Montreal chef David Ferguson talks about what he cooks for Santa Claus, that's right - Santa - as his personal chef one day a year. He also read us a bit of the short story he wrote about his fantasy job.

Cleanup continued in the Kerch Strait near Russian-occupied Crimea on Sunday, a week after at least 3,700 tons of low-grade fuel oil spilled out of two storm-stricken Russian tankers.

More than 7,500 people, many of them volunteers, raced to rescue wildlife and clean up shorelines blighted by mazut, a heavy, low-quality oil product, according to Russian news reports.

By Sunday afternoon, more than 12,000 tons of contaminated soil had been removed along 34 kilometers (21 miles) of shoreline, Russia’s state Tass news agency reported.

Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said oil continued to wash up along Crimea’s coastline, despite announcing the night before that a cleanup operation had been successfully completed off the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Russian authorities were still working to assess the spill’s consequences. A local scientist, Tatyana Beley, told Russian state media on Sunday that her team had discovered 11 dead dolphins whose airways had been clogged by oil fuel.

According to Russia’s emergencies ministry, a rescue operation was launched last Sunday after the Volgoneft-212 ran aground and had its bow torn away in storm conditions. One sailor in the 13-man crew died, officials said. A second tanker, the Volgoneft-239, was also left damaged and adrift. It later ran aground close to the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region and its 14 crew members were rescued.

The oil spill has impacted at least 60 kilometers (37 miles) of coastline, Greenpeace Ukraine said Tuesday. The charity has had no presence in Russia since 2023, when it was designated as an “undesirable organization” by the Russian government.

Some Russian media critical of the Kremlin, as well as Western outlets, cited Russian volunteers as saying that state support has been inadequate as they grapple with the oil spill. Some said they experienced headaches, nausea and vomiting after spending hours inhaling toxic fumes.

The Kerch Strait separates the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula from Russia and is an important global shipping route, providing passage from the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea.

It has also been a key point of conflict between Russia and Ukraine after Moscow annexed the peninsula. In 2016, Ukraine took Moscow to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where it accused Russia of trying to seize control of the area illegally. In 2021, Russia closed the strait for several months.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, described the oil spill as a “large-scale environmental disaster” of the war and called for additional sanctions on Russian tankers.

The Associated Press

ALMOST GO TIME – GET OUT AND GIT ‘R DONE!

PEI WEATHER

TEXT YOUR ANSWER TO 902-368-1720

  The snow has been flying but homeless people remain camped in parks, on trails and in the woods throughout Hamilton.

  This despite a pledge by Mayor Andrea Horwath to have the Barton-Tiffany temporary outdoor shelter site opened before the snow flies.

  That deadline has been missed and the timeline keeps getting worse.

  On December 18 the city announced a delayed opening date for the shelter community. Now it will be mid-January, the city says and judging by the roll out so far one could suspect it will be later. 

   Problem one, no one seems to know where the 40 collapsible metal shelters are.

    City Manager Marnie Cluckie said at a shelter update meeting the Brantford company sourcing the metal shelters is working hard to get them delivered from overseas, but they are delayed.

   A check of the Brantford microshelter.ca website Friday suggested they were in communication or working with a California company called Foldum a provider of the shelters. Images on the Microshelter website were duplicates of the Foldum website. Now the Microshelter website is “under construction.”

  A generic search of foldable shelters reveals numerous companies in China in the container business such as C.Box that make the identical metal shelters that fold flat for shipping. Some of them start at $1,200. The low starting price raises questions about how suitable they Are modified for freezing climates. https://cboxcontainerhouse.com

  So who knows where they are coming from, but it seems likely that they are on a slow boat from China.

  This is just a continuum of boondoggles that seems to  agitate bad karma for the Barton Tiffany shelter site.

   After detailing the delay getting the shipping containers  the city also pointed to a surprise setback-the two week site shutdown to investigate the status of contaminants on the former industrial site. This came only after a citizen complaint to the Ministry of Labour over workplace safety due to possible exposure to toxic material.

  In due course the city revealed on their website an update on soil contamination at Barton Tiffany. The update leaned heavily on contamination testing from 2018.

  As with so much communication these days it was written in the sort of dense, ambiguous language that provokes more questions than answers.

   A lay person may interpret it this way:

  There may be lots of soil contaminants, we only found two, the solution is to pave it over.

  For a more expert summary the Bay Observer contacted Carl Slater, a former department head with the Ministry of the Environment in Hamilton. After reading documentation from Englobe a city-hired consultant Slater said:

  “I looked at the three documents. The most recent work by Englobe was a cursory assessment of surface features and potential risks to workers during site preparation and construction.  It did not do any sub-surface assessment.  That work looks like it was done previously but that report was merely summarized by Englobe.”

  So there was no new testing of the site. A site that has been used in the past for steel making, lead smelting, asphalt manufacturing and other heavy industrial processes.

   Slater noted he was not a site remediation expert while at the MOE -but concluded that after the “less than rigorous assessment” capping the site might be acceptable as a “temporary measure.”

