Chatelaine - April 2021 by Lawrence Ambrocio

Start your day the plant-based way P 79

CHATELAINE SHOPS TSC

Need a little pick-me-up to get you through winter to the warmth of spring? Bring that spa feeling home and pamper yourself with these Chatelaine editor favourites. All available at tsc.ca.

BETTER HAIR DAYS AHEAD Missing that “I-just-left-the-salon” look? Perfectly done hair is a snap with a few simple strokes of this innovative straightener that also makes waves (even if only for Zoom calls). Dyson Corrale Item# 486-974, $649.99

QUENCH YOUR SKIN

FACE TIME Is the pandemic wreaking havoc on your complexion? Take a time out with this zit-clearing mask you’ll actually look forward to using.

All this time indoors makes skin extra thirsty. Slather and spritz your way back to that buttery summer feel with this multitasking, antioxidant-rich skincare line. PÜR Downtown Detox Antioxidant Anti-Pollution Mask Item# 490-528, $36

Elemis Superfood Kefir-Tea Mist Item# 457-855, $43

. Sus et, iuntior epercil landus di tem. Nam labor ant, sum. Sus et, iuntior epercil landus di tem. Nam labor ant.

DRINK IT IN

A STIMULATING PAIR

The office water cooler has nothing on this pretty pitcher. Add your favourite fruit for a delicious, healthy hydration hit.

Created by a woman who was fed up with her own thinning hair, this microneedling system system stimulates the scalp to encourage new growth. An extra attachment for the face improves absorption of skincare products to bestow a fresh glow.

Grosche Bali Fruit Infuser with Fresno Glasses Bundle Item# 658-923, $79.99

Elemis Superfood AHA Glow Cleansing Butter Item# 475-301, $50 Elemis Pro-Collagen Facial Oil 15mL Marine Item# 488-850, $105

BeautyBio GloPro Rejuvenating Set for Face & Scalp (featuring TSC-exclusive Blush Leopard style) Item# 476-546, $229.95

Maison Berger Paris Matali Lamp Gift Set Item# 486-595, $96

A few deep grounding breaths throughout your

A JOURNEY FOR THE SENSES This gorgeous scented lamp from legendary aromatherapy brand Maison Berger will gently infuse your surroundings— close your eyes and you’re practically in the French countryside.

Set the mood. Clear your space, set your phone to Do Not Disturb (and set your housemates to the same), light some candles and find a serene playlist.

“spa” experience will help you release tension and stress. Starting with a short meditation via an app can help quiet the mind.

Fluffy towels, a comfy robe and plush slippers go a long way to making your home feel spa-like.

Shop tsc.ca

April

Be inspired by a true icon. P 50

Fight the system, save the planet. P 58

chatelaine.com

26 Contents Volume 94, Issue #03

18 The secret life of secondhand clothing

Health

Ever wonder how that perfect 1950s shirt-dress found its way to your local vintage shop?

38 Notes

Home

40 Collision course

24 Notes

Notebook 9 Agenda 8 things we’re excited about this month—including a stunning new Inuit art centre. ON THE COVER Sainte-Marie’s photo by Matt Barnes; beadwork by Katie Longboat; beadwork photography by Erik Putz; creative direction by Sun Ngo.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

Style

Grow your own veggies— almost everything you need to get started is in your recycling bin!

COVID-19 is the latest pollutant in places where people and the environment are already under stress.

Life

26 Green house effect

50 Buffy Sainte-Marie at 80

Easy ways to make your home more eco-friendly, from using low-VOC paint to building a pollinator garden.

Indigenous rights and the environment have been at the heart of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s songwriting since she was in her early 20s. Sixty years later, these issues are more relevant than ever—just like Sainte-Marie herself.

16 Notes Eco-friendlier textiles, refillable makeup kits and more sustainable style tips.

Good oral hygiene, without the plastic.

34 A lush life 17 pots and hangers just as pretty as your plants.

Does your plant baby need a new home? P 34

CHECK THIS OUT We’ve added icons to indicate products from companies that are Canadian and/or owned by Black people, Indigenous people or people of colour (BIPOC).

40 58 You can beat the system

84 Dream sweets

A healthier planet requires big changes; women doing their small part to make them happen tell you how to join in.

Five dairy- and egg-free desserts to ring in a sweeter spring.

92 The dinner plan

Food

Easy weeknight meals from Oh She Glows’ Angela Liddon.

68 Notes

In every issue

Build a bountiful vegan charcuterie board.

6 You tell us

70 Making maple syrup, and a one-of-a-kind cocktail

7 Editor’s letter

My family’s annual sap boiling will live on despite the death of my father. But can it weather the climate crisis?

98 Humour

CANADIAN BIPOC-OWNED

Middle-aged milestones.

72 Pulse power Put your fears about cooking with dried beans to rest.

79 Start your day the plant-based way Ease into a plant-based diet with these delicious breakfast recipes.

Every one of our recipes is tested multiple times to make sure it’s delicious and foolproof.

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

you tell us

LETTERS

MAUREEN HALUSHAK EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

SUN NGO CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Deputy Editor GILLIAN GRACE Executive Editor DENISE BALKISSOON Senior Editor CHANTAL BRAGANZA (ON LEAVE) Associate Lifestyle Editor ANDRÉANNE DION Associate Editor RADIYAH CHOWDHURY CHATELAINE KITCHEN Food Content Director IRENE NGO ART Art Director STEPHANIE HAN KIM Associate Art Director AIMEE NISHITOBA PRODUCTION In-House Photographers CARMEN CHEUNG, ERIK PUTZ Digital Colour Specialist NICOLE DUPLANTIS (ON LEAVE), KATARINA MARINIC Production Manager KAREN RICHARDS

OB-MISOGYN “Treatment plan” [February/March 2021] and the dismissive response of the family doctor reminded me of my teenage years and early 20s, when each month I had severe first-day menstrual pain. My family doctor finally referred me to a gynecologist. A quick exam, and then he asked if I played sports. I confirmed, yes. His answer was that I was a tomboy, and the reason I had so much pain was that I obviously wanted to be a boy. Thank God by 1964 you could get a prescription for birth control (but only if you found the right doctor and you were either getting married or already married). No more pain. Over the years, I always wondered if that gynecologist actually continued to practise in B.C. Or did some woman finally hit him over the head? — Donna Hopkins, Bible Hill, N.S.

Welcome back

Self-education

dishes [February/March

The main reason

If you read just

cover]. How wonderful!

I stopped getting

one thing today, take

How authentic!!! Instead

subscriptions to

in this refreshing article

of rolling my eyes at my

magazines was the

[“The self-education

own habit, I will learn to

content did not seem

of Bee Quammie,”

embrace it.

Canadian or relevant

February/March]

— Judy Chan

enough to most

written by the eloquent

people’s lives. Well,

@beequammie.

I got a new perspective

Because every one

with the January issue

of us has much to

isn’t awesome”

of Chatelaine. Now,

learn about the

[February/March]. I wish

granted, there is a

nuances of the Black

there was more light

little more time to

experience in Canada.

shed on the “toxic

linger, but I read it cover

#BlackHistoryMonth

positivity” I see floating

to cover, and every

— @monidaniel

around. I’m sad and

article was informative, touching, educational and appreciated.

Respect the negative I just read “Everything

I want to acknowledge Hot pot at home I can’t believe you

it. I wish others would as well. Thanks for

— Cathie Willfang,

actually put newspaper

the insight!

New Hamburg, Ont.

under all the hot pot

— @robbiewildered

BRANDED CONTENT Managing Director SASHA EMMONS Executive Editor MEAGHAN YUEN Editor GILLIAN BERNER Project Managers CARLO ATANGAN, MILENA BOSKOVIC Designer LEO TAPEL CONTRIBUTORS SIKU ALLOOLOO, TINA ANSON MINE, DONNA BOROOAH, AMBER BRACKEN, CHAD BURTON, DARREN CALABRESE, LEEANDRA CIANCI, ALICIA COX THOMSON, JEN CUTTS, FLANNERY DEAN, RAINA DELISLE, KATHLEEN FU, SUMIT GILL, DANIELLE GROEN, MATTHEW HAGUE, EMILY HOWES, ERICA IFILL, MADELEINE JOHARI, PAT KANE, CAITLIN KENNY, MARIYAM KHAJA, MATTHEW KIMURA, NADYA KWANDIBENS, CAROL LINNITT, KATIE LONGBOAT, TERESE MASON PIERRE, NATALIE MICHIE, ESHUN MOTT, ISHANI NATH, SARAH RAUGHLEY, WENDY RORONG, VIVIAN ROSAS, LEAH RUMACK, RAYNA MARLEE SCHWARTZ, COURTNEY SHEA, CAITLIN STALL-PAQUET, SARAH SWEENEY, FATIMA SYED, BRETT THROOP, STEPH TRUONG, AMY VALM, KIRA VERMOND, ANDREA WARNER, H.G. WATSON, NICOLE WOLF

ST. JOSEPH COMMUNICATIONS Chairman & CEO TONY GAGLIANO Vice-Chairman JOHN GAGLIANO President & Publisher, SJC Media KEN HUNT Vice-President, Operations & Technology SEAN MCCLUSKEY Vice-President, Content & Creative MARYAM SANATI Managing Director, Consumer Revenue ALLAN YUE Managing Director, Marketing NADINE SILVERTHORNE Director of Circulation, Women’s Lifestyle LISA RIVERS Director of Retail Sales ANNIE GABRIELIAN Director, Custom Content STEFANIA DI VERDI Managing Director, Research & Consumer Insights CLARENCE POIRIER Executive Assistant GILLIAN HANNIBAL ADVERTISING Senior Vice-President, Revenue LYNN CHAMBERS Managing Director, Sales TRACY MILLER National Account Executives SUSAN MULVIHILL, NICOLE ROSEN, PURVI SELVADIA, KYM WYATT National Account Manager, Montreal INGRID BARFOD National Account Manager, Vancouver RENEE WONG Sales Manager NICOLE ROSEN Director, Customer Success TERRY SMITH

MAIL PREFERENCE: FROM TIME TO TIME, OTHER ORGANIZATIONS MAY ASK CHATELAINE MAGAZINE IF THEY MAY SEND INFORMATION ABOUT A PRODUCT OR SERVICE TO SOME CHATELAINE SUBSCRIBERS, BY MAIL OR EMAIL. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE THESE MESSAGES, CONTACT US IN ANY OF THE WAYS LISTED HERE.

CONTACT US Toronto 416-248-4868 Montreal 514-843-2951 Vancouver 604-872-6167 Advertising Inquiries 416-764-2836 Email terry.smith@stjoseph.com

VISIT US AT CHATELAINE.COM Subscribe or renew your subscription · Give a gift subscription · Pay your bill · Change your mailing address · Order fragrance-free issues · Check your account status and expiry date · Report delivery problems or duplicate issues › chatelaine.com/service Chatelaine is published by St. Joseph Communications, 15 Benton Road, Toronto M6M 3G2. Montreal office: 249, rue Saint-Jacques, Bureau 201, Montréal H2Y 1M6. Vancouver advertising office: 180 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver V5Y 3T9. Website: www.chatelaine.com. Contents copyright 2021 by St. Joseph Communications; may not be reprinted without written permission. Article proposals and manuscripts must be accompanied by self-addressed envelopes and sufficient postage; otherwise they will not be returned or acknowledged. While the publishers will take all reasonable care, they will not be responsible for the loss of any manuscript, drawing or photograph. ISSN 0009-1995. Single copy price: $4.99 + tax. Full subscription prices: Canada, 1 year (6 issues), $15 + tax. In U.S., 1 year, $45; foreign countries, $75. Indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index. Printed in Canada by St. Joseph Communications, Print. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. Chatelaine receives unsolicited materials (including letters to the editor, press releases, promotional items and images) from time to time. Chatelaine, its affiliates and assignees may use, reproduce, publish, republish, distribute, store and archive such unsolicited submissions in whole or in part in any form or medium whatsoever, without compensation of any sort. This statement does not apply to materials and/or pitches submitted by freelance writers, photographers or illustrators in accordance with known industry practices.

SUBSCRIBER SERVICES

We love hearing your feedback on the magazine—please keep it coming. Send your thoughts to letters@chatelaine.com.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

Telephone 1-833-632-0833, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays (ET) Website chatelaine.com/service Email service@chatelaine.com Mail Chatelaine Subscriber Services, Box 460, Station Main, Alliston, Ontario L9R 1V7

ST. JOSEPH COMMUNICATIONS CAN BE REACHED AT 15 BENTON ROAD, TORONTO M6M 3G2

PHOTO, GETTY IMAGES.

[ LETTER OF THE MONTH ]

letter from the editor

Also in this issue

Cover inspiration A fascinating look at how vintage clothing is sourced—and what happens to the clothes we give away (page 18).

PORTRAIT PHOTO, CARMEN CHEUNG. MAKEUP AND HAIR, WENDY RORONG FOR PLUTINO GROUP.

A searing report on environmental racism, produced in partnership with The Narwhal, a non-profit online magazine that publishes in-depth and investigative journalism about Canada’s natural world (page 40).

10 ways to fight the system for a healthier planet, from getting your voice heard at city hall to supporting front-line activists (page 58).

22 incredibly delicious plant-based recipes, including a dreamy French silk pie (page 84) and a pesto pasta that’s earned a permanent place in my weeknight dinner rotation (page 92).

I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW EXCITED we are to have Buffy Sainte-Marie on this cover. We had originally scheduled writer Andrea Warner’s incredibly inspiring profile of the musical icon to run in our February/March issue, to coincide with Sainte-Marie’s 80th birthday on February 20. Sun Ngo, our creative director, had already photographed and designed a hot pot cover for that issue, in celebration of Lunar New Year. But a few days before sending it to the printer, Sun messaged me with the exact same feeling I had been experiencing: immense regret at not having Sainte-Marie on our cover. And so, at the eleventh hour, we pulled her profile and moved it to our annual Green Issue, which gave Sun enough time to create this stunning cover, featuring photography by Matt Barnes and beadwork by Katie Longboat. Talk about a natural fit. Buffy Sainte-Marie has been singing truth to power about environmental causes—and Indigenous rights, and colonialism, and political corruption—for nearly six decades. As Warner notes, her music “continues to echo today wherever land defenders are on the ground, including Idle No More, Standing Rock and the Keystone pipeline protest.” (And, yes, we should all be furious that Indigenous people are still facing the same issues Sainte-Marie first sang about in the 1960s.) The timelessness of Sainte-Marie’s sound is only matched by the timelessness of her spirit; as Warner makes abundantly clear, she could teach a master class on aging well. This issue marks one full year of producing Chatelaine from our homes. It is an immense privilege to be able to do so, but it’s not without its challenges. I want to thank my amazing team, from the bottom of my heart, for giving their absolute best throughout an undeniably crummy year.

Thanks for reading—it means a lot.

Maureen Halushak @maureenhalushak letters@chatelaine.com

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

LET YOUR SKIN TELL YOUR STORY

NIVEA

POWER

WITH A Q10 COENZYME TO CARE FOR THE SKIN THAT MAKES YOU, 100% YOU HYDRATES BOOSTS ELASTICITY VISIBLY FIRMER SKIN IN 2 WEEKS FULL TERMS AND CONDITIONS NIVEA.CA

PHOTO, DANIEL DORSA. TEXT, DENISE BALKISSOON.

THINGS TO DO RIGHT NOW

1 [ S A D S O N G S S AY S O M U C H ]

Listen to a lament for Mother Nature

FOR EVERYONE WHO’S NOT A BILLIONAIRE planning to jet off to space, mourning the natural world is inescapable emotional baggage. And describing what it feels like to witness climate change is the task the Weather Station (a.k.a. Toronto’s Tamara Lindeman) set for herself on her fifth album, Ignorance. The jazz-inflected collection of indie rock truly captures the current mood, from frustration at one’s individual limitations to the bittersweet wonder of watching a solitary bird—almost definitely threatened by something terrible that humans are doing somewhere—gliding across a blue sky. It’s uncomfortable listening, yet somehow also comforting in its shared vulnerability. “Can I just cover my eyes?” Lindeman asks in “Atlantic,” after railing against those “looting at dawn / looting at dusk” in “Robber.” Denial, anger, bargaining, depression: All the stages of climate grief make an appearance—save acceptance. Ignorance is out now. APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

agenda 2 [ OUT IN FRONT ]

Celebrate the women that lead us through Journalist Lauren McKeon considers COVID-19 through a gendered lens Written by MARIYAM KHAJA

Why write a book about COVID-19 and women specifically? The idea that leadership is synonymous with men is pervasive and persistent. Because we’ve erased women’s stories and the diversity of their stories so often in history, I feared it would happen again. I think this traditional idea that men will lead us through quickly got turned on its head. Instead, we saw that women were leading us through, whether in official capacities as medical officers and doctors, through volunteer efforts or on the front lines at grocery stores. On the flip side of that, when we looked at who was being affected and who was suffering, it was also women. A lot of front-line

workers are women of colour or immigrants, who face many barriers to equal and fair treatment.

What was it like to listen to these stories while navigating the pandemic yourself? It often felt like a pendulum swing, between listening to inspiring, hopeful stories and then—within the same day, week or even interview—listening to the challenges that these women faced and the impossible decisions that they’ve had to make. I became keenly aware that a lot of us were living in different realities. I had the immense privilege of being able to work from home, but a lot of the people that I spoke to did not.

You write that heroes are signs of a failed system. What do you mean? A lot of the women I spoke to didn’t like being described as heroes. It’s not that they didn’t appreciate that people had this outpouring of gratitude. But a lot of front-line

workers made the point that if the system worked, there would be enough beds, there would be enough supplies and they wouldn’t have to make the decision of who should live and who should die. We wouldn’t have to worry about the most vulnerable in society, because they’d already be taken care of. For a lot of people, this idea of their actions being heroic exposes inequalities and how underfunded and unequal Canada’s health care system is.

What do you hope post-pandemic generations will take from this book? I hope that it serves as a record and a testament to how women led us through the pandemic and the sacrifices they made. When we look at our history books, women are often reduced to footnotes—or afterthoughts or wives or mistresses. I hope we see that women have stories to tell in their own right. Women of the Pandemic is out April 27.

[ L ADIES FIRST ]

Turn an ear toward Montreal Canada’s coolest city has produced a hot crop of new musicians Written by SARAH RAUGHLEY

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

LE REN Lauren Spear (a.k.a. Le Ren) is helping build Canada’s country community. The singersongwriter grew up on Bowen Island in B.C., playing bluegrass with her parents. After moving to Montreal, she tried out electronic sounds in various bands before returning to her folk roots for her solo album, Morning & Melancholia, released last year. Her delicate music takes on themes of loss, mourning and pain. lerenmusic. bandcamp.com.

NAYA ALI “My belief in myself instills a reflection in the audience that makes them believe in themselves—that’s my goal.” So said Ethiopianborn, Montreal-raised hip-hop artist Naya Ali in a January interview. Her debut, Godspeed: Baptism (Prelude), was released in March 2020 and showcases Ali’s world view via her signature raspy vocals, psychedelic flow and philosophical lyrics. A second EP is coming soon. coyoterecords.ca/ en/artists/naya-ali.

BRITTANY KENNELL In 2016, Brittany Kennell became the first Canadian to play the main stage of The Voice, where she successfully convinced Blake Shelton to swivel his chair around in approval. After developing her bittersweet brand of folk and country in Nashville, Kennell came home last year, shooting the sultry video for “Drunk Lips” in the Montreal bar Le Normandie. Fans of Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert should take a listen. brittanykennell.com.

BACKXWASH Originally from Zambia, Ashanti Mutinta always knew that she didn’t fit onto the traditional music scene map. So the transgender musician created her own lane, of scary metal hiphop influenced by Led Zeppelin. Her debut as Backxwash, God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It, won the 2020 Polaris Music Prize. Fans can’t wait for the follow-up, to hear the evolution of her heavy sound and honest expression. backxwash. bandcamp.com.

LE REN PHOTO, MARIAH HAMILTON. ALI PHOTO, NEIL MOTA. KENNELL PHOTO, LINDSAY KENNELL. BACKXWASH PHOTO, MECHANT VAPORWAVE.

agenda Made of Verde Guatemala marble, Goota Ashoona’s sculpture Tuniigusiia/The Gift welcomes visitors to the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s new Inuit art centre, Qaumajuq.

GOOTA ASHOONA UNVEILING PHOTO, JOCELYN PIIRAINEN, COURTESY OF THE WINNIPEG ART GALLERY. SIKU ALLOOLOO ARTWORK PHOTO, SERGE GUMENYUK, COURTESY OF THE WINNIPEG ART GALLERY.

[ F R E S H S TA R T ]

Reconsider relationships A new gallery heralds brighter days for Indigenous art Written by SIKU ALLOOLOO

The monumental 40,000-square-foot centre houses nearly 14,000 pieces of Inuit art. It’s the largest public collection on the planet, in one of the biggest spaces for Indigenous art in North America. In 2017, the WAG’s Indigenous Advisory Circle (co-chaired by two visionary curators, art historian Heather Igloliorte and artist Julie Nagam) challenged the gallery to completely rethink its artistic values. The response was a rare willingness to pursue institutional change. Staff began a process of decolonizing the prestigious, 109-year-old art institution, with cultural-knowledge holders, artists, curators and linguists from across Manitoba and Inuit Nunangat guiding them. The exquisite three-storey glass vault at the centre of Qaumajuq’s entryway showcases 8,000 Inuit carvings and is named Ilavut—“our relatives”—to honour community and relationships. “It’s exciting that the WAG is bringing these out of the windowless vault and into the light!” says Igloliorte. Indigenous staff are being hired at all levels, and admission to the entire WAG is free for Indigenous peoples. (Entry to Ilavut and the main level of the WAG is free to everyone.) It is, as Indigenous peoples have always asserted, about centring relationships—and taking action to invite good relations. The possibilities afforded are tremendous. Last fall, the entire WAG was transformed by Indigenous naming processes; it’s now known as Biindigin Biwaasaeyaah, which means “Come on in, the dawn of light is here” in Anishinaabemowin. Gallery spaces in both buildings now affirm the presence of Indigenous nations across Manitoba and Inuit Nunangat, with new names in Anishinaabemowin, as well as Nêhiyawêwin, Dakota, Sayisi Dene, Michif and four dialects of Inuktitut. The inaugural exhibition, “INUA,” is curated by an incredible group representing all four regions of Inuit Nunangat, an unprecedented landmark in Canadian history and Inuit art. I am showing my sealskin poem, Akia (2019), alongside works by 40 other artists. To be part of this momentous exhibition—led by Inuit, celebrating the past, present and future of our art, in a space designed to uplift all peoples—is phenomenal. Qaumajuq has arrived at last. Let us welcome the light! Virtual opening ceremony, March 25 and 26. Open to the public with limited capacity, March 27. wag.ca/qaumajuq.

n my father’s community of Mittimatalik, Nunavut, spring ushers in the return of the sun after several months of darkness. It’s a fitting time for the debut of the new Inuit art centre at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG), which is emerging from a long colonial legacy that still shadows cultural institutions across the world. Qaumajuq (pronounced kow-ma-yourk; sometimes heard how-ma-yourk) is an astounding new building, one that redefines the very function and possibilities of an arts organization. The name means “it is bright, it is lit” in Inuktitut, and the space heralds an exciting new era for Indigenous art. Since the mid-19th century, Inuit art has been shipped thousands of kilometres away from our people and where our stories take place to be shown (and housed) in spaces largely inaccessible to us. The opening of Qaumajuq signals an important shift in focus from objects to artists—and the communities we come from.

