A shrewd writer who told the ugly truth about poverty I first read Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes when I was 14. My family took a road trip from Saskatchewan to Ontario — 1,800 kilometres, 20 driving hours, and about 40 pounds of gummy bears. Anyone who has travelled across the country in a minivan with […] More »
In North America, text-messaging has a reputation for being frivolous, used to spread teenaged rumours, or the recent mania over “sexting.” But in developing countries like Africa, cell phones and text messages are the primary means of communication. And, not just for gossip. Information and communication for development or ICT4D, isn’t just another fancy development […] More »
For at-risk youths, Pathways to Education may be a one-way ticket out of poverty. The program can be described as an “early intervention” initiative: it identifies demographically disadvantaged students and, from grade 9 onwards, guides them towards high school completion and post-secondary education through a combination of tutoring, mentoring, and scholarships. Unlike tuition freezes or […] More »
Ever the moral hinterland, the U.S. state of Texas has recently been in the news for an exceptionally despicable practice: charging victims of sexual violence up-front payments for their own rape kits, which pack a financial wallop of up to $1800. No one has conducted an official poll on the matter, but I’m fairly confident […] More »
Toronto-based NGO Africa’s Children—Africa’s Future, which runs programs and advocates for HIV/AIDS orphans and other children in sub-Saharan Africa, has an interesting photography exhibit on right now as part of the annual Contact festival. AC-AF provided cameras to African kids, aged 12-18, and asked them to document the world around them, particularly the consequences of […] More »
Think you’re tough? Think you’re frugal? Think you could live on only $80 worth of food for an entire month? That’s what three Edmontonians are doing; spending a mere $80 on groceries throughout February as part of an experiment called the Working Poor Diet (the $80 figure was calculated using Alberta’s minimum wage rate of […] More »
Last fall, I broke my cell phone (a.k.a., alarm clock/voice recorder/little black book/lifeline) and in the two days it took to get a new one, my life stopped. I fell behind on assignments, scrambled to find phone numbers and slept with my laptop next to me because 1) I needed it to act as a […] More »
How long will it take the country’s top 100 CEOs to make as much as the average Canadian does in a year? Whoops, it’s already happened. According to research by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, “Canada’s best paid 100 CEOs make the average Canadian wage by 10:33 am January 2.” And that’s the average. […] More »
A week ago, my friend and I left Vancouver, planning to hit Seattle, Portland and the Oregon Coast. One interesting thing about driving through rural America is the way the war manifests itself in the endless stream of bumper stickers, pins and billboards. In coffee-crazy Washington state, even the smallest hamlets have three or four […] More »
Behind the G8 leaders’ photo ops and trumped-up commitments to cancel African debt, the dirty business of so-called “vulture funds” are making real debt relief impossible. As reported by investigative journalist Greg Palast on the BBC and Democracy Now, companies have been allowed to buy debts owed by African countries at a discount, and then […] More »
On Sunday, This Magazine writer Jennifer O’Connor participated in a march for social housing leading up to the takeover of an abandoned house in Toronto. Here is her account of the action. (PHOTO: KRISZTINA KUN) “How would you like to live with roaches, no heat, no water and no money to cover basic necessities?” asked […] More »