When Winnipeg's Cy Gonick started the magazine Canadian Dimension in 1963 to provide a home for the thinking and analysis of mostly young leftists engaged in Canadian economic, social, cultural, artistic and political issues, he had no grand plan. But Canadian Dimension was welcomed by intellectuals, scholars and students, and it proved enduring. H …

"Who owns my life?" Sue Rodriguez was dying of a form of ALS (or Lou Gehrig's disease) when she asked this question of the Supreme Court of Canada in 1993. She was fighting for the right to a physician-assisted death before she became fully paralyzed. At the time, assisted suicide could result in jail time for the participating physician. In a narr …

Historian Jacques Pauwels applies a critical, revisionist lens to the First World War, offering readers a fresh interpretation that challenges mainstream thinking. As Pauwels sees it, war offered benefits to everyone, across class and national borders.

For European statesmen, a large-scale war could give their countries new colonial territories, im …

Every day, people make deals that matter. But very few of us benefit from the public scrutiny and analysis that have helped Canada's leading negotiation experts hone their craft. Hockey team executives, cabinet ministers, bank presidents and labour leaders are constantly under the microscope, and they have learned what it takes to build agreements …

Clara Hughes has won multiple medals in both summer and winter Olympic Games. As a cyclist and speed skater, Clara pushed through pain to get to the finish line, trying to have her best race every day. Few knew that the same determination and focus were also needed to fight her own personal battles. Abusing drugs and alcohol from her early teens, C …

After a girl she knows from school goes missing and is found dead in the Red River, Feather is shocked when the police write it off as a suicide. Then, it's Feather's best friend, Mia, who vanishes but Mia's mom and abusive stepfather paint Mia as a frequent runaway, so the authorities won't investigate her disappearance either. Everyone knows that …

Marcus has it all: charm, good looks, successful parents, endless opportunities and anything money can buy. Along with his best friend, Tom, and Tom's crush, Yasmin, he escapes to his parents' resort condo during a school trip to Whistler, B.C. And he can't refuse when drinking makes Yasmin determined to hook up with him instead of Tom. The three d …

The inner-city Blues baseball team is having a lousy year. Shortstop Nash and the Blues can't seem to win. They especially hate losing to their archrivals, the rich kids of the Parkhill Pirates. When all-star player Jock joins the team, it looks like the Blues might be able to turn the season around. The only problem? When the Pirates find out that …

Olivia is living a double life -- high-school student by day, drummer by night. Olivia doesn't know when hanging out in clubs and drinking to appear older and enjoy the music scene became a habit, but she finds herself hungover at school and sneaking alcohol at home. Her bandmates Eddie and Lucas think she is older, and Olivia keeps up the pretence …

Bullied at school and ignored at home, Travis has a secret: cutting himself with a razor blade is the only thing that lets him control the pain in his life and find some peace. When he becomes friends with Chyvonne, a new girl at school, he doesn't know how to get close to her without revealing his secret and making himself even more vulnerable. Sp …

Luna Begay is as studious and serious about her Aboriginal heritage as her sister, Issy, is outgoing and fun. When Issy convinces Luna to go with her to a party full of rich kids, Luna is surprised to end up talking with Jon, who is charming, sophisticated, and very good-looking. But the night turns bad when Jon drugs and rapes Luna.

Feeling guilty …

Maurice and Vijay are thrilled to be the only grade nine students to make the junior football team. But it soon becomes clear that their coach, Bob Jones, who has just been elected mayor, has his own reasons for giving his two new players preferential treatment.

Massive media coverage of the outspoken Coach Jones starts turning up allegations of ill …

By the mid-1960s Toronto was well on its way to becoming Canada's largest and most powerful city. One real estate firm aptly labelled it Boomtown. Expressways, subways, shopping centres, high-rise apartments, and skyscraping downtown office towers were transforming the city. City officials were cheerleaders for unrestricted growth.

All this "progres …

Alex gets a paper route, dreaming of the money he will make and how he will spend it. But it's more work than he bargained for. Not only does he have to figure out how much money he gets to keep, but he also has to face dangers like the savage Yapper Snapper and the dreaded Four-Headed Gargantuan.

Illustrated comic-book-style with the adventures of …

Bullied in foster care and then by his adoptive mother's boyfriend, Seth decides to head out on his own. Brooke thinks she might be pregnant and, instead of facing her controlling mother, she runs. The strangers meet in a wilderness park on Vancouver Island, where basic survival is a challenge. As they work together to find food, water, and shelter …

Ashley Rivera's single mom can't afford to buy her new basketball shoes -- she does't even have enough for the registration fee when Ashley makes the city basketball team. So Ashley takes on extra work to make the money she needs to play basketball. Soon Ashley's overloaded schedule makes her too tired for school and her friends, and she can't take …

