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July-August 2021

Overdose prevention sites come to New Brunswick

Advocates want to see more than Band-Aid solutions

Hannah Rudderham

New Brunswick’s Health Minister, Dorothy Shephard, announced in February 2021 that the provincial government plans to implement overdose prevention sites this year. But Debby Warren, executive director at Ensemble Greater Moncton, wants the government to work toward a robust set-up that allows people dealing with addiction to leave with more than just a surface-level solution. […]

An independent alternative

The Sprawl offers Albertans a progressive perspective

Sydney Hildebrandt

Jason Kenney, the United Conservative Party (UCP) premier of Alberta, is the best thing to happen to The Sprawl, says Jeremy Klaszus, the publication’s editor-in-chief. Under Kenney’s leadership, the UCP’s approach to controversial issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate action has divided Albertans. Polarization is especially evident between rural and urban residents. Individuals […]

The gentrification of Scarberia

This is Scarborough and it isn't yours to own

Renee Ashley

“You’re from Scarborough!?” Scarborough rolled off his tongue like a bitter taste he was trying to get rid of, almost as soon as the word left his mouth. This is one of my first memories of someone’s reaction to where I lived. It sounded heavy with the weight of negative stereotypes. I didn’t know I […]

Not so clear cut

Why we may never notice the increase in timber harvesting behind Quebec’s scenic roads

Catherine Lamoureux

Huge trucks loaded with wood climb the steep slopes at a slug’s pace before hurtling down at breakneck speed across the Gaspé Peninsula in southeastern Quebec. On weekdays, any driver who finds themselves ahead of these motorized ogres will vividly relive the nightmarish journey of salesman Dennis Weaver chased by a mad trucker in Steven […]

Gigging toward my golden years

What happens when you’re hitting retirement age and you don’t have funds in place?

Mary Fairhurst Breen

  My first grown-up job paid $33 an hour, in 1987. It didn’t truly pay $33 an hour, because it was a teaching job, and the rate didn’t include lesson planning. It was also very part-time. But fresh out of university, I thought this was astonishingly generous compensation. I got the job through the (former) […]

Endowed

New fiction from our summer reading issue

Terese Mason Pierre

Jerry waited beneath the underpass for Tre, away from the streetlamp’s light. Not many people were about in that part of the city, but he could always take out his phone and pretend to chat if anyone got close. It was cold, really cold, and under any other circumstance, Jerry would have gone down to […]

The Magician

New poetry from our summer reading issue

Michelle Brown

He appears out of nowhere rarely ends well. It could be years until you notice how he altered your life like a hook around your waist, pulling you off the dance floor. He appeared out of nowhere. He sat down, laid one palm open on the table and hid the other. I read it as […]

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 […]

To newcomers to Canada, from someone who’s been there

Breaking down the myth of multiculturalism

Oyindamola Esho

Dear new Canadian immigrants, The multicultural Canada you imagined does not exist. There, I said it. When I came to this country in 2006 at the age of nine, I, like you, had hoped for a better life than what a mismanaged Nigerian government promised. Canada seemed to have a steady flow of electricity, free […]

A no frills approach to poetry

Victoria Mbabazi's poems feel like a conversation with a friend

Jo Ramsay

Black lesbian poet Victoria Mbabazi’s poetry collection, chapbook, was published by Anstruther Press in January 2021 and is now in its third printing. Their poetry’s No Name Brand design and style was inspired by the advertisements they saw commuting to the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus last summer, a time when they were also searching […]

Broadcasting books

Glass Bookshop Radio amplifies marginalized voices

Michaela Stephen

The magic of a bookstore arises not only from books and stories, but from community and conversation. Glass Bookshop Radio, the new podcast from Edmonton’s Glass Bookshop, founded by Jason Purcell and Matthew Stepanic, celebrates its first year this fall. Purcell, Stepanic, and podcast producer and co-host, Makda Mulatu, have built their working relationship on […]