Made of sealskin letters on canvas panels, the poem Akia by Siku Allooloo is part of the inaugural exhibition at Qaumajuq.

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

agenda TOP Sylvia Olsen and her son in matching knits. LEFT One of the oldest Cowichan sweaters Olsen found dated to the 1930s and belonged to a Japanese-Canadian internment camp survivor.

Curl up with a good yarn Written by TINA ANSON MINE

FIBRE-RELATED PUNS are a knitter’s birthright. Historian Sylvia Olsen obviously isn’t immune to their appeal—her new book is called Unravelling Canada: A Knitting Odyssey. But the cheeky title reflects a deeper purpose: to tease out individual strands of identity that run through Canadian knitting history and practice. After marrying into a B.C. Coast Salish community, Olsen lived in Tsartlip First Nation for 35 years, where she learned the traditional colourwork technique its knitters are known for. When she began to research her master’s thesis on their work, including

Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi

6 [ G OT S TAC K S ]

CRACK A SPINE Notable picks from the season’s newest books Written by TERESE MASON PIERRE

The latest entrancing novel from the multi-awardwinning Nigerian-British writer takes a couple, Otto and Xavier, on a long train ride aboard a former teasmuggling locomotive. The trip is their “non-honeymoon honeymoon,” but the Lucky Day isn’t a normal train. As its secrets—and those of its mysterious owner, Ava Kapoor—are revealed, it becomes evident that all of the characters, from the lovers to the strangers, are intimately joined through past events, relationships, goals, fears and hopes. In lyrical, almost magical prose, Oyeyemi weaves a dramatic, exciting tale, in which Otto and Xavier must piece together what is real, what was orchestrated and who they can believe. Out April 6.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

Unravelling Canada: A Knitter’s Odyssey is out April 17.

Asking for a Friend by Andi Osho

Three successful Black women star in this funny, honest romance debut. Bestselling author Jemima, 42, can’t shake off her annoying ex. Meagan, 29, is an ambitious talent agent nearly ready for phase three of her fivephase life plan: a relationship. And Simi, 35, is an aspiring actress, freshly wounded from another breakup. The trio swears off dating apps in favour of asking people out in real life, vowing that “no woman gets left behind.” This adeptly crafted narrative highlights real friendships between adult women: The respect that Jemima, Meagan and Simi have for one another’s histories, insecurities and aspirations adds a layer of gratifying weight to this beach read. Out now.

Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian

Young IndianAmerican Neil Narayan doesn’t possess the same drive as his classmates and sister. Then he discovers that his neighbour Anita has a magical secret: She steals gold from friends and acquaintances to create an alchemical potion infused with the ambition and energy of the precious metal’s previous owners. Gold Diggers is about diasporic communities and what they’re willing to invest in the American Dream. Entertaining and critical in equal measure, the novel empathetically shows how racialized parents often have a rigid, yet relatable, vision of success. For Neil and Anita, getting what they want—or what they thought they wanted—only raises more questions. Out April 6.

How to Make a Dress by Jenny Packham

An intimate memoir by one of the foremost British designers of the past 30 years. Using her sharp eye, Packham expertly conveys the many thoughtful deliberations that go into the construction of a single piece of clothing. Fashion is not merely a job for her, but a passion that plays a role in her entire life. Clothes are not just objects, but stories—every piece bursting at the seams with rich and respectable history and longing. A patient and loving narrator, Packham poses questions—such as “What do clothes mean to people?” and “Why do we wear the things we do?”—and then answers them using her own wisdom. The result is some unforgettable meditations on life and style. Out April 27.

SWEATER PHOTO, TEX McLEOD. YARN ILLUSTRATION, ISTOCK PHOTO.

[ KNIT WHERE ]

their world-renowned Cowichan sweaters, questions about identity, influence, authenticity and colonization kept resurfacing. Coast Salish sweaters are crafted from undyed, hand-spun yarn in creams, browns and greys; they feature wide single-colour sections interspersed with bands of bold geometric or natural motifs. They became hippie status symbols in the 1960s, which led to commercial knock-offs and DIY patterns from mass-market craft companies, such as White Buffalo. By the ’80s, Coast Salish knitters’ income had severely eroded. “I maintain that if you want to teach B.C. history, the Cowichan sweater story tells it all,” Olsen writes. “It’s about contact and race relations, power, politics and passion, industry and economy, family, innovation and survival.” In 2015, with these big issues in mind, she and her husband left Victoria on a tour across Canada, on a hunt for the oldest Cowichan sweater still in existence. The goal: Make it to Newfoundland in six weeks, hitting 40 destinations and teaching Coast Salish knitting techniques to almost 900 people along the way. Interwoven with Olsen’s road memoir are other knitters’ stories: boyfriend sweaters gone bad, healing through knitting and the joys of creating beautiful things with wool and two sticks. Olsen asks hard questions about Canada and its colonial roots, and is honest enough to point some of those questions at herself. But she still celebrates what binds us all together. “If knitters represent what it is to be Canadian, then we are a country of hard-working, caring, creative people leading meaningful lives,” she writes. “We are intentional and brave, ready to hear the tough stories of our past and use them to forge a new future.”

7 [ HEART MURMUR ]

Read about radio and romance Set in a Toronto Muslim community, Hana Khan Carries On is full of delectable secrets, delicious food and a lot of love Written by ALICIA COX THOMSON

UZMA JALALUDDIN’S first romcom, Ayesha at Last, was an international hit. Her second book stars Hana Khan, a budding journalist from a tight-knit immigrant neighbourhood. Hana wants to tell stories for a living—but whose stories should she tell? And why? And what’s up with the enigmatic StanleyP, who keeps commenting on her podcast? Things get more confusing when a mysterious auntie visits from India and a (very cute) competitor challenges her family’s struggling restaurant.

“Is this for real, or are you a catfishing bot?” This is the first thing Hana Khan says to her mystery fan, StanleyP, which instantly gives you an idea of who she is. How did you create her?

I loved her! All the secondary characters are also so vividly drawn. My fave was Auntie Kawkab—I loved her glamour and confidence. What does Hana gain from knowing her?

JALALUDDIN PHOTO, ANDREA STENSON.

Food is a love language for the Khans, both within their family and in their community. Are you a cook? The descriptions were so real, it made me hungry.

Oh, Hana. She was so much fun to write. I visualized her as this raw, feisty bundle of energy, ready to conquer the world. I had a good idea of who I wanted to write about—a young Muslim woman at the start of her “adulting” phase of life, eager to start a career but still eager to run after her dreams.

She brought a confidence and elegance to the story, one I thought was a great contrast to Hana’s messy authenticity. I especially wanted to write about an older South Asian woman who was really sure of herself. Kawkab Khala’s story in the novel is actually inspired by my own personal family lore. Yes, she existed in real life.

I’m a cook by necessity, not passion. I used food as a symbol for legacy and how it changes over time. I wanted to talk about the diversity of cultures even within first-, second- and thirdgeneration immigrant communities. I love the way that food brings people together and I love writing about food as a way to talk about community.

Hana Khan Carries On is out April 6.

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

agenda 8 [ A L M O S T, B U T N OT Q U I T E ]

Feel sorry for movie stars It’s going to be a less-than-glam, stay-at-home, pathetic pandemic awards season. Here are our predictions Written by COURTNEY SHEA

Normally: The one where the awards are only for acting. No pretending to care about behind-the-scenes crew members! Now: This year’s broadcast will only be an hour long, featuring an extended version of the signature “I Am an Actor” opener. Which actually sounds perfect. Woman to watch: Michaela Coel, writer and star of I May Destroy You, nominated as outstanding female actor in a limited series. Her Golden Globes snub was bigger news than that award’s noms (who won, again?). Worth noting: This is the final chance for the cast of Schitt’s Creek to score another sweep.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards, April 11

Normally: The one with all the English accents, celebrating serious act-ors and fil-ems. Now: A revamped voting system was supposed to address a lack of diversity, but the nomination list looks whiter than a cast reunion of The Crown. Woman to watch: Carey Mulligan has gotten raves (and taken a whole lot of sexist crap) for her role as a bad-man-seeking-missile in Promising Young Woman. Worth noting: Fingers crossed for a Zoom cameo by Wills and Kate (because we all know the BAFTA for best British drama should really go to the royals).

Independent Spirit Awards, April 22

Normally: Held on the beach in Santa Monica the day before the Academy Awards, it’s the cooler, edgier younger sister of the season, where jeans are allowed on the red carpet. Now: After 36 years of being the warm-up act to the naked golden man, this year the ISAs are going out on their own, broadcasting three whole days before the Oscars ceremony. Woman to watch: Host Melissa Villaseñor, the first ever Latina cast member of Saturday Night Live (yes, seriously). Worth noting: The only awards ceremony without a #sowhite nominations issue.

Academy Awards, April 25

Normally: The grande dame of red carpet season, where everyone wears their fanciest outfits. Now: At press time, the academy was still holding out for some form of in-person celebrity superspreader event at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Woman to watch: A third best-actress win for Nomadland star Frances McDormand would put her second only to Katharine Hepburn (Meryl who?). Worth noting: For the first time (and much to the chagrin of crusty old men named Scorsese and Spielberg), movies shown on streaming services without a theatrical release qualify for gold.

PHOTO, GETTY IMAGES.

Screen Actors Guild Awards, April 2

Read more about Dr. Skotnicki’s three-step skin reset. $25, indigo.ca.

WHERE DO VINTAGE CLOTHES COME FROM?

page 18

PHOTO, CARMEN CHEUNG. STYLING, CHAD BURTON/PLUTINO GROUP. ART DIRECTION, STEPHANIE HAN KIM.

[ B AC K TO B A S I C S ]

A “diet” we can actually get behind If you’ve been breaking out in itchy rashes or suffering from dry, flaky skin, it might be time to rethink your beauty routine. According to the most recent data available, the average woman uses 12 personal-care products containing a total of 168 ingredients every day—many of which have the potential to compromise the skin’s protective layer. “Irritation is cumulative and often results from using multiple products together,” says Toronto-based dermatologist Dr. Sandy Skotnicki, who literally wrote a book on the subject. In Beyond Soap, she shares the product-elimination “diet” she developed, a three-step reset for irritated skin that requires ditching your go-to products—including skincare, makeup, haircare and even laundry detergent—and replacing them with a pre-approved selection formulated without common irritants, such as soap, fragrance and essential oils. Once the reaction clears up, you can start reintroducing your regular products to your routine, at a rate of one per week. Still struggling with sensitivities after this radical overhaul? Book an appointment with a dermatologist to rule out allergies and other issues. — Caitlin Kenny

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

NOTES

Get your (re)fill

GENTLE SKINCARE

Streamlining your makeup kit is an easy way to reduce your environmental impact, but it doesn’t mean you have to give up on the good stuff. MOB Beauty—a Torontoand San Francisco–based brand launched by four industry veterans, including the brains behind M.A.C Cosmetics— blends professional quality products with a sustainable, earth-first mindset. The customizable system includes refillable compacts and lipstick tubes made from recycled materials, all designed to house a mix-and-match array of eye, cheek and lip products. Products are sent in packaging that can be recycled or—once labelling is removed— composted. From $24, mobbeauty.com.

A sensitive topic Want to give the skincare “diet”on page 15 a try? Here are three irritant-free options for your new routine

Ceramides and hyaluronic acid replenish the skin barrier. CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser, $19, walmart.ca.

This soothing cream provides 24 hours of intense hydration. La Roche-Posay Toleriane Ultra Fluide Moisturizer, $35, laroche-posay.ca.

Get instant, in-shower relief from head to toe. Bioderma Atoderm Shower Oil, $21, shoppersdrugmart.ca.

Good read

Refills easily slot into place to make unique custom palettes.

HAIRCARE

Just add water A new eco-friendly line reinvents the lather-rinserepeat routine

Shocking but true: Your shampoo bottle will likely outlive you. Canadian brand Everist tackles the problem at the source—in the shower—with a pair of water-activated cleansing and conditioning hair pastes housed in sleek, infinitely recyclable aluminum tubes. While shampoos and conditioners are typically more than 70 percent water (!!!), these thick, plant-based formulas are three times more concentrated and contain zero water, meaning they require less packaging overall. And with a texture similar to that of your go-to ’poo, lathering up is easy—and doesn’t feel like a compromise.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

A few drops of water turn the paste into a rich and creamy lather. Shampoo and conditioner, $28 each, helloeverist. com.

COVER STORY The Power of Style, the first book from Vogue fashion writer Christian Allaire, is a visually stunning celebration of self-expression, selfacceptance and cultural pride, with chapters touching on Indigenous ribbon work (Allaire grew up on the Nipissing First Nation reserve in Ontario), natural hair, cosplay and men’s heels. Available April 27. $20, indigo.ca.

TEXT, ANDRÉANNE DION. MOB BEAUTY PHOTO, CARMEN CHEUNG. MOB BEAUTY STYLING, CHAD BURTON/PLUTINO GROUP. ART DIRECTION, STEPHANIE HAN KIM.

style

NOTES

NEXT IN FASHION

Source materials One of the best things you can do for the planet is buy less stuff, but we know that’s easier said than done. Here, four sustainable(-ish) takes on popular textiles that can help reduce your fashion footprint Written by MARIYAM KHAJA Photography by CARMEN CHEUNG Styling by CHAD BURTON/PLUTINO GROUP Art direction by STEPHANIE HAN KIM

This slim card holder is made from cactus leather and lined with cotton canvas. $48, poppybarley.com.

CACTUS LEATHER Say what? An alternative to vegan leather made from plastic, this plant-based option is produced by responsibly harvesting mature leaves from prickly pear cacti. The resilient plants require very little water and can grow in harsh soil that isn’t suitable for other crops.

RECYCLED POLYESTER Say what? Made by breaking down and melting existing plastic—like landfill-bound water bottles— and spinning it into a durable fibre, recycled polyester is an increasingly common offering for sustainability-minded brands who use it to make everything from activewear to puffer coats.

ALGAE-BASED FOAM Say what? In recent years, major footwear brands—including Native Shoes, Aldo and Adidas— have partnered with ecoinnovation company Bloom, which turns harmful algae buildup into a component that’s used to make flexible foam soles for sneakers, sandals and boots.

WATER-CONSCIOUS DENIM Say what? It takes around 6,815 litres of water to produce a single pair of jeans, with an average of 42 litres going into the finishing process. Some brands are now adopting techniques that use ozone and laser technology to wash and dye their denim, requiring only about a cup of liquid per pair.

What the experts say: Cactus leather is purported to be 80 percent biodegradable, but Anika Kozlowski, a professor of fashion design, sustainability and ethics at Ryerson University, warns that it’s mixed with plastic, making it impossible to compost or recycle through currently available processes.

What the experts say: “Anything that can repurpose waste for something useful is a good thing,” says fashion columnist Donna Bishop. While the fabric is not biodegradable, it requires less energy to produce than virgin polyester, which is made from non-renewable, petroleum-derived raw materials.

What the experts say: For each pair of shoes that contains even a small percentage of algae-based foam, the Bloom process is said to return 80 litres of filtered water to the environment. And with companies also working to turn algae into yarn, it’s a material worth watching, says Bishop.

What the experts say: “The processing stages use less water than traditional finishing techniques, but growing cotton still uses up enormous amounts,” says Kozlowski. “It’s better to buy less denim,” adds Bishop. “But if you’re going to buy a pair of jeans, buying it from a brand that’s waterconscious is the best option.”

$217, 457anew.com.

$68 each, thereformation.com.

$70 each, nativeshoes.com.

$118 each, levi.com.

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

style

VINTAGE CLOTHING

Used clothing is cheaper, greener and more ethical than fast fashion, but the resale market is its own complex, multi-billion-dollar industry. Ever wonder where those clothes you donated ended up—or how that perfect 1950s shirt-dress found its way to your local vintage shop? Read on Written by H.G. WATSON Illustrations by KATHLEEN FU

ne Thursday a month, during normal times, Whitney McMeekin wakes up at the crack of dawn and puts on her comfiest clothes. She then drives 90 minutes across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to a warehouse in Scarborough, Ont., where mountains of second-hand clothing—sourced from donation bins and charity stores across the eastern seaboard—are dumped onto conveyor belts that span the building, creating rivers of blouses, trousers, blazers, leather belts and shoes. Armed with garbage bags, she sorts through massive bins of clothing, looking for fun, colourful, truly vintage pieces in good condition. “It’s a real labour of love,” McMeekin says. By the end of the morning, she usually heads home with at least four bags filled to the brims. The atmosphere couldn’t be further from that of her charming pink shop, Girl on the Wing, located in downtown Hamilton, Ont. “I have a love affair with [vintage],” says

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

McMeekin, who collects historical clothing herself (she owns pieces from as far back as the 1920s) and opened Girl on the Wing in 2013. The warehouse where McMeekin sources her vintage clothing is one of many similar operations spread across the GTA, which is widely considered to be one of the biggest hubs for textile recycling in North America. Colloquially called rag houses, they are the suppliers of the vintage world. Many dealers fiercely guard the locations of their favourites, not wanting to spill the secret of how they score such precious finds. But these facilities are also part of a massive system of textile trading that stretches across the globe—and big players in the lesser-known life of second-hand clothing.

Society has dealt in used clothes ever since humans first decided it was a tad more comfortable to wrap ourselves in

style

VINTAGE CLOTHING

furs and fabrics. “Good-quality second-hand clothes were prized, even being valuable enough to have served as an alternative to currency [pre-industrialization],” writes Andrew Brooks in his 2015 book, Clothing Poverty: The Hidden World of Fast Fashion and Second-Hand Clothes. For most of our history, people outside of the ruling class owned very few clothes, which were prohibitively costly. Often, if you wanted a nice new frock without having to make it, you had to barter or buy a used one, and then repair or alter it. Eventually, rapid industrialization in Europe and North America led to the mass production of clothing. Cut to a postwar economic boom in the 1950s, and fashionable garb suddenly became much more accessible to a wider swath of the population. And as they began following trends, people wanted to get rid of their old clothes, often donating them to charities, who needed help sorting the material. Enter the rag house. APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

style

VINTAGE CLOTHING

Whitney McMeekin GIRL ON THE WING Thrifting for 11 years girlonthewinghamilton Top score: A green ladies’ bowling shirt emblazoned with a wildcat logo and the name “Audrey” hangs on the wall at McMeekin’s Hamilton, Ont., store. “It’s just such a beautiful tailored shirt,” says McMeekin, who dates the piece to the early 1950s.

David Cho VINTAGE DEPOT Thrifting since childhood vintagedepotcanada Top score: Cho was digging through a bale of clothing when he saw Michael Jordan’s face peering back at him from a T-shirt emblazoned with the 1996 Chicago Bulls lineup. He’s keeping it—for now. (The shirt is worth about $1,500.) “With the right buyer, I will sell,” he says.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

“Most Americans are thoroughly convinced there is another person in their direct vicinity who truly needs and wants all our unwanted clothes,” writes Elizabeth L. Cline, the author of 2012’s Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion. The truth is, as Cline makes clear, there are simply too many donations to be redistributed locally. (According to a 2018 CBC Marketplace investigation, a Salvation Army sorting centre can take in as much as 90 tons of clothing a week.) Selling donated clothing to rag houses generates revenue for the charities that collect it. There, these pieces enter a global network of textile importing and exporting. In the bigger rag houses, bales of used clothing are emptied onto conveyor belts. Pickers employed by the rag house unpack the bales along a production line, each pulling a different category of item, such as T-shirts, dresses or purses. Sorted clothes are then graded. High-quality items will likely make their way to vintage stores across North America, Europe and Japan. The next level down will be purchased by international firms and sold in local markets; Africa has traditionally been one of the prime places where this clothing is sent, but much is also shipped to eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. “Today, we are sorting around 150,000 to 180,000 pounds a day, but a couple of years back...we were sorting half a million pounds daily,” says Darshan Sahsi, owner and managing director of Canam International. He employs 1,500 people between his textile-recycling plants in British Columbia and India, which source second-hand clothes from Salvation Army, Goodwill, Value Village and many more. “You name it, and we are buying from [them].” (Volume is currently down, he notes, because COVID-related charity-store closures have limited donations.) There are approximately 40 rag houses in the GTA, though that number fluctuates, as does the size and quality of the operations. Josh Hicke, who owns Vintage TO in Toronto—which specializes in collectible men’s apparel and cultural nostalgia from the 1970s and 1990s—says his current GTA supplier is quite small. “But there’s some that are massive and have 20 [conveyor belt] lines going at a time,” he says. The picking itself is incredibly physically taxing. “My thumbs twitch after, because I [used] my hands to pull heavy clothing for such an extended period of time,” says McMeekin. Some pickers wore masks even before the pandemic to help deal with the dirt and dust that collects on old clothes. Despite the conditions, it’s where vintage sellers often find the best stock—and it beats driving to multiple thrift stores to sort through alreadypicked-over clothing. I spoke to six vintage sellers for this piece, and all refused to disclose which rag houses they use.

