Following graduation, she volunteered for the Canadian Wildlife Service to study raptors and carbamates, which was the basis of her PhD at Simon Fraser University.

[4] However, Mark Hanson of the University of Manitoba said her research was theoretical and lacked science to prove her hypothesis[5] and Ray McAllister of CropLife America said "the levels are well below those of concern established by EPA."

In the first study to combine field and lab work, she captured white-crowned sparrows in the spring and tried to mimic the amount of the pesticide the birds might naturally encounter.

[8] As a result, she openly criticized the EPAs approval of sulfoxaflor as an alternative pesticide by saying it "lingers a long time in water bodies, exposing aquatic insects to low but long-term doses of the chemical.

[10] In an effort to combat neonicotinoids, she formed the Canadian Prairie Agroecosystem Resilience Network with 30 university researchers, nine international organizations, and more than 30 partners from government, non-government agencies, agriculture industry groups and First Nations.