  In online discussion chats about the state of contaminated soil at Barton Tiffany, Melissa Gallagher, an environmental engineer reached a similar conclusion.

  “They didn’t do any testing on that parcel of land. This stuff is my profession and to say I’m disappointed is an understatement.” 

   The industry standard Gallagher goes on to say is to test soil and test groundwater.

  Just last year when the Aeon Studio Group were in talks with the city to buy the Barton Tiffany lands they estimated in a Hamilton Spectator article that cleaning up contaminated soil would take up to five years.

  In the same article Ward 2 Councillor Cameron Kroetsch said “The land’s very contaminated and this gives us runway to start to address some of those bigger issues.”

   So in 2023 the land was deemed too contaminated to house the HATS tiny shelter project, it was so contaminated a developer saw a multi-year multi-million dollar environmental clean up-but this year it’s fine for 40 unhoused to call it home. Temporarily.

   On this issue, city with its convoluted website updates, and refusal to meet with the public has cancelled transparency and eroded public trust.

Marnie Parsons loves words, whether she understands them or not. As the owner and operator of Running the Goat Books and Broadsides, she is typesetting a collection of poems in 13 languages, most of which she can't read. 

Environment Canada says western Cape Breton could see 15 to 25 centimetres of snow Sunday through Monday afternoon.

The Nunatsiavut Government is pleased with the results of what it calls the successful trial of a portable X-ray unit in Hopedale.

The government says although X-rays have been around for more than a century, they remain largely unavailable in many rural and remote regions.

A working group consisting of experts from the health authority, the provincial Department of Health, the Canadian Association of Medical Radiation Technologists and Indigenous Services Canada was established a couple of years ago. It identified a suitable solution for x-ray services on the coast of Labrador, thus the decision to do the clinical trial at the Hopedale Community Clinic.

Nunatsiavut is calling the trial a “complete success” with several patients receiving x-ray services over two days instead of having to travel to Happy Valley-Goose Bay for the service.

They’re hoping that the service can be expanded to other communities.

The Australian government recently passed legislation that bans social media for anyone under 16. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed the legislation for putting “the onus on social media platforms — not young people or their parents” — for protecting youth from online harms.

Australia is the first country in the world to pass a nationwide ban of social media for teens, set to take effect in a year. But other measures have been enacted or considered here in Canada and elsewhere.

In the United States, it will be illegal for children under 14 in Florida to have social media accounts starting Jan. 1, 2025.

Beginning in 2024, Québec began banning cellphones in classrooms. This fall, with the start of the 2024–2025 academic year, Ontario also began banning cell phones in schools. This follows a lawsuit filed by four school boards in Ontario against social media companies for disrupting youth learning.

Québec is reportedly considering a social media ban — following Australia’s lead — that would limit social media use for teens under 16. Provincial governments recognize that social media and cellphones can be problematic for youth, and they’re not waiting on the federal government to take action.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently announced that the proposed Online Harms Act (Bill C-63), originally introduced in February 2024, will be separated into two bills. The idea is to pass the part of the bill focused on child protection to address problems like sextortion, image-based sexual abuse, revenge porn and other forms of online sexual violence.

Since the Online Harms Act is still being debated, MPs in Canada may look to other countries, like Australia, for guidance on protecting youth from these online harms.

Youth and online harms

Some people in Canada approve of Australia’s social media ban and see it as a potential solution, including some teens. This idea has received a lot of traction in public discourse too, including with the book The Anxious Generation that argues social media should be banned until age 16.

Many of us may recall the stories of Rehtaeh Parsons, Amanda Todd and more recently a boy in British Columbia who died by suicide after being cyberbullied and sextorted.

Some studies have shown that social media use is related to anxiety and depression among adolescents. Bans or regulations raise important questions about how we, as a society, should respond to social media use among youth and deal with online harms.

Challenges with bans

We are a team of researchers who study technology-facilitated sexual violence among youth aged 13–18 in Canada. We have conducted 26 focus groups with 149 youth from across the country, and launched a nationally representative survey of around 1,000 youth to learn about their experiences with online harms, what they know about the law and which resources work — and which ones don’t.

Our initial findings show that youth experience a range of harms as they use digital platforms and social media. We also found that algorithms are fueling harms. Youth have emphasized they want tailored supports and resources to help them have safe, healthy and enjoyable experiences with technology.

A full ban of social media is not realistic, in part because social media companies have no idea how to implement it. Some ideas are to use facial recognition technology or check someone’s age using credit cards. Another idea is to upload government IDs to third-party platforms for age verification.

However a ban is implemented, it will almost certainly gather more user data, which raises questions about youth data privacy and security. These measures may also drive youth towards other platforms that are less regulated, such as on the dark web. This could actually make it harder to protect youth from online harms.

Bans also don’t actually solve the problem. For example, abstinence-based interventions don’t work when it comes to sex education. It is unlikely that an abstinence-based approach would work with social media.

Furthermore, technology is increasingly integrated into our daily lives, and youth need to be taught about healthy and responsible online interactions.

Youth are learning how to become digital citizens. Kicking the problem down the road until they’re 16 or older will postpone the consequences, not solve them. This could cause more harm than a ban intends to solve.

