In 2020, Laila Mickelwait launched the TraffickingHub campaign to raise awareness about the rampant child sexual abuse material on Pornhub, the world’s largest porn site (launched by Canadians) and to hold those responsible behind the scenes to account.
In an interview with The Pointer, she talks about her new book, which details her experience taking on Pornhub and the shady businessmen who operate in dark corners.
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The recently enacted Brampton bylaw pushed through by Mayor Patrick Brown without any community consultation is the latest example of his divisive politics, critics allege. Following tensions between some in the local Hindu and Sikh communities, the new law does not accomplish anything he has claimed, but it has served to further divide groups, instead of bringing them together.
Meanwhile, he continues his silence on the issue at the heart of the tension—mounting evidence of disturbing foreign interference by the Indian government, which is led by Brown’s close friend Narendra Modi.
The Alliance for a Liveable Ontario and Environmental Defence are calling for a major shift in Ontario's housing strategy as the province’s current approach under Premier Doug Ford continues to fall short in addressing both the housing crisis and long-term environmental goals. While the government focuses on expanding suburban sprawl and building single-family homes, both groups argue that mid-rise, infill housing and repurposing underutilized public lands are more sustainable and affordable solutions.
The days of zero and near-zero percent tax increases in Mississauga are long gone, with the City proposing a stiff 7.2 percent increase on its portion of the 2025 property bill (2.7 percent when blended with the Region of Peel’s portion and the amount that goes toward education). In total, assuming another year without any increase for the education portion and a proposed 12.5 percent increase in the Region’s budget (6 percent when blended), the combined amount works out to a provisional 8.7 percent hike for residential property owners in 2025 (with an almost 10 percent increase projected for 2026) driven by a range of needs in the booming city, and a controversial police budget spike.
The funding will be used for research and to enhance the organization’s ability to pressure Queen’s Park.
A report earlier this year showed Peel’s almost 1.6 million residents have been chronically underserved for decades, without fair-share funding for a range of social and other services that should be based on need and population growth.
The organizers of an event publicized as a celebration of the man who ordered the October 7th attacks on innocent civilians have announced the cancellation of a Mississauga vigil to honour him.
The decision came after Jewish organizations demanded Mayor Carolyn Parrish take a strong stand, and follow her city’s own policies to cancel the event, which she was not willing to do. She continues to face backlash for comparing the Hamas leader to Nelson Mandela.
Husband and wife duo Willy Waterton and Audrey Armstrong have spent the last five years documenting and photographing orchids and ferns along the Bruce Peninsula.
Their valuable work is a symbol of how a passion for nature and citizen science can be incredible avenues for saving the planet.
2024 will likely be the hottest year on record as the climate crisis advances faster than we can adapt. Canada’s first national climate adaptation strategy, launched during the country’s worst wildfire season in 2023, came as municipalities like Mississauga and Brampton were already facing the impacts of extreme flooding and other dangerous weather. Despite some progress, the gap in funding remains wide, leaving cities and towns struggling to cope.
Doug Ford and his PCs are pushing forward legislation that would restrict municipalities considering new bike lane projects where a car lane would need to be eliminated. The future of Mississauga’s Bloor Street bike lane redesign is now up in the air.
The City has paused the plan while staff await further details on the looming provincial legislation, which one councillor calls a ‘significant overreach’ by the PC government.
Parrish has once again caused controversy, this time for remarks made during Wednesday’s council meeting which have sparked a backlash across the country. Her comments, made in response to a controversial vigil planned in Mississauga to celebrate the recently killed Hamas leader — Parrish compared him to Nelson Mandela — have raised concerns over her leadership in one of Canada’s most diverse cities.
Caledon Council is fighting back against Doug Ford’s controversial Bill 212, a blueprint to fast-track construction of the 413 Highway, skirting critical environmental safeguards and local consultation.
With just days left before the legislation’s expected passage, residents and local elected officials are mobilized to protect their community from what they call a “draconian” scheme.
Advocates are questioning why the school system responsible for students who are deaf and blind, which has been the subject of allegations of abuse and mismanagement for decades, is getting a pass, while Education Minister Jill Dunlop launches inquiries into fiscal mismanagement at other Ontario school boards.
In its latest “emissions gap” report, the UNEP reminds us of what the greatest threat to our way of life really is. Too many jurisdictions around the world are going backward, as more and more government policies, including many in Alberta and Ontario, plunge us toward a bleak future, where day-to-day life will be rendered unrecognizable due to the effects of climate change.
The election of Donald Trump likely won’t help.
The agreements impact more than 1,200 City employees in various sectors, such as transit and maintenance. Union representatives say the agreements tackle important issues, after Mayor Patrick Brown made misleading claims, accusing the union of holding the city hostage and commenting publicly in bad faith, suggesting the strike would be drawn out to hurt residents.
