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Jan Wong: Why aren’t schools teaching kids about the pleasures and perils of sex?

The answer is simple: our curriculum is shamefully outdated, and the Liberals are too scared to fix it
By Jan Wong | Illustration by Jesse Lefkowitz

Adam and Eve nibble an apple from the Tree of Knowledge and suddenly realize they’re both naked. Unfortunately, sex ed isn’t part of God’s plan, and He evicts them from the Garden of Eden. These days, some folks in Toronto are acting quite God-like themselves, insisting that the next generation live in innocence and ignorance. Heaven forbid our youth get to know themselves in the Biblical sense.

Our public schools are under attack by an evangelical Christian organization called the Institute for Canadian Values, whose leaders believe, as a basic ideological tenet, that teaching up-to-date sex education in schools will corrupt and confuse our children. The institute is run by a man named Charles McVety, who is quite skilled at getting media attention. Shamefully, most journalists have checked their brains at the door, blandly covering the institute’s actions and claims without questioning their legitimacy or standing up against the influence of the church on the state.

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The Informer

Ford Focus

January 3, 2012 | 1:15 pm

1 Comment

Rob Ford rings in the New Year by kissing babies (good) and ducking reporters’ questions (bad)

Pesky journalists crashed Rob Ford’s annual levee yesterday, nearly putting a damper on the jolly good time the mayor was having glad-handing with the more than 300 people who showed up to meet him at city hall. The reporters wanted to ask Ford about the important news of day, like the sky-high cost of the Eglinton LRT or word of recent 911 responses to the mayor’s residence. But apparently Ford was too busy kissing babies and shaking hands to comment, which we hope isn’t a sign of things to come regarding his media relations strategy this year. Read the entire story [CBC] »

The Informer

Ford Focus

December 22, 2011 | 12:55 pm

5 Comments

Rob Ford embarks upon the most predictable year-end media blitz ever

(Image: Christopher Drost)

Rob Ford is wrapping up his year-end interview circuit, having spoken to (most of) the city’s major dailies, along with a few local broadcasters. The media bits are mostly predictable affairs, with Ford repeating things he’s been saying since he ran for office. But there are a few gems hidden among all the talking points. In the Globe, for instance, Ford professes his love for quarterback Tim Tebow. While the interviews are disappointing, it’s worth noting that it’s Ford, not the reporters, who deserves much of the blame here (although not always). Ford’s the one who seems unable to stray from a small smattering of talking points. A roundup of the mayor’s media blitz after the jump.

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The Hype

From the Print Edition

December 21, 2011 | 8:00 am

24 Comments

Why three prominent Chinese-Canadian writers launched a $10-million plagiarism suit against Ling Zhang

A tale of death threats, tarnished reputations and literary jealousy
By Leah McLaren

(Image: Daniel Ehrenworth)

The streets near Scarborough’s Confederation Park curve and loop in a vertiginous web. The neighbourhood was built in the 1970s—several blocks of low-lying split-levels and bungalows divided by neatly trimmed hedges and 20-foot pines. The 401 is just a few blocks away, but these houses are quiet and isolated, even prim. Ling Zhang lives here in a large mock Tudor. She answers the door on the first ring, a diminutive woman with full moon cheeks and a bashful smile. At 54, she wears her hair in a wispy, youthful updo and is dressed in a peacock-blue sundress, a simple cardigan and slippers. The house is immaculate. We pass through a large front hall with a formal dining and living room off either side. Matching white leather sofas sprawl across polished cherry floors. Everywhere I look, there are vases filled with flowers in pastel pink and white. They’re all fake, but the effect is cheerful.

In the kitchen, Zhang makes me a cup of tea. Her husband, Ken He, a slight man in a short-sleeved plaid shirt, pops in to say hello—but not much else. Zhang explains his English isn’t great. “Moving to Toronto was a big sacrifice for him,” she says. The couple met in Vancouver, at the church where Zhang, a born-again Christian, was baptized as an adult. They came to Toronto so Zhang could take a job at Scarborough General Hospital as an audiologist. Her husband, who was an ophthalmologist in China, now sells real estate to the GTA’s Chinese immigrant community.

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The Informer

Black Watch

December 20, 2011 | 12:25 pm

1 Comment

Conrad Black Book Club, A Matter of Principle: Chapter 12 (wherein Conrad goes to court)

As his trial approaches, Conrad Black is wringing his hands. While his lawyer, Eddie Greenspan, is the finest legal mind in Canada, Black is concerned that Greenspan lacks the requisite knowledge of the American justice system.

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The Informer

From the Print Edition

December 16, 2011 | 8:00 am

17 Comments

How bullying became the crisis of a generation

Kids are committing suicide, parents are in a panic, and schools that neglect to protect students are lawsuit targets
By Denise Balkissoon

Mitchell Wilson had a short life. He was born in March 2000 at Markham-Stouffville Hospital to Craig and Shelley Wilson. From the age of three, he had trouble running and jumping. He climbed stairs slowly, putting both feet on each step before moving up. He fell often, and sometimes he couldn’t get up on his own. His doctors thought he had hypermobility syndrome—joints that extend and bend more than normal.

When Mitchell was seven, his mother was diagnosed with an aggressive melanoma. Her treatments left her distant, sometimes testy and mean, and in so much pain that she rarely left her bedroom. “I sort of kept Mitchell away,” Craig Wilson told me.

“He basically didn’t talk to his mother during the last four months of her life.” Wilson often left his son to his own devices while he took care of his dying wife and ran his family’s industrial knife business. Mitchell spent most of his time in his bedroom, playing video games. He comforted himself with food, and by the time he was four feet tall he weighed 167 pounds. Once, in a Walmart, he fell to the ground and his grandmother had to ask store employees to help her lift him.

