The hockey world was shocked this summer when three tough guys (one just retired) died unexpectedly, one from an overdose of alcohol and pills and two others by suicide. When Wade Belak, a popular, seemingly happy former Toronto Maple Leaf hanged himself while in Toronto for the taping of CBC’s The Battle of the Blades, […]

When the first Canadian case of Mad Cow disease was discovered near Wanham, Alberta in 2003, sensationalist news coverage sparked widespread fear over the safety of Canadian beef. Forty-one countries closed their borders to our beef, and in the following 18 months producers suffered $5 billion in losses. To date, only 19 cases of mad […]

The Claim Companies that produce “all natural” deodorants often sell consumers on three things: environmental sustainability, no animal testing, and no artificial colors. But is that the whole story? Often you’ll also find allergens, petrochemicals, lung irritants and hormone disruptors on the product ingredient list—all chemicals that have been linked to cancers. The Investigation Propylene […]

Whale hunting is a fundamental practice in the North and should be celebrated, not restricted… Gabriel Nirlungayuk can’t pinpoint when Inuit first began hunting bowheads. “Whaling, from an Inuit perspective, has been ongoing since time immemorial,” says the director of wildlife and environment for the land-claims group Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. But he knows one thing: […]

Engineers Without Borders Canada has made a few mistakes—and it’s not afraid to admit them. After three years of publishing its own annual “Failure Report” the organization launched AdmittingFailure.com, a website where it and other aid organizations can post flawed ventures. Already featured: EWB’s project to strengthen local farmers’ organizations in Burkina Faso that neglected […]

Of all the arts, dance is arguably the most physically and emotionally exhausting, and with an average annual income of a professional dancer sitting at $18,000, the real-life Natalie Portmans live way under Canada’s poverty line. And the crippling anxiety that might overtake an almost-30 dancer who fears his or her career is ending is […]

Carl Cosack wonders who is standing on guard for his piece of Ontario. The 52-year-old rancher manages a herd of black angus cows and 30 horses, making him one of Ontario’s last traditional trail hands and proud owner of one of the province’s few remaining amateur ranches (don’t call it a “dude ranch”). Thanks to […]

We’re posting the winners of the 2011 Great Canadian Literary Hunt all this week. Read the other finalists here and follow or friend us to stay up to date on 2012’s contest! Selena Wong is an illustrator and artist living in Toronto with her Netherland Dwarf Rabbit. Like the condensed urban environment of her place […]

We’re posting the winners of the 2011 Great Canadian Literary Hunt all this week. Read the other finalists here and follow or friend us to stay up to date on 2012’s contest! Sunlight, on one leg, limps out to the meadow and settles in. Insects fall back inside their voices, Little fanfares and muted repeats, […]

We’re posting the winners of the 2011 Great Canadian Literary Hunt all this week. Read the other finalists here and follow or friend us to stay up to date on 2012’s contest! Now The power went out. The television emitted an electric squelch before the picture vanished into darkness. In that moment Sam saw his […]

We’re posting the winners of the 2011 Great Canadian Literary Hunt all this week. Read the other finalists here, and follow or friend us to stay up to date on 2012’s contest! Editor’s note: This is an excerpt of Robin Evans’s story — the full version will appear in the Spring 2012 issue of The Fiddlehead. We’re […]