July 30, 2020 – Edmonton Airport As a child I thought the Arabic term for Lebanon was “the Balaad.” That’s what my parents called it whenever they fondly remembered their life before Canada, before I was born. This other world, as they described it, was somehow a more difficult place, yet culturally superior. I was […]
The clock in my hometown ticks toward a once-distant optimism. Rollie Pemberton on leaving – and coming – home
Oh, Canada, on your 150th birthday, you’re old enough now to hear this: keep your promises
From the Aboriginal chef reinventing the restaurant industry’s idea of dinner to the baker changing the pastry business one macaron at a time, Edmonton has hit its culinary stride. Jennifer Cockrall-King talks to the city’s top chefs to find out why us – and why now
I remember the day 40 years ago – 2020 – that Anita Bryant took a pie in the face on live television. I remember it because it was an ugly media moment – an angry gay activist tossing baked goods to score political points; a homophobic crusader and former Miss America covered in whipped cream, tearfully […]
After the election of the Trudeau Liberals, Canada swiftly rebranded itself as a tolerant, open-armed society. But as alt-right sentiments seep across the border, how welcoming is the country? Omar Mouallem meets the refugees facing racism, xenophobia and the very idea of Canadianness
It was not quite midnight as I drove home north on 95th Street from downtown Edmonton, past the glowing Burger Baron sign, the dark pawnshops, the queasy light from various convenience store windows and the ever-present drug trade hopping off and on bikes, out of backpacks, through car windows, into cupped hands. I craned to […]
Immigrant, barber, theme park developer, mental patient, self-mythologizer, terrorist, Supreme Court victor, hero, senior citizen, Canadian