During a recent talk at the invitation of the University of Alberta, Dr. Karine Khatchadourian offered a candid appraisal of the evidence underpinning Canada’s approach to treating gender-distressed youth.  

The field is in a highly consequential grey zone with contradictory findings at best, the Ottawa doctor told a virtual audience. The evidence doesn’t allow doctors to say with confidence whether puberty suppression has psychological benefits or not and today’s rapidly changing demographics — predominantly biological females with accompanying complex mental health problems and no known history of gender distress when they were younger — make it difficult-to-impossible to predict if someone’s gender dysphoria or incongruence will persist.

“We have to constantly be reassessing what we’re doing, what we’re treating, based on new evidence that’s coming forward,” Khatchadourian said.   

Doctors are encouraged to look at emerging data objectively, be open to scrutiny and pivot where necessary, she said. However, gender-affirming care is different; a field so turbulent and charged with emotion that providers are reluctant to express doubts for fear of being alienated by colleagues and condemned by activists as transphobic.  

Which is what makes Khatchadourian’s openness to share that her own messaging has changed so remarkable.  

“The message to patients, providers, the public has to include that what we’re seeing now with the data is this uncertainty of the evidence,” she told the February gathering hosted by the U of Alberta-based Women and Children’s Health Research Institute. Her assessment echoes the findings of a recent series of deep systematic dives into the literature that concluded the evidence supporting gender medicine interventions is, as the editor-in-chief of the influential British Medical Journal summarized, “threadbare, whichever research question you wish to consider.”

Khatchadourian was one of the first doctors in Canada to provide hormone treatments to transgender-identifying and gender dysphoric youth, in 2014. By her estimate, some 250 to 300 gender-distressed children and teens have been under her care over the years.  

After 12 years of experience, she said she now understands the population more. “I can say that, with everything I now know, as of now, I would challenge medicalizing the majority of youth that are presenting to clinics,” Khatchadourian, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Ottawa, said in an interview.  

“I strongly believe in this care,” she stressed.

“But it must be approached with rigour and caution, given the high stakes in this field.”

McMaster University researchers faced persecution from both extremes of the trans debate last year after publishing two systematic reviews that found the evidence is of such low, or very low, certainty that it’s impossible to conclude whether puberty blockers are helpful or harmful.  

Lead author and celebrated scientist Dr. Gordon Guyatt and colleagues faced backlash from activists on one side over a funding source (the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine, a group concerned with low-evidenced interventions that’s been accused of being an anti-trans think tank by transgender rights groups) and, on the other side, critics who accused Guyatt of shirking his own evidence-based approach to science by later issuing a letter criticizing opponents for using his work to justify treatment bans.  

“Everybody’s been kind of frightened,” Guyatt told National Post columnist  Michael Higgins . “I was not as vividly aware as to what an extreme political environment it is.”  

In their letter, Guyatt and four colleagues wrote that it’s misguided to cast medical interventions based on low-certainty evidence “as bad care or as care driven by ideology.”  

However, under the GRADE scoring system co-developed by Guyatt, “very low certainty” means it’s hard to have confidence where the true effect lies.

Privately, other Canadian doctors like Khatchadourian are becoming more cautious.  

Writing for  healthydebate.ca, scientist, gastroenterologist and U of Toronto professor of medicine, Dr. Laura Targownik, who is a transgender woman, said several providers working in the field have shared that they’re becoming “more circumspect, recognizing that they can no longer function as enablers of transition in all cases.”   

Public support for gender care for minors is in “free fall,” she wrote, “not only among conservative voters, but also among those who describe themselves as moderate or liberal.”   

But the issue has become such a political minefield doctors fear that any expressed concern will be weaponized and used to shut down “and rob youth” of all care, even for those who would benefit, Targownik said in an interview.  

Canadian physicians want what’s best for kids, she said. But they’re also concerned about leaving kids suffering from serious dysphoria with nothing.  

Several European countries and American states are already pulling back. Puberty blockers have been banned indefinitely in Britain for under 18s after the country’s health service declared them an “unacceptable safety risk.” Alberta invoked the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to uphold its bill p rohibiting doctors from prescribing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to under 16s.

Meanwhile, numerous medical organizations, including the Canadian Paeditric Society, continue to endorse an affirming approach to gender dysphoria.

Khatchadourian was one of the first pediatric endocrinologists to train in the field of pediatric gender medicine in Canada. She was the first author of the first Canadian study (and second paper in North America) on the medical management of youth with gender dysphoria, published in 2014. Between 2022 and 2024, she was co-medical lead of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario’s (CHEO) gender diversity clinic.  

While still relatively small, the number of children and adolescents identifying as transgender or gender-diverse has grown dramatically over the last decade. Pediatricians and family doctors across Canada are seeing them in their practices. Kids are being treated not only in specialized hospital-based clinics, but also by primary care providers in the community, some after virtual assessments.

