Notes from the Editors

We are delighted to present this thematic issue, guest edited by Sylvie Fortin and Sabrina Lessard, titled “An Anthropological Lens on End-of-Life: Transitions and Liminalities.” The seven contributions gathered here examine death as a liminal space, each from a distinct vantage point. Sylvie Fortin traces the temporal and social trajectory of this in-between space, while Alyson Stone considers the ambiguous status of symptom-relieving cancer treatments as patients approach inevitable death. Louise Chartrand highlights how the decisions of caregivers and relatives shape the trajectory of care, and Sabrina Lessard examines how the death of a very old person becomes legitimate depending on different factors including social status. Ellen Badone engages with debates surrounding Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) for people with mental health issues, and Rachel Cummings reflects on the final moments of life while interrogating hospital ethnography and the “liminal” position of the researcher in clinical settings. Finally, Géraldine Mossière illuminates the material and creative dimensions of contemporary secular funeral rites, particularly those surrounding cremation. Together, these contributions reveal the end of life as a profoundly liminal realm, rich in uncertainty, hope, and pain, and expressed in all their nuanced forms. We are also thrilled to include three non-thematic articles. Based on research conducted in his home First Nation, Gitxaała, hagwil-hayetsk / Charles Menzies presents a story of cultural reliance and persistence of the Gitxaała people in face of economic transition. David Jaclin, Nicolas Cadieux and Marie Lecuyer dive into the experience of a collective of researchers who “dived” into the Kichissipi River, delving from an ethnographic and elemental media perspective to explore the various movements and circulations, at times geo-chemical, at times eco-cosmological, but always anthropogenic. Victoria Clowater explores the shortcomings of gender marker reform in Ontario by considering how, to have their identities recognized, nonbinary people must initiate institutional change themselves. This issue also marks our collaboration with our new Film and Exhibit Review Editor, Fiona McDonald, who presents two exhibit reviews: one by Darcie DeAngelo on Orcas: Our Shared Future at the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, and another by Kelsey C. Doyle on VALUE at the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver. We would like to wish you a wonderful end of the 2025 year and we look forward to connecting with you at our next annual meeting in Halifax.