A trickle of complaints has turned into a flood of controversy for a Quebec-based water company. Eska Water, one of the official sponsors for this year's Pride Week, drew the ire of First Nations groups and some of our readers with their "Protecting the Purity" ad campaign. After attempts to quell the growing backlash, Eska announced today that they are pulling the campaign.

Every Saturday at noon, Historicist looks back at the events, places, and characters—good and bad—that have shaped Toronto into the city we know today. Illustration by Jeremy Kai/Torontoist. “And, oh, what a glorious pleasure to again be in Toronto after an absence of twenty years!” The year is 1928. Reginald Fleming is laid back comfortably [...]

Advertisement, Time, October 27, 1947. In the battle against racial discrimination, 1947 was a year of turning points. The major story across the continent was Jackie Robinson breaking the colour barrier that had existed in major league baseball since the 1880s. Locally, municipal officials spurred by the continued bigotry displayed by an ice skating rink [...]

Every Saturday at noon, Historicist looks back at the events, places, and characters—good and bad—that have shaped Toronto into the city we know today. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Mayor Robert H. Saunders at Cenotaph at Old City Hall, January 12, 1946. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 2903. One day in [...]

Every so often, the internet reminds us that it is a horrible place. They Heard the News Today, Oh Boy seeks to combat that by collecting the worst of the worst comments from Toronto news sites and punishing them with words of our own. We understand why you’d be confused about that, “lguy.” Fred Armisen [...]

Illustration by Marc Lostracco/Torontoist. We’re sure they thought it was a good idea at the time. But intent was not the issue at hand as the University of Toronto Black Students’ Association hosted a town hall meeting on Tuesday, in response to the Halloween party hosted by three student unions on October 29 that saw [...]

Blackface: probably still not the best idea for a Halloween costume. Last night, student groups from three colleges at the University of Toronto—St. Michael’s College Student Union (SMCSU), the Victoria University Student Administrative Council (VUSAC), and the University College Literary and Athletic Society (UCLit, ahem)—teamed up to host “Nightmare on Peter St.,” a Halloween party [...]

Raptors Guard José Calderon is in something of a bad spot. He and fellow members of the Spanish Olympic Men’s Basketball team posed for a full-page ad that ran in Marca, Spain’s largest newspaper, for courier company Seur. In that ad (pictured above), every team member pulls their eyes into slits. (The women’s team has [...]

The Ontario Humans Rights Commission has determined that Asian fishermen assaulted by people shouting racial slurs were the victims of racism. That’s some fine sleuthing, people. If your home is heated with natural gas, you might want to invest in some bulky sweaters before winter rolls around. Prices are set to jump by around 20% [...]

This, today’s Globe and Mail editorial cartoon. The cartoon was published out of context below the Letters to the Editor in today’s Globe. But it’s very likely a reference to this news story (about which the Globe published a story in a sidebar on Saturday, but nothing in today’s paper). Just like the math on [...]

The TTC says that they plan to improve service on the 501 Queen streetcar route, which has been the object of much complaint over unpredictable service and frequent delays. The good news story here is that National Geographic recently declared the route one of the top ten streetcar trips in the world, so next time [...]

Sears is threatening to sue Ryerson University after the department store giant dropped $10 million in donations and didn’t get a building named after them. Sears claims they were promised top billing and instead only got a crappy logo inside a structure named after some guy who’s probably never sold a single pair of wrinkle-free [...]