Alana Cattapan
Biographic Data
| ID | 1657970 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alana Cattapan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alana |
| FAMILY NAME | Cattapan |
| SIGNATURE | CATTAPAN A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Waterloo |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4223-6911 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 24 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Involuntary Treatment Legislation in Canada
Since 2023, three Canadian provincial governments have announced plans to establish involuntary treatment laws that would apply to people who use criminalized substances, with one province passing such legislation in 2025. In this commentary, the authors attend to the implications of this approach for pregnant people and parents and identify two key concerns. First, involuntary treatment punishes parents, likely contributing to the apprehension o…
Elective Egg Freezing in Canada
Headlesspreggos
Amid new abortion restrictions in the USA, scientific advances in genetic technologies and investigations of COVID-19 vaccinations in pregnancy, news stories about reproduction abound, often accompanied by images of what journalist Josie Glausiusz has called the "headless, legless, pregnancy bump". These images of disembodied pregnant torsos at once improve search engine optimisation for news organisations while perpetuating the view of the 'bump…
Lessons Learned Developing Client Navigation for People who are Trans and Gender Diverse
The lessons we learned have enabled us to sustain a large, diverse, research team that centers the experience of PTGD in Saskatchewan and is responsive to community need
Beyond the Constitutional Architecture
In December 2022, the Supreme Court of Canada heard arguments in a reference case about the constitutionality ofAn Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families(the Act). At issue is whether the Act infringes on provincial jurisdiction and changes the constitutional architecture by giving First Nations law governing child welfare the force of federal law. In this short Currents article, we argue that the Supreme Court…
Transforming public policy with engaged scholarship
Many people remain invisible in all stages of policymaking processes and are re/harmed by policy decisions made in their absence, even where public engagement has occurred. This lack of meaningful engagement affects those experiencing homelessness, migrant workers, northern and Indigenous women, and others with whom we have collaborated. This article demonstrates the transformative potential of recognising these ‘invisible’ actors as legitimate a…
The Abortion Caravan
Ann Denis
Community Engagement in a Time of Confinement
This article examines the significant constraints on, the necessity for, and the opportunities around community engagement in a time of confinement. We consider the compounded challenges faced by marginalized communities in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, and we follow this with reflections on the triumphs and tensions of emergent engagement practices. We then describe four exercises that we conducted before the onset of the…
Medical Necessity and the Public Funding of In Vitro Fertilization in Ontario
The recognition of a health care service as medically necessary under the Canada Health Act is contingent on a variety of practical and political factors. This article examines how in vitro fertilization (IVF) came to be understood as a medically necessary service in Ontario, focusing on the establishment of public funding for one cycle of treatment. The article argues that the legitimacy of medical necessity in the contemporary period is tied to…
Doing Academia Differently
130 Feminist Studies 46, no. 1. © 2020 by Feminist Studies, Inc. Laura Bisaillon, Alana Cattapan, Annelieke Driessen, Esther van Duin, Shannon Spruit, Lorena Anton, and Nancy S. Jecker Doing Academia Differently: “I Needed Self-Help Less Than I Needed a Fair Society” A great deal of harm is being done by belief in the virtuousness of work. — Bertrand Russell, “In Praise of Idleness” We are committed to doing academia in particular ways, and not i…
Toxic Conceptions
La recherche scientifique confirme de plus en plus le potentiel des hommes à transmettre des problèmes de santé à leur progéniture du fait de leur exposition, avant la conception, à des substances chimiques perturbatrices du système endocrinien. Le présent article examine comment les « problèmes de santé transgénérationnels transmis par les hommes » sont gérés par l’approche discrétionnaire et fondée sur le risque de l’évaluation des substances c…
Everything and nothing
This article examines how medical and scientific professionals experience and engage with the governance of embryo research in Canada. Drawing on the history of embryo regulation in Canada and the findings of a survey conducted with lab directors in Canadian fertility clinics, we identify a disjuncture between the rules established by legislation, regulations, and research ethics guidelines and the real-life experiences of professionals in the fi…
On Bioethics and the Commodified Body
Precarious labour
This article examines the relationship between social reproduction and reproductive technologies in Canada to interrogate the value in reconceiving egg donation as a form of labour, rather than as a matter of health. It argues that understanding egg donation as labour both highlights the potential for egg donors to be autonomous, agentic subjects within exploitative circumstances, and offers new possibilities for the governance of what has been, …