In 1991, nineteen-year-old Tammy Marquardt gave birth to a baby boy, Kenneth. Two years later he was dead. Tammy was convicted of his murder and sent to prison for life. Her conviction hinged largely on the evidence given by Dr. Charles Smith, the pediatric forensic pathologist at Toronto's famed Hospital for Sick Children. At the time, Dr. Smith w …

Cody and the Lions are playing great soccer, even if their team has only eleven players. But the arrival of an international company to build a factory on a nearby lake splits the team in two: Cody and his teammates who are worried the factory will pollute the lake vs. the players whose families will benefit from the jobs and opportunities the comp …

As captain of the Westside Warriors, Colt plays clean and hard. But lately his coach has been losing his temper and ordering the team to win at any cost, even if it means playing dirty. What makes it worse is that Coach is Colt's father, and his erratic behaviour at home and on the field has Colt wondering if something is seriously wrong with his d …

Feeling like an outsider in a new city and at a new school, Mariam finds that her love of comic-book superheroes overlaps with the interests of a new friend who is otaku, crazy about manga and anime. Together, Mariam and Tya plan their costumes for the big fan convention. Mariam is comfortable with her choice of character, partly because as Haruhi, …

When legal experts finally saw the terms of the investment deal Canada had signed with China, they could hardly believe what their eyes. The deal was unprecedented -- Canada had never given so much away to a trading partner. But Ottawa did not allow a full public review, and ultimately ratified the deal in 2014 with no changes. And the government m …

Most Canadians know that Stephen Harper has had a tremendous impact on the country since becoming prime minister in 2006. But few have the in-depth knowledge of how far his transformation has gone -- what has already been done, and what the consequences will be in the future.

This book brings together Canadian experts in a wide variety of areas. The …

After more than seven decades, the United Nations embodies humanity's hopes for peace, security, social justice, human rights, equality for women, and a voice for all. At the same time, it's where the conflicts and tensions amongst the governments and peoples of the world are often expressed.

Douglas Roche -- who has spent his lifetime in the cause …

Most history books make a joke of it, but Canada faced a serious military threat in the 1860s -- and came under multiple attacks by military forces based in the United States. It took the combined effort of British troops in Canada and the Canadian militia -- plus some good luck -- to repel the invaders and end the threat. The experience helped pus …

Though little known today, from 1860 to 1940 Canadian novelists from the Maritime provinces were writing highly successful books which were widely read in Canada, the US, and Britain. Although today only Lucy Maud Montgomery is remembered and read, there were several dozen writers who enjoyed the same level of success and renown. This book brings t …

This is the Final Report of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its six-year investigation of the residential school system for Aboriginal youth and the legacy of these schools. This report, the summary volume, includes the history of residential schools, the legacy of that school system, and the full text of the Commission's 94 recomm …

Governments and social agencies tackle the toughest social problems their citizens face -- poverty, homelessness, mental and physical illness, violence, abuse, and more. Yet these problems persist in Canada -- in many cases, they are worsening -- and the costs of the social safety net continue to rise.

New approaches have been developed by innovator …

Paul Bidwell dreams of playing on a hockey team but knows that his mother can't afford to pay for the registration fees or the equipment. So he plays boot hockey with his friends and practises alone every night on the open-ice rink in the park. When the flu and mononucleosis hit Paul's school and his best friend, Vincent, is laid up with a concussi …

Eighth-grader Micah is psyched to have made the BC junior goalball team -- even though he gets the news while dealing with a flare-up of his degenerative eye condition. What he's not happy about is his parents' decision to get him a guide dog, and the possibility of losing his independence.

When Liam, a new, first-rate player, joins the goalball tea …

On the night of June 23, 1990, teenage friends Kyle Unger and John Beckett made a last-minute decision to attend a music festival near Roseisle, Manitoba. They were loners, not the popular kids at school. But on this night they seemed to finally fit in. They had fun, played games, drank, and hung around bonfires with other people. The next morning, …

Tyler Josten has never caught a break. Abandoned by his mother, physically and emotionally abused by his father, he grows up with a wild temper, fighting anyone he sees as a bully -- including the police. When he gets into trouble with the law, his grandmother gives up on him, and he is placed in foster care to wait for his court date.

The Conways w …

Professional hockey is a fast game, and a dangerous one. Skates slice like razors; a hard-shot puck can take out an eye; and the ice surface is as hard as rock, especially when skulls are slammed against it. Innovations in equipment make the game faster and more exciting -- and have to be countered by measures that keep it safe for players.

