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Settler Work: Equity and safety gaps in Canada's public transit systems

Exploring the structural, organizational and systemic barriers to equitable public transit service, using the Thunder Bay system as a case study.

Commuting by the numbers

How we commute was changing even before the pandemic began. If public transit is going to replace single passenger cars for the daily drive, understanding these shifts is critical.

Five resources to understand the future of transportation

Electric vehicles have emerged as the poster child of the zero-carbon economy. If we could only manage to replace all our internal combustion engines with batteries, it seems, we’d be well on our way to a greener world. But is achieving net-zero emissions really that straightforward? And is a society and economy dependent on personal vehicles—zero-emission though they may be—actually the future we aspire to?

An equitable recovery for Para Transpo

Para Transpo assumes that para riders’ time is not valuable, that they have few important obligations and that their lives should be limited due to mobility and accessibility needs.

Is the ‘Freedom Convoy’ a sign of inequality-fuelled escalation of violent class conflict?

Resentment over growing wealth and inequality in Canada helped to generate sympathy toward the Convoy insurrection

Pandemic, privatization and people power

A brief history on the attack of Canada’s public transit system and how we’re trying to defend it

Preventing a downward spiral for transit isn’t complicated

Convenient, accessible public transit isn’t a nice-to-have for cities. It’s an essential part of urban life and can’t be left to wither.

The future of Ottawa’s transit after the light rail debacle

I remember the excitement I felt when Ottawa’s long-awaited light rail train finally opened to the public. But what it promised and what it delivered turned out to be two very different realities. Why did this happen, and what does this mean for the future of Ottawa’s transit?

Out of service: Creating accessible transit is a win for everyone

Have you taken the bus recently? Your answer says a lot about where you live, your income and more.

China’s transport project meets stiff resistance in Balochistan

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, part of China's BELT and Road Initiative, has met fierce resistance in Pakistan's Balochistan province. Here, CPEC is seen as unlawful occupation of Baloch land that contravenes international human rights law.

Free to ROAM: Fare-free public transportation arrives in Alberta

One solution to the transit death spiral is to make transit free for riders and find alternative funding. In the past decade, at least six towns in Canada have made public transit free on local routes, including three in Alberta.

All's fare?

Public transit budgets deserve better than farebox recovery revenue.

In clear view: Confronting Canadian police use of facial recognition technology

If you blinked, you would have missed it: Last June, Canada’s national police force was found to have broken the law when they used facial recognition technology that violated the most basic aspects of Canada’s privacy laws.

Settler work: The ongoing history of disproportionate force

Exploring the use of disproportionate force and the rise of militarized police forces in Canada through the history of policing in Canada.

We are all Afghanistan

What happens when immigration processes are mired by misinformation on social media and capitalized on by promises sold with slick marketing tactics against a backdrop of insidious psychological warfare?

Collectively, it spawns a deep desperation.

What we deserve

Warren Urquhart discusses two important digital rights for Canadians