Smoke and mirrors combined with credentialed "experts" and buttressed with provincial, regional and municipal politicians all nodding in unison. What will it take to re-contaminate the Elmira Aquifers to the concentrations they were at thirty some years ago? How soon does the power have to be off to allow groundwater gradients to return to their original flowpaths? How much more reduced pumping on-site will it take for even diehard Lanxess enthusiasts to admit to off-site leakage? Has the long ago increased off-site pumping in conjunction with reduced on-site pumping tipped the balance such that off-site leakage has been ongoing for some time now?

Then of course there is even a worse scenario. What if the company simply walks away without notice or fanfare? Is the MECP competent enough to step in and take over immediately? Do they have personnel trained for a 24/7 water treatment operation? Would they even attempt it? Has the MECP the budget much less the expertise necessary to  run the shallow aquifer system (UACS), the on-site Municipal Aquifer system and the off-site numerous pumping wells in the Municpal Upper and Lower Aquifers?

The answer to most of these questions is negative or highly unlikely. What the MECP have mastered is puffery and bulls*it not actually accomplishing anything. They and the politicians at all levels will most likely deny, deny and deny some more. They will reassure the public that everything is under control. They will "manage" the crisis, they most certainly will not solve it or fix it. They will hide behind the fact that Elmira's drinking water now comes from highly treated Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge wells and the Grand River hence is allegedly safe.  They will simply lie to us and state that the treatment systems at Lanxess are up and running hard while they increase security to ensure that no unauthorized (i.e. honest) persons can go in and check. 

What is also of interest is that the proposed new east side road will run right up Ron Stroh's current driveway in from Church St. (Hwy #86). How incredibly and remarkably prophetic for him to have built his new home further east of that driveway such that his extended driveway now will run right to the proposed Elmira By-Pass. Also the commercial development will run tight to the Lanxess east side property line that had a whopping 5.9 inches deep excavation done in 2019. I wondered at the time why they weren't going both deeper and more than ten to fifteen metres eastwards or so into the Stroh farm when obviously it was contaminated from Uniroyal Chemical. Finally of course let us not forget Sandy Shantz's and Mark Bauman's dirty, lying behaviour to justify scrapping the best CPAC (Chemtura Public Advisory Committee) there had ever been in 2015. They were setting the table for this sham of an exercise to also justify an east side By-Pass. A strong CPAC as in strong in the public interest was the very last thing Shantz and Bauman wanted as it would most likely raise holy hell over this whole east side By-Pass plan. Keep in mind it was not public displeasure or criticism that motivated Shantz and Bauman. It was Chemtura Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Environment (M.O.E.). Neither one of them give a hoot about the public interest in Elmira. 

Mamba SSM architecture

Python 16.4k Updated Nov 11

Location: Ontario, Canada (Hybrid/Virtual) | 🕒 3–5 hours per month
MumsFirst is growing — and we’re looking for passionate Volunteer Board Directors to help guide our next phase of impact. If you believe in empowering women and newcomer mothers through community, leadership, and economic opportunity, we would love to hear from you.

MumsFirst is a grassroots nonprofit dedicated to empowering mothers through community connection, skills development, and economic advancement. We support women as they build their entrepreneurial ventures or navigate their career pathways, helping them develop confidence, leadership, and long-term financial independence. Our programs provide practical training, strengthen family well-being, and open doors to both entrepreneurship and meaningful career opportunities. At MumsFirst, we believe that when mothers thrive, families flourish an entire communities rise.

What You’ll Do (Board Responsibilities): As a Volunteer Board Director, you will:
✅ Attend and participate in regularly scheduled Board meetings
✅ Provide governance support aligned to our mission & strategic plan
✅ Contribute to financial oversight and fiscal responsibility
✅ Support fundraising and advocacy efforts
✅ Help strengthen relationships with donors, partners, staff & community stakeholders
✅ Offer expertise and guidance to support growth & organizational development
✅ Serve on at least one Board sub-committee

✅You Are Someone Who…

• Is motivated to give back
• Sees the big picture
• Enjoys strategic conversations and problem-solving
• Likes working with mission-driven teams
• Welcomes challenge and acts with purpose

We’re looking for candidates with:

✅ Leadership experience
✅ Strategic thinking and strong problem-solving skills
✅ Financial literacy / governance awareness
✅ Excellent communication and collaboration skills
✅ Commitment to MumsFirst’s mission, vision & values

We are especially interested in applicants with experience in:

• Legal
• Fund Raising
• Human Resources
• Finance / Accounting

If you believe you’d be a great fit— we encourage you to apply!

