Maclean's June 2022

THE NURSE WHO WASN’T I read “The Many Faces of Brigitte Cleroux” (May 2022) with memories of the “Great Impostor” Ferdinand Waldo Demara. Ms. Cleroux was an expert in deception and fraud. She infiltrated positions of trust. Her odyssey across our country raises concern, especially considering the current pressure on staffing health services. In general, there is an unwritten trust when we are subject to any medical professional’s care. Their power and credentials usually go unquestioned by the general public, but this scenario creates doubt in all of us. Hopefully the question “How did she go undetected?” will be answered and, most importantly, corrected. Bill Hamilton, Virgil, Ont. The article about Brigitte Cleroux triggered a memory for me. Six years ago, at an IV clinic, I sat beside a woman who said she…

AHMED HUSSEN’S FIRST HOME in Canada was a social-housing unit on Hess Street in Hamilton that he shared with his cousin. He was only 16 years old then, a refugee who had fled Somalia during the civil war. By 2002, the same year he completed an undergraduate degree at York University, Hussen had co-founded the Regent Park Community Council to advocate for more subsidized units, services and amenities for residents amid a massive $500-million revitalization of the Toronto neighbourhood. Hussen, who was elected to Parliament in 2015 and appointed minister of housing and diversity and inclusion last October, has deep knowledge of the complexities of unaffordable housing. The current real estate market has Canadians frantically scrambling for property—or priced out altogether. The issue was the undisputed focus of April’s federal budget,…

THE FIRST FAMILY ON OUR STREET who bought an electric vehicle back in 2019 were rebels. Our neighbourhood is typical of eastend Toronto—full of small, semi-detached homes with no driveways—so charging was difficult. I discovered how they solved their problem one night while walking my dog, when I tripped over the extension cord they’d strung across the sidewalk under the cover of darkness. Just three years later, a tidal wave of public charging stations are being installed across the country (a 39 per cent increase in 2021 alone), along with huge new investments in EV and battery manufacturing. This flurry of innovation will soon carry over to trucks, trains and—vehicles aside—heat pumps, induction stoves and industrial boilers. One of the best ways to fight climate change is to electrify almost everything,…

Early days: My movie-buff father taught me to appreciate powerful performances. One of my first favourites was Dirty Dancing, which stood out for its ability to create tension and chemistry through choreography and dance. My own performing career started when I joined the Raptors Junior Dance Pak in the ’90s. Education: I went to art school, and after exploring multiple careers, I was drawn to paramedicine. I spent 15 years working on sets as a medical consultant with my company, Ready Set Medic, choreographing actors on shows like Designated Survivor and The Handmaid’s Tale. How I started: One day, I overheard a crew discussing how they were going to shoot between a performer’s legs during a labour-and-delivery scene. I thought about asking, “Do you mind if we see if that works for…

The buyers: Nevena Nikolich, a 50-year-old education-credential evaluator; Tim Cathcart, a 50-year-old former electrical engineering technologist and stay-at-home dad; sons Thomas, who’s 14, and Lukas, who’s nine; and Coco (a pug) and Roxy (a Jack Russell–rat terrier mix). The budget: $1.1 million The backstory: When the family moved into their bungalow in Etobicoke, Ontario, in 2015, they thought they’d found their forever home. It was the perfect size: three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a den that doubled as Nikolich’s home office and a spacious yard for the kids and pets. Nikolich and Cathcart both adore water, so having Lake Ontario a 15-minute walk away was a major plus. On weekends, the family kayaked in Port Credit and hiked in Milton and Orangeville. Their excursions even had a dedicated documentarian: Thomas, their photography-loving son,…

SIPHESIHLE NOVEMBER doesn’t remember when he started dancing; he only remembers how it felt. “I knew the power dance had over me. When I was a part of it, it felt like home,” he says. As a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada—and, at 23, the youngest in its seven-decade history—he’s now worlds away from Zolani, the South African farming township where he grew up. There, November improvised to kwaito, a mash-up of house music and traditional beats that loosely translates to “hot-tempered.” November quickly became known among locals as “the dancer,” and the art form was a lifeline for him: poverty and racism were rampant in the community where he lived with his siblings and their mother, Sylvia, a cannery worker. “I come from a place where you’re…