Rumours abound of people being blindfolded and driven to warehouses on the outskirts of Toronto to keep them from revealing the precise locations of rag houses. “People are very secretive about it because you just don’t want a hundred kids showing up at your rag house trying to offer 50 cents more a pound to compete with you,” says Jesse Heifetz, the co-owner of F as in Frank, which has vintage-clothing warehouses and storefront operations that sell a large array of women’s and men’s vintage clothing in Vancouver and Toronto. And this is big business. The proliferation of sellers who operate through social media, and vintage-resale apps like Depop and Poshmark, has helped push an explosion in the resale market; the only requirements for entry are a good eye and a good phone to take photos of your finds. Sam Kauffman got into selling vintage by chance. “I was literally broke, driving Uber,” says Kauffman, who at the time turned to thrift stores to hunt down a Kappa track suit for himself—and then realized he was good at it. Within a year and a half, he opened Final Touch Vintage in Toronto. “Once I learned about this community, and how much people truly care about this product and the history behind some of the pieces of clothing, I was just blown away.” The global resale-clothing market is expected to reach US$64 billion in sales by 2024, according to a report by online resale platform ThredUp. Last year, a T-shirt from Disney’s 1992 Aladdin movie sold for a mind-boggling US$6,000 in a virtual auction. 1990s nostalgia is having a major moment, and there are collectors who will pay top dollar for vintage tees (it’s not uncommon for unique pieces of Harley-Davidson apparel to sell overseas for US$1,000 or more). But that’s not the bread and butter for most sellers, who make more money off consistent sales in the $20 to $50 range. The demand for vintage is so high that even retail chains are getting into the game. Urban Outfitters sells second-hand alongside new clothing; Salim Manji, the owner of Manji Trading in Toronto, picks mostly for the trendy retailer’s European division. Manji sent me a quick video of his own vintage warehouse—stocked with items he sources from rag houses and sells to other vintage dealers—and it gave me a sense of how much clothing and textiles are being processed, and what kind of scores await the patient. What appears to be a Hudson’s Bay point blanket, which retails for anywhere from $400 to $600 on Etsy, was lying on the ground. A brown, black and white Pucci-like print dress hung on a rack with higher-end items. In bins labelled for shipment overseas, vintage Levi’s are sorted by style and size. About five years ago, F as in Frank’s Heifetz, responding to a gap in the market for women’s streetwear, founded Frankie Collective, which

style

VINTAGE CLOTHING

Last year, a T-shirt from Disney’s 1992 Aladdin movie sold for a mind-boggling

US$6,000 in a virtual auction.

upcycles vintage goods—even damaged ones— into stylish reworked pieces. Since then, Frankie Collective has collaborated with big brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Reebok, reimagining secondhand items. “[Before,] if you got a great sweatshirt but it had a small hole in it or a small stain, it was going to landfill,” he says. But now, his upcycling business directly addresses that. There is a pecking order at the rag houses. David Cho, whose family owns Vintage Depot—which operates two high-quality, mom-and-pop thrift stores in Toronto—buys 300 to 500 pounds of clothing a day. (Cho also co-founded Final Touch with Kauffman.) He’s allowed to stand at the top of the conveyor belts at the rag houses he frequents, intercepting top picks before they make their way down to smaller-scale buyers. By comparison, Hicke—who typically purchases 100 to 150 pounds at a time—is only allowed to pick one day a week. “Some owners won’t allow the smaller buyers in because it’s just a [logistical] headache,” says Cho. “To them, that’s literally Tim Hortons coffee money.” Sahsi, from Canam International, estimates that only two to five percent of his revenue is generated by vintage sales. The rest comes from largescale export. In 2020, the textile export trade in Canada (which includes both used clothing and used textiles) was valued at $135 million, and most items went to Ghana, Pakistan and Kenya. There is much criticism of this system. When countries in the Global South have been subjected to economic policies that often make them dependent on increased importation of essential goods and services, local clothing manufacturing suffers. “Money previously spent on domestically produced goods was diverted to purchases of imported clothing, and profits flowed out of African economies to commercial exporters and charities,”

writes Brooks. Some say this provides jobs, but Brooks notes the opportunities are unequal—not to mention the fact, as Cline points out in her book, not everyone is interested in North Americans’ castoffs. (In 2015, several East African countries agreed to place high tariffs on second-hand clothing imports starting in 2019, though all countries, save Rwanda, later backed out due to pressure from the U.S.) There is still an astounding amount of clothing that will never be resold and will eventually end up in landfills. Vintage dealers see themselves as performing an act of service. “There’s just so many clothes in the world,” says Hicke. “I’m grateful for every piece I can take.” Almost all the dealers I spoke with had also made a major lifestyle shift: They no longer buy new clothing. Over the past few years, countless books, articles and documentaries have detailed the socioeconomic and environmental problems with fast fashion and clothing waste, as well as possible solutions. “Clothing should be kept in good condition, able to be worn after us, which means caring for and maintaining it while we own it and cleaning it and repairing it before we donate it or sell it or give it away,” writes Cline. Yet, while retail clothing sales have slumped during the pandemic, chances are you’ve bought at least one new pair of jogging pants in the past year (and donated at least one bag of clothing to your local donation centre, post-closet purge). Perhaps it’s because we don’t see the end result of this constant buy-and-discard cycle: the mountains of used clothing eventually scattered across the world. “People need to understand the process of what happens to their clothes when they donate them,” says Hicke. “Maybe that’ll make people a little more conscious and think a little harder about a purchase.”

Josh Hicke VINTAGE TO Thrifting for six years vintageTO Top score: It was fate when Hicke found a jacket embroidered with the name “Hicks”—just one letter o2 from his own. The garment is a piece of history: a souvenir from Shanghai in 1946, likely picked up by an Allied soldier after WW II. “It was just an immediate ‘Wow!’ moment,” he says. The jacket is too small for him, but he’s keeping it anyway.

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

THE BEST TIME TO DONATE

TO BLACK ART

WAS YESTERDAY. THE NEXT BEST TIME IS NOW. NIA CENTRE FOR THE ARTS IS BUILDING CANADA’S FIRST PROFESSIONAL BLACK ARTS CENTRE.

VISIT NIACENTRE.ORG/DONATE TO SUPPORT BLACK ARTISTS NOW.

BIG AND SMALL UPGRADES FOR A GREENER HOME [ YO U C A N E D O I T ]

page 26

Nice save

PHOTOS, LINDI VANDERSCHAAF. TEXT, AMY VALM.

A fresh coat of paint goes a long way toward giving thrifted finds new life, but some DIY projects call for an extra dose of TLC. An experienced furniture flipper, Alberta blogger Lindi Vanderschaaf gave a tired vintage cabinet she found online a modern makeover. To realize her vision, she and her husband, Russel, added a sleek custommade front, painted the piece off-white and replaced the doors’ original glass panels with cane inserts, before finishing off the look with elegant brass pulls. “I love that we were able to completely customize it to our style, all for a fraction of the cost of buying new,” she says.

For a step-by-step guide to making your own cane cabinet, visit lovecreate celebrate.com.

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

HOME GROWN Tending to your own veggie garden is a fun and budget-friendly way to get some fresh produce on the table come summer. To benefit from a longer growing season and increase your chances of a healthier crop, consider starting your seeds indoors this spring. Here, a step-by-step guide to thriving seedlings Written by NATALIE MICHIE Illustrations by SUMIT GILL

Tip!

1. Consider your space “Pay attention to how much light you’re getting throughout the day as that will determine what type of seeds you can grow,” says Ohemaa Boateng, the program manager at Green Thumbs Growing Kids, a food growing education organization in Toronto. For beginners, she recommends starting with no more than three varieties of seeds. To narrow it down, consider what you like to eat, or opt for plants that are easy to grow, like tomatoes, beans and leafy greens. Buy your seeds from a local supplier, as they likely carry varieties better suited to the growing conditions in your area.

You can harvest seeds from storebought veggies such as peppers and green beans. Wrap them in a wet paper towel and place them in a sealed reusable plastic bag. After three to five days, the seeds will sprout and will be ready to be transplanted into pots.

NO SEEDLING POTS? REUSE THESE HOUSEHOLD ITEMS INSTEAD

Toilet paper rolls

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

Plastic bottles

Eggshells

Egg cartons

Food containers

home

NOTES

2. Sow your seeds Poke holes in the bottoms of your pots to ensure proper drainage, then fill them with a seed-starting mix: a fine, soilless mixture of coco coir, perlite and vermiculite that allows seedlings to grow roots easily. A good guideline is to plant seeds at a depth equal to three times their width (consult the packaging, as instructions can vary, and some tougher seeds may need to be soaked overnight prior to sowing). Boateng suggests planting a few seeds per pot in case one doesn’t sprout.

3. Label them as you go Keep track of your soon-to-sprout seedlings by labelling them right away with the name of the plant and the sowing date.

6. Get the temperature right Some seeds need warmth to germinate, while others, like leafy greens, fare better in cooler soil. Keep fruiting plants—like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants—somewhere warm, such as on top of the refrigerator or near a radiator. To help retain heat and moisture, cover the pots with plastic wrap; remove once any shoots start poking through.

5. Manage water levels The seed-starting mix should be moist but not saturated. To ensure your seedlings are watered properly, Boateng suggests setting up a self-watering system by placing one end of a string into an elevated water-filled container and the other in the soil. The water will travel down the string and nourish the plant’s roots.

6. Move seedlings into the sun

Tip! A rotisserie chicken container makes a great DIY greenhouse. Simply poke holes into the lid for ventilation and transfer your seedling pots to their new home.

Once seedlings sprout, move your plants to a cool, sunny location, such as an indoor windowsill. Rotate the containers every so often to keep seedlings growing evenly. (Some herbs and leafy greens will grow better in shadier areas out of direct sunlight.) The temperatures needed depend on the type of vegetables you’re growing, but Boateng says room temperature works for most plants at this stage.

8. Thin your seedlings To ensure your plants have room to grow, keep just one seedling per pot. Save the healthiest, strongest-looking seedling of the bunch and snip the others off at the soil line with scissors.

9. Harden them off Outside, pampered seedlings can be exposed to fluctuating temperatures, rain and wind, which can cause stress and lead to stunted growth or death. To prevent transplant shock, slowly acclimate your plants to the elements (a process called “hardening off”) by bringing them outside once daytime temperatures start hovering around 10 degrees Celsius. Start with one hour a day, Boateng says, and gradually increasing their time outdoors over the course of one to two weeks.

10. Transplant them outdoors The best time to move seedlings to their permanent home is after the last frost in your area. Wait until the plant’s root system is strong and starts to poke through drainage holes. If possible, plant them early in the morning to avoid immediately exposing them to the sun. Boateng suggests spreading mulch around the base of the plant to help keep the soil damp. For people with smaller outdoor spaces, like balconies, Boateng recommends veggies that grow upward, like beans, cucumbers or tomatoes. “It’s maximizing the space you have by growing up instead of growing out,” she says, noting that you can use any sort of vertical support, such as a fence, cage, stake or trellis.

7. Fertilize your plants Once seedlings grow their true leaves— not the first leaves to sprout, but the next round—it’s time to fertilize. Boateng says organic and natural fertilizers will give your plants the best nutrients. APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

home

SUSTAINABLE LIVING

Whether you own or rent, living a greener life starts at home. Here, 13 design experts share big and small updates for a stylish, more sustainable nest Produced by MATTHEW HAGUE

1 Live with less

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

You don’t have to compromise on coziness to embrace minimalism. A new school of designers is bringing a warm, sentimental twist to the pared-back style, with a focus on comfort over starkness. “It’s less about tossing everything out and more about mindfulness: focusing on what’s essential and providing a place that lets the objects you value shine,” says Fatima Islam, who, along with Ian Lee, runs Casestudy Studio, a Vancouver interior design firm that specializes in minimal spaces. “Storage is important to tuck things out of sight, but so are display shelves so that people can see the things they love.” Like most who choose to eschew clutter, Islam and Lee favour a neutral palette of whites, greys, beiges and warm wood tones, but their underlying philosophy is deep green. “We encourage people to buy less but buy better, more durable things,” says Islam. “A minimal aesthetic is only part of what we do; we also aim for minimal waste,” adds Lee.

It’s more important than ever to support homegrown businesses, but when it comes to big projects, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. That’s why Toronto-based interior designer Alexandra Hutchison co-founded Marlowe RoomxRoom, a virtual design service which curates everything clients need to renovate or decorate their homes, with an emphasis on working with local talent. Her light bulb moment came while she was producing shows for HGTV (including Income Property and Marriage Under Construction) and discovered that local suppliers often didn’t cost more but frequently offered the most unique, character-rich and sustainable options. “I look for artisans and craftspeople who not only work locally, but also source and utilize local materials in their work,” she says. “The closer a source, the lower the carbon footprint from transportation.”

LIVE WITH LESS PHOTO, WHEN THEY FIND US. HUTCHISON PHOTO, JESSICA BLAINE SMITH.

Shop local

home

SUSTAINABLE LIVING

3 PHOTO, JAMIE ANHOLT.

See the (LED) light When it comes to setting the mood, lighting is everything. “Nothing beats natural sunlight,” says Majida Devani, principal designer at Calgary-based home-building firm RNDSQR. “It brings a lot of energy to a space.” For homes without a lot of sun exposure—like, say, a north-facing condo unit in the shadow of a tall building— and those looking for evening ambiance, Devani recommends lighting things up with LED bulbs, which are up to 90 percent more energy-efficient than old-school incandescents, last longer and save money on electricity. “They used to emit a cold, blue light, but they now come in a range of colour temperatures,” she says. “LED light bulbs can actually mimic natural daylight quite closely.”

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

home

SUSTAINABLE LIVING

Rent your room

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

5 Go with the low-flow

No matter what your morning routine looks like, a few simple bathroom swaps can help you save water and money. “Making the switch to low-flow faucets and shower heads is easy,” says Toronto designer Brenda Danso, who recommends considering them even if you rent. Not only do these nifty fixtures save precious resources without affecting water pressure, but they also save money. Tests done by Écohabitation in Quebec show that the one-time purchase of a low-flow shower head preserves, on average, 42,140 litres of water per year for a family of four—and saves more than $100 in electricity annually in the process. “There are so many water-saving options that look great and function really well,” adds Danso. “There’s no reason not to try one.”

SHOWER HEAD PHOTO, GROHE CANADA. RENT YOUR ROOM PHOTOS, FÜLHAUS.

Can’t—or won’t—commit to expensive furniture? Try renting it instead. “I love furniture, and I love walking into a beautiful room,” says Andria Santos, the founder of Montreal-based furniture-rental company Fülhaus, who launched a direct-to-consumer service last year. “But I didn’t want to put out more garbage into the world.” Whereas big-box furniture can often feel disposable, rental companies, like Fülhaus, donate used items to those in need, while others clean, refurbish and rent high-quality items again. With tailored design packages and a selection of on-trend big-ticket items (think: sofas, rugs, tables and art) and accessories (like lamps, vases, cushions and throws) that rotate every six months, Fülhaus’ rental service appeals to serial movers and those who constantly crave something new. “Renting is a great way to try out a style you aren’t certain about,” notes Santos. And if you can’t bear to part with your rented couch, payments go toward ownership so you can easily buy out the lease.

home

6 Make a lasting impression

Whether you’re shopping for new furniture or undertaking a full reno project, opt for materials that are renewable, require little energy to produce and will stand the test of time. Jute —an affordable, quick-growing fibre—is a favourite of architect AnneMarie Armstrong, who loves decorating with finishing touches, like rugs and textiles, made from the sturdy material. “With its rich texture and golden-brown colour, it adds warmth to any space. It’s also biodegradable, so it doesn’t pose long-term environmental threats if disposed of correctly.” Another one of her favourite materials is wood, a renewable resource. “Cedar treated using the traditional Japanese technique of shou sugi ban—a way to weatherproof the wood by charring it—is a great option for a distinctive exterior siding, because this type of wood is readily available in Canada,” she says. “For exteriors, I love the character that it gives a home.”

7 Stay in your lane

RAKLEV flatwoven jute rug, $25, ikea.com.

JUTE IMAGES, IKEA, IKEA.CA. LANEWAY SUITE PHOTO, SUPERKÜL INC. CHAIR PHOTO, TANYA WATSON, DANSLELAKEHOUSE.COM.

LUSTIGKURRE natural jute basket, $4, ikea.com.

SUSTAINABLE LIVING

Over the last decade or so, many Canadian municipalities—like Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto—have started allowing laneway suites in order to counter increasingly steep real estate costs. The pint-sized, self-contained dwellings usually have one or two bedrooms and are located in the backyards of city homes, next to public laneways. They can either be rented out for extra income or used to house extended family members, like aging parents. To make the concept more accessible, Toronto architecture firm Superkül has developed a prefabricated option with built-in eco-friendly features, which costs a relatively reasonable $300 to $350 per square foot. The suites require less energy to heat and cool than a typical home, thanks to their small size, well-insulated walls and high-quality windows. “Our goal is for people to live comfortably regardless of how big or small their house,” says the firm’s co-founder Meg Graham.

Get thrifty

Regina Petate, the thrifter behind the Instagram account @LuveWantShop, promotes what she calls sustainable vintage. “If I have to reupholster a chair, I like using vintage fabric or repurposed textiles,” she says. “If I have to change the hardware on a piece of furniture, I take it from other pieces that are beyond repair.” In general, Petate recommends looking for pieces “with good bones, that need minimal repairs,” noting that structurally damaged furniture can be hard to fix without advanced carpentry skills. The pandemic has made scouring for pre-loved treasures trickier, but Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist and Kijiji are great starting points for online thrifting. To evaluate the quality of a piece remotely, she recommends getting as many photos from as many angles as possible and asking the seller to send a video. “If there are any chips or flaws, the vendor should show that,” she says. “Signs of wear and tear might be expected with vintage, but they shouldn’t be a surprise when you receive your item.”

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

home

SUSTAINABLE LIVING

Oakmoss SW 6180 by Sherwin-Williams

Jitney No.293 by Farrow & Ball

Brush up on better paint

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

OAKMOSS SW 6180 PHOTO, SHERWIN-WILLIAMS. JITNEY NO.293 PHOTO, FARROW & BALL.

Traditional paint contains volatile organic compounds (VOCs), solvents that get released into the air as paint dries and can cause an array of side effects, like dizziness, itchy eyes and sore throats. A new crop of healthier and more sustainable paints are making it easier and safer to brighten up blank walls—without the headache. “It’s a good idea to opt for low- or zero-VOC paints,” says holistic designer Alicia Ruach, whose work is inspired by her belief that our physical health and mental wellness are closely linked to the spaces we inhabit. While major paint makers, like Sherwin-Williams and Farrow & Ball, now offer low-VOC product lines in all shades imaginable, small Canadian businesses—such as Loop, which creates its shades by recycling discarded paint, and Homestead House, which manufactures eco-friendly milk paint using natural ingredients— are definitely worth having on your radar.

home

SLEEP ON IT PHOTO, CARL OSTBERG AND GABRIEL CABRERA FOR TAKASA.

SUSTAINABLE LIVING

Sleep on it

Need a new set of sheets? Sustainable options from homegrown brands abound. Linen, for starters, is having a resurgence—for good reason. “Linen is made from flax, a sustainable crop that requires less water and fewer pesticides to grow and produce than cotton, and generally lasts longer as well,” explains Anna Heyd, co-founder of Vancouverbased Flax Sleep. It's also temperature-regulating, she adds. Flax Sleep, as well as other Canadian brands, such as Maison Tess and Sömn, have upped the fabric’s cool factor with Instagramfriendly palettes of blush

pink, soft grey and rich terracotta. If you prefer the look and feel of cotton, Vancouver-based Takasa offers sheets that are certified organic, chemical-free and made from materials sourced from fair trade farmers, as well as pillows and duvets made from organic wool and ethical down salvaged from poultry farms. Tuck, another Canadian company, makes bedding from a blend of organic cotton (certified by Global Organic Textile Standard, or GOTS) and Tencel Lyocell, which uses an eco-friendly closed-loop production process.

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

SUSTAINABLE LIVING

Save the bees

Pollinators, like birds, bees and butterflies, are integral to growing just about every fruit and vegetable we like to eat. Vicki Wojcik, director of the Toronto chapter of Pollinator Partnership Canada, an organization dedicated to the protection of pollinators and their ecosystems, says it’s possible to create beefriendly gardens anywhere— even on cramped city balconies. “Patio container gardens or window flower boxes work really well for pollinators,” she says.

12 Reconsider plastic

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

Seventy percent of the plastic we consume each year—that’s a whopping 3.3 million tonnes— ends up in the trash, and just nine percent gets recycled. And it’s not just Canada; plastic pollution is trending upward worldwide. The good news? Some of that waste is being diverted from landfills and given new life as Pinterest-worthy furniture. Case in point: the speckled kid-sized chairs, tables and night lights designed by Belgium-based EcoBirdy. “Recycled plastic furniture is a great decor element that transforms a space while being cognizant of growing environmental concerns,” says Byron Peart, co-founder of Montrealbased socially conscious online marketplace Goodee, which carries the brand. Also look out for Canadian companies, like Re-Plast Products, Krahn and Recycled Patio, that are turning plastic waste into chairs, tables and flower boxes.

“Having as few as nine different flower types in the garden—three that bloom in the spring, three in the summer and three in the fall—will attract and support a lot of pollinators.” And while these creatures need beautiful blooms to visit, they also require habitats to live in. “It’s okay to leave fallen leaves and dried-up stalks in the garden,” says Wojcik. “Bees, butterflies and caterpillars like to hide in them, and that’s a good reason not to rush to clear out a flower bed—messy is good.”

SAVE THE BEES PHOTO, CYNTHIA ZAMARIA. RECONSIDER PLASTIC PHOTO, ECOBIRDY.

home

SUSTAINABLE LIVING

Wall-mounted planters, $42 each, wallygro.com.

PHOTO, COURTESY OF WALLYGRO.

Get growing There are many benefits to bringing the outdoors in: Plants have been scientifically proven to boost productivity and lower blood pressure, and they create a calm atmosphere that promotes rest and relaxation. They’re also a natural way to soundproof a room. “Hard surfaces, like drywall and concrete, create an echo, and plants absorb noise,” says Toronto-based architect and interior designer Vanessa Fong. Her go-to decor move is to build in living walls—large installations of plants suspended in sacks of soil that rest on self-irrigating tiers—whenever possible. If a full reno isn’t in the cards, affordable and easy-to-install options also exist. For a quick hit of green, consider offerings from U.S.-based company WallyGro, which makes modular wall-mounted planters from recycled materials, or Canadianfounded Umbra, which sells a wide selection of plant stands and hanging options.

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

home

SHOP CANADA

HOT POTS Left: Graphic tone-on-tone etchings add interest to a streamlined design. 4.8 in. h. x 5 in. w., $20, indigo.ca.

A LUSH LIFE

Right: A blush-pink glaze offers a subtle pop of colour. 4 in. h. x 4 in. w., $38, Studio Laroche via studiofoliage.com.

Give your indoor garden room to grow with a selection of stunning planters

Ponytail palm (Beaucarnea recurvata)

Prayer plant (Maranta leuconeura)

Produced by ANDRÉANNE DION Illustrations by STEPH TRUONG

Fiddle-leaf fig (Ficus lyrata)

THINK BIG This generously sized hand-painted fibreglass vessel can be used indoors or out. 12 in. h. x 15 in. w., $190, hudsonandoak.com.

Swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa)

Bamboo palm (Chamaedorea seifrizii)

WEAVE IT ON A basket lined with pompoms brings home a playful touch. 9 in. h. x 8 in. w., $36, babasouk.ca.

Pothos (Epipremnum aureum)

HOLDING PATTERN A whimsical print makes a statement on this sturdy cotton pot cover. 6 in. h. x 6.5 in. w., $42, smithmade.ca.

FINE LINES Left: This 3D-printed planter is made from biodegradable plastic derived from plant fibres. 2.6 in. h. x 4 in. w., $30, 3DPLCanada via etsy.com. Right: Unglazed terracotta instantly warms up a room. 4.2 in. h. x 4.3 in. w., $9, eq3.com.

Column cactus (Pilosocereus)

TOP TIER A sculptural stoneware pot is the perfect home for a small cactus. 5.5 in. h. x 3.5 in. w., $65, daceramics.com.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

ON THE HOOK Short on space? Go vertical with an eye-catching wood and macramé hanger. 24 in. h. x 2.75 in. w., $79, Pancholo via etsy.com.

Heartleaf philodendron (Philodendron hederaceum)

Green velvet alocasia (Alocasia micholitziana ‘Frydek’)

home

WELL HUNG Pop your favourite planter in this handmade leather harness finished with brass hardware. 30 in. h. x 4 in. w., $72, buknola.com.

SHOP CANADA

Grow on Three plant-store owners who ship across Canada share recommendations for not-so-green thumbs

Bird of paradise (Strelitzia nicolai)

TAKE A STAND Cane and rattan make the perfect pair. 18.5 in. h. x 10 in. w., $97, viridi.co.

SMALL WONDERS

Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia)

Contemporary design meets boho vibes. 5.5 in. h. x 4 in. w., $42, Cam & Céramique via chicbasta.com.

HIGH PROFILE Left: Wood accents elevate this minimal design. 12.25 in. h. x 10.25 in. w., $120, Sprout and About via etsy.com.

Bromeliad (Bromeliaceae)

Elephant ear (Colocasia)

Right: This recycledplastic planter comes with a sleek bamboo stand. 8.25 in. h. x 9.75 in. w., $73, kansodesigns.co.