Despite a recent recommendation from City staff to maintain Mississauga’s current traffic enforcement hours in school zones to all times of day, every day, in line with a commitment to Vision Zero, councillors instead approved an amendment to scale back traffic enforcement.
The move did not sit well with one councillor who has advocated for more safety on Mississauga’s increasingly chaotic streets.
The fallout continues after two tense days of protest and demonstrations between different factions of Brampton’s and Mississauga’s South Asian communities.
A Peel police officer is back on the job after a brief suspension following a protest against the Indian government as residents in the two cities search for ways to leave old world differences behind.
As part of its infrastructure plan to build six new fire stations across a 12-year horizon, Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services has added its twenty-second fire station to its stock, Station 125. Setting it apart from previous facilities, the new building has been designed with a net zero approach, making it the first of its kind for the municipality’s corporate buildings. As Mississauga works to reduce its emissions, City officials hope the new facility will act as a baseline for city-building projects moving forward to transition toward a more sustainable future.
The federal government has finally made a long-awaited bold step to curb emissions with its draft Oil and Gas Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap Regulations.
Oil and gas companies are warning of economic fallout, while environmental advocates are calling for stronger, faster action.
Aamjiwnaang First Nation has suffered from the effects of environmental racism for decades. The failure by consecutive governments to address the harm from industrial encroachment into their territory has led to chronic illness and widespread contamination.
Despite repeated requests for assistance and demands for change, the PC government has failed to act in any meaningful way. Meanwhile, levels of extremely toxic chemicals are routinely far beyond allowable limits.
Bill 212, designed to fast-track Highway 413 and exempt it from federal environmental assessments, has motivated advocates who are not about to give up their fight against the project.
Lessons learned from the way Doug Ford’s PCs pushed the Bradford Bypass forward might help stop, or at least slow down the 413 plan, until the next election.
With more than 1,200 members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees now on strike, the City of Brampton is facing critical gaps in essential services, especially transit, leaving residents bracing for disruptions.
Mayor Patrick Brown’s lavish spending and misleading claims about the bargaining process have raised concerns among CUPE members who say all they want is a fair wage in tough economic times.
Peel Regional Police leaders want a 21.3 percent operating budget increase for 2025 (after a 14 percent increase for 2024) and the board that’s supposed to govern the force once again rubber-stamped the hard-to-justify request.
At a time when residents are feeling financial pressure on all sides they are once again about to pay for an excessive police budget increase, while service has decreased, and so has the PRP’s ability to solve all types of crime.
So what are taxpayers getting for an extra $132 million in 2025?
With red and blue lights flashing, police cruisers were stationed outside the Hindu Sabha Temple in Brampton as hundreds of protestors gathered, filling the night air with chants against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Peel Police.
The climate across parts of Peel where diverse South Asian-Canadian communities have lived for years in an often tense dynamic with one another, has boiled over since news that India’s Hindu-Nationalist BJP government is allegedly behind a disturbingly violent plot against Sikh Canadians.
Carolynn Ioannoni had her own traumatic experience with a pregnancy that could not come to term. But she writes that the U.S. election for women is not only about their right to agency over their own body, it’s about their right to agency over everything. And she’s confident that, as usual, they will save the day.
The latest twist in Doug Ford's push to build Highway 413 saw Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria unveil Bill 212, a new piece of legislation aimed at fast-tracking the controversial project.
Dubbed the "Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act," it seeks to exempt the highway from a critical environmental assessment process, igniting fierce criticism from environmental groups.
There is no longer a projected completion date for Mississauga’s Hurontario LRT. The fall 2024 launch will not happen, after the original opening date two years ago was also scrapped.
The pandemic was largely to blame for the first major delay; now, due to design failures in sections of track that have already been laid and mounting financial concerns about the construction consortium building the project, its completion timeline is uncertain.
His more than two-dozen visits to India, with little or no explanation to authorities, are part of Mayor Brown’s decades-long relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the man whose government, according to mounting evidence, is responsible for at least one assassination of a Canadian citizen and a plot to kill more on Canadian soil.
Brown has called Modi his mentor and has credited him with helping the Brampton mayor’s political career since his days as a backbench Conservative MP. With the largest population of Sikhs outside India, the leader of Brampton, who has never been shy about commenting publicly on controversial issues, has been silent on the mounting evidence of a plot by the Indian government — which is led by his dear friend — to target and kill Sikhs in Canada.
Through a motion presented by Councillor Brad Butt on Wednesday, Mississauga City Council voted to decline the municipal contribution request of $450 million that was presented by Trillium Health Partners earlier this month.
The local hospital management group will now be responsible for the entire $1.5 billion portion under the local share demand from the PC government. Trillium has said without a City Hall contribution the critical hospital project could be delayed.