A ban also frees social media companies, governments and parents from any accountability. Rather than meaningfully addressing the harmful content and their impacts, a ban removes any and all responsibility from the people and institutions whose job it is to protect youth.

Holistic interventions

Technology companies need to develop their products with kids in mind, rather than prioritizing their profits and putting child safety and health second. Kids need guidance and support, and a ban does nothing to remove harmful content or resolve its negative impacts.

Rather than bans, we suggest implementing holistic interventions that emphasize digital citizenship and youth rights and responsibilities so people of all ages learn how to have safe and healthy interactions with technology. This requires a consolidated effort across various sectors of society, including schools, community organizations and, importantly, both tech companies and government agencies.

While there are resources available for educators, parents and youth about how to have safe and healthy online interactions, we need to act now.

Rather than resorting to blanket bans, we should prioritize comprehensive societal changes that address the root causes of these harms. By doing so, we can promote youth safety and help our communities confront online harms.

Christopher Dietzel receives funding from Le Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC).

Kaitlynn Mendes receives funding from SSHRC and the Canada Research Chairs Program.

Over the past year, several major corporations have scaled back their equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives amid shifting political pressures. Walmart is one of the latest major corporations to reduce its EDI programs following conservative backlash and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s re-election.

Ford Motor Company, Lowe’s and Nissan have all announced plans to change their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies. In the entertainment sector, Hollywood’s commitment to EDI has waned, with several studios and networks reducing or eliminating diversity programs.

This growing trend reflects a broader corporate retreat from EDI commitments, as businesses navigate the complexities of the current political landscape. So far, many have chosen to respond by negating their commitment to inclusion and diversity.

Given the close economic and cultural ties between the United States and Canada, this troubling shift could spill over into Canada. It would undermine years of progress towards achieving genuine workplace equity. Ultimately, no one will benefit in the long run — not even the people opposed to it — as they will miss out on the benefits of a more inclusive and diverse workforce.

Walmart: From EDI commitment to rollback

As the largest private employer in the world with over two million employees, Walmart has long been at the centre of debates about labour practices, workplace diversity and corporate responsibility.

For years, the company championed EDI principles. In 2019, Walmart made a public commitment to boost diversity, pledging to increase the percentage of women and racialized people in managerial roles.

Walmart also introduced initiatives to support underrepresented groups in the workforce, including diversity and inclusion training, the Women’s Resource Community, the OneTen Coalition program and partnerships to recruit people with disabilities.

Read more: Employers miss out on talent by overlooking workers living with disabilities

Walmart also tracked workforce representation by gender and ethnicity. Its 2023 report revealed that 20 per cent of promotions from hourly to management position were Black and racialized women. Over 86,000 employees completed race and inclusion training, and nearly 800 participated in Walmart’s Culture, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Institute.

However, amid a political climate marked by renewed attacks on corporate diversity initiatives and so-called “wokeness,” Walmart started rolling back its EDI policies and diversity training programs.

For instance, the company has decided not to extend its racial equity centre, a five-year initiative that was launched in 2020. Additionally, it will discontinue the use of terms such as “LatinX” and “DEI” in official communications, opting instead to use the word “belonging.” But who truly belongs if, at the same time, they are cancelling EDI initiatives?

Understand what EDI means

This rollback of EDI initiatives reflects a growing trend within big business to selectively adopt social justice agendas when they are advantageous, then scale them back when the political climate changes. This “diversitywashing” mirrors greenwashing where companies claim to support social or environmental causes but retreat when faced with political or public pressure.

At its core, EDI is about ensuring that all employees, customers and stakeholders have equitable access to work opportunities, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability or socio-economic background.

EDI policies and practices are essential for supporting equity-deserving groups — such as women, Black and racialized people, Indigenous Peoples, people with disabilities and 2SLGBTQ+ communities — who have historically faced systemic barriers to opportunity.

Arguing for a meritocracy without first establishing equity is like trying to lift a sloped playing field instead of leveling it, while ignoring that one side is a mountain and the other is a canyon. It leaves existing barriers and inequities intact on the road to merit, telling people that hard work alone will lead to rewards, while ignoring that they need to work that much harder to achieve the same.

The idea that we must create an even playing field first should not be controversial, and yet it is.

The fear that EDI programs compromise competency is both common and unfounded; embracing diversity is about dismantling barriers that have unfairly limited opportunities for talented individuals, not lowering standards.

Why corporations must commit to EDI

EDI initiatives should never be reduced to political tools or marketing gimmicks. The true purpose of these policies is to foster an environment where people of all backgrounds can thrive.

Organizations greatly benefit from the creativity, problem-solving and innovation that come with diversity.

When corporations roll back these initiatives in response to political pressures, it signals to the world their commitment to EDI was merely a strategic move to improve their brand image during a period when social justice was a trending topic.

This can damage a corporation’s reputation in the eyes of both employees and consumers, particularly those from equity-deserving groups who expect representation, as well as those who value diversity and inclusivity.

