Maclean's August 2022

LOUISE ARBOUR, a former Supreme Court justice and United Nations high commissioner for human rights, has spent her career taking on the world’s most notorious human rights violators. And yet one of her most formidable challenges is domestic. In May, Arbour released the results of her year-long inquiry into the Canadian Armed Forces, sparked by a string of sexual misconduct allegations—some involving the organization’s top brass. The report was unequivocally damning: the military’s culture is deficient; its colleges outdated. “I was told that almost every female cadet has experienced an incident or more of sexual misconduct ‘or worse,’ ” she wrote. Now, the federal government is tasked with implementing Arbour’s 48 recommendations, which include handing over sexual misconduct cases to civilian courts. Progress is slow, and Arbour is patient—to a…

I’M 47 YEARS OLD NOW, but I started the “think and change tank” Generation Squeeze when I was 36. Its mandate was to tackle generational unfairness, and one of the first areas I looked at was, unsurprisingly, housing. I got into the Metro Vancouver property market in 2004—well before many millennials. I bought a single-family detached home for $540,000, and my mortgage still sits at well over $400,000 even though I’ve been paying it down for 18 years. That said, since buying, I’ve made more than a million dollars in equity. My partner and I have been able to do quite a few renos—and even some additional investing—in large part because of the financial gains we’ve made from the home. At one point, our place had tons of leaks and…

The buyers: Martin Chiu, a 39-year-old operations support officer; Nicole Chiu, a 39-year-old stay-at-home mom; and their kids: Jacob, who’s nine, Chloe, who’s four, Nate, who’s two, and Clarke, who’s seven months. The budget: $300,000 The backstory: In 2011, the Chiu family moved into an East Vancouver home owned by Martin’s parents. In many ways, it was the ideal arrangement. The couple had the lower unit—a two-bedroom, one-bathroom suite—all to themselves. Plus, they could still enjoy weekly family dinners, babysitting perks (as needed), visits to Kitsilano Beach and community events hosted by their local church. But when Martin and Nicole’s third child, Nate, came along in 2019, the couple took over the home’s more spacious three-bedroom upper unit. Before they moved in with Martin’s parents, they had eyed a place…

IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG for Reservation Dogs to secure Hollywood’s stamp of approval. In the year since its debut, the FX dramedy—which is co-created by Oscar-winner Taika Waititi—has clinched a Peabody, a Golden Globe nomination and an Independent Spirit Award for best ensemble cast. The team itself is an entertainment industry anomaly, though: every single one of the show’s writers and actors is Indigenous—including fan favourite Paulina Alexis. The 20-year-old actress, who plays the tough-talking, tear-jerking character Willie Jack, hails from the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation in Alberta. Her childhood was full of on-screen opportunities: Alexis’s father, Robb, owned a small production company. “I would play around with my brothers and make my own little skits,” Alexis recalls. But it wasn’t until she turned 18 that she went pro. Alexis’s…

JULIE JODOIN IS FINE WITH most descriptions of Montreal’s Biodôme—just not zoo. “At a zoo, you observe animals,” says Jodoin, acting director of Space for Life, the city-owned organization that operates the popular museum. “Here, you’re immersed in their world.” Since its opening in 1992, the Biodôme has housed 200-plus species in five reproduced ecosystems beneath the soaring concrete vault of the city’s Olympic velodrome. Live lynxes prowl the perimeter of its Laurentian Maple Forest, while the Tropical Rainforest area comes complete with outfit-soaking mists. By 2014, however, Space for Life’s leadership felt that the Biodôme wasn’t immersive enough. That year, the museum launched an international design competition, with the goal of adjusting the building’s rote, linear traffic flow and expanding visitors’ exposure to the animals. The winner was Kanva,…

Sam Effah’s Olympic sprinting days may be in the past, but he’s still a man on the go. In late July, Effah will represent Team Canada as one of two chefs de mission for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. This week, he split his spending between work and play. Monday Last night, I flew to Ottawa to light the Canada Games torch at the Centennial Flame monument on Parliament Hill. It was such an honour. Pascale St-Onge, the minister of sport, was there. I started my day with a three-egg omelette and coffee ($24) from room service. I don’t normally drink coffee, but I needed to stay alert. Tuesday My mom is coming to visit at the end of the month, so my wife, Sofia, and I bought…