Recent Posts
Another Year, Another Encampment, Another Eviction
For years, unhoused people like Davit Sesisheili have gone from park to park, moving when the City evicts them. With new data, and reporting and photography that spans years, this is the most comprehensive, intimate portrait of Toronto’s failing encampments strategy.
Life Expectancy Varies by Almost 12 Years Across Toronto Neighbourhoods
A joint project by The Local and St. Michael’s Hospital, the first-ever neighbourhood-level analysis of life expectancy in Toronto, reveals stark disparities across the city.
Why a Two-Kilometre Strip of Yonge Street Has the Highest Life Expectancy in Toronto
This North York neighbourhood has plenty of public amenities and walkable streets. But the secret to residents’ good health may have a less expected explanation: immigration.
Moss Park’s Lost Years
Grief, and hope, in the downtown eastside neighbourhood with the lowest life-expectancy in the city.
Here Are the Don Valley West By-Election Candidates
The only place to find fact-checked biographies and election platform summaries for all the candidates in Ward 15—Don Valley West's by-election for city councillor on November 4, 2024.
The Creeping Threat to Trans Rights in Toronto
Toronto is seen by many as a progressive bastion, but as anti-trans sentiment grips right-wing politics abroad and in Canada—including here in Ontario’s biggest city—local advocates are bracing themselves.
Trouble in the Principal’s Office
The problems in Toronto schools end up in the office, where principals and vice-principals say they’re overwhelmed and struggling to keep up.
Fewer Caretakers, Dirtier Schools
Sticky floors, rodent infestations, uncleared ice, overflowing toilets—Toronto schools are showing the effects of years of slashing caretaker jobs.
How Decades of Underfunding Eroded Toronto’s Schools
In the largest city in one of the richest countries, Toronto's public school system should be world class. So why are students heading back to school in crumbling buildings without enough staff to meet their needs?
Failing Our Students
Toronto’s public education system has been underfunded for decades. Kids are paying the price.
When Environmentalism is Weaponized Against the Unhoused
From a proposed pollinator garden at St. Stephen-in-the-Fields to tree trimmings and ‘grass remediation’—how the city uses green rhetoric to displace the homeless.
Excluded: The Legal Loophole Barring Hundreds of Ontario Students From School
A little-known provision gives school principals blanket authority to exclude “detrimental” students from class. Advocates say it’s being abused, and the province isn't paying enough attention.
Making Space for Queer Community, Between Banquet Tables and Dim Sum Carts
For many queer, racialized Torontonians, Church and Wellesley doesn’t feel welcoming. As they push for inclusion, they’re also building their own spaces far from the Village.
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Death and the Salesmen
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Meet Your New Landlord: a Local Non-Profit
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Children’s Village Forever
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The Life, and Slow Death, of the Toronto Arts Critic
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GFL Says It’s ‘Green For Life’—Its Neighbours Disagree
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Where the Spadina Expressway Didn’t Stop
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The 35 Jane
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Emerging from the Long Shadow of Canada’s Indian Hospitals
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The Realities of Renting While Black
Black renters have always faced discrimination in Toronto. The rental crisis makes it worse.
Where Has Olivia Chow Been?
After almost a decade out of public life, years spent training grassroots organizers, the former NDP MP is leading the polls for Toronto mayor. What does Chow’s time out of government say about what she might do if she finds herself back in?
“Canada’s Worst Obstacle Course”
Metrolinx has promised Toronto a more interconnected tomorrow. As it rips up some of the city’s busiest streets, is it paying enough attention to the safety and wellbeing of Torontonians today?
In Small Claims Court, Justice Delayed
While Ontario’s other court systems bounce back from their pandemic-era backlogs, analysis by The Local shows that “the people’s court,” where many low-income people seek justice, is lagging far behind.