What feels like a far-off, dystopian future has already begun: climate refugees fleeing the effects of increasingly harsh and temperamental weather have arrived in Canada. They include Mexican migrants escaping drought, Filipino refugees running from typhoons and hurricanes, and Bangladeshi residents evading flooding — and they chose one of the world’s coldest countries for a reason. According to the UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, an average of 21.5 million people are displaced each year by weather-related events, and the Institute for Economics and Peace expects that number to ri ..read more

Airstrikes and politics, blockades and logistics are complicating the transport of humanitarian aid to Gaza — with desperate aid groups at times relying on donkey carts to move essential supplies.  Aid organizations say they are frustrated by the effect of Israel’s control of movement and trade, intensified by airstrikes and blockades, on essential supplies since the bombardment of Gaza began shortly after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.  On that day, Hamas militants attacked communities in southern Israel, killing 1,200 mostly civilians and taking about 250 hostages back to ..read more

Joseph Caple was getting ready for his first year at high school in Nelson, a city in B.C.’s southern interior. Caple, a gender non-conforming trans man, was just starting to figure out his identity. As he looked over his course sign-up sheet, he realized there were only two course options that he could take to fulfil his mandatory physical education (PE) credit: boys’ PE or girls’ PE. “I’m just like, ‘Okay, I don’t fit into either of these,” Caple says. “‘What am I going to do?’” Caple brought the issue to the school principal, who told him that nothing could be done—that’s how PE classes had ..read more

Supinder Wraich brings her dog inside on an unusually warm winter day. She is a new mother who recently celebrated her newborn baby’s first Christmas. After filming for the past four months in Surrey, British Columbia, she winds down in her Toronto home, more relaxed now that she is out of uniform. Her uniform is that of Sabrina Sohal, the fictionalized rookie police officer she plays on CBC’s latest original series, Allegiance.   On its surface, Allegiance, which premiered on Feb. 7, is a gripping, fast-paced crime drama. As the show progresses, Allegiance delves into the Sikh Punja ..read more

The team was deeply disturbed by its findings.  It’s January 2012 and in the mountainous region of the Cordilleras in Northern Philippines, Indigenous peoples are plagued by skin disease and their ancestral lands are sinking. Houses and schools are getting swallowed up and causing fatal landslides. Fish kills are rampant. Protestors are forced to disappear or are murdered – one of whom was mutilated, his body thrown into a large river poisoned by hazardous mining waste.  Rev. Shaun Fryday organized and led the Beaconsfield Initiative, a mission trip involving 14 Canadian citizens who ..read more

The glowing golden domes of the Transfiguration Cathedral stand out against the skyline of Odesa, a regional capital situated along Ukraine’s southern coast and the country’s only remaining access to the Black Sea. Founded in 1795, just a year after the city was established, the cathedral is the most important Eastern Orthodox site in the region and is seen as the heart of the community — even to those who do not consider themselves religious or attend church services.  Locals and visitors appreciated the cathedral’s ornate icons, fresco paintings and candle-lit altars as a highlight of O ..read more

The sun sets early, darkening the sky over Kitchener, Ont., by 6 p.m. on this Monday evening in mid-March. An icy breeze streaks snow across the sidewalk leading to Trinity United. Inside, the recreation hall is lined with four long tables filled with people waiting for their meals, small puddles of melted ice beneath their feet. The musty air swells with conversation, and the yellow glow from the kitchen illuminates a small group of sweating volunteers roasting 120 pounds of pork to feed the crowd. Above the kitchen is the children’s room, lined with cots. Perched on a blue fleece blanket in ..read more

Grief takes many shapes, but for lifelong quilter Marilyn Farquhar, grief took on texture and colours. In January 2020, the RCMP killed her brother, Barry Shantz, outside his Lytton, B.C. home during a mental health crisis. In the aftermath, Farquhar stitched her pain into a series of elaborate quilts: a self-portrait with her head in her hands, a portrait of her brother in the depths of despair and a soaring eagle to represent the release of his spirit. She called the project Kairos, a Greek word that translates to “an opportune time for action.” A Bullet Pulling Thread, a new documentary by ..read more

For Iparhan Uygur, a 28-year-old master’s student and marketing professional living in Istanbul, Turkey, most of her days pass by comfortably. Some days, she prays at the blue-and-white tiled mosque next to her home. She’s a regular at her neighbourhood café, where she greets the staff by name. Like many young people, she works during the day, studies during the evening and meets her friends for coffee on the weekend. She shares her apartment with a cat named Minnosh. Yet one thought preoccupies her mind daily: the whereabouts and well-being of her mom. The last time Iparhan heard from her was ..read more

This past June,  Bill C-22 became law. Also known as the Canada Disability Benefit, the bill will provide financial support for low-income working-age disabled people. Though eligibility requirements and benefit rates haven’t yet been released, disability activists say the bill is a cause for celebration. Its passing is timely: people with disabilities in Canada are now experiencing financial difficulties so severe that medical assistance in dying has become a viable option for some. As someone who has experience with depression and schizophrenia, I have mixed feelings about Bill C-22 ..read more