PAWSitive Support: Canine Assisted Interventions in the Treatment of Addictions & Mental Health

By Ariel Root

On November 10, Dr. Colleen Dell, Professor and Research Chair of One Health & Wellness at University of Saskatchewan, and retired Captain Marc Lapointe of the Special Forces of the Canadian Armed Forces presented alongside service dog Sticker. Together they talked about the impacts of Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAIs), and the need to understand and measure these impacts both from the perspective of the human and the animal.

Dell was appointed a at the University of Saskatchewan in 2016. She was previously a Canada Research Chair studying addictions and mental health. Applying a to these works recognizes the importance of a collaborative effort among local, national, and international health and other professions to attain optimal health for people, animals, and the environment.

Dell asks, “What happens when we don’t recognize the bond between animals and humans?” In so doing, Dell emphasized the importance of the human and non-human bond, and with the audience identified many benefits people gain from this bond. “This connection, this bond that we have is incredibly important to us. But it’s ignored” by the health system she explains. It’s not valued when we adopt a medical model of human health.

The human to non-human bond underpins the success of AAIs, though there remains limited empirical evidence regarding AAI effectiveness, and often times data that exists are locally collected and there is little to no sharing of data between institutions. In surveying the Prairie provinces, Dell and colleagues found that the majority of medical services ignore, or do not have training in using AAIs as part of treatment regimes. “We aren’t paying a lot of attention to this, even though [non-humans are] a big part of our families.” Derived from her experience with addictions and mental health, Dell noted that “when you go into an addictions support program, they will ask you lots of questions, [but] will they ask you if you have a companion animal? No. And is that a key support? Absolutely!”

Working with non-humans, Dell says, means ensuring they are equal partners; they cannot be treated as tools. They play a dynamic and reciprocal role, and their perspective must be understood as integral to that partnership. “They are the intervention. And their welfare is critical. And I do not hear that in the conversations we’re having at all.” Measuring the received love and support from non-humans can be difficult. But for Dell, the two-way bond between humans and non-humans extends past companionship, and increases quality of life. For Dell, this bond is worth discussing, exploring, and integrating.

Even still, Dell honestly admits that in some cases, critics describe these investigations as ‘fluffy.’ Having previously researched Indigenous health, creating tools with community partners, Dell says, “people look at my research, and think that something went wrong… and say ‘you can’t do this’, but yeah I can. There’s so much to learn”. In fact, Dell co-published a peer-reviewed article with Anna-Belle. “I really thought I was going to lose my job over this, but…I wrote an article with my dog in a peer-reviewed journal… called “Questioning ‘Fluffy’: A Dog’s Eye View of Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI) in the Treatment of Substance Misuse.” And remember [that] Anna-Belle is writing this.”

In using AAIs, researchers must understand and include the non-human perspective. “It’s really important that we always have that animal’s perspective in anything that we’re doing.” Dell says. “Dogs are communicating with us all the time…[and] there is so much to learn there. And personally, I think we haven’t opened up that field because it’s hard to understand, and it’s hard to measure.”

Captain (retired) Marc Lapointe has similarly been working and training service dogs for three years. Lapointe shared examples and insights on the success and impacts of service dogs on mental health. “I train service dogs for special people: veterans, firefighters, police officers, all the first responders,” as well as students, and the private sector. Service dogs can help people experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, addictions, and substance use and abuse.

But, Lapointe further explained that training doesn’t end with the dog. “We also train the person. We need to read the signs of the dog, and we need to read the signs of the person. It’s not just giving the dog to the person, and saying ‘good day.’” Training the person includes routines, care, and integration specifications.

Lapointe retells experiences from people who have received service dogs. He described instances in which living with a service dog instilled mindfulness, presence, compassion, coping, and re-integration and socialization. The dogs can also help maintain or improve physical health for those who experience night terrors or hearing loss. Those who have received a dog from Lapointe were also required to “give back to the organization” in any way that fosters their preexisting skills or expertise, which further provides a sense of agency and belonging. In all cases, the dogs have been able to provide a sense of hope, belonging, meaning, and purpose to those who are on a path of healing. When it comes to Service Dogs, Lapointe says “it’s life changing”.