In an interview, Khatchadourian said she worries that the increase in teens (mostly natal females) identifying as non-binary — neither identifying as female nor male — may be socially driven. “We know social media and peers have greater influence during adolescence,” she said.  

 “I didn’t see anyone identifying as non-binary ten years ago when I was training.” She questions the influx now.  

“It’s so hard to know when you see a patient how much of this story is really that person’s story and how much is based on the influence of peers and social media,” she said.   

“We get to a point where we accept certain definitions and certain things, but we should continuously ask why: ‘Why is this happening? What are your theories? Does this warrant medical treatment?’”   

In the pre-social media era, kids who might have struggled with low level dysphoria or transient feelings might have found other ways to deal with it or allowed it to pass, Targownik said.   

“But now they’re connecting with people who are telling them, ‘Hey, I did this and it’s working for me. This may be why you’re feeling disconnected from society. Maybe the reason you’re having trouble fitting in with other girls is not because you’re autistic, or because you’re marching to your own beat. It’s because you are actually a boy inside.’”  

Youth can instantly connect with dozens of others who feel the way they do and start down a medical transitioning path. But Khatchadourian worries “we’re changing trajectories for these youth” based on unconvincing and limited data, and with too few mental health assessments by psychologists or psychiatrists trained in the child and adolescent medicine space.  

“The expertise has not kept pace with the demand, and that worries me,” said Khatchadourian. She’s advocating for a national review in Canada — one involving those working in the field, trans-identified individuals, parents and families and, as well, de-transitioners — to ensure practices are aligned with the best available evidence.  

Targownik also supports getting better data because, whether a populist or pragmatist, government leaders “are going to start asking for receipts,” she said.  

“Someone is going to come and say, ‘I know you believe this care works. If you believe so strongly in this, show me that it actually works. Show me your outcomes. Show me that the kids you’re transitioning are doing well a year later, two years, five years later. Give me your best estimate of what the detransition rate in the modern cohort actually is, and the risk factors.”  

There’s been a reluctance to ask those questions in the past when the practice was completely unhindered and support for gender care at its peak, she said.  

Now, more countries are questioning that blanket, blind “just affirm” approach.

Khatchadourian favours aligning with Sweden and Finland’s approach, where puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones are reserved for children and teens with a history of gender dysphoria that started in early childhood and has persisted for many years.  

For others, she recommends a more holistic approach, supporting youth as they’re going through identity development. She rejects accusations that she’s against gender affirming care. “Gender care means I’m addressing the distress. Of course that is a concern. ‘You have needs. I’m here to support your needs.’ But we haven’t asked the right question: What is the best way to address your needs?’  

“We need to take a high level of risk approach, given the uncertainty of the evidence” and medication risks, she said. For her, the biggest stake is irreversible infertility.   

“The most challenging conversations are always around fertility,” she said. “Most of the time you’re going to hear youth say they don’t want children, they don’t want biological children, or if they do at some point, they will consider adoption. You have to ask yourself, is that a mature response? Have they really given it considerable thought? Have they truly demonstrated capacity to consent?”   

Early in her training, Khatchadourian spent a month in the Netherlands, the origins of pediatric gender medicine and birthplace of the so-called “Dutch Protocol” that saw doctors begin offering medical transitions for gender dysphoric teens in the early 1990s.   

Back then, most of the gender distressed Dutch kids were biological males with a history of childhood-onset gender dysphoria that persisted into late adolescence.

Since then, the sex ratio has shifted dramatically, with 70 per cent of children presenting at clinics now natal females, many with co-occurring  conditions such as autism, depression and anxiety that make it crucial to separate gender-related distress from other sources of distress or trauma that might mimic or add to the gender incongruence, Khatchadourian said.  

“You really need good mental health providers to assess and diagnose from that lens.”   

However, one study found that only four of 10 gender clinics in Canada required a psychiatric or psychological assessment before blockers or hormones were started.  

Medical transitioning can begin once puberty starts, with drugs that block the physical changes of puberty. Older teens can receive cross sex hormones so that they develop the physical features more in line with their gender identity. Gender reassignment surgeries in Canada are restricted to those 18 and older, though mastectomies have been performed on girls as young as 14.  

Concerns have been raised that doctors are misusing the principle of autonomy by prioritizing affirming a child’s self-declared identity and giving children the treatments they want to change their physical body to align with their expressed gender. It prioritizes the child’s goals. “But what if those goals shift,” she said.  

There’s no clear picture of the natural course of gender dysphoria among the cohort of kids seeking gender-affirming care today, she said. “It’s well accepted that gender incongruence in childhood is usually a sign of later emerging same-sex attraction,” she said.  