Application Deadline: Monday Dec 8th

Please email: Udeme@mumsfirst.ca

With your resume and a short cover letter sharing your interest and qualifications

The post Mumsfirst appeared first on Capacity Canada.

On the first Tuesday of every month, we’ll announce a new Fearless Female, including a video interview of them sharing their business story. Want to be featured as a Fearless Female?

Contact Memberships for more details. The Fearless Female Program would not be possible without our Title Sponsor, Scotiabank.

To learn a little more about the Scotiabank Women Initiative, and why they’ve chosen to sponsor this program, see the video below.

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The Fearless Female we’re featuring for the month of November is Alysia Christiaen, Chief Brand & Strategy Officer at Lerners LLP. 

Alysia Christiaen is the Chief Brand & Strategy Officer at Lerners LLP, where she leads firm-wide business development, marketing, and brand initiatives across multiple offices. With over 15 years of experience as both a practicing lawyer and strategic leader, she combines deep legal expertise with a proven track record of driving revenue growth, strengthening market presence, and fostering cross-practice collaboration. She is also deeply engaged in the community, serving on the board of the Parkinson’s Society Southwestern Ontario. Alysia is a frequent speaker on privacy, innovation, and strategic leadership. She describes herself as a fashionable foodie who loves to share recommendations for hidden gem restaurants.

To learn more about Alysia’s journey as a Fearless Female, watch the interview below (or read the written format).

How did your education and professional background prepare you for a leadership role?

I’ve been lucky that I have really, I don’t want to say necessarily reinvent myself, but I have done a lot of transitioning through my law career.

Most lawyers’ kind of go into one practice area, and that’s where they spend their entire career. They become very much an expert in that one area. For me, I tried a whole bunch of different ones.

Part of it was with a personal injury. That’s what I was hired to work in after law school. And then from there, it was kind of where there was need. And the privacy practice was one that I went to our executive committee and said, I have an interest in this area of law. It’s still a very burgeoning, developing practice area. And I said, there’s a bit of a gap in the service that we’re able to provide to clients. And I expressed an interest in doing some certifications for the privacy law. I was very fortunate that Lerner’s executive committee at the time was like, yeah, this sounds like a great opportunity. We’ll support you in trying to develop this practice area.

So that kind of recognizing opportunities and being willing to take the risks to pursue those has certainly helped prepare me for leadership. And for me, transitioning out of personal injury litigation and into the corporate world, that really stemmed from me recognizing that I was no longer happy doing personal injury litigation. I can’t work another 30 years doing this. It’s not bringing me joy. So that’s when I went to the executive committee and said, this is not working for me. I love the firm. So, I did not want to leave Lerner’s, but I wanted to leave personal injury as a practice area. And I was very fortunate that Lerner’s supported me in that transition. Despite having spent 12 years building a book of business doing one area of law, they helped me transition.

And I think that really speaks to Lerner’s embracing innovation, thinking outside of the box, because it’s very uncommon for a litigation lawyer to transition into a transactional lawyer at my vintage. There’s a lot of movement when you are younger, you’re still trying to decide what practice area you want to land in. To do it at my, I think it was 12 years out when I made that transition.

So, I think also that whole experience helped me in terms of becoming the leader that I am today in recognizing the importance of your mental health, mental wellbeing, your job providing you with purpose and joy. You’re not going to do the best job for your clients if you aren’t happy and you’re miserable every day at your job. It just becomes very hard to give it your all when just being there is a struggle for you.

I try to lead my team with that in mind. I want to make sure that they are feeling fulfilled, that I’m creating a space where they feel comfortable coming to me to tell me if they aren’t feeling joy. Because I was very fortunate in having that feeling when I went to the managing partner and had a very frank conversation.

It was essentially like, I’m not happy. And I was fortunate to have him be like, let’s put our thinking caps on and we’ll figure this out. It’s certainly something that I bring into my leadership with my team.

I want them to know that they can come to me, and we’ll come up with a solution together.

When did you join Lerners?

I joined Lerners in 2009. That’s the year that I was called to the bar. I became a partner at Lerners in 2016 and then transitioned into the role of Chief Brand and Strategy Officer this year in July 2025.

What are some of the highlights of your career so far?

It’s not necessarily like, you know, it’s in the paper type of accomplishment. But I think just having the confidence in myself to, you know, make these transitions, very stressful. And, you know, I just kind of thought, you know, there’s no better investment that you can make than in yourself. To me, you know, investing myself and my happiness, you know, it’s low risk.

