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July-August 2017

P.E.I. continues to struggle with access to health care

Islanders now have improved reproductive services. But health care in the province still needs work

Madi Haslam@madihaslam

This year, Canada celebrates its 150th birthday. Ours is a country of rich history—but not all Canadian stories are told equally. In this special report, This tackles 13 issues—one per province and territory—that have yet to be addressed and resolved by our country in a century and a half In early 2017, pro-abortion activists across Canada celebrated when […] More »
July-August 2017

New Brunswick’s population is aging fast—and the province can’t keep up

Seniors are increasingly spending their days in hospital beds on the east coast

Jonah Brunet@jonahbrunet

This year, Canada celebrates its 150th birthday. Ours is a country of rich history—but not all Canadian stories are told equally. In this special report, This tackles 13 issues—one per province and territory—that have yet to be addressed and resolved by our country in a century and a half New Brunswick has Canada’s oldest population, a near-20 percent […] More »
July-August 2017

What’s behind the high cost of food in Canada’s North?

Food insecurity in the Northwest Territories remains a pressing issue

Larkin Schmiedl@LarkinSchmiedl

This year, Canada celebrates its 150th birthday. Ours is a country of rich history—but not all Canadian stories are told equally. In this special report, This tackles 13 issues—one per province and territory—that have yet to be addressed and resolved by our country in a century and a half High food prices in the Northwest Territories aren’t new, […] More »
May-June 2017

Who treats Canada’s often-overlooked patients?

How Dr. Paul Caulford has helped and treated asylum seekers

Pema Tsering@PemaTsering1

Dr. Paul Caulford has had a busy and unusual year. Since November 2016, he’s seen an unprecedented volume of patients and treated a peculiarly high number of frostbite cases. Many of these visitors have travelled on foot from the United States, escaping the Trump administration’s anti-immigration agenda. As the co-founder of the Canadian Centre for Refugee […] More »
May-June 2017

PHOTO ESSAY: The faces behind Vancouver’s overdose crisis

Photojournalist Aaron Goodman provides an inside look at one woman's struggle with addiction on the west coast

Aaron Goodman@aaronjourno

In 2014–15, Aaron Goodman documented three drug users participating in a study to assess longer-term opioid medication effectiveness—the first heroin-assisted treatment research of its kind in North America. The collected photos and reflections formed the Outcasts Project, which aims to humanize addiction. Goodman, a PhD candidate in communication studies at Concordia University, sought to amplify […] More »
May-June 2017

The radical change Vancouver activists say will end the country’s opioid crisis

Despite government harm-reduction efforts, Vancouver remains the epicentre of Canada’s overdose crisis. Now, activists say the only solution is legalizing opioids

Malone Mullin@4evamalone

Except for a long line at the barbecue, where hungry older folk wait for a free meal, most people have left Oppenheimer Park for the day. But not Jim McLeod, who’s clutching a hot dog wrinkled with the cold, so engrossed in telling me his story that he’s forgotten about his dinner. It’s late February […] More »
March-April 2017

This Hamilton, Ont. doctor is spearheading a unique blend of Western medicine and traditional Indigenous healing

Meet Samantha Boshart, our March/April 2017 all-star

Laura Eley

For 34-year-old Samantha Boshart, a practising physician at Hamilton, Ont.’s Aboriginal Health Centre and member of the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, health care is about more than just prescribing medication. By combining her training as a Western physician with traditional Indigenous healing, she’s helping to tackle unique and particular health challenges facing Canada’s […] More »
March-April 2017

Thousands of Canadian women are dismissed by their doctors—because of their gender

Lisa Benshabat was told by doctors that things were "all in her head" when she was unwell. Then she took her life. Why women are routinely silenced by medical professionals

Talia Wooldridge@TaliaWooldridge

On February 9, 2016, at 3:45 p.m., Gail Benshabat sent a text to her 27-year-old daughter, Lisa, asking if she wanted to catch an early movie. Benshabat was wrapping up her workday at a quiet special needs school in the north end of Toronto, about a 30-minute drive from the third-floor apartment where she lived […] More »
March-April 2017

What it means to be a Canadian living without ID

Dan McLaughlin lived 15 years without government identification—and thousands of others just like him exist across the country

Megan Marrelli@megmarrelli

  The night bus to Toronto’s North York General Hospital was nearly empty at two o’clock in the morning in September 2014, and Dan McLaughlin was nervous. He was on his way to receive an MRI so that doctors could diagnose a painful back injury, the result of years of hard labour, previous drug abuse, […] More »

I’ve lived with Borderline Personality Disorder for years. Why I’m finally talking about my diagnosis

Erica Ruth Kelly was diagnosed in her teens, but stigma has kept her quiet—even amid calls for more acceptance of mental health challenges

Erica Ruth Kelly

Current photo of the author. Trigger warning: self-injury, suicide When I was 18, a psychiatrist kicked me out of her office in my hometown of Montreal. A framed Sigmund Freud witnessed my humiliation. I’d raised my voice, confessing that I’d scratched up my arm again because I was “fucking sad.” My psychiatrist told me to […] More »
March-April 2017

Inside the struggle queer, Indigenous couples must overcome to start a family

There are only 20 Canadian anonymous sperm donors. None of them are Indigenous. What are LGBTQ families to do?

Steph Wechsler@steph_wechsler

Amanda Thompson remembers meeting the other participant in her months-long game of tap-tap. She would tap on her partner’s belly, and someone would tap back from inside. After an eventful day, the result of careful deliberations and a planned C-section, Thompson met her daughter, feeling instantly familiar. As soon as she was born, “it was […] More »