In this occasional feature, two Torontoist staffers face off to debate an issue that is important to our city. We invite our readers to join in the debate in the comments section after the post. In October of 2006, Maclean’s magazine published an excerpt from writer Mark Steyn’s book, America Alone, which argued that demographics and the failures of liberal society were inevitably leading to the Islamization of Europe. Subsequently a group of Muslim students......

At this time last year, BBC journalist Alan Johnston was being held hostage. For the three years before he was kidnapped by a Palestinian jihadist organization called the Army of Islam, Johnston was the last foreign correspondent brave enough to live and work in the volatile Gaza Strip. He spent four months as a hostage, from March 12 until his release 114 days later on July 4. To celebrate World Press Freedom Day, Alan......

China vows to continue the international Olympic torch relay despite lots of protests. The International Olympic Committee suggested that they might do away with the international route in upcoming games, because from now on, all Olympic games will be held in authoritarian dictatorships and they "don't want to look bad" when they award the next few Games to Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan, and the Equatorial Republic of Hate-Land. (The President-For-Eternity of Hate-Land responded by saying, "ooooooh,......

Hello! Although you probably didn’t notice, this Torontoist writer was away for a week, and as a result we failed to do something very important. Specifically, to congratulate Norm Wilner on becoming NOW’s senior film critic. We're not doing this just because we know Wilner keeps an eye on Torontoist to see if he gets a mention, but because we like his work so much that we can’t think of anyone better to step......

TTC promises more buses, new routes, candy. Okay, they're not promising candy, but over the next year there will be gradual extra service along all of the TTC's major routes to lessen the impact of crowding. In 2009: possibly we get candy. Speaking of the TTC, Dalton McGuinty wants to bring it under provincial control as part of the Metrolinx regional transportation authority. Bypassing the fact that "Metrolinx" is a terrible, terrible name for......

The last time we looked at accessible pedestrian signals (APS), those chirping and cuckooing crossing indicators for the visually-impaired, it was with some surprise at the city's claim that it simply couldn't afford to install APS at more than a handful of intersections each year. Instead of allocating enough money to improve availability of a fairly basic service to visually-impaired residents, the city instead looked for corporate sponsors to pick up some of the......

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset. Riders of the TTC may have noticed a new kind of stop announcement on buses and streetcars over the......

Today at 2:00 a.m., University of Toronto law graduates received an email from their alma mater, stating that an "unprecedented announcement" would be made at 1:00 p.m. today and inviting them to join the law school "for this special moment" via webcast. Breathless even by U of T law standards, the email left alumni everywhere in suspense. Would it be the launch of a new global declaration on human rights? An announcement that justice had......

Just because you're being indulgent doesn't mean you have to ignore environmental, human rights, and health concerns. That's the philosophy of the Kakayo Chocolate Company, a fantastic new truffle shop that opened last week. Located at 1584 Queen St. East, right at the edge of the Beaches, Kakayo is a truffle shop with morality in mind. Not only can you fulfill your cravings for delectable, high-quality chocolate, but you can do it ethically. Founder......

More than a week of protests in Toronto against the violence in Burma culminated last night with the Global March for the People of Burma. The demonstration began at 6:00 p.m. in front of the Chinese consulate on St. George Street before making its way to Queen's Park, where a vigil was led by monks from the city's Buddhist temples. According to the Toronto Star, hundreds heeded the call from Amnesty International and other......

Before all the fuss over Halo 3 there was the video game greatness of Pong. And before that, there was good ol' fashioned ping pong. Since 2000, The Dedicated Association of Ping Pong Players has been keeping the table tennis dream alive with bi-annual tournaments, the next of which is taking place on Saturday. Up to 500 people are expected to attend the event at the Steam Whistle Brewery ,which will feature drinking and......

Tired of being bombarded with the bitter bits of business? Want to hear about commerce that strives for a sweet deal for everyone involved? On September 19, Alternative Grounds, one of Toronto's leading purveyors of liquid energy and social justice, will host an awesome event put on by Coburg-based human rights organization Horizons Of Friendship. Three speakers from organizations in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Ecuador will come together to discuss how cooperatives and micro-enterprise are......

The CNE adds "you are here" stickers to its guide maps. No, really. Apparently this is a news story. And you thought journalism was hard and required a degree or something. Missisauga sci-fi author Robert. J. Sawyer wins a Galaxy award at the China International Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival. The author of such excellent books as Far-Seer and Hominids said how science fiction is wonderful because it transcends language and culture and tyrannical......

On August 22nd, Leonardo Zuniga held a press conference in the Council Chambers of City Hall, where representatives of community organizations including the Toronto Youth Cabinet, No One Is Illegal, and the Metropolitan Community Church urged Minister of Immigration Diane Finley to grant Leo refugee status in Canada, a decision that could potentially save his life. Leo came to Canada in September of 2004 in search of a place to live where he would......

Proving that New Democrats actually are allowed to have a sense of humour, former provincial cabinet minister and federal candidate Marilyn Churley commented on the dearth of women in the Ontario legislature by suggesting that there were not enough Janes and too many Dicks in provincial politics. You go, girl. Speaking of dicks at Queen's Park, Citizenship Minister Mike Colle has resigned after the Auditor-General revealed that his office had awarded more than 32......