Read more: How equity, diversity and inclusion policies are becoming a tool for capitalism

It is essential for large corporations to recognize that adopting EDI policies is not just a moral imperative, but also a sound business strategy. The data is clear: diverse companies perform better, including from a profitability standpoint.

Diversity related advantages create a competitive edge that drives growth. A McKinsey report revealed that companies with more diverse executive teams were 36 per cent more likely to have above-average profitability. Giving that up is simply bad business.

As both a scholar and a practising strategy and organizational change consultant, I have never encountered a well-designed and effectively implemented EDI program that did not yield positive results for the organization.

EDI is good for business and good business: it is both the ethical choice and the smart business decision.

Walking the talk

The way forward is clear: corporations, especially large ones, must make a genuine commitment to EDI — not just because it is the morally right thing to do, but because it is the key to long-term business success. Diversity fosters innovation, and innovation drives profitability.

However, for employees of diverse backgrounds to truly thrive in their workplaces, organizations must go beyond surface-level representation and tokenism. They must build inclusive workplaces where diversity is genuinely respected, supported and embraced unconditionally and independent of political trends.

By doing so, companies will not only contribute to a more equitable society, but also position themselves for success in an increasingly diverse global marketplace. Achieving this requires leaders who are courageous and prioritize long-term strategic goals over short-term political gains.

Leading through fear is not leadership; it reflects a failure in strategic foresight. Talent is the defining competitive advantage of this century, and business leaders cannot afford to waste it.

Simon Blanchette does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

The wheels of history have been turning rapidly in the Middle East over the last year.

For a significant period of time, Iran’s status as a rising power within the region has been regarded as a consistent reality in assessing Middle Eastern geopolitics. But events since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel have seen Iran’s position in the region erode substantially. The balance of power in the Middle East has consequently been irreversibly altered.

A key pillar supporting Iran’s previously powerful status in the Middle East has been its cultivation of the “Axis of Resistance,” a group of Iranian allies across the region that acted together against Israeli and American interests.

The members of the axis, in addition to Iran itself, include Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraqi Shiite militias, the Houthis and Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.

Read more: Assad's fall in Syria will further weaken Hezbollah and curtails Tehran's 'Iranization' of region

Axis decimation

Israel’s relentless war in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack has seen several of the most important members of the axis severely diminished, if not entirely decimated.

Both Hezbollah and Hamas have been humiliated through the destruction of their respective leaderships, and their operational capacities have been reduced significantly.

The largest blow to Iran’s proxy network was arguably the recent ousting of Syria’s Assad, ending a decades-long regime that was regarded by top Iranian strategists as Iran’s most important regional ally.

The adverse consequences of these developments for Iran’s grand strategy raises questions of how a significantly weakened Iran will affect the world at large, especially in terms of its impact on great power politics in the Middle East.

This undoubtedly represents a welcome development in the United States given the long-standing animosity towards post-1979 Iran among the American foreign policy establishment. But China is likely to have a more nuanced outlook predicated upon its commitment to pragmatic foreign policy maneuvering in accomplishing its top global objectives.

China’s engagement with Iran

As China has grown richer and more powerful in recent decades, it’s turned its attention to increasing its diplomatic clout and economic presence throughout the world. Every region of the planet has been affected by this development, but the Middle East achieved a spot of particular importance for China.

The Chinese government’s motivation to deeply engage in the Middle East has been — and continues to be — driven by several key considerations: the Middle East’s status as a powerhouse of oil production, its strategic geographic location bridging east and west, and its status as a long-standing pillar of American foreign policy.

China has fostered bilateral partnerships across the entire Middle East, but one of its longest regional relationships has been with Iran. In Iran, Chinese authorities saw a country that provided it with an opportunity to help it achieve China’s main objectives in the region.

Post-1979, Iran was inherently anti-American, which meant that China was more likely to be warmly received by Tehran, especially when compared to other regional powers like Saudi Arabia that had relatively warm relations with the U.S.

Perhaps most importantly, Iran could be depended on — to an extent — to stymie American interests in the Middle East given its status as a rising regional power.

This is not to say that Iran became a Chinese client state, but rather that China could provide diplomatic and economic support to Iran as the Iranians used their power to act disruptively in a region of great strategic importance to the U.S.

China’s future moves

Given the motivations underlying deep Chinese-Iranian ties historically, it’s clear that the evaporation of Iran’s clout will likely greatly alter the character of their relationship moving forward.

In a nutshell, a significant portion of Iran’s appeal to Chinese policymakers has disappeared with the near annihilation of its regional network. This will likely encourage China to seek deeper ties with other Middle Eastern heavyweights, like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in accomplishing its goals in the Middle East — chief among them, increasing its regional influence at the expense of the U.S.

But it’s also unlikely China will entirely abandon Iran. While it may focus its most concerted efforts on developing deeper ties with other Middle Eastern countries instead of Iran, China would likely be hesitant to see Iran become even further isolated and therefore more predisposed to behaving aggressively.

China was one of the main behind-the-scenes mediators of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal because it wanted regional tensions to dissipate via Iran’s abandonment of its nuclear program.

