Anglais
Growing ‘ecological grief’ is the mental health cost of climate change

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Monika Willner had only five minutes to pack her family’s pets and precious items, before fleeing the wildfire that raged in their backyard.
The fire still haunts her two months later.
« I suffer from bad dreams and nightmares, waking up at night, screaming, seeing the fire, » she said.
Though her family escaped safely, and their rental home was untouched by flame, the fire that swept through their uninsured property near Burns Lake, B.C., on Aug. 9, 2018 exacted a heavy price.
They lost a $25,000 car her son was restoring, beekeeping equipment, and her husband’s carpentry tools. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
« Honestly, the physical loss wasn’t as bad as the effects on your mental health, » Willner said.
« I still can’t go back there, » she said about the house where her husband still lives. « I moved out of the place. »

Monika Willner and her family lost thousands of dollars worth of property when wildfires swept through their backyard in Burns Lake, B.C. (Submitted by Monika Willner)
As Canadians cope with more catastrophic weather events, and the long-term effects of climate change gradually intensify, mental health experts say more Canadians will be afflicted by a psychological phenomenon known as « ecological grief. »
« It’s the grief that’s felt in relation to either experienced or anticipated ecological loss, whether it’s due to acute environmental issues or long, chronic, creeping changes, » said Ashlee Cunsolo, director of the Labrador Institute at Memorial University.
« We [need to] consider climate policy within the framework of ecological grief, and within the framework of mental health and all of these other losses that are often hidden and hard to account for. »
Understanding eco-grief
Consolo became acutely aware of ecological grief in 2008 while she was part of a team that interviewed 100 people in Ringolet, N.L., during a study of the effects of global warming in the Arctic.
Instead of a singular event like flood or drought, the Inuit have faced the realities of climate change slowly over time.

Researcher Ashlee Consolo studied the psychological effects of climate change in Labrador. (Jean-François Bisson/CBC)
As they explained how melting sea ice had hurt their ability to hunt, Consolo says everyone interviewed spoke of the impact the changing climate was having on their mental health, with increased anxiety, sadness, anger, grief and loss.
« One of the elders said, ‘We are people of the sea ice and if there’s no more sea ice, how do we be people of the sea ice?' » Consolo recalled.
« That’s such a profound existential question, and it’s a question resonating around the world as things shift. »
The emotional and psychic toll of ecological grief (also termed « solastagia » by philosopher Glenn Albrecht) is an expanding field of inquiry among both climate scientists and mental health professionals.
There is real grief for the loss not only of possessions, but the changing landscape that people are experiencing.– Katie Hayes
The research suggests climate-related ecological losses trigger grief experiences in multiple ways, including people grieving for lost landscapes, ecosystems, species, or places that carry personal or collective meaning.
« Ecological grief can include a vast spectrum, whether it’s specific things like eco-anxiety related to our environment, or PTSD after experiencing an extreme weather event, » said Katie Hayes, a PhD candidate at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
Distancing climate change
Hayes is studying mental health in High River, Alta., in the wake of the devastating flood in 2013 that claimed the lives of three people, forced the town’s evacuation, and caused billions of dollars in damage.
« The emotional impacts that [the flooding] still has on residents five years later demonstrates there is real grief for the loss, not only of possessions, but the changing landscape that people are experiencing, » she said.
Wildfires destroyed a $25,000 car Willner’s son was restoring and the family’s beekeeping equipment. (Submitted by Monika Willner)
In High River, Hayes found that many residents separate the flood from climate change, instead describing it as a freak weather event.
« There’s this real wanting to distance from that because they’ve experienced just such an intense hazard, » she said.
« They don’t want to know it can happen again.«
Hayes suggests there’s often an infusion of mental health resources to a community in the immediate aftermath of a weather disaster, but that long-term mental health care will be needed to address ongoing ecological grief.
« The triggers and timings for when you can experience eco-grief or loss or post-traumatic stress disorder, it doesn’t end after two years, » she said.

Willner has nightmares since fire ravaged her backyard last summer. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)
After the wildfire in Burns Lake, B.C. this summer, Monika Willner says it didn’t occur to her to seek counselling and she’s still struggling with trauma.
« There’s always the thought in the back of your head, ‘What can happen next?' » she said. « Seeing lightning, or every little thing which was normal previously, right now it’s a danger and it scares the heck out of you. »
While Willner remains displaced from her home, she’s encouraged by her community banding together to prepare for the next forest fire catastrophe.
« We know it will get drier because of climate change. What do you do? You just prepare yourself and try to to be safe. »
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Anglais
‘Business as usual’ for Dorel Industries after terminating go-private deal