She also worries about the risk of regret in, for example, a 15- or 16-year-old biological female who has identified as non-binary for a few years who now wants a mastectomy. “These are major decisions that require careful consideration.”  

There’s sometimes an urgency of expectations from parents and youth as well, she said. Many are unnerved by the dominant and stark narrative that these kids have a high risk of suicide, but the weight of the evidence suggests blockers and hormones do not decrease suicidality, she said. “This is important for families to know.  

“You need to identify and treat the mental health disorders in adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria to prevent suicide.”  

Khatchadourian no longer sees many young people herself, though she still has a few she follows in clinic and acts as a consultant on gender care for primary care providers for the province of Ontario. She no longer helps lead CHEO’s gender diversity clinic. “It was deemed that my expertise would be better suited to focus on other clinical and academic responsibilities,” she said, including her diabetes patients.  

Considerable research has been published since she first began in the field of gender medicine. It’s a field that’s evolving rapidly. What one might have believed even a year ago might not hold anymore, she said.  

“I need to trust the data,” she said. “Trust what we’re doing. And there was a lot of confusion for me with understanding the evidence.  

“If I didn’t trust the evidence, how could I instill confidence in my patients?”   

National Post 

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OTTAWA — Asked Friday for his thoughts on Canada’s negotiating strategy with the United States, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick didn’t mince words : “Good for them. That’s like the worst strategy I have ever heard. They suck.”

Lutnick appeared to be responding to comments by Steve Verheul , who was Canada’s chief trade negotiator for the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement during the first Trump administration, who said “in many ways, time is on our side because the pressures on the U.S. are only going to increase over time.”

Lutnick didn’t agree.

“We are a $30 trillion economy. We are the consumer of the world. (Prime Minister Mark) Carney has a problem with us. He gets on a plane and he goes to China. Does he think the Chinese economy is going to buy his stuff?” said Lutnick, at the Semafor World Economy summit. “China is an entirely export-driven economy. So what did he do? He came back and said, ‘we’ll take their electric cars.’ Is this nuts?”

White House officials later told the New York Times that the commerce secretary was “being misquoted.”

Lutnick also took a shot at former minister Chrystia Freeland, who was also involved in talks with the U.S. on CUSMA during the first Trump administration.

“Who? Chrystia Freeland, who’s like the worst?” said Lutnick, when asked about Verheul’s comments.

CUSMA is up for review this summer, with the deadline for the beginning of talks set for July 1.

In mid-March, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Fox Business that Canada was behind Mexico on trade discussions. Greer has also said it’s unlikely the U.S. administration will resolve all its trade issues with Canada and Mexico by the July 1 deadline.

This week, Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said there is no “drop dead date” for the review and that Canada “certainly won’t be the source of any delays.”

National Post, with files from Jordan Gowling.

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OTTAWA — Nova Scotia’s highest trial court has struck down the province’s sweeping summer 2025 ban on entering the woods.

Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Jamie S. Campbell found in a decision released on Friday that the wildfire season activity restrictions unduly limited the Charter-protected mobility rights of Nova Scotians to “move freely around the province.”

Campbell said in a 17-page decision that there was no evidence of forethought of how the ban would affect the Charter rights of Nova Scotians, making it impermissible on administrative grounds.

“There was no evidence in the record… there was any consideration given to mobility rights, how the ban could limit those rights and how the ban could be drafted in a way to to minimize (those) limitations,” wrote Campbell. “As a matter of administrative law, the travel ban was unreasonable.”

Campbell qualified that his objection was to the way the ban was proclaimed, not necessarily the ban itself.

“A travel ban in the woods may have been an entirely justifiable limitation on mobility rights given the extraordinary circumstances that presented themselves in the summer of 2025,” he wrote. “But the Minister had to have considered that before the proclamation was issued.”

Then-natural resources minister Tory Rushton placed extensive restrictions on travel and recreation in wooded areas on Aug. 5, after weeks of dry, hot weather created an extreme wildfire risk. The near-total ban made the woods off-limits for hiking, trail running, camping and other recreational activities. The ban was mostly lifted on Sep. 18 with some areas remaining closed until Oct. 15.

Premier Tim Houston announced the same day that the penalty for violating the order would be $25,000.

The so-called “hiking ban” quickly sparked criticism across Canada, including from some conservative politicians . One of its most visible opponents was Canadian Armed Forces veteran Jeffrey Evely, who videotaped himself defying the ban on August 8. Everly was handed a $28,872.50 fine for the stunt.

Evely was one of the plaintiffs in Friday’s decision, joined by civil rights group the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF).

Campbell also criticized the government for not communicating more clearly which areas and activities were off limits.

“The case has been decided on other grounds. Had it not been, there is a compelling argument that the ban was so vague as to be incapable of being interpreted at all,” wrote Campbell.

The ruling didn’t direct the government to take any action, since the order has already expired.

