Masked ICE agents stand guard outside the Delaney Hall detention centre during a protest against the transfer of detainees in May 2026 in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

As ICE’s tech‑enabled dragnet and surveillance expand, activists are fighting back with data of their own

Grassroots activists and marginalized communities are ‘flipping the script’ on surveillance by watching, documenting and gathering information about powerful institutions such as ICE from below.
Once stigmatized and illegal, psychedelics are having a moment and being used for medical therapies. Big Pharma is moving quickly to capitalize on it, and years of community knowledge. (Shutterstock)

The rise of psychedelic capitalism: Work harder and be happy about it?

Psychedelics are marketed as a way for the general population to extract more work out of their already overworked lives, and to be happy about it in the process.
Facial recognition researcher, Joy Buolamwini, stands with a white mask. Her film, ‘Coded Bias,’ shows how AI tools are not good at recognizing faces of colour. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

AI used by police cannot tell Black people apart and other reasons Canada’s AI laws need urgent attention

Two new laws with major implications for how AI is used in society are being considered in Canada. Both lack protections for the public from the harms of AI, including racial profiling by police.
A person holds a sign calling for to defund the police during an October 2020 protest in Ottawa after a police constable was acquitted of manslaughter in the 2016 death of a Black man, Abdirahman Abdi. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Thin‑skinned blue line: Police fight against defunding, showing their true colours

Has the defund the police movement had an impact in Canada? It depends on how you define success.
A photo from a demonstration calling for police accountability and an end to police brutality in Vancouver, in May 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Public police are a greedy institution

The greedy tendencies of police departments help illustrate why public police funding is a major problem today in Canada and the United States.
Police push back protesters during a demonstration in Montréal calling for justice for victims of police brutality. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Defunding the police is a move towards community safety

The large budgets allotted for urban policing must be reconsidered so that communities can explore safer alternatives.
Members of the police SWAT team gather outside a small apartment building in Montréal in 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Rise of the SWAT team: Routine police work in Canada is now militarized

The deployments of SWAT teams by public police for routine police activities have risen in major Canadian cities. This militarization will likely fall disproportionately on those from minority groups.

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