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Cover of the March-April 2009 issue of This Magazine

Features

Highlights from the current issue

Traffic Jamming
By Jordan Heath-Rawlings
Cities around the world are finding ways to drastically reduce, or even eliminate, car use. It could happen here too

in a few places around the world — the list of locations is growing slowly but surely — the populace woke up on World Carfree Day, dressed, and ate their breakfast, then got on their bicycles, put on their shoes, or pulled out their bus pass, and made their way to work on streets mostly free of automobiles. Just like any other day.

These car-free and car-limited communities are scattered around the world, blueprints for the steps that larger cities can take to reduce their reliance on the automobile. These places show that it actually is possible to overcome our history and our habits and start to move away from the auto-centric planning that defines all of North America.

[Read more]


ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Autoholics By Tim Falconer
The author of Drive: A Road Trip through Our Complicated Affair with the Automobile proposes a 12-step program for breaking our addiction to cars.

It's the people who drive (or drink) all the time — mindlessly, compulsively, because they can't help themselves — who do the real damage to themselves and others. That's addiction — and collectively, we're pretty close to hitting bottom. The automobile has wasted our time, choked our air, and destroyed many downtowns while spurring sprawl in the suburbs. Obviously, cars aren't about to go away completely (though we can certainly hope they change dramatically over the next few years). But let's never forget: the fault, dear drivers, lies not in our cars, but in ourselves.

[Read more]

Your money or your life By Carolyn Morris
In a country with supposedly universal coverage, some of the most vulnerable must pay cash for health care. It costs them their livelihoods — and sometimes their lives

Citizenship and Immigration Canada plans to accept as many as 265,000 new immigrants in 2009, most of whom will settle in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. Those immigrants will spend their first three months without public health care insurance. There are a further estimated 100,000 to 300,000 undocumented workers living in Canada without health-care insurance. Some come as temporary workers, or as visitors, and simply never leave. Others apply for refugee status and remain in the country even if they're not accepted. Many have an "implied" right to be in the country because they're applying for certain types of status, or they're between permits. They are halfway legal, halfway not. They work, have families, buy food and clothing. They go to school, go on dates, fall in love, break up. But if they get sick, they can't go to the hospital unless they pay up front. Or they can go without money — as long as it's an emergency — and wait for the bill in the mail.

[Read more]



ONLINE ARCHIVE

The case for all-black schoolsAfricentric education could be the key to success for a generation at risk. (Just don't call it segregation.) By Andrew Wallace

UndoneHundreds of sexual-assault cases each year are labelled "unfounded" by Canadian police departments. Victims and advocates are demanding answers By Jennifer O'Connor

All disquiet on the western frontA first-hand look inside the Canadian Military Journalism Course, an uneasy meeting between reporters and the Canadian Forces By Ashley Walters

The New Face of PornA new generation of feminists are reclaiming porn, both as consumers and producers. A (very) intimate journey By Alison Lee

All That GlittersOne photojournalist witnesses the toxic effects of Canadian gold mining on three remote Philippine communities Alex Felipe

After "The Apology"After 16 years leading the CAW, Buzz Hargrove is moving on. He may be retiring, but that doesn't mean he's shy. By Craig Saunders

“O” CanadaEight Canadians weigh in on what an Obama presidency would mean north of the 49th parallelBy Judy Rebick, Doug Saunders, Rinaldo Walcott, Michael Byers, Jordan Heath-Rawlings, Dru Oja Jay, Garrett Zehr and Steve Murray

Where the buffalo roamWhy are Canadian farmers struggling to make a living when food is in short supply and prices are skyrocketing?By Margarett Webb

After “The Apology”Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission on residential schools will span five years and cost $60-million as we struggle with human-rights violations to big for the courts. But will it help?By Catherine Rolfsen

Look back, JackWith its exclusive fixation on winning more seats, the NDP has sacrificed the opportunity to build a truly progressive movement. At the 75th anniversary of the CCF, James Laxer argues that to save the present we need to remember the pastBy James Laxer

Girls gone wild. So?With stars such as Amy Winehouse splashed across tabloid covers, racing toward early graves, it’s easy to think they’re stupid and sick. But there’s something subversive about women who won’t behaveBy Megan Griffith-Greene

The addict’s last refugeA unique facility on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast may offer a key to treating heroin addictionBy Peter Tupper

There will be bloodIt’s Calgary Stampede time again — the annual celebration of the traditional cowboy life. But the history of Canada’s Wild West reads very differently than the festival’s romanticized fableBy Colin Snowsell

Get your goatImages of cute, cuddly animals have replaced sad-eyed children in the latest campaigns to market charitable giving to Africa. But what does it really mean to buy a village a goat?By Claire Ward

