August 23, 2010
26 million hectares of forest, $17 billion, and one lonely bush pilot
For years, Joel Theriault has waged a losing battle against pesticide spraying in Northern Ontario forests. He’s made enemies in the logging business, the Ministry of Natural Resources—and even among his fellow environmentalists. What keeps him going? Illustration by Dushan Milic On a chilly afternoon in mid-June 2009, bush-pilot-turned-environmental-activist Joel Theriault is once again flying... [More >>]
January 11, 2010
Olympic Countdown: Interview with 2010 Watch’s Christopher Shaw
Christopher Shaw. Photo by Flickr user The Blackbird. Used with permission. Christopher Shaw’s day job is professor of ophthalmology at the University of British Columbia, but since Vancouver launched its bid for the Olympics more and more of his time has been spent campaigning against the Games—first as the founder of No Games 2010 and now as lead spokesperson for 2010 Watch. Shaw’s book, Five... [More >>]
October 13, 2009
Hunting waves—and peace—with the Gaza Surf Club
Could surfing really help bring Israelis and Palestinians together? Grant Shilling meets the beach bums, peace activists, and ex-soldiers who believe it’s possible Surf’s up in Ashkelon. So I hop on the train in Tel Aviv bound for the southern Israeli city with my surfboard bag in tow. The bag, stencilled with Boards Not Bombs, attracts more than a few stares and the interest of Israeli state... [More >>]
September 29, 2009
Postcard from London: On climate change, new message is “Blame Canada”
Protesters demonstrating Canada's tar sands development outside the Canadian High Commission in London. Photo by Zoe Cormier. I was pretty sure I knew what the Canadian flag, held upside down, was supposed to represent. But I had to ask anyway. Last Monday afternoon, standing outside the Houses of Parliament in London in Parliament square, I held my cell phone aloft with a hundred other protesters,... [More >>]
September 14, 2009
Honeymoon’s over: what’s next for the gay rights movement
Marriage certificates in hand, middle-class gays and lesbians have drifted away from the fight for queer rights. Underfunded and burnt out, the activists left behind say there’s still plenty of work to do. Last January, Helen Kennedy sat behind the Hockey Night in Canada desk with CBC’s Ron MacLean, explaining why her organization, Egale Canada, had filed a complaint about sports commentator... [More >>]
July 8, 2009
The Case for All-Black Schools
Africentric education could be the key to success for a generation at risk. Some say it’s just segregation by another name. The city had been embroiled in a racially charged public debate for months leading up to that landmark night last winter. At 6 p.m. more than 200 people crowded into the Toronto District School Board’s headquarters to offer passionate pleas both for and against a controversial... [More >>]
June 16, 2009
Quebec duo ATSA turn terrorism into art
Québécois artists Pierre Allard and Annie Roy celebrate 10 years of artistic shock and awe "ATTACK #6" (2003). Photo by Martin Savoie. Socially Acceptable Acts of Terrorism: that last word seems to just hang in the air. These days, not many organizations would choose to use the “T” word. But when Montreal’s public art duo ATSA (the group’s French acronym) first hit the streets... [More >>]
January 1, 2003
Remembering Anti-Racism
Can identity politics make a comeback? A few months before my 20th birthday in 1987, I scrawled “No Sandinista ever called me Paki” on the back of a Viva Nicaragua Libre T-shirt and wore it proudly around the University of Toronto campus. I was inspired by photos of black Vietnam War protestors who, echoing Muhammad Ali, carried “No Viet Cong ever called us nigger” banners. The... [More >>]
July 1, 2002
Café Resistance
In downtown Winnipeg, a group of radicals is trying to create a different kind of café/bookstore. But as David Leibl finds out, even when there are no bosses, some things in the service industry never change. There’s a disheartening tranquility about an afternoon stroll through Winnipeg’s Exchange District, the locus of what was once western Canada’s largest metropolitan centre. Many of... [More >>]