JCCF litigation director Marty Moore said the ruling reaffirms governments must respect personal freedoms, even during emergencies. The organization also expected the decision to lead to Evely’s fine being invalidated.

“We hope this judicial rebuke will lead to more reasonable decisions by the government of Nova Scotia in the future,” said Moore.

Inquiries to Rushton and the premier’s office weren’t immediately returned.

National Post
rmohamed@postmedia.com

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Work teams around the world have seen their numbers dwindle, thanks to economic uncertainty , political volatility, and the adoption of AI, leading to layoffs and unfilled vacancies.

As a result, a former team of eight might now be down to just four or five, and if a couple of them dare to take a vacation or call in sick, that leaves just a couple of people to juggle a workload once handled by the bigger team.

Those who remain are feeling overworked, underappreciated, and are more burned out as a result. But they also feel stuck in a softening labour market where the threat of layoffs looms, which is keeping voluntary turnover low.

As a result, global employee engagement was down in 2025 for the second year in a row, hitting its lowest point since 2019, according to a new Gallup study . Canada and the U.S. continue to outperform most other countries, leading the world at 31 per cent employee engagement, but those levels have dropped five percentage points since the pandemic.

Job-market optimism in the two countries, however, fell 10 points in 2025, and the region is now second-to-last globally, down 23 points since 2019. Workers — and especially managers — are feeling squeezed by smaller teams and fewer resources.

“The big change for the U.S. and Canada,” said Jim Harter, chief scientist of workplace management and well-being for the Gallup Management Practice, “is the percentage of people who say it’s a good time to find a quality job.”

Amid the “no hire, no fire” environment, staffers feel less confident looking for better jobs and want to avoid being the “last hired, first fired” if layoffs hit.

Harter said much of that is caused by the economic situation, which has some overlapping causes in both Canada and the U.S. related to low hiring rates, low firing rates, college-educated people struggling to find jobs, and an oversupply of workers.

“You could point to a lot of different factors, but clearly the biggest drop was in how people perceive the job market,” he added.

Unemployment remains low in the U.S., falling from 4.4 to 4.3 per cent in March, and it is much lower than Canada’s 6.7 per cent.

Firms are holding on to workers but not expanding, said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, owing to economic uncertainty brought on by tariffs and policy volatility.

Employees, she said, sense that even a modest upswing in layoffs could “translate into a spike in unemployment pretty rapidly.”

Geni Peters, director of research at ECO Canada, acknowledges that demand in the Canadian job market is falling, so job vacancies are declining. But she doesn’t think that’s the reason for lower job-market optimism.

For that, she blames “political, economic, and geopolitical uncertainty.”

Pessimism over the job market and engagement can be attributed to many factors, according to Wayne Hochwarter, a business administration professor at Florida State University, including geopolitical tensions, higher gas prices, AI, the war, and other pressures. But he said the root problem is simple: inadequate and inept leadership.

“That’s a perfect storm in a lot of ways with the economy and everything else, but this is just leaders not doing their job.”

Managers are the weak spot, according to Harter, and their engagement has fallen faster than that of individual contributors.

“When manager engagement drops, it really affects the commitment of the workforce because they kind of lead the way,” he added.

Companies can improve engagement by choosing and training better managers, ensuring they are leaders who can “motivate teams, build relationships, support AI adoption, set goals, give regular feedback, and hold employees accountable.”

Peters also thinks better training could help, but she says managers are facing pressure to do more with fewer resources while often lacking the authority and support they need to succeed.

She and Hochwarter noted how most managers don’t know how to manage remote and hybrid teams, for example, which hurts performance and leads to greater disengagement.

This is all exacerbating post-pandemic burnout, leading to something Hochwarter has dubbed “ quiet cracking ,” a situation where workers who feel stuck just do the bare minimum to keep their jobs.

“It’s similar to quiet quitting, but you don’t quit. Because the job market is not really too supportive of people leaving,  people look at their job descriptions, and they look at what are the very basic things I need to do here to keep my job.”

Gallup isn’t alone in pointing to disengagement and lost optimism.

Sandra LaVoy, regional VP with staffing firm Robert Half in Canada, said she is concerned by rising burnout levels, a trend driven by heavy workloads, long hours, and shrunken teams post-COVID.

Burnout in Canada has risen to a whopping 62 per cent, according to a new Robert Half survey, which is up from 47 per cent in 2024.

The fields and demographics hit the hardest, LaVoy said, include legal (tops the list), human resources, working parents, millennials, and finance/accounting.

“I hear more about burnout now than ever,” she added.

Younger workers are among the most pessimistic, according to Gallup. Just 20 per cent of workers aged 18 to 34 say it’s a good time to look for a job, compared to 41 per cent for those 65 years old and older. For younger workers in both countries, unemployment is nearly double the national rates, which explains some of the pessimism.

