The Conversation Piece

Wildfires expose how responsibility for public safety is shared—and sometimes fragmented—across systems that are not always designed to work together.Chief Ken McMullen, president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, makes the case for stronger coordination as fires increasingly move from remote landscapes into the communities where people live.Chief McMullen spoke at The Walrus Talks Wildfires in Saskatoon on April 1, 2026.To register for upcoming events happening online or in a city near you, and to catch up on our archive of The Walrus Talks, visit thewalrus.ca/events.And subscribe to The Walrus Events newsletter for updates and announcements, at thewalrus.ca/newsletters.

Discussions around public safety tend to focus on questions of order and enforcement. In practice, however, public safety is also informed by our capacity to hold space for people in crisis instead of pushing them through it.Suzanne Obiorah, chief executive officer of Somerset West Community Health Centre, reflects on a growing fracture in Canada’s response to addiction and underscores the importance of building holistic support systems as provinces turn toward new models of care.Obiorah spoke at The Walrus Talks Opioids on March 24, 2026.To register for upcoming events happening online or in a city near you, and to catch up on our archive of The Walrus Talks, visit thewalrus.ca/events.And subscribe to The Walrus Events newsletter for updates and announcements, at thewalrus.ca/newsletters.

For older adults, belonging is dependent on dignity, choice, and the ability to “age in the right place.”André Picard is a health columnist at the Globe and Mail and the author of the bestselling book Neglected No More: The Urgent Need to Improve the Lives of Canada’s Elders. This special episode of The Conversation Piece features content from his presentation at The Walrus Talks at Home: Aging and Belonging, supported by The Belonging Forum, an initiative of the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness.Picard spoke at The Walrus Talks at Home: Aging and Belonging on December 2, 2025.To register for upcoming events happening online or in a city near you, and to catch up on our archive of The Walrus Talks, visit thewalrus.ca/events.And subscribe to The Walrus Events newsletter for updates and announcements at thewalrus.ca/newsletters.

First Nations elders play a vital role in their communities. Forcing them to relocate in the pursuit of adequate health care doesn’t just undermine their dignity—it severs key familial and cultural connections.Dr. Nel Wieman is the chief medical officer for the First Nations Health Authority in British Columbia. This special episode of The Conversation Piece features content from her presentation at The Walrus Talks at Home: Aging and Belonging, supported by The Belonging Forum, an initiative of the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness.Dr. Wieman spoke at The Walrus Talks at Home: Aging and Belonging on December 2, 2025.To register for upcoming events happening online or in a city near you, and to catch up on our archive of The Walrus Talks, visit thewalrus.ca/events.And subscribe to The Walrus Events newsletter for updates and announcements at thewalrus.ca/newsletters.

Rural communities thrive when older adults are invited to remain visible within them.Dr. Olive Bryanton is a researcher, advocate for older people, and lifelong learner who completed her PhD at the age of eighty-two. This special episode of The Conversation Piece features content from her presentation at The Walrus Talks at Home: Aging and Belonging, supported by The Belonging Forum, an initiative of the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness.Dr. Bryanton spoke at The Walrus Talks at Home: Aging and Belonging on December 2, 2025.To register for upcoming events happening online or in a city near you, and to catch up on our archive of The Walrus Talks, visit thewalrus.ca/events.And subscribe to The Walrus Events newsletter for updates and announcements at thewalrus.ca/newsletters.

How can we reframe aging as a lifelong process grounded in joy, rather than a fixed state of decline?Dr. Rose Joudi is the senior adviser for gender equity, diversity, and inclusion at HelpAge Canada. This special episode of The Conversation Piece features content from her presentation at The Walrus Talks at Home: Aging and Belonging, supported by The Belonging Forum, an initiative of the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness.Dr. Joudi spoke at The Walrus Talks at Home: Aging and Belonging on December 2, 2025.To register for upcoming events happening online or in a city near you, and to catch up on our archive of The Walrus Talks, visit thewalrus.ca/events.And subscribe to The Walrus Events newsletter for updates and announcements at thewalrus.ca/newsletters.

Social media is built around rewards—a digital feedback loop of likes, shares, and comments. For teenagers, whose brains are still developing, the risks associated with those rewards may not be immediately apparent.Dr. Emma Duerden, Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience and Learning Disorders at Western University, explains how the adolescent brain’s reward system develops earlier than its cognitive control centre—and what that means for how young people experience both online and offline spaces.Dr. Duerden spoke at The Walrus Talks at Home: Teens and Screens on October 10, 2024.To register for upcoming events happening online or in a city near you, and to catch up on our archive of The Walrus Talks, visit thewalrus.ca/events.And subscribe to The Walrus Events newsletter for updates and announcements, at thewalrus.ca/newsletters.

As the 2026 Winter Olympics continue and the Paralympics approach, a familiar narrative emerges, one of triumph through determination. But resilience isn’t forged by determination alone—it is shaped and sustained by the people around us.Three-time Paralympic gold medalist Jeff Adams reflects on a wheelchair racing event where a chorus of support gave him the strength he needed to persevere through adversity, reminding us that none of us get to our finish lines alone.Adams spoke at The Walrus Talks at Home: Resilience on May 16, 2021.To register for upcoming events happening online or in a city near you, and to catch up on our archive of The Walrus Talks, visit thewalrus.ca/events.And subscribe to The Walrus Events newsletter for updates and announcements, at thewalrus.ca/newsletters.

We’re often told that improving our digital skills will help keep us safe online. Yet managing the risks we face has less to do with our own know-how than with the way technology is designed.Philosopher and public policy analyst Dr. Daniel Munro stresses the importance of reexamining digital infrastructures and challenging tech makers to create a safer, fairer digital world by confronting harmful content and algorithmic bias.Dr. Munro spoke at The Walrus Talks Digital Skills in Toronto on June 6, 2023.To register for upcoming events happening online or in a city near you, and to catch up on our archive of The Walrus Talks, visit thewalrus.ca/events.And subscribe to The Walrus Events newsletter for updates and announcements, at thewalrus.ca/newsletters.