Lived Experience

Schooling or suicide: The ethical responsibility of educational institutions

Students are dying silently in the places meant to shape their futures. Schools cannot prevent every tragedy, but they also cannot ignore the role they play.

The cost of caring: Social worker well-being and fair compensation

As social workers we are often expected to put our needs last, while accepting an income that fails to reflect the true value of our work. We need to change the social work discourse and change the landscape in which we are expected to work.

Kevin’s story: My journey with my brother, dementia and Down Syndrome

Across the country, we talk about dementia more than we used to, but too often, conversations remain fragmented - and people with disabilities are rarely at the centre of planning.

Why the debate over physician involvement in pre-hospital care in B.C. needs a reset

"I work as an advanced care paramedic in British Columbia. I’m proud of our work, but I’m increasingly concerned that debate over physician involvement in pre-hospital care has lost sight of its primary goal: improving patient outcomes."

Sick notes are slowly being banned but much more is needed to reduce administrative burden

Doctors across Canada agree: the crushing paperwork in medicine is unsustainable. Together, we can create a better system that truly supports both patients and the physicians who serve them.

‘Dangerous outcomes’: The limitations of BMI as a diagnostic tool

Researchers, clinicians and advocates have been raising concerns about the BMI, saying it is not a comprehensive indicator of health and using it can have disastrous results, especially for racialized populations.

Don’t give up on your health. Give up on the old playbook

As January recedes in the rearview mirror, so have most New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, eat better or get fit. But when success is only defined by a number on the scale, disappointment is almost inevitable.

The euphemism economy: How Ontario health care learned to stop worrying and love the hallway

There’s a difference between softening language to ease emotional pain and softening language to hide systemic failure. One is compassion. The other is camouflage.

The deafening silence: A diaspora’s grief in the age of internet blackouts

For the Iranian diaspora, this is not a debate about policy reform; it's about survival. We need our governments and institutions to do more.

The quiet commercialization of primary care records

An emerging model is quietly turning Canadian patient medical records, and patients themselves, into lucrative commercial assets – often without patients' explicit knowledge or consent.

‘It made everything worse’: Nurses say WorkSafeBC delays recovery after violent incidents

Nurses reporting workplace violence say they face long waits, complex rules and rigid treatment pathways from WorkSafeBC.

Our research ethics boards aren’t the problem – the system wasn’t built to protect participants

The bodies responsible for the ethical review of research and ensuring that it safeguards the individuals in it – operate with no national standards, no oversight and no accreditation at all.

Where two worlds meet: The importance of cultural sensitivity in medicine

"I felt not like a physician but more like an interpreter – not of language, but of the space between two worlds: Western medicine and the cultural practices that shaped Lakshmi and Prakash’s life."

‘When doctors stop talking, patients fall apart’

When care is fragmented, patients become the glue holding the system together. We carry test results from one office to another, retell our histories again and again, and hope that someone will connect the dots before something important is missed.

The colonial wounds on Indigenous women’s health

To improve Indigenous women’s health, there must be a drastic change to the health-care system and how we view health.

Entschuldigung, ich spreche kein Deutsch! A reflection on my clinical exchange

One medical student's exchange in Berlin taught her not only about German culture, but how language and other support services can be offered in Canadian hospitals.

‘A lot of work to do, one conversation at a time’: New Year’s resolutions for 2026

With changes reverberating throughout our health-care system, we wanted to know what health-care experts planned to focus on for themselves in the year ahead.

Dreaming of a bold and courageous health-care system for all

It's that special time of year again: The time when Healthy Debate asks health-care experts to share their one holiday wish for our health-care system.

The accidental birth tourist: A North American pregnancy

When baby is old enough to know the full story, I cannot wait to share how life was up north, in a place known for its warmth as much as for its cold, that welcomed an American like me without a plan.

‘Things went horribly wrong’: Patient advocates spreading the word about dangers of Botox

Much of the conversation about Botox centres on whether it looks good or bad, or if getting it can be considered a “feminist” choice. Less attention has been given to the fact that research indicates that one in six patients who are injected with Botox experiences adverse effects from the procedure.