Now that Iran is weakened, it has essentially been boxed into a corner, and has two main options moving forward: either it achieves a rapprochement with the West, or it reinvigorates its nuclear program and acts more aggressively.

While Iran’s ultra-conservative factions that control the levers of power in the country may be tempted to take a more aggressive path, it is very possible China will attempt to use its substantial economic leverage over Iran to encourage them to pursue the rapprochement option.

That’s because the Chinese need the Middle East as a source of petroleum to fuel their economy, and because China doesn’t want to be viewed by the West as an implicit accomplice to a bellicose and destabilizing Iran.

China a moderating influence?

On the contrary, China is currently attempting to repair relations with many western countries given the importance of the West’s markets to China’s ailing economy.

In fact, China may wish to play a role in inducing Iran to strike a deal with the West in the near future, given that it would show the incoming Donald Trump administration — which is notoriously hawkish on China — that it can be trusted and worked with constructively.

At the end of the day, China will seek the path that minimizes the likelihood of full-blown conflict in the Middle East given the importance of the region to the Chinese economy. The country has a strategic opportunity to signal trustworthiness and dependability to the West by working to prevent Iran from choosing a more aggressive path.

Daniel Lincoln does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) affects up to half of all women during their lifetime, and one in eight will have surgery to treat it by the age of 85. Yet, despite how common POP is, the public’s awareness and understanding of this condition remains limited.

Most people are unfamiliar with POP until they are personally affected, and even then, are often unaware of the different surgical options available to manage it. Our team of medical professionals and health researchers aims to change this.

POP occurs when pelvic organs, like the uterus, vagina, bladder or bowel, shift downward and sag into, or even through, the vaginal canal. This condition can lead to a range of physical symptoms, with pelvic pressure, urinary incontinence and a vaginal bulge being some of the most common complaints.

POP can be physically uncomfortable and disruptive to a woman’s quality of life, and the emotional and social impact can be profound. Many affected women report lowered self-esteem, avoidance of intimacy, and heightened anxiety or depression due to the persistent, painful and often stigmatized nature of the condition.

Hysterectomy is the default

For decades, the standard surgical approach for treating POP has generally included a hysterectomy, or removal of the uterus. In many cases, the uterus itself is not part of the prolapse, but removing it allows surgeons to access pelvic ligaments and tissues for securing the vaginal walls. Almost one in three Canadian women aged 60 and older have had their uterus removed to treat a number of gynecologic conditions, including POP.

This surgery is deeply embedded in medical practice with the long-standing belief that removing the uterus is necessary to achieve durable repair of POP, and that the surgery has minimal impact on women’s overall health.

Newer evidence, including recent systematic reviews, questions whether hysterectomy is the only effective approach for treating POP in women. Studies have shown that uterine-preserving procedures carry lower surgical risks compared to hysterectomy surgeries, while providing similar effectiveness in reducing prolapse symptoms.

Adding to this body of evidence, our team of urogynecologists and health researchers developed the Hysterectomy vs. Uterine Preserving Prolapse Surgery (HUPPS) study to generate real-world evidence about outcomes after POP surgery.

Over three years, we enrolled 321 women with POP affecting the top of their vagina who lived in Calgary and surrounding areas of Alberta. Importantly, each woman was free to consider minimally invasive hysterectomy or uterine-preserving POP surgery, based on their own values, preferences and consideration of the evidence. Almost half (47 per cent) chose the uterine-preserving route, which demonstrated substantial interest among Canadian women to keep their uterus when given the option.

However, in many hospitals in Canada, hysterectomy remains the primary approach for surgical treatment of POP, partly due to historical and educational clinical practices.

Surgical outcomes

At one year post-surgery, we found that 17.2 per cent of women who received a hysterectomy surgery experienced recurrence of POP, compared to only 7.5 per cent of women who received a uterine-preserving (UP) surgery. We then statistically accounted for patient differences such as age, body weight and the initial severity of their POP, and found that women who had uterine-preserving surgery indeed experienced approximately half the risk of POP recurrence than the women who had a hysterectomy.

Our data also showed other benefits of uterine-preserving surgery, including shorter operating time, shorter hospital stay, less post-operative opioid pain relief and fewer complications overall.

Why preserve the uterus?

Emerging research suggests there can be long-term effects of hysterectomy. For example, hysterectomy may be associated with elevated risk of chronic health issues such as cardiovascular disease and neurological disorders. These risks are higher for people who undergo hysterectomy at younger ages.

However, there can be instances where patients may want to consider hysterectomy as part of their POP repair. These include a history of repeated abnormal pap smears signalling a higher risk of developing cervical cancer in the future, or in cases where it is strongly recommended to them by a surgeon, such as when precancerous cells have been determined by a biopsy of the uterus.

For people without these conditions, there is no medical need to remove the uterus.

However, the historical hysterectomy-based approach to POP assumes that all women want the same approach to their POP treatment. However, during the past five years, our team has noticed growing inquiries from patients around keeping their uterus, and questions about the risks and benefits of a hysterectomy.

