Deputy editor, @torontotodayca. Formerly @CANADALAND, @globeandmail, @starvancouver; also in @guardian @CBC. Just trying to tell better stories.
Toronto, Ontario
Joined August 2012
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Cherise Seucharan retweeted
NEW: We obtained internal government data showing Ontario’s hallway health care numbers hit unprecedented highs in the last two years, with over 2,000 patients treated in hallways on an average day last winter 🧵 thetrillium.ca/news/health/o…
Cherise Seucharan retweeted
Canada is the hardest country I’ve worked in to get information or responses from government agencies. And I was in Dubai before this.
We have to demand better.
As the editor for this piece I must have read through it a dozen times, and yet I’m still shocked by the details. A must read:
Investigation: A group of workers allege the TTC has a racism problem. In interviews, staff claimed there have been 2 incidents involving nooses at TTC maintenance yards; and some claim racial slurs are common at their work site. 1/ #topoli #ttc torontotoday.ca/local/transp…
Cherise Seucharan retweeted
NEW @citizenlab report We uncovered an Israeli firm using online ads to run vast spy operation
This is the first-ever public confirmation of zero-click mercenary spyware delivered via targeted ads.
45 devices at @AJEnglish confirmed infected
citizenlab.ca/research/how-d…
Cherise Seucharan retweeted
NEW: A group of Toronto Amazon workers allege the company is acting illegally by forcing workers with injuries sustained on the job to go on indefinite medical leave, with no clear path to return. Five injured workers went on-record for this story. 1/ torontotoday.ca/local/busine…
Funny, yes — but I hope journalists take note that solidarity between news outlets can be effective against powers that seek to censor. It’s long overdue.
New from me: The TSDB cancelled a permit for an anti-Palestinian racism workshop due to ‘divisiveness,’ hours after receiving a petition alleging the event was ‘improper.’
torontotoday.ca/local/educat…
Seeing this piece being shared so I’d just like to correct an error: the interview with Oweida was not with Jesse but with me, as part of an audio doc I reported in the field and voiced. It’s actually one of the pieces I’m most proud of doing.
halifaxexaminer.ca/morning-f…
For posterity. My story starts at around the 6:35 mark: canadaland.com/podcast/964-a…
Cherise Seucharan retweeted
We tried to get access to all briefing notes, emails and text messages in the Premier's office regarding the Billy Bishop expansion and expropriation plans, but the new FOI restrictions made that impossible. Read it for free here ⬇️
torontotoday.ca/local/city-h…
RIP to a Canadian who always reminded us of our common humanity.
My father Stephen Lewis is spectacularly uninterested in social media, so I’m posting this myself (though he has read it and is prepared to suffer the indignity of all I'm about to reveal).
When he was Canada’s ambassador to the UN from 1984-88, Dad was truly shocked by the regularity of open, vitriolic antisemitism in the cocktail parties and ambassadorial receptions that surround that crucial but flawed institution.
For this reason (among others) he’s always been the one in our family with the deepest atavistic fear of antisemitism. He was sympathetic to the idea of Israel as a refuge longer than the rest of us.
This is no longer the case. Like so many Jews who for decades adopted the dominant narratives of Zionism, he can no longer defend the current actions of the state of Israel.
He now regards Israel as a rogue state, committing genocide and other crimes against humankind, which ought to be opposed by every tool and tactic in Canada's diplomatic arsenal.
To return to the personal, seven years ago my Dad was diagnosed with a vicious cancer and was given as little as 3 months to live. It’s a sublime understatement to say that he’s a fighter - but he has persevered in life with a tenacity familiar from his political, diplomatic and humanitarian pursuits.
Which brings us to this morning, when at 87 years old, he spent an hour standing at the side of the road in his old riding of Scarborough West. Standing up as a Jew against genocide. Standing up for justice for Palestine. Standing up on the right side of history, where the vast majority of humanity currently stands.
I’ve never been prouder, never more humble before the stubborn principle and insistent moral clarity of the guy I’m so lucky to call Dad.
People of Canada: don’t stop talking about Palestine.
Starvation as collective punishment can never be forgiven.
Burning and burying children alive can never be defended.
Stand up against genocide until we make it stop!
Thanks Dad.
And special thanks to @CharlieAngusNDP for shining his spotlight on Ted Schmidt and the other excellent folks who gather every Thursday at 8 am at the corner of Victoria Park and Kingston Road in Scarborough.
Cherise Seucharan retweeted
Stephen Lewis didn’t coin the term but he was the first to officially name anti-Black racism in a Canadian government report. His landmark 1992 Report on Race Relations was foundational to understanding how systemic discrimination worked. #RIP
Good time to note that the Ford government has spent public funds to fight — and lose — legal battles over the following:
- Stopping Al-Quds Day (in Toronto)
- Bike lane removals (in Toronto)
- Public sector salary caps
- Third-party election spending limits
- Gas pump stickers
I am extremely disappointed that the court has refused to put a stop to Al-Quds Day, which has long been a venue for antisemitism, hatred, intimidation and the glorification of terrorism.
While the judge cited Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, when we talk about rights we need to be clear that every person has the right to safety and security. We need to be clear that no one in Canada has the right to incite violence or free licence to intimidate and hate. The judge also said that Toronto Police Service do not need an injunction to preserve the peace. That's unbelievable! If that's the case, I fully expect that the police will immediately intervene at the first sign of hate, violence or glorification of terrorist organizations.
I won't stop working to put an end to the hatred and division that runs too rampant on Canada's streets. I won't stop working to protect the greatest province in the greatest country in the world.
Unclear exactly how much this has cost in total, but the wage cap battle alone was over 4.3M. If anyone wants to try to find out, here’s a handy a list of lost court battles to start with:
cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/o…
Just a reminder: the government works for the people. We hire them (by voting), pay them (through taxes), and have the right to know what they do at work.
Global News has been engaged in a years-long transparency battle with Premier Doug Ford's office over his cell phone records.
The government has lost a battle in court.
The government is now changing the rules to neutralize the FOI.
#onpoli
Cherise Seucharan retweeted
Yes, this is real. Yes, it's astonishing. Global TV, which airs 60 Minutes in Canada, uploaded the original version of Sunday's episode, including the Sharyn Alfonsi segment that Bari Weiss shelved. And now people all across the internet are watching the segment.
Cherise Seucharan retweeted
This deeply intimate report on how Israeli surveillance technology has reshaped Palestinian life by @mrmhawish is absolutely gutting nymag.com/intelligencer/arti…
I spent sixteen months reporting this story. It was deep, painful, and at times unbearable.
It follows how surveillance tech is rewriting Gaza in real time — and what it’s doing to the people inside it. Read in @NYMag
nymag.com/intelligencer/arti…
Cherise Seucharan retweeted
gut-wrenching and important story by @ShreeParadkar thestar.com/news/investigati…
