Dexter Nyuurnibe has the ability to command attention in any room. The 24-year-old is well-spoken, well-dressed, and charming. He’s a self-proclaimed lover of people, pugs, poutine, and unicorns. He’s that guy at the bar who ensures everyone is having a good time. He’s also probably the last person you would think would be struggling with mental […] More »

The fifth entry in the Black Panther Party’s (BPP) 10-point platform reads, “We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society.” The seventh is an all too familiar demand for “an immediate end […] More »

For the last year, University of British Columbia (UBC) graduate Glynnis Kirchmeier has been working to hold her alma mater accountable for the sexual violence that happens on its campus. The paralegal has developed 44 recommendations for how the university can better respond to reports of sexual violence—what she calls her “unfinished business” in B.C. Her […] More »

When Charlotte Hrenchuk moved to Whitehorse in 1988, she didn’t intend to stay. She and her husband had been living in Alberta, and when he got a job with the Yukon government as a wildlife technician, she followed him north—“a very non-feminist thing,” Hrenchuk says with a laugh. They planned to move back south after a […] More »

All too often, people with disabilities are left out of the body positivity conversation. That’s why when Andrew Gurza was asked to pose in Toronto alt-weekly Now magazine’s “Love Your Body” issue in January 2015 completely naked, he felt excited and hopeful to start a dialogue about bodies that are not typically considered beautiful. “I like […] More »

Stephen Harper didn’t hide what he thought of working people. His government waged attacks against collective bargaining. They tried to force unions to develop overly bureaucratic measures to make their finances public to non-members. They resisted and dismantled social programs that help people, even if they had few or no benefits through their work. And they […] More »

As a teenager, Nasra Adem wrote in her journal about “dumb boys” and watched videos of spoken word poetry and slams on YouTube. Inspired by poets such as Carvens Lissaint of New York’s The Strivers Row, she started posting videos of herself performing, waiting on the courage to do so in front of a live audience. […] More »

If you think Canadians live with a massive excess of water, think again. Mike Nagy, the chair of the Wellington Water Watchers (WWW), a non-profit dedicated to protecting the local waters in Ontario’s Guelph-Wellington region, says many are disillusioned by this idea that’s patently untrue. But thanks to the spotlight the WWW has shined on Nestlé […] More »

On the morning of the U.S. election last November, I logged onto Twitter and spent several hours arguing about privilege—mostly white, but also male—with someone who believed the entire concept was, itself, racist and sexist because he “judges people individually,” systemic issues be damned. As often happens, the discussion devolved to me calling him “willfully obtuse” […] More »

A lullaby sombrely lilts through a theatre as stage lights reveal a teenage Ghanaian girl. She is dressed simply but neatly, in a patterned blue dress and white shoes. There is a venturesome spark in her eyes as she stares toward an audience unseen. She begins to speak dreamily of a fairytale land she imagines by […] More »

In 1992, Michael McCarthy visited his doctor hoping for answers. McCarthy had been feeling sick for years—fatigued, with aching joints and pain in his abdomen. “They said, ‘By the way, you have hepatitis C,’” McCarthy recalls. “I said, ‘What’s that?’ And they said, ‘Don’t worry, it’ll take years to kill you.’” McCarthy is among thousands of hemophiliacs who used […] More »