The Climigrant website and project are the fruit of a collaboration between the Global Health axis and the Ethics axis of the Quebec Population Health Research Network (QPHRN).
The project aims to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation on population migration and health. One of our goals is to communicate a message of solidarity and to show that no one, regardless of where they live, is immune from the negative effects of climate and environmental change. With these goals in mind, we have developed two stories in an illustrated graphic format.
Award-winning Quebec illustrator Sandra Dumais lent her talent to develop the two stories, which are situated in different parts of the world, and exemplify some of the adverse effects of climate change on people’s lives. One story depicts the flooding that occurred in West Island Montreal (in Quebec, Canada) in recent years, while the other describes the situation on the islands of Kiribati (in the South Pacific) which will soon be submerged by water. In telling these stories, we highlight how people may be displaced or may have to migrate to another country due to changes in their environment and the impacts of these experiences on health, including mental health.
Meet the Team
Matthew Hunt
Matthew Hunt (PT, PhD) is an Associate Professor in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy at McGill University and a researcher at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation. He leads the Ethics Axis of the Quebec Population Health Research Network (QPHRN) and conducts research related to ethics, global health and rehabilitation.
Lisa Merry
Lisa Merry (RN, PhD) is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Montreal. She leads the Global Health Axis and the Global Health Research Capacity Strengthening (GHR-CAPS) Program of the Quebec Population Health Research Network (QPHRN). She conducts research on the psycho-social well-being of migrant families around the time of birth and during early-childhood, using a transnational perspective.
Daniel Weinstock
Daniel Weinstock (DPhil) is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Law of McGill University. He is Associate Dean (Research) and the Katharine A. Pearson Chair in Civil Society and Public Policy in the Faculties of Law and of Arts. Prof. Weinstock headed the Ethics Axis of the Quebec Population Health Research Network (QPHRN) from 2015-2021. His research interests have spanned widely across a wide range of topics in contemporary moral and political philosophy – from the just management of ethnocultural and religious diversity in modern liberal democracies, to state policy with respect to children, families, and educational institutions.
Thierry Hurlimann
Thierry Hurlimann (BCL, LL.M [Specialization in bioethics]) is the coordinator of the Global Health axis and manages communications for the QPHRN. From a global perspective of equity, inclusion and diversity, his research interests focus on the interdisciplinary aspects of research ethics and on socio-ethical issues that may arise from medical technologies such as genetic sequencing.
Sandra Dumais
Sandra Dumais is a Toronto-raised, Montreal-based children’s author and illustrator. Her work focuses on storytelling, drawing from everyday life for inspiration, stories about home, community, and neighbours. Much of her comic-making focuses on mental health and family, pursuing artistic goals, and her love of dogs. She uses paints and digital mediums in her illustration and is always exploring new techniques and materials to use. In 2020, her daily comic “Staying In” detailed her family’s experience of the first 100 days of the global pandemic. The comic was featured on CBC Arts where she was interviewed about the experience of daily comic making. Sign up for news from her at www.sandradumais.com/about
Gabriella Kranz
Gabriella Kranz (B.Sc Arch, BCL, LL.B) was the coordinator of the ethics axis from 2015-2021. She promotes solutions and interdisciplinary connections to translate evidence-based research into concrete policy outcomes. She also helps develop innovative content for population health research to reach a wider audience.
Sophie Schriever
Sophie Schriever is a PhD candidate in International Studies at Université Laval and the University of Amsterdam. She holds a M.Sc. degree in International Relations from the University of Amsterdam and has two years of work experience as a journalist for the German public television ARD in Brussels. Her research focuses on the effects of the framing of migration as an adaptation strategy to climate change.
Tzvetelina Tzoneva
Tzvetelina Tzoneva (MSW; MSEd) is a PhD candidate in Social Work at University of Québec in Montréal (UQAM). She is the coordinator of the Ethics Axis of the Quebec Population Health Research Network (QPHRN). Her research focuses on identifying the structural, social and family mechanisms that affect the socialization of youth and understanding their experience of exclusion.
The Quebec Population Health Research Network (QPHRN) and the Global Health and Ethics Axes
Created in 2002 and funded by the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS), the Quebec Population Health Research Network (QPHRN/RRSPQ) is committed to strengthening research capacity and promoting networking among those involved in population health research.
The Global Health Axis addresses issues related to the health of populations at the global level, including those of indigenous communities and migrants. Global Health refers to the work, including research, that is conducted towards reducing health inequalities within and across international borders. It focuses on transnational determinants and solutions and involves the application of Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches (Koplan et al., 2009).
Public health actors (stakeholders, researchers, decision-makers, citizens) are faced with increasingly complex ethical issues (individual and collective rights, allocation of resources). This situation poses major challenges in research, intervention, and policy development for which training, networking and cutting-edge research in population health ethics are becoming essential. The Ethics in Population Health Axis is a strategic grouping which aims to bring together and build a network of researchers and stakeholders interested in ethical issues related to population health.
