Wayson Choy’s second memoir, Not Yet, is bookended by two brushes with the undiscovered country via ticker trouble. The first, an asthma attack and a handful of “cardiac events,” leave him in an induced coma. The second attack is recognized by doctors quickly enough to be reduced to an epilogue and concludes with a writer […] More »

[This Magazine contributor Jenn Hardy is pregnant and due in a few weeks. In this Due Date series, we’re running some of her thoughts on pregnancy, health, and her experience trying to de-medicalize her childbirth.] I’m not afraid of labour. I’m not afraid of the intense pressure of my uterus contracting, tightening, pushing… My cervix slowly dilating… Once open […] More »

[This Magazine contributor Jenn Hardy is pregnant and due in a few weeks. In thisDue Date series, we’re running some of her thoughts on pregnancy, health, and her experience trying to de-medicalize her childbirth.] When to cut? Going into the delivery room, you might have decided who was going to cut the umbilical cord. Will the doc do […] More »

[This Magazine contributor Jenn Hardy is pregnant and due in a few weeks. In this Due Date series, we’re running some of her thoughts on pregnancy, health, and her experience trying to de-medicalize her childbirth.] Congratulations! You’re pregnant! First thing’s first: would you consider an abortion? If your pregnancy was planned or the surprise was […] More »

Sally Rhoads is passionate about surrogacy. The 32-year-old mother of three (ages 12, seven and 10 months) lives near Stratford, Ontario. She has been a successful surrogate once and an unsuccessful one nine times. Although her commitment to surrogacy almost killed her, she remains an advocate for a practice that is highly restricted in Canada […] More »

Yesterday Canadian economics blogger Mike Moffatt posted his thoughts about the costs of reducing the murder rate by 30 percent through water treatment. The post was based on a Big Think article that studied correlations between higher lithium amounts in public drinking water and drops in suicides and violent crime rates. Lithium, a mood-booster, is […] More »

If you’ve picked up the latest issue of This Magazine, you might have noticed Jenn Hardy’s article on Canada’s midwife shortage. (Jenn is a former This intern and now a Montreal-based freelance writer. She has written for us recently on sustainable agriculture, Montreal musician Vanessa Rodrigues, and investigated the environmental claims of the DivaCup.) You […] More »

It wasn’t until the early 1900s that it became “normal” to have a baby under the watch of an obstetrician in a hospital. But over the last few decades, childbirth has become an increasingly complicated, medicalized affair, with more inductions, surgeries, and drugs than ever before. The advancements have saved many otherwise dangerous deliveries, but […] More »

Infertile couples suffer in silence in a baby-crazed culture. Treatments are lightly regulated and cost a fortune. Why public funding could ease the burden and improve care It’s just another September day in Nova Scotia—sun shining, birds chirping, a late summer breeze playing in the treetops. Only one thing is different today for Shawna Young: […] More »

If you live in a major Canadian city, you may have seen Plan Canada’s “Because I am a Girl” ads plastered on buses and billboards. In the season of giving, the campaign attempts to sell the virtues of female empowerment. Ads state that girls around the world are three times more likely to be malnourished […] More »

This is not an operating room. It’s a solarium. The glass windows connect to a metal frame that connects to the concrete floor, the floor of this enclosed balcony three storeys up. The concrete is coated with sealant to keep it non-porous. The less porous a surface, the less chance bacteria will take root and […] More »