Photo by wili_hybrid. There is little more dreadful for a parent than unintentionally hurting one's own child. There is little more traumatic for a child than having something they dearly want taken away from them. A Toronto psychologist is under fire for recommending controversial treatments which some believe cause just that. A heartbreaking NPR documentary released this week tells the story of two families struggling with the gender identities of their children. "Bradley" is......

If you're near a radio on Monday, tune into CBC Radio for 25 hours of music and talk programming dedicated to Music Monday. Four years ago, the Coalition for Music Education in Canada established Music Monday—the first Monday in May—to highlight the importance of music education in schools. Kids and school staff across the country are encouraged to go outside and play a short concert. The main focus of Music Monday is to join......

Initially our headline here probably makes absolutely no sense, because the Sprockets Film Festival is the Toronto International Film Festival for Children. In general, "movie theatres filled with children" aren’t anywhere you could take refuge from anything (other than possibly peace and quiet) but we’d like to spotlight some of the films that Sprockets is showing this year that deal with the refugee experience. After all, with over 50% of Toronto a visible "minority"......

For family fun, you can't beat the sheer adorableness of kids wise-cracking from an open mic. That'll be just one of the activities happening this weekend for kids in the latest edition of the always amazing Bunch Family Salon. Adam Growe, a headlining comedian and father of three, will be on hand to mentor the aspiring comics, in keeping with the annual event's goal of bringing major players from the local arts community—last year's special......

It’s almost time for the Toronto International Film Festival for Children, Sprockets (it runs this year from April 12th to 18th) and the complete line-up of films has been announced. Once again this year all film journalists will find it impossible to mention the festival without bringing up Mike Myers (after all, it’s was one of the best SNL sketches ever, really) but far more relevantly, this year Sprockets features 68 films from 26......

Dan Misener's unstoppably rad reading series, Grownups Read Things They Wrote As Kids, is moving to new digs for its fourth installation next Monday. The little event that could—wherein grownups read their grade school stories, diaries, and poems to a bunch of people they've never met before—is picking up from its former home at the Victory Cafe and bopping over to the Gladstone to accommodate its ever-increasing audience of believers. Even with the bigger venue,......

Good newspaper headlines are concise, descriptive, clear, and––occasionally, just occasionally––nothing short of genius. And then there's "Man who stole car with baby faces more charges." Originally published yesterday on The Star's website without a clarifying subheadline, the wonderfully ambiguous title evokes at least three possible scenarios when left by itself: 1. The man and baby stole the car together. As infants are both prone to fits of uncontrollable rage, and are technically able to buy......

If you're a tree hugger who takes the GO bus instead of driving like a regular person, you might want to limber up that hippy hitchhikin' thumb. GO bus drivers are leaning towards a strike sometime in the next few days, although they've agreed to give 48 hours notice before any walkout. A strike wouldn't stop GO train service, although pickets could slow them down. A former convenience store operator in Toronto has been......

Gate House goes coed. After a series of puerile, childish, vaguely misogynistic stunts, the infamous all-male U of T residence has been come down upon by that stuffy old dean. Of note is Gate House's claim to be an inspiration for the movie Animal House, just like every other "look at us we're so wild" frat house on every college campus ever, despite the fact that Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis went to McMaster.......

Toronto seems to get its annual dose of legendary outsider filmmaker John Waters around this time. A couple of years back he was hosting the TIFF gala of his latest film, A Dirty Shame, then in late 2006, he could be found gallivanting around Roncesvalles overseeing the transformation—for good or ill—of his 1988 comedy, Hairspray, into this year's hit family-friendly musical starring John Travolta (based more on the 2002 Broadway remake than on its original......

Andy Warhol's Factory parties were the ultimate hot spot for an elite cabal of celebrities, radicals, drag queens and porn stars. There has never been a better place to rock out while on an amphetamine high amid mass-produced silkscreen paintings and a fleet of floating silver balloons. Now, just replace Warhol's notorious gang of New York vagabonds with a bunch of over-stimulated children, and you have the idea behind Bunch's next edition of their popular......

As the unofficial fansite of Roncesvalles' favourite success story (and one of the oldest operating movie theatres in this country), Torontoist is pleased to tell you about another exciting event being staged by the good folks at the Revue Film Society. This time, money will be going towards brand-new educational initiatives the theatre aims to have up and running in early 2008, including a film school for neighborhood kids. This particular event, starting at......

A longtime staple of the holiday season is a special visit from jolly old St. Nick to the nearest shopping mall or department store. Kids relish the opportunity to tell Santa that they want the latest hot toy, peace on Earth or an official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model air rifle, while retailers hope these gift lists translate into sales. If the establishment has hired their Santa carefully, kids will not need to......

Provincial Education Minister Kathleen Wynne has tabled a bill that would ban trans fatty foods from Ontario schools. Trans fats and young people have been a hot public safety issue since 2005's infamous "Summer of the Muffin." Conservative MP James Moore yesterday angrily rejected allegations from NDP MP Irene Mathyssen that he had been viewing a picture of a "scantily clad woman" on his laptop while in the House. Although Mathyssen later apologized after......

A couple weeks back, Spacing Wire posted this brilliant old TTC ad that made us hungry for more forgotten gems of Toronto advertising. The video in question was uploaded by a user calling themselves WNED 17, and their entire archive is made up of similar videos. In fact, their profile page provides a mission statement: "Youtube user WNED17 is proud to present repeat portions of broadcast captured in the 1980s and early 1990s via......