Some women want to avoid hysterectomy due to personal or cultural beliefs about removing their uterus, while others are concerned about the potential long-term effects on their health. The International Urogynecological Association has a helpful pamphlet with more information on this topic.

The importance of patient-centred care

Our research findings, combined with growing evidence on surgical treatment of POP, encourage an essential shift in the field of gynecological surgery towards an approach that offers all women a greater sense of autonomy.

The HUPPS study demonstrates that when people are presented with evidence-based information on the risks and benefits, they can choose the option that aligns with their personal values and long-term health goals and still achieve a good surgical outcome.

For women in Canada who are affected by POP, this means ensuring that two options are offered and accessible to them: both hysterectomy and uterine-preserving surgeries. If we can achieve a permanent shift in the medical landscape towards more informed, personalized and patient-centred care, it will change women’s lives for the better.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Kent Karemaker, 44, quit his job and sold his condo in Victoria, B.C., to restore the Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. Karemaker says the project is helping him manage his depression and anxiety.

China said on Sunday it was taking countermeasures against two Canadian institutions and 20 people involved in human rights issues concerning the Uyghurs and Tibet.

Hampers went to Indigenous families across Winnipeg Saturday as part of the 23rd annual holiday drive led by Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre and Bell MTS. Volunteers also packaged and delivered 579 Christmas gifts for children. Demand has for hampers and help during the holidays has increased along with the cost of living, according to Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata executive director Tammy Christensen.

Wildlife officials are collecting and testing animal carcasses as part of an ongoing study to determine the extent of the spread of Avian flu in land animals in the province.

Trappers are encouraged to submit skinned carcasses of a variety of species including fox, beaver, Lynx, Labrador marten, mink, muskrat and weasel.

Memorial University is offering hunters and trappers $10 a carcass, for each specimen, up to a total of 1,000 specimens.

The program will only apply for the rest of the 2024-25 trapping season.

Payment will be on a first-come first-served basis.

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It looks like Santa might have some contend with some significant winter weather as he makes his way around southern New Brunswick on Tuesday night, according to the federal weather service.

Environment and Climate Change Canada issued a special weather statement early Sunday morning for the southern band of the province, including Fredericton and surrounding communities.

“A developing system may affect the province on Christmas Eve,” it said.

“While it is too soon to provide specific details, the potential exists for significant amounts of snow.”

At this point, the weather service is predicting the snow will begin Tuesday morning and continue to Tuesday night.

The same system is expected to have a similar impact on central and western Nova Scotia, so bear that in mind if you’re planning on travelling in the Maritimes on Christmas Eve as well.

The Fredericton Independent can be reached at [email protected].

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Join the Yellowknifers who take time each Christmas to figure out which birds – and how many of them – are calling the city home in winter.

NEW YORK (AP) — A NASA spacecraft aims to fly closer to the sun than any object sent before.

The Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 to get a close-up look at the sun. Since then, it has flown straight through the sun’s corona: the outer atmosphere visible during a total solar eclipse.

The next milestone: closest approach to the sun. Plans call for Parker on Tuesday to hurtle through the sizzling solar atmosphere and pass within a record-breaking 3.8 million miles (6 million kilometers) of the sun’s surface.

At that moment, if the sun and Earth were at opposite ends of a football field, Parker “would be on the 4-yard line,” said NASA’s Joe Westlake.

Mission managers won’t know how Parker fared until days after the flyby since the spacecraft will be out of communication range.

Parker planned to get more than seven times closer to the sun than previous spacecraft, hitting 430,000 mph (690,000 kph) at closest approach. It’s the fastest spacecraft ever built and is outfitted with a heat shield that can withstand scorching temperatures up to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,371 degrees Celsius).

It’ll continue circling the sun at this distance until at least September. Scientists hope to better understand why the corona is hundreds of times hotter than the sun’s surface and what drives the solar wind, the supersonic stream of charged particles constantly blasting away from the sun.

The sun’s warming rays make life possible on Earth. But severe solar storms can temporarily scramble radio communications and disrupt power.

The sun is currently at the maximum phase of its 11-year cycle, triggering colorful auroras in unexpected places.

“It both is our closest, friendliest neighbor,” Westlake said, “but also at times is a little angry.”

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Adithi Ramakrishnan, The Associated Press

When Dean May’s team of cleaners entered the home, dressed head to toe in protective suits, thick green dust covered every surface.

“We literally left footprints when we were walking in the house,” he recalled.

They were traipsing through the toxic remnants of an illicit fentanyl pill-pressing operation in northern British Columbia three or four years ago, and May says it was one of the worst scenes he’s been to.

For 14 years, May, who co-owns Calgary-based Mayken Hazmat Solutions, has been cleaning the mess left behind by drug labs in Western Canada after police are done with the scene.

As clandestine drug labs become larger and more complex, so does the toxic mess they leave behind and the tools required to clean them up, creating expensive and dangerous situations for both people and the environment.

In B.C., the RCMP say they’ve spent millions over the last five years disposing of chemicals found in labs, but the rest of the hefty cleanup bill is often left to property owners who call private companies like May’s.