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“You will find that the people you are trying to help have more to offer you than you could possibly offer them. My involvement with these issues changed my life,” 

By Courtney Buchanan, School of Journalism and Communication

, a Washington Post Columnist and former speech writer for George W. Bush, gave a powerful presentation on Friday, February 26^th at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University regarding the and its goal of ending extreme poverty and preventable diseases. As a Senior Advisor at ONE, Michael Gerson conveyed how the organization has impacted his own life in hopes that he would inspire and persuade Canadians to join the fight against extreme poverty.

ONE is an international campaign and non-partisan advocacy organization. Their mission: to end extreme poverty and combat preventable diseases, particularly in Africa. ONE consists of more than 7 million members worldwide who are working together to raise public awareness and combat AIDS and preventable diseases with the assistance and support of political leaders. The organization advocates and campaigns for government funds to contribute to AIDS relief programs such as PEPFAR, located in the US.

There are currently 36.9 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS. The efforts and goals of ONE are critical to the global issue of health and these goals are achievable given the right funding and support. Fighting disease, ending the cycle of poverty, empowering women in places like Africa and engaging communities are all reachable and top priority goals of ONE. When asked about how to assist or get involved with the campaign Michael responded, “The greatest thing about ONE is that it does not want your donations. ONE wants your voice!”

In an effort to expand, ONE has opened an office in Canada based here at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´, in partnership with the social innovation hub 1125@ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´. Stuart Hickox, the Director of ONE Canada, is currently working to build a team of committed members to join and take part in the campaign. “Our success in Canada going forward will be dependent on how well we are able to harness the ideas and enthusiasm and commitment of people like you,” said Hickox. “To helping us expand across the country to make sure our politicians understand that ending extreme poverty should be a top priority for this government and for this country.”

Michael Gerson was first introduced to the global AIDS crisis in the 1990s, when AIDS personally affected his life. “I watched as his life was taken away by AIDS, just a few years before the development of drugs,” said Gerson, describing the death of his college roommate who suffered from the disease in the early 1990s. This experience influenced Michael to become involved with the AIDS crisis and motivated to find ways to help with global health issues.

During his time working at the White House as a key aide and speechwriter for President , Michael Gerson established a relationship with Bono, who was a member of the initial leadership team of ONE. After leaving the White House in 2006, Michael wanted to remain involved with global health initiatives, which led him to becoming involved with the ONE campaign. His work with ONE has allowed him to travel extensively and gain significant hands-on experience in the fight against HIV/AIDS in places such as South Africa. “We would only meet children and their grandparents, an entire intervening generation was just gone,” said Gerson. Michael described how seeing communities affected by AIDS to an extreme extent was such a searing experience and one of the reasons that continues to motivate him and drive his involvement with ONE.

Since the emergence of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, more than 75 million people have contracted the illness and over 36 million have died from an HIV-related cause. Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounted for approximately 69% of all people living with HIV worldwide. Africa is also home to 88% of the worlds’ Malaria cases, children under the age of five being particularly susceptible to infection. These devastating statistics demonstrate a severe global health epidemic. Through the work and advocacy of organizations such as ONE, statistics now show declining numbers in AIDS cases as well as overall improvement in health in sub-Saharan Africa due to relief efforts and government funding. For example, in 2002 only 50,000 people living in Africa had access to AIDS medication and treatment. Today, more than 9 million people have access to this lifesaving medication. Malaria infection has also been cut by 75% in eight African countries since 2000. The fight against diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Malaria is not over, but progress is being made everyday to help improve the lives of millions of people.

Following the presentation, Rory Jipp, a Masters student at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ commented, “I think our generation has a desire to get involved and a desire to help, we have idealism and passion. But I think a lot of it is not knowing where to start, so it’s nice to have this guidance and opportunity.” As mentioned by Stuart Hickox, volunteer opportunities are open to everyone.

