For 19-year-old Nadia Ebrahim, it was overwhelming to decide what to believe in this year’s federal election. The Ryerson student voted for the first time at the advanced polling station available on campus earlier this month. “For me, it was better to talk to people who were on the same political page as me to see what they were about, and then go online to see what all the other stuff was about and compare,” she said.

Following Edward Snowden is now only a click away. A few days ago Snowden broke the Internet by joining the social media platform. Ryerson professor Alvner Levin, who specializes in online privacy and social media, said he thinks Snowden wants to be in the news. “He has stated his purpose that he wants to be out there, and he wants other people to want to be able to follow him without limitation” Levin said.

On a cool Wednesday evening, in a small auditorium at the University of Toronto’s Multi-Faith Centre, a group of primarily 20-somethings quietly make their way inside. At first glance, one could easily mistake the three black women for old friends. There is laughter and wide smiles. It is Garza’s first time in Canada speaking on the movement that she co-founded with the start of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.

Toronto's emergency shelters have been operating at near capacity this summer, according to the Daily Shelter Census. The statistics are troubling, observers say, given that the summer has thus far been largely temperate. Advocates for the homeless warn that fluctuating weather — such as the conditions Toronto saw earlier in the year — can be dangerous.

President Barack Obama's use of a racial epithet in an interview with Marc Maron of the WTF podcast has reignited the ongoing debate on the use of the N-word. The comment came when Obama was speaking about the legacy of slavery on present-day America. Obama explained that systemic discrimination is "still part of our DNA."

An online petition is putting pressure on the U.S. government to use its influence to stop the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants and citizens of Haitian descent living in the Dominican Republic. The petition is calling on the White House to pressure the Dominican Republic government to stop its planned deportation of Haitian-born Dominicans.