‘Hitting children is still legal in Canada. These lawmakers want to change that’

This feature for The Globe and Mail focuses on the decades-long efforts of parliamentarians and advocates to repeal Section 43 of the Criminal Code, which provides legal protection for parents to physically punish their children.

The story can be read here. I also spoke with The Globe’s daily podcast, The Decibel, about the story. Listen to that here.

‘Denial rates of services and supports for First Nations children varied drastically by region during the pandemic’

This piece for The Globe and Mail uses documents from Indigenous Services Canada, obtained through access-to-information requests, to report on the federal government’s discrepancies in its denial rates of Jordan’s Principle requests. Children in some regions were subjected to far higher rates of denials than others – a discrepancy that advocates told me results from government inconsistencies, not the needs of children.

Read it here.

Series: ‘Ottawa aware of issues with lengthy process to apply for Indian status, documents show’

This series for The Globe and Mail focuses on issues with the process to apply for status under the Indian Act. Using documents acquired through an access-to-information request, I reported that the federal government has internally acknowledged that it created a complicated and lengthy process to apply for status, and is at risk of “media scrutiny” over that system.

The first story is here, and you can also read follow-up stories here and here.

‘Peterborough to Gaza: How a chance talk led to a 30-year friendship’

After a chance meeting in Palestine, a Canadian artist and a Palestinian paramedic, Said, struck up a 30-year friendship. That relationship grew to include members of Peterborough’s Quaker community, who for the last 12 years, have sent funds to Said’s family.

Drawings by Heather Spears, used with permission of her family. Photo courtesy of Said.

Read that story here.

‘Kids in crisis: Inside Ontario’s overloaded mental-health system’

With Ashley Okwuosa, I co-reported a 4,100-word feature about the state of the children’s mental health system in Ontario during the COVID-19 pandemic. We spoke with 25 experts and family members; surveyed a dozen hospitals; and acquired original data from several sources.

Illustration by Min Gyo Chung.

Read that piece here.

‘Poster child for destruction’: The fight to save the Duffins Creek wetland from developers

For TVO.org, I detailed a battle between a wetland and a warehouse, as seen through the eyes of two teenage climate activists. I wrote about the PC government’s controversial use of Minister’s Zoning Orders to overrule local planning processes, including in this case, to build a fulfillment centre on a Provincially Significant Wetland in Pickering.

Photos by me.

Read that story here.

‘In virtual classrooms, Canadian students keep getting deadnamed’

For Xtra, I surveyed 50 Canadian universities and colleges about their policies to avoid deadnaming trans and non-binary students in online classes, amid surging COVID-19 caseloads. I also spoke with students, experts, and educators, finding that the burden has largely fall on students, particularly as institutions cited technological and database-related hurdles.

Illustration by Brian Wong.

Read that story here.

‘The Private Option’

For The Atlantic’s politics section, I reported a 7,200-word investigative feature on the largest provider of health care to U.S. jails. To learn about the private company known as Wellpath (and its private equity owner H.I.G. Capital), I reviewed records of dozens of county board meetings, pored over hundreds of pages of contracts and proposals, and, with help from researchers, contacted more than 150 sheriff’s offices.

Several weeks after publishing, Elizabeth Warren, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Mark Pocan wrote a letter to H.I.G. – citing my reporting and others – requesting reams of documentation about their business practices.

Illustrations by Alvaro Dominguez.

Read that here.