Thom Vernon

A chance meeting with a person who works on the religious fundamentalisms project at Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), in the midst of the local assault on social services has helped me to see more clearly how Mayor Ford's locally proposed cuts reflect global trends.

A lot has happened since I began typing. Honourable Beverley J. Oda, Canada's Minister of International Cooperation, announced that Canada will fulfill the commitment it made to the Global Fund in the fight against AIDS. That is welcome news after a too-long struggle to do our part. Wish...

I've just come back from St. James Park where Occupy Toronto and the 99% is in full-swing. Entering off of Jarvis/Adelaide, I passed a logistics table, a library, a legal tent, a medical tent, a 'club' for dancing and a sacred space for prayer and sitting....

If somehow you have gotten through the last 30 years without HIV/AIDS impacting your life, kudos to you. For the rest of us, it's been different. My sister-in-law, Susan, whose wry grin pushed through a determined exterior, who could get in and out of a grocery store like nobody's business...

Walking into Dufferin Grove Park on Saturday (Sept. 10, 2011), a bright sunny afternoon, the last thing I expected to see was over a thousand Torontonians huddled over ideas, policy choices and alternatives for the direction of a city under siege. These people couldn't all be here for the

Yesterday, I visited Water: the Exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum here in Toronto. The exhibit is educational and tactile. It inspires awe. I was there with my friend, Marjorie Ryerson, whose book, Water Music accompanies the exhibit. In the book, world-renowned musicians (Dave Brubek, Renee...

I have been at this dance before.

Rob Ford, Toronto's recently-elected mayor, danced into office promising to "stop the gravy train" at city hall. Problem is, he and his strategy are still dancing but there is no gravy. After stacking the City Council Executive Committee with like-minded councillors, the...