The Brutish Lives and Hideous Deaths of Toronto Rats
Rats are cunning, ravenous, daring, disgusting. They stand in for everything squalid and dysfunctional about urban life and we will never be rid of them.
Building Fun in a Notoriously Unfun City
With artists getting international recognition and partygoers eager to make up for lost time, the only thing standing between Toronto and a vibrant nightlife scene is Toronto.
The Drive to Reduce Car Pollution Hits Gridlock
Pollution from major roads causes premature death and illness, disproportionately affecting the low-income people who live next to them. Solutions are available, but the political will is not.
Carving Out a Brand New Island
With Villier’s Island, the city aims to combat climate change, create a new mouth to the Don River, and add needed housing. But constructing a climate positive neighbourhood from scratch is no small task.
As Toronto Temperatures Rise, Inequalities Widen
Climate change causes heat waves, but the city’s politics, policies, and design determine who suffers most.
What is the PATH?
Below ground, the hair stylists, dry cleaners, baristas and sushi chefs are ready. But are the office workers coming back?
The Greatest Mall in the World
Malvern mall has seen me through every stage of my life, from renting videos as a preschooler to wandering the empty halls during COVID. As we emerge from the pandemic, how do we keep these suburban hubs of culture and community alive?
“Somebody Is Going to Get Hurt”
Inspections at industrial workplaces in Ontario fell nearly 30 percent in the last decade, according to analysis by The Local. In the same period, critical injuries more than doubled.
How Noise Shaped a City
Toronto’s anti-noise movement began in the 1930s. Ever since, noise policing has been inextricably linked with issues of race, class, and power.
Are Noisy Hospitals Making Us Sick?
The constant beeping, talking, and overhead paging aren’t just an annoyance—they can lead to delirium, longer recovery times, and even sleeping pill addiction.
The City Below the Sound
As someone who’s half-deaf, I’ve always moved between two Torontos—the surface city and the muted, shadowy one beneath it.
FAITH/VOID Was a Thriving DIY Venue. Then Came the Noise Complaint
Fights around Toronto’s unofficial music venues reveal a stark reality—there is noise this city values, and noise it doesn’t.
A Summer Without Tourists
We don't usually think of Toronto as a travel destination. But when the tourism industry imploded overnight, the effects rippled across the city.
A Small Town on Copeland Avenue
For years, I’d been craving the community and intimacy of small-town life. Then the pandemic hit and I found that it had been around me the whole time.
Cruising Through COVID
I never thought I’d own a car. Now I’m stockpiling groceries and driving through the zoo, locked safe inside my vehicle like the Pope.
My Own Private Island
The ferry is empty. Beavers and mallards rustle through the bush. Without visitors, life on the Toronto Island is quiet and peaceful. It all feels terribly wrong.
Last Week, In Review
As the first tentative positive signs emerged, it was tempting to look beyond the week—to try to trace the curve past where it flattens to the point it sinks beneath the horizon. It's too early for that.
Tuesday in Allan Gardens, Where the Police Guard the Benches
With shelters crowded and drop-ins closed, the police and the homeless play a strange game of cat and mouse.
Saturday is Just Another Day
Every hour is a hundred years long, and each day is over before it’s begun. In a pandemic, everyone has their own personal theory on the passage of time.
Sunday in the Suburbs
The broad emptiness, the desolate streets, the deadening sameness—it turned out my parents’ suburban neighbourhood was the ideal place to live through a global pandemic.