“For people with no experience, I always suggest ZZ plants. They’re robust, can withstand extended periods of drought and easily adapt to different light conditions.” — Sarah-Anne Nagué

PLANT IT MODERN Foothills County, Alta., plantitmodern.com

“Many trailing houseplants, like pothos or philodendrons, are perfect for beginners as they’re easy to care for, resilient and look impressive in a hanging basket or on a shelf.” —Glenda Kleinsasser

ZZ plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia)

Jade plant (Crassula ovata)

MISS BOON Montreal, missboon.ca

This pint-sized planter is inspired by brutalist architecture. 6 in. h. x 3.6 in. w., $30, collagecrafting.com. Snake plant (Dracaena trifasciata)

GRO FOR IT Milton, Ont., groforit.life Air plant (Tillandsia)

Each one of artist Leora Israel’s tiny ceramic creations is one of a kind. 2.5 in. h. x 3 in. w., $20, leoracollection.com.

INSIDE THE BOX This chic stand can also be used as storage. 21 in. h. x 27 in. w., $329, kroft.co.

“Snake plants are excellent for newbies. They thrive on neglect, tolerate low light and can be watered as little as once a month.” — Lucy Ofori

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

ECO-FRIENDLY DENTAL CARE THAT’S WORTH YOUR GREEN

PHOTO, CARMEN CHEUNG. STYLING, CHAD BURTON/PLUTINO GROUP. ART DIRECTION, AIMEE NISHITOBA.

page 38

[ D I R T Y TA L K ]

Plastic-free willy Guilt in the bedroom is never fun, so skip the plastic sex toys: If they’re not piling up in landfills, they’re potentially exposing pleasure seekers to hormone-disrupting chemicals called phthalates. Instead, reach for one of these beautiful alternatives, which are all petroleum-free and made in Canada. Left to right: Dalia x Miss Bourguignon G-Spot porcelain dildo, $250, desirables.ca.

Gaia cherry wood dildo, from $120, laurengoodman.ca/byfeel.

Glass dildo, $100, www.workithot.com.

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

NOTES

then gently pull it forward. This copper version was more comfortable to use than plastic and left my tongue visibly cleaner. Dr. Qandil says: The dentist is a fan, noting that scrapers clear away bacteria, which helps reduce bad breath and staining, especially for smokers and red wine or coffee drinkers. $10, bambrushes.com.

4. Biodegradable silk floss, WooBamboo Made of silk, beeswax and mint, this floss is sold as fully compostable. It comes in plant-based packaging and easily folds into a reusable dispenser. User experience: This is a floss to fall in love with. It’s strong and glides comfortably between teeth. Dr. Qandil says: “As long as you’re flossing, that’s the greatest thing you can do.” The main requirement is strength, since floss that frays or breaks can get stuck and cause gum or tooth damage. $7, well.ca.

2 5

Green and white Brushing and flossing are essential, but the impact of plastic oral-care products on the environment is nothing to smile about. We found alternatives that are good for the planet, and then asked Dr. Riham Qandil, a dentist in London, Ont., if they’re also good for our teeth Written by ISHANI NATH Photography by CARMEN CHEUNG Styling by CHAD BURTON/PLUTINO GROUP

1. Bamboo toothbrush, The Future Is Bamboo This brush’s handle is made from sustainably sourced, compostable bamboo, while its nylon bristles can be plucked out and recycled. User experience: The bristles were marked as soft but felt harder than those in drugstore toothbrushes. Removing them with pliers was easy (and oddly satisfying). Dr. Qandil says: “Any toothbrush pretty much

works about the same if you use it properly.” What matters is brushing technique, toothbrush size and caring for issues like receding gums. $10 for two, thefutureisbamboo.com. 2. Activated charcoal toothpaste, Nelson Naturals Instead of squeezing a tube, this zero-waste paste requires users to dip brushes directly into a refillable glass jar. The promise

is that charcoal will remove plaque, bacteria and staining tannins. User experience: As the package warns, this paste is “extremely messy.” It looked like I was eating black paint, but it left my mouth fresh and clean. Dr. Qandil says: “Charcoal toothpaste would never be on my recommendation list,” as it can be abrasive, possibly leading to gum recession and sensitivity. As well, using a small,

washable utensil is preferable to dipping. $13.49, nelsonnaturals.com. 3. Copper tongue scraper, BamBrush Tongue scrapers have been used for centuries—notably in India—and Western dentists have started giving out plastic ones. This flexible scraper is made from antibacterial copper. User experience: Place the curve of the scraper at the back of your tongue, and

Clean up your sex life Because a smaller carbon footprint is a huge turn-on Vegan latex condoms from Glyde are free of the milk protein casein. $1 each, comeasyouare.com.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

The Blush Gaia Eco Bullet vibrator is made of biodegradable cornbased bioplastic. $11, comeasyouare.com.

Pioneering Toronto sex shop Come As You Are has an in-house recycling program for plastic and silicone toys. Email recycling@ comeasyouare.com.

5. Dirty Toothy Tabs, Lush These fluoride-free tabs use sodium bicarbonate (a.k.a. baking soda) and kaolin clay powder to polish teeth. The container is recycled, recyclable plastic. User experience: Biting down on the tab to create a foaming paste felt like crunching a tiny bath bomb. My mouth felt clean, but I had to pick out small pieces stuck to my lips and teeth. Dr. Qandil says: Tabs are indeed “very chunky when you break them in your mouth,” which could cause tooth fractures. She also really, really, really wants everyone to use products with fluoride. $11, lush.ca.

23 billion plastic toothbrushes are thrown away every year, estimates National Geographic.

ART DIRECTION, AIMEE NISHITOBA.

health

A SPONSORED FEATURE BY MEDIAPLANET

Tips to Embrace Natural Aging Melissa Vekil

Make healthy food choices

Move your body

Don’t forget your gut. Did you know gut health may play an important role in healthy aging? Nutritionists recommend focusing on good bacteria in the gut. Incorporating fermented foods like yogurt and kombucha can help promote good gut bacteria. Raw veggies and fruits like kale, spinach, kiwi, and pomegranate are high in fibre and chock-full of antioxidant vitamins A and C to help support gut health.

A simple yoga practice or stretching can help maintain flexibility while connecting you to your physical self. Spending time outdoors can also help clear your mind, body, and spirit. Bundle up and embrace the winter weather by going on a walk, hike, or trying a new winter activity like snowshoeing. It’s never too late to start building healthy habits!

Ironically, the conversation around aging is often filled with promises of anti-aging. Get ready to flip that script. We’ve rounded up the best practices to embrace the natural aging process and help you live your best life, no matter your age.

Take care of your skin Revitalize your smile Raise a glass (of water, that is) Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate! Did you know that being hydrated can help you look and feel your best? Try purchasing a reusable two-litre water bottle, fill it up as part of your morning routine, and make it a goal to finish before bed. This can help support optimal organ function and glowing skin!

Visit colgate.ca to learn more about the new Colgate® Renewal toothpaste, available now at most major retailers.

Your smile says so much about you. Keeping it healthy is key to your confidence — and your gums play an essential role since they are the foundation of a healthy smile. Why not choose a toothpaste that prioritizes gum health, like Colgate® Renewal. It features a new, specialized formula that helps reverse early gum damage and reduces bleeding and inflammation for healthy and revitalized gums.

Hydration is key to plump out fine lines and smooth out skin’s texture. As we age, our hydration levels drop and we need more external replenishment. Hyaluronic acid is a great hydrating ingredient and many products formulated with it advertise that they improve the feel and appearance of skin. Vitamin A derivatives like retinol can also help correct fine lines, sun damage, and dullness. But the number one thing you can do for your skin is to use a good sunscreen every day. A radiant complexion is exactly what the doctor ordered!

health

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

Written by RAINA DELISLE Photography by AMBER BRACKEN, DARREN CALABRESE and PAT KANE Produced in collaboration with THE NARWHAL, a non-profit online magazine that publishes in-depth and investigative journalism about Canada’s natural world

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

PHOTO, AMBER BRACKEN.

From toxic waste to tailings ponds, Canada’s environmental hazards are often imposed on Indigenous and Black communities. Industrial projects have made COVID-19 the latest pollutant—in places where people and the land are already under stress

The site of a new road being cut into Wet’suwet’en territory by Coastal GasLink in October 1019.

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

N A SNOWY NOVEMBER DAY, Indigenous land defenders head out to hunt on Wet’suwet’en territory in northwest B.C. with hopes of catching a moose to feed their families and Elders. They still haven’t secured any moose meat this season and are starting to stress. Soon after the small group arrives at their traditional hunting blind, which looks like a tree house, workers from TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline project move in on them and threaten to call the RCMP. It’s fight or flight. The construction of the controversial natural gas pipeline across northern B.C. is opposed by Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs but supported by all 20 elected band councils along the route. It has led to a series of tense confrontations on the territory over the past few years. In February 2020, just over a month after the B.C. Supreme Court granted Coastal GasLink an injunction against land defenders blocking work on the pipeline, heavily armed RCMP raided several camps and arrested 28 people. This sparked the Shut Down Canada movement, which brought Canada’s rail system to a near standstill, just before the COVID-19 pandemic really shut things down. Despite ongoing opposition, the pipeline pushes ahead, even during the pandemic. At the hunting blind last November, workers were tasked withing clearing the trees— and the people—along the pipeline right-of-way. “I’d like you to leave the area,” an unmasked worker in a bright-yellow jacket and white hard hat says as he approaches a young female land defender. “Don’t get close to me. There’s a pandemic!” she yells, filming the incident. “Step back away from me!” “We have the authority to work here,” he continues. “You don’t have any authority,” the woman interjects. “I can feel your breath right now. This is a pandemic. Step away from me!” As the pandemic gripped Canada in spring 2020, provinces and territories announced that only “essential services” that preserve life, health and basic societal functioning were allowed to continue operations. Across the country, the majority of industrial projects got the green light. Since then, there have been repeated calls from health care professionals, Indigenous leaders and environmental groups to shut many of them down. Such critics point out that industrial projects bring hundreds—even thousands—of transient workers from across Canada into remote communities, where they often live in shared accommodations. Meanwhile, Indigenous workers on such projects typically go home to their families. This has all put Indigenous people at higher risk of catching COVID-19 when they’re already more vulnerable to the disease due to long-standing health inequities, including disproportionate exposure to polluting industries and lack of access to health care. And, as predicted, there have been several outbreaks at industrial work sites across Canada, including at two Coastal GasLink camps. Some have spread to the Indigenous communities nearby.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham) lives in a cabin deep in the wilderness. The goal is to live a traditional lifestyle and protect Wet’suwet’en territory from industrial development.

“It’s like purposefully infecting our people with this disease that’s killing off our most sacred knowledge holders and language keepers,” says Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham). A supporting chief in the Cas Yikh House of the Gidimt’en Clan, one of five Wet’suwet’en clans, she has just attended the memorial of an Elder, one of several to have died from COVID. “We’re never going to be able to recover from those losses. I’m so angry because it was 100 percent preventable.” Critics say allowing industrial projects to press on with full knowledge of how Indigenous people could be affected is exposing and exacerbating environmental racism. That’s what it’s called when governments and corporations disproportionately locate polluting industries and hazardous sites in Indigenous, Black and other racialized communities— particularly those that lack the economic, political or social clout to fight back. Environmental racism has long exposed people to a wide range of health-harming pollutants that have been linked to serious illnesses, including cancer, lung disease and heart conditions. Those ailments, in turn, make people more vulnerable to COVID-19. And now, as industrial projects continue on during the pandemic, COVID-19 itself can be seen as yet another pollutant being circulated by industry.

Canada’s toxic divide Sleydo’, her husband and their three kids, aged one, five and 10, live in a cabin the couple built deep in the wilderness on Wet’suwet’en territory. Over the past decade, several land defenders have reoccupied the land and built traditional infrastructure, a healing centre and camps. The goal is to live a traditional lifestyle and protect the territory from industrial development and the people from environmental racism.

PHOTO, AMBER BRACKEN.

health

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

“ I T ’ S L I K E P U R P O S E F U L LY INFECTING OUR PEOPLE WITH THIS D I S E A S E T H AT ’ S KILLING OFF OUR MOST S AC R E D K N O W L E D G E HOLDERS AND L A N G U AG E K E E P E R S .”

“We are the land and the land is us,” says Sleydo’, who is the spokesperson for the Gidimt’en Checkpoint, one of the camps that was raided by the RCMP. “And one is not well without the other.” In 2019, Baskut Tuncak, then the United Nations special rapporteur on toxics and human rights, documented an epidemic of environmental racism after a visit here. “There exists a pattern in Canada whereby marginalized groups, and Indigenous peoples in particular, find themselves on the wrong side of a toxic divide, subject to conditions that would not be acceptable in respect of other groups in Canada,” he wrote in his report. There are plenty of examples. In Alberta, oil sands development has encroached on two dozen Indigenous communities—home to about 23,000 people—since extraction began in the 1960s. In Ontario, more than 60 refineries and chemical plants have surrounded Aamjiwnaang First Nation since the 1940s, creating what’s known as “Chemical Valley,” one of the most polluted places in the country. In Nova Scotia, politicians plunked a dump in the heart of Shelburne’s Black community in the 1940s; it closed in 2016, but people are

THE COASTAL GASLINK PIPELINE: A TIMELINE

still worried about its lingering effects. And there have long been concerns that the pollution from these projects is causing serious health issues and killing people: Environmental racism also involves failing to meaningfully consult communities about such developments in the first place and then taking a long time to address issues that arise. In 2012, Ingrid Waldron founded the Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities and Community Health (ENRICH) Project to study environmental racism in Nova Scotia. In 2016, ENRICH created an interactive map of the province’s waste disposal sites, toxic industries and thermal generating stations juxtaposed with Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotian communities. A clear pattern emerged. A sociologist and associate professor in the faculty of health at Dalhousie University, Waldron says the map shows “the audacity of government to select certain communities to put something that’s not desirable.” Waldron eventually turned her research into a book, There’s Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous and Black Communities, and then a 2019 Netflix documentary co-directed by Elliot Page.

OCTOBER 2014

SEPTEMBER 2018

JANUARY 2019

The B.C. government approves the Coastal GasLink pipeline following consultations with Indigenous groups and the public. The 670-kilometre pipeline across northern B.C. would deliver natural gas extracted through fracking to the coast for export to overseas markets.

Coastal GasLink announces it has signed agreements with the elected leaders of all 20 Indigenous bands along the pipeline route. Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs still oppose the pipeline running through their traditional territory.

Enforcing a court injunction against people blocking work on the pipeline, the RCMP raid a camp on Wet’suwet’en territory and arrest 14 land defenders. Construction activities on the Coastal GasLink pipeline begin.

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

health

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

Prince Edward Island New Brunswick

MAP LEGEND

Ten-kilometre radius Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotian communities

She says environmental racism is rooted in colonial policies that allowed settlers to extract resources from Indigenous lands without permission—policies that continue to inform government decision making today. “Environmental racism is a visible manifestation of environmental policy,” says Waldron. “And environmental policies are created by members of the elite, mostly white people, who hold perceptions about who matters and who does not matter.” Sleydo’ agrees. “Environmental racism is based on this idea that we aren’t human enough to deserve a clean environment. Nobody cares if we get sick and die, because we’re just Indigenous people. And industry and government are banking on that.” The 22,000-square-kilometre Wet’suwet’en territory— which is about four times the size of Prince Edward Island— has already been irreparably damaged by industrial projects. In the 1950s, Alcan dammed a river, leading some caribou to drown as they attempted to cross new bodies of water en route to their usual habitats. In the 1980s, toxic tailings from a silver mine seeped into a lake, decimating salmon populations. And throughout the decades, logging companies

Waste disposal site, thermal generating station or other toxic industry

have scarred the landscape with clearcuts, destroying moose habitat. “Elders that have come out to the territory don’t even recognize it anymore,” Sleydo’ says. Now, construction on the 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline—which is set to slice through old-growth forests, wetlands, rivers and habitat for endangered caribou— threatens Wet’suwet’en people’s food and water sources, their cultural sites and their ways of life. Sleydo’ says work on Coastal GasLink is not only racist, it’s also illegal: The Wet’suwet’en never ceded their territory to the federal government. The Hereditary Chiefs have jurisdiction over it, according to Wet’suwet’en law. This is backed by the 1997 Supreme Court of Canada Delgamuukw decision, which stated that provinces can’t extinguish Aboriginal title (which includes rights to natural resources) and that oral history is legitimate evidence of land claims. According to the Hereditary Chiefs, the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline is a violation of their law and, as such, they’ve issued the company an eviction notice. It’s also a violation of international human rights law, according to watchdogs. In December 2019, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

FEBRUARY 2020

MARCH 2020

DECEMBER 2020

Enforcing a court injunction, the RCMP raid several land defender camps. Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs issue Coastal GasLink an eviction notice. The Shut Down Canada movement spreads across the country.

B.C. declares a state of emergency due to COVID-19 and releases a list of essential services, which includes industrial projects. It follows up with safety guidelines for work camps.

Northern Health declares a COVID-19 outbreak at two Coastal GasLink work camps. The health authority declares the outbreak over more than a month later.

Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, limits the number of workers who can return to industrial sites in northern B.C. after the Christmas holidays. She acknowledges that COVID-19 has spread from such sites to Indigenous communities.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

ENRICH MAP ILLUSTRATION, CAROL LINNITT.

Compare the location of Nova Scotia’s industrial health hazards and its Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotian communities, and a clear pattern emerges. Source: The ENRICH Project

health

After having a baby, Yellowknife doctor Courtney Howard began looking for research into the local health impacts of the oil sands. She didn’t find much.

called on Canada to halt work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline—as well as two other industrial projects in B.C.—until it receives free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous peoples. It also urged the country to stop removing Wet’suwet’en people from their lands and start removing police and security forces. Yet while the pandemic offered the perfect opportunity to hit pause on these projects, they continue on with the blessing of the government and, in the case of Coastal GasLink, the help of the RCMP.

PHOTO, PAT KANE.

“The economy cannot come before Indigenous lives” At a media conference soon after B.C.’s essential services list was released, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry explained why industrial projects made the cut. “I think it’s important to recognize you can’t just abandon a large mine or industrial site. That’s not safe; it’s not safe for the community or for the environment, as well,” she said. Three weeks after initial COVID-19 safety guidelines for industrial work camps were released, a new public health order began requiring specific safety protocols. It didn’t limit the number of workers, although many projects, including Coastal

FEBRUARY 2021

Coastal GasLink announces that Henry and Northern Health have approved its plan to increase its workforce. The announcement says the company plans to gradually increase the number of people it has working across the pipeline route.

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

GasLink, voluntarily reduced their workforces—at least for a while. The number of workers at Coastal GasLink camps went from about 1,130 at the end of February 2020 to 130 at the end of March. However, the number of workers on industrial projects fluctuates seasonally, and Coastal GasLink described the reduction as a “scheduled ramp-down.” By November, in the midst of the second wave of the pandemic, there were more than 4,000 people working on the pipeline. While governments said it was safe for work to continue on industrial projects, some said, paradoxically, that environmental monitoring was unsafe. The Alberta Energy Regulator gave the entire oil-and-gas industry a monthslong break from a long list of environmental activities, such as most ground- and surface-water monitoring and almost all wildlife monitoring. At a media conference, Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley called the move “a cynical and exploitative use of this pandemic” and also tweeted, “So, people can get haircuts in most of the province right now, but we can’t test the water supply for cancer-causing agents?” Critics questioned why industrial projects that don’t provide any essential services to Canadians (and never will) got the go-ahead. The Coastal GasLink pipeline, for instance, is being built to transport natural gas across the province to be exported overseas. LNG Canada, the export facility, is also under construction. To many, the risks seemed unnecessary. Just over a week after B.C. declared a state of emergency, David Bowering, former chief medical health officer of northern B.C.’s health authority, released an open letter to Henry calling work camps “landlocked cruise ships” and “COVID-19 incubators” and urging her to shut them down. Other letters followed: Front-line health care workers, Indigenous leaders and environmental groups all asked Henry to put people before profit. One of those letters was from Sleydo’ and her fellow female chiefs. “The economy cannot come before Indigenous lives,” they wrote. Despite the pleas, Henry didn’t take any action until the end of December, after a series of cases, clusters and outbreaks at work sites in northern B.C., some of which spread to Indigenous communities. She then issued a public health order outlining a gradual return of the workforce to the sites following the Christmas holidays. Between November and January, there were outbreaks totalling 56 cases at Coastal GasLink sites and 72 cases at LNG Canada sites. (Henry was not available for an interview.) Sleydo’ says Coastal GasLink workers and RCMP officers aren’t always following basic safety protocols, such as wearing masks and maintaining a distance of two metres from others. This can be seen in several incidents captured on camera and posted to social media, in which workers and officers approach land defenders who are hunting, holding ceremonies and patrolling the territory. “They’re taking advantage of a global pandemic to further destroy our lands and put our people at risk, which I think is really disgusting,” Sleydo’ says. Coastal GasLink did not reply to several interview requests. In an email, an RCMP spokesperson said officers should be wearing masks when interacting with the public. APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

health

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

Freda Huson has lived at the Unist’ot’en Healing Camp on Wet’suwet’en territory for over a decade. Here, she sings in ceremony as RCMP approach to enforce a court-ordered injunction against those blocking work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline in February 2020.

E N V I R O N M E N TA L R AC I S M IS WHEN POLLUTION AND HAZARDS ARE PUSHED ON R AC I A L I Z E D C O M M U N I T I E S — E S P E C I A L LY T H O S E T H AT L AC K T H E C LO U T TO F I G H T B AC K .

After Yellowknife emergency room doctor Courtney Howard had her first daughter in 2011, she spent a lot of time breastfeeding and staring out her window at Great Slave Lake, which is downstream from the oil sands. She decided to do some research into how they affected community health. She figured she’d find a ton of peer-reviewed studies, but she turned up zero. “The lack of research into the local health impacts of the oil sands is astonishing,” says Howard, who is past-president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. “It is so far beyond what any of us should consider acceptable as members of this country.” Unfortunately, Howard says, that’s the norm for research into what effects resource-extraction industries might have on the health of those who live nearby. She can think of a few reasons for the data gap. Communities that are “out of sight, out of mind” may not attract the attention of researchers. Remote communities often lack continuity of care, so health care providers may not notice things like a cluster of a rare type of cancer. And they may face environmental racism. “When the communities raise the alarm, it is not always acted upon the way that it should be,” Howard says. What is known about the local health effects of heavy industry isn’t good. For instance, a 2019 study in the journal Cancer found the rate of acute myeloid leukemia in one area of Sarnia, Ont., near Chemical Valley, is three times higher than the national average and suggested pollution from local oil refineries and chemical plants may be to blame. And while there’s a lack of studies on communities affected by environmental racism, there’s ample research on the impacts of the pollutants they’re exposed to. Waldron recently combed through decades of research to pull together a report on the health effects of toxins found in waste sites, thermal generating stations, and pulp and paper mills. She found that the toxins—heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, fine particulate matter and mobile gases—are associated with a long list of health issues, including cancer, birth defects and damage to most of the major organs. Air pollution has also been well studied and has been linked to heart, breathing and lung conditions. It contributes to an estimated 14,600 premature deaths in Canada every

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

PHOTO, AMBER BRACKEN.