“Thirty years ago, clients would … go to the universities and recruit for the summer,” said LaVoy.

But now, junior commodity transactional roles, she said, have been reduced by AI , so those junior roles aren’t there for summer hires, she added.

So how do we boost engagement and job market optimism to turn things around for everyone?

Food, energy, and housing-price stability would help people feel more confident overall, said Peters, freeing workers to take on more career risks.

Hochwarter stresses the need to make resilient hires, train them properly, build trust through transparency, and build a culture that applauds lifelong learning with incentives.

“I think you have to set up that environment, and you have to motivate people, but you also have to reward it,” he said.

Many of the experts pointed to the need for stronger communication and building of trust between employers and workers.

LaVoy noted that sometimes just having some communication from leadership can go a long way.

“Just that little extra to acknowledge … ‘I know you’re working really hard’ until things turn around.”

National Post

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Even if the war against Iran reaches a negotiated solution in the coming days, the impact of the oil shock caused by the war is having an adverse impact on Canadian air travellers that is likely to continue throughout the summer.

The climbing cost of jet fuel has already resulted in flight cancellations. Air Canada has announced it is suspending flights from Montreal and Toronto to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Meanwhile, Iran’s blockade in the Strait of Hormuz cut off 20 per cent of the world’s fuel stuck from getting to destinations around the world and drove up the price per barrel to a s high as $200 a barrel. Earlier this week, Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency gave an interview to the Associated Press stating that Europe has “maybe six weeks or so” of remaining jet fuel supplies.  

Oil prices plunged Friday after Iran said the Strait is open, but that declaration was tied by Iran’s foreign minister to the 10-day Israel-Lebannon ceasefire, which began Thursday evening. There are an estimated 1,600 oil tankers trapped in the Persian Gulf.

As National Post reported previously , the oil shock caused by the war is continuing to play out in the breakdown of the fuel supply chain. Dan McTeague, a gas prices analyst and president of Canadians for Affordable Energy, recently told National Post it will take months for the supply chain to stabilize.

John Gradek, an aviation industry specialist and lecturer at McGill University in Montreal told National Post that as fuel shortages hit airports in Europe and Asia, Canadian airlines will struggle to refuel and return. “The availability of fuel in Europe is going to be a big issue,” he told National Post last week, specifically for return flights. “It’s not what you can pay. You’re not going to be able to buy.”

BP Oil in Italy has already declared shortages in that country, he said. He predicted U.K. airports Heathrow and Gatwick will be next. As a result, he is predicting Canada-Europe flight cancellations.

Several international airlines such as Air France-KLM, Air India, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa, United Airlines and Viet Nam Airlines have announced cancellations .

However, Canadian airlines that operate international flights are not quite there yet.

“We are monitoring the situation closely, but we see no imminent impact on our operations due to a shortage of jet fuel,” Peter Fitzpatrick Air Canada’s manager of corporate communications told National Post in a Friday email. But he adds: “That said, jet fuel prices have doubled since the start of the Iran conflict and some lower profitability routes and flights are no longer economic, and we are making schedule adjustments accordingly.”

That means “removing overnight flights on routes where we have other (flights), such as Vancouver-Toronto.” He confirmed it also means “suspended service, such as Toronto and Montreal to JFK.”

Air Transat is not planning to reduce, consolidate, or cancel flights as a result of jet fuel supply constraints, Andream Gagne, senior director of communications and public affairs for the airline told the Post in an email.

However, she adds, as the “situation continues to evolve, we are closely monitoring developments related to global jet fuel supply, including in Europe. Our team is working in close collaboration with our partners to ensure reliable access to jet fuel at each of our European destinations. If adjustments were ever required, affected customers would be informed promptly and supported to minimize disruption.”

Similarly, WestJet is monitoring the global fuel situation closely, according to Julia Kaiser, media relations advisor at WestJet. She acknowledged changes may come this summer.

“We have not made any transatlantic or transpacific schedule changes at this time; however, we are evaluating our summer schedule and may adjust flying to balance fuel supply. We appreciate our guests’ understanding as we navigate these unprecedented and evolving supply chain pressures, and we remain committed to providing them with exceptional travel experiences.”

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Something happened around 4,000 years ago in West Eurasia that made red-haired people more common.

But not just redheads. New research shows genetic variants linked to celiac disease, schizophrenia, light skin, a lower chance of male pattern baldness, and B blood type all arose and caught on quickly among prehistoric humans because they gave some sort of evolutionary advantage. Genes relating to body fat and cognitive performance, and resistance to various diseases such as leprosy also saw major spikes in frequency around this time, and made those who had them more likely to pass their genes on to descendants.

Other genetic variants relating to tuberculosis, arthritis and multiple sclerosis saw rapid decreases in frequency.