ONE Canada is searching for people with idealism, passion and a commitment to helping others. The fight to end extreme poverty and preventable diseases has come a long way in recent years due to advocacy groups such as ONE. Statistics show that extreme poverty has already been cut by 60% and can be virtually eliminated by 2030, if we act now. ONE Canada is currently 150,000 members strong, and is mobilizing to grow in order to reach many new and inspiring goals. ONE Canada is starting a chapter here at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University and hopes to inspire students to join and create change.

For further information, please contact Stuart Hickox at stuart.hickox@one.org.

“The land is everything. It’s family, it’s kin, it’s friends. It’s a part of you.” — Ashlee Cunsolo Willox, , Nov 25 2014.

Health geographer, community researcher, and environmental advocate, Ashlee Cunsolo Willox visited ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University on February 5th to help convey the strong connections the Inuit have to the land, and the direct and indirect impacts of climate change.

In 2008, Cunsolo Willox was invited by the Rigolet community government to conduct narrative research regarding the impacts of climate change on health, where she identified, with the community, that mental health was a primary concern of community residents. Since then, she has worked with all five Inuit communities in Nunatsiavut, Labrador on a variety of community-led and community-identified research initiatives, including cultural reclamation and intergenerational knowledge transmission, suicide reduction and prevention, and land-based education and healing programs. “I’ve always said, that I work at a university, but [I work] for the communities.”

The Canadian Arctic has the fastest changing annual temperatures, and “this is a big deal… because of the sea ice, and it’s impacted ability to form,” says Cunsolo Willox. In 2012, Cunsolo Willox and a team of Inuit researchers from the communities launched the Inuit Mental Health and Adaptation to Climate Change project, to examine the relationships between people, places, cultures, environments, and mental health in the region.

There are approximately 2600 people living in Nunatsiavut, spread between five communities: Nain,ĚýHopedale, Postville,ĚýMakkovik, and Rigolet. Each community is located on the coast, and winter freezing is critical for transportation, obtaining supplies, and following traditional hunting patterns and sea ice is incredibly important for each community.

Nunatsiavut Inuit communities rely on, and thrive from, their natural environment; however, condition changes within the recent years has impacted their ability to access the land. Changes in annual temperatures have impacted animal migration patterns, weather behaviours, and sea ice integrity. Some Arctic animals are seeking cooler temperatures and migrating further north, while new animals, such as moose, are migrating into the Nunatsiavut communities. Changes in weather patterns, including increasing fog levels, wind speeds, and precipitation, are especially of concern as they impact sea ice formation and quality; sea ice that has traditionally supported travel, has a much shorter annual season.

Each change has an impact all aspects of Inuit lives and livelihoods and, as Cunsolo Willox and the research team discovered, the changes also have profoundly affected mental health, eliciting a major emotional responses across the region. Cunsolo Willox and the team identified from interviews with 120 people that “the biggest [effects] were those in mental health. The psychological impact of the changing climate was [initially] a big surprise.” Cunsolo Willox relayed one story about learning from an Elder in Rigolet: “She was telling me about…how the ice had changed. But what she wanted me to know most… was to understand the strong connections that Inuit have to the land. It’s everything… if you can’t get out on that land, it’s like you’ve lost a part of yourself. The land provides healing. It provides solace. It provides peace. So what happens if you can’t access that land anymore?”

These findings inspired production of the documentary film, “.” The film used interviews, scenery, and action shots throughout Nunatsiavut to conceptualize the deep connection between the Labrador Inuit and their homelands through their voices and lived experiences.

Interviews for “” revealed the importance of being able to access and connect with the land as a coping mechanism. Denied access to the land because of changing weather patterns meant loss of access to a place that supported reflection, and provided comfort. The inability to access the land due to insufficient sea ice formation directly and indirectly affects mental, and overall, health.

“Inuit are people of the sea ice. If there’s no more sea ice, how can we be people of the sea ice?”