B.C.’s real estate association says consistent provincewide rules are needed for how to remediate properties back to being livable.

May said hidden labs making synthetic drugs including fentanyl and methamphetamines using industrial chemicals are both more toxic than mouldy marijuana grow operations and quicker to set up, meaning it’s easier for rented properties to be turned into labs without property owners knowing.

“Somebody can turn a home into a lab in a matter of days, whereas back in the grow-op days, it took quite a bit of time to set up the grow-op and wire it,” he said.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Derek Westwick runs B.C.’s Clandestine Lab Enforcement and Response team, which investigates synthetic drug labs.

He grew up in the area of Langley, B.C., where a single-family home was turned into a large ecstasy lab 10 years ago.

He remembers the “cook” in that case was pouring chemicals through a pipe into the big backyard, allowing chemicals to seep into a ditch.

A neighbour complained in a letter to the local Langley Advance Times about “open toxic ditches and putrid brown sludge oozing” around the home.

She wrote that her neighbour’s koi fish and trees had died, and that when it rains “the smell comes and we are coughing.”

The province stepped in when then-environment minister Mary Polak declared the location a “high-risk contaminated site” a year after it was found and warned that the home itself as well as three neighbouring properties could be contaminated.

Experts would find soil and water containing chemicals that included dichloromethane, a colourless liquid used as a solvent in paint and furniture-stripping products, as well as other industrial applications.

The province footed a $930,000 bill for remediation, though the Ministry of Environment said in a statement that it got the money back when the property was later sold and torn down.

‘THEY’LL PENETRATE OUR SUITS QUITE FAST’

Westwick said his team has come up against increasingly toxic chemicals in recent years, with the rise of fentanyl labs.

Under the wrong set of circumstances, ingredients can melt officers’ protective gear.

When the team first enters a property, they’ll wear breathing apparatus similar to those worn by firefighters. Their chemical suits are attached to their boots and gloves with tape that is specially designed not to melt.

When investigators are unsure exactly what chemicals they’re dealing with, the team will layer up with a variety of gloves, each designed to protect from something different, he said.

“It’s not fentanyl itself, it’s (that) these chemicals have such different properties and hazards they quickly can permeate our chemical suits. Any one of them, they’ll penetrate our suits quite fast,” he said.

In his 15 years with the team, Westwick said it has become less common for criminals to leave their toxic ingredients in barrels for someone else to clean up.

Fear of being identified through the barrels means they are more likely to just dump it, he said.

“So now that’s worse, because now they pour it down the drains, pour it in a septic field, pour it out in the backyard,” he said.

In 2017, provincial environmental officials had to excavate 30 cubic metres of contaminated soil from a former meth lab near Rock Creek, B.C., after liquid and solid waste was dumped near a drug lab.

Health authorities ordered residents of about 25 properties to stop using their water.

Earlier this year, Mounties dismantled a drug “superlab” in Falkland, in B.C.’s southern Interior, calling it the largest, most sophisticated in Canada.

Police said they seized “massive” amounts of precursor chemicals used to make the drugs, adding that environmental mitigation and cleanup cost would be at least $500,000 and possibly “significantly higher.”

Westwick said that in the last five years, the RCMP had paid just shy of $2 million to remove chemicals from clandestine labs in British Columbia.

He said Mounties are only responsible for disposing of chemicals covered under search warrants, meaning homeowners are in charge of cleaning up whatever damage to the building or the environment is left behind.

“I do not clean up labs, they’re left half as messy. I take all the chemicals to render them safe. I’ll take all the precursors and the offence-related property. But if the grounds are dirty, or there’s fridges or freezers that are used, that are contaminated, we don’t take that,” Westwick said.

“So that’s just a fraction of what is spent.”

Westwick said whenever his team finds evidence that chemicals from drug labs have been dumped, they’ll call the Ministry of Environment, which then decides whether to get involved.

A statement from the ministry says it has been involved in disposing of material from four illegal drug labs since 2015. It said it’s “monitoring” the case of the Falkland superlab and is “available to support the RCMP upon request.”

“All contaminated sites follow the same legal requirements and processes for site investigation and remediation. It depends on the future use of a site and what substances and their concentrations are found,” the statement says.

“Specific substances are regulated under the contaminated sites regime, and if drug labs materials keep evolving, keeping up with new emerging substances is part of the considerations for updates to regulations.”

May, a certified hazmat technician, said homeowners are often shocked by the bill for tens of thousands of dollars to clean a house after police have left.

His company follows decontamination guidelines laid out by Alberta Health, while in B.C. they have plans approved by whichever authority is in charge of a site, he said.

After first being cleaned by a “sacrificial” HEPA-filter vacuum, a drug lab will be sprayed to neutralize any drug remnants left behind, he said. Then every item in the home must be removed and decontaminated separately before getting thrown out.

“All the contents, they all get disposed of,” he said.

‘PATCHWORK OF POLICIES’

Trevor Hargreaves, the senior vice-president of government relations with the British Columbia Real Estate Association, said there needs to be provincewide rules around how former drug labs and grow ops are remediated.

