Last week, my province made national headlines when it was announced that the Morgentaler clinic, our one and only private abortion provider, will be closing its doors in July due to lack of funding. I live in New Brunswick, a small province on Canada’s East Coast. We have a population of about 750,000, and a Conservative government. Historically though, it hasn’t mattered whether the Liberals or the Conservatives were in power; all of our…

Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite last wrote for The Toast about Bend it Like Beckham. Despite liking both books and Canada, I’m not really a CanLit fan. I was never drawn to the genre outside of required reading for school, and I can’t pinpoint where exactly my immersion in my national literary culture went awry. But even though I have fallen down on my CanLit reading as an adult, it was one of my favourites as a…

Lindsey Palka last wrote for The Toast about What Katy Did. Today we forget how hard it was to leave home in the past. We can video chat our loved ones on the other side of the world, text them our every thought within a second, fly (in an emergency) to visit them in a day. Would you leave home if it meant you would probably never return? That you would almost certainly never…

Canadian politics, eh? What’s it good for? "Fodder for novels" is one possible answer. There are two in particular that I love to bits because: They are hilariously trashy, badly written, and endlessly amusing; gifts from a friend who feeds my Canada obsession; actually do, in their incompetent way, say some interesting things about two existential Canadian fears: domination by the United States and the internal implosion of Canada. The first novel, Faultline 49,…

Would you want to live in Halifax in 1917, if you could? You would have probably enjoyed it. It had dance halls and ice skating on the ponds, a nearly endless supply of soldiers passing through and pouring money into local businesses, a movie theatre showing first-run films, and a Chinese restaurant on Barrington Street. But you may have regretted it, because on December sixth of that year, it became the site of the largest…

Every Canadian has a complicated relationship with the United States, whereas Americans think of Canada as the place where the weather comes from. Complication is a matter of how you perceive yourself in an unequal power relationship. - Margaret Atwood "Chicago of the North" (Winnipeg) "Chicago of the North" (Owen Sound) "Little Chicago" (Moose Jaw) "The Windy City" (Lethbridge) "Canada's Motor City" (Oshawa)…

Guys, this is ridiculous. Come on, now. Moreover, when I am given the reins to the nation, there will be one kind of pad and one kind of tampon and they will be handed out by the goverment like your I Voted! stickers.

1. Today is a day to say "Happy Thanksgiving" to Canadians. 2. Do not call it "Canadian Thanksgiving." 3. I cannot stress that strongly enough. 4. Canada has never engaged in any bad colonialism-related behavior of any kind, all Canadians have always lived in the castle, so there is no need whatsoever to feel emotionally or politically conflicted about that. 5. The song you will hear most Canadians sing today is "O Canada," which goes:…

I was going to write a long emo piece about Canada and being Canadian and my relationship to being Canadian, but we've already had such dynamite identity stuff today, I just want to talk a little bit about how it's easier to be a young creative person in Canada than it is here, for two distinct reasons: 1. Health Care: I know! So obvious, so pointless. Yes, health care makes things easier. But, NO, really,…

Canadians have successfully passed as non-Canadians for years. But how successful are natives of other countries at playing Canucks?

What follows is a decidedly non-exhaustive list of non-Canadian thespians stiffening up their facial muscles in order to portray an array of the Frozen People: Mounties, hockey players, fur traders, beer barons, and more.

1. In the 1936 musical romance Rose Marie, American actor Nelson Eddy stars as Sergeant Bruce, the singing Mountie.

...mostly based on a week of happily reading The Globe and Mail, Macleans, and watching the ads on CBC. 1. Criticizing a truly stupid and unconstitutional attempt by Quebec to ban government workers from wearing religious symbols (tiny crucifixes? oui! hijab? non). 2. Serving raw pork in fancy restaurants. 3.

Hello, you various old things. Are you currently reading this Internationally? Are you within reaching distance of a bag, not a carton, of milk? Have you strong opinions about your country of origin's relationship to Elizabeth II? Fantastic. We are holding, just for you, you special darlings, a Commonwealth Nations Day in the very near future.

Following the death of Dr. Henry Morgentaler on May 29th, 2013, we reached out to a number of Canadian women of all ages to ask for their memories and thoughts on the subject of his life, work, and legacy. Few had met him, all had opinions. Here's one. - Ed. I heard the news of Dr. Henry Morgentaler’s death as I was driving the 34 kilometres into work. I had anticipated feeling saddened by his…