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November-December 2016

New documentary exposes Canada’s abusive migrant labour program

Min Sook Lee's Migrant Dreams delves into the Temporary Foreign Worker Program's precarious issues

Pema Tsering@PemaTsering1

If you look at a map of southern Ontario, Leamington seems no more remarkable than the other small towns that dot Lake Erie’s coastline. Yet, in Min Sook Lee’s documentary Migrant Dreams, the 30,000-population town becomes the setting of a much bigger issue. Leamington has the largest concentration of greenhouses in North America. And, thanks to […]

How one Montreal artist is creating stage magic for LGBTQ performers

Kama La Mackerel's new open mic offers a safe space for queer and trans Canadians to perform

Leah Lalich@LeahLalich

Photo by Pascha Marrow Asking Kama La Mackerel what her art practice consists of is not an easy question to answer, but one she reacts to with a smile and a warm, inviting laugh. From poet to photographer, curator to performance artist, the simple response, she says, is that she has never restricted herself. “It’s about letting […]

What should diversity in Canadian media look like?

Why legacy media needs to dismantle tokenism, pigeonholing, and the great glass ceiling

Priya Ramanujam@SincerelyPriya

Bee Quammie’s social media feeds buzzed with chatter. Earlier that day the CBC had announced its decision to replace Shad with Tom Power as the host of its flagship radio show, q. It was less than 16 months after Shad took the position and the same day that, south of the border, Comedy Central cancelled […]

Why Maritimers are rallying against chemical forest sprays

The chemical, glyphosate, is controversial for its propensity to cause cancer

Larkin Schmiedl@LarkinSchmiedl

Protests erupted across Nova Scotia this fall when forestry company Northern Pulp was approved for its latest round of aerial herbicide sprays. The controversial chemical, glyphosate, is banned in parts of Europe and for forestry in Quebec due to questions around its propensity to cause cancer. In the Maritimes, glyphosate’s recent history is troubling. Rod […]

New collection of essays sheds light on LGBTQ health care in Canada

The Remedy uses first-person narratives to describe the country's state of queer and trans health care, making it accessible and informative

Emily Rivas@RivasEmily

The Remedy: Queer and Trans Voices on Health and Health Care Edited by Zena Sharman Arsenal Pulp Press, $18.95 Although Canada is often praised for its seemingly progressive health care system, it’s not perfect. This is particularly true for queer and trans people who are often mistreated by its antiquated process and mindset. The Remedy: Queer […]

New app helps transgender Canadians access legal info

Built by a Toronto law school grad, JusticeTrans aims to help trans people overcome barriers to seeking legal counsel

Laura Hensley@LolaHensley

Navigating Canada’s legal system is tricky for most people, but it can be even more challenging if you’re a member of the transgender community. People who are transgender face higher rates of unemployment, discrimination, and violence. And since the median annual income of a transgender Ontarian is only $15,000, seeking legal counsel is often out […]

How to hold Justin Trudeau to account

The prime minister has wooed Canada’s fiercest journalist watchdogs into puppy love. Inside a new citizen-run website that promises to cut past mainstream media’s crush and hold the Liberal government to account

Adam Rasmi@adamrasmi

It’s a journalist’s job to hold the government to account. But increasingly others are taking up that role, too. Last year, management consultant Dom Bernard was one such person. As the brainchild of TrudeauMetre.ca, a promise-tracking website that holds Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to his word, Bernard has created a novel government watchdog tool that’s […]

Are Canadians changing their approach to sex?

Why penetrative sex isn't all it's cracked up to be

Kate Sloan@Girly_Juice

 Illustration by Christopher Lee Sauvé When hooking up with partners I meet through online dating apps, I keep my expectations low. More often than not, hookups from Tinder, the smartphone app that allows you to swipe through potential suitors within a certain geographic range, don’t give me an orgasm, let alone an epiphany about my […]

Syrian refugees build community with cooking

Behind the scenes at the Newcomer Kitchen and Karam Kitchen in Ontario

Amanda Scriver@amascriver

  Photo by J. Walton It has been nearly one year since the Liberal government enacted a program to admit 25,000 Syrian refugees arrived in Canada. In their first year, many of the families faced several challenges to overcome: getting to know a brand new country, finding suitable accommodations, and trying to find a job […]

Inside the Canadian government’s plans to help thousands of homeless veterans

A 2015 study found nearly 2,250 veterans use emergency shelters on a regular basis

Tyler Hooper@thooper8

Photo by the Canadian Press/Paul Chiasson The federal government is preparing to offer rental subsidies to homeless veterans as part of a draft strategy called Coming Home. The plan is meant to address the staggering reality that almost 2,250 veterans use emergency shelters on a regular basis, according to a 2015 study by Employment and […]

Is Bill C-225 a stepping stone to restrict abortion rights in Canada?

Behind the controversial bill that, if passed, could add charges to offences committed against pregnant individuals where the fetus is also harmed

Courtney Dickson@dicksoncourtney

A photo posted by @mmeijuu on Sep 11, 2016 at 12:28pm PDT Cassandra Kaake was seven months pregnant when she was murdered in 2014, leaving her family and friends to deal with not one, but two tragic losses. In the wake of Kaake’s death, Jeff Durham, father of the unborn child, whom the parents planned to […]