And so, I’m quite happy that I had the courage to do the career transitions that I have. Because, you know, I think about where I was in terms of happiness, you know, during the pandemic with my career and what I was doing, and where I am now. And it’s just, it’s night and day.

And it’s all because I was willing to take a risk and just see what happens. And, and it’s really, I’m lucky it’s worked out.

Tell us about the Rising Star Award that you received.

I did win the rising star, which is an award given to young lawyers under the age of 40 that are excelling in their law practice, which was a nice accolade to receive.

It’s, you know, it’s a national award. So, you are applying and going up against, you know, very talented peers across the entire country. So yeah, it was a really, it was great honor to be recognized with that award.

What challenges have you faced in your career?

Yeah, so I would say like, one of the challenges that I’ve had to face is having to rebuild my team. There were some exits last year; there were some leave of absences. And they all happened at one time.

And it was stressful, for sure. I laugh because I’m almost have my full team compliment. But up until today, so just the end of October, there’s been one day this year that I’ve had a full team.

So yeah, so that has certainly been a challenge. And I, you know, I commend the team, because we have been able to kind of rise to the challenge. We’ve been able to execute on deliverables for the firm.

It’s been nice to be able to really reflect on the team members that we need to add the skill sets that we need to incorporate onto the team. So certainly, it was stressful. It all in terms of that challenge, it also provided me an opportunity to get into more of the operations side of my team.

Having spent so many years practicing law, I understand the service that we are selling. But I don’t have the same skill set when it comes to the actual marketing side of my role. So I was able to get exposure, hands on, because we, you know, you jump in, when there’s, you know, a need on the team.

You know, I very much of the mindset that we’re a team, we win as a team, we lose as a team. I have often said, the worst thing that you can say to me is that something is not your job. The job is to make sure that the team is succeeding.

And if that means that you need to be, you know, making a social media post on Canva, if you are a director, that’s what needs to be done. Because that’s where, you know, we’ve got a red flag there, we’ve got a fire to put out there. So that’s where we need to direct the resources.

So very much like we’re a team. And certainly, it’s a philosophy that I stand by. And if my team needs me to be in the swag closet, pulling swag, because a lawyer has a dinner that they’re going to tonight, and they’re like, oh, I need to bring some things to hand to my guests.

Okay, where’s the closet key? And I’ll go down and pull that because everybody else has something that they’re working on and needs their attention. So very much a team approach.

Knowing what you know now, is there anything you’d do differently?

No, there’s nothing I would do differently. Everything that I have done to date has given me the skill set that I’m able to leverage today. You know, litigation, you know, can think on my feet, I can, you know, defend a position, doing the transactional work, expose me to the demands that a business owner is faced with. And at the end of the day, that’s what a law firm is. We are a business.

We’re providing a professional service to our clients. But you know, just like an accounting firm is a business, so is a law firm. So, I’ve been able to gather a skill set that I’m able to rely on in this role.

What methods and strategies have you used to help you grow professionally?

So, the methods and strategies that I’ve used to build my career, certainly mentorship has been key. And I’ve been very fortunate to have some amazing mentors through my both through my law career and now in my executive position that has been extremely helpful in terms of having people that I can go to bounce ideas off, you know, kind of talk through things. Like literally, with one of my personal injury files, two weeks ago, I reached out to a mentor, even though we’re both partners, and I literally was like, I just need to talk this through with you.

Like I need to just have a second set of ears on this to make sure I’m not missing anything. And right away, he’s like, yeah, no problem. Like, let’s talk this through.

So that has been important to me or finding allies. I can’t stress enough how important it is for women to find allies, to find, and they don’t necessarily have to be other women, but certainly having people that are going to be singing your praises and your accolades in rooms that you’re not in. That has been, I’ve been so lucky to have built relationships with women like that.

I certainly try to have that kind of a role for, you know, the women in my life. When I can, you know, shine a light on one of my friends, on a colleague, that’s certainly something that I want to be able to do, because I’ve been fortunate enough to have a network of women who have done that for me. Community involvement has been a huge part of how I have built my network.

I’ve sat on several boards throughout my career. One local group that I love being part of is SheShares with the Waterloo Region Hospital Foundation. It is an organization that harnesses the collective power of women.

