Recent Stories

Analysis by Inori Roy

‘One of the Most Egregious Interventions in University Autonomy We’ve Ever Seen’

Ontario’s Bill 33 mandates merit-based admissions and gives the province unprecedented power over university and college operations. Is it part of a broader right-wing crackdown on campuses?

Analysis by Kunal Chaudhary

Ontario’s Post-Secondary Education Crisis in Five Figures

Stagnant provincial funding, a domestic tuition freeze, cuts to international students, and expensive capital projects—the numbers behind the emergency in higher education.

Essay by Simon Lewsen

The Humanities Aren’t Dead Yet

Enrollment in the liberal arts has been in freefall for years. But despite apocalyptic declarations about the end of the humanities, in my own classroom I see signs of life.

Editor's Letter by Nicholas Hune-Brown

What Is Higher Education For?

From a financial crisis, to political, social, and technological upheaval, the province’s universities and colleges are in a moment of profound change.

Feature by Wency Leung

New Data Shows Dramatic Rise in Non-Teachers Filling in at TDSB Schools

Records obtained by The Local reveal the TDSB's use of unqualified emergency replacements jumped more than 1,100 percent since COVID.

Analysis by Wency Leung

Takeover of GTA School Boards—Your Questions Answered

What we know about the province’s supervision of GTA school boards, so far.

Analysis by Wency Leung

Inside the Takeover of Toronto-Area School Boards

The province says its decision to put multiple school boards under supervision is about restoring financial stability. But observers see a larger play for power.

Feature by Inori Roy with photography by Galit Rodan

The Worm Hunters of Southern Ontario

Nearly all bait worms sold in North America are hand-plucked from farmland in this part of Canada. But with labour shortages and climate change, some worry we’re witnessing the final wiggles of a once thriving business.

Feature by Sarah Liss

On the Front Lines of the War Against ‘Super Lice’

With the emergence of drug-resistant nits, lice removal has become a booming business, catering to harried, itchy parents willing to pay for relief.

Feature by Wency Leung

Bird Flu Comes For Toronto’s Wildlife

For humans, the virus has the potential to spark the next pandemic. But for wildlife, it's already causing devastation.

Essay by Nicholas Hune-Brown

Are There More Bunnies in Toronto?

I never used to see rabbits in Toronto. Then they were everywhere. Then I lost my mind.

Feature by Leah Borts-Kuperman

End Times at Ontario’s Roadside Zoos?

Ontario’s lax regulations have made the province the “wild west” for exotic animals. But as public concern over animal welfare grows, some zoos are buckling under the pressure.

Feature by Alexandra Kimball with photography by Andrew Budziak

The Cormorant Wars

The Toronto waterfront is home to the largest colony of cormorants in North America. And now they're spreading—squawking, puking, leaving toxic guano. Inside the fight between residents, conservationists, and governments over the most divisive and persecuted bird on the planet.

News by Inori Roy

At Toronto’s Catholic Schools, Students Twice as Likely to Opt Out of Mandatory Measles Vaccine

In the midst of a measles outbreak, data analysis by The Local finds that 15 of the 20 schools with the highest vaccine exemption rates are in the Catholic boards.

Analysis Wency Leung

Understanding the TDSB’s Budget Woes in Five Charts

The province says the school board has a spending problem. The board says it’s chronically underfunded. We sort through the numbers.

Feature by Nicholas Hune-Brown

After the International Student Gold Rush

Foreign students were harmed by the policies that brought them here, and they’re being harmed once again by the policies shutting them out.

Feature by Kunal Chaudhary

How Ontario Sleepwalked into a Crisis in Higher Education

After years of underfunding, the province’s colleges and universities are now in financial free fall—slashing staff, cutting programs, and shuttering campuses.

Award Winners

Local Journalism Matters.

We're able to produce impactful, award-winning journalism thanks to the generous support of readers. By supporting The Local, you're contributing to a new kind of journalism—in-depth, non-profit, from corners of Toronto too often overlooked.

Support
Recent issues

The Higher Education Issue

Facing a financial crisis, as well as enormous technological, political, and social upheaval, Ontario's higher education system is in flux. Throughout the fall, we’re reporting stories from Toronto’s colleges and universities that reverberate far beyond campus.

School Board Takeover

A special series on the provincial government’s takeover of three GTA school boards. Over the coming months, we’ll track the latest developments, analyze the province’s decisions, and investigate what’s behind this unprecedented moment in public education.

Wild Wild City

In different corners of Toronto, human and animal worlds are colliding in unexpected ways. From divisive fights over cormorants and coyotes, to the rise and fall of niche industries, to the sudden explosion in the bunny population, Wild Wild City explores our shifting relationship with the creatures among us.