Series: Spring 1995

Over the last 18 months, except for a clutch of subzero nights spent in church basements or emergency shelters, Paul has lived in a postage stamp of a park tucked behind a group of highrises in downtown Toronto. During his first year on the streets he survived by panhandling. For the past six months he… Continue reading Street Fight

Late on September 23, 1994, 29-year-old Kingston Whig-Standard reporter Scott Colby was lining up with hundreds of others outside a local record store. He wasn’t reporting, only shopping. In a few minutes it would be September 24, the official release date of a local band’s new album. Colby and the rest of the crowd were… Continue reading Too Old

When the Sûreté du Québec crossed the barricades at Oka in July 1990, director Alanis Obomsawin knew the even had to be recorded. She was in the area working on a film, but upon hearing the news immediately called her executive producer at the National Film Board and asked to change her production and rush… Continue reading Lights! Camera! No Action?

As Cecil Foster talks about his career, the pain in his voice is haunting. During his dozen years in journalism he has worked as The Globe and Mail , The Financial Post, The Toronto Star, and CBC TV and Radio, written dozens of magazine pieces and two nonfiction books due out later this year, and… Continue reading Too White

It was the kind of suppertime news story that suspended your fork somewhere between your plate and mouth. It wasn?t a “big” story about “big” names. No dove-releasing picnic of brotherly love hosted by Arafat and Rabin; no prime-ministerial tantrums on Parliament Hill. In fact, what pushed this story to the top of three Toronto… Continue reading Crime-Time News