First and foremost, we're going to warn you that the video above may not be safe for work, children, or the faint of heart. It's from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario's latest ad campaign. In the video, a young sweet sous-chef with her whole future ahead of her happens to slip on some grease, spilling a vat of boiling water all over herself and horribly scalding her face. While she's on......

For the last 50 days, Donna Dillman has been on a hunger strike to protest uranium mining in eastern Ontario. Tomorrow (Tuesday), she brings that fight to the steps of Queen's Park, and she'd like you to join her. Donna, a grandmother, is concerned about strong scientific evidence that particles released into the air and water during uranium mining and processing contribute to increased rates of cancer and organ damage, especially in children. The CBC......

Continuing a historic tradition of corporately sponsored holiday cheer, the 35-foot "Swarovski Crystal Wish Tree" was formally unveiled last night at the Eaton Centre. The star-studded event––a Children’s Wish Foundation fundraiser hosted by Justin Trudeau (yes, the Justin Trudeau)––drew a sizeable crowd of shoppers. Very few members of the audience seemed to actually know what they were lining up to see, though, as the tree was hidden by an enormous curtain for the better part......

Photo courtesy of TYPE TYPE Books is expanding! Building on the success of their Queen Street West location, TYPE Books will be opening a second store in Forest Hill Village. Located at 394 Spadina Road, the store will be smaller than the one on Queen, but you can definitely expect a carefully curated "best of the best" approach to book selection, with the characterized and personalized sections that TYPE Books is known to offer. Aesthetically,......

The Toronto Argonauts can turn this Sunday’s Eastern Final into the perfect kickoff for the upcoming Grey Cup festival. If the Argos beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to reach the championship game, it'll give a huge boost to the week-long party, also known as “Canada’s national drunk.” Brad Watters, general manager of this year's Grey Cup, says that the team winning the 95th Grey Cup at home "would really turn the town on its......

Fresh from this year's successful stab at World's Largest Thriller Dance, Toronto is looking to weasel its way into the Guinness Book yet again. This time, with a big-ass Christmas stocking. To coincide with the third annual Guinness World Records Day, the sock of honour will be stationed in the main lobby of the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts this Thursday afternoon. While it isn't technically part of the record attempt, folks are encouraged......

Torontoist is one of fourteen cities in the worldwide Gothamist network. Once a week, the editors of each site—from LAist to Londonist—compile some of their most interesting posts into a brief blurb. It's Elsewhere In The Ist-A-Verse, and it appears, across the network, every Sunday. Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without......

Toronto gets a C+ on the annual Smog Report Card. Most of the blame for the low grade goes to the city's financial crisis, which is stalling transit improvements and other environmental initiatives. The rest of the blame goes on YOU. Yes, YOU. In the back. Don't try to point to the person sitting next to you! You horrible polluter, you! Speaking of smog: oil prices hit a record high. This in response to......

At Torontoist, we're so used to writing about certain niche genres of art—graffiti art, video art, comic art, participatory art, billboard liberation art, performance art, outdoor art, nocturnal art, transit art—that we tend to forget about the encompassing category of "fine art for the commercial market." Canadian and international contemporary art enthusiasts will descend upon the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (255 Front Street West) this weekend from October 25–29 for the Toronto International Art......

Did you know that Canada has a Sex Party? No, not a Sexy Party, Stewie-styles, but like an actual political party, for real. Yeah, neither did we. They're all about the need to "realize a sex-positive culture" and stuff like that. They're not exactly a political juggernaut, but they do their thing, and that's cool. But now the Sex Party's in a bit of a mess with Canada Post, which deemed their pamphlets "sexually explicit"......

Transformation AGO will soon be entering the final stages of its expansion project, estimated to finish sometime in mid-2008. But before the AGO closes its doors in order to begin reinstalling over 5,000 pieces of art into 110 galleries, they will be offering free admission to the public for its closing weekend this October 6 and 7. This will be your final opportunity to view the four exhibitions that have been on display since......

Merriam-Webster defines "telethon" as "a long television program usually to solicit funds especially for a charity." Almost from the dawn of broadcast television on both sides of the border, time has been set aside to urge viewers to support a long list of causes. This tradition began in 1949, when a 16-hour telethon to raise money for the Damon Runyon Memorial Fund to fight cancer brought in just over a million dollars in pledges......

If there's anything Jesus loves more than flattery, it's porn stars. Well, technically, Jesus loves everyone—even those little teenage tramps and their HPV vaccines—but now, ol' JHC is adding some marketing pizzazz to that affection. Since deities also love acting all obscure and ambiguous, the Michigan-based XXX Church (savvy!) has taken it upon themselves to declare that Jesus wants you to stop looking at porn and instead find titillation in scripture. And they've set their......

The Trinity-Spadina Make Poverty History group is helping jump-start discussion about the issue of child poverty by holding an All-Candidates' Meeting to discuss child poverty issues. All four provincial parties are going to be represented by their respective candidates from the riding, who will be able to talk about their plans to eliminate child poverty in Toronto and beyond. The meeting is being held tomorrow (September 19) at 7:00 p.m. at the Factory Theatre......

If you've ever fantasized about designing your own skateboard deck—and really, who hasn't—the best day of your life may rapidly be approaching. DIY skateboard company Roarockit is opening its first boardmaking program in Toronto. After almost four years as a web-based business selling make-your-own-board kits, Roarockit is opening a school where aspiring boardmakers can attend seminars on how to create their own decks, ranging from basic street decks all the way up to highly personalized......