I'm a freelance writer, part-time nomad and banjo understudy intrigued by the obscure and eclectic. Currently living in Toronto, I've mused about everything from seahorses to entrepreneurialism.
Masterpiece 2019: The artists of Cape Dorset
In Shuvinai Ashoona's work, it's eggs and alligators, baleen and bones that become anchors, giving some strange familiarity in the beautifully surreal worlds the contemporary artist creates. Even in large format pieces where Ashoona's coloured pencil seems to dance off the page, you're never lost for long, her lexicon bringing you back to whatever the story is she's trying to tell.
Isuma represents Canada at Venice Biennale 2019
It's mid-January in Igloolik. The sun's just returned; a subtle blue glow stretching out across the endless snow, and Zacharias Kunuk has been reading about Venice's canals. “I've never been … I've been to Cannes, but that's the closest I've ever got,” he says over a crackling phone line. “In May, it's like summertime over there, in May we're still skidooing on the ice up here.”
Mennonite farmer dips his toe into e-commerce
Marlin Martin doesn’t care much for technology. The 34-year-old Mennonite farmer doesn’t own a smartphone or have internet access, although he uses electricity on his farm outside Dundalk, Ont.; he uses a horse and buggy, and he raises his cattle hormone – and antibiotic – free on the grasses of Marita Fields. However, he’s decided that a partnership with an e-commerce startup is the best way to get his products to market.
Since the fall of 2018, Mr. Martin has been working with NIKU Farms, a...
Four Days in Toronto: Lake Surfing, Hidden Speakeasies and Coffee Galore
In 1886, Toronto mayor William Howland championed a simple, conservative ethos, calling the city “Toronto the Good." More than 130 years later the nickname lingers, yet Toronto has never been more diverse.
A Traveller's Guide to Parisian Family Values
As anyone visiting Paris can attest, French culture – that joie de vivre that makes the city one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world – is underpinned by some elusive cultural nuances that can make almost any traveller feel like an outsider.
But the French are some of the friendliest people on the planet. They radiate love for their city and their culture. And they just appreciate when you make an effort to understand what makes them unique.
Four Days in Nassau: Beach Bliss Meets Culinary Adventure
For the tourist, Nassau is a bucket list stopover, a dreamy location to grab a fridge magnet before the cruise ship lifts the gangplank. But for the traveller, the capital city is an inimitable portrait of Bahamian life, a vibrant blend of North American culture and island idiosyncrasy.
Four Days in Halifax: Maritime Flair, Reinvented
If all Halifax evokes is the crack of lobster claws and an endless blanket of Atlantic fog, maybe it's time for a (re)visit.
Entrepreneurs: How profit and philanthropy can go hand-in-hand
Women have long been the catalyst for social change, leading some of the world's most well-known philanthropy initiatives like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. But there's a growing number of young, higher-net-worth women looking to social entrepreneurship as a vessel for change.
RBC Taylor Prize 2019: Kate Harris discusses the ‘wildness’ of her Silk Road journey
In the prologue to Kate Harris' 2019 RBC Taylor Prize award-winning piece of non-fiction, we meet the Canadian author and her travelling companion on the Silk Road, using the cover of darkness to try and slip past a militarized checkpoint into Tibet.
The moment is tense. Their bikes, carefully packed for the 10-month journey, tossed in a ditch as they escape the sweep of flashlights that'll lead Harris, she suspects, directly to a Chinese prison cell.
RBC Taylor Prize 2018: Listening to the sound of Seven Fallen Feathers
Tanya Talaga has been named winner of the 2018 RBC Taylor Prize with her non-fiction book Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death and Hard Truths in a Northern City.
Tanya Talaga, right, accepts the RBC Taylor Prize from founder Noreen Taylor.
Tanya Talaga's 2018 RBC Taylor Prize-award winning Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death and Hard Truths in a Northern City (House of Anansi Press) puts her in rare company: she's probably one of the few people to win the prestigious non-fiction award that ...
RBC Taylor Prize 2018: Listening to the sound of Seven Fallen Feathers
Tanya Talaga has been named winner of the 2018 RBC Taylor Prize with her non-fiction book Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death and Hard Truths in a Northern City.
Are we witnessing the death of old-fashioned conglomerates in Europe?
General Electric recently re-ignited speculation the company could be the next big conglomerate to break-up, with CEO John Flannery, admitting that the company is “looking aggressively” at a spin-off or other ways to get the most out of its power, aviation, and healthcare units.
How Ben Zifkin Plans to Move the Needle for Toronto Companies
For the past six years Ben Zifkin, founder of Hubba the world's fastest growing B2B network connecting craft brands and retailers, has been working tirelessly to prop up the Toronto startup and scale-up ecosystem. And now, he feels the city is on the cusp of its first true tech success stories.
Inheritance planning: Beating the “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves” adage
The "shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations" adage, which describes the inability of grandchildren to manage the wealth passed down to them from their grandparents and parents, has hung over the world's highest net-worth families for decades, threatening the continuation of family legacies.