Last month a photo depicting a dead woman, head destroyed, body surrounded by her own blood with the caption “I like her for her brains,” would be A-OK with Facebook.   Women, Action and the Media (WAM) published Facebook’s response to a user who reported the image, which was pretty much along the lines of: the […] More »

The Federation of Canadian Law Societies is reviewing a controversial proposal. Trinity Western University, a Christian liberal arts school in Langley, B.C., applied to add a law school to their institution in June 2012—one that imposes their Bible-based views. But now they’ve hit a snag. It’s a snag that is thousands strong. Law students and […] More »

Sanctuary! The Toronto City council passed Access Without Fear yesterday, a motion that gives basic rights to people without full immigration status. This makes Toronto the first sanctuary city in Canada, joining 31 American cities that have laws protecting non-documented immigrants. The motion affects about 400,000 migrant people living in Toronto who can’t depend on […] More »

Today, the snow-crusted supply road that winds north of Attawapiskat to the Victor diamond mine has a new blockade, right where the last one was only recently dismantled. Blockades are yet again costing mine-owner De Beers, as well as Canadians, mineral revenues, royalties, and taxes. Unfortunately in Canada, blockade stories typically begin and end like this. […] More »

When 13-year-old McKenna Pope went to buy an Easy Bake Oven for her little brother (who requested one from Santa), she was appalled to discover that the Hasbro toy only featured females on its packaging, and was only offered in the stereotypically female colours of pink and purple. But instead of settling for an unfairly […] More »

The man stood at the front of the room, facing a crowd of curious people. He appeared calm, but there was a definitive sense of sadness below the surface. “Have any of you ever felt your life slipping away from your hands?” he told the audience in Spanish (through an English interpreter). “I have.” His […] More »

This month marked the inaugural Urban Agriculture Summit in Toronto featuring Will Allen as keynote speaker, author of the Good Food Revolution and founder of Growing Power, Inc. On his website he says, “My vision is to have this world where everyone has access to good food … my work is to help to make […] More »

Yesterday was a big day for our neighbours (or, sorry, is that “neighbors”?) next door! August 1 marked the first day that United States’ federal health reform contraception mandate comes into play. Starting now, the next time that insurance companies go into open enrollment periods (the period where new policy years start and they bring […] More »

Yesterday, I learned that Kyle Scanlon, a well-loved and respected member of the trans* activist scene in Toronto, had died. Kyle committed suicide last week in his Toronto home. He’s not someone I knew well, but I’d reported on a couple events featuring Kyle’s presence in the past. It was a shock to think that […] More »

This weekend, queer folks and friends at Toronto Pride who reach for a Bud Light under the beer’s namesake music stage may be surprised to know what they’re drinking. Budweiser is just one brand sold by Anheuser-Busch, the American arm of Brazilian-Belgian multinational beer conglomerate Anheuser-Busch InBev. Just this May, Anheuser-Busch was targeted by Pulitzer […] More »

On June 9, protesters gathered outside of Nunavut grocery stores and on Parliament Hill to decry Canada’s shoddy food security situation, highlighted in last month’s scathing UN report.  At the helm of the June protests is Leesee Papatsie from Iqaluit. Papatsie started the facebook page Feeding My Family, which now boasts 21,500 members. The page […] More »