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Fall 2024

What’s my age again?

A bill meant to stop youth from seeing porn raises serious privacy concerns for all Canadians

Aysha White

Bill S-210 has an arresting title compared to the majority of those passing through the various levels of government in order to become law: “Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act.” “The title of the legislation sends a fairly powerful message. There is absolutely no doubt about that,” said Kevin Lamoureux, parliamentary secretary to […]

A changing Chinatown

What do shifting demographics mean for the neighbourhood's long-term identity?

Michael Koy

In Toronto’s Chinatown, an average morning goes on as usual, with longtime business owners setting up shop and elderly residents chatting loudly in local bakeries. But underneath the mundanity lies change. When onlookers enter the Chinatown landmark, the famous Dragon City Mall, the sight of its empty shops and corridors with the occasional elderly passersby […]

Night moves

Marginalized people are key to nocturnal scenes, but new Montreal policy misses the memo

Leina Gabra

The graffiti-covered Van Horne skatepark on the edge of Montreal’s Mile End is usually dotted with boys in beanies and sneakers, launching themselves into the rink with the cracking sound of skateboard wheels hitting concrete. But, every Thursday night for a brief stint during the summer of 2021, they were replaced with a different crowd: […]

No place like home

How land trusts build community

Dominique Russell

In 2021, the Kensington Market Community Land Trust (KMCLT) did an astonishing thing. After a protracted renoviction battle over the Toronto neighbourhood’s iconic Mona Lisa building, the KMCLT bought it from the would-be evictors. The rumoured plan to turn it into a cannabis hotel was foiled and the tenants of the 12 residential and five […]

Course correction

Indigenous professors are teaching journalism students to build better relationships through immersive learning with First Nations

Meral Jamal

Journalism students across Canada are learning to share stories that are rooted in reciprocity with Indigenous communities in new ways. Created by Indigenous faculty and designed in partnership with local communities, students in journalism programs at Carleton University, the University of King’s College and others are taking experiential learning courses that involve spending time with […]

When we disappear

Emily Yu

For us acrobats, it was a circus rule to choose our primary apparatus at the age of thirteen. The doors opened to the Big Top and I entered alone. The leftover sawdust on the floor stuck between my toes, the air scented with rain, instead of the usual smells of animal dung and stale popcorn. […]

Losing their religion

After leaving the faith, many ex-Mormons need to find community again. Psychedelics offer a way forward

Sam Firman

Aaron Campbell was 37 when he walked away from his world. For 27 years he had been told that leaving would jeopardize the chance of eternal salvation for him, his wife, and their four children. Yet salvation was just what he needed, and immediately. “Ultimately, I said, ‘If I don’t [leave], my mental health is […]

The right to read

Canadian libraries may be in danger as calls to ban books get louder

Asha Swann

Ronnie Riley learned through social media that their first novel was facing censorship. Riley was scrolling late one evening when they saw what appeared to be a leaked school memo. Their middle-grade book about a non-binary pre-teen named Jude was one of four 2SLGBTQIA+ books that Ontario’s Waterloo Catholic District School Board was trying to […]

Catering to capitalism

How the informalization of hospitality labour is hurting workers

Lital Khaikin

A pharmaceutical company reportedly linked to tax evasion to the tune of over $4 million through offshore Cyprian accounts gathers for a lunch and cocktail at Montreal’s Old Port. Initiation into the event is coat check, where a cascade of rented racks too janky for winter coats topples over to the sound of a shrieking […]

Family ties

Why "Bob’s Burgers" holds a special place in our hearts—and on TV

Angelina Mazza

Bob’s Burgers keeps getting better. Loren Bouchard’s animated sitcom, now in its 15th season on FOX, is bigger-hearted and far more ambitious than when it first aired in 2011. It has the kind of confidence that can only emerge, I imagine, when a project that starts out with tepid-to-terrible reviews goes on to receive years […]