Cunsolo Willox identified that these rapidly changing conditions impact the already over-burdened health systems, the path to health sovereignty, and the overall Inuit culture. Climate changes have yet added another colonial stressor that is out of their control. “It’s important to understand the past,” suggests Cunsolo Willox. Residents in Labrador were the first to have contact with European settlers more than 300 years ago. There is a long history of interaction, which includes residential schools, and relocation, and has resulted in intergenerational trauma. “And yet, they have such a rich culture. There is so much beauty in the region.”

Both Cunsolo Willox’s “heart and mind are in Labrador because [she’s] been there so long, [she has] relationships, and [has] seen so much evolution.” When asked what continues to inspire her, Cunsolo Willox simply responds “everything; it’s the beauty of the land; it’s the list of endless questions; it’s the discovery and sense of pride; the shared ownership of research; the communities.” While respect and willingness within the communities have eliminated most challenges, there are still barriers and hurdles at the provincial and federal governance level, especially as they relate to the funding of such interdisciplinary work. Despite these challenges, Cunsolo Willox “cannot imagine life without this work. I never expected it, and now, I cannot imagine working anywhere else. It’s changed me as an individual and my world-views; my interconnectedness. What I’ve learned from the people I’ve worked with, to listen to their wisdom, [it] has been a huge privilege.”

Photos by A. Cunsolo Willox

“Tony is waiting outside, his eyes crinkled into a smile. ‘Come inside the house,’ he says. He knows what I am feeling. And in I go, where the dogs lie flat on the kitchen floor, tails wagging, and the kettle is whistling, and the house is very warm.” ― Helen Macdonald,ĚýH is for Hawk

On January 21, Dr James Gillett visited ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University to help audience members explore the advantages of non-human therapy, and to question the boundaries between human and non-human interaction, explaining the impacts on mental health and well-being.

Photo by Ariel Root

Gillett introduced the concept of “One Health”—the presence of and relationship between humans and non-humans within the physical and social environments of one’s daily life. A One Health mentality considers both illness and health across species, questioning classification, and how humans relate to all other beings. Gillett believes that One Health initiatives represent action-based research that will bring about true change.

As a social scientist and sociologist at McMaster University, Gillett has found his academic career applicable to various interdisciplinary areas and topics, most recently explored with a One Health lens. Human and non-human interaction as it relates to sport, media, gender, etc. is the evolving direction of societal attention.

“This is a pressing issue in our society” Gillett notes, especially as “we are an aging society; so [this interaction] is prevalent and interesting” across populations and social groups. Gillett presented some of his current research across three population groups including older adults, students, and youth at risk. In older adults, Gillett mentioned that non-humans are very important companion animals, influencing the flow through active aging. “Family, which is important, includes non-humans as well,” and One Health “acknowledges the fact that people’s idea of care includes… non-humans.” Gillett illustrated the stress and concerns that older adults encounter about their animals when they are forced to consider moving into care facilities, and the need to take these concerns into consideration in relation to policies concerning health care for an aging population.

At McMaster University, along side Dr. Lori Campbell, Gillett has organized and supported the “” student wellness program. Every other week, at one location across campus, the program invites three or four therapy dogs from the SPCA to hang out with students, faulty, and staff at the University. The therapy dogs assist students cope with university-life stress. “One goal was to make the University more open to people—friendlier, caring,” says Gillett. Following a showcase of the program, a student considering future education at McMaster blogged that the Dogs At Mac program enticed her to go to McMaster the following year, “so the program totally worked.”

Gillett also described the impact of human and non-human relationships on youth at risk. He described programming between youth detention facility and the SPCA, bringing in 4 dogs for 4 weeks for 4 different boys to care for, and train. The program appears to have a positive influence on both the dogs and the boys.

Despite many of the positive findings, Gillett explains there are still complications and roadblocks. When it comes to animal relations, he says, “it’s unusual… [it’s] not really mainstream or “normal,”” so researchers still need to explain what it’s all about. Some people continue to belittle the research and its significance or importance, and that can influence overall support and funding. But Gillett’s perseverance is fuelled by his genuine curiosity and temperament. “I’m a curious person by nature. I would be interested in these questions even without a Sociology background. It’s not a job, it’s a vocation… something I do because I’m compelled.”