It seems to have had something to do with the development of agriculture in this geographical area, roughly Europe and the Middle East, and with the changing evolutionary pressures that farming brought about, including changing diet and exposure to new diseases.

The new research, published Wednesday, shows for the first time that hundreds of these rapid evolutionary adaptations in humans have occurred in just the past 10,000 years, far more than previously thought, and much more recently. Fewer than two dozen had previously been identified, the best known being a tolerance for lactose after infancy that evolved in European populations.

The new study, by lead author Ali Akbari, a computational geneticist in the Harvard University lab run by co-author David Reich, is the largest of its kind in the newish field of ancient human genetics.

It shows changes that happened for the first time among those West Eurasian human populations have major relevance to the health of modern day human populations all over the world, and it suggests human genetic evolution is not fixed in time but is in fact accelerating, the authors say.

The majority of the newly discovered adaptations are related to disease risk, although it remains uncertain why each gene gave people an evolutionary advantage in the past.

In a statement, Reich said this research “allows us to assign place and time to forces that shaped us.”

DNA sequencing technology has in recent years allowed scientists to see more deeply into the finds of archeologists, and to track single genes as their prevalence rises and falls in various prehistorical populations whose members today are physically reduced to a few shards of teeth or bone.

So, instead of looking in present-day human DNA for clues about how it evolved, or what Akbari calls “the scars of natural selection” that are visible on the modern human genome, this research shows they can instead track that selection over time.

“Rather than being trapped in the present and studying the scars left by selection on the genomes of descendants, ancient DNA makes it possible to test directly whether frequencies of variants shifted more than could be expected by chance,” reads the paper in the journal Nature .

What they are looking for is known as directional selection, when a certain gene gives such a strong evolutionary fitness advantage that its frequency spikes in a population.

In the paper, geneticists call these “classic hard sweeps driving advantageous mutations to fixation.”

They have so far been thought to be rare over the full history of human evolution, going back more than 200,000 years to precursor populations in Africa.

The classic example of this is lactose tolerance in adulthood, which is thought to have evolved to be common among Europeans in response to stresses such as famine in just the past few millennia. This new work suggests these strong “sweeps” of directional selection are not so rare, but actually pretty common.

A major conclusion of the paper is that there have in fact been almost 500 of them in just the past 10,000 years.

Other things can change the frequency of genes and thereby masquerade as directional selection in this kind of study, however, such as migration or a change in population structure.

And some traits, such as red hair, might also piggyback on other traits and get carried along into descendant populations without actually being the effective cause of increased evolutionary fitness.

Some of the genes that underwent directional selection are related to body fat levels or cognitive performance, or even susceptibility to tobacco use, but these effects were measured in industrialized societies, not in prehistoric populations. So, Akbari writes, it remains unclear how these effects relate to traits that gave humans an evolutionary advantage in prehistoric West Eurasia.

In order to better identify actual directional selection, Akbari and colleagues compiled a collection of 16,000 samples of ancient human DNA, 10,000 of which were newly sequenced genetically, and the rest had previously been published.

They then devised a method to analyze these samples and to identify alleles — genetic variants — that are statistical outliers, appearing with greater or lesser frequency in populations at different prehistorical times.

This involved computational strategies known as “data cleaning.” This strategy also allowed them to calculate an overall rate at which selection for these variant genes occurred, and thus to conclude human evolution accelerated after the introduction of agriculture.

National Post

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Canadians who participate in the Canadian Dental Care Plan have until June 1 to renew their coverage if they want to keep it continuous.

Otherwise, there will a coverage gap while a brand new application is reviewed. Dental care received during a gap in coverage gap will not be covered retroactively.

What are the eligibility requirements?

Renewal requires confirming that you still meet the plan’s requirements . Foremost is that you do not have access to private dental insurance.

Second, your adjusted family net income must be below $90,000. This is the combined net income of an individual and their spouse or common-law partner, adjusted by the CRA to determine eligibility for benefits. It includes your total income before taxes. But it is minus deductions such as RRSP contributions, union dues, and childcare expenses.

To prove your income eligibility, you and your spouse or partner need to have filed your taxes and received your 2025 “Notice of Assessment” from the CRA. To calculate your combined net income, use line 23600 on your tax return plus line 23600 of your spouse’s or common-law partner’s tax return.

You won’t need to upload your Notice of Assessment during the renewal process, but as noted, the numbers from it are used to confirm eligibility.

What is a “My Service Canada Account” and how is it relevant for CDCP renewal?

The way to renew is to sign into your “ My Service Canada Account ” or create one if you do not have one yet.

The MSCA, as it’s known, is a secure online portal that enables Canadians to manage their government benefits and services, such as Employment Insurance, Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security and the Canadian Dental Care Plan.

It provides 24/7 access and enables you to avoid having to line up in an office.

What do I do once I have an MSCA?

Once you sign into your MSCA, go through the following steps:

Go to the Canadian Dental Care Plan section on your dashboard.

