Stories about Feature
The Kids Left Behind
Shuttered autism services, kids caring for younger siblings, undiagnosed developmental conditions—for many students, the losses of the last two years go well beyond school closures.
Childcare is an Essential Service and a Dysfunctional Business
With ECEs fleeing the industry and a federal childcare deal on the horizon, now is the time to fix a long-broken system.
Fighting Vaccine Hesitancy at Alternative Schools
High vaccine exemption rates have long been a feature at Toronto alternative schools, but as COVID vaccines roll out to kids, there’s a new urgency to reach these hesitant parents.
The Labour of Immigrant Women
During the pandemic, immigrant women briefly came into the spotlight as the hardest hit faction of Canada’s workforce. Those numbers don’t tell nearly enough of the story.
Trapped in the Ivory Basement
In Toronto's booming public community colleges, part-time educators get none of the privileges of cushy academic jobs. Instead, they are overworked, underpaid, and even pushed out of their union.
How the Laws Make Sex Work Less Safe
Canada's prostitution laws are supposed to protect sex workers. Advocates say they're doing the opposite.
The Gigification of Health Care
During the pandemic, health care workers have flocked to apps like Staffy for temp work. What happens when nurses are hired like Uber drivers?
Honouring Black-Indigenous Bloodlines
For urban gardener Isaac Crosby, being Anishinaabe and Black is a double blessing.
Emerging from the Long Shadow of Canada’s Indian Hospitals
From racially segregated hospitals to signs of Indigenous self-determination in health care.
The Last 25 Percent
Almost three-quarters of Toronto adults have received their first vaccine. Next comes the hard part.
Second Doses Missing Those Who Really Need Them
With the Delta variant making second dose distribution urgent, new data reveals Toronto’s highest-risk neighbourhoods are being left behind.
Community Ambassadors Are the Link to Toronto’s Unvaccinated Populations
As vaccination rates plateau, a new army of outreach workers is canvassing pockets of the city missed by the initial rollout.
Why Haven’t Primary Care Doctors Been Part of the Vaccine Rollout?
Sometime soon, responsibility for vaccinations in Toronto will need to shift to primary care doctors. Is there a plan?
“We Had to Save Ourselves”
When the pandemic hit Peel, it wasn’t the government that stepped in, but an army of citizens that mobilized to feed their neighbours, set up pop-up clinics, and demand better for their community.
Vaccinating Black Toronto
The city’s Black communities has been disproportionately affected by COVID. Now these physicians and community leaders are working to make sure they don’t also go unvaccinated.
Behind the Sudden Drop at Toronto’s Mass Immunization Clinics
The City of Toronto clinics are well-funded operations that were supposed to be the engines of the city’s vaccination drive. Why are pop ups in parking lots delivering four times as many doses a day?
The Chaotic Race to Vaccinate Peel
Overwhelmed phone lines, frantic group texts, frustration and relief—inside the first week of pop-up clinics in a region desperate for vaccines.
“You Can’t Stop the Spread of the Virus if You Don’t Stop it in Peel”
Not enough support, not enough testing, not enough vaccines—Peel has been neglected at every step of the pandemic, and the results have been devastating.
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.
A Long-Term Tragedy
The devastation in seniors homes during COVID-19 was the predictable result of decades of indifference and neglect. From Victorian poorhouses to sites of mass death—the shameful history of our long-term care system.