Artwork by Marne Grahlman

In this issue

Editor's Letter by Nicholas Hune-Brown

A Year in Toronto

In a year of “unprecedented times,” the world didn’t split apart in ways that were terrifying and new. It cracked along familiar seams, over and over again.

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Feature by Kelly Boutsalis

A Year of Indigenous People Helping Indigenous People

In the middle of a pandemic, with multiple crises devastating their community, Nanook Gordon and Brianna Olson Pitawanakwat started a grassroots organization to bring compassion, aid, and culture to Indigenous people on Toronto’s streets.

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Essay by John Michael McGrath

A Year Looking at the Numbers

For the last year, seven days a week, I’ve woken up to post the province’s COVID numbers. It turns out people don’t want data—they want someone to tell them how this all ends.

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Essay by Max Mertens

A Year on Two Wheels

My father believed that biking was a way to strengthen our communities. In this strange and sorrow-filled year, I’ve tried to follow his path.

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Essay by Vanessa Milne

A Year of Kids Playing Pandemic

When COVID-19 leaked into my children’s make-believe games, I worried they were being traumatized. Maybe I’ve been looking at it the wrong way.

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Essay by John Semley

A Long Year

As the months stretched on and days became meaningless, I did the natural thing—turned to 800-page novels and 15-hour German movies just to feel the passage of time in all its punishing slowness.

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Local voice by Derrick Black

A Year of Resistance in the Moss Park Encampment

Derrick Black, one of the original residents of the Moss Park encampment, survived a year of confrontations with the city, police raids, and extreme weather in his fight for permanent housing. His story in his own words.