So everybody, you know, comes together, we all donate funds, the funds get pooled, and then at the end of the year there is a meeting where we hear from members of the hospital about different projects or initiatives that are in need of funding, and the group together decides which of these projects we want to support with the funds that we’ve raised throughout the year. So that’s a great local initiative that, you know, I can’t speak highly enough of. Again, business development has certainly, obviously, moving into the role that I’m in now, has been something that I have been able to excel at.

It’s not to say you might not have to go into the room with hundreds of people on occasion, but spend the bulk of your business development time on initiatives that you like doing because business development is, it’s not always where you want to spend your time. It’s very future looking. It’s not what’s going to put money in the revenue line right now. It’s about what’s going to put revenue in that line down the road.

Tell us more about your involvement in the London Sciences Health Foundation

Yes, so currently, I’m on the board for the London Health Sciences Foundation for Tech Alliance, which is a very similar to Communitech here locally in KW. I’m also on the board for Parkinson’s Society Southwestern Ontario

Tell us more about Lerners Women’s Symposium

Yeah, so the Learners Women Symposium is an annual event that we put on where we bring in a speaker who will talk about various topics of interest to women. And then we have an opportunity to network with the attendees.

So, it’s very much open to women of any stage of their career from any industry to really learn a bit from our speaker. And then to have an opportunity to meet people who might not necessarily be in their circle. So, it’s been a great success.

I’m really, happy with that initiative. Last year, we had a comedian come and speak to us about mental health. We’ve had a professor from Rotman School of Business come and speak about networking.

So, we really tried to identify an issue that would be of interest to female professionals, female leaders, so that they have an opportunity to come and learn as well as to meet some new people.

How do you personally define success?

So, I personally define success as happiness. I, you know, went through a period where I was not happy in my career.

And that really provided me with a valuable lesson that there is an intrinsic value in happiness that is often discounted. Especially when you’re younger in your career, you can become very focused on like, how much money am I making? What’s my title? You know, these are important things, you know, to set us goals, but at the end of the day, there’s no guarantee that they’re going to make you happy. So, for me, being happy in my job, you know, looking forward to getting to the office and seeing my team and doing the work that I do, that to me is what success is.

What are some of your core values that you have integrated into your professional life?

So, I think one of the core values for me is respect. I treat every person on my team at the law firm in general with the same amount of respect. I don’t care what your title is, whether you work in the mail room, whether you’re the managing partner, the chair of the firm, the success of the firm depends on everybody there.

If one person can’t do their job, then the whole firm suffers. So I really try to instill that value in the way that I lead my team, because everybody has an integral role to play, whether you have been, you know, you’re fresh out of school and you’re new and you’re learning, or you are a veteran on the team and you are, you know, mentoring the people that are coming new to the team. You know, that is the core value that I operate by.

What are some of the best ways to recruit talent and build teams?

I would say an important part of building a strong team is collaboration. Everybody needs to feel like they can provide input that, like I said, you know, team success, the team succeeds together, we fail together. And a team failure is a lot easier to swallow if you have been part of that, and you can learn from that, because it’s a team mistake.

And so, to me, collaboration, making sure that everybody feels like they can share their ideas, not be afraid to say, you know, I don’t really agree with this direction, like maybe we should think about, you know, this factor, or moving in this opposite direction. So, collaboration, providing that safe space for people to share honest criticism, honest feedback. To me, that’s what allows the team to excel.

What are some of the benefits of establishing your business in Waterloo Region?

To me, the tech sector in KW is incredible. There is so much opportunity and innovation in KW, which we’re really excited about being able to embrace. And I certainly try to, you know, bring that innovation into my team.

So that, to me, is something that excites me about having our KW office and being able to lead a team in KW.

What inspires you?

What inspires me is, you know, trying to make the world, might be a bit too general, but make somebody’s day better every day. So that might be, you know, as simple as, you know, holding the door for somebody, and who’s, you know, saying hello to somebody who’s looking a little bit down.

The volunteer work that I do, you know, pointing something out to a client when I was doing the corporate work, being like, have you thought about that? And then being like, oh, wow, you know, like I hadn’t, like, thanks for, thanks for raising that. So, to be able to, you know, finish the day feeling like I have made it better for one single person, that to me is what inspires me, is trying to, you know, make sure that every day is a bit better because of an action that I have done that has impacted on somebody.

What advice would you give to other professionals?

Yeah, so I would say take risk is advice that I would provide to women and to leaders. I have been able to transition into this role because I was willing to take risks, take risks in terms of having difficult and potentially uncomfortable conversations, taking risks in terms of moving into practice areas that I didn’t have any experience in, and trusting in myself to be able to figure it out. And I think that is something that women often lack, is the confidence in themselves that, to know that they’ll figure it out. There might be a job posting and you have experience or qualifications for 70% of it.

