Those who still support Canada’s military presence in Afghanistan should read Malalai Joya’s new book, A Woman Among Warlords. Joya was suspended in 2007 from the Afghan Parliament for denouncing the presence of warlords in government. However, Joya doesn’t just stop at opposing the corrupt government of Hamid Karzai or the Islamic Fundamentalism of the […] More »

In the best example of Catch 22 that I can think of since, well, Catch 22, it seems our prime minister, Stephen Harper, will not be attending the international climate change talks in Copenhagen in December because it is unlikely any final deal on climate change will be met—though that is partly thanks to months […] More »

I was sitting in my meditation practice working on quieting my thoughts when it hit me—religion could stop climate change. Well perhaps it wasn’t such a stroke of enlightenment, as it was keeping my ears open.  In this style of Buddhism led by Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thích Nhất Hạnh, the practice contains the reading […] More »

Three years ago, at least partly a result of an unusually warm winter, climate change broke through mainstream media as a major issue. Today, I’m experiencing a bit of a déjà vu. It is mid-November and yesterday there was a high of 18 degrees in Toronto. While we might relish a balmy November day after […] More »

Students, faculty, workers and community members will march today, November 5th, as part of the Campaign for a Poverty-Free Ontario. Organized by the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) and allied groups, this Day of Action calls on the McGuinty government to take concrete steps to eliminate poverty in Ontario by adequately funding social services and […] More »

It’s now been a year since the tour. His ecoHoliness David Suzuki joined his Foundation with the Canadian Federation of Students and the Sierra Youth Coalition as he spoke to youth across the country and to George Stroumboulopoulos on The Hour, where one particular U of Guelph student was watching.  When it came to the […] More »

[Editor’s Note: Today Darcy Higgins and Rebecca McNeil start their new blog column for This, Stop Everything, on climate change and sustainability. They’ve been blogging Stop Everything independently since September, but today we’re happy to welcome them to the This Magazine family. They’ll be contributing each Tuesday and Thursday approaching the Copenhagen Climate Convention in […] More »

If you combine my disability with Queerly Canadian writer Cate Simpson‘s sexual orientation, you may at least approximate the person who should be writing ThisAbility this week. Nevertheless, as a straight male, I’ve still been hearing rumblings of this problem among LGBT friends (and friends of friends) with disabilities for years, even though I don’t […] More »

In the interest of full disclosure, I currently work with Project Diaspora and am getting hitched to one of the founders next year in Uganda (you might be invited). However, that said, I think myself (mostly) capable of distinguishing between these personal associations and PD’s mandate. When I first joined PD in 2008, I was […] More »

It was the largest lobbying event on climate change in Canadian history: thousands of Canadians from across the country united on Parliament Hill last Saturday as part of the 350 International Day of Climate Action to demand leadership on the issue. Yet our government will hold off on making its decision to prevent catastrophic global […] More »

A quick update on a story we featured in the September-October issue of This: The threat faced by the University of Toronto’s Transitional Year Program, a special access program designed for students that do not meet the academic requirements to enter university, has been subdued, at least for now. Here’s what happened last week: Monday, […] More »