The is a movement to forge co-equal, all-inclusive collaborations between physicians, veterinarians, dentists, nurses, and all scientific-health and environmentally related disciplines, and will test the boundary between what is human and what is not. And so, perhaps with this movement and mentality, Gillett imagines a time when description of depression, anxiety, or hardship to your physician will be followed with a prescription of dog adoption from the SPCA for a companion animal and emotional support—and who’s to say that time won’t come?

“The hawk had filled the house with wildness as a bowl of lilies fills a house with scent.” ― Helen Macdonald,ĚýH is for Hawk

By Josee Beaudry, Department of Psychology, ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University

Our life experiences may have a considerable impact on not only our own development, but as well, the development of our children. Which events and experiences, and how they impact individuals in early and later life is the fundamental question in Frances Champagne’s research. Champagne is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Columbia University. Her research crosses the disciplines of neuroscience and psychology with a primary focus on how early life experiences influence the brain and behaviour and the molecular mechanisms associated with them. One main focus of her research is on the role of maternal care experienced and how it varies and has effects on offspring development.

Champagne’s research began during her undergraduate work at Queens University. The Psychology Department at the time focused primarily on criminal populations, which was not surprising as there were a lot of high security prisons within the Kingston area. She did her honors thesis on the personality and social characteristics of child molesters and how they differed from non-offenders. The variables she focused on were loneliness, social aptitude, feelings of empathy and self-worth. Through this research it became apparent that a lot of these problems emanated from early life adversities these individuals experienced. This line of research led her to be interested in exploring diseases and risks of psychopathology in schizophrenic patients and their developmental origins. She went on to do her Masters at McGill University, where she helped conduct a 3 year study on early life determinants of schizophrenia. The outcome of interest was not whether the individual became schizophrenic or not, but rather, what kind of symptom profiles were exhibited. The research team did assessments on family history of mental illness to identify genetic risk factors, as well as looked at siblings to see whether they had developmental challenges as well.

In the end, it was very clear that most schizophrenic patients encountered a lot of family and environmental stressors that put them at risk. She then went on to work with colleagues in the Neuroscience Department on maternal care and its influence on the development of the brain in animal models. This was the right move for her in terms of what she wanted to study; although she could look at a lot through humans, she couldn’t experiment, manipulate, and control the environment the same as with animal models. One of her maing research findings was that prenatal stress decreases the quality of maternal care, which ,in turn, is predictive of difficulties later in life for the infants. Getting involved in the Neuroscience lab really allowed her to explore how early life experiences and variation in care could shape the brain, as well as whether or not social enrichment could reverse some of these effects.

Throughout her research, stress seems to be a critical pre-disposing factor for developmental disruptions and challenges. Experiencing stress can be adaptive in the sense that it tells our body when something is wrong and that we need to act on it. Mild acute stressors have minimal impacts, but if an organism suffers from chronic stress the effects can be considerable. The problem though is that stress is difficult to define; what is stressful for some is not stressful to others. Certainly it is easier to measure in animal models because researchers can expose the animals to a specific stressor of fixed duration. In human studies it is different. Researchers have to measure how individuals perceive stressors rather than absolute stressor exposure, because each individual might appraise or cope with the stressor differently, which results in variations of the subjective experience.

A lot of research has focused on how mothers and their exposure to social and environmental stressors affect their offspring. Much less research has been done to assess whether the paternal stressor exposures plays a role. Champagne and her colleagues is fairly unique in that they have looked the effects of paternal stress, and in particular on how it influences maternal care. They conducted a study using rats in which stress on half the male rats were stressed by restricting their accessibility to food. They found that, even though the females weren’t around during the stressful event, that their level of maternal care for their young ones were affected by whether the male they subsequently mated with had or had not been exposed to the stressor. The females that mated with a stressed male showed higher levels of maternal care; perhaps they somehow sensed the wellness of the male rat and compensated with greater care of the offspring. Champagne is now looking at how what signaled to the female rat the need to change her level of maternal care.