Well, apply. Like, just take the risk. What’s the worst that happens? You don’t get an interview.

Okay, well, no harm, no foul. But if you haven’t even put the application in, you absolutely are not going to get an interview. So, like, take risk, especially in yourself.

I mean, like, it is the lowest risk gamble you can take, you know, taking a risk that, you know, is going to result in something better for you. So, I would say, risk-taking, whether you’re a leader or a woman, you know, starting off in her career, don’t be afraid to take risk. That’s amazing.

What value does Lerners see in community involvement?

Very important value for Lerners is being involved and engaged in the communities where we have offices. You know, we’re new to the KW region.

We are in our fifth year here in this area. So, a great way for us to get to learn about the community, but also to help the community learn that we’re here is to become engaged in community organizations. So, I mean, the hostel has been, you know, one of the key ones for us, the chamber, obviously has been, you know, great to get to meet other business professionals in the community.

You know, we’ve sponsored several of the Chamber events, which has allowed us to, you know, get brand awareness for the law firm, but also for the lawyers to meet people in the community. So yeah, so very much whenever we come into a new community, we want to make sure that we’re building relationships, but also, you know, supporting the community that we want to support us.

Are there any side projects that you are working on?

So, a couple of years ago, I started, I guess I would call it an online community called Child Free Women in the Workplace.

And it’s really meant to raise awareness about folks at work who do not have kids and kind of different experience, sometimes discrimination that people without kids face often there can be you know different expectations on them in terms of you know workload when they can should be taking holidays who has to work late who has to work in the evenings who needs to be at the office early when you don’t have kids the expectation is it’s easier for you to kind of have that flexibility because you don’t have child care responsibilities.

So, I’m really excited about the ability to raise awareness about the perspective of child-free workers. And I really think it’s something that employers need to be turning their minds to because more individuals are choosing to not have children. So obviously, it’s very important that there are policies in place that support those that choose to have children, but you don’t want to do that to the exclusion of recognizing the different needs and priorities of your child free workers.

Where can we find out more about you and Lerners?

LinkedIn, I would say would be the best spot to find me. And then obviously the Lerner’s website, if they’re looking for more information about the law firm.

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The post Fearless Female (November): Alysia Christiaen appeared first on Greater KW Chamber of Commerce.

I don't believe a thing that professional liars tell me. That includes mayors, some councillors, regional authorities and most certainly provincial ones especially the Ministry of Expanded Corporate Pollution (MECP) also known as the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks. Just so you know this last comment isn't about wee Dougie Ford's pro business, screw the environment  at every opportunity, Conservative agenda. Liberal governments before him have been doing the very same thing in permitting the sham "cleanup" here in Elmira for decades. 

Hence this By-Pass could be started within two years or still not begun in twenty years. Politicians have zero shame and lying for them has become an art form. I mean really Dougie Doo is going in the exact opposite direction as to what citizens en masse have clearly enunciated for decades. They want less not more water pollution  They want air that doesn't come with health warnings for half the summer. They want fewer pesticides and other chemicals in their foodstuffs. They want and expect proper, professional government oversight of chemicals  (PFAS, PFOS),  including new ones invented by industry. They expect that the adage "Polluter Pays" actually happens. Here in Elmira the citizens both pay through taxes and through mostly past egregious health assaults.

There is something called the "Precautionary Principle" regarding introducing new emissions and discharges and for approving new commercial and industrial developments. It is virtually ignored by every politician because our courts ignore it. Our courts insist upon scientific evidence to the nth degree before they will say no to monied clients using them as final arbiters for "progress".  The proposed land assembly in Wilmot doesn't even admit what the final development will be on the 700 acres partially assembled to date by the Region of Waterloo. Regional and provincial authorities hide behind NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements) in order to stifle transparency and opposition. Our courts let them.

We have abandoned the future and our children and grandchildren will appropriately blame us. Yes the powerful and wealthy have shamelessly expanded their influence by lying and manipulation and cheerfully breaking laws when it serves them. They know that their bought and paid for friends in politics will insulate them from either serious legal punishment when they are caught or even more likely shield them from legal action before it even gets started. Afterall it's the professional liars and politicians who make the laws in the first place. They don't make them to ensnare their friends, colleagues, lobbyists, and supporters. They make them to ensnare us. Thank God they can't pervert every single employee or staff member in the judicial system. Yet.

