The organizer Sharlene Henry has lived at 33 King Street, in Toronto's Weston neighbourhood, for 20 years. Frustrated by rent increases above and beyond rent-control caps, she's now helping lead a rent strike that has spread to hundreds of tenants throughout Toronto.
SHARLENE HENRY moved into 33 King Street, a 27-storey apartment building in Toronto's Weston neighborhood, 20 years ago. She was 30 years old and working as the manager of a Foot Locker. Her one-bedroom apartment, shared with her boyfriend, Peter, cost only about $700 a month, parking and cable included. Her mother, Theresa, moved into an apartment in the building a few years later.
Henry had grown up in Weston, and she loved it. Wedged between downtown Toronto and the city's inner suburbs, the working-class neighbourhood was diverse and tight-knit. The Humber River flowed serenely along its west side. On weekends, Henry and her family would spill onto the main drag, Weston Road, to buy produce at the farmers' market and visit the area's Caribbean restaurants and shops. Henry calls herself a "Toronto ride-or-die girl," but her Toronto is, first and foremost, Weston.
33 King was an inexpensive, aging highrise, but it was a bastion of affordability in a city that seemed to grow more expensive every year. In 2010, the couple moved into a two-bedroom apartment on the top floor that rented for less than $1,000. Two years later they had their first child, Xavier.
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Denne historien er fra December 2023-utgaven av Maclean's.
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"I escaped Gaza and sent my family to Egypt. Now, my goal is to reunite with them in Canada."
Bombs destroyed my neighbourhood and killed my loved ones. I hope my family and I can find refuge in Quebec.
TIDAL WAVE
Susan Lapides chronicles her family's summers in a tiny New Brunswick fishing town
THE NORTHERN FRONT
In Ontario's hinterlands, a battle is brewing between First Nations, prospectors and the provincial government over a multi-billion-dollar motherlode of metals. Inside the fight for the Ring of Fire.
THE CULTURE WAR IN THE CLASSROOM
Several provincial governments now mandate parental consent for kids to change pronouns in Schools. Who gets to decide a child's gender?
THE JACKPOT GENERATION
Canada is in the midst of the greatest wealth transfer of all time, as some $1 trillion passes from boomers to their millennial kids. How an inheritance-based economy will transform the country.
My Child-Free Choice
For a long time, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to become a parent. The climate crisis clinched my decision.
The Main Event
Calgary's massive, modern, newly expanded BMO Centre is open for business
Embrace the Four-Day Workweek
Canada is facing a national productivity crisis. One counterintuitive solution? Give workers more time off.
Richard Ireland, mayor of Jasper, is ready to rebuild
IT'S TEMPTING TO LEAN on numbers when conveying the scale of the damage wrought by July's fire in Jasper, Albertathe worst in the national park's 117-year history. Water bombers were grounded in the face of 400-foot-high flames. More than 25,000 visitors and residents were evacuated as hundreds of firefighters flew in to assist. Damages exceeded $700 million. A third of the town's structures were consumed-historical buildings, tourist haunts and family homes. One of them belonged to Richard Ireland.
"The Taliban tried to kill me at 16.Eight years later, I am free in Canada."
I ATTENDED A PRIVATE ENGLISH SCHOOL in the Jaghori District of Ghazni province, Afghanistan.