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March-April 2011

This45: Sky Gilbert on sex workers’ rights group Big Susie’s

Sky GilbertWebsite

I moved to downtown Hamilton, Ontario, in 2005. We bought our three-storey Victorian home near Copps Coliseum at a price that would have been unheard of in Toronto. The corner we lived on had been labelled “the most dangerous corner in Hamilton.” But my shaved head and tattoos stood out less here than in the […] More »
March-April 2011

This45: Ellen Russell on activist educators the Catalyst Centre

Ellen Russell

The moment I met the Catalyst Centre folks, I was intrigued. They seemed to get that social justice is not just a question of publicizing critical information: Building movements takes something more, and these folks seemed to have a handle on what that “something” is. Catalyst carries on a rich heritage in popular education—one that […] More »
March-April 2011

This45: Mark Kingwell on illustrator Olia Mishchenko

Mark KingwellWebsite

“A bee puts to shame many an architect in the construction of her cells,” Karl Marx noted. “But what distinguishes the worst architect from the best of bees is this, that the architect raises his structure in imagination before he erects it in reality.” Born in Kiev in 1980 and based in Toronto since 1997, […] More »
May-June 2011

This45: Andrew Potter on democracy researcher Alison Loat

Andrew Potter with Victoria Salvas

Canadians are giving up on their political system. Voting participation is at historic lows; the number of people who vote for the winning party is now routinely outpaced by the number who don’t vote at all. Most young people don’t vote—63 percent of people under age 24 didn’t cast a ballot in 2008—and that bodes […] More »
May-June 2011

This45: Myrna Kostash on Edmonton culture hub Arts on the Ave

Myrna KostashWebsite

When I meet Christy Morin, founder of Edmonton’s Arts on the Ave, in the community arts cafe The Carrot, volunteer baristas are working the bar and activists with Black History Month are collecting their posters. Nearby, two community liaison police constables are huddled with a by-law officer, talking about their “weed and seed” program that […] More »
May-June 2011

This45: Hal Niedzviecki on Haitian-Canadian novelist Dany Laferrière

Graham F. Scott

It seems strange to be given the task of “introducing” a man who has written more than 10 books and recently won major literary prizes in France and Quebec, but there it is: I, and presumably many in English Canada, had forgotten about Dany Laferrière. I’d been a big fan of his a decade ago. […] More »
May-June 2011

This45: Joyce Byrne on open-source biologist Andrew Hessel

Joyce ByrneWebsite

The Pink Army is preparing an ambitious invasion, and Andrew Hessel is its general. This is one war you can actually feel good about supporting, though: namely, the fight against breast cancer. Hessel is the founder and managing director of Pink Army Cooperative, the world’s first open-source synthetic biotechnology firm. Founded in Edmonton in 2009, […] More »
May-June 2011

This45: Andrea Curtis on local food innovators The New Farm

Andrea CurtisWebsite

The first time I visited The New Farm, Brent Preston and Gillian Flies’ bucolic 100-acre spread near Creemore, Ontario, the barn was kitted up with twinkle lights. Bundles of hay provided seating for a play and, later, for listening to the foot-stomping tunes of the Sunparlour Players. Professional chefs cooked up a delicious dinner with […] More »
May-June 2011

This45: Judy Rebick on indigenous rights network Defenders of the Land

Judy RebickWebsite

I am glad This has decided to celebrate this wonderful anniversary by looking at the organizations and individuals who are pointing the way to future change. It is time to stop talking about what went wrong with the left that was so effective in the 20th century and identify the forces who are leading change […] More »
May-June 2011

This45 Poetry: Lynn Crosbie on Three Poems by Paule Kelly-Rhéaume

Paule Kelly-Rhéaume

Introduction by Lynn Crosbie Paule—a lovely soft-spoken young woman who will, in a surprisingly steely way, make sure you pronounce her name properly (“Powle”)—is a former student of mine, attending OCAD University. Dreamy-eyed and quiet, she made herself known to me by her presence, which is formidable; then, subsequently, by the written work she submitted. […] More »
May-June 2011

This45: Satu Repo on documentary photographer Vincenzo Pietropaolo

Satu Repo

In the fall of 1973, a young photographer arrived at the office of This Magazine with some remarkable photos of strikers outside a small Toronto factory called Artistic Woodwork. Immigrant workers, organized by the Canadian Textile and Chemical Union, were striking for their first contract. The photos were remarkable in both their intensity and intimacy. […] More »