Youth are no longer being held up as the future of politics—they’re fighting for a seat at the table. We spoke to some of Canada’s youngest political contenders about what led them to the legislature.
Category: Prairies
With American political figures like Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) raising the profile of democratic socialism and Medicare in political conversations across North America, The Pigeon charts how in just over 50 years, socialist Saskatchewan became a conservative stronghold.
Prairie Harm Reduction has been working toward opening Saskatchewan’s first safe consumption site for five years. The site is set to open on Oct. 1, directly in the wake of a Saskatchewan Coroners Service report estimating that overdose deaths in the province in 2020 are already higher than any previous year.
WHEAT is the only therapeutic arts training centre in central Canada that provides diplomas and certificate programs in expressive arts and art therapy. This month, the institute has welcomed its first cohort of students as part of the first Indigenized expressive arts therapy program in the country, which introduces participants to Anishinaabe culture, tradition, and art as a form of healing.
In the 1880s, colonial settlers rendered the North American bison population almost completely extinct. By 1884, there were less than 400 bison left. Since then, efforts have been made to reintroduce bison to their traditional grazing lands, but the North American bison is far from restored to its former glory.
My family moved to Calgary in 2016 and settled in Sherwood, a small suburb in the northwest corner of the city. At the time, our neighbourhood didn’t feel like a neighbourhood at all: we were one of two families on the entire street, and the other houses were either wooden skeletons or empty shells standing solemnly with “For Sale” signs out front.
As COVID-19 put the world on pause, a decreased demand for oil sent prices plummeting, spelling disaster for the future of Alberta’s oil sands. The province continues to deal with a worsening economy and the impacts of climate change, and climate activists say a green transition might be the solution Albertans need.
In Alberta, as in many provinces, the perception that Canada doesn’t have a racism problem persists. According to some, police brutality against marginalized people is an issue exclusive to the US, and racial discrimination is non-existent. Rex Murphy, a well-known Canadian commentator and author, even wrote a column claiming that “Canada is not a racist country.” But racism happens here too.