Thorncliffe Park, a lively neighbourhood in the northeast section of Toronto, is populated largely by newcomers who are drawn to the area for its cheap rent. But the area is not immune from the rent hikes that are sweeping the city, and now some of the residents are struggling to afford to stay. Sameer Beyan arrived in 2016 with his parents from Saudi Arabia and rented a two-bedroom apartment in Thorncliffe Park for $1,200 a month. Last year, the landlords proposed a 4.2 per cent increase, and proposed another 5.5 per cent increase earlier this year, which would raise his rent to $1,450—a total hike of nearly 10 per cent over two years. He and his family don’t want to leave but they can’t afford the rent increases.

Beyan, who is 32 and works in sales, has joined over 100 others in a rent strike to protest the hikes. In this Q&A with Maclean’s, he explains why he’s striking and what’s at stake for him, his family and other tenants. “This is the only home we've known in this country,” he says.

—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief

Cole Jean, a Nova Scotia paramedic, has been a volunteer firefighter for eight years. He was one of the first responders on the scene of the blaze that ripped through the Westwood Hills subdivision, 30 minutes from Halifax. For the first three days, he worked 13-to-19-hour shifts as a firefighter, sleeping as little as two hours at a time. On the fourth day, he returned as a paramedic, setting up a rehab plan for exhausted and dehydrated firefighters.

In this interview, Jean revisits scenes from the front lines he will never forget: the inferno that consumed his municipality, the relief assistance that poured in from all corners of Canada, and the emotionally challenging work of being a firefighter.

Costa Rica is a climate-change hot spot. Perry Gladstone—who moved there in 2010—lived through so many floods, landslides, hurricanes and lightning strikes there that he recently moved his family back to Canada permanently: “In the end, it became clear that the best thing for our own future, and for this place we loved, was to leave it.”

CULTURE PICK
OF THE WEEK

Black Mirror fans have finally been rewarded with a new season after a four-year wait. For Annie Murphy—best known as reformed celebutante Alexis Rose on the beloved Schitt’s Creek—the chance to star in Netflix’s award-winning dystopian anthology series was a no-brainer: “I screamed yes,” she tells Maclean’s. In this Q&A, she talks about how she got the part, filming that NSFW bathroom scene and why Schitt’s Creek continues to be the balm for our troubled times.

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