The health effects of environmental racism

health

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

health

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

Professor Ingrid Waldron: Government environmental policies reveal “who matters and who does not matter.”

year. Emerging research from around the world also suggests that chronic exposure to air pollution makes people more likely to catch COVID and die from the disease. Environmental racism can also lead to stress and mental illness, which can, in turn, result in physical harm. Waldron says many chronic diseases that were once thought to be primarily genetic, like diabetes, are largely influenced by structural inequities such as environmental racism. “We know now that racism gets under your skin and actually changes your biology,” she says. In Canada, COVID-19 data on race is not being systematically collected at the federal level, but some provinces, cities and health authorities have started to crunch the numbers. In the United States, data from the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention shows Black and Indigenous people are about five times as likely to be hospitalized for the disease as white people. Environmental racism is but one reason for the chasm. Research shows that racialized people in Canada have worse health outcomes and higher rates of chronic diseases due to a number of social and economic factors, including poverty, food insecurity and unstable housing. They’re also more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as extreme weather and new diseases. “There’s overlapping systemic discrimination that leads to overlapping health impacts,” Howard says. “It would be difficult to tease out what the exact impact of environmental racism would be—and that’s a frequent excuse we hear from industry.” Another layer of discrimination is in the health care system: When Indigenous people do get sick, whether it be with COVID or another illness, they often face racism when trying to get treatment. In September 2020, Atikamekw mom of seven Joyce Echaquan died in a Quebec hospital after she livestreamed staff saying she was “stupid,” “only good for sex” and “better off dead” as she cried out in pain. In B.C., just two months later, an independent investigation found that 84 percent of Indigenous people have experienced racism in the province’s health care system. “Every way you look, it’s like, ‘You don’t matter, we don’t care about your life, we don’t care about your land, you have no rights. You don’t even have the right to live,’ ” Sleydo’ says. “And then, when you do get sick, you’re put into this system that’s racist against you and you’re expected to somehow survive. And people aren’t surviving.”

Tackling environmental racism In February 2020, in the midst of the Shut Down Canada movement, Teck Resources withdrew its regulatory application for its controversial Frontier oil sands project in northern Alberta. When explaining why in a letter to Environment and Climate Change Canada, Teck president and CEO Don Lindsay said Canada needs to reconcile resource development, climate change and Indigenous rights.

COVID-19: The climate connection

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

CLIMATE CHANGE Climate change can have a huge influence on organisms that cause diseases, and the animals that carry and transmit those diseases. It can affect where they live, how long they survive and how much they reproduce. For instance, as temperatures rise, ticks are marching into new parts of Canada and enjoying a longer season. Climate change is also causing more frequent and more intense extreme-weather events, which scientists have linked to infectious disease outbreaks. Heavy rainfall, for example, creates more breeding

grounds for mosquitoes and more crops for rodents, allowing them to grow their armies. As the world warms and Arctic permafrost melts, humans and animals that have been buried for centuries are becoming exposed: Perhaps the most terrifying disease prospect is that longdormant “zombie” viruses and bacteria may rise from the dead and infect us again. RESOURCE EXTRACTION Resource extraction in remote areas often destroys wildlife habitat. When people are working

in these areas, they’re more likely to have interactions with the animals that live there and be exposed to zoonotic diseases. FACTORY FARMING The growing demand for animal protein has led to an increase in factory farming. Companies often breed genetically similar animals that yield more meat and keep them in close quarters. Both factors make them more vulnerable to disease. Swine flu, for instance, first spread among pigs housed in factory farms and then jumped to humans.

PHOTO, DARREN CALABRESE.

Scientists are still trying to pin down the origin of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. But they know one thing for sure: It’s zoonotic, meaning it jumped from an animal to a human. It’s just the latest in the rising trend of zoonotic diseases, following the likes of Ebola, SARS and Zika. Three-quarters of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, and scientists warn that we’ll see more pandemics if we continue to exploit nature. Here are some of the top human drivers of zoonotic diseases, according to the UN Environment Programme.

health

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

C A N A DA I S N ’ T C O L L E C T I N G DATA O N R AC E A N D C O V I D - 1 9 . I N T H E U. S . , B L AC K A N D INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ARE FIVE T I M E S A S L I K E LY TO B E H O S P I TA L I Z E D W I T H T H E DISEASE AS WHITE PEOPLE.

PHOTO, THE CANADIAN PRESS/ANDREW VAUGHAN.

Nova Scotia MP Lenore Zann has introduced a bill to study and solve environmental racism.

While Lindsay said the decision had nothing to do with a “vocal minority” opposed to the project, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and then federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer were quick to blame opponents, who were happy to take credit. The group Indigenous Climate Action, which campaigned against the project, called it “a win for Indigenous rights, sovereignty and the climate,” while adding that the fight against environmental racism is far from over. For years, affected communities, environmental advocates and other groups have been pushing the federal government to update the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, including amending it to legislate the right to a healthy environment. More than 150 countries have already done so, and it’s one of 87 recommendations that came out of an extensive review of the act in 2016 and 2017 (many of which are also echoed in the UN report that called out Canada’s environmental racism). While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has asked the ministers of health and environment to work on strengthening the act, it could be yet another issue sidelined by the pandemic. Meanwhile, Nova Scotia Liberal MP Lenore Zann has introduced a private member’s bill calling for a national strategy to redress environmental racism. The bill, which Waldron collaborated on, suggests collecting data on the problem as a prelude to amending laws, engaging communities in policy development and compensating individuals and communities for harms they’ve suffered. “Grassroots warriors across the country have been fighting this fight for so long, but they were ignored,” Zann says. “It’s time that we listen and that we act.” Waldron first approached Zann for political support in 2014, when Zann was a provincial MLA. The politician suggested developing a private member’s bill to redress environmental racism. She cautioned Waldron that private member’s bills rarely pass but said it would generate a ton of political debate, media attention and public awareness, which is exactly what happened. “It got people talking about the issue, which was our main

goal,” Zann says. “Environmental racism is like a wound. You have to bring it out into the light of day, dig out whatever is in there and clean it in order for it to heal.” When Zann moved to federal politics, her first order of business was working on a national bill. At press time, the continuation of the bill’s second reading was scheduled for late March. Zann says she’s “cautiously optimistic” the bill will move to the next stage. Recent action to address environmental racism in the U.S. may give Zann’s bill the boost it needs. In January, President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to develop programs and policies “to address the disproportionate health, environmental, economic and climate impacts on disadvantaged communities.”

The spiritual and physical strength to keep fighting A month after the incident at the hunting blind, on Sleydo’s son’s 10th birthday, her husband burst into the cabin and told his family to get ready: He’d caught a moose. They loaded into the car and radioed people at the Gidimt’en Checkpoint, giving them the coordinates and asking them to meet there without explaining why. After the family arrived, two carloads from camp showed up frantically, expecting an incident with Coastal GasLink workers or the RCMP. Then they saw the moose. After a collective moment of relief and excitement, they paid their respects to the animal through ceremony, with the kids putting medicines in its eyes and ears, and then harvested it. Back at the cabin, the family had an outdoor fire, cooked up the organs and played games. Sleydo’ felt a deep sense of satisfaction, security and reciprocity. “I always tell the kids, ‘If you take care of the land, the animals know that and they give their lives up for you,’ ” she says. “I really believe that when we eat animals from the territory, it gives us the spiritual and physical strength to keep fighting.” And the fight to protect Wet’suwet’en lives—during the pandemic and beyond—is far from over. APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

life

ICON

Buffy SainteMarie

Written by ANDREA WARNER

Indigenous rights, Mother Nature, decolonization and the environment have been at the heart of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s songwriting since she was in her early 20s. Sixty years later, these issues are more relevant than ever—just like Sainte-Marie herself

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

Beadwork by KATIE LONGBOAT

PHOTO, NADYA KWANDIBENS, RED WORKS PHOTOGRAPHY.

Sainte-Marie in Vancouver in 1018, part of a photo series taken by Sacred MMIWG for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

life

ICON

uffy Sainte-Marie doesn’t think in milestones. She turned 80 in February, but the Cree artist feels pretty much the same as she always has. “I wasn’t that different when I was 17 or 52,” Sainte-Marie says with a laugh, over the phone from her home in Hawaii. “It’s all the same.” She is joking a little, but her statement is close to the truth. The iconic singersongwriter has had 30 lifetimes’ worth of accomplishments since the release of her debut album, 1964’s It’s My Way!, and she doesn’t intend to slow down any time soon. “I think a lot of people have the idea that the playground closes at a certain time in their life,” Sainte-Marie says. “And as an artist, as a thinker, as a learner—nah, the playground does not close for me. It’s open weekends and 24-7 and I’m really a glutton for experience and information.” This is the open secret, at least in part, to her own feeling of eternal youth: Buffy Sainte-Marie is always a work-in-progress. In addition to writing and playing music, she has made a name for herself as an activist, an educator, a mixed media digital artist, a children’s book author and even a Sesame Street supporting player (she played herself on the TV classic for five years). She is insatiably curious and eager to innovate. Done is dead, and she’s too busy learning, creating and doing to spend time in a finite state. “It’s really a terrible disservice put upon youth to try and talk them into ending [their playful curiosity],” Sainte-Marie sighs. “They should stay like that forever! I’m having just as much fun at 80. I still ride horses and jump over fences; I’m still gonna run up and down stairs; I still dance and I still make music. I do exactly the same things, and many of them much better now than I did 10 years, 20 years, 40 years earlier. You can keep getting better in every way, including physically, and you can get smarter forever.” Sainte-Marie is well aware that some people see her as frozen in time in the 1960s, rubbing shoulders and even occasionally sharing stages and songs with casual friends and fellow famous musicians, like Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. But that misses the bigger picture.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

She has always been a radical musician. Aside from making what is widely considered to be one of the first electronic albums, 1969’s Illuminations, she was also one of the first people to use an electronic powwow sample in a song, in 1976’s “Starwalker.” Her 1992 album, Coincidence and Likely Stories, was the first to be delivered over the internet (Sainte-Marie recorded it in Hawaii, then sent it to her producer in London). In addition to winning six Junos and being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Sainte-Marie is the firstever Indigenous artist to take home an Academy Award (she co-wrote “Up Where We Belong” from 1982’s An Officer and a Gentleman). In 2015, she won the prestigious Polaris Prize for Power in the Blood— an electrifying album complete with club bangers and contemporary electronic powwow anthems. Yet for all of her innovation, there’s also a timelessness to Sainte-Marie’s music. She writes about everything from love and heartbreak and Indigenous joy to peace and political corruption and environmental exploitation. Many of her songs are nuanced illustrations of how these themes not only intersect but also inform one another in ways both big and small. In 2020, It’s My Way! won the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize designation, which is awarded

to albums that have remained culturally relevant decades after their release.

* * * It is believed that Buffy Sainte-Marie was born in 1941 on the Piapot First Nation reserve in Saskatchewan, and taken from her biological parents when she was two or three. She was adopted by a visibly white couple in Massachusetts, though her adoptive mother, Winifred, self-identified as part Mi’kmaq. Sainte-Marie’s experience of being adopted out of her culture and placed in a non-Indigenous family by child welfare services is an all-too-familiar story in Canada. This practice was later dubbed the Sixties Scoop, referring to the decade in which it was most prevalent (though it had gone on well before the 1960s, and would go on for decades to come). Sainte-Marie’s childhood wasn’t easy— she secretly suffered abuse inside and outside the home—but she says she was also able to cultivate a lot of happiness for herself. She was always close to Winifred, and credits her for nurturing and encouraging a lifelong love of learning. She also took comfort in solitude and, even as a little kid, always felt a strong connection to her inner creativity. Sainte-Marie surrounded herself with nature and animals and her own sense of wonder. She began playing piano

PHOTO, JAC DE NIJS.

Sainte-Marie performing at a Dutch gala in 1968. Other performers that year included Nancy Sinatra and Joan Baez.

ICON

THE BEAT GOES ON and on and on

1941

early 1960s

1962

1964

Buffy Sainte-Marie is believed to have been born on Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan.

Sainte-Marie graduates from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Sainte-Marie writes the anti-war protest anthem “Universal Soldier.”

Billboard names SainteMarie Best New Artist of the year.

1944 She starts playing the piano at the age of three.

1960s She starts playing the coffeehouse folk music scene alongside other Canadian icons.

1960s and 1970s

1976–1981

Illuminations, widely considered to be one of the first electronic albums, is released.

She suspects her music is being blacklisted from U.S. radio stations due to its strong environmental and Indigenous rights messaging.

Sainte-Marie appears, as herself, on Sesame Street. In a 1977 episode, she breastfed her son alongside Big Bird—one of the first times breastfeeding was depicted on television.

1969 She appears on the Johnny Cash Show; they sing “Custer,” a ballad about General George Custer, who led his men to death in the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Sainte-Marie guest stars on the NBC series The Virginian. (She agreed to do so after requesting all Indian roles be played by Native American people.)

1978

1979

1993

1995

Sainte-Marie stars in the TV movie The Broken Chain, with Pierce Brosnan.

She is inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

1984

1996

Always an early adopter, SainteMarie starts recording music and making art on a Macintosh computer.

Sainte-Marie creates the Cradleboard Teaching Project, an Indigenouscentred curriculum with units for elementary, middle and high school students.

2010

2015

Hole covers “Cod’ine,” which SainteMarie wrote about codeine addiction.

Sainte-Marie joins Morrissey on tour.

A Sainte-Marie song is mentioned in the Nora Roberts bestseller Northern Lights.

Elvis records “Until It’s Time for You to Go,” written by Sainte-Marie.

Sainte-Marie is the first Indigenous person to win an Academy Award for “Up Where We Belong.”

2017 She collaborates with Tanya Tagaq on “You Got to Run.”

2004

Sainte-Marie and Grimes speak about women in music at the Juno Awards.

1972

1983

Sainte-Marie is featured on a Supersisters trading card (the cards celebrated famous women).

2018

Her debut album, It’s My Way!, is released.

1969

1968

She lends support, alongside Muhammad Ali, for the Longest Walk, in support of AmericanIndian rights.

1964

2015 Sainte-Marie wins the Polaris Prize for Power in the Blood.

2018

2020

Andrea Warner writes an authorized biography of Sainte-Marie, with a forward by Joni Mitchell.

Sainte-Marie publishes her first children’s book, about pet adoption.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

Sainte-Marie performs in San Francisco in 2016.

PIANO, ISTOCK. LEONARD COHEN, GETTY IMAGES. BUFFY WITH GUITAR, BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE. BIG BIRD, SESAME WORKSHOP. ELVIS PRESLEY, JOHNNY CASH, MUHAMMAD ALI, GETTY IMAGES. BUFFY HOLDING AN OSCAR AWARD, CRADLEBOARD, BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE. COURTNEY LOVE, TOM EDWARDS. BUFFY AT POLARIS PRIZE, POLARIS MUSIC PRIZE (DUSTIN RABIN). “YOU GOT TO RUN” ALBUM, POLARIS MUSIC PRIZE. GRIMES, GETTY IMAGES. BUFFY AND CHILDREN’S BOOK, BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE. BUFFY IN SAN FRANCISCO, GETTY IMAGES.

life

when she was three, but school band and choir weren’t of any interest to her. The structured learning of traditional music classes were antithetical to Sainte-Marie’s natural gifts. She taught herself guitar but it wasn’t until she got to college that she began playing her songs publicly. As Sainte-Marie developed as a songwriter and performed in Canada and the U.S., she also continued to research and reconnect with her Indigenous roots, meeting other young Indigenous scholars and activists on both sides of the border. She’d been told she was adopted from an Indigenous family in Saskatoon but didn’t know much else. After spending time at Toronto’s Friendship Centre (now the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto), two of her new friends suggested that Sainte-Marie was possibly the daughter of Emile Piapot, of the Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan’s Qu’Appelle Valley. (The connection was made after discovering that Piapot’s own story aligned with what Sainte-Marie had pieced together about her origins.) Sainte-Marie met Piapot at a powwow in Ontario, and a short while later visited the Piapot reserve for the first time. In the early 1960s, she was officially adopted back into the Piapot family and given the Cree name Medicine Bird Singing. In 1964, Sainte-Marie stepped into the biggest spotlight of her young life with the release of It’s My Way! She had already established herself as an important voice in the coffeehouse scene, writing the anti-war protest anthem “Universal Soldier” in 1962 and performing it several years before America even admitted they had soldiers on the ground in Vietnam. She opened her first album with “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone,” singing, “Oh it’s all in the past you can say / But it’s still going on here today / The governments now want the Lakota land / That of the Inuit and the Cheyenne.” The song thrummed throughout the ’60s and ’70s as Indigenous activists across Turtle Island (the name used for North America by some Indigenous people) organized grassroots efforts to demand Indigenous rights and land rights—and it continues to echo today wherever land defenders are on the ground, including Idle No More, Standing Rock and the Keystone pipeline protest. Sainte-Marie suspects it was, in part, her Indigenous rights and environmental

activism that led to her music being temporarily suppressed by many U.S. radio stations: “The administrations of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon didn’t want me opening my mouth about the environment,” she said in a 2019 interview with the McGill Daily. “They especially did not want Indigenous people interfering with their complete control of available land and natural resources.” The suppression didn’t work, at least in the long run. Sainte-Marie has never stopped writing songs that demonstrate how colonization, Indigenous rights and environmental destruction are implicitly linked. Two standout examples are 1992’s “The Priests of the Golden Bull” and 2009’s “No No Keshagesh.” In just one verse of the

“TRUTH AND R E C O N C I L I AT I O N IS JUST STEP ONE A N D T W O. I T ’ S U P TO U S TO TA K E S T E P S T H R E E , F O U R , F I V E . . . ” former, she directly ties together colonization, greed and hypocrisy, the genocide of Indigenous people and environmental destruction: “It’s delicate confronting these priests of the golden bull / They preach from the pulpit of the bottom line / Their minds rustle with million dollar bills / You say Silver burns a hole in your pocket and Gold burns a hole in your soul / Well, Uranium burns a hole in forever / It just gets out of control.” In “No No Keshagesh,” Sainte-Marie uses humour to deliver a series of stinging truths about greed, capitalism and the environment, singing lines like “Got Mother Nature on a luncheon plate / They carve her up and call it real estate.” Residential schools—and the subsequent Truth and Reconciliation Commission— are also never far from Sainte-Marie’s mind. In 1966, she released “My Country

ICON

’Tis of Thy People You’re Dying,” a six-minute-long living history lesson that covers— among other topics, including colonization and genocide—the devastation of residential schools. (For context, this was 30 years before Canada’s last residential school closed in 1996.) When we spoke for this piece, she had just started reading Tamara Starblanket’s 2018 book, Suffer the Little Children: Genocide, Indigenous Nations and the Canadian State. “She’s brilliant,” Sainte-Marie says of Starblanket, a Cree writer and educator who hails from Ahtahkakoop First Nation in Treaty Six. “There’s all kinds of opinions out there on the internet, and some people will say ‘Truth and reconciliation is dead.’ But truth and reconciliation is just step one and two, and it’s up to us to take steps three, four, five, six and forever.” Sainte-Marie usually abides by one guiding principle: Stay calm and decolonize. But sometimes it’s easier said than done. “Right now I feel quite frustrated!” she says. “Since we just mentioned Tamara Starblanket’s book, you know, she’s the last surviving member of three generations of residential school torturees. They killed them all. Her parents, her grandparents, her brothers and sisters, they were all survivors of terrible things.” These hundreds of years of colonization and violence stem from one source, and Sainte-Marie has spent years trying to bring more awareness to it: the Doctrine of Discovery. The doctrine was established in the 15th century and essentially granted Christian explorers the religious—and, therefore, ethical—justification to colonize and enslave non-Christian people and lands around the world. Sainte-Marie sees a clear relationship between the doctrine and the genocide inflicted by residential schools, and she would like to see it referenced prominently at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. (Indigenous nations and non-Catholic churches have asked the Vatican to rescind the doctrine, while the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has called for Canada to repudiate it.) Sainte-Marie also wants the electric chair from St. Anne’s Indian Residential School, which was open in Fort Albany First Nation, near James Bay, from 1902 to 1976, on display as soon as visitors enter the museum. The chair was “homemade” APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

life

ICON

PHOTO, GETTY IMAGES.

Sainte-Marie performing in London in 2010.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

life

and used to shock children, according to former students. “The information itself is hard to stomach when I’m reading it myself, but it’s even harder to stomach to know that the impact of this difficult historical information is still in play today,” Sainte-Marie says. “Sometimes I’m such a jolly little Sesame Street entertainer. And then the other side of me is dealing with [this]. My own family and my own friends who have, all of their lives, experienced the poverty, the racism, just the pain of being Indigenous in a Canadian city, it’s just—it’s very hard and it’s frustrating.” Without structural changes at society’s foundations, the colonial system is built to fail. Again and again and again. “It seems like when you have a long life, things just keep looping around,” Sainte-Marie says. “We’re living in Machiavellian days, although most of the population never read The Prince.” She laughs. “That’s a blueprint for this current assholery. Historians will show you: Stalin and Hitler and, you know, just name ’em all. So, I guess, when you talk about songs lasting, if you’re the kind of person who notices classic human themes, then I guess that’s the kind of songwriter you are, too. It’s like examining trash. We’re doing colonoscopies on the human race!” Singing truth to corrupt systems is one of Sainte-Marie’s superpowers, but she also wants to move the conversation forward and put her songs to work; particularly some of those “medicine songs,” like “Carry It On,” a soaring anthem about climate justice and taking care of our hearts. She invites the listener to step into hope, empowering us to collective action. But she’s not looking to get more famous, or even get more credit (though she absolutely belongs in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame). She just wants her songs to do their jobs, whether it’s to inform, inspire, witness, fact-check, testify, advocate, resist, nurture, celebrate, rejoice and/or heal.

