What does it mean to be Canadian? That’s the question Iranian Canadian filmmaker Ava Maria Safai was presented with while completing her application for Telefilm Canada’s Talent to Watch program—a funding initiative that supports emerging filmmakers in producing their first feature. As part of the process, she dug into the archives of previously funded projects […] More »

Photo courtesy of Black Theatre Workshop On stage, Jerk Pork Castle’s neon lights shine bright, inviting. Inside, Neisha and Andrea anxiously sweep the floor, waiting for hungry customers. It’s another day of checking in on each other, of discussing their citizenship status in the country, of hoping. In our place, set in a fictionalized Caribbean […] More »

Photo by Celia Mendez If Quique Escamilla could summarize his musical journey in one word, it would be “grateful.” Born and raised in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, the Juno Award–winning musician grew up with a limited idea of how far music could take him. Now based in Toronto as an established and touring […] More »

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk via Pexels I was struggling in school: distracted, restless, and falling behind. I was an undiagnosed ADHDer and autistic kid, but it was the ’80s, so my fidgeting was treated as misbehaviour rather than a learning difference. I was rescued by the unstoppable hero known as creativity. My mom, a teacher […] More »

Illustration by Teddy Kang Ben wandered past the bedroom. Inside, he could hear, his mother was helping the boy get dressed. Snaking his ankle down through the cuff of the jeans she’d pooled on the floor, cajoling him to raise his arms and draping the sweater from his own closet over that other boy’s chest. […] More »

Photo by Alexander Arvelo McQuaig When Broken Pencil magazine abruptly shut down in 2024, it left a gap in the Canadian zine community. Broken Pencil launched in 1995 with a distinct focus on zines and independent culture. It also hosted Canzine, one of the country’s biggest zine fairs. Running for nearly 30 years, Canzine gave […] More »

Photos courtesy of Grilled Cheese Catherine Ouellet-Cummings was working from her old home’s dimly lit basement, scrolling on Facebook, when she saw her friend liked a Belgian kids’ magazine’s page. It was called Cuistax, which published in Dutch and French—two of Belgium’s official languages. She immediately informed her husband and work partner, Julien Boisseau, about […] More »

Image courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada, Lantern Films, and Experimental Forest Films. For the First Nations communities who coexist with the Nechako River, there’s a deep understanding that they will persist. Nechako: It Will Be a Big River Again, a documentary directed by Lyana Patrick and co-produced by the National Film Board […] More »

Illustration by Mitch Duncan The piercer first applied freezing gel all over Tora’s mouth, like sloppy lip gloss. Within 15 minutes consonants were impossible and her lips flapped around like jelly. She “chatted” with Shanna, her stylist, trying to be playful. Shanna only tilted her lips up. The piercer coughed pointedly. He held the needle […] More »

Photo by Chris LeDrew Atlantic Canada’s music scene has always been filled with rich, diverse sounds, from sea shanties to hip hop, with artists building followings far beyond home. And for over three decades, the East Coast Music Association (ECMA), the nonprofit that runs an annual awards show and industry marketplace, has been part of […] More »

Photo by Dave Swiewicki Desiree Dorion was born to play country music. Growing up in rural Manitoba, Dorion’s love of music led her to riding her bike to the Dauphin’s Countryfest, the longest-running country music festival in Canada, as a little girl. By the time she was five, the Juno nominee and member of the […] More »