Click “Renew your Canadian Dental Care Plan coverage.”

Review or update your personal details, including your name, date of birth, address, and SIN if necessary.

Confirm that you still meet the eligibility requirements and that you and your spouse or partner have filed your tax return and received your Notice of Assessment.

Submit the renewal, then save your confirmation and check MSCA later for letters or status updates.

It should be noted that if you choose to receive “Digital” communication in your MSCA, you’ll generally get notifications faster than waiting for them in the mail.

Can I renew my CDCP coverage by phone?

It’s also possible to renew your CDCP coverage by phone. You can call Service Canada at 1-833-537-4342. If you use TTY, call 1-833-677-6262.

Service Canada’s phone line is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm local time.

Before you call, have your CDCP member ID, Social Insurance Number, current address, contact information, and any details about other government dental coverage handy before you call.

Calling sooner rather than later will help avoid a gap in coverage.

Have there been problems with the CDCP?

There were problems in the early days of CDCP. Health Canada said about 70,000 active members were found to be ineligible. Or they were assessed at the wrong co-payment level because of an income-calculation error.

Health Canada says affected CDCP members were notified of coverage changes in October 2025.

What concerns do dentists have about it?

Back in May 2024, the Canadian Dental Association released a statement stating dentists across Canada were “hesitant to participate in the CDCP due to the lack of clarity around certain elements of the program” and some dentists reported issues with claim submissions.”

Those issues persist to some extent, according to the latest issue of CDAessentials , the association’s magazine.

“A key issue is misconceptions about coverage” with many CDCP members assuming all dental procedures would be covered, similar to medical coverage in Canada. A first appointment resulted in “unexpected out-of-pocket coverage or the realization that certain services are only partially covered by the program.”

And while many patients were okay with paying an average of $70, one in four have asked not to be charged the difference in their dentist’s normal fees and the CDCP.

“We remind all patients that the CDCP only covers a part of the cost of your care,” says Brown. “You may be required to pay for a portion of your dental care depending on your adjusted net family income. We encourage everyone to speak with their dental care teams about what costs to expect and what their options might be.”

Obtaining preauthorization for coverage still stalls for “a small share of patients … creating uncertainty for patients and dental teams.”

Despite these issues, according to the CDA article, there has been “meaningful progress in Canada’s dental health landscape.”

Of the 33 per cent of Canadians enrolled in the CDCP, says the CDA, 76 per cent rate their experience positively. Satisfaction is even higher “when compared with the general public’s dental experiences.”

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Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

Canada Post has announced that 13 communities across the country, encompassing 31 postal codes, will no longer receive door-to-door delivery and instead transition to community mailboxes, starting later this year.

The first batch of addresses being converted to community mailboxes is mostly concentrated in Vancouver and elsewhere in B.C., but several areas in Winnipeg, Ottawa, Etobicoke and Moncton and Riverview will also be affected, along with three postal codes in Quebec.

In total, 136,000 addresses will be converted from door-to-door delivery to community mailboxes in late 2026 and early 2027.

The change is part of the corporation’s efforts to cut costs and improve long-term financial sustainability, following years of significant losses.

Canada Post plans to phase out household delivery entirely over the next five years, with additional areas moving to community mailboxes each year.

The postal codes set to be converted in the first phase are:

• Moncton and Riverview, N.B.: E1B, E1C, E1E, E1G
• Sept-Îles, Que.: G4R, G4S
• La Prairie and Candiac, Que.: J5R
• Ottawa: K1B, K1G, K1H, K1J, K1K
• Etobicoke, Ont.: M9V, M9W.
• Winnipeg: R2P, R2R, R2V, R2W, R2X, R3E, R3H.
• Abbotsford, B.C.: V2S, V2T
• Mission, B.C.: V2V
• North Vancouver and West Vancouver: V7M, V7P, V7R, V7S, V7T, V7V, V7W

Nearly three-quarters of Canadian addresses already receive mail through some form of centralized delivery (such as community mailboxes, apartment and condo lobby boxes, and post office boxes), Canada Post said in a news release on Thursday.

However, about four million addresses still receive door-to-door delivery.

The corporation added that it plans to engage with communities as it identifies suitable locations for community mailbox sites, and will keep residents informed throughout the transition.

Meanwhile, most of the addresses selected for the first phase of conversion are adjacent to areas already served by community mailboxes.

Dense urban areas will be addressed in later stages of the multi-year conversion program, which will ultimately result in annual savings of more than $400 million, Canada Post said.

The corporation’s financial situation has deteriorated dramatically in recent years. In September 2025, a statement from the federal government announced that the service had accumulated more than $5 billion in losses since 2018, losing over $1 billion in 2024 alone. It also reported its worst quarterly results ever, losing $407 million, in the second quarter of 2025.

