Good morning, and welcome to the weekend.
Grab your cup of coffee or tea, and sit down with a selection of this week’s great reads from The Globe and Mail.
In this issue we look ahead to the coming school year with in-depth examination of a couple of education-related hot-button issues: post-secondary institutions’ reliance on international students for revenue and the proliferation of cellphones in grade schools.
In his feature on the lifestyle burden that falls on international students while they pay a premium to attend Ontario colleges, Joe Friesen found a web with many strands. Education funding has been frozen at the provincial level for years, which leads to colleges and universities placing long-term bets on increasing numbers of high-tuition students from abroad, which puts stress on the housing supply that spills into the broader rental market. And for the students, there’s enormous pressure to secure permanent residency and a steady job to pay off tuition bills.
At the grade-school level, there’s a major concern right under students’ noses: Cellphones are proving more powerful than the rules that govern them. Furthermore, whatever rules are in place are inconsistent, and most often set by schools and “enforced” by teachers with an impossible task. The problem, according to the essay by Naomi Buck, is that the grown-ups have abdicated responsibility for a safe learning environment by buying the argument that cellphones can be effectively limited to educational uses. But research shows that the harms are evident: As cellphone use has risen, so, too, have levels of teen depression, anxiety and suicidality. And teens who are heavy phone users tend to suffer sleep deprivation, poorer academic performance and lower self-worth. Bullying runs rampant, aided by social media. Buck’s essay is a call to put children’s educational needs first.
In Report on Business, Robert Fife and Steven Chase reveal how Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has placed restrictions on Wealth One Bank at a time of heightened political tension over Chinese interference in Canadian domestic affairs. The bank must comply with certain national-security conditions, and three of its founding investors have been ordered to divest their shares.
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Tanishq Kachhia gets ready for work at the 625-square-foot Kitchener apartment he shares with three other students from India.Alicia Wynter/The Globe and Mail
As public funding has dried up, Ontario colleges have turned to international students to provide an instant and lucrative revenue stream, leading to rapid expansion and a boom in satellite campuses. Meanwhile, the eager students filling college coffers are struggling to find housing and pay for groceries. Some say the massive influx of international students is adding strain to Canada’s supply of housing, but the reality can be more complicated than that. Besides, any attempts to curtail the program that allows study permits will have to reckon with its impact on the schools, because international funding has become crucial to Canadian higher education.
Cellphones have taken over our schools, and it’s been a disaster for our kids
Chelsea O'Byrne/The Globe and Mail
Call it a mobile alert. This cohort of grade school students, guinea pigs and pioneers of technology, are in harm’s way because of cellphone use. And unlike about a quarter of countries globally, Canada has very few restrictions on cellphone use in schools, despite mounting evidence of negative emotional, mental and physical health effects and a recent UNESCO report recommending a total ban.
The building at 170 Sheppard Avenue East in Toronto, where a Wealth One Bank office is located, on Sept. 1, 2023.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has quietly imposed extraordinary national-security conditions on Wealth One, a bank established to cater to Chinese-Canadians, in a manner that firewalls off all operations from three of its founding shareholders. Toronto insurance executive Shenglin Xian, grocery tycoon Yuangsheng Ou Yang and Vancouver property developer Morris Chen now face a looming deadline to divest their shares.
Three seasoned work-from-home Canadians share their must-have office upgrades
Designer Dani Roche gets down to work at the USM Haller Table that serves as her desk in her home office in Toronto.Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail
Home offices across Canada, often thrown together out of hasty necessity in the early lockdown days, have room for improvement. Luckily, these three work-from-home veterans have plenty of tips to share on the furniture, electronics and other gadgets to take home workspaces to the next level.
TIFF 2023: The untold story of Last Night, Don McKellar’s Canadian classic, 25 years later
Sandra Oh as Sandra and Don McKellar as Patrick in the 1998 apocalypse film Last Night.Supplied
As TIFF draws near, with its power to make or break new movies, The Globe reached out to director Don McKellar and some of the people behind his memorable and charming film Last Night, which won accolades and helped lift Canadian cinema at the festival 25 years ago. To mark the anniversary, the film was digitally restored and will soon be released in its new 4K form. Here, we offer an oral history.
More coverage as we look ahead to this year’s festival:
- What’s TIFF without the stars? Inside the film festival’s red-carpet reboot
- B.C. director Meredith Hama-Brown set to make splash with layered debut Seagrass
- TIFF 2023 topic page for all our stories
Ukraine’s substandard medical supplies endangering soldiers as war intensifies, volunteers warn
At the Kyiv offices of Initiative E+, many of the tourniquets hanging on the wall are not up to international first-aid standards. But like many on the front lines of the war, these volunteers are forced to make do with what they have.Anton Skyba
On the front lines of the brutal Ukraine-Russia war, saving lives is hard enough without having to deal with inadequate supplies. Volunteer medics are calling on Ukrainian authorities to bolster their medical equipment, saying one million soldiers are at risk because of substandard tourniquets and other first aid necessities, and even deficiencies in training.
NHL stars help prepare Connor Bedard for his big debut
Connor Bedard, the Chicago Blackhawks first overall draft pick this summer, has a learning mindset going into his highly anticipated rookie year.Michael Reaves/Getty Images
From one Connor to another, the mantle of can’t-miss NHL prospect is being passed. Connor Bedard, the North Vancouver phenom who was selected first overall in the 2023 NHL entry draft by the Chicago Blackhawks, had the chance to attend an offseason camp last week with one-time prospect and now bona fide superstar Connor McDavid. It was just one of many such teachable moments for Bedard, whose transition to the NHL has included time with fitness expert Gary Roberts, elite defenceman Cale Makar and veteran teammate Corey Perry.
White shark sightings becoming more common in Atlantic Canada
Lifeguard Jennifer Hood was working at the Canadian Surf Lifesaving Competition at Rainbow Haven Beach near Halifax last Sunday when she spotted the raised fin of a white shark in the water.Meagan Hancock/The Globe and Mail
Despite being listed as an endangered species in Canada and a protected species in the United States, there are signs of a resurgence in the white shark population off the Atlantic coast. One sign is an unusually high number of great white shark spottings in Atlantic Canada. Encounters between humans and sharks remain relatively rare, but these sightings have given rise to both fear and awe of the animals.
Drawn From the Headlines
Aug. 26, 2023, The Guardian: Trump’s return to Twitter solidifies a sharp right turn for Musk’s platform, as drawn by Michael de Adder for The Globe and Mail.
Illustration by Michael De Adder
Mason Wright