A late summer day in 2008 changed everything for the community of Montréal-Nord, a multicultural suburban borough in the city’s north end. Fredy Villanueva, an 18-year-old Honduran refugee, was shot and killed by a police officer in a park. The shock of his death rippled through the tight-knit neighbourhood, sparking immediate outrage, rioting, and protests. […] More »

Living in Toronto means I’m not too far from Jamaica. Not because geography affords proximity, but because the presence of the diaspora has made itself known. Over 200,330 people of Jamaican descent reside in Toronto alone, and that’s evident by the countless restaurants, small businesses, specialty shops, and grocery stores that populate the city. Though […] More »

I stood there on the street, squinting into my phone, needing to double check. Could the nondescript restaurant before me really have, as the anonymous web commenter put it, “the. best. hot sauce. ever.”? It didn’t seem likely. But sure enough, after popping inside, the fiery, garlicky concoction was a revelation. Later that day, when […] More »

When one writer found herself sinking into a mire of prejudice and resentment, she set out to find a cure. But maybe 12 steps aren’t enough. The first step to getting help, they say, is admitting you have a problem. That part took me years of halting, painful introspection and self-doubt. Later, I told friends—just […] More »

Advocates for ‘permaculture’ say it can improve our diets, heal our environment, and improve our lives. Meet a new generation of farmers with some radical ideas for untangling our food chain (and saving the world in the process) Trent Rhode looks great in a suit. The 27-year-old resident of Peterborough, Ont., seems perfectly comfortable standing […] More »

Tim Falconer, author of Drive: A Road Trip through Our Complicated Affair with the Automobile proposes a 12-step program for breaking our addiction to cars As individuals and as a society, we love our automobiles — even as we hate how they screw up our planet, our cities, and our lives. Environics Research Group, a […] More »

Around the world, cities are finding ways to drastically reduce, or even eliminate, car use. It could happen here too In cities around the globe, World Carfree Day is a nice little break from the everyday. Every year on September 22, dozens of large cities shut down some of their main streets to traffic, leaving […] More »