The past few months in Quebec have been tough for activists fighting against racism. In October, the government passed Bill 62, a highly controversial piece of legislation that aims to “neutralize” Quebecers’ religious garb while receiving public services. The bill appeared to target Muslim face coverings in particular, including the niqab and burka. The legislation […] More »

Voodoo Hypothesis   By Canisia Lubrin Buckrider Books, $18 Voodoo Hypothesis, the first collection of poetry by Canisia Lubrin, is a stunning debut that acts as a “rejection of the contemporary and historical systems that paint Black people as inferior.” Each of Lubrin’s finely crafted poems is timely, as she infuses them with pop culture, science, […] More »

Oil’s Deep State: How the Petroleum Industry Undermines Democracy and Stops Action on Global Warming – In Alberta, and in Ottawa By Kevin Taft Lorimer, $29.95 The disturbingly incestuous movement of fossil fuel executives between government, academia, and industry is a rotted and oil-slicked family tree. In Oil’s Deep State, former Alberta Liberal leader Kevin […] More »

Tale of a Boon’s Wife By Fartumo Kusow Second Story Press, $19.95 Facing tribalism, sexism, and love in the years prior to and during the 1991 civil war in Somalia, a member of the Bliss tribe, Idil, elopes with Sidow of the Boon tribe. Knowingly marrying beneath her, Idil is adamant that her love for […] More »

My mother had given birth a few months ago. I thought it was odd, as she just turned sixty recently. I had not seen her pregnant. But there it was in the room, all formed. A baby boy. I didn’t know what his name was, only that she told me I could have him, if […] More »

In August 2015, Ala Buzreba, then the Liberal candidate for Calgary Nose Hill, was giving up her candidacy. Just 21 years old, Buzreba was trying to unseat Conservative Michelle Rempel. But that dream crumbled when a few less-than-savoury comments posted to her Twitter account during her high-school year surfaced—four years before she entered the political […] More »

Newfoundland and Labrador’s unique culture has endured in part because its people are, in many ways, remarkably similar. But the Atlantic province faces a paradox: As its population shrinks, its shared ancestry will have to change significantly in order to survive. Now, a small group of scientists and entrepreneurs on the island are jumping on the […] More »

in the end they say all poems are about hope but out of money I took this poem’s hope and pawned it I spent the money on a rhyming dictionary went home and looked out the window from my apartment you can see Hamilton mountain which is really just an escarpment like a mountain without […] More »

In March 2012, Shannon Hardy came across dozens of headlines about Prince Edward Island’s abortion policy. The Island hadn’t offered in-province abortion services for 30 years, and those seeking terminations at private clinics had to travel to Nova Scotia or New Brunswick on their own dime. “I just thought, ‘Oh my God. I can’t believe […] More »

2017 has been an exciting year for This. In both our six annual issues and online, we’ve covered municipal, provincial, and federal politics, health care, activism, Canada’s sesquicentennial, new must-see art and artists, and more. As the year wraps up, we’ve compiled our top-performing stories from 2017—the pieces that resonated with readers most, that generated the […] More »

Dear pop culture, You know I love you, but you really need to stop making me nostalgic for the technology of days gone by. Please, I beg of you, stop reminding me of the good old days like I am Lindsay Lohan and you are 2004. In Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, Adam Driver’s character Paterson refuses […] More »