"A drawing of the Canadian Museum of Human Rights to be built at the forks of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in Winnipeg." No, it's not.......

March 8th marks International Women's Day each year, though it's sadly not yet a national holiday in Canada, as it is in a few countries. But official holiday or not, there are still a tonne of events happening in Toronto to mark the occasion. Here are some of Torontoist's best bets for celebrating feminism this week: Today The National Film Board and Amnesty International present a free screening of Killer's Paradise, a documentary about the......

This week our attention is almost completely owned by Cinematheque Ontario’s offerings, even with the thought of Christina Ricci chained to a radiator in Black Snake Moan grasping at us. Not only are Cinematheque Ontario hosting the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, they’re also showing From the Tsars to the Stars, a series of Russian sci-fi. How awesome is that? (There’s more to Russian sci-fi than just Solaris, doubters.) Maybe they’ll do a season......

Although they have not yet replaced the members of Local 113 as the operators of our subways, soulless automatons have recently begun speaking on their behalf. If you've ridden on the Yonge-University-Spadina line more than once in the past month, you may have wondered whether your fate and that of one particular subway conductor have become intertwined, as you seem to board her train every single time. More likely, you've realized that the TTC......

Few things are more representative of the holiday season than the bell ringers and familiar red shield of the Salvation Army. Ever-present at malls, street corners and inside TTC property, the London-based organization collects cash for its Christian outreach services benefiting 30 million people in Canada and abroad. The Sally Ann is one of the world's largest, richest and most visible philanthropic agencies, recently providing significant relief for victims of Hurricane Rita and support for......

Happy December Torontoist readers! The LCBO will start charging an extra 10- or 20-cent deposit on wine and spirit bottles in February in order to encourage recycling. Bottles can be returned to The Beer Store along with your Red Cap empties. Save up enough of them and those bottles can be recycled right back into your hand, chilled and containing a delicious elixer of satisfaction that you are doing your part for the environment. A......

Guardian columnist Timothy Garton Ash argues in his latest column that he wants Canada to join the European Union and that he came to this conclusion after seeing the multicultural and happy World Cup celebrations here in Toronto. Driving through Toronto last week I saw a shiny black 4x4 with an English flag sticking out of one side window and a German flag out of the other. Presumably a Canadian family of mixed English and......

The Union Pearson Group, a consortium working with the city to reno Union Station, has backed out of the $150 million project. They argued they couldn't meet the city's deadline of May 31st. The city, like a strict university professor won't give any further extensions, citing numerous extensions already given. Police found a body last night, the city's 18th murder victim of the year. They've also got a suspect in that case under arrest. An......

The jury deliberating on the Lisa Posluns case was withheld some very gruesome evidence on the history of accused rapist/murderer Nelson DeJesus. The Star has the details here, and the Sun doesn't get left behind either. Members of Toronto's Chinese community protested over Rogers' attempts to bring a number of stations owned by the Chinese government to Canada. The protesters argue that the stations are propaganda, Rogers argues that they're merely trying to serve the......

The Globe and the Star both report that Michael "The Smartest Prime Minister We Could Have" Ignatieff will be leaving the ivy covered walls of Harvard for the uh, slightly less ivy covered walls of the University of Toronto. Ignatieff, or Iggy as he's known to his close friends, is one of the names being thrown around as a potential future leader of the Liberal Party (next to such names as Bob Rae, Frank MacKenna......

Perhaps it's a bid to curry pre-election favour on the part of the Libs (like that $100 mil given to the Peg's Ayn Randish Human Rights museum a week ago), but the Federal gov is finally coughing up some needed funds for the city's condo strip that calls itself a waterfront. The combined twenty mil will mean a bit of revitalization for Cherry Beach, Leslie Street and Unwin Ave beautification projects. It will also mean......

We’ve discussed our concerns about the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Committee in earlier posts: the project’s liability to be stalemated by the presence of foot-dragging bureaucrats including the King of the Hall himself, Mayor Miller, whether the establishment of a ‘design steering committee’ is an unnecessary additional formality, etc. Last week’s meeting of the publicly-owned TWRC marked an important step towards the project’s actual implementation: Daniels Corp., Tridel Corp. and Concord Adex Developments Corp were......

Fab Magazine, the free gay monthly with the David Miller-in-tight-leather cover last year, has started a massive postcard campaign with a same-sex marriage message to our federal MP's. One card thanks Paul "promise made promise kept" Martin with a hunky thumbs up, and the other has the ever-disparaging middle digit for Steve "notwithstanding" Harper. The postcards are a reaction to the numerous and much publicized campaigns from the religious right (isn't the right wing a......

In a landmark decision for human rights, PM Paul Martin and the Liberal government will be allowed to introduce same-sex marriage unions to Parliament next year. The bill will seek to redefine marriage as "the lawful union of two persons," and will also protect the rights of religious organizations that refuse to perform same-sex marriages, like the National Post. In another bold move, Paul Martin called Canada the "world's most post-modern country" as a result......