Lynn Desjardins
Lynn Desjardins
Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Lynn has dedicated her working life to journalism. After decades in the field, she still believes journalism to be a pillar of democracy and she remains committed to telling stories she believes are important or interesting. Lynn loves Canada and embraces all seasons: skiing, skating, and sledding in winter, hiking, swimming and playing tennis in summer and running all the time. She is a voracious consumer of Canadian literature, public radio programs and classical music. Family and friends are most important. Good and unusual foods are fun. She travels when possible and enjoys the wilderness.

International, Internet, Science & Technology

Young girls to show apps they created to address world issues

Girls between the ages of 10 and 18 from Montreal and Ottawa have spent the last five months learning how to develop their own startups and to code mobile apps to address world problems. The issues of focus were inspired »

Health, Internet, Science & Technology

COVID-19 is not influenza, but teaches useful lessons: study

COVID-19 is definitely not influenza, but the way the pandemic was handled teaches some good lessons about how to fight the annual cases of flu. Researchers at Concordia University in Montreal and colleagues studied influenza figures from Canada, the U.S., »

Internet, Science & Technology, Society

Privacy watchdog warns facial recognition tools endanger human rights

Facial recognition technology can enable widespread surveillance, provide biased results and erode other human rights, says Canada’s privacy commissioner. In a presentation to a parliamentary committee, Daniel Therrien warned that the technology has the potential to be “extremely privacy invasive.”  »

Health, Indigenous, Society

Minister promotes Indigenous mental health

Six out of 10 Indigenous people in Canada report that their mental health has worsened since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to government statistics. The largest contributors to their troubles have been physical distancing, not being able to »

Environment & Animal Life, Internet, Science & Technology

Climate change threatens species, especially some with small homes 

If the pandemic has made you think your home is too small, pity the Canadian species with tiny homes which could be wiped out by climate change. This is the pitch made by The Committee on the Status of Endangered »

Environment & Animal Life, Health, Society

Soothing souls in a pandemic: bird watching takes off

The beginning of the pandemic struck fear into the hearts of many Canadians, but it also made them notice birdsong near home. It could be that the sudden decrease in traffic and noise increased the bird population but more likely »

Arts & Entertainment, Indigenous, Society

New project fosters Indigenous, Black playwrights

A partnership has been forged between three Canadian theatre companies to support emerging Indigenous and Black playwrights. Creative Catalysts is a new program that will welcome two creators from Indigenous communities and two from Black communities and offer them compensation, »

Economy, Society

 Unemployment increased in April 2021 as did pandemic restrictions

Canada’s unemployment rate increased to 8.1 per cent in April 2021 from 7.5 per cent the month before, according to the government agency Statistics Canada. This occurred as rates of COVID-19 infection increased in many parts of the country and »

Environment & Animal Life, International, Internet, Science & Technology

Cutting methane key to slowing global warming: report

A new report shows that human-caused emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane can be reduced by up to 45 per cent this decade and that would avoid almost 0.3°C of global warming by 2045. This would be in keeping »

Society

Archdiocese names ombudsman to deal with abuse complaints

The Roman Catholice Archdiocese of Montreal has established an ombudsman and a revamped process to handle complaints about abuse or inappropriate behaviour. The move comes after an investigation into how church officials dealt with the case of a priest convicted »