MONTREAL — Dorel Industries Inc. says it will continue to pursue its business strategy going forward after terminating an agreement to go private after discussions with shareholders.
« Moving ahead. Business as usual, » a spokesman for the company said in an email on Monday.
A group led by Cerberus Capital Management had previously agreed to buy outstanding shares of Dorel for $16 apiece, except for shares owned by the family that controls the company’s multiple-voting shares.
But Dorel chief executive Martin Schwartz said the Montreal-based maker of car seats, strollers, bicycles and home furniture pulled the plug on a deal on the eve of Tuesday’s special meeting after reviewing votes from shareholders.
“Independent shareholders have clearly expressed their confidence in Dorel’s future and the greater potential for Dorel as a public entity, » he said in a news release.
Dorel’s board of directors, with Martin Schwartz, Alan Schwartz, Jeffrey Schwartz and Jeff Segel recused, unanimously approved the deal’s termination upon the recommendation of a special committee.
The transaction required approval by two-thirds of the votes cast, and more than 50 per cent of the votes cast by non-family shareholders.
Schwartz said enhancing shareholder value remains a top priority while it stays focused on growing its brands, which include Schwinn and Mongoose bikes, Safety 1st-brand car seats and DHP Furniture.
Dorel said the move to end the go-private deal was mutual, despite the funds’ increased purchase price offer earlier this year.
It said there is no break fee applicable in this case.
Montreal-based investment firm Letko, Brosseau & Associates Inc. and San Diego’s Brandes Investment Partners LP, which together control more than 19 per cent of Dorel’s outstanding class B subordinate shares voiced their opposition to the amended offer, which was increased from the initial Nov. 2 offer of $14.50 per share.
« We believe that several minority shareholders shared our opinion, » said Letko vice-president Stephane Lebrun, during a phone interview.
« We are confident of the long-term potential of the company and we have confidence in the managers in place.”

Anglais
Pandemic funds helping Montreal businesses build for a better tomorrow

Many entrepreneurs have had to tap into government loans during the pandemic, at first just to survive, but now some are using the money to better prepare their businesses for the post-COVID future.
One of those businesses is Del Friscos, a popular family restaurant in Dollard-des-Ormeaux that, like many Montreal-area restaurants, has had to adapt from a sit-down establishment to one that takes orders online for takeout or delivery.
“It was hard going from totally in-house seating,” said Del Friscos co-owner Terry Konstas. “We didn’t have an in-house delivery system, which we quickly added. There were so many of our employees that were laid off that wanted to work so we adapted to a delivery system and added platforms like Uber and DoorDash.”
Helping them through the transition were emergency grants and low-interest loans from the federal and provincial governments, some of which are directly administered by PME MTL, a non-profit business-development organization established to assist the island’s small and medium-sized businesses.
Konstas said he had never even heard of PME MTL until a customer told him about them and when he got in touch, he discovered there were many government programs available to help his business get through the downturn and build for the future. “They’ve been very helpful right from day one,” said Konstas.
“We used some of the funds to catch up on our suppliers and our rents, the part that wasn’t covered from the federal side, and we used some of it for our new virtual concepts,” he said, referring to a virtual kitchen model which the restaurant has since adopted.
The virtual kitchen lets them create completely different menu items from the casual American Italian dishes that Del Friscos is known for and market them under different restaurant brand names. Under the Prasinó Soup & Salad banner, they sell healthy Greek options and their Stallone’s Sub Shop brand offers hearty sandwiches, yet the food from both is created in the same Del Friscos kitchen.

Anglais
Downtown Montreal office, retail vacancies continue to rise

Some of downtown Montreal’s key economic indicators are heading in the wrong direction.
Office and retail vacancies in the city’s central core continued to climb in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to a quarterly report released Thursday by the Urban Development Institute of Quebec and the Montréal Centre-Ville merchants association. The report, whose first edition was published in October, aims to paint a socio-economic picture of the downtown area.
The survey also found office space available for sublet had increased during the fourth quarter, which may foreshadow even more vacancies when leases expire. On the residential front, condo sales fell as new listings soared — a sign that the downtown area may be losing some of its appeal to homeowners.
“It’s impossible not to be preoccupied by the rapid increase in office vacancies,” Jean-Marc Fournier, the former Quebec politician who now heads the UDI, said Thursday in an interview.
Still, with COVID-19 vaccinations set to accelerate in the coming months, “the economic picture is bound to improve,” he said. “People will start returning downtown. It’s much too early to say the office market is going to disappear.”
Public health measures implemented since the start of the pandemic almost a year ago — such as caps on office capacity — have deprived downtown Montreal of more than 500,000 workers and students. A mere 4,163 university and CEGEP students attended in-person classes in the second quarter, the most recent period for which figures are available. Border closures and travel restrictions have also brought tourism to a standstill, hurting hotels and thousands of local businesses.
Seventy per cent of downtown workers carried out their professional activities at home more than three days a week during the fourth quarter, the report said, citing an online survey of 1,000 Montreal-area residents conducted last month.

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