Reader's Digest Canada

How’d You Do? Twenty-six. That’s how many of the 101 questions I got right the first time I tried this month’s cover story, “The Canada Quiz” (page 31). Not great, but not completely embarrassing. We wanted this quiz to be a challenge. And ideally, like me, you’ll discover a lot of facts about our country, and have a lot of fun along the way. With that in mind, here’s a (not entirely scientific) guide to the quiz’s rankings. 0–24 CORRECT While you may not know your Pile-of-Bones from your Labatt Park, you didn’t give up and got a few stumpers, too. You deserve a doughnut (see question No. 18)! 25–49 CORRECT Nice effort. Not everyone can hit a home run like Babe Ruth at a certain Canuck ballpark (see question No. 69), but…

EMCIE TURINECK Illustrator, Montreal “Pyjama Day” Turineck is a neurodivergent artist who received her BFA and arts education degree from Concordia University, where she focused on drawing and installation. Over the last few years, she’s concentrated her practice on creating digital illustrations. She’s been published in Yes! magazine and has produced work for Deloitte. See her contribution to this issue on page 72. ANICKA QUIN Writer, Vancouver Quin is an awardwinning writer and editor whose work has appeared in Best Health, BCBusiness and Cottage Life. She’s the editorial director of Western Living and Vancouver magazines, where she writes about travel, architecture and design. Quin is currently working on a young adult novel. Check out her story about one of Canada’s first zero waste grocery stores on page 8. DAMHNAIT MONAGHAN Writer, England “Pyjama Day” Monaghan is a Canadian writer known…

HISTORY LESSON The story of Charles “Checker” Marvin Tomkins, who worked as an encryption officer during the Second World War (“20 True Canadian Heroes,” April 2022), touched me. How many Indigenous people have given not only their time but also their lives for this country? And how is our country and our government repaying them? Many don’t even have clean drinking water. It’s a black mark on Canada’s reputation. — JOAN ESCHBACH, Penticton, B.C. I enjoyed “20 True Canadian Heroes” by Ali Amad and Sarah Liss in the latest issue of your magazine. Bravo for such an uplifting feature. I’m sure if each of your readers dug deeply into their hometown, they would be able to find a story for this list. I know I will. —DOUG WOODS, Greater Napanee, Ont. FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF…

IN THE 2010S, 34-year-old Brianne Miller travelled around the world as a marine biologist. No matter how remote the location, she made the same alarming discovery: copious amounts of plastic littering the water and threatening marine life. Miller knew she needed to do something. Canadians throw out three million tons of plastic waste each year. Groups like A Greener Future, which organize litter clean-ups across Canada, estimate that 33 per cent of what they pick up comes from food packaging. Approximately one third of all food produced worldwide goes to waste, too, according to a United Nations study. (If food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest producer of greenhouse gases.) Miller, determined to fix the problem at the source, envisioned a shop that went further than banning plastic…

Role Reversal Hollywood can’t decide whether 30 is when life ends or high school begins. @RACHELMCOMEDY How come there are Pop-Tarts but no Mom-Tarts? Because of the pastryarchy. @DRAMYPSYD Future Planning I wrote up a to-do list of things for when I’m back from vacation. It was so long I decided to add “write to-do list” at the top so I could cross one thing off. @KARENCHEEE It’s never too late to start, which is why I’m putting everything off till tomorrow. @METICKLEU Word Search My dog accidentally swallowed a whole bag of Scrabble tiles. We took him to the vet to get him checked out. No word yet. @MARIANA057 When does old cheddar cheese in the back of the fridge officially become “aged” cheddar? @WAKEUPANGRY Caffeine Fiend I’ve never cried over spilled milk, but I have been brought to tears over…

SAVING ENDANGERED GORILLAS UGANDA There were once so few mountain gorillas alive that many experts believed they’d be extinct by this century. These 215-to 440-pound vegetarians, who live in mountain forests in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have faced multiple threats to their survival over the last 120 years, including poaching, habitat loss and contracting human illnesses. In 1989, there were barely more than 600 left. Today, that number has increased to over 1,000, largely thanks to the work of wildlife veterinarian Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka. When Kalema-Zikusoka began her career with the Uganda Wildlife Authority in 1996, she treated mountain gorillas that had a deadly form of scabies they had picked up from people living in unsanitary conditions near the forests. “This made me realize that you cannot protect…