As a result of her research, Champagne has come to appreciate the importance of looking at both paternal and maternal stressor exposure. She is also finding evidence that the effects of stressors on offspring can depend on the timing of when the stressors were encountered. Effectively, like others, her work is contributing to a greater understanding and appreciation of how plastic neuronal systems are. Such ‘epigenetic’ plasticity means that we aren’t hardwired; bad experiences don’t decide who you become. What we experience may have an influence on us but we can change and adapt as well.

On November 29, Dr. Frances Champagne delivered a public lecture on Epigenetic Impact of Toxins, Stress & Social Interactions: Transgenerational Perspectives.  Her slides can be accessed here .

By Josee Beaudry, Department of Psychology, ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University

Christopher Mushquash is Ojibway and a member of Pays Plat First Nation, located on the north shore of Lake Superior. Among many titles, he is a clinical psychologist, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Lakehead University and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Mental Health and Addiction.

His work is very much influenced by his past experiences and who considers himself to be. He tries to use those experiences within his work as both a researcher and a clinician.

Having an Indigenous background and growing up rurally allow him to not only see some of the disparities in health but also the great strength, wisdom, and diversity in culture-based healing approaches. Cultural traditions differ from region to region and to simply force one’s own ideals onto communities is, at best, ineffective in addressing issues and, at worst, can do harm. This mindfulness led him to develop a skill set that would make him useful to people from communities like his own. In general, Mushquash looks into ways of increasing wellness. Through research he hopes to find ways to help people manage difficulties and past experiences. He also hopes to enlighten people about their approach to research and interventions in Indigenous communities.

Mental Health and Overall Wellness
Mushquash is currently addressing a number of research questions with multiple indigenous communities across the country. Some of the main areas he is focusing on include, trying to understand what mental well-being means from the perspective of the First Nations peoples. Perhaps most importantly, what steps must be taken to use that understanding to improve services and help those in need. This understanding starts by viewing mental health less through a mainstream lens and more through culturally-based one.

The most prominent view on well-being is a Western medical approach, often thought of as an absence of illness. Meaning, if you aren’t sick, you’re healthy. Indigenous communities view health more as a balance of various aspects of overall wellness. Depicted by the medicine wheel, an Indigenous view of health and wellness takes on a more holistic perspective.

Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health are aspects of one’s overall well-being; there isn’t a specific focus on one or the other. Mushquash suggests that promoting wellness isn’t just about making people who are sick feel better but about nurturing people as a whole. It is this understanding of wellness that he uses to promote change in services from community to community. Communities always find approaches that work best for them. He tries to not dictate what approach they take but rather helps them find and develop their own, based on their own experiences, cultures, and contexts.

A Culture-based Approach

In his talk on Indigenous Youth Mental Health, Mushquash provided examples of issues that arise when applying the same standards across community to community and individually in the diagnosis. Some of the diagnostic criteria can appear to contradict each other, there are many possible combinations of symptom presentations that could lead to diagnosis, and two individuals diagnosed with the same disorder could have different symptom profiles. The truth is there are many individual, cultural, and contextual factors at play in how mental health difficulties are expressed. Misdiagnosis can occur and people may not get the help that they need.

Mushquash and his colleagues’ research on mental health and addiction show that social determinants greatly influence the prevalence and expression of disorders. Genetics, biological factors or brain neurochemicals associated with mental health difficulties are one part of the picture. But poverty, homelessness, access to services, and education also influence mental health. And for many Indigenous groups exposure to colonization practices and assimilation policies have generational and intergenerational effects on mental health. Mushquash and his colleagues try to contextualize Indigenous conceptualizations of wellness within this framework.

