Adnan al-Mekdad and his family fled war-torn Syria as refugees and arrived in Canada just over two years ago, but he and his wife have struggled to find meaningful employment. In Syria, he was a veterinarian by trade and later became a partner at a company working in pharmaceuticals. Once the crisis in the Middle Eastern country started, however, he and his family left everything behind and moved to his father’s village before leaving the country altogether. Mr. al-Mekdad and his wife, Taghrid

Rising floodwaters across New Brunswick, which have caused evacuations, property damage and the closing of a large section of the Trans-Canada highway between Moncton and Fredericton, have become so strong that even the powerful tides of the Bay of Fundy aren’t able to beat them back. With waters already at record levels in Saint John and projected to rise further this week, the province is calling in the Canadian Coast Guard as it grapples with the worst spring floods in decades. The flooding,

Toronto police have initiated a public-mischief investigation after the discovery and removal of a car dangling from the bottom of the Millwood Road bridge on Wednesday morning, believing it was suspended there as part of an elaborate prank. Constable Jenifferjit Sidhu said there was no threat to public safety and there was already caution tape – not put there by police – around the area below the car. However, police positioned themselves nearby to warn anyone passing below. “There’s also the

The attack: Around 1:30 p.m. Monday, a white van, which had a Ryder Truck Rental and Leasing logo on its side, mounted the sidewalk at the busy intersection of Yonge Street and Finch Avenue and struck a number of people. From there, the van proceeded southbound on Yonge for several blocks toward Sheppard Avenue. Over less than 25 minutes, the van mowed people down in what Toronto’s police chief described as a “deliberate” killing rampage. The van made it roughly 2.2 km before being stopped on th

Toronto’s rat population seems to be on the rise, or is at least more visible. Ana Bailão, Toronto city councillor for ward 18 (Davenport), will be bringing forward a motion to council on Tuesday requesting a report be done on strategies for improving rat control in the city, including education initiatives for businesses and residents. According to Ms. Bailão’s motion, there’s been a “dramatic rise” in rat-control related complaints from residents and business owners in the west end. “[Resid

Faced with a rent hike, the Salvation Army thrift store in Toronto’s Regent Park, which sees the highest use of customer vouchers in Canada, has no choice but to close next month. In the 2017-18 fiscal year, the 252 Parliament St. location gave out approximately $450,000 in goods through the program, which allows some customers to use vouchers to purchase items such as clothing and small household necessities, rather than having to pay out of pocket. “We need to be there. We want to be there,”

As the slippery ice and snow that began coating Toronto over the weekend wreaked more havoc around the city, the mayor came under fire for how the storm was handled. Police closed off an area on Bremner Boulevard below the CN Tower to traffic and pedestrians on Tuesday because of concerns of falling ice in the area, forcing attractions such as Ripley’s Aquarium to close. Steam Whistle Brewing and the Rec Room, businesses both located near the affected area, stayed fully or partly open on Tuesd

Sitting in a glass, a straw doesn’t seem like much. For sipping or stirring a drink, it’s not used for long. By the end of a regular night at a bar, though, thousands of single-use, non-recyclable plastic straws are tossed out with the trash. “The amount of straws that we throw away at the end of the night, it really is appalling,” said Rob Picken, owner of the Underground Garage on Toronto’s King Street West. The club is a recent addition to the list of almost 100 city bars and restaurants

Cory Bowles’ first feature film will be released on-demand in the U.S. A Halifax-made, award-winning film has been picked up for distribution in the United States and Latin America. Black Cop, written and directed by Cory Bowles, will be released on-demand on May 1 through Samuel Goldwyn Films. “We’re happy that it’s going to a wider audience,” said Bowles. “That’s something that’s really difficult, to have a major backing for that to happen.” Black Cop is Bowles’ first feature film. It was

North and East Preston are the first of five historically black communities to have residents receive land titles, following a promised $2.7-million investment from the province last September. One title was granted in North Preston in November. In January, another was granted in North Preston and three in East Preston, according to the Department of Natural Resources. “Anybody getting (title) is a bonus. If it’s one person or a thousand, it’s the fact that somebody is getting it,” said Dwight

As newsrooms across the country strive for greater diversity, HuffPost Canada editor-in-chief Andree Lau says there’s a need for a much more nuanced approach than simply “checking the boxes.” Lau spoke on January 5th at NASH, the annual Canadian student journalism conference. This year’s conference, NASH 80: Connect, was hosted by the Ryerson Eyeopener and the Canadian University Press and featured dozens of presenters from the journalism industry, including Lau for her talk on diversity in re

When Jeremie Saunders was 14, he was granted a wish — a wish he thinks he wasted. That’s why Saunders and his co-hosts of the popular Sickboy podcast want to grant the wish of an adult living with an illness — physical, mental or otherwise. They hosted a sold-out SickWish gala Saturday night at the Museum of Natural History in Halifax. Saunders, now 30, has cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that affects the lungs and other organs. He’s been hosting the Sickboy podcast with friends Brian Steve

This story will introduce you to a crime reporter, a crew of international reporters, an op-ed writer, and an investigative journalism team. And every one of these people are teenagers, or younger. Some parts of journalism, everyone knows, are in trouble. A recent Pew Research Center studyshows that the estimated weekly newspaper circulation in the U.S. fell from 62,328,000 in 1990 to an estimated 34,657,199 in 2016. That’s almost half. There is, though, reason for optimism. A 2017 study by Co

Love the descriptive article. It provided intimate insights to an artistic sole.