Seth Shelden argues that neither 1983 nor 1962 were the only times the world had been close to a nuclear end. There were many other times that civilization stared into the abyss, often unaware. “The reason we haven’t been in a nuclear war is less likely deterrence and more likely luck,” said Shelden, who is the U. N. liaison for...

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Barbara Perry has been covering far-right extremism for around 30 years and the last five years have been unlike anything she’s ever seen.“There’s been a dramatic rise in the visibility and sheer numbers of these groups–the vocal nature of the far-right in Canada recently is unlike anything we've seen,” Perry said. Perry, who serves as director of the Centre on...

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For decades Canadians followed the exploits of Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and other American comic book heroes. But Richard Comely, the co-creator of Captain Canuck, knew the country was yearning to have its own superhero.“When putting the character together I wanted him to be a little more Canadian, a little more humble and not so flashy, loud or boisterous,” Comely said....

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Ralph Alfonso was a bored young journalist looking for something in 1976, and he found it in as the lead singer of Toronto band The Diodes. “I had this huge four-hour interview with the frontman Paul Robinson and at the end of it, he had somehow turned it around so that I was now their manager,” Alfonso said. It was...

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Nick Fantauzzi was 15 when he started watching Rocky movies and hitting his little brother’s punching bag. Today he’s the top-ranked light-heavyweight in Canada.“I grew up in Maple, there were no boxing gyms around and my parents wouldn’t let me go to Toronto to box,” Fantauzzi said. “So when I was 19 a boxing gym opened up in Vaughan. That's...

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There’s something anyone can do to ease the pain and isolation of the homeless, said Mike Burnett, community education specialist at Youth Without Shelter. And it doesn't cost a cent.“People often ask me if they should give money or food to people on the street," Burnett said. "I tell them neither if not possible. But at least look them in...

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Manan Nijhawan was excited walking into the Humber College gym to do his first sports story. But he found a policy in his way.“There was a form I needed to fill out before I could receive access to the facility,” said Nijhawan, a third-year journalism student at Humber. The process was created by the 2019 Temporary Use-of-Space Policy requiring that...

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For men like Billy Wilson and Robbie Cleary, it’s time for this generation of Canadian soccer to dream. Soccer fever is growing as the men's Canadian national team becomes the country's new sports darling, rising to 40th in the FIFA rankings with recent wins against Mexico and Costa Rica and currently atop their group in the World Cup qualifying tournament.“It's...

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Motorcycle culture has lost some of its glory, according to Wayne "Tattoo Tony" Doucette, owner of Heavy Duty Cycles, a motorcycle repair shop on Kingston Road in Toronto, Ont.“Back in the day, we were all hardcore,” he said. "We rode, we fixed our bikes and we looked out for each other." Doucette said, “Today that mentality is pretty much gone,...

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Toronto has three certainties. Cold winters, humid summers and rising expenses. Everywhere you turn there’s something new you can’t afford. The hunt for stability grows more urgent with every passing year. The housing market has morphed into a beast that ate our future. According to the National Bank of Canada, housing affordability in 2021 is the most dire it's been...

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