Libya, is it me you’re looking for?An excerpt from The Sheikh’s Batmobile: In Pursuit of American Pop Culture in the Muslim WorldBy Richard Poplak

Whose burden?Two decades of government cuts to social spending have paralyzed the charities that Canada’s poor depend on for survival. But there is hope on the horizonBy Daniel Aldana Cohen

Why won’t you let me play?Is the Special Olympics discriminating against the kids it’s supposed to help?By Lauren McKeon

Plastic unfantasticIn the middle of the Pacific Ocean is a “garbage patch” at least the size of Texas. The expanse of sea-born waste points to a growing global crisis: the overuse and poor disposal of cheap and abundant plasticsBy Zoe Cormier

Courting catastropheAndrew Nikiforuk, Calgary journalist and author of Pandemonium: Bird Flu, Mad Cow Disease, and Other Biological Plagues of the 21st Century, talks to This Magazine about deadly bananas, the beetle that ate British Columbia and life in an age of “unending emergency”By Graham F. Scott

Outbreak!Why is our resistance to antibiotics escalating? The villians may be different than we think. Some scientists say the cause could be genetically modified E. coli casually used in industrial labs—and high school classroomsBy Alex Roslin

Server errorMillions of people a day rely on Google to search, email, schedule, map, study, and Youtube. So what happens if it fails?By Richard Poplak

Last resortsCuba’s socialist economy relies on tourism, which was ramped up out of necessity following the collapse of the U.S.S.R., but foreign dollars are creating a new class of CubansBy Maria Amuchastegui

“I will alert the world to your suffering!”Behind the rise of investigative cartooningBy Brad Mackay

Paper routeJournalists for Human Rights has a high-minded and worthy goal: send Canadians to Africa to train reporters and editors there. But, as it turns out, it’s often the Africans who end up training their “teachers”By Sara Minogue[Online soon]

See the country, save the planetFive trips that will leave you well-travelled and deserving of a pat on the backBy Peter Trainor

Crime scenesPrisoners at William Head penitentiary perform plays every year. It’s a popular and effective program for rehabilitation—so why is it unique?By Shawn Thompson

News from the stageCanadian curtain opens on reality theatreBy Carrie-May Siggins

Scenes from my last playWhy Governor General’s Award winner Jason Sherman is in television nowBy Jason Sherman

Pulling strings, making troubleFrom the productions of Dora-award winner Ronnie Burkett to the giants who populate protests, political puppets are acting upBy Jennifer O’Connor

“Tear down that wall!”Activists demanding a better fate for Palestinians have chosen a potent accusation—the new apartheid—to rally support for the growing anti-Israel boycott. Their belief: what forced change in South Africa can provoke change in the Middle East. But it may not be that easy—or that simpleBy Sue Ferguson

Encounters in JerusalemPortraits of a city at prayerA photo essay by Ethan Eisenberg

Birthrights (and wrongs)Personal revelations on the road in IsraelBy Peter Trainor

Friends ’til the endThe Christian right’s support for Israel can not be taken as support for Jews. In reality, anti-Semitism lies at the heart of Christian Zionism and more Jewish leaders should loudly denounce itBy Jesse Rosenfeld

A dramatic revivalAmidst the rubble of a West Bank refugee camp, creativity and self-expression take centre stage at the Freedom Theatre, a place where Palestinian kids experience something they see little of: hopeBy Richard A. Johnson

Top secretSPP could reshape North America. So why do so few know just what Bush, Harper and Calderón are up to?By Jessica Johnston

Rising upA retrospective on four under-appreciated Canadian rebellions whose effects are still with usBy Carla Tonelli, Angie Gallop, Jim Stanford, and Craig Saunders

Act fastPortraits of five movements that urgently need you—at your most fierceBy Wendy Glauser, Lauren McKeon and Ron Nurwisah

Bad practiceHow developing nations are suffering from Canada’s doctor shortageBy Kristin Nelson[Online soon]

The accidental symbolHow Martha Hall Findlay became synonymous with “women in politics” — despite her best effortsBy Egle Procuta

Back to the landWhy moving to the country will save us allBy Geoff Heinricks

Live from Rankin InletIn his Nunavut community, Darrell Greer is the newsBy Kathleen Lippa

No place for homeAfter years of neglect, Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside now faces a development boom that is threatening to displace thousands of low-income residentsBy Sean Condon[Online soon]

Staying the courseWhy Canada shouldn’t pull its troops out of AfghanistanBy Jared Ferrie

Mining miseryGuatemala is one of many countries that has attracted the investment of Canadian mining companies—but at what cost to the people?By Maria Amuchastegui

Minority reportIt’s been a year since Stephen Harper’s Conservatives came to power. Here are eight reasons to take it back againBy Mitch Moxley

Better Red than deadWhy compassionate conservatism will never go to its graveBy David Olive

Native theatre’s curtain call?Twenty years later, the medium is set for a new stageBy Drew Hayden Taylor

40 ideas we need nowOn our 40th birthday, we asked dozens of thinkers, doers and troublemakers for one big idea. Here’s what they told us. PLUS: More great ideas not in print!

