution. While music therapy would not act as replacement for current types of medical care, the hope is to reach an understanding of the roles of each profession.

“There is some research that shows that in certain circumstances, music is more cost effective in comparison to some medication – and free of the side effects,” described Curtis. “We have a lot to teach people about the human condition. We need to work with people as human beings and understand what they bring as individuals rather than [giving them] pills.”

In some areas such as palliative care, music is being used in lieu of medications. Collins reflected on her time working in palliative care, where patients whose medication was no longer helping them would be referred to her in order to be treated with music therapy. “Clearly, there is more than just the pain [to take into account]. There is the patient’s response – the fear of dying and family difficulties that come with having a life-threatening illness,” reflected Curtis.

Pascal Comeau, a music therapist at the Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH), uses music to help children of all ages. Comeau recalls an incident with a 19-month-old child, who, despite all efforts made by hospital staff, would not stop crying. The staff did not want to medicate the child, and decided to call on Comeau to alleviate that child’s anxiety using music. Comeau used a drum to match the level of anxiety the child was feeling. Within 30 seconds of the drumming, the infant had stopped crying.

“Music can be used for good, but it can also be used to create a barrier between oneself and the world. We need to be vigilant in how to bring out the healthy and positive aspects of a person,” Carroll explained to The Daily.

An important principle of music therapy involves reaching the emotional level of the person in question. By matching that, it allows the person to feel supported and heard at the level of their experience. Similarly to Thomas’ case, it is often a specific piece or type of music that can help an individual out of their distress or anxiety.

Though music therapy has recently gained momentum in the public spotlight, a number of misconceptions still surround it. “It’s part of our mandate [at the MCH] to tell people about music therapy. Even staff who have been here for many years don’t fully understand,” Comeau told The Daily. A common misconception is that music therapy is about listening to recreational music. However, this is not the case – a huge portion of a music therapist’s work involves trying to actively engage individuals in music.

An integral part of music therapy is the relationship between music, the individual, and the therapist. Music therapy is not simply about the individual and the music. “We all more or less intuitively know that music moves us – but music therapists have the [skills and training] to take this a huge step further […] to handle it and control it,” explained Curtis. “As much as music can move us tremendously emotionally [and] open a door for growth, it can also open a door for danger if the person is not prepared for what will come out of it.”

Because music has the power to unleash very strong emotional responses, without the proper training to be able to handle these effects, using music as therapy might not be a good thing. An ongoing challenge for music therapy is that there are still a number of individuals using music as treatment without being properly trained.

“Music can be used for good, but it can also be used to create a barrier between oneself and the world. We need to be vigilant in how to bring out the healthy and positive aspects of a person,” Carroll explained to The Daily.

In Thomas’ case, it was later found that his mother was of Iranian descent, and the song was almost able to reflect the act of his mother nurturing and caring for him. After his experience with the lullaby, Thomas experienced a dramatic change in the unit. He would sing and hum that song, and after a few weeks, finally started to speak to the staff about the feelings of being abandoned by his mother. The song, for Thomas, marked the beginning of a healing journey.

*Name has been changed

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Mobile health (mHealth) refers to health applications (apps) on mobile devices. In an age where healthcare costs are increasing and accessibility is decreasing, mHealth provides an avenue through which the growing needs of the population might be met. Though this emerging technology holds much potential, there are still issues that must be addressed.

Internet-based healthcare services for self-diagnosis and advice have been around for a while. Websites such as WebMD provide the tools for online self-diagnosis and direct individuals to see a nurse, doctor, or go to the emergency room if needed.

mHealth technology has the ability to empower individuals to take care of their own health and well-being. According to Shivani Goyal, a researcher at the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation in Toronto, there are two major approaches to mobile technology. One is to help people engage in preventative health by using mobile phones to track, assess, and change bad behaviours. The other is to help people manage long-term conditions requiring medication or careful monitoring.

“Mobile health is changing the model of current healthcare. It’s enabling patients to be informed about their own medical information,” Goyal told The Daily. The Centre for Global eHealth Innovation has developed a number of mHealth applications. These mobile self-management applications include “bant” for individuals with diabetes to collect and track their blood glucose levels, and “breathe” for people with asthma to engage in their own treatment plans.

Another mobile technology application is medical screening. Dr. Nitika Pant Pai, a professor in the Department of Medicine at McGill University, has developed an HIV self-screening smartphone application.

“Mobile health is changing the model of current healthcare. It’s enabling patients to be informed about their own medical information.”

“The patients want access to quality care, they want to be seen quickly, and they want confidentiality,” explained Pai. Before developing the HIV screening app, Pai scouted the field for existing apps and found that many had not been tested or tailored to patients. This provided her main motivation to develop the technology herself.

One of the biggest concerns for existing mHealth technologies is quality control. Currently, there are over 17,000 mHealth applications available to download on app stores, but only a small volume of those have gone through proper evidence-based testing.

“People have to be cognizant of the fact that there are a mixture of people who are making these apps. I would caution people going onto the app store to do research to see where the apps are coming from, who is designing them, and read reviews about their functions,” Shivani told The Daily.

Though the Food and Drug Administration in the United States has made moves to properly test and approve mobile apps used for health procedures such as screening, testing, and providing direct diagnoses, no such regulatory body exists in Canada.

“As far as mHealth approval is concerned, I’m not aware that regulations are in place,” said Pai. “The [technology] is so novel that people don’t know where to place these things. People don’t know [its] potential, people are skeptical, and on some levels, it’s [an] ‘anti-health system.’”

“People have to be cognizant of the fact that there are a mixture of people who are making these apps. I would caution people going onto the app store to do research to see where the apps are coming from, who is designing them, and read reviews about their functions.”

Pai described mHealth as a disruptive technology, in the sense that it provides services that can overlap with those provided by existing healthcare institutions. “Healthcare systems are politicized, have many stakeholders involved, and are very hard to change,” Pai reflected.

As the technology is relatively new, there has not been enough time to develop fast and effective testing strategies for these applications. Currently, those that are being tested are going through the traditional clinical trials model, which can take three to four years – which, in the world of tech, is extremely slow.

Not only does the testing happen at a slow pace, but medical institutions are generally late to adapt new technology. “Healthcare systems take a lot of time to change and adapt a new technology. The reason is that there is a business model in place. There is the healthcare system and the business of the health system. When you introduce a new technology, you are introducing a new technology to the business,” Pai told The Daily.

The emerging field of mHealth technology is hoping to fill the gaps in the current healthcare system while being complementary to it. Though challenges remain, this technology will hopefully provide one way for people to take control of their own health.

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