The post Podcast: Boots and Hearts Music Festival: Straight from the Festival Grounds with Jessie T appeared first on Jessie T.

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♦Outspoken Presents: A Community Event
Thursday, November 27
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
FREE
KW Habilitation – 99 Ottawa St. S, Kitchener

Join Outspoken for A Community Event where speakers Debbie Chapman and Mike Morrice share their thoughts on advocating.  Debbie Chapman is the City Councilor of Ward 9 and Mike Morrice was a Member of Parliament for Kitchener Centre from 2021 to 2025 with the Green Party for Kitchener Centre. Learn how to use your voice in your community and how you can create change.

Click here for more info

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♦Fairview Park Tree Lighting Celebration
Friday, November 21
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
FREE
Fairview Mall near Entrance 1 – 2960 Kingsway Dr. Kitchener

It’s the most wonderful time of the year and hosts 91.5 The Beat’s Kat & Dave are kicking it off with some sparkle! Bring your family, your friends and all the holiday cheer you’ve got for the Annual Tree Lighting Celebration. Enjoy choir performances from Chicopee Hills and Jean Steckle Public Schools, a magic show and the big finale of a Tree Lighting countdown with Santa. This festive evening is filled with music, magic, and twinkling lights that will make your holiday spirit shine.

Click here for more info

♦The Third Annual Holiday Market
Sunday, November 16
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
$2 Admission
Bingemans – 425 Bingemans Centre Dr. Kitchener

Kick off the holiday season at this Holiday Market hosted by Butler Twins Custom Engraving! With over 100 amazing vendors, there’s something for everyone. Enjoy sweet treats, festive holiday décor and a magical meet and greet with Santa. The first 80 shoppers will receive a free swag bag! This year proceeds raised will support Shelter Movers Charity. They’re also collecting non-perishable food items for the KW Food Bank. Shop local and create lasting memories at the Holiday Market.

Click here for more info

♦Culture Kitchen
Monday, November 17
1:30 PM – 3:30 PM
FREE – Registration Required
Health Caring KW – 44 Francis St. S, Kitchener

Discover the rich flavours and traditions of various cultures through this interactive cooking class. This is a great opportunity to learn new cooking techniques and kitchen skills. This monthly class features a new type of cuisine each session.

Click here for more info

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♦Do you drink pop or know someone who does? That little tab that helps opens the pop can could make a big difference in the life of another person. It might seem like something small, but it all adds up! Collect pop tabs (or pull tabs) from aluminum cans and bring them to the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 50 – 524 Belmont Avenue West, Kitchener. The Legion will turn all of that metal into cash to purchase mobility devices for people who need them.

Recently, KW Habilitation dropped off a bunch of pop tabs to the Legion to help out. KW Habilitation has a container inside Grant’s Cafe for those that want to add to the collection there. You can also bring your own collection of pop tabs to the Legion at anytime during their regular business hours and drop them off at the bar there. Small contributions when combined together can make a big impact!

Click here for more info

The post November 12, 2025: What’s Happening in Your Neighbourhood? appeared first on KW Habilitation.

Dear Friend,

When your childhood is marked by fear and harm, hope can feel out of reach and false feelings of guilt and shame can take root – leading to many negative life outcomes. But with the right support for child and youth victims journeying through the justice system, healing begins, and futures become brighter.

As we approach the end of 2025, we’re asking for your urgent support for young survivors in our community! Your gift will make a huge difference, especially as all donations currently being received are being matched by William Knell & Company Limited, up to $20,000!

The impact our services have for young people to move forward from their trauma is difficult to overstate. One grandparent shared, “If these services were not available when our granddaughter needed them during a very troublesome time… I feel we would’ve lost our battle to keep her grounded and safe.”

At Child Witness Centre, we stand with young survivors as they reclaim their power and rebuild their tomorrow. It’s only possible through your generosity – especially as we push back against the threat of a waitlist for kids returning.

Thank you for caring and choosing to help young survivors of abuse and crime. Together, we’re making it possible for much greater life stories.

Warmest Regards,
Robin Heald | Executive Director

Sensitive content: This video includes themes of abuse and violence. Please watch with care.

One more note from Robin: I’m so grateful for the amazing new video found on this page, which was sponsored and produced by the Aubrey & Marla Dan Foundation (AMDF). While it was performed by actors, it represents the way we’ve changed thousands of lives over the years. As a survivor, it moved me to tears – the emotions of survivorship are captured beautifully and honestly.