But now, Canada Post claims to have “reached a turning point”.

It said in Thursday’s release: “Canada Post’s transformation will strengthen the postal service, allow it to be a better partner for businesses, enable national commerce, and help it meet its dual mandate of delivering for all Canadians without being a recurring burden on taxpayers.”

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Artemis II is now on its way home, having broken the record for the farthest distance humans have flown from Earth by travelling around the far side of the moon.

Four astronauts are on board: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen, and are expected to splash down off the coast of San Diego at approximately 8:07 p.m. on Friday, April 10.

Given the hazards involved, along with the years of training and expertise required to journey into space, it would be reasonable to assume Artemis II astronauts are exceptionally well compensated.

Yet, despite the global attention, the Artemis II astronauts are likely paid the same as many of their lower-profile colleagues.

Like most government roles, NASA salaries follow a standardized pay scale, previously reported to top out at about US$152,000.

The space agency’s website stated that the annual salary for astronauts in 2024 was approximately US$152,258. It added that the rate would be adjusted to reflect any increases in pay schedules, meaning this number may have gone up over the past two years.

That salary remains the same whether astronauts are on Earth or in space, and they do not get extra pay for overtime or for going on missions.

For some, this amount might sound modest, considering the Artemis II mission broke records and pushed the boundaries of human space exploration.

As Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged in a recent video call with the Artemis II crew, the mission carried significant risk.

“You said the other day that this mission is a risk for a good reason, which really struck me,” he told Hansen.

The astronaut replied: “Risk is necessary. But calculated risk, well-thought-out risk and risk that you balance with others.”

Jobs site Indeed lists average salaries for professions such as optometrists, software engineering managers and podiatrists in a similar range — roles that also demand extensive training, but not the same degree of personal risk as travelling more than 250,000 miles from Earth.

Canadian astronauts reportedly receive a similar salary, suggesting Jeremy Hansen earns roughly in line with his crewmates.

In 2023, the Canadian Space Agency revealed that the astronauts’ salaries range from $97,100 to $189,600.

The higher end of the scale is reserved for astronauts who have successfully completed a space mission.

Even from space, we can all agree that maple syrup belongs on pancakes.

Safe journey home to Colonel Jeremy Hansen and the entire Artemis II crew. pic.twitter.com/FqPD2FvsNr

— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) April 9, 2026

Artemis 2 marks Hansen’s first journey into space, and he is also the first Canadian to join a moon mission.

Carney highlighted the milestone during his call with the Artemis crew.

“Canadians are so proud of what you’re doing and the collaboration,” he said. “I’m thrilled. I’m absolutely thrilled to be speaking with you, Jeremy and the crew. We’ve all been watching and inspired by what you’re doing.”

The prime minister also probed Hansen on one burning issue: “A lot of Canadians just wanted one point of reassurance, that the preference is for maple syrup over Nutella on your pancakes in the morning.”

Carney was referring to a viral image of a jar of Nutella floating through the Orion space capsule, and his question had the crew in fits of laughter.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Carney said, also extending an invitation to visit Ottawa, the Canadian capital.

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OTTAWA — Canada’s ambassador to the United States, Mark Wiseman, will testify before a House of Commons committee next Thursday, in his first address to parliamentarians since taking up the job in mid-February.

A spokesperson for the Bloc Québécois confirmed that Wiseman will attend the Foreign Affairs and International Development committee in person.

In early February, members of the committee adopted a motion by the Bloc Québécois to invite Wiseman to discuss his mandate.

The ambassador is a former business executive and friend of Prime Minister Mark Carney, and was appointed after Kirsten Hillman announced her decision to step down from the post in December.

Wiseman along with Canada’s Chief Trade Negotiator to the U.S. Janice Charette are part of the team leading the negotiations for the upcoming review of the Canada-United-States-Mexico-Agreement, which is scheduled for July.

Wiseman has held several executive level positions, including at the CPP Investment Board, BlackRock and the Alberta Investment Management Corporation.

His past criticism of Quebec’s dairy supply management system has drawn the ire of Quebec politicians, who feel Wiseman cannot properly represent the province’s interests. The U.S. administration has listed the supply management as trade irritant with Canada.

Wiseman also co-founded the Century Initiative which advocates for increasing Canada’s population to 100 million by 2100.

The state of CUSMA talks with the U.S. is likely to dominate Wiseman’s appearance on Thursday.

In mid-March, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Fox Business that Canada was behind Mexico on trade discussions.

Greer has also said it’s unlikely the U.S. administration will resolve all its trade issues with Canada and Mexico by the July 1 deadline.

This week, Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said there is no “drop dead date” for the review and that Canada “certainly won’t be the source of any delays.”

According to his social media posts, Wiseman has spent the first two months of his new job meeting with members of U.S. Congress and the Senate, as well as U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Bergum and U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright.

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