Frozen in perpetuity
Breaking the ice
While proponents of social (i.e., nonmedical) egg freezing argue that it is liberating for women, opponents contest that the technology provides an individualist solution to a social problem. This article comprises personal and academic reflections on the debate on social egg freezing from four young women studying reproductive technologies. We challenge the promotion of social egg freezing as an empowering option for women and question cultural …
Risky Business
This article examines exploitation as a policy rationale for the prohibition of paid surrogacy and egg donation in Canada, focusing on claims of exploitation in parliamentary transcripts and proposed legislation. Its main focus is challenging three assumptions long used to substantiate the prohibition of commercial egg donation and surrogacy, namely: that marginalized women are being exploited; that payment and exploitation are necessarily linked…
Rhetoric and Reality
In the 1989 Speech from the Throne, the Government of Canada announced the calling of a Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies. Tasked with studying and reporting on the implications of new reproductive technologies, the Royal Commission’s mandate also included an explicit statement that “women’s reproductive health and well-being” would be a primary area of concern. When the Assisted Human Reproduction Act was passed fifteen years lat…
Precarious labour
This article examines the relationship between social reproduction and reproductive technologies in Canada to interrogate the value in reconceiving egg donation as a form of labour, rather than as a matter of health. It argues that understanding egg donation as labour both highlights the potential for egg donors to be autonomous, agentic subjects within exploitative circumstances, and offers new possibilities for the governance of what has been, …
Risky Business
This article examines exploitation as a policy rationale for the prohibition of paid surrogacy and egg donation in Canada, focusing on claims of exploitation in parliamentary transcripts and proposed legislation. Its main focus is challenging three assumptions long used to substantiate the prohibition of commercial egg donation and surrogacy, namely: that marginalized women are being exploited; that payment and exploitation are necessarily linked…
Transforming public policy with engaged scholarship
Many people remain invisible in all stages of policymaking processes and are re/harmed by policy decisions made in their absence, even where public engagement has occurred. This lack of meaningful engagement affects those experiencing homelessness, migrant workers, northern and Indigenous women, and others with whom we have collaborated. This article demonstrates the transformative potential of recognising these ‘invisible’ actors as legitimate a…
Frozen in perpetuity
Community Engagement in a Time of Confinement
This article examines the significant constraints on, the necessity for, and the opportunities around community engagement in a time of confinement. We consider the compounded challenges faced by marginalized communities in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, and we follow this with reflections on the triumphs and tensions of emergent engagement practices. We then describe four exercises that we conducted before the onset of the…
Rhetoric and Reality
In the 1989 Speech from the Throne, the Government of Canada announced the calling of a Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies. Tasked with studying and reporting on the implications of new reproductive technologies, the Royal Commission’s mandate also included an explicit statement that “women’s reproductive health and well-being” would be a primary area of concern. When the Assisted Human Reproduction Act was passed fifteen years lat…
Doing Academia Differently
130 Feminist Studies 46, no. 1. © 2020 by Feminist Studies, Inc. Laura Bisaillon, Alana Cattapan, Annelieke Driessen, Esther van Duin, Shannon Spruit, Lorena Anton, and Nancy S. Jecker Doing Academia Differently: “I Needed Self-Help Less Than I Needed a Fair Society” A great deal of harm is being done by belief in the virtuousness of work. — Bertrand Russell, “In Praise of Idleness” We are committed to doing academia in particular ways, and not i…
Rhetoric and Reality
In the 1989 Speech from the Throne, the Government of Canada announced the calling of a Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies. Tasked with studying and reporting on the implications of new reproductive technologies, the Royal Commission’s mandate also included an explicit statement that “women’s reproductive health and well-being” would be a primary area of concern. When the Assisted Human Reproduction Act was passed fifteen years lat…
Breaking the ice
While proponents of social (i.e., nonmedical) egg freezing argue that it is liberating for women, opponents contest that the technology provides an individualist solution to a social problem. This article comprises personal and academic reflections on the debate on social egg freezing from four young women studying reproductive technologies. We challenge the promotion of social egg freezing as an empowering option for women and question cultural …
Risky Business
This article examines exploitation as a policy rationale for the prohibition of paid surrogacy and egg donation in Canada, focusing on claims of exploitation in parliamentary transcripts and proposed legislation. Its main focus is challenging three assumptions long used to substantiate the prohibition of commercial egg donation and surrogacy, namely: that marginalized women are being exploited; that payment and exploitation are necessarily linked…
