Reducing Vancouver Police budget: experts call for alternative solutions
By Eva Zhu — VANCOUVER — Amid calls across North America to “defund the police,” in the wake of an horrific killing of a Black man at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis, a debate is swirling in Vancouver over whether to decrease the police department’s operatingContinue Reading
Peel Police investigating shooting, young male injured
By Monika Sidhu — Peel Police are investigating a shooting that injured a young male early Thursday morning. The youth turned up at a Brampton hospital with a gunshot wound around 1:12 a.m., police said. His injuries are considered serious, but not life-threatening, they said. Police did not release anyContinue Reading
COVID-19: Post-secondary education for about 10,000 students to re-start July 2
By Vicky Qiao The province announced plans for reopening post-secondary education Wednesday, with some in-person classes scheduled to start in less than a month. The limited summer reopening plan is aimed at helping students who should be graduating but have been unable to finish their studies due to COVID-19 closures,Continue Reading
Cross-border couples left off travel ban exemptions say government shouldn’t ‘dictate’ whose relationships are essential
By Monika Sidhu — Chantal Philion is placing a lot of faith into June 21, 2020. That’s the new date the federal government has set for lifting the ban on “non-essential” travel between Canada and the U.S. That means if the ban doesn’t get extended again, it will be theContinue Reading
LGBTQ+ Harry Potter fans question their loyalty after transphobic J.K. Rowling tweets
By Eva Zhu — Savannah Bagshaw says growing up, J.K. Rowling created a whole new universe for her and many others. It was an inclusive community, where everyone had a chance to be accepted and find solace in their own way. Now, the 24-year-old says she no longer admires RowlingContinue Reading
COVID-19: New chapter for libraries and other businesses set to re-open as Ontario enters Phase 2
By Mira Williamson — Premier Doug Ford announced Monday that Ontario would take a regional approach to reopening with 24 regions of the province — but not all — entering Phase 2 Friday. For those regions, that means as many gatherings can include as many as 10 people, up fromContinue Reading
Ontario student athletes ‘very disappointed’ after season cancelled
By Adriana Vicic — Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, university-level student athletes continued to prepare for a season they didn’t know would happen. They’ve now received some clarity. Ontario University Athletics (OUA) announced Monday that it had cancelled all sanctioned sport programming and championships until December 31, 2020. Marsh, a 20-year-oldContinue Reading
Petition calls for Western University to introduce mandatory anti-racism course
By Vicky Qiao — Western University students are calling on the school to introduce a mandatory anti-racism or anti-oppression course that students would be required to take to graduate. As of Tuesday morning, the online petition “Make Anti-Oppression Course Mandatory for Graduation” has received over 5,800 signatures on change.org inContinue Reading
‘This is a problem with society. Period.’ — Black community members react to online challenge
By Adriana Vicic — LONDON , ON— Still reeling from the killing of George Floyd, which has spurred anti-black racism protests worldwide, some black Canadians reacted with disgust —but not surprise — to an online challenge that made light of Floyd’s death. By the time social media websites began clampingContinue Reading
Protesting during a pandemic: health experts talk about what to do during and after the event
By Eva Zhu — Youeal Abera says it’s “scary” that he had to make a choice between joining a crowd of thousands during a global pandemic and staying home while black people continue to suffer the effects of systemic anti-black racism. But in the wake of George Floyd’s killing atContinue Reading