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% come July—a wise marketing strategy that takes advantage of the North American "I don't care about anything that isn't......

General Motors cut 900 jobs in Oshawa yesterday, mostly related to the production of oversized trucks and sport-utility vehicles. A spokesperson for the CAW angrily called upon for the Canadian government to "discover more oil somewhere so these jobs can remain relevant." The United Nations formed a task force today to tackle the global food crisis. Oh, well, now that the United Nations is involved in the global food crisis, all our problems are......

City councillor, unintentional humourist, and Torontoist favourite Councillor Rob Ford has grabbed himself some headlines again. He refuses to apologize for his comments on Wednesday, "the Oriental people, they're slowly taking over...they're hard, hard workers," because his sweeping generalization was intended as "a compliment." However, a spokesperson for the Canadian Council of Lazy Asians has said that the remarks were "deeply offensive." A devout Sikh man has lost his bid to overturn the law......

City sells "the McDonald's site" on Bloor for a fairly low price. However, Adam Vaughan insists there are upsides to the deal, such as being able to limit the height of the condo development that will take its place, because who would want tall buildings in the downtown core? Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer. Although initial reports that he has "weeks to live" were apparently false, pancreatic cancer is still one of the deadliest......

There is a prominence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression in peacekeepers, suggests a new study [PDF] that also tries to shed light on the risk factors that lead to mental health conditions incurred by peacekeeping service. Researchers from Ontario and South Dakota reviewed surveys completed by 1,016 male veterans of the Canadian Forces and discovered a 10% rate of probable PTSD and a 29% rate of probable depression. Deployment was found to......

A Milton woman went on a rampage with a samurai sword on Sunday, injuring her boyfriend and an off-duty firefighter, smashing windows at a gas station and hacking at a parked car. While Torontoist doesn't condone senseless irrational violence, you've got to give her points for style. After a firestorm of criticism, the City has put the brakes on their controversial plan to sell land in Yorkville to McDonalds. The problem is that since there's......

Today is the first day of the Bali United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will continue until December 14. The purpose of the conference, which is being attended by over 20,000 delegates and observers from 180 countries, is to set out the framework of negotiations for the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol when it ends in 2012. There are several events taking place this week in Toronto to mark the occasion. The first......

October 16 is the day that the Walt Disney Company was founded (1923), the day that Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act in response to the October Crisis terrorist kidnapping (1970), and the day that President Bush signed into law the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution (2002). It is also, though you may not know it, World Food Day, as deemed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United......

Spring has finally sprung in a big way, just in time for Earth Day. Tomorrow, why not try something new, while also doing your part to help save the planet? Number three on the “Top 10 Actions” to help the environment on the Earth Day Canada website is try eating meat-free at least one day a week. The reason according to them is this: a meat-based diet requires seven times more land than a plant-based......

The atmosphere outside of the (Elgin and) Winter Garden Theatre last night was similar -- not quite the same, but similar -- to that of a rock concert. Various people stood in the cold, holding signs that said "Need One Ticket, PLEASE," while the large crowd jostled around three or four groups handing out flyers and pimping petitions. "Mary," yelled one woman, excitedly. "There's a petition to ban Styrofoam!" Inside, there was a much......

Depending where you were when it hit, you probably have fond memories of the Blackout of 2003. At least once you managed to get home and gaze at the stars. Well, here is your chance to live it all over again -- for a whole 5 minutes. Some French treehuggers are asking people all over the world to turn off their lights and electrical appliances at the same time -- from 1:55 to 2:00 p.m.......

In a bizarre and tragic scene yesterday, former Toronto Blue Jay (and current New York Yankee) pitcher Cory Lidle perished after flying his plane into an apartment building in New York. The United States heads to the United Nations hoping for a UN resolution that will impose sanctions on North Korea. And North Korea threatens retaliation if Japan goes ahead and imposes sanctions in response to last weekend’s nuclear test. And George W. Bush denies......

This week, the United Nations World Urban Forum is being held in Vancouver. The conference is a place where NGOs, urban designers and planners, as well as other special interest groups discuss the growing population of major cities, and how to deal with the problems that causes. A focus at Monday's meeting was the homeless. Despite current efforts, and international treaties on adequate housing policy, as a city grows, so do the number of......

If the most inspired feminist action we take in Canada is to challenge those silly Bell Canada ad campaigns, perhaps author Judy Rebick is right to call for more activism. Or, conversely, if the Bell ads are in fact our call to action, maybe next we could target Nickelback for being latent sex offenders? (Was it just us, or was that "Figured You Out" song about some sort of Chad Kroeger sexual assault? Gross......

Well, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin delivered the political equivalent of a tough spanking to the Sudanese government yesterday, and rightfully so. Khartoum has repeatedly denied assisting or having the capability to stop the janjaweed, the loosely woven group of bandits, looters and rapists that have been terrorizing the western Sudanese province of Darfur for the past year. The clock is ticking now though, as the peace agreement negotiated last week has a shelf......