* * * The pandemic interrupted Sainte-Marie’s renew-and-regenerate vibe, but only temporarily. “When somebody kicks the anthill over, everything goes in different directions, and everybody is in survival mode and feeling disoriented,” says Sainte-Marie, who has been based in Hawaii since the late ’60s. She is intensely private about her

home life. She has community, including her son, Cody, and her friends, but just like when she was a child, she’s still content to be on her own for long periods—and to spend a lot of time in nature and with her animals (she currently has two Siamese cats, named Anderson Cooper and Penuche). For the first two months of lockdown, Sainte-Marie sat on the couch. A lot. Then her body began to ache, and she knew she had to make a change. “I said, ‘Okay, I gotta be my own best friend here,’ ” she recalls. She started working out, including seniors’ exercise classes via Zoom. She began electric guitar lessons online because she’d always wanted to improve that skill set, but her hands were out of practice, so she picked up CBD lotion at

“LIKE MOST THINGS, [ AG I N G ] I S N OT W H AT YO U I M AG I N E . I F E E L PRETTY MUCH THE S A M E WAY T H AT I D I D Y E A R S AG O.” the pharmacy, which has helped. “So now I’m playing better anyway, and I feel really good. I’ve got no aches and pains. I just try to be a good mom to myself sometimes, you know?” she says. “I don’t think women do that often enough.” She also released her debut children’s book, Hey Little Rockabye, in 2020. It’s an illustrated lullaby for pet adoption; SainteMarie has devoted a lot of her downtime to working with the Humane Society of Canada. She’s also redistributing resources to other folks and has asked some of her friends to help her disburse funds in their communities, either directly to people in need or to help support grassroots efforts (like Idle No More) on the ground. “There are just so many falling through the cracks right now,” Sainte-Marie says. She’s been sharing her resources in other ways as well, performing online through-

ICON

out the pandemic, and has had to quickly adapt to 21st-century DIY home video pro duction, sound design and self-direction. Sainte-Marie even continues to make music over the internet, remotely recording a song with Serena Ryder for Ryder’s new album, and collaborating on a track with Mohawk DJ and music producer DJ Shub, whose real name is Dan General. Both are thrilled to be working with one of their musical heroes. “If you are an Indigenous artist, Buffy is the one person that has broken down so many doors and barriers for us,” General says. “Growing up, I didn’t know what activism was; through her music, she taught me who I was and what I had to fight for.” Ryder calls her collaboration with SainteMarie one of the greatest honours of her career. “I’ve been just so taken aback at how down-to-earth, kind and humble she is,” she says. The pair first crossed paths at the Montreal International Jazz Festival in 2008. “She met me with such warmth and grace—like we were old friends,” Ryder recalls. “She seems plugged into some source—something that is steering her ship. There’s a wisdom and divinity in her voice and words that have inspired me to tap into my own connection to spirit.” General is similarly awestruck by Sainte-Marie’s range and vision. “It’s very rare to see artists evolve,” he says. “[They] get too comfortable doing the same thing over and over. Buffy is not one of those artists.” Indeed, innovation and new information are two of Sainte-Marie’s biggest thrills. She knows exactly who she is and what her values are, but she’s always embracing new iterations of herself. Nor does she show any signs of slowing down just because it’s what’s expected of an 80-year-old woman. Until our conversation, she hadn’t given her milestone birthday a single thought. “I always figured I would die young, so I better hurry up and do whatever it was I was planning to do. And then, whoa, holy smokes, 10 years went by, and then another 10 years, and they just keep on coming!” Sainte-Marie says with a laugh. “Like most things, it’s not what you imagine. I feel pretty much exactly the same way that I did years ago. I mean, there are still bullies in the world, there are still exciting, wonderful people and things in the world, and I’m still here.” APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

life

MAKING CHANGE

anada has an embarrassing carbon footprint, and each one of us needs to tread more lightly on the Earth. But personal action can feel a little pointless when industrial polluters—and the governments that regulate them— seem unwilling to curb their own thunderous stomping. There is no Planet B, though, so plenty of people are doing their small part to make big changes, tackling everything from conservation policy to food waste to the transition to renewable energy. Want to join them? Here are 10 inspiring ideas to get you started Produced by DANIELLE GROEN Written by FLANNERY DEAN, ERICA IFILL, FATIMA SYED AND KIRA VERMOND Illustrations by VIVIAN ROSAS Art direction by STEPHANIE HAN KIM

Take it to court A spike in lawsuits might finally compel governments to act on climate change JACQUELINE WILSON is hyperaware of the growing frustration among young people and members of First Nations. A lawyer with the legal aid clinic Canadian Environmental Law Association, she has watched over the past five years as they’ve tried everything to get government leaders and policy-makers to scale up climate action. They’ve signed petitions. They’ve attended committee meetings. They’ve started social media movements, and even taken to the streets to protest. Nothing has worked. Wilson’s clients are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis, suffering its most severe effects and saddled with its future burden. So now they’re turning to another venue to fight inaction on climate change: the courts. Several cases are currently making their way through the Canadian legal system, each one hoping for a ruling that establishes access to a

healthy natural environment as a human right. The outcome of these cases will legally define the federal government’s duty to implement effective, sciencebased climate action. Nationally, 15 young people are claiming that the federal government is failing in its duty to protect the natural environment. They want the courts to order Canada to create a legally binding climate plan in line with our share of the global carbon budget. The case was dismissed in late 2020, but it’s being appealed. A group of young Ontarians is arguing that the provincial government’s weakened emissions targets have hurt Canada’s climate policy and, in doing so, violated the “right to life, liberty and security of the person” assured in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In a landmark decision and a legal first in Canada, the provincial court determined the argument had standing and can proceed to trial. A similar case is being appealed in Quebec. Two Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en nation have filed an appeal claiming that Canada is violating its constitutional duties by failing to meet its international climate agreements and set sufficient targets for emissions reduction. And the entire country is awaiting the Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of Canada’s carbon-pricing legislation, which could determine

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

life

MAKING CHANGE

Seize the moment

How do you sell a green recovery plan? We’re trying to present it as a tremendous opportunity. We actually have an unexpected set of circumstances: We’ve got hundreds of billions of dollars of [federal] stimulus money that we are going to be spending over a few years to get the economy going again, because of the pandemic. The money has been committed to be spent one way or the other. We have the need to do it, because we’ve got to get some short-term jobs, and also long-term jobs. And all of this can be done in a way that sets us up for the future while also accelerating our move toward a net-zero economy.

Has COVID made it more possible for these initiatives to be championed and passed? COVID has had a very profound impact on the fossil fuel sector. A lot of jobs have been lost, and many of them are not coming back. For the people most affected, the pandemic, the loss of employment and the pressures on the sector have helped them realize that this is the time for diversification. And the polling confirms it. People in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland don’t believe anymore that you have to choose between the economy and the environment. They believe that we can have a green recovery. The only people left to catch up are the political leaders.

How do you convince other politicians to really get behind climate-based policies? I start from a human point of view, which is ensuring a future for people in parts of the country heavily dependent on resource extraction. Ensuring that we begin to ramp up other kinds of employment and sectors in time, so that there isn’t mass unemployment or displacement as the fossil fuel sector winds down in those parts of the country. We talk about other communities that waited too long. We give the example of the East Coast cod fisheries and the devastation that happened there, because the transition [to more sustainable industries and jobs] happened too late. This interview has been edited and condensed.

DOING THE WORK

DELIA WARREN Mechanical engineer, transitioning from oil and gas to renewable energy

“Newfoundland, where I’m from, is super windy, and harnessing natural resources to generate energy seemed like a no-brainer. But all the jobs were in oil and gas. In 2016, the oil sector took a big hit, and I knew I was going to get laid off. I said to myself, ‘I’m never going to work in oil and gas again.’ I went back to school for my MBA and focused on sustainability and renewable energy. I followed my husband, who works as a software developer, to Boston—it’s one of the hubs of offshore wind energy in North America, and there are a lot of projects in the pipeline. There’s no shame in working in oil and gas—it’s a good job—but we need to decarbonize, and people in the industry need to find new, valuable long-term jobs. I was just offered a position in the offshore wind industry. My goal is to become an expert in the technology and bring it home to Newfoundland and Labrador.”

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

PAUL PHOTO, THE CANADIAN PRESS.

whether the federal government has jurisdiction to impose climate policy across all provinces. Lisa DeMarco is the founder of Resilient LLP, Canada’s only climate change and energy law firm. She’s representing a third party in the carbon-pricing case and says that the decision could historically establish the authority and boundaries of Canada’s climate action. “The government is getting whacked from all angles: They’re getting whacked for being too broad. They’re getting whacked for not doing enough. They’re getting whacked for collateral damage,” DeMarco says. “One could argue the lawsuits are trying to force the federal government to realize its responsibilities and find the ambition to act.” Globally, courts are filling up with parties looking for climate action. A UN report released last year found that there has been a sharp increase in litigation around the world. By July 2020, at least 1,550 climate change cases had been filed in 38 countries. Some have already resulted in historic decisions. In February, a Paris court found the French government guilty of failing to adequately address climate change. Late last year, the Netherlands’ Supreme Court imposed a legally binding target and deadline for the Dutch government to reduce emissions, finding that not doing so could violate human rights. If Canadian courts followed suit, “there would be a floor the government has to meet,” Wilson says. “The climate crisis is an equity crisis, and if the courts can help define it as that, that’ll be a huge win.” Historically, Canadian courts have tended to “shy away from . . . telling governments to do one thing or the other,” says David Khan, a lawyer with Ecojustice. What’s different now is the amount of public pressure for court decisions as a tool of accountability, where there long hasn’t been one. “There is a role to play for our courts,” Khan says. “Their decision could be the difference between climate action and inaction.”

In December, Green Party Leader Annamie Paul laid out her party’s plan for a green economic recovery, including a national electricity corridor for renewable energy, a detailed carbon budget and a 60 percent reduction in emissions by 2030. She spoke with us about climate policy in the time of COVID-19.

life

MAKING CHANGE

Tell your MP what’s what When it comes to reaching out to politicians, “there’s no one-size-fits-all magic formula for citizen advocacy,” says Lisa Gue, an Ottawa-based senior policy analyst for the David Suzuki Foundation. That said, she has some tried-and-true strategies for getting your letter noticed “Connecting Search “forms of

the subject line to a

address” at canada.ca

decision that a politician

for the right handles for everyone from dignitaries to Indigenous leadership to the Queen.

Subject line: Upcoming reforms to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act

has to make soon will help situate it as a ‘now’ issue,” says Gue.

Dear So-and-so,

It doesn’t hurt to emphasize that you live in their riding.

It’s never been more important to protect our environment. Last year, there were record levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. This past decade was the hottest one yet. Canada is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. But even though we’re clearly in a climate emergency, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act hasn’t been updated for more than two decades.

Data is good: Your note could put important research onto a leader’s desk or reading list. Just double-check the numbers before you hit “send.”

Last September, as smoke from out-of-control wildfires blew into my North Vancouver neighbourhood, I couldn’t even see the mountains. Six months into a pandemic, it suddenly wasn’t possible to go outside. The sun was a strange orange, and I couldn’t keep my window open because the air quality was so bad. Like other organizations, the Suzuki foundation shares templates for letter writers. But “personal details are

The 2020 throne speech included a commitment to modernizing CEPA but no timeline—and we don’t have any time to waste. We need strong laws to protect the environment and our health from toxic threats.

another reason for a politician to pay attention,” says Gue.

What’s your plan for introducing amendments to strengthen CEPA? And when do you expect to do that? Thank you for your time; I look forward to hearing from you soon. Requesting a follow-up means

Sincerely, Your name Your email Your location

“a politician or their staff have to develop a response, which can force some reflection on an issue that might not Handwritten letters

otherwise have happened,”

are nice, but email makes

Gue says.

it “easier to get that letter circulating to the right desk—especially during COVID.”

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

life

MAKING CHANGE

AND . . . THEY’RE BACK

Save the whales

Restoration programs can make a real difference

and the salmon BIOLOGIST ALEXANDRA MORTON ended up in B.C.’s remote Echo Bay in the early 1980s with her son and (now late) husband, Robin, to study orcas. When factory fish farms moved in, some whales fled, but Morton stayed behind to fight for the integrity of the ecosystem. For the next 34 years, she documented the farms’ increasingly catastrophic impact on wild salmon, going toe to toe with the industry and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Here, the scientist-turned-reluctant-activist shares what she learned (for more, read her new book, Not on My Watch).

Partnering with First Nations will save the planet. “These are the governments we need to work with, because they are unencumbered by the chaos of international trade. They are focused on this territory, and that’s how ecosystems work. You have to deal with [threats to ecosystems] locally.”

You can’t just elect politicians–you have to keep them accountable. “The natural resources of this country are so desirable, and politicians have become the brokers. They’re allowing things to happen that are absolutely devastating to our future. You have to stay with politicians because companies and industry are staying with them and they’re spending hundreds of thousands on lobbyists.”

Get in the way of the people causing the problem. “In the end, after all my research and activism, the only thing that worked was physically putting my body in the way and joining a First Nations occupation of a salmon farm for 280 days. That brought First Nations and the government to the table. The act of occupying, of just standing there and being honourable, peaceful but absolutely immovable—people have used it for centuries and it is incredibly powerful.”

You aren’t powerless. “We have to remember that the power of one is all we have—but we all have it. When you stand up, there is a powerful chemical change in your body. You feel this invigoration. It is what your body wants to do.”

Buffalo Brought to the edge of extinction by mass hunting in the 19th century, buffalo (also known as bison) are slowly returning to the grasslands. The 2014 Buffalo Treaty is a cross-border collaboration between more than 30 First Nations and tribes in Canada and the U.S. that aims to restore wild, free-ranging bison to Indigenous and public lands. Parks Canada, Yellowstone National Park and Banff National Park are partners. buffalotreaty.com.

Activism is not for everybody. “However, those people who are on the front lines need you terribly. They need your $20. They need you to send food. They need you to echo their message to the politicians. We had people send dog food for our dogs! That warmed our hearts like you wouldn’t believe. There’s always something you can do.”

Things can definitely change for the better. “Last spring was my 20th year of looking at wild salmon, after some of the worst farms had been removed in the Broughton Archipelago area of the British Columbia coast. Instead of being torn and emaciated and shivering, these little fish last spring were outrageously beautiful. They were fat and sassy. Their eyes were so black, and their scales were shimmering in greens and silvers and blues. Nature is such a show-off. To see it turn around— I really didn’t think I was going to live long enough to see that.” Not on My Watch is out now.

Marmots Canada’s most endangered mammal is arguably its most adorable. The chocolatebrown Vancouver Island marmot is only found in the wild. Excessive predation brought on by human settlement whittled the population to fewer than 30 by 2003, but captive breed-andrelease programs have since bumped its numbers to more than 200. marmots.org.

Eastern Loggerhead Shrike The endangered songbird once trilled across southern Ontario and northeastern Canada, before it was reduced to two small populations. Breed-and-release programs have since given the robin-sized bird, with its striking black mask, a chance to thrive again—if its habitats are preserved. wildlifepreservation.ca/ eastern-loggerhead-shrike-program.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

life

MAKING CHANGE

Support a green charity Tips for throwing your economic might—however mighty it might be—behind a worthy cause WHILE NEARLY ALL CANADIANS agree that climate change is a serious issue—91 percent of us, according to one recent survey—that hasn’t translated into financial contributions. Bri Trypuc, a veteran philanthropic adviser in Toronto, found that only two percent of Canadians’ total charitable giving goes toward saving the planet. There are so many charities and projects competing for your attention that it can make your head spin—or make you tune out. To find an organization that matters to you, ask yourself why you want to give and what you want to achieve. Maybe you have a personal connection to a particular cause, or maybe you want to leave a longterm legacy for your community. Maybe you want to

DOING THE WORK

back a cause that best reflects your values. “We aren’t just passive donors throwing money on a fire and singing ‘Kumbaya,’ ” Trypuc says. “It’s about doing your homework for informed, intelligent giving.” Charity websites will tout past successes and explain how donations are being used. And sites such as CanadaHelps, Charity Intelligence Canada, Climate Action Network and MakeWay let you dig deeper, rating charities for their effectiveness and transparency. Trypuc admits this tracking can be more challenging when dealing with environmental organizations, since climate issues aren’t quick to resolve. If you’re in doubt, make a call, or write and ask. You work hard for your money, so your money should work hard, too.

Future Ground Network

Ocean Wise

Nature Canada

Not Far from the Tree

Think globally, act locally: This network connects groups that tackle climate justice, biodiversity and waste reduction, to help them organize. futuregroundnetwork.org.

Headquartered in Vancouver, this direct-action non-profit helps manage, care for and restore underwater seaweed forests, a rich habitat for marine life. ocean.org.

Founded in 1939, this Ottawa-based organization has more than 750 affiliates protecting at-risk wildlife and wilderness. naturecanada.ca.

Volunteers pick the excess fruit off Toronto trees and split the spoils (before they spoil) between owners and community organizations. notfarfromthetree.org.

LUNA YU CEO and co-founder, Genecis Bioindustries

“We divert organic food waste from landfills and convert it into plastics that are fully biodegradable. The plastic breaks down in compost in about six weeks, and when it goes into nature, small microbes in soil and marine environments eat it up as food. PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate) compostable plastic can replace most of the products made out of polypropylene and polyethylene, which are two of the most used plastic resins out there. It can be made into flexible plastic, like packaging, or harder plastic, like forks and cups. If you want to quantify it, for every tonne of organic waste that is converted to PHA plastics, we can offset roughly 0.8 tonnes of carbon emissions. We work mostly with private companies—food waste management and food service companies—but in the future, we would love to work with municipalities. They collect hundreds of thousands of tonnes of food waste—we don’t have that capacity yet.”

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

life

MAKING CHANGE

INVEST IN A GREEN FUTURE There’s an environmentally friendly option for anyone wanting to use their green to back green companies, mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). To find it, you could start at investment research firm Morningstar, which gives tens of thousands of funds a

sustainability rating, or Yahoo Finance, which includes a stock’s sustainability rating as part of its information for investors. For even more intel, visit a company’s corporate website to see how they’re addressing environmental concerns and choose accordingly. If you’d rather not do that digging and don’t mind a one-size-fits-all approach to investing, robo-advisers like Wealthsimple and Questrade are becoming increasingly

attractive options. They offer sustainable, low-cost ETFs that track the market and uphold some social or environmental values. Still, you might not want to outright dismiss former offenders, says Fate Saghir, head of sustainable investing at Mackenzie Investments in Toronto. Car companies are starting to invest heavily in electric vehicles, while some oil-and-gas companies are moving into renewable energy.

Green investing now comes in many shades of grey. The move to sustainability “is a transition—it’s not as simple as flicking a light switch,” Saghir says. But as more people invest in cleantech, more corporations will be forced to see the light.

Why did you switch from advocacy to politics? As someone who has worked outside the system for a long time, I see how much it matters to have people at the table who are working on the same issues in collaboration with social movements.

In 2019, your motion for Vancouver to declare a climate emergency passed unanimously. How did that happen? I worked closely with a whole network of climate-justice activists and advocates— particularly young climate activists from a group in Vancouver called Sustainabiliteens—to bring people to city hall to speak. That made visible how widespread public support was for this ambitious plan. The first motion passed unanimously at a pretty politically mixed council.

How does community building add to your efforts? I was working alongside folks from the beginning, rather than just trying to rally them down the road. I think that matters, so that people feel involved.

Get the job done yourself Why one grassroots coalition builder decided to run for office CHRISTINE BOYLE is a climate-activistturned-city-councillor with OneCity Vancouver, a progressive political party she co-founded in 2014. She may be the party’s only member in city hall, but in her two and a half years in office, she’s pushed Vancouver to declare a climate emergency and helped lead the charge to adopt a climate-emergency action plan. Here’s how she gets it done.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

The Climate Emergency Action Plan has ambitious goals to cut Vancouver’s carbon pollution in half by 2030. How do you get people on board? Connecting the dots for people matters. If you care about access to public transit, that’s connected to climate decisions made by the city. If you care about housing, that’s connected to climate policy. Racial justice and climate justice are connected. [Those connections] mean we’re not building movements in silos.

life

MAKING CHANGE

Skip the system entirely While politicians dawdle, one 23-year-old is growing a new generation of urban farmers

Speak up at city hall Anyone can get their voice heard at city hall—it’s called giving a deputation, and it usually happens (in person or, now, by Zoom) before one of the many boards or committees that report to city council. After reserving a slot in advance with the city clerk’s staff, speakers have up to five minutes to make their point. It’s not a ton of time, but Serena Purdy, chair of the Toronto community organization Friends of Kensington Market, says it’s an important way to get your objection on the record and connect with other advocates. Deputations were part of Friends of Kensington Market’s fight for affordable rental housing and against ghost hotels—neighbourhood apartments taken off the rental market and turned into Airbnbs. Purdy says to make the most of your five minutes, put any statistics in a personal context and connect your issue to larger problems that are a concern to your city council. Her group linked the proliferation of short-term rentals in Kensington to the larger Toronto housing crisis, which councillors had been grappling with. But you’re not just speaking to councillors: Purdy says giving a deputation can encourage like-minded people to coalesce around your cause. Community building presents the greatest opportunity for pushing change, since it shifts the power imbalance. There’s strength in numbers. Yes, it can be a long process, “but it’s necessary work,” Purdy says. “You’re fighting the good fight.”

CHEYENNE SUNDANCE knows there are places that take urban farming seriously. She mentions Brooklyn Grange, the rooftop farms in New York City that harvest 100,000 pounds of produce a year; the backyard chickens in Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon; and the community-supported farms in Cuba that’s she’s worked on herself. But in Toronto, “the city sees urban agriculture as a hobby,” she says. “They just don’t see it as a viable career.” Sundance sees things differently. She understands it’s possible to run a for-profit farm in the city that pays a fair wage. But it takes a new kind of leadership: one that’s urgently needed. “There is so much systemic oppression in the food system,” Sundance says, “from who has the privilege to take on unpaid internships to who can sell their produce at farmers’ markets.” She wanted to see people who looked like her running their own urban farms. So in early 2019, out of a small plot behind a downtown church, Sundance launched Growing in the Margins, a free, 12-week mentorship program that gives low-income racialized youth a crash course in farming. The program became so popular that she quickly needed much more land—so she took over a greenhouse in the city’s north end and started Sundance Harvest, a year-round urban farm. Then the pandemic hit and all of a sudden everyone was thinking about food scarcity. While the City of Toronto dragged its feet on opening community gardens, Sundance put together a program called Liberating Lawns, matching Torontonians looking to grow food with those who had gardens to spare. “I don’t like waiting around for things,” she says. “Maybe that’s because I’m 23.” Sundance might move fast, but already her impact has been lasting. “Every season I do Growing in the Margins, I change the trajectory of people like me, who have been dispossessed by the food system,” she says. “The education they get is truly the seed of a revolution.”

DOING THE WORK

JULIE ANGUS Founder, Open Ocean Robotics

“Much of my career has been spent exploring the ocean in small boats. One of my adventures was rowing across the Atlantic Ocean from Portugal to Costa Rica, and I started thinking about how we can better understand our oceans in a sustainable way. Open Ocean Robotics produces boats that have a bunch of environmental sensors and cameras to collect data and send it back in real time. They’re solar-powered, so there’s no greenhouse gas emissions, no risk of oil spills, no noise pollution. Our boats have been used in illegal-fishing enforcement; 30 percent of fish are caught illegally. We’re also helping with marine mammal detection. There are a number of endangered marine mammal species—like killer whales on the West Coast, and North Atlantic right whales on the East Coast—and it’s really important to ensure that no ships hit them or loud noises from construction impact their well-being.”

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

They Were Loved The magnitude of COVID-19’s impact on Canadians’ lives is difficult to fathom. Canada has already lost more than 20,000 people to the pandemic; each of those losses has cascaded through families and communities, leaving many more thousands bereaved. They Were Loved is a years-long project to commemorate everyone who has died of COVID-19 in Canada, and every Canadian who has died of the disease abroad. In partnership with Carleton University’s Future of Journalism Initiative and journalism schools across the country, Maclean’s is striving to capture the richness of each life lost. To read the hundreds of obituaries written to date, visit macleans.ca/they-were-loved/ If you would like your loved one to be included, please contact us at theywereloved@macleans.ca

CANADA’S M AGAZINE SINCE 1905

FOUNDING SPONSOR

SPONSOR

Maclean’s is published by SJC Media, Canada’s largest publisher of trusted brands.

11 DELICIOUS REASONS TO COOK WITH DRIED BEANS

page 72

VegCheese Italian Black Truffle Round

$15, fair-square.ca.

Main Vegan Reggiani Parm Wedge Main Vegan Pepper Billy Goat Nut Cheese

$13, fair-square.ca.

PHOTO, ERIK PUTZ. FOOD STYLING, MATTHEW KIMURA. PROP STYLING, MADELEINE JOHARI. ART DIRECTION, STEPHANIE HAN KIM.

$13, fair-square.ca.

Creamy Lemon Bean Dip

Recipe, p 68

Gusta Vegan Pizzaroni Seitan Stick [ O N B OA R D ]

$5, fair-square.ca.