The good, the bad and the just plain bizarreThis Magazine contributors reflect on their moments of glory, shame, stress and admiration over the past 40 yearsBy Annette Bourdeau[Online soon]

Because not everything is politicalContributing editor Rick Salutin challenges This Mag’s conventional wisdom

Playing dirtyComing clean on climate-change spin—how the PR industry sold the ‘made in Canada’ solution to global warmingBy Zoe Cormier

What’s The Frequency, Gwyneth?Why more women’s voices are being broadcast on community radioBy Nicole Cohen [Online soon]

The Internet: A Survival GuideEverything you need to know to waste your time on the World Wide WebBy Richard Poplak

Legal ChallengesThe real reasons few law students are ruling in favour of activismBy Meribeth Deen

You Just Made That Up!My incredibly short career as a guest The Michael Coren ShowBy Scott Piatkowski

Green Inside the BoxWhat condo developers are learning from environmentalistsBy Craig Saunders

Barring DisasterAre tough-on-crime Tories paving the way for private prisons?By Jim Trautman [Online soon]

Canadiana Gigantica, Genus Roadside“Big Things” are monuments to the communities that erect themBy Holland Gidney [Online soon]

We’re Going to Stalin World!What’s a former Soviet republic to do with all those leftover statues? Build a theme park of courseBy Andrew Potter [Online soon]

Farming It OutWe promise guest workers many of the benefits Canadian citizens enjoy—until something goes wrongBy Maria Amuchastegui

Haiti’s High HopesIn the aftermath of a devastating tropical storm, a coup d’etat and a troubled election, Haiti struggles onText and photographs by Colin O’Connor [Online soon]

The Copyright Wars of 2017How cut-and-paste culture turns kids into the enemyBy John Sobol

Collateral DamageFor almost 30 years, Agent Orange was sprayed on Canadian soil—and the locals are still feeling the effectsBy Chris Arsenault

Silenced MajorityOur electoral bodies are 80 percent men. If we do not act, if will take four generations to reach anything like equality. Is proportional representation the way?By Doris Anderson

A Gap in the MovementThird wavers may not have an abortion caravan, but they’ve got record labels. Setting Feminist Insecurity aside, how do young women find a place in the movement?By Audra Williams [Online soon]

The Rap BattlesThe double standards of Canadian media don’t add up to 50 Cent. Probing the language of our panicked press, there’s “Just A Lil Bit” of biasBy Dave Morris

High FinanceBillions are going into cannabis sales. Where’s the cash from this secret economy going? Bud Inc. has the whole country buzzing By Brian Joseph Davis

Invisible Threat How can a real-life pandemic compete with the avian flu of our imaginations? By Anurita Bains

Free to Be, CBC The lockout showed that the price of free broadcasting is eternal diligence. If Canadians own the CBC, why can’t we hire and fire? By Suzanne Alyssa Andrew

The Man, the Tree, the Tribe & the LoggersThis Magazine talks to Governor General’s Award-winner John Vaillant to get the story behind the one-in-a-billion tree, the golden spruce By Bill Reynolds

Text, Lies and Celluloid Liev Schreiber, Atom Egoyan, Clement Virgo, Tamara Faith Berger and Michael Turner discuss the pulp-to-picture process By Jason Anderson [Online soon]

The Real Hollywood North The English/French divide in terms of audience, authorship, attitude—and l’argent By Richard Poplak

The Real Deal Big-screen docs may be all the rage, but the rise of the real has a dangerous side By Katerina Cizek

To Ogre, With Love More than fan letters: one girl’s diary survives America’s rustbelt and becomes art By Brian Joseph Davis

Alberta the Good Celebrating 100 years of progressive thinking from Canada’s most conservative province By Iain Ilich

It’s My Province and I’ll Cry If I Want To Why one Alberta ex-pat boycotted the centennial By Karen Connelly

Sweeping It Under The dirty secrets of the Canadian shipping industry By Alex Roslin

Offered, Wanted, Taken Online recyclers discover the politics of giving By Kelly McCarthy-Maine

Organized Religion How a drive to unionize the United Church of Canada is dividing ministers like never before By Sabitri Ghosh

Betting the Farm The Lanark Landowners Association has staked the future of rural Ontario on the fall of big government By Helen Forsey

Alive and Kicking Why living with AIDS is every bit as complicated as dying from it By Matt Semansky

Feminism For Sale Find out the real reason the women’s movement is losing momentum, and why political action is the only way to take down the patriarchyBy Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter

PK and Fly Parkour is one serious sport. Mixing urban athleticism with an appreciation of architecture, it’s about connecting with the concrete and, with any luck, landing on your feet. Now, as corporations come calling, traceurs, as they’re called, must decide which way to run By Jaclyn Law

Hear No EvilDeaf since childhood, Bobby Suwarak grew up in isolation, able to understand no known language. Now charged with a crime, he has presented Nunavut’s court system with a problem. But the form of charades he uses to communicate is being used by deaf Inuit across the territory, leading one researcher to call for the court to recognize it too By Sara Minogue

Free At Last? How Canada got caught up in Ukraine’s orange revolution—and helped hijack historyBy Izida Zorde

The Church of Please and Thank You The growth of English abroad is putting words in the mouths of students—even changing their identities. “Let’s do lunch” and other ways ESL teachers spread the gospel of English overseas By Julie Traves

Trial By FireThey were some of the highest-ranking officers in the Sudanese army and, last year, they became enemies of the state. Their crime? They refused to bomb civilians By Benjamin Joffe-Walt

Magical Mystery Cure What would you do if a lobotomy was your only hope for happiness? Today the procedure is called psychosurgery and it continues to be prescribed to treat mental illness, though many psychiatrists argue the mentally ill need it like a hole in the head By Danielle Egan

The Great Byte Hope Transhumanists envision a radical future in which man and machine are one and death is a relic of the past. Should we prepare to enter the post-human state, transcending the limits of our natural bodies, or should we let evolution run its own course?By Andre Mayer

Blood Oranges Winner of the 2004 prize for creative non-fiction By Munju Ravindra

Killer cop Jocelyn Hotte used his elite RCMP training to stalk and kill his ex-girlfriend. Why did police ignore her call for help? And why have they done nothing to address the secret shame of conjugal violence among cops in the years since the attack? What will it take for the hidden abuse to finally hit home? By Alex Roslin

Collective souls Co-operative values are catching on among Canadian bands, spawning large ensemble acts of 10 or more members who share the spotlight as well as sharing royalties and responsibility. For some, it’s a political statement, a musical manifesto setting out equal roles and equal rights, but for others, like the break-out success Broken Social Scene, bigger is just better By Liisa Ladouceur

Different drummer Industry outsider knew almost nothing about being a record executive four years ago when he started MapleMusic.com, which is perhaps the secret behind how his online distribution company has come to challenge an industry raised on robbery, helping some of the country’s top indie bands assert their independence By Bruce Gillespie

Layton’s last hurrah The charismatic NDP leader fell far short of an unqualified electoral triumph. But as kingmaker to the minority Liberals, Jack Layton wields enormous power. And that could be the party’s salvation— or his personal downfall By Annette Bourdeau

Man trouble What’s a modern man to do in an age of rapidly changing expectations? The most beleaguered rebel by questioning themselves; others simply blame women. Welcome to the frontier of male disaffection By Andre Mayer

Crossing the line Three years after September 11, has it finally become acceptable to make outrageous statements again? How patriotism stifled freedom of speech By Bill Reynolds

Yankee go home! It started as the sound of rustling underbrush behind the heavily wooded Salt Spring Island hillside where I live. It’s not a deer, I thought. It’s not a cougar. Way too noisy. It must be people. Now it’s highly unusual, you understand, to hear people in this neck of the woods. There are miles of uninhabited bush behind our cabin; I refer to it as supernatural nowhere BC. If Walden had a bush, this would be it
By Grant Shilling

We’re not in Dixie anymore, Bubba NASCAR dads have become the swing vote in this fall’s US presidential election. But to understand the man, you must first try to understand what drives him By David Hayes

This boat is my boat First they stole our land, then our methods of water transportation. Cultural appropriation aside, is it too much to ask that weekend warriors give the canoe and kayak some respect? By Drew Hayden Taylor

There ain’t no cure for the summer camp blues If you want a picture of camp, imaging a sneaker stamping on a human face—for a whole summer. How one middle-class kid not only survived the Orwellian experience of self-improvement camp, but lived to tell the tale By David Leach

This isn’t summer stock For the current and former mental health patients who make up the Workman Theatre Project, acting is a step toward healing—a way to take control of their minds and bodies By Caitlin Fullerton

Lords of the new church From the godfather of punk to the underground’s fairy gothmother, meet the leaders of a lifestyle revolution, whose style and attitude long ago transcended the mainstream By Liisa Ladouceur

Not Playing: Canadian Films By Rachel Pulfer

The Rebel Sell If we all hate consumerism, how come we can’t stop shopping? By Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter

Remembering Anti-Racism Can identity politics make a comeback? By Raghu Krishnan

Come together A new wave of intentional communities is challenging the 1960s cliché and offering smart solutions to today's most puzzling social problems By Cheri Hanson


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