Mushquash gives credit to everyone he works with for the research he is a part of and the work he continues to do today. He is proud to work with a lot of great students, and is a great mentor, researcher, and clinician who promotes an Indigenous understanding of wellness. He hopes to one day see fewer misconceptions of well-being and improved health among indigenous populations.

Chances are that most people know someone who has been affected by cancer in some way or form. In his November 6 talk at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University, Dr. Christopher Wild, Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), shed light on this global issue. An agency of the World Health Organization, IARC collects data on cancers, provides quantitative assessments of risks and evaluates preventative measures.

It is estimated that approximately 32.5 million people are living with cancer. Analysis of data collected by IARC shows that 1 in 8 men and 1 in 12 women will die from cancer. Some areas in the world have higher rates of death due to cancer, such as China (26.9%), Europe (21.4%) and East/ Central Asia (17.3%). An emerging trend is increased cancer rates in developing countries. Some 57% of all cancer cases and 65% of cancer deaths come from l countries lacking the capacity to diagnose and treat advanced cancers.

Wild argued that cancer prevention requires attention to how cancer rates and correlates differ from place to place. There are different factors associated with cancer rates and deaths depending on where people live. There are also differences within populations. For example, Wild cited newly-published research demonstrating that incidence rates of breast cancer were higher among non-Indigenous women in many regions (roughly equal rates in Canada), but that cervical cancer was more common among Indigenous women, including in Canada.

Preventing cancer is important for many reasons. But for those who are most influenced by the financial implications, productivity loss due to cancer is a huge burden on the economy. The IARC studied productivity loss in 30 European countries and estimated a loss of €75 billion ($107 billion).

Cancer is a common disease in today’s world, but it is also a complex disease that differs from place to place, person to person, and type of cancer. Its impact is not only at the individual level but also globally. Wild emphasized that it has become such a vast and complex issue and that we cannot simply treat our way out of the problem.

What we need to know and how to take action

Wild went on to say that if we cannot treat our way out of the cancer problem then we must adopt a balanced and integrated approach to prevention, early detection, and treatment. To improve prevention the world needs to know more about the risk factors associated with cancer. A few of these risks include tobacco, alcohol, occupation, infections, diet and obesity. IARC has evaluated multiple agents and their possible carcinogenic effects. For example, processed meat, air pollution, and diesel exhaust. By discovering which factors have carcinogenic effects we can limit or screen for exposure to harmful substances.

Primary cancer interventions would apply the knowledge we already have to avoid potentially harmful habits. For example, IARC estimates that worldwide, 3.6% of all recent cancer cases are due to obesity. Interventions to improve diet and exercise can be deployed to reduce this risk. In the end, the majority of cancers in the fully developed market economies are associated with diet and personal choices (e.g. smoking) and some viruses for which vaccines exist suggesting that they are, in fact, preventable. We need to apply what we know and take action.

Secondary methods of prevention include screening for early detection, mammography, cancer awareness, breast examinations, and colonoscopies. Cancer prevention may be highly effective; it just takes a lot of time and effort at both the individual, systems, and global level.

Research into the incidence, distribution and control of cancer is still ongoing, and is most effective when bringing together information from multiple disciplinary perspectives. For example, by identifying specific risk factors, such as stress or diet, we may be able to isolate biological or molecular changes or markers of exposure, which in turn could lead to controlled interventions that contribute to development of personalized treatment.

The cancer problem is complex in the way it manifests differently worldwide. By looking at the causes within populations we can identify the risk factors and work on preventative techniques. But we can also learn by making comparisons across regions globally. To relieve the cancer burden we must combine prevention and treatment efforts, adopt interdisciplinary approaches that guide research directions, and work globally toward diminishing incidence and mortality rates associated with cancer.

On November 6, Dr. Christopher Wild delivered a public lecture on the Global Cancer Burden: Necessity is the Mother of Prevention.  If you missed the lecture, you can watch it on .