A perfect platter Non-dairy cheese alternatives date back to Ming dynasty China, but if you’re more familiar with the soy spreadables that the ’70s health food craze popularized in North America, you’ll be happy to know “vegan cheese” has come a long way. Plenty of creamy, nut-based options have sprung up from fermented pressed cashews, macadamias and almonds. Turn the page for our guide to assembling your best board. — Chantal Braganza

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

food

KITCHEN NOTES

HOW TO

Build a board There’s some level of method behind the pretty chaos of a bountiful charcuterie-style board. Here are our tips

Think of cheeses as your anchors. They need the most space for cutting, and each should get its own knife. Lay them down first.

Whirl a 540-mL can navy beans, drained and rinsed; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1 tbsp lemon zest; and 3 tbsp lemon juice in a food processor until smooth. With motor running, pulse in 4 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp chopped parsley. Scrape into a bowl and drizzle with another 1 tbsp olive oil and more parsley. Serve with crudités, crostini or crackers. Dip will keep in the fridge for 3 days.

Canada cooks vegan Our favourite (mostly) plantbased and home-based cookbooks out this spring

It’s time to start filling in: Arrange crackers, sliced bread or crostini around the spreadable components of your platter.

Last, add crunch and colour! We used grapes, tomatoes, figs, snap peas, watermelon radishes and kumquats to complete this board.

Liv B’s Easy Everyday

Hot for Food All Day

Fast, Easy, Cheap Vegan

Occasionally Eggs

Olivia Biermann, April, $30. Halifax-based food writer Olivia Biermann offers up quick-cooking versions of her massively popular plantbased recipes, all of which can be made in a single pot, on a sheet pan, or with five or fewer ingredients.

Lauren Toyota, March, $30. Toyota’s follow-up to Vegan Comfort Classics features recipes designed to leave leftovers that can be made into something new, from shishito pepper ramen to rocky road bars to new takes on the tofu scramble.

Sam Turnbull, March, $30. The second cookbook by the It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken blogger boasts affordable 30-minute recipes. From basil gnocchi to peanut butter squares, she proves that convenience cooking can still be comforting.

Alexandra Daum, April, $35. Toronto-born food blogger Alexandra Daum focuses on in-season ingredients and year-round treats, from halva lattes to kabochasquash breads. Also helpful: a thorough guide to plantbased pantry staples.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

Photography by ERIK PUTZ

TEXT, CHANTAL BRAGANZA. FOOD STYLING, MATTHEW KIMURA. PROP STYLING, MADELEINE JOHARI.

Creamy Lemon Bean Dip

Dips and proteins are next. Keep the board looking pretty for longer by pre-slicing your plant-based meat alternatives.

MBLE SE

A†

“Made you look. And yes, I’m wearing Always Discreet.”

CANA

Always Discreet Boutique Underwear. Fits close. Keeps you dry, too.

food

MEMOIR

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

food

MEMOIR

Making maple syrup, and a one-of-a-kind spring cocktail This year, my family’s annual boiling will live on despite the death of my father, who had carried on his own father’s tradition. But can it weather the climate crisis? Written by CAITLIN STALL-PAQUET Illustration by NICOLE WOLF

he maple syrup tradition in my family started long before I was born. After my grandpapa passed away when I was a baby, my father inherited his metal vat for boiling the sweet water (also known as sap) over a fire. In early spring, as soon as the days got above freezing and the nights dipped below—the conditions needed for sap to flow—my father would tap the maple trees in the woods around our house in Frelighsburg, Que., and freeze the water until boiling day. Our annual boiling had always marked the season changing, sweetly announcing the end of a long winter. Every Easter weekend, my father would choose one morning to get up early and build a fire in our backyard to start the long process during which maple water boils down to one-fortieth of its volume and becomes syrup. Later in the day, our whole French-Canadian gang—complete with aunts, uncles, cousins and our grandmother—would crowd around the bubbling vat. About every 20 minutes for the last two hours or so of boiling, my dad would check the liquid’s thickness by holding up a spoon and letting it drip down to see if rivulets formed, which meant we were getting somewhere. Eventually, he would finish the job in a large pot on the stove and pour the precious amber fluid into mason jars. Then he would take out the snow he’d carefully stored in the freezer and drizzle syrup onto it to make maple taffy for us all. Later, I was one of the privileged few who got to bring a mason jar of syrup home. There was another special moment, too, somewhere near the syrup-making halfway point, while we were still gathered outdoors. I’m not sure when it started or who got the idea to add booze to the recipe, though my grandmother was known for having an affinity for gin—my cousins and I found this out young by taking unsuspecting sips of what we thought was 7Up. By the time I was in my 20s, along with waiting for maple syrup, we looked forward to the moment, about five hours into the boil, when the water started turning yellow and the sugar concentration increased. We then ladled the liquid into glasses we could warm our hands on, and added a healthy splash of gin. The herbaceous liquor was the perfect fit for the sweet mixer laced with tiny specks of bark. Though maple water has become a trendy health drink, there isn’t a single store in the world that stocks the stuff half-boiled and flecked with wood.

GLOBAL WARMING, that bull in spring’s china shop, might make our one-of-a-kind cocktail even more of a rarity. As spring now arrives earlier (a phenomenon called season creep), maple syrup making could be pushed forward to the point where—less than 100 years from now—boiling would occur closer to Christmas than

Easter. These warmer and earlier springs can disrupt the delicate freezing-and-thawing process needed for sap to circulate, while also shortening the window during which the trees can be tapped—and syrup producers are feeling the squeeze. A reduced tapping season mean trees have a shorter window to store carbohydrates for the next year, resulting in less-sugary sap. As a result, producers will have to boil down more of the water to get the same amount of syrup. Warmer temperatures also mean there’s less packed snow on the ground to insulate tree roots when weather gets wild—another by-product of the climate crisis—which can cause significant damage. “[Ice storms] are terrible for maple trees, which are quite brittle in the winter,” explains Lenore Newman, director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, B.C. She notes that root and branch damage sustained from an ice storm can cut syrup production by 20 percent overnight due to slow regrowth or, in rare cases, even death. “I always call it a one-two punch. [It’s getting warmer], but it’s that disruptive weather that’s really damaging.” IN FEBRUARY 2016, my father sat me down on his bed and told me he had cancer. A month and a half later, he was in chemotherapy, but that didn’t stop him from hanging buckets on trees, collecting water and getting out his vat. This time, the boiling was only for my father, brothers, our partners and me. It was a bright, unseasonably warm April day; one of my brothers had brought a bottle of Ungava, a Quebec-made gin infused with wild rose hip and Nordic berries, and we all clinked glasses in the sunshine. A year later, my father was considerably weaker, and there was no gathering. However, he’d managed to collect a bit of maple water—just enough to make a few jars of syrup on his stove. He gave me one bearing a homemade label that said “Ben d’l’érable, cuvée 2017” (a play on his name, that means “a lot of maple”). He died about a month after that and, later on, I decided to keep some of his ashes in the small mason jar marked with the year of his last batch. I was heartbroken when we sold his house, maple trees and all, but some of the money from its sale recently allowed one of my brothers to buy a cottage north of Montreal, where he’ll be able to tap his own trees. This Easter, we hope to gather there, around the open fire, while sap boils in our father’s vat. As maple water slowly turns to syrup, my brothers and I will ladle it into glasses, add some gin and cheers to our dad. We’ll also hope that future springs maintain their predictable chaos, freezing and thawing and freezing and thawing, so that the sap—and the gin— can keep flowing. APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

food

HOW-TO

IT’S TIME TO PUT YOUR FEARS ABOUT COOKING WITH DRIED BEANS TO REST. IT’S NOT ONLY CHEAPER AND GREENER TO COOK WITH THIS NUTRITION-PACKED FOOD—IT’S FAR MORE DELICIOUS (AND EASIER THAN YOU THINK) Produced by CHANTAL BRAGANZA + IRENE NGO Photography by ERIK PUTZ Food styling by MATTHEW KIMURA Prop styling by MADELEINE JOHARI Edited by CHANTAL BRAGANZA Illustrations + Art direction by STEPHANIE HAN KIM

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

Tajín seasoning can be found in the Latin American section of most grocery stores. You can also substitute a pinch each of salt and cayenne pepper.

p 74

food

HOW-TO

Black Bean Soup with Lime Popcorn Serves 4 Prep 10 min; total 30 min 11/2

Black Beans

Stovetop: Cover 2 cups rinsed beans with 6 cups cold water in a pot. Set aside to soak for 6 to 8 hrs or overnight. Stir in 1/2 tsp each salt and baking soda. Transfer pot to stovetop, without changing water. Bring to a boil over high, then reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, until beans are tender and water has thickened slightly, 60 to 90 min. Instant Pot: Combine 2 cups rinsed beans with 6 cups cold water and ½ tsp each salt and baking soda in Instant Pot insert. Put the lid on. Close the pressurerelease valve. Press Pressure Cook button, on High, and set for 40 min (it will take 10 min to come to pressure). When cooking finishes, carefully open pressure-release valve to depressurize, 2 to 3 min. Makes 4 ½ cups. Navy Beans

Stovetop: Cover 2 cups rinsed beans with 6 cups cold water in a pot. Set aside to soak for 6 to 8 hrs or overnight. Drain beans, then add 6 cups fresh water and 1/2 tsp each salt and baking soda. Bring to a boil over high, then reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, until beans are tender, about 60 min. Instant Pot: Combine 2 cups rinsed beans with 6 cups cold water and ½ tsp each salt and baking soda in Instant Pot insert. Put the lid on. Close the pressurerelease valve. Press Pressure Cook button, on High, and set for 30 min (it will take 10 min to come to pressure). When cooking finishes, carefully open pressure-release valve to depressurize, 2 to 3 min. Makes 4 cups. Chickpeas

Stovetop: Cover 2 cups rinsed chickpeas with 5 cups cold water in a pot. Set aside to soak for 6 to 8 hrs or overnight. Drain chickpeas, then add 6 cups fresh water and ½ tsp each salt and baking soda. Bring to a boil over high, then reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, until chickpeas are tender, about 90 min. Instant Pot: Combine 2 cups rinsed chickpeas with 5 cups cold water and ½ tsp each salt and baking soda in Instant Pot insert. Put the lid on. Close the pressurerelease valve. Press Pressure Cook button, on High, and set for 50 min (it will take 10 min to come to pressure). When cooking finishes, carefully open pressure-release valve to depressurize, 2 to 3 min. Makes 5 cups. Brown and Green Lentils

Stovetop: Combine 1 cup rinsed lentils with 21/2 cups cold water and ¼ tsp salt in a pot. Bring to a boil over high, then reduce heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, using a spoon to skim off any foam that rises to the top occasionally, until lentils are tender but still have a bite to them, about 30 min. Makes 2½ cups. Directions developed with the 6-Quart Instant Pot Duo Plus. Results may vary on different models.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

tbsp canola oil

large onion, diced

serrano or jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (optional)

garlic cloves, minced

1½ 1

tsp ground cumin tsp fennel seeds

3/4

tsp dried oregano

1/4

tsp salt

cups drained rehydrated black beans (or 2 540-mL cans black beans, drained and rinsed) cups bean liquid (from rehydrating dried beans) or vegetable broth, divided bay leaves

Per serving 280 calories,

13 g protein, 42 g carbs, 7 g fat, 12 g fibre, 4 mg iron, 1,080 mg sodium. Kitchen tip Soup will continue to thicken as it sits. Add a splash of bean liquid or vegetable broth to thin it out. Kitchen tip If your blender doesn’t have a locking lid, remove the lid’s venting piece and place a kitchen towel overtop to allow steam to escape while blending.

Neapolitan Lentil Pasta (Pasta e Lenticchie) Serves 4 Prep 10 min; total 45 min 2

tsp canola oil

celery stalks, finely diced

medium carrot, finely diced

½ Lime Popcorn 1/2 2 1/4

cup freshly popped popcorn tsp lime juice tsp Tajín seasoning

1. Heat a medium pot over medium. Add oil, then onion and serrano. Cook, stirring often, until onion is softened, 3 to 4 min. Add garlic, cumin, fennel seeds, oregano and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are light golden, 2 to 3 min. 2 . Add beans, 4 cups bean liquid and bay leaves. Increase heat to high. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, until beans are tender and skins start to split, 12 to 15 min. 3. Discard bay leaves, then transfer bean mixture to a blender. Blend until smooth, adding remaining 1 cup bean liquid, if needed, for a thinner consistency. Divide soup among bowls. 4. Lime popcorn: Toss popcorn with lime juice and Tajín. Sprinkle over soup.

large onion, finely diced garlic cloves, minced

tsp dried thyme

tsp salt

150-mL can tomato paste

3½

cups vegetable or mushroom broth, divided

cups ditali pasta

1½

cups drained rehydrated or canned brown lentils

cup unsweetened plantbased milk, such as almond

bay leaves

cups baby arugula (optional) Grated vegan parmesan (optional)

1. Heat a pot over mediumhigh. Add oil, then celery, carrot and onion. Cook, stirring often, until vegetables are softened, 5 to 6 min. Add garlic, thyme and salt. Season with pepper. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are golden brown, 3 to 4 min. 2 . Stir in tomato paste and ½ cup broth. Reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is bubbling and darkens to a brick-red colour, 8 to 10 min.

Ditali pasta can be replaced by macaroni, orecchiette or any other type of short extruded pasta.

food

3. Stir in remaining 3 cups

broth, pasta, lentils, milk and bay leaves. Bring to a boil over high, then reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring often, until pasta is just tender and liquid is thickened and reduced by more than half, 18 to 20 min. Discard bay leaves. 4. Serve in bowls with baby arugula and vegan parmesan. Per serving 430 calories, 19 g protein, 81 g carbs, 4 g fat, 13 g fibre, 7 mg iron, 690 mg sodium.

“Scallop” and Navy Bean Cassoulet Serves 4 Prep 25 min; total 1 hr 10 min 400

g very thick-stemmed king oyster mushrooms

marinating liquid. Cook until liquid evaporates and scallops are golden brown on bottoms, 4 to 6 min. Reduce heat to medium and flip scallops over. Cook until golden on bottoms, about 2 min. Transfer to a plate. 3. Add remaining 1 tsp oil to pan. Add onion and celery. Cook until vegetables are softened, 4 to 5 min. Sprinkle flour overtop, then add beans, garlic, thyme and bay leaf. Stir until flour is no longer visible. Pour in broth and reserved marinating liquid. Gently boil until mixture thickens and reduces to a stew-like consistency, 7 to 10 min. 4. Discard bay leaf. Return scallops to pan. Sprinkle with parsley. Per serving 280 calories, 16 g protein, 45 g carbs, 6 g fat, 11 g fibre, 5 mg iron, 920 mg sodium.

tbsp white miso

tsp mirin

tsp olive oil, divided

small onion, diced

celery stalks, diced

tsp all-purpose flour

Roasted Chickpea Salad

cups drained rehydrated navy beans (or 1 540-mL can navy beans, drained and rinsed)

Serves 4 Prep 20 min; total 45 min

21/4

garlic cloves, minced

tbsp fresh thyme leaves

bay leaf

cup mushroom broth

cup finely chopped parsley or celery leaves

21/4

2 11/2 1 ¾

1. Cut mushrooms into 1-in.

thick round “scallops.” Lightly score both sides, using a paring knife, in a cross-hatch pattern, about 2 mm deep. Stir miso and mirin with 1 cup water in a large shallow dish until dissolved. Add scallops. Set aside and let marinate, flipping halfway, for 30 min. 2 . Heat a large non-stick frying pan over mediumhigh. Add 3 tsp oil, then use tongs to transfer each scallop to pan, reserving

HOW -TO

cups drained rehydrated chickpeas (or 1 540-mL can no-salt chickpeas, drained and rinsed) tbsp olive oil tsp sumac, divided tsp smoked paprika tsp salt, divided large garlic cloves, unpeeled

cup extra-virgin olive oil

tbsp lemon juice

pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

mini cucumbers, coarsely chopped

green onion, finely chopped

cup parsley leaves

1. Position rack in centre of oven; preheat to 425F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil. Toss chickpeas with

• Always rinse dried legumes before soaking or cooking to remove stones and grit. • Adding baking soda speeds up the cooking process. • Want to season your beans while rehydrating them? Get creative with aromatics: Add half an onion, bay leaves, garlic cloves or a few peppercorns during the stovetop or Instant Pot stage of cooking, and remove them once the beans are done. • While all dried legumes are shelf-stable, older ones will take longer to cook than newly packaged ones. • Save the seasoned cooking liquid from your rehydrated beans; it’s flavourful and can be substituted for broth and other liquids in your recipe. • Portion drained cooked legumes in resealable containers or bags and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month.

olive oil, ½ tsp sumac, the paprika and ¼ tsp salt. Season with pepper. 2 . Wrap garlic cloves in a small sheet of foil. Place on same baking sheet. Roast, stirring chickpeas halfway, until crisp and golden brown, 25 to 30 min. 3. Unwrap foil. Squeeze roasted garlic into a large bowl, discarding skin. Mash

garlic, using a fork. Stir in extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, remaining 1 tsp sumac and ½ tsp salt. 4. Add tomatoes, cucumbers, green onion and parsley. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with chickpeas. Per serving 350 calories, 8 g protein, 28 g carbs, 24 g fat, 8 g fibre, 2 mg iron, 640 mg sodium.

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER

3 FABULOUS ISSUES FOR JUST $5 SUBSCRIBE FAS H I O N M AG A ZI N E .C O M /S P EC I A L

@FASHIONCanada

FASHIONMagazine

food

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SILK

Cardamom and Coconut Latte with Silk Half & Half

Start your day the plant-based way

P 82

Curious about a plant-based diet? Ease into it by starting with breakfast. From a luxurious dairy-free latte to a hearty quinoa porridge, these five recipes will set you up for success Photography by ERIK PUTZ Food styling by ESHUN MOTT Prop styling by RAYNA MARLEE SCHWARTZ Creative direction by SUN NGO Edited by GILLIAN BERNER

Plant-Based Crepes with Silk Oat Beverage

HELENA BLUSH LINEN NAPKIN, CRATEANDBARREL.CA.

P 82

Try spreading ¼ cup Silk Almond Plant-Based Yogurt inside each crepe and top with a simple berry syrup—just heat maple syrup with mixed berries. APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

Green Apple and Almond Smoothie with Silk Almond & Cashew Protein Beverage

A snack of almond butter and apples is the inspiration for this bright-green, protein-laden morning smoothie.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

FELTON HIGHBALL GLASS, KITCHENAID BLENDER, CRATEANDBARREL.CA.

P 82

food

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SILK

Customize your breakfast! This porridge is the perfect base for berries, toasted coconut, nuts, dried fruit and maple syrup.

Quick Quinoa Porridge with Silk Almond Beverage P 82

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

food

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SILK

Cardamom and Coconut Latte Serves 2 Prep 5 min; total 10 min 1

cup Silk Half & Half

tsp whole green cardamom pods (10 to 12 pods)

shots espresso Ground cardamom, for garnish (optional) Sweetener, to taste

1. Pour Silk Half & Half into a small pot. Crush cardamom pods with a mortar and pestle (or the bottom of a heavy pot) until seeds are slightly broken. Add cardamom to pot and bring just to a boil. Pull 2 shots of espresso into 2 cups. Strain half-and-half mixture to remove cardamom, then froth. Divide between cups and sprinkle with extra cardamom and sweeten, if desired.

Plant-Based Crepes Serves 3 Prep 15 min; total 25 min 1 1

Serves 2 or 3 Prep 5 min; total 5 min 1

cup Silk Almond & Cashew Protein Beverage Unsweetened

green apples, cored and sliced

cups baby spinach

1/2

cup ice

tbsp ground flax meal

small banana

cup Silk Oat Beverage Unsweetened

tbsp fresh mint leaves

tbsp canola oil

tbsp maple syrup

cup all-purpose flour Silk Almond Plant-Based Yogurt, assorted berries, maple syrup, powdered sugar, for garnish (optional)

1. Stir flax meal with 3 tbsp

water in a medium bowl. Let stand until thickened, about 10 min. 2. Whisk Silk Oat Beverage, oil and maple syrup into flax-meal mixture, then add flour. Whisk until mostly smooth. (It’s okay if small lumps remain.) Whisk in 1/4 cup water to loosen batter slightly. 3. Heat an 8-in. non-stick frying pan over medium. Scoop 1/3 cup batter into the centre of the hot pan. Lift pan from burner and quickly tilt CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

Overnight Chia Oatmeal with Silk Almond Beverage

Green Apple and Almond Smoothie

pan around to thinly cover bottom. Continue swirling until batter stops moving. Return pan to burner and cook until top is set and bottom is golden, about 1 min. Gently loosen edges with a flexible spatula and carefully flip. Continue cooking until bottom is golden, about 1 min. 4. Transfer crepe to a plate. Repeat with remaining batter, adjusting heat as necessary. Serve crepes with berries and more maple syrup. If desired, spread the inside of each crepe with up to 1/4 cup Silk Almond Plant-Based Yogurt.

tbsp almond butter Pinch salt

1. Combine all ingredients in blender and process until smooth. Divide among glasses and serve immediately.

Quick Quinoa Porridge Serves 8 Prep 5 min; total 20 min Plus 15 min standing time 1

946-mL pkg Silk Almond Beverage Unsweetened

cup quinoa

1/2

tsp ground cardamom (optional)

1/4

cup sultana raisins

1/4

cup dried apricots, thinly sliced

1/4

cup sliced almonds, preferably toasted Fresh or thawed frozen

berries, toasted coconut, maple syrup, for garnish (optional) 1. Pour 2 cups Silk Almond Beverage into a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat. In a sieve, rinse quinoa, then stir into Silk Almond Beverage along with cardamom. Cover and bring back to a boil Reduce heat and simmer for 12 min. Remove from heat. Using a fork, fluff. Cover and let stand until tender, 15 min. 2. Stir in additional Silk Almond Beverage, 1 tbsp at a time, until mixture is as thick as you like. Stir in raisins, apricots and almonds. Spoon into bowls. Pour a little more Silk Almond Beverage overtop. Sprinkle with berries, additional almonds or coconut, and sweeten with maple syrup, if desired.

Overnight Chia Oatmeal Serves 1 Prep 5 min; total 5 min 3/4

cup Silk Almond Beverage Unsweetened

1/3

cup old-fashioned rolled oats

tbsp chia seeds

tsp maple syrup

1/4

tsp vanilla

tbsp dried cranberries (or 1 dried fig, finely chopped)

banana, thinly sliced

tbsp toasted sliced almonds

1. Combine Silk Almond Beverage, oats, chia seeds, maple syrup, vanilla and dried cranberries in a 250-mL mason jar. 2 . Stir well, then cover and refrigerate overnight. 3. Before serving, top with banana and almonds.

