Recent Research
Knowledge for an Ecologically Sustainable Future?
Innovation Policy and Alberta Universities
This report traces funding from governmental and corporate sources over 20 years to document which areas of energy and environmental research have been prioritized in Alberta’s research universities.
In the Shadows
Living and Working Without Status in Alberta
This report examines the lives of undocumented migrant workers living in Alberta. It discusses the results of a research study of 32 undocumented workers, outlines the circumstances that led to their loss of status, describes their work and living conditions, and explores their reasons for staying and their hopes for the future.
Recent Blog Posts
A Feminist Approach to Alberta's COVID-19 Response
Women in Alberta are suffering the triple blow of bearing the brunt of the governing United Conservative Party’s austerity agenda and the COVID-19 economic and public health crises. In this blog Ian Hussey makes the case for an evidence-based COVID-19 response and recovery plan for Alberta that includes feminist considerations, and makes some suggestions for what such a plan might include.
Alberta lab services
from guinea pigs to heroes (and back again?)
Jason Kenney joined others last week in celebrating the life-saving contributions of medical lab professionals in Alberta. This was a marked departure from his drive just a few months ago to privatize the province's labs and label lab workers as not "frontline" medicine. Rebecca Graff-McRae digs into the current work of medical labs in Alberta, their recent political history, and what might become of them post-pandemic.
Cargill, COVID, and the failure of Alberta OHS policy
Two meat-packing plants in southern Alberta have given rise to nearly one in six of Alberta’s 3400 cases of COVID-19. Athabasca University's Bob Barnetson and Jason Foster examine what went wrong at the two meatpacking plants, what it tells us about the inadequacy of OHS policy in Alberta and how the incidents could have been avoided.