Recent Posts

Perspective by Alison Motluk

The Killing of the Science Centre

The 55-year old museum shuttered without warning one Friday in June. Then devastated staff were given four months to dismantle it. A former employee on the last days of a beloved institution.

Feature by Simon Lewsen with photos by Chloë Ellingson

In the Annex and Crescent Town, Two Sides to Toronto’s Density Dilemma

The Annex had fewer residents in 2021 than 1971. The towers of Crescent Town had far more. How the uneven, illogical densification pattern of the last 50 years created today’s Toronto.

Feature by Inori Roy

The Geography of Complaint

From wealthy neighbours griping about shrubbery to low-income tenants requesting winter heat—a map of 311 requests charts a certain kind of civic engagement, and privilege.

Analysis by Tai Huynh

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.

Photographer Nick Kozak has been documenting Sesisheili’s journey through the city’s parks for the last four years. The story of how Sesisheili got to Clarence Square is, in many ways, the story of this era of encampment policy in Toronto.
Feature by Brennan Doherty with photography by Nick Kozak

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.

Analysis by Brennan Doherty , Inori Roy and Wency Leung

Toronto’s Encampments, By the Numbers

Recent analysis by The Local shows just how widespread encampments have become, and how the City’s clearing efforts simply pushed unhoused Torontonians from one park to another.

Feature by Nicholas Hune-Brown

Moss Park’s Lost Years

Grief, and hope, in the downtown eastside neighbourhood with the lowest life-expectancy in the city.

Feature by Rebecca Gao with photos by Christopher Katsarov Luna

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.

Feature by Wency Leung

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?

Feature by Wency Leung

Fewer Caretakers, Dirtier Schools

Sticky floors, rodent infestations, uncleared ice, overflowing toilets—Toronto schools are showing the effects of years of slashing caretaker jobs.

Feature by Wency Leung

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.

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Recent issues

Divided City

In Toronto, neighbourhoods separated by just a few TTC stops can be worlds apart in terms of how residents experience life, and death. Our five-year-anniversary issue is an unprecedented deep-dive into this city’s disparities—on everything from health and housing to who makes 3-1-1 complaints.

A Thousand Cuts

Close to a quarter of a million students attend schools in the Toronto District School Board, the largest board in Ontario and one of the largest in all of North America. Yet decades of underfunding have left it struggling to meet students’ needs. From cuts to caretakers, to overworked school administrators, to a lack of resources for special education, our ongoing series examines how our schools got to where they are now—and what it will take to fix them.

The Green* Economy

*allegedly green, or green-ish, stories from the GTA businesses that could make or break our environmental goals. In collaboration with The Narwhal, this issue digs into some of the biggest corporations in the country, visits small business owners trying to ride the wave of a green transition, and looks at all the ways climate commitments and business imperatives collide in Canada’s biggest city.

Nominated for National Magazine Awards
Feature by Ashley Okwuosa

The Realities of Renting While Black

Black renters have always faced discrimination in Toronto. The rental crisis makes it worse.

Profile by Nicholas Hune-Brown

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?

Feature by Richard Trapunski with photography by Christopher Katsarov Luna

“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?

Data Feature by Adin Wagner

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.