From hoc …

Academics have never been Sofie's strong point; shes too busy spending all of her free time with her boyfriend, Paul, the captain of her Surrey high school's soccer team. When her English teacher implements a new program that pairs her with straight-A student Clea, Sofie worries about how Paul will react to her hanging out with the only out lesbian …

Canadas Charter of Rights and Freedoms has transformed Canadian life since it was adopted as part of the Canadian constitution in 1982. The Charter requires judges to make decisions on a wide range of issues that affect all Canadians. In doing so, the courts play a major role in citizens lives. Because of the Charter:
- The law against prostitutio …

Toronto was Boomtown in the 1960s. The city was growing quickly, gobbling up farmland for suburbs, pushing through expressways, knocking down neighbourhoods to make way for high-rise apartments.
With the rapidly growing population, there was huge demand for new housing. Toronto needed apartments, lots of them. It was a perfect market for a new kin …

Rubin Carter was in and out of reformatories and prisons from the age of twelve. At twenty-four, he became a winning professional boxer and was turning his life around. But Carter was also very vocal about racism in the local New Jersey police force. In 1966, local policemen arrested Carter and a friend for a triple murder. The two were convicted a …

Lawyers and their clients can talk in complete confidence, secure that the law protects what they say from being revealed to anyone. Priests can hear confessions with reasonable certainty that no court and no government will require them to speak of what they hear. But what about people who agree to help scientific researchers?

In 1994 a Simon Frase …

The Helmets and the Gloves have been cross-river rink rivals forever, so when the league decides to merge the two teams to represent their small B.C. town at a big invitational hockey tournament in Vancouver, Luke and his friends are furious. To make matters worse, the coach responsible for the merger is Luke's own father!

Nothing is going right for …

Suri and Lacey have been best friends since kindergarten. Suri, the photographer, has always been the safe, responsible one, afraid to take risks. Now that the pair is in high school, she''s afraid that her more outgoing and adventurous friend will outgrow her.
Then Lacey''s wild, risk-taking personality leads her down a dangerous path -- and Suri …

Being in a band is Stelle's salvation. It is her escape from the chaotic clutter at home and her mother's depression. Even though she is able to lose herself for a few hours, pounding away on the drums in the basement of her dad's new house, as soon as she leaves, it's as if the world is going crazy all around her: one bandmate's parents refuse to …

When Coach Gordon suddenly retires, Quinn Brown has to prove to a new coach that he deserves to remain the Spartans' starting quarterback. But Coach Miller's style seems to be throwing Quinn off his game -- and big-mouthed second-string Luke is gunning for Quinn's position.

To top it off, Quinn has been paired up with a peer tutor for math, and the …

With the arrival of a mysterious letter from Cales estranged father, what looked to be a dull, hot summer becomes an exciting adventure for the Seven Stair Crew!

A series of clues sends the boys on a quest to find "The Empire" -- four super-secret skateboard sites with some of the most thrilling, gnarly set-ups around. Even Toby, the clumsy SSC wann …

Margaret Thatcher transformed British political life forever. So did Ronald Reagan in the United States. Now Canada has experienced a similar, dramatic shift to a new kind of politics, which author Donald Gustein terms Harperism. Among its key tenets:

• A weakened labour movement--and preferably the disappearance of unions--will contribute to Canad …

Bush pilots haul cargo to remote reserves along the West Coast of Canada. They ferry big-game hunters to base camps and fly-in fishermen to remote lodges. They take nature photographers to scenic vistas and archaeological explorers to their latest dig.
Bush pilots and the planes they have flown are an exciting part of Canada's aviation history. In …

Weather is the quintessential Canadian story. Despite it's characterization in the rest of the world as a land of bush and blizzards, Canada is a country of geographical and climatic variations. It experiences just about every type of extreme weather possible - tornadoes, droughts, dust storms, ice storms, hail storms, hurricanes, floods - in addit …

Spine chilling accounts of school hauntings after the Halifax Explosion, premonitions of the Titanic tragedy, the phantom reappearance of the Yarmouth, the Great Amherst Poltergeist Mystery, the cursing of the Narrows area in Halifax Harbour, and the famous "Bell Island Hag" in Newfoundland are just some of the supernatural stories found in this co …

Leigh Aberdeen is a proud young Métis woman who wants to take on the whole league with her all-girl hockey team, the Chinooks.

Leigh's dream is threatened when her best friend Tina, the team's star goalie, mysteriously starts missing practices. To make matters worse, the coach adds a smart-aleck boy to the team roster. At the end of the season, as …

Rosy's grandmother keeps vanishing. Where does she go when she disappears? And does Gran really know, as she claims, where a secret treasure can be found? Rosy unravels these persistent puzzles in this touching, offbeat mystery about the joys and sorrows of family life. Originally published as Rosemary for Remembrance, Runaway Gran was a Canadian …

A Piece of Forever begins where Catching Forever ended, with the story of Rose and her experiences being of Mennonite faith in a public school. In A Piece of Forever, Rose is forced to address the issue of warfare, and to examine her own feelings about violence and peace for the upcoming Remembrance Day assembly. While doing research for a school p …

Mimi Kiguchi is friends with every cat on her street, including a pretty orange kitten she calls the Ginger Princess. Mimi is horrified when the neighbourhood bully kidnaps the Ginger Princess for what he darkly calls "an experiment." But what can a small nine-year-old do against a big, tough, eleven-year-old like Ricky? Then Mimi gets an idea that …