Frozen in perpetuity
On Bioethics and the Commodified Body
Precarious labour
This article examines the relationship between social reproduction and reproductive technologies in Canada to interrogate the value in reconceiving egg donation as a form of labour, rather than as a matter of health. It argues that understanding egg donation as labour both highlights the potential for egg donors to be autonomous, agentic subjects within exploitative circumstances, and offers new possibilities for the governance of what has been, …
Everything and nothing
This article examines how medical and scientific professionals experience and engage with the governance of embryo research in Canada. Drawing on the history of embryo regulation in Canada and the findings of a survey conducted with lab directors in Canadian fertility clinics, we identify a disjuncture between the rules established by legislation, regulations, and research ethics guidelines and the real-life experiences of professionals in the fi…
Toxic Conceptions
La recherche scientifique confirme de plus en plus le potentiel des hommes à transmettre des problèmes de santé à leur progéniture du fait de leur exposition, avant la conception, à des substances chimiques perturbatrices du système endocrinien. Le présent article examine comment les « problèmes de santé transgénérationnels transmis par les hommes » sont gérés par l’approche discrétionnaire et fondée sur le risque de l’évaluation des substances c…
Community Engagement in a Time of Confinement
This article examines the significant constraints on, the necessity for, and the opportunities around community engagement in a time of confinement. We consider the compounded challenges faced by marginalized communities in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, and we follow this with reflections on the triumphs and tensions of emergent engagement practices. We then describe four exercises that we conducted before the onset of the…
Medical Necessity and the Public Funding of In Vitro Fertilization in Ontario
The recognition of a health care service as medically necessary under the Canada Health Act is contingent on a variety of practical and political factors. This article examines how in vitro fertilization (IVF) came to be understood as a medically necessary service in Ontario, focusing on the establishment of public funding for one cycle of treatment. The article argues that the legitimacy of medical necessity in the contemporary period is tied to…
Doing Academia Differently
130 Feminist Studies 46, no. 1. © 2020 by Feminist Studies, Inc. Laura Bisaillon, Alana Cattapan, Annelieke Driessen, Esther van Duin, Shannon Spruit, Lorena Anton, and Nancy S. Jecker Doing Academia Differently: “I Needed Self-Help Less Than I Needed a Fair Society” A great deal of harm is being done by belief in the virtuousness of work. — Bertrand Russell, “In Praise of Idleness” We are committed to doing academia in particular ways, and not i…
The Abortion Caravan
Ann Denis
Transforming public policy with engaged scholarship
Many people remain invisible in all stages of policymaking processes and are re/harmed by policy decisions made in their absence, even where public engagement has occurred. This lack of meaningful engagement affects those experiencing homelessness, migrant workers, northern and Indigenous women, and others with whom we have collaborated. This article demonstrates the transformative potential of recognising these ‘invisible’ actors as legitimate a…
Lessons Learned Developing Client Navigation for People who are Trans and Gender Diverse
The lessons we learned have enabled us to sustain a large, diverse, research team that centers the experience of PTGD in Saskatchewan and is responsive to community need
Beyond the Constitutional Architecture
In December 2022, the Supreme Court of Canada heard arguments in a reference case about the constitutionality ofAn Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families(the Act). At issue is whether the Act infringes on provincial jurisdiction and changes the constitutional architecture by giving First Nations law governing child welfare the force of federal law. In this short Currents article, we argue that the Supreme Court…
Headlesspreggos
Amid new abortion restrictions in the USA, scientific advances in genetic technologies and investigations of COVID-19 vaccinations in pregnancy, news stories about reproduction abound, often accompanied by images of what journalist Josie Glausiusz has called the "headless, legless, pregnancy bump". These images of disembodied pregnant torsos at once improve search engine optimisation for news organisations while perpetuating the view of the 'bump…
Involuntary Treatment Legislation in Canada
Since 2023, three Canadian provincial governments have announced plans to establish involuntary treatment laws that would apply to people who use criminalized substances, with one province passing such legislation in 2025. In this commentary, the authors attend to the implications of this approach for pregnant people and parents and identify two key concerns. First, involuntary treatment punishes parents, likely contributing to the apprehension o…
Elective Egg Freezing in Canada
Political science (17 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Law (14 works) · Law (12 works) · Reproductive Health and Technologies (8 works) · Biology (5 works) · Business (5 works) · Medicine (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Public relations (5 works)