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The Informer

From the Print Edition

December 15, 2011 | 2:55 pm

1 Comment

Rob Granatstein: why the city should sell off its assets—slowly but surely

Selling For Dummies

To close the budget gap, Rob Ford wants to sell city assets. Good idea, bad timing. Even a novice real estate investor knows to fix up the house before putting it on the market
By Rob Granatstein | Illustration by Jack Fylan

Cities acquire assets for many reasons. Sometimes a wealthy citizen donates a property, as in the case of High Park; sometimes assets, such as Henry Pellatt’s Casa Loma, are seized when tax bills go unpaid. A city grows to meet the needs of its citizens, adding public housing and office buildings, a zoo (or three), convention centres, highways, police and fire stations, parks, arenas, garbage trucks, landfill sites and libraries.

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The Informer

Sun Spots

December 13, 2011 | 4:30 pm

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Toronto media get very, very excited about an intoxicated couple making whoopee on the TTC

The Toronto Star dropped a cheeky “Ride the Rocket” joke; BlogTO played on the “mile-high club ;” Newstalk 1010 spoke of “bunnies” and “knickers ;” OpenFile succinctly stated “What? How? For the love God, why?” And the Toronto Sun did this—on its front page. Bless.

The Informer

Black Watch

December 13, 2011 | 12:30 pm

1 Comment

Conrad Black Book Club: A Matter of Principle, Chapter 11 (wherein Black compares himself to Job)

After what seems like a million pages (it’s actually 310), Conrad Black has finally been indicted. Boosted by testimony from David Radler (whom Black calls “the nasty gnome from Chicago”), the U.S. government is seeking a 95-year prison sentence. Plot-wise, we expected things to pick up around now—but instead Black just returns to his favourite topics: being poor, being persecuted by the media, and being friends with Elton John.

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The Informer

My Name Is Lucre

December 12, 2011 | 4:31 pm

Comments

Reaction roundup: What the city’s sports (and business) writers are saying about the MLSE deal

Sure, the fact that Bell Canada and Rogers have teamed up to purchase Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment is old news now, but the full implications of the deal remain to be seen. For our part, we’re wondering if the Toronto Maple Leafs will be slapped with absurd roaming charges on the road, or whether fans will have to purchase beer by following a series of annoying prompts on their cellphones. Of course, there’s also the tricky matter of whether or not the $1.32-billion purchase will turn out to be a good thing or a bad thing for Toronto sports teams—and, by extension, their fans—when it comes to the business of winning and losing. We round up what the city’s sportswriter corps is saying on the matter, after the jump.

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The Informer

Mediaocracy

December 8, 2011 | 11:45 am

4 Comments

Sun columnist calls city hall deputants “whiners,” then creates silly nicknames for council’s left

Sue-Ann Levy broke out a remarkably uncreative list of nicknames for her favourite lefty councillors in the Toronto Sun today. There’s Gord Guards-His-Perks, Adam “I Take Myself Very Seriously” Vaughan, Shelley “I Need a Nutrition Break” Carroll and Janet “I’m the Queen of Daycare” Davis. With Rob Ford’s former press secretary Adrienne Batra joining the paper, perhaps Levy is making her pitch to fill that freshly vacant spot. We can’t deny her this: it sure would be a nice fit. Read the entire story [Toronto Sun] »

The Informer

Ford Focus

December 7, 2011 | 11:00 am

Comments

Rob Ford’s old website is hacked—but sadly, not by the Toronto Star

(Image: screen grab from robford.ca)

When the mayor’s registration of RobFord.ca expired earlier this year, an opportunistic prankster seized the opportunity, registering the domain and redirecting traffic to the Toronto Star’s website. Since the prank made news yesterday, the page has also featured a “Robert Ford” beauty contest and directed visitors to a Wikipedia page for a certain cowardly killer. It now features the email address outlaw@robford.ca and is apparently “occupied”—but the content seems to be ever changing. Given the long-standing public feud between Ford and the Star, this might look like a dirty (read: clever) trick by the newspaper. But the Star maintains its innocence. Which, really, is too bad. This kind of playful scheming is a lot more fun than a front-page hissy fit. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »

The Informer

Mediaocracy

December 6, 2011 | 6:16 pm

Comments

Ryerson journalism professor to the Star: Fight the power (quietly)

The long-running spat between Mayor Rob Ford and the Toronto Star ramped up last week: first the Star filed a complaint with the city integrity commissioner, then Doug Ford responded, and then the Star ran a story on Ford’s response with the headline “Doug Ford to Star: Drop Dead.” Ryerson journalism professor John Miller says the Star is right to file a formal complaint—but that it should do so quietly. The paper’s dirty laundry isn’t front-page news. Read the entire story [J-Source] »

The Informer

A Message from Toronto Life

December 3, 2011 | 10:30 am

Comments

Weekend Reading List: top stories from our sister sites, from roller skaters to deep-fried taters

Every weekend we round up the highlights from the other websites in the St. Joseph Media family. Check them out, after the jump.

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The Informer

Mediaocracy

December 2, 2011 | 4:00 pm

1 Comment

The National Post lands another elite-level columnist, scooping up Andrew Coyne from Maclean’s

(Image: Arjun Singh)

Andrew Coyne is about as close to a celebrity political columnist as there is in this country, and news broke yesterday that he’s leaving Maclean’s to go back to the National Post. According to a statement on the Post’s website, Coyne will write three columns a week for the Postmedia chain’s newspapers and websites. First thoroughly public spectacle Christie Blatchford returned to the Post, and now Coyne. The paper sure is stacking its roster with (presumably pricy) heavy-hitters. Read the entire story [National Post] »

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