In October, the association released a study by researchers from the University of the Fraser Valley that reviewed 20 B.C. municipal bylaws and found differences in how municipalities require unsafe properties be remediated.

“Each municipality is setting their own remediation standards. So how they go about identifying remediation, the steps to remediate, what qualifies as remediation or what qualifies as a remediated home — all of those standards differ slightly between municipalities,” Hargreaves said.

The inconsistencies, he said, make banks and insurance companies squeamish, creating challenges when it comes time to sell a property that used to be a drug lab.

“Because there is such variability in terms of the way that these homes are treated, lenders don’t like to lend. Insurers don’t like to to insure. They’re extremely cautious and scared of these properties,” he said.

Hargreaves said standardizing the rules for cleaning up all labs, ranging from marijuana, to mushrooms, to chemically based drugs, would make the process easier for both sellers and buyers.

As larger drug labs are found in rural locations, he said, the need for provincial rules increases.

“For the municipalities that are very spare on resources … why are we depending on that, where we know they’re stretched thin?”

A followup joint statement from the Environment and Housing ministries said if soil or groundwater remediation is conducted on a drug lab property, it will appear on the province’s public registry.

“Local governments have the authority to create bylaws regulating certain activities within their boundaries, including the condition and general appearance of property,” the statement says.

“This includes … the authority to impose remedial action requirements on a person or landowner in relation to hazardous conditions and declared nuisances on specific properties.”

In a letter sent to B.C. Premier David Eby as well as the ministers of health, housing and the environment this month, Hargreaves argues a standardized, provincial multi-step remediation policy would get many much-needed homes back on the market.

The report also calls on the government to create a training and certification process for professionals involved in home remediation.

“Remediation standards are necessary to ensure homes used in drug operations are safe to reintroduce into the housing market,” the letter says.

“The current patchwork of policies at the municipal level are insufficient to ensure the health and safety of residences and their occupants.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 22, 2024.

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press

Host to one of only three full-length indoor ovals in Canada, Fort St. John now plans to harness that facility to launch a college speed skating program — believed to be the first in the country.

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 17 Palestinians, eight of them at a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City, medics said, as the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of a hospital in the north.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Capitol buildings are almost always an imposing presence. The seat of government, they tend to be elegant and stately — and frequently capped by a dome.

Visitors to Pennsylvania ‘s Capitol are drawn to its priceless artwork, polished marble and intricate carvings, but hidden behind the doors of some of its most ornate offices and chambers are another treasure: hundreds of antique clocks that were part of its original design.

The 273 working clocks include many that are integrated into fireplace mantels and other building features.

They are not low maintenance, requiring regular oiling and occasional mechanical overhauls.

And every week, in a throwback to a time before wristwatches and cellphones, clock winders roam the halls — ensuring the century-plus-old timekeepers keep ticking.

On a recent morning, Bethany Gill demonstrated how it’s done — going room to room with an array of ladders and custom tools. She opens the glass covers, rotates the mechanisms enough to keep them going for about a week and checks their accuracy before moving on to the next one.

Gill is a former art student who works for Johnson & Griffiths Studio, a Harrisburg firm that just received a five-year, $526,000 winding and maintenance contract renewal from the Capitol Preservation Committee.

She’s also a lifelong clock lover who looks forward to the semiannual transitions between daylight saving time and Eastern Standard Time.

Why?

“My dad was a clock collector growing up,” Gill said. “And every Sunday we would go around the house and wind the clocks. And that was always just a nice thing that I did with my dad.”

Pennsylvania’s Capitol was crafted by architect Joseph M. Huston, who won its design competition in 1901 with a vision for a temple of democracy — a palace of art that would be as fancy as what could then be found in Europe.

Among countless other fine touches, Huston designed at least 180 custom clock cases, including smaller so-called keystone clocks that are shaped to remind people of Pennsylvania’s early and critical role in the formation of the United States, leaving it with the nickname of the Keystone State.

“The clocks are just part of why the building’s so unique and so intricate,” said Capitol Preservation Committee historian Jason Wilson. “The mantels surrounding the clocks are all custom designed.”

Every so often the clocks, most of them built from mahogany or stained mahogany, are carefully removed from their spots around the Capitol and taken to a facility for cleaning, maintenance and repair. They seem to run better when kept wound.

Huston, the architect, achieved his goal. The Capitol is a showpiece that draws thousands of visitors every year to where 253 state lawmakers convene to debate and pass legislation.

While the buildings and the clocks are his lasting legacy, Huston was convicted of a conspiracy to defraud the state during the Capitol construction project and spent several months in another Pennsylvania landmark, Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

Mark Scolforo, The Associated Press

Danita Frost-Arey says she wants to address the stigma of substance use by creating a range of supports for Inuvik residents through her new business.

China said on Sunday it was taking countermeasures against two Canadian institutions and 20 people involved in human rights issues concerning the Uyghurs and Tibet.

The measures, which took effect on Saturday, include asset freezes and bans on entry and the targets include Canada’s Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project and the Canada-Tibet Committee, China’s foreign ministry announces on its website.