Maclean's October 2024

Sexuality and gender have become a focus of the American election. Kamala Harris has made abortion rights central to her campaign, JD Vance has accused childless women of being unpatriotic and Donald Trump has vowed that, if elected, he will roll back the rights of transgender students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identities in federally funded schools. Somehow, in this election, a culture war has eclipsed other pressing issues such as climate change, the cost of living and the instability of the global order. Canadians aren’t usually sucked into American culture wars. Political polarization is much worse in the U.S., where radical groups on both sides of the divide have bigger constituencies and more fervently held beliefs. In general, we mind our own business and tolerate each…

IT’S TEMPTING TO LEAN on numbers when conveying the scale of the damage wrought by July’s fire in Jasper, Alberta—the 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. Ireland has been a resident of the beloved Rockies resort town for his whole life and its mayor since 2001. He knows the unquantifiable costs of such climate disasters all too well: three generations lived in his white bungalow, memories now reduced to ash. He also understands why the blaze broke hearts…

One in eight Canadian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, with over 27,000 new cases expected in 2024. However, the burden of prostate cancer is not borne equally by all Canadian men. Beyond screening, diagnosis, and treatment impacts, outcomes can be impacted by factors like a person’s race, ethnicity, place of residence, gender, and sexual orientation. Men of African or Caribbean ancestry, Black men, and Indigenous men have up to double the risk of being diagnosed with, and of dying of, prostate cancer. Men who live in rural or remote areas may lack access to testing and treatment tools, impacting their prostate cancer outcomes and overall quality of life. Gay and bisexual men, as well as gender diverse people, have unique challenges associated with prostate cancer…

Colorectal Cancer Resource & Action Network (CCRAN) Colorectal cancer typically starts as a polyp — a benign growth in the lining of the colon or rectum. Polyps can be removed before they become malignant (cancerous), effectively preventing the cancer. Undetected, however, the tumour will spread into the lymph nodes and eventually to distant organs, such as the liver or lungs. Screening saves lives Regular screening can detect precancerous growths known as polyps, which can then be removed before becoming malignant or screening may find an early-stage cancer when treatment is far more likely to succeed. National guidelines issued by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care urge Canadians at average risk — those with no symptoms and no family history of colorectal cancer — to be screened regularly between…

In 2007 Laurent Proulx, then 48, was working as Chief Technology Officer for a public company. During his required annual physical that year, Proulx’s doctor found some abnormalities in his prostate specific antigen (PSA) test and referred him to a urologist. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer, underwent prostate removal surgery, and required no further treatment. Today he supports other men with the disease as President and CEO of PROCURE. Like Proulx, many men with prostate cancer are diagnosed early and make a full recovery. “A smaller group of patients are diagnosed with advanced disease or have a recurrence into advanced disease,” says Dr. Steven Yip, Medical Oncologist, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, Alberta. Though considered incurable at the advanced, metastatic stage, advancements in treatments such as precision oncology, PARP…

In the fall of 2017, Peter Rich, then 65 and self-employed in Aurora, Ontario, sought medical attention after noticing blood in his urine. “It was initially diagnosed as a bladder or kidney infection, but it soon became apparent after heavier bleeding and small blood clots began to appear, that further investigation was required,” he says. In June of 2018, he received the diagnosis of stage 4 muscle invasive bladder cancer. “The tumour was so advanced that my only option was surgery to remove the bladder and undergo multiple rounds of chemotherapy,” says Rich. Bladder cancer is the fifth most common cancer in Canada and the fourth most common cancer in men. Estimates are that 12,300 Canadians will be diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2024 and about 2,300 are expected to…