The post Impact More Life Stories Today first appeared on Child Witness Centre.

I was at the airport last week, sitting at one of those sticky tables that seem to have absorbed every coffee spill since 2019, when I noticed a small scene playing out across from me.

A mum. A six-ish-year-old. A tablet.

You can probably guess the order of influence.

Their flight was delayed, the queue was long, and the mum did what any sane adult would do — she handed over the iPad.

Within seconds, the child was gone. Not physically, but mentally.

Total immersion. Zero noise. Problem solved.

The mum exhaled like someone who’d just disarmed a bomb.

I don’t blame her. I’ve been on enough flights to know that sometimes survival is the parenting strategy.

But then I looked closer.

The app wasn’t a cartoon. It was a “learning game.” The kind that disguises dopamine hits as educational milestones.

Every tap produced a reward. Every pause triggered a prompt.

The bright colours and cheerful pings were choreographed to keep small fingers moving.

And they worked. The kid was locked in. They were focused and mechanical, almost eerily so.

At one point, the mum tried to intervene. “Okay, five more minutes.”

The child didn’t even blink. Just kept tapping. “Five minutes!” she repeated, louder this time.

No response.

The app won.

This wasn’t defiance. It was design.

That app was built by adults who understand cognitive reward systems better than most parents do.

The game wasn’t asking for attention — it was taking it.

To us, it’s UX. To them, it’s reality.

They’re not “using” apps; they’re being shaped by them. Their sense of time, reward, and focus is being designed — literally.

Every loop, level, and streak counter is teaching something. Not necessarily the ABCs, but a mental model of how satisfaction works.

Tap. Reward. Repeat.

We call it engagement. They experience it as compulsion.

Watching that scene, it hit me how unfair the whole system is. The parent wasn’t careless; she was outnumbered.

Most children’s apps are backed by teams of behavioural scientists, growth designers, and machine-learning models fine-tuned to extract attention.

Parents, on the other hand, are solo operators running on caffeine and guilt.

The odds aren’t good.

Designers love to say they “design for delight.”

But delight for whom?

When your product’s success depends on holding a child’s gaze longer than their developing brain can handle, that’s not delight — it’s manipulation with rounded corners and a pastel palette.

The tricky part is, it doesn’t look evil.

It looks cute.

I’m not a parent, but I do design for a living. And I know how tempting it is to say, “We’re just giving users what they want.”

Except users aren’t always equipped to know what’s good for them — especially when they’re six, bored, and waiting to board.

This is where product design grows up.

It’s not about taking away the tablet. It’s about taking responsibility for the experience it creates.

If your metric for success is “time spent,” you’re not measuring value. You’re measuring dependency.

After about forty minutes, the mum gently pried the iPad from her child’s hands.

The child screamed — not out of anger, but disorientation.

It was like waking up mid-dream.

And honestly, I got it.

That app had been their world. The terminal noise, the delay, the tension — gone. The app gave them a bubble.

The question is: at what cost?

If we’re honest, most of us would design that app exactly the same way — bright, addictive, smooth. We’d celebrate its “stickiness.”

But watching that child, I realised how thin the line is between engagement and extraction.

We talk about accessibility, inclusion, and usability. Maybe it’s time we add responsibility to the list.

Design isn’t just about what people can do. It’s about what they can’t stop doing.

That child at the airport didn’t need another “immersive experience.” They needed a product that respected their limits.

And that parent didn’t need a lecture about screen time. They needed better design.

So, to the teams building the next wave of kids’ apps:

Make them fun. Make them smart. Make them safe.

But most of all — make them interruptible.

Because sometimes, the most ethical feature you can design is an off switch.

💡 Design for focus, not fixation.

Thank you so much for reading my article. I hope you found it engaging and valuable. If you enjoyed it, a clap would tell me I resonated with you. For more articles like this, consider following me on Medium. You can also subscribe to receive new articles directly in your inbox. Also, connect with me on LinkedIn to catch my latest articles in your feed or chat.

Designed to Distract was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I get anxious about planning my meals for the week. Most times, I end up eating whatever I have left in my fridge or end up ordering takeout. But as you can imagine, they are rarely healthy options.

When I do decide to be more intentional about what I want to eat in the coming week, I find myself searching for meals that fit a specific cuisine, which is high in protein, and still is not too high in calories. If you feel like this, you are not alone.