Milky whipped puddings, light-as-air pavlovas, tart and crunchy rhubarb squares: Ring in a sweeter spring with this collection of plant-based desserts Produced by IRENE NGO Photography by ERIK PUTZ Food styling by ESHUN MOTT Prop styling by EMILY HOWES Edited by CHANTAL BRAGANZA Art direction by AIMEE NISHITOBA

P 86

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

VILJESTARK CLEAR VASE, VANLIGEN DARK RED VASE, IKEA.COM. WALL COLOUR: AURA INTERIOR PAINTS IN OC-90 VANILLA ICE CREAM, BENJAMINMOORE.COM. LEAF ICONS THROUGHOUT, ISTOCK.

food

P 86 DESSERTS

food

DESSERTS

Serves 4 Prep 15 min; total 20 min Plus chilling time 2

cups barista-style oat milk, divided

tbsp granulated sugar

tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp refined coconut oil 1

tsp unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)

tsp vanilla

½ to 1 tsp instant espresso powder

with sugar in a saucepan set over medium. Cook, whisking occasionally, until mixture comes to a simmer, 4 to 5 min. 2. Whisk remaining ½ cup oat milk with cornstarch in a small bowl until dissolved. Slowly pour into simmering oat milk mixture, whisking until smooth. Reduce heat to medium-low; whisk constantly until mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon, 1 to 2 min. Remove from heat and stir in coconut oil. 3. Reserve ¼ cup pudding in a small bowl. Stir cocoa powder, vanilla and ½ tsp espresso powder into remaining hot pudding until dissolved. Taste, then add remaining ½ tsp espresso powder, if desired. Divide between 4 double-espresso cups. 4. Scrape reserved pudding into a resealable bag. Snip off 2 mm from one corner of bag. Pipe dots onto surface of each pudding. Using a toothpick, swirl surface to create latte art. Cover each cup with plastic and refrigerate until chilled, about 3 hours or overnight. Per serving 170 calories, 2 g protein, 24 g carbs, 7 g fat, 1 g fibre, 1 mg iron, 55 mg sodium.

Serves 8 Prep 20 min; total 2 hrs Plus chilling time

P 88

Crust 11/3

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

cups all-purpose flour (160 g)

ALVINE KVIST DUVET COVER AND PILLOWCASES (USED AS TABLECLOTH), IKEA.COM.

1. Combine 1½ cups oat milk

WALL COLOUR: AURA INTERIOR PAINTS IN OC-90 VANILLA ICE CREAM, BENJAMINMOORE.COM. PINK BOWL: MUD AUSTRALIA DIPPING BOWL, BLOSSOM, HOPSONGRACE.COM. PLATES: ORA STONEWARE SALAD PLATE IN BLUE GREY, CRATEANDBARREL.CA. FLOWER VASE: RENATA PINK MUG, CRATEANDBARREL.CA.

food DESSERTS

P 88

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

food

DESSERTS

tbsp granulated sugar

1/4

tsp salt

1/2

cup cold, firm coconut oil, preferably refined

5 to 6 tbsp ice-cold water Filling 2 1

100-g bars dairy-free dark chocolate, chopped 300-g pkg silken or soft tofu, such as Sunrise, drained cup icing sugar

tsp vanilla

255-g tub frozen coconut whipped topping, such as So Delicious, thawed

Topping 1

255-g tub frozen coconut whipped topping, such as So Delicious, thawed Dairy-free dark chocolate curls (optional)

1. Crust: Combine flour

with 2 tbsp granulated sugar and salt in a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine. Add coconut oil. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse sand, 10 to 15 times. Add 5 tbsp ice water. Pulse just until dough clumps together, 10 to 15 times. (Add remaining 1 tbsp water only if dough feels dry. Don’t add if dough just looks dry—it will hydrate as it rests.) Form dough into a disc. Wrap with plastic and chill in refrigerator until firm, about 40 min. 2 . Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 375F. Roll dough out into a 13-in. circle on a floured counter. Lift dough onto a 9-in. metal pie plate and press over bottom and up side of plate. Trim overhanging pastry, then press tines of a fork evenly around the edge. Prick pastry all over with a fork. Line with a large square of foil to cover, then fill with dried beans. Bake for 20 min. Remove foil and beans and bake until golden, about

CHATELAINE • APRIL 1011

5 to 10 min more. Let cool completely on a rack, about 30 min. 3. Filling: Microwave dark chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl on high until melted, stirring halfway through, 1 to 2 min. Stir until completely smooth. Set aside. 4. Whirl tofu with icing sugar and vanilla in clean food processor until very smooth. While whirling, add melted chocolate through the spout. Continue whirling, scraping down sides once, until very smooth and combined. Scrape filling into a large bowl. Stir in ½ tub whipped topping until combined, then gently fold in remaining whipped topping to create a mousselike texture. Scrape filling into cooled pie crust. Refrigerate until chilled and slightly firm, about 3 hrs. 5. Topping: Spread whipped topping over pie, using back of spoon to form swirls. Garnish with chocolate curls, if desired. Per serving 530 calories, 5 g protein, 59 g carbs, 33 g fat, 2 g fibre, 4 mg iron, 80 mg sodium.

Makes 12/3 cups Prep 5 min; total 10 min Plus freezing time 1

400-mL can full-fat coconut milk

tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

tbsp granulated sugar

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-high. Cook, stirring often, until sugar dissolves, 2 to 3 min. Pour into ice-pop moulds. Freeze until firm, about 10 hours, or overnight. Per 1/3 cup 210 calories, 3 g protein, 18 g carbs, 17 g fat, 3 g fibre, 4 mg iron, 10 mg sodium.

Serves 6 Prep 20 min; total 3 hrs 25 min Meringues 1/2

cup aquafaba, from a can of no-salt chickpeas, at room temperature

1/8

tsp cream of tartar

3/4

cup superfine sugar (150 g)

tsp cornstarch

Kitchen tip Aquafaba, the viscous liquid in canned chickpeas, can be used as an egg white substitute. Aquafaba from no-salt chickpeas has better flavour and whips to stiff peaks faster. Make ahead Store cooled meringues in a sealed container at room temperature in a dry spot for up to 3 days.

Topping 2

cups frozen coconut whipped topping, such as So Delicious, thawed

Serves 8 Prep 15 min; total 1 hr Plus cooling time

cup blueberries

Cake

cup raspberries

11/2

tbsp ground flax meal

cup sliced strawberries

11/2

Icing sugar, for garnish (optional)

cups all-purpose flour (180 g)

11/2

tsp baking powder

tsp cinnamon

1. Position rack in centre of

3/4

tsp baking soda

oven and preheat to 200F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment. 2 . Pour aquafaba through a sieve into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Sprinkle cream of tartar overtop. Whisk on medium-high until soft peaks form when whisk is lifted, 1 to 2 min. Gradually whip in sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, until stiff and glossy peaks form when whisk is lifted, 4 to 5 min. Whip in cornstarch. 3. Spoon meringue onto prepared sheet in 6 large dollops, dividing evenly. Using the back of a spoon, spread meringue into 3- to 4-in.-wide circles, then indent the middles while pushing up the edges to resemble nests. 4. Bake until tops are crisp and dry, 2 to 2 ½ hrs. Turn off oven and let meringues dry in oven for 1 hr more. Transfer baking sheet to a rack and cool completely, about 30 min. 5. Top meringues with coconut whipped topping and berries. Sift icing sugar over, if desired. Per serving 200 calories, 1 g protein, 41 g carbs, 6 g fat, 1 g fibre, 0.3 mg iron, 1 mg sodium.

tsp salt

3/4

cup packed brown sugar (144 g)

3/4

cup grated carrot (75 g)

cup canola oil

2 ½

tsp vanilla 100-g pkg chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted, plus more for garnish Crumbled carrot chips, such as Hardbite, for garnish (optional)

Icing 2/3 1

cup refined coconut oil cup icing sugar

1/2

tsp vanilla

⅛

tsp salt

1. Cake: Position rack in centre of oven and preheat to 350F. Line an 8�4-in. loaf pan with parchment, leaving overhang. 2 . Stir flax with ½ cup water in a large bowl. Set aside 5 min. 3. Stir flour with baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. 3. Stir brown sugar, carrot, oil, and vanilla into flax mixture. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in pecans. Scrape into prepared pan. 4. Bake until a cake tester inserted in centre of loaf comes out clean, 40 to 45 min.

WALL COLOUR: AURA INTERIOR PAINTS IN OC-90 VANILLA ICE CREAM, BENJAMINMOORE.COM. TEAPOT: GINORI 1735 ORIENTE ITALIANO TEAPOT W/COVER, ALBUS 24 OZ., HOPSONGRACE.COM. BLUE SALAD PLATE: ADDISON GREY GOLD RIM SALAD PLATE, CRATEANDBARREL.CA.

food DESSERTS

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

food

DESSERTS

protein, 16 g carbs, 7 g fat, 1 g fibre, 1 mg iron, 120 mg sodium.

Makes 16 squares Prep 15 min; total 1 hr 30 min Plus cooling time Crust 1 1/4

cups all-purpose flour (150 g)

1 1/4

cups large-flake oats (125 g)

2/3

cup granulated sugar (128 g)

1/4

tsp salt

1/2

cup refined coconut oil, melted

Filling

Transfer pan to a rack and cool completely. 5. Icing: Beat all ingredients in a medium bowl, using an electric mixer on medium, until fluffy. Spread over loaf. Top with more chopped pecans and crumbled carrot chips, if desired. Per serving 550 calories, 3 g protein, 53 g carbs, 37 g fat, 2 g fibre, 330 mg sodium.

Makes 20 cookies Prep 10 min; total 40 min 1 1 1/3

tbsp flax meal

cups all-purpose flour (160 g)

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

tsp baking soda

1/4

tsp salt

cup coconut oil, preferably refined, at room temperature

cup packed brown sugar (96 g)

cup granulated sugar (48 g)

11/2

tsp vanilla

cup dairy-free dark chocolate chips

tsp flaked sea salt

1. Position rack in centre of oven and preheat to 350F. 2 . Stir flax meal with 3 tbsp water in a small bowl. Let stand for 10 min.

3. Stir flour with baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat coconut oil with sugars in a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium, until fluffy, 1 to 2 min. Beat in flax mixture and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. 4 . Roll dough into balls, about 2 tbsp each. Arrange on two baking sheets, 2 in. apart. Sprinkle with flaked sea salt. 5. Bake until cookies are golden brown, 13 to 14 min. Transfer to a rack and cool. Per cookie 130 calories, 1 g

cup strawberry jam

tbsp cornstarch

tsp vanilla

300

g frozen sliced rhubarb, about 2 cups

300

g frozen sliced strawberries, about 2 cups

1. Position rack in centre of oven and preheat to 350F. Line the bottom of a 9�9-in. baking pan with parchment, leaving overhang on all sides. 2 . Crust: Stir flour with oats, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Drizzle with melted coconut oil. Stir until combined. Set aside ½ cup oat mixture. 3. Sprinkle remaining oat mixture evenly in prepared pan, then firmly press down. 4. Filling: Stir jam with cornstarch and vanilla in a large bowl until combined. Add frozen fruits and stir until coated. Arrange over oat mixture in pan as evenly as possible. Sprinkle reserved oat mixture overtop. 5. Bake until fruit is bubbly around edges, 60 to 75 min. Transfer pan to a rack and cool completely, about 2 hrs. Cut into squares and serve. Per serving 190 calories, 2 g protein, 29 g carbs, 7 g fat, 2 g fibre, 1 mg iron, 40 mg sodium.

WALL COLOUR: AURA INTERIOR PAINTS IN OC-90 VANILLA ICE CREAM, BENJAMINMOORE.COM.

1/3

ALVINE KVIST DUVET COVER AND PILLOWCASES (USED AS TABLECLOTH), IKEA.COM.

food DESSERTS

food

DINNER PLAN

The

OH SHE GLOWS dinner plan Angela Liddon was creating delicious, reliable and completely doable meatand dairy-free recipes years before plant-based entered the lexicon. Here, the bestselling cookbook author shares five weeknight favourites from her latest release, Oh She Glows for Dinner 92

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

food

DINNER PLAN

GLOW GREEN 30-MINUTE PESTO PASTA P 94

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

food

DINNER PLAN

DREAMY PEANUT BUTTER CRUNCH VEGGIE NOODLE BOWLS

[ M O N DAY ]

Glow Green 30-Minute Pesto Pasta Serves 6 Prep 30 min; total 30 min 2

tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

8-oz. pkg cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced

medium green zucchini, diced into ½-inch pieces

cups diced (½-in. pieces) broccoli florets Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

oz dry rotini pasta Double-Batch Pretty Parsley-Cilantro Pepita Pesto

6 to 7 tsp fresh lemon juice, or to taste 1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. 2. Meanwhile, in an extralarge skillet, heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli, a generous pinch of salt and a bit of pepper and stir well to combine. Raise the heat to medium-high and sauté, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 10 min, then check the tenderness of the veggies. Cover and cook, reducing the heat if necessary and stirring in a splash of water if the veggies begin to stick to the pan, for 4 to 6 min more, until veggies are fork-tender. After cooking, drain any water that is left in the skillet. 3. When the pot of water comes to a boil, cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process and return the drained pasta to the pot. 4. While the veggies and pasta are cooking, prepare the Double-Batch Pretty ParsleyCilantro Pepita Pesto. 5. Add the cooked veggies and all of the pesto to the pot with the pasta. Stir well to combine. Taste and add the

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2024

lemon juice, little by little to taste, until the flavours pop, and season with additional salt and pepper as desired. Kitchen tip Serve leftovers chilled or at room temperature, adding a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of salt to revive the flavours, if desired.

Double-Batch Pretty Parsley-Cilantro Pepita Pesto Makes 13/4 cups plus 2 tbsp Prep 8 min; total 8 min 2

large garlic cloves

cup toasted pepitas or raw cashews

11/2

cups lightly packed fresh parsley leaves

11/2

cups lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves

1/2

cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4

cup water

cup fresh lemon juice

tbsp nutritional yeast

1/2

tsp fine sea salt, plus more to taste

1. In a food processor, process the garlic until minced. 2 . Add the pepitas and process into fine crumbs. 3. Add the parsley, cilantro, oil, water, lemon juice, nutritional yeast and salt and process until super-smooth, stopping to scrape down the bowl if necessary. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more lemon juice, salt, oil or nutritional yeast, if desired.

[ T U E S DAY ]

Dreamy Peanut Butter Crunch Veggie Noodle Bowls Serves 4 Prep 30 min; total 35 min 1

batch Dreamy Peanut Butter Sauce with Ginger and Lime

oz soba noodles

tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

medium red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced

heaping cups thinly sliced green or red cabbage

cup frozen shelled edamame

11/2

tbsp sodium-reduced tamari

medium carrots, julienned

large green onions,

food

a bit of firmness remaining). 4. Add the edamame and tamari. Stir to combine. Sauté for 3 min, until the edamame are thawed and heated through. 5. Add the carrots and green onions. Cook for 1 min or so, just until tender. 6. Turn off the heat and stir in the cilantro and the drained noodles. Taste and season with salt and lime juice. Reheat the mixture over low heat, if necessary. 7. Use tongs to plate the mixture and add a generous drizzle of peanut butter sauce. Garnish with a lime wedge and a handful of chopped peanuts.

Dreamy Peanut Butter Sauce with Ginger and Lime Makes 3/4 cup Prep 7 min; total 7 min 1

large garlic clove

tsp grated fresh ginger

3 to 4 tbsp water 6

tbsp smooth natural peanut butter

tbsp plus 1 tsp fresh lime juice

tbsp grapeseed oil

tbsp sodium-reduced tamari

tsp pure maple syrup

tsp sriracha

thinly sliced ½

cup lightly packed cilantro, minced Fine sea salt

[ W E D N E S DAY ]

Instant Marinated Chickpeas on Avocado Toast Serves 3 Prep 15 min; total 15 min 1

398-mL can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/3

cup packed fresh basil leaves, minced

tbsp finely chopped oilpacked unsalted sun-dried tomatoes, drained

tbsp minced red onion

tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

tbsp fresh lemon juice

tsp red-wine vinegar

⅛

tsp fine sea salt

tsp freshly ground black pepper Red pepper flakes (optional)

For serving 1 to 2 ripe medium avocados, pitted

DINNER PLAN

Toasted sliced bread Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Fresh lemon juice 1. In a medium bowl, stir together the chickpeas, basil, sun-dried tomatoes, red onion, oil, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste (if using). Taste and adjust the seasonings, if desired. 2 . To serve, mash the avocado onto slices of toast and sprinkle with a touch of salt. Stir the chickpea mixture to redistribute the juices and spoon it over the toast, scooping up as much of the liquid in the bowl as you can (you can even mash some of the chickpeas, if you like, to help stop them from rolling off the toast, but this isn’t necessary!). Season with

INSTANT MARINATED CHICKPEAS ON AVOCADO TOAST

tsp fine sea salt

Lime wedges Chopped salted roasted peanuts, for serving 1. Prepare the Dreamy Peanut Butter Sauce with Ginger and Lime. Set aside. 2. Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain the noodles and rinse with water. 3. Meanwhile, in a large wok, add the oil, bell pepper and cabbage. Sauté, uncovered, over medium-high heat for 5 min, until slightly softened (you’re looking for an al dente texture: tender but with

1. In a food processor, process the garlic until minced. 2. Add the ginger, water (starting with 3 tbsp), peanut butter, lime juice, oil, tamari, maple syrup and sriracha. Process until smooth, adding up to a few tsp more water if the sauce is a bit thick (keep in mind that it will thicken as it sits). Taste, season with salt and process briefly to combine. If you’d like the sauce a bit sweeter, you can add a touch more maple syrup. The sauce should have a thin, pourable consistency.

APRIL 2024 • CHATELAINE

food

DINNER PLAN

SPEEDY 8-INGREDIENT PANTRY DAL

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

food

additional salt, pepper and an extra squeeze of lemon juice. Serve immediately. Kitchen tip Store the chickpeas in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The oil tends to solidify when it’s chilled, so let it sit at room temperature before serving.

[ T H U R S DAY ]

Speedy 8-Ingredient Pantry Dal Serves 4 Prep 8 min; total 22 to 37 min (depending on the veggies used) 1

tbsp virgin coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil

cups diced vegetables (such as carrots and zucchini, potatoes and peas, sweet potatoes and bell pepper, or cauliflower and broccoli)

cup dried red lentils

cup water, plus more if needed

398-mL can diced tomatoes, with their juices

398-mL can light coconut milk

15 to 30 min, until the veggies and lentils are tender; the cook time will depend on the type and size of veggies you use (check on them frequently). If any lentils stick to the bottom of the pot, scrape them up and reduce the heat, if necessary. (If you’re using potatoes, I suggest covering the pot while cooking because they don’t contain as much liquid as other veggies; you may need to add more water to thin the mixture.) 4. Garnish with cilantro and serve over rice, if desired, with some fresh lime juice squeezed over the top. Kitchen tip Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze leftovers in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

COLD-BE-GONE FLAVOUR BOMB NOODLE SOUP

[ F R I DAY ]

Cold-Be-Gone Flavour Bomb Noodle Soup Serves 4 Prep 15 min; total 35 min

1½

tsp garlic powder

1½

tsp dried onion flakes

tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

tbsp curry powder

2. Meanwhile, dice the carrots

cups diced sweet or yellow onion

Freshly ground black pepper

large garlic cloves, minced

Chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

medium carrots

medium celery stalks

and celery into ¼- to ½-in. pieces. This will help them cook faster. (You should have 1½ cups carrots and 1 ⅓ cups celery.) Add the carrots and celery to the pot and stir to combine. Sauté for a few min. 3. Stir in the ginger and sauté for 1 min. 4. Add the thyme, sage, tomato paste and broth. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-high, cover and simmer for 5 min, or until veggies are al dente (tender but still a bit firm). 5. Add the pasta and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until al dente, following the timing guidelines on the pasta package. Check on the pasta frequently while it’s cooking, as you don’t want to overcook it.

¾ to 1 tsp fine sea salt, to taste

Cooked basmati rice or grain of choice (optional), for serving Fresh lime juice, for serving

DINNER PLAN

2½

tsp grated fresh ginger

tsp dried thyme leaves

tsp ground sage

tbsp tomato paste

1. In a large pot, warm the oil

cups vegetable broth

over medium-low heat. Add the veggies to the pot and stir to coat with the oil. 2 . Add the lentils, water, diced tomatoes with their juices, coconut milk, garlic powder, onion flakes, curry powder, salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine. 3. Increase the heat to high and bring to a low boil. Reduce the heat to medium and gently simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for

oz dry short pasta

cup packed fresh parsley leaves, minced

tsp fresh lemon juice, or more to taste

⅛

tsp cayenne pepper Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. In a large pot, stir together the oil, onion and garlic to combine. Sauté over medium heat for 5 to 6 min, until the onion is softened.

6. Once the pasta is al dente, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the parsley, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and salt and black pepper to taste. Serve immediately. Kitchen tip Using 2½ tsp grated fresh ginger results in a spicy soup, especially after sitting overnight. If you prefer a less intense broth, start with 1 tsp ginger and add more to taste.

Excerpted from Oh She Glows for Dinner: Nourishing Plant-Based Meals to Keep You Glowing by Angela Liddon. Copyright © 2020 Glo Bakery Corporation. Published by Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

APRIL 2021 • CHATELAINE

one last thing

HUMOUR

Middle-aged milestones Why should babies have all the fun? Keeping track of your mature-woman accomplishments has never been easier! Refer to this handy checklist whenever you’re wondering if you are, in fact, totally middle-aged Written by LEAH RUMACK Illustration by LEEANDRA CIANCI

1. You have found yourself thinking, at least once: “Hmm.

5. You stay up watching the “important” scenes in

Maybe I should go into real estate?” 2. You say things like, “I was hot for Idris Elba when he was on The Wire” and “Remember the Cowboy Junkies?” 3. Maximizing your Shoppers Optimum points is your love language. 4. You have a minimum of three to five divorced friends. Bonus points if 1) you are the divorced friend or 2) you seriously thought about getting divorced but decided to redecorate instead.

Bridgerton until 9:37 p.m. and then say, “God, it’s almost midnight—I’m going to be paying for this for a week!” 6. You’re very honoured when your friend asks you to pick him up after his colonoscopy. 7. You pulled a muscle by breathing. 8. You see an ad for a roomy plaid nightgown and think, “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” 9. You lust after Timothée Chalamet and you know it’s very, very wrong.

CHATELAINE • APRIL 2021

Ask for the

Good Stuff

Look for Canadian beef that makes the grade for you.

canadabeef.ca

Grade Expectations When you bite into a juicy steak or roast, you want to enjoy the highest quality beef. Canadian beef grades help ensure that your beef has been meticulously chosen to deliver a delicious experience every time. Here’s how to choose from Canada’s best – and some of the world’s finest – beef to inspire your inner chef and tantalize your taste buds.

CANADA AA GRADE

CANADA AAA GRADE

A good value choice oﬀering lower levels of *marbling and typically fewer calories than Canada AAA and Prime Grades. Canada AA beef can be tender and ﬂavourful and performs well with all popular cooking methods.

A great choice for high-quality beef. Canada AAA oﬀers higher levels of marbling than Canada AA and is well suited for all popular cooking methods. Canada AAA will become a delicious family favourite when grilled, broiled, simmered or roasted to perfection.

CANADA AAA GRADE (TOP TIER)

CANADA PRIME GRADE

Canadian beef brands that include only the most marbled (Top Tier) beef within the Canada AAA grade are an excellent choice for steakhouse-quality beef. These brands oﬀer beef with the very best marbling, ﬂavour and juiciness within the AAA grade.

An extraordinary choice for exclusive steakhouses, hotels and serious home chefs. Canada Prime is selected for maximum marbling, ﬂavour and juiciness and only available in limited supply.

* Marbling is the small flecks of white fat distributed throughout the meat. The amount of marbling influences beef juiciness, texture and flavour.

aqua bomb

Instant Blast of Aqua! The true cream-aqua bomb Experience explosive hydration with this lightweight gel-cream that boosts hydration levels by 70% for a smooth, glowing appearance.

Dermatologist tested

A bestselling moisturizer at Sephora Over 4 million units sold worldwide

avon.ca

@belifcanada