IN 2019, MARTIN DUMAS, a graphic designer, and his partner, Maude Beaupré, a TV producer, were feeling cramped. They had been renting a three-bedroom place in Montreal's Little Burgundy neighbourhood for the past 12 years, paying $865 a month. After their daughter, Simone, was born in 2012, the couple realized they needed more space. They started imagining a move-preferably to a more pastoral setting.
Dumas and Beaupré hoped to find a rambling old house in the countryside filled with vintage character, as opposed to a cookie-cutter new build in a suburb. That September, Dumas sketched a crude illustration of an A-frame with a squat addition on a pink Post-It note. He joked to Beaupré that he had just drawn the house of his dreams. A day later, their realtor sent over a listing for a small home with a stucco exterior that bore a strange resemblance to his illustration. "My boyfriend doesn't believe in the idea that the universe sent it to us, but we were in shock," says Beaupré.
This story is from the July 2023 edition of Maclean's.
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This story is from the July 2023 edition of Maclean's.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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So You've Been Hacked - A new generation of ultra-sophisticated cybercriminals are targeting governments, corporations, hospitals and libraries and laying bare how ill-equipped Canada is to fight back
A new generation of ultra-sophisticated cybercriminals are targeting governments, corporations, hospitals and libraries and laying bare how ill-equipped Canada is to fight back.On a July morning in 2022, Brad Hynes, the IT manager for the town of St. Mary's in southwestern Ontario, was backing up the town's computer systems when things went haywire. File names became unintelligible strings of characters. Desktop icons went blank. File after file was impossible to open, a string of digital duds. The background wallpaper on Hynes's screen disappeared, replaced by the red-and-black logo of a Russian ransomware gang called LockBit. A line of all-caps text appeared: All your important files are stolen and encrypted!
Bill of Health - I spent years with excruciating hip pain, languishing in Canada's health-care queue. I finally paid for private surgery-in Lithuania.
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Green Scene - Montreal's Théâtre de Verdure stages plays and musical performances against a naturally beautiful backdrop
Théâtre de Verdure is a setting straight out of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream: a thespian's paradise in the middle of a lush woodland. Since 1956, the open-air stage has occupied an island in the middle of Montreal's Parc La Fontaine, exposing park-goers to regular, accessible (read: free) and dazzling productions.
Log Off To Find Love - Apps have gamified meeting and mating-and affected our social skills for the worse. The real future of dating is offline.
In 2017, after being single for a few years, I wanted to get back into the dating game. I was newly sober at the time, so I wasn’t super-confident about venturing into my local bar scene in London, Ontario. Instead, I leapt into the world of digital dating via Bumble, which, back then, required women to send the first message. I thought, That’s feminist. I’m a feminist. Let’s try it! My first few months online provided me with an emotionally exhausting education.
"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.
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THE NORTHERN FRONT
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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.