That mental fatigue doesn’t stop at food. I have noticed a growing resistance when it comes to working on creative projects outside my job. It’s as if I’m stuck in place, mentally idle, despite having ideas I want to explore.

This reminded me of Newton’s First Law of Motion, also known as the Law of Inertia. It states that if a body is at rest or moving at a constant speed in a straight line, it will remain at rest or keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted upon by a force.

In other words, to fight inertia or resistance to doing something, whether for physical objects or personal motivation. It requires applying a “force” or influence that disrupts the current state.

In my case, this force came in the form of building a simple AI-powered tool that plans meals, organizes them in a table, and even generates the grocery list for the week. It took me about 4 hours from idea to deployment

The tech stack I used to build this mini project was:

• Streamlit (for the frontend)
• Python
• OpenAI

I did not put a lot of energy into designing any fancy user interface(UI). Frankly, I just wanted a prototype to see how it would work. I can say it did help.

This is what it looks like

What I learned this weekend is that when you focus on how good completing a task makes you feel, it’s easier to start and finish it. But when you focus on the labor involved, it becomes stressful and leads to resistance.

Will I expand this project beyond MVP? Probably not, but I feel more energised, clearer, and more excited to take on the new week.

Stop reading this. Build it. Right now

If you have been or are currently stuck in this phase, what is one tip that helped you?

I Overcame Inertia with a Weekend Project was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Waterloo Region Record published an Letter to the Editor on November 1, 2025 titled "To survive, school boards must be more transparent" written by Rich Clausi of Elmira. Richard is a retired teacher and Math Department Head.  He is also active within his local teachers retirement association and is involved local environmental issues.

Mr. Clausi's Letter is a plea for greater transparency from trustees and senior Board staff regarding monies they spend on non classroom activities. Non classroom activities unfortunately include legal costs associated with dissenting teachers, trustees, former employees . He also inquires about costs involved with school trips, retreats and conferences as well as other items.  

All in all it's about transparency and accountability which have been sadly lacking at the Waterloo Region District School Board for far too long. 

This is a tender and compassionate look at loss, family, and one woman's journey through grief after the loss of her husband as she rebuilds her life, rediscovers who she is and supports her two young daughters during an emotional time in their lives.

This is the second book in the Gold Creek series and a few of the characters from the first book make brief appearances, but they mainly stay in the background. I missed their sass and seeing their connection with each other! Jo is a much quieter character, but I was pleasantly satisfied when my guesses about how things would turn out were correct. 

I listened to the audiobook and dipped into the ebook here and there and Rosanna Pilcher did a good job narrating. And despite its focus on grief, this is a light, easy-going story that has a Hallmark movie vibe, balancing emotional topics, with sprinklings of humour to lighten the mood and a cozy cast of small-town characters who will charm you. May we all have a Hank in our lives!

This is a heartfelt story about the support of community, friends and the power of found family to help us endure life's losses and struggles and celebrate the wins, loves and new experiences. 

Hyprland is an independent, highly customizable, dynamic tiling Wayland compositor that doesn't sacrifice on its looks.

C++ 32k Updated Nov 13

Ahh the joys of being in charge of the program. You can change it on the fly and keep nosy, inquisitive citizens either at bay or off stride.  A colleague sent me a lovely coloured map  electronically yesterday.  Frankly I hadn't seen that one before and I will say that while it's still a stinker in that it conveniently for Lanxess Canada and the MECP covers up contaminated soils (courtesy of Uniroyal Chemical) on the Stroh and Martin farms, it actually avoids what I felt was a very awkward jog over to and through the Church St. bridge over the Canagagigue Creek.  In other words this route avoids the extreme north end of Union St. that would then need to be extended through the old Home Hardware property.

Likely by the time they are ready to commit to this By-Pass the Region will have anywhere from six to a dozen different routes and names to go with them. We the citizens will be asked to choose between 1a, b, or c,  2a, b, or c,  or 3a, b, or c etc. Do you think whatever the final tally (if there is one) that it will actually reflect what each and every citizen believes they are voting for?

The west side route needs much further explanation and clarification. Note to Region.  The non political definition of explanation and clarification does not equate with manipulation or obfuscation. Try very hard to remember that. For the life of me, at this time, I do not remotely see how the west side can be more expensive than a major bridge across the "Gig" plus major upgrades to keep the roadway above the floodplain levels over there on the east side of town. Unless the Region are unnecessarily adding in multiple roundabouts at every intersection on the west side plus other unneeded bells and whistles, the west side route should be safer and cheaper.