For decades, the Canada-US relationship was of two nations bound by an intertwined economic fabric. Now, as the 2026 review of CUSMA looms and global protectionism becomes a new global standard, the strands may be fraying to a breaking point.

On March 19, 2026, a panel of leading experts from the Allard School of Law, Vancouver School of Economics, Faculty of Forestry and Political Science joined a public audience at UBC Robson Square to move beyond the headlines and consider new geopolitical realities and their impact on Canada as a nation and the daily lives of individual Canadians.

In Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES), Community Veterinary Outreach, a national charity, is working with UBC researchers and students to reduce barriers to health care by allowing people to access support for themselves alongside their trusted animal companions.

Research shows that pets offer profound physical, emotional and mental health benefits, especially for people facing marginalization. For many, the well-being of their animal takes priority over their own.

CVO's model leverages that bond, providing veterinary care alongside human health services in the same space by creating a setting where people come to care for their animals. The model also opens the door to preventative care, health advocacy, and social support that clients may not otherwise pursue for themselves.

To learn more about this project, we spoke with Kyla Townsend and Kelsi Jasmine from Community Veterinary Outreach (note: Kelsi has since moved on from CVO), as well as members of UBC's animal welfare program: Alex Boo, veterinarian and adjunct professor, and graduate student Alexis Ly.

We discuss how their project got started, the unique way CVO approaches its work, and the good that has come from bringing veterinary and human health services together.

This initiative was supported by the Community University Engagement Support Fund.

In partnership with the Nuxalk Nation, the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at the University of British Columbia is presenting Nuxalk Strong: Dancing Down the Eyelashes of the Sun—the world's first dedicated exhibition of the Nuxalk. The exhibit features over 60 historic treasures from MOA's collections, as well as other museums, private holders, and Nuxalk families. Visitors are invited to connect with belongings made by Nuxalk Ancestors and contemporary Nuxalk artists, and to witness how the Nation is reclaiming and practicing their ways of being.

This exhibition represents a transformative shift in how the Nuxalk Nation engages with museums—not as extractive institutions, but as platforms to share their belief systems, worldviews, and identity with the larger world. To learn more about this groundbreaking collaboration, we spoke with the curators of Nuxalk Strong about the exhibit and the evolving relationship between the Nuxalk Nation and the Museum of Anthropology.

Our guests are Snxakila–Clyde Tallio of the Nuxalk Nation, Jennifer Kramer, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Curator at MOA, and Emily Jene Leischner, Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia and a UBC alumna.

Learn more: https://communityengagement.ubc.ca/news/how-the-nuxalk-nation-is-working-with-ubcs-museum-of-anthropology-to-host-the-first-ever-exhibit-of-their-people/