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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 »
July-August 2021

Queer skaters unite

Vancouver Queer Skate unites a community

Andrew Oliphant

Keen to learn how to skateboard, Vancouver resident Jonah Bayley looked for online groups that could connect them with other queer skaters. Realizing that no such group existed in Vancouver, they started Vancouver Queer Skate (VQS) in 2019, a non-hierarchical, community-led collective that fosters allyship and inclusivity at skateparks. “Honestly, it was really surprising to […] More »
May-June 2021

When suburbia is the only home you know

My changing relationship to Markham, Ontario

Flora Pan

The excavators were a sore sight. Each machine with its little claw dug into the earth, ripping out the vegetation that grew in place of the usual rows of corn. Just like that, another piece of farmland in Markham, Ontario would be turned to houses. “I’ve had this for eight years,” I tell my boyfriend, […] More »
January-February 2021

Reality bites

Edmonton podcast investigates anti-Black racism and policing

Sofia Osborne

When George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were murdered by police in the United States, sparking protests across the world, Avnish Nanda, an Edmonton lawyer, approached Bashir Mohamed and Oumar Salifou with an idea for a podcast investigating anti-Black racism and policing in Edmonton. Within a week of launching in June, Is This For Real? had […] More »
November-December 2020

We want abolition in our lifetime

Activists are demanding an end to prisons and police

Syrus Marcus Ware

We are living in revolutionary times. The ground is shifting beneath us every day. We are seeing a radical shift in our collective consciousness about ideas pertaining to abolition and defunding the police. We are beginning to awaken to the idea that we can solve issues of conflict, crisis, and harm in ways that do […] More »
September-October 2020

The code to success

Black boys to get involved in STEM

Kevin Philipupillai

Bryan Johnson, CEO and Founder of Black Boys Code · photo by Sean Anthony Photography   As the Black Lives Matter movement spread across different industries this year, 5,874 scientists around the world signed an online pledge in support of #ShutDownSTEM. The one-day strike in June was a call to action against anti-Black racism in […] More »
May-June 2020

Inside Canada’s Airbnb crisis

First, it came for our housing, now it's coming for our neighbourhoods

Nicole Beier

Just this past year, Canadian news was constantly covering stories of vacation rentals, made possible by platforms such as Airbnb, taking the housing supply hostage. When Airbnb first launched its platform in 2008, allowing anyone to rent out their home to tourists, they unleashed a swarm of people who were desperate to “live like a […] More »
March-April 2020

Halifax’s Books Beyond Bars

Supporting inmates through literature

Michal Stein

For 15 years, a group of volunteers has been lugging tote bags of books from their library in the north end of Halifax to the women’s side of the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility, or Burnside Jail, in Dartmouth’s Burnside Industrial Park. The group is Books Beyond Bars, an anti-capitalist, non-hierarchical collective that runs a […] More »
March-April 2020

Self-care is a sham

We need to place more value on community care

JP Larocque

Dearest Fellow Millennial, Self-care is a sham. There. I said it. Look, I get it. The modern world is an exhausting one. The workday is basically whenever you’re conscious, home ownership and retirement are but a fantasy, and the spectre of global warming lurks around every corner. We’re also everyone’s favourite bad joke: a pack […] More »