This week has been a complete Canadian freakout. Wednesday was the Arar, Canadian folk hero thing. Tuesday was the 25th anniversary of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the patriation of Canada’s constitution—a big… no, a huge deal. And then this coming Monday will be the 110th anniversary of the birth of […]

I’ve just returned from a lecture given by Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who was tortured in Syria after being sent there by the United States. Although Arar’s case is not unique, what makes it special is that he could not be any less of a terrorist, by pretty much all accounts, including the official […]

A day later than I’d planned, I’ve made it to Halifax, Nova Scotia, largest city (or something) in Atlantic Canada. Not only did I get here, I was able to buy groceries too—something I couldn’t have done just a few months ago. Despite Canada’s comparative irreligiosity, some provinces’ Sunday shopping prohibitions have only […]

I’m back in Edmonton after a three-week stay in Vancouver. During those weeks I lived right in the thick of torrential wind and rainfall, the largest water emergency in Canadian history (forcing over a million people to boil their water for 12 straight days), and then record, unseasonal snowfall and cold temperatures just […]

Vancouver—as a city of people—is in turmoil. Debate over social policy for the Downtown Eastside, “Canada’s poorest postal code,” has heated and come to a boil, just as I arrived for my short stint here. “Home” to something like 1500 homeless and over 5000 more folks living in flophouse hotels, the “DTES” is […]

Over the Remembrance Day long weekend, I hosted a friend from the U.S. who came up to Vancouver. It was the first time I’d entertained (A) an American (who is not presently dating a Canadian resident) in Canada or (B) a former law school classmate since the bar. Or rather, because I’d been in […]

Tonight, I pushed over all my spare loonies and toonies for bottles of Canadian as the Oilers won a hockey game, then donned my toque and mitts to head out into steady October snow piling up on the Old Strathcona streets.

Speaking of graffiti, I ought to mention the listen bird, which I’d guess that everybody who’s spent more than a day in Edmonton would know about. “Listen,” often paired with a particular bird, shows up graffitied (sometimes by stencil) nearly everywhere that I’ve been in the city—on walls, windows, newspaper boxes, Canada Post drops, […]