By Josee Beaudry, Department of Psychology, ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University

Firdaus Kharas: Creator of Chocolate Moose Media and World Renowned Social Entrepreneur

Empathy, ambition, compassion, intelligence and determination are all traits the world renowned social innovator and humanitarian, Firdaus Kharas, possesses. Mr. Kharas is a social entrepreneur whose work primarily consists of strategically and skillfully creating animated public service announcements to address important and controversial issues most people are afraid to even acknowledge. These issues range from spousal abuse, rape, HIV/AIDS, malaria, Polio, violence, Ebola, solar energy, and safe-sex. However, he does not just discuss these issues; he does so through animation and comedy. Now, you may be wondering, how does one make issues like rape funny? It’s not easy.  But getting people’s attention can only be achieved through wit.

To truly understand Kharas’s work we can first look at how it all started. When asked this question, Kharas had immediately said “Mother Theresa”. He went on to say that at the age of only 8 years old Kharas’s mother took him to see Mother Theresa at work. That day is still vividly etched into his mind as if it were yesterday. He saw her there, working in a large room filled with the poor lying ill and dying on cots. At that moment Kharas experienced emotions and feelings most people in his position would have as well. He felt empathetic and worried for those less fortunate. It was also the day he began to understand there is something to gain by working outside one’s comfort zone. From then on he felt a pull to step outside his own in order to help those in need.

His work in creating short animations for social change started with UNICEF. In the mid 1990’s Kharas worked on and distributed Cartoons for Children’s Rights. He helped produced over 100 animated clips depicting children’s rights, such as the right to protection against child labor. Approximately 2,200 broadcasters shared these videos and over one billion people saw them. The project was a major success and it ultimately became one of the most viewed animated media worldwide. This result led Kharas to realize that animation was an extremely effective way in communicating to the public.

Kharas addresses many issues others may find controversial and difficult to discuss. Issues that most definitely stand out are rape and domestic violence. How does one create an animation about rape and how can someone make it seem funny enough that people actually listen? At first glance, many individuals may think using humor may belittle the issue at hand. However, by using humor through animation Firdaus Kharas is able to reach out to a greater population and speak to individuals who normally ignore such issues due to their unsettling qualities.

Kharas creates what is called the No Excuses campaign. He believed no one was really tackling the issue of domestic violence properly. Campaigns primarily presented the issue using images of battered women. In Kharas’s opinion, this further stigmatizes women, perpetuates the idea of the abuse, and it doesn’t do anything to address the behavior of the abuser rather than the victim. No Excuses was strictly designed to protect the victim and change the behavior of the abuser. Despite the importance of this project, and its broad distribution, he received absolutely no funding and this campaign relied solely on volunteers and his own money.

The Three Amigos is a series of animated shorts Kharas created to discuss the issue of safe-sex. The Three Amigos (cartoon condoms) was one of the most successful projects because it became world famous, was viewed in over 150 countries by over one billion people, and articles and comics were written about them. In this instance, he also had a measure of success in changing behaviors because the shorts actually drove up condom sales in the countries in which they were shown. He was told by one of the world’s largest social marketers of condoms (who was not a sponsor of the project), that they went from selling 18 million condoms before the animation release to 46 million after and 56 million the next year in Africa. They estimated that they saved 18 thousand people from being infected from sexually transmitted diseases. However, Firdaus has difficulty in defining success. In many of the issues he addresses it is difficult to calculate whether behaviors and attitudes were affected due to the short animations. Nonetheless, if his videos help at least one individual that is what Kharas defines as a success.

Kharas says, people everywhere matter; they have fundamental rights as human beings. Kharas believes that we can communicate with each other despite various barriers that separate us. These barriers may be due to history, geography, language and physical borders; either way conversation can be made. Communications can help us breach our differences and create understanding and hopefully someday return us to the concept of one human family.  Each of the projects he has taken on has its own challenges and obstacles, but to Kharas the belief of creating a worldwide conversation in order to bring everyone together to improve the human condition is what makes his work worthwhile.

On September 23, Firdaus Kharas delivered a public lecture on how Laughter & Animation Saves Lives.  If you missed the lecture, you can watch it on .