Behind the G8 leaders’ photo ops and trumped-up commitments to cancel African debt, the dirty business of so-called “vulture funds” are making real debt relief impossible. As reported by investigative journalist Greg Palast on the BBC and Democracy Now, companies have been allowed to buy debts owed by African countries at a discount, and then […] More »

Seattle-based artist Chris Jordan has created a series of works we like very much. He represents abstract statistics in gorgeous visuals. We’re not talking charts and graphs here. Below is a detail of a piece that envisions 11,000 jet planes (about the number in America every eight hours). Wow. When people think green most people […] More »

On Sunday, This Magazine writer Jennifer O’Connor participated in a march for social housing leading up to the takeover of an abandoned house in Toronto. Here is her account of the action. (PHOTO: KRISZTINA KUN) “How would you like to live with roaches, no heat, no water and no money to cover basic necessities?” asked […] More »

(Billy Ballot image courtesy of the Citizens’ Assembly site) I think I work in the most interesting building in the country. 215 Spadina in Toronto is home to the Centre for Social Innovation, a crazy collection of tiny groups and operatives all on the sharp edge of social change. The Lunch ‘n Learn schedule alone […] More »

Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. For example, April’s federal and Ontario government decisions to ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs struck me as a bit of a drop in the bucket when compared with other changes that could be made to save energy, such as turning off lights in […] More »

We love our books but let’s face it. With all that paper and printing they’re probably not all that green. Well, with the help of the Green Guide Girls maybe publishing can change their ways. Some publishers already have. Maybe those biofuels aren’t such a good idea after all. AP is reporting that robust German […] More »

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is on the receiving end of criminal charges in Nigeria’s largest state of Kano in the aftermath of what the Nigerian government says was an unethical drug trial. According to a Washington Post report: The government alleges that Pfizer researchers selected 200 children and infants from crowds at a makeshift epidemic camp […] More »

This Magazine is fortunate to be associated with a number of other fiercely independent news gatherers in Canada; we tend to believe that a diversity of voices is an essential part of a democratic media system. That’s why the success of The Tyee website (which I wrote about in the magazine awhile back) is so […] More »

If you aren’t from Ottawa, you might not have heard of Dixie Landers. And if you don’t read the queer press, you probably haven’t heard that the popular and well-loved drag personality has been in a coma for the last three days, after being severely injured in a bar fight. The story hasn’t hit the […] More »

Police crackdowns on drug use lead to increases in HIV transmission. This assertion is supported by “Do Not Cross,” a just-released report from the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. To avoid HIV, hepatitis, abcesses and other health problems, ideally an injection drug user should use a new, clean needle each time. But when people are afraid […] More »

The United Nations Environment Programme is announcing a program that would see a billion trees planted in 2007. We’re not sure how feasible that is, really. As of this blog post UNEP had planted just over 14 million trees. It’s almost June! New York City union activists have enlisted an ally in their fight for […] More »