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Activism

May-June 2023

Cripping the Script

Queer and disabled people are changing the narrative around masculinity— and making it their own

Tobin Ng

Michelle Peek Photography courtesy of Bodies in Translation: Activist Art, Technology & Access to Life, Re•Vision: The Centre for Art & Social Justice at the University of Guelph. Fashion spaces have long excluded people who aren’t straight, white, cisgender, able-bodied men. But for many disabled folks, the field also represents opportunity—a place where it’s possible […] More »
March-April 2023

Sea of Love

We need to rekindle our relationship with blue spaces

Kiley Best

Blue spaces like arctic and antarctic ice, saltwater ocean, rivers, and lakes make up the global ocean. They cover 71 percent of the planet and are critical to the survival of all living things. River pollution, ocean acidification and melting ice caps are on the radar of most Canadians. But dire warnings from scientists rarely […] More »
March-April 2023

Seaweed solutions

The Kwiakah First Nation’s slow, intentional approach to kelp cultivation

Fatima Aamir

Seaweed, a traditional food for many coastal First Nations in B.C., is experiencing a renaissance, thanks to its untapped carbon sequestration potential. In recent years, multiple First Nations have partnered with private companies like Cascadia Seaweed to lead this growing industry. But unlike other coastal First Nations in B.C., the Kwiakah First Nation—a small band […] More »
September-October 2022

Teaching while fat

When schools talk about inclusivity, they’re not talking about fat bodies

Dani Jansen

Illustration by Michelle Simpson I’ve been a high school teacher for 16 years now. That means I’ve spent roughly half my life in high school something I’d never have predicted as a teenager. All I wanted then was to get the hell out. I was a fat teen in the 1990s, when “heroin chic” was […] More »
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 »