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September-October 2022

Cops out

Winnipeg group advocates to expel police from schools

Misha Falk

Photo courtesy Police Free Schools Winnipeg In the summer of 2020, the group Justice 4 Black Lives Winnipeg (J4BLW) sparked a wave of abolitionist organizing in the city after collecting over 120,000 signatures on a petition calling for the defunding and eventual end to the Winnipeg Police Service. Inspired and called to action by the […] More »
July-August 2022

Caribou in decline

The caribou population in Quebec is dwindling due to human activity and the well-being of their habitats is in danger. Here’s why we need to be paying attention and advocating for change

Sara Hashemi

May-June 2022

Pregnant pause

I’m scared of having children on a dying planet

Laura O’Connor

Illustration by Julia Galotta I’m a young woman, who can, to my knowledge, get pregnant and has long-held dreams of being a mother. When I was a child, I spent my days dutifully caring for my dolls—who were named Baby and Popstar. When I turned 13, I started babysitting the two toddlers who lived next […] More »
May-June 2022

Not an afterthought

Disabled people are often left out of conversations about our climate future—when they should be leading the planning

A. H. Reaume

Photo by XURZON; Design by Valerie Thai At least 595 people died in B.C. from heat-related deaths during the summer of 2021. Most of these occurred during the province’s “heat dome” event, which took place from June 25 to July 1, and saw temperatures rise as high as 49.6 degrees Celsius. Many climate activists and […] More »
March-April 2022

Cop out

Winnipeg group advocates against police

Stacha Penner

Picture this: you’re ready for a good night’s rest. You crawl into bed around midnight, and just as you are about to fall asleep, thunderous juddering and whirring erupt above your house. You sit awake, startled as the Winnipeg Police helicopter circles around your neighbourhood, its bright spotlight creeping and surveying. This disruption is a […] More »
January-February 2022

Uniting Montreal’s North

Grassroots collective focuses on community

Madeline Lines

A late summer day in 2008 changed everything for the community of Montréal-Nord, a multicultural suburban borough in the city’s north end. Fredy Villanueva, an 18-year-old Honduran refugee, was shot and killed by a police officer in a park. The shock of his death rippled through the tight-knit neighbourhood, sparking immediate outrage, rioting, and protests. […] More »
January-February 2022

Plotting the revolution

Podcast explores alternative ways of living

Khadija Alam

When Zawadi Bunzigiye was assigned to create a project with some sort of community impact as part of their creative writing program at OCAD University, they were stumped. It wasn’t until a conversation with a friend that Bunzigiye decided to start a podcast. What began as an academic assignment has blossomed into a “passion project” […] More »
November-December 2021

Ride free

Transit advocates fight to freeze fares

Geoff Russ

“I think if you’re not leaning into transit as a reliance or as your first choice, you don’t really know how these fare impacts can really hit you,” says Danika McConnell, an organizer for Free Transit Edmonton (FTE). In spring 2021, Edmonton was set to raise adult cash transit fares to $3.75. It would have […] More »
September-October 2021

Mutual aid in a post-pandemic world

What does the future look like for those organizing around the immediate?

Furqan Mohamed

“We started this because it’s a need,” says Omar Kinnarath. Kinnarath is the founder and one of the organizers of Mutual Aid Society Winnipeg (MAS Winnipeg). The group started in March of 2020, immediately in the wake of the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. Stores across the city faced severe shortages of necessities: diapers, baby formula, […] More »
September-October 2021

Breaking tradition

PhD students call on university to pay a liveable wage

Isabel Armiento

At the University of Toronto (U of T), most PhD students are expected to spend at least four years working demanding and often thankless jobs, all while living below the poverty line. “It’s a very long tradition,” says June Li, finance commissioner at the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU). “You’re a PhD, you’re […] More »
September-October 2021

Get home safe

New initiative launches in response to anti-Asian attacks

Sophie Birks

In Julie Kim’s family, it’s customary to say, “Go safely” to your loved ones when they leave the house, and, “They came back safe!” once they’ve returned. Hearing about three anti-Asian attacks on the Toronto subway in the span of three days in April 2021, this family custom, and similar initiatives in the United States, […] More »