Canada’s troops are supposed to leave Afghanistan in 2011. As the conflict drags on and the death toll rises, the Canadian government and military plan for the next decade of war—this time with Canadian jets dropping the bombs On Monday, November 3, 2008, while on patrol in Afghanistan, near the village of Wech Baghtu in […] More »

In today’s edition of Listen to This, Marisa Iacobucci talks with Liz Worth, author of Treat Me Like Dirt: An Oral History of Punk in Toronto and Beyond. The book chronicles the punk scene  throughout the turbulent years from 1977 to 1981, in the words of the bands and tastemakers who made it happen. Through […] More »

Full text of the liveblog: 2:18 PM: We’re watching the Throne Speech online here: bit.ly 2:19 PM: At the moment the Governor General has arrived outside Parliament and is doing various martial duties. 2:20 PM: Please feel free to comment and add your thoughts as things go along. 2:21 PM: CTV is reporting that the […] More »

When the new study guide for immigrants applying for Canadian citizenship was published last November, a reporter asked Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney why there was no mention of Canada’s world-leading (but still-in-progress!) record on equal rights for gay and lesbian people. Here’s what Kenney said: “We can’t mention every legal decision, every policy […] More »

We’re going to try out a new feature for a bit, and see if it sticks: “Tuesday Tracks” — a small weekly collection of newish Canadian independent music. All three of our artists here have new albums being released today. First up: “Jasper” by Aidan Knight. String, sparklers, a slow-cooker — the video starts with […] More »

There’s voter apathy and then there’s Alberta. In the 2008 provincial election, a mere 41 percent of eligible voters came out. The provincial Conservative government went on to claim a historic 11th straight victory, a win that Athabasca University history professor Alvin Finkel believes was the result of Albertans not believing that there’s a viable […] More »

Despite ongoing efforts by the Harper government to shut it down, Insite, the Vancouver-based supervised-injection site, is alive and thriving, with over 10,000 registered users and around 800 daily visitors. To Mark Townsend, an Insite representative, it’s a success story that needs to be replicated in other cities. Established in 2003 as a scientific research […] More »

With today’s edition of Verbatim, we’ve got This Magazine associate editor Nick Taylor-Vaisey in conversation with Liberal Party critic for International Cooperation Glen Pearson. You can hear the original podcast of this conversation, as always, on the podcast blog. Nick and Glen discuss Canada’s humanitarian commitments past, present, and future, ranging from Darfur to Afghanistan […] More »

I grew up in the Greater Toronto Area, home to the most diverse region in all of Canada, perhaps the world, in a Hong Kong immigrant household (caveat: my Man U-loving dad raised me on soccer). I’m intensely proud of that fact. So it ruffles my feathers that, hockey so often precludes all other events — […] More »

This editorial appears in the March-April 2010 issue of This, which will be in subscribers‘ mailboxes and on newsstands next week. The earthquake that devastated Haiti on the afternoon of January 12, 2010, viscerally illustrated the need for responsible, long-term, sustainable development. For many thousands of Haitians, poverty must be considered the true cause of […] More »

Tonight’s inaugural David Lewis Lecture featuring internationally acclaimed author (and former This Magazine editor!) Naomi Klein is graciously being livestreamed by our friends at Rabble.ca. You can tune in on their website at RabbleTV, or on their Livestream channel. Or you can watch it right here starting at 8:45 PM EST: More »