Sikhism is one of the most popular subjects at Mississauga’s UTM campus, and now, thanks to a $5 million investment, the university will establish a Sikh studies program. Students will get a deeper understanding of Sikh culture, history and theology, a decision welcomed by the university’s Sikh Student Association whose members hope the new academic offering will address longstanding misconceptions and challenge previous narratives about Sikhism.
As Ontarians across the province continue to struggle with affordability, and many increasingly find themselves in precarious living situations, the Region of Peel has another report showing its housing services are woefully underfunded.
Peel’s housing crisis has been repeatedly documented throughout a decade of failed strategies and inadequate investments that have allowed the situation to worsen, while regional elected officials listen quietly to presentation after presentation, then blame other levels of government for the resulting crisis.
Financial difficulties, social isolation, and cultural influences make international students—particularly young women—vulnerable to sex trafficking in Peel Region. Many people are caught in abusive cycles with little assistance from post-secondary institutions that see them as little more than a cash cow. They are then taken advantage of by employers and landlords through force and extortion.
Despite government efforts there are still gaps in survivor-focused programs, affordable housing, and mental health care. Advocates warn that the exploitation of young students will continue to spread unchecked in the absence of structural changes and improved preventative measures.
Mississauga recently marked a significant milestone in sustainability with the groundbreaking of Canada’s largest district energy system at Lakeview Village which aims to transition the area—once home to the coal-fired Lakeview Power Generating Station—into a model of eco-friendly living.
Data from the Peel Regional Police show that Black residents continue to suffer from the use of disproportionate force at the hands of officers. A recent court case highlights significant problems within the Peel police service and raises more questions about Chief Nishan Duraiappah’s commitment to reform.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer has reignited the ongoing debate surrounding Canada’s carbon pricing policy. In a clumsy recent report, the PBO outlines the projected financial costs and benefits to the average family, but critics warn it overcounts theoretical burdens and fails to account for direct impacts on households and the economy generally.
Climate change is already inflicting significant economic damage on individuals and could cost Canadians annual GDP losses of $35 billion by 2030.
In a landmark ruling, the Ontario Court of Appeal has ordered the reevaluation of a legal challenge brought by seven young environmentalists regarding the PC government’s carbon emissions policies.
They argue Doug Ford has infringed upon their Charter rights, posing serious risks to the health and future of Ontarians.
The Region of Peel has once again scaled back services it was required to deliver as part of a $22 million funding envelope from the federal government. After telling The Pointer critical services such as medical and legal support would not move forward despite the agreement with Ottawa, which already provided the money upfront, regional staff said the facility would instead open by its November 1st deadline as a 680-bed shelter.
Now, the Region has once again changed its story, with only a small fraction of the beds slated to be ready by the deadline, raising questions about the management of the project and Ottawa’s response to the breach of the original agreement.
Brampton residents working to create a more sustainable transportation culture face challenges as the city finds it hard to reduce its dependence on cars. Dangerous driving, obstructed bike lanes and insufficient infrastructure jeopardize efforts to encourage walking and biking.
Advocates are determined to push Brampton in a new, more urban direction, away from the suburban built form that poses problems for residents tired of moving around in a car-dominated culture.
New charges have been brought by the U.S. Justice Department, against an Indian government agent who allegedly planned the assassination of a Canadian-American citizen and orchestrated last year’s murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar who was gunned down in British Columbia.
The latest indictment adds to American media reports linking India’s BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to startling covert operations in North America aimed at destabilizing the Sikh community, including those advocating for more autonomy in India.
Described by Mississauga’s Mayor as “the elephant in the room”, Trillium Health Partners revealed its funding request to the municipal government, a staggering $450 million to help rebuild Mississauga Hospital into one of the largest healthcare facilities in North America.
THP has asked city council for an answer by December and is hoping that construction will begin next year on a project that has already been approved by the provincial government.
The loss of these trees is a blow to the mental health of a region already grappling with stress and isolation.
Across the GTA greenspaces are giving way to the rapid development altering neighbourhoods from Burlington to Oshawa.
Credit Valley Conservation and the Greenbelt Foundation are joining forces to bridge funding gaps left by the Doug Ford government. Through a new partnership, they aim to enhance local ecosystems over the next 18 months, and engage 200 volunteers in planting native trees, removing invasive species and restoring habitats within the Credit River watershed, fostering a deeper connection between the next generation and the natural world.
A 15-foot Trojan Horse will be taken to over 60 hospitals across the province as a symbol of the deceptive transfer of control from Ontario’s beloved universal healthcare system to the private clinics proliferating and prospering under Doug Ford.
Unions in Ontario’s healthcare sector are calling on the PC government to halt payments to private clinics and redirect the funds back into the public system.
For the first time since it launched a cull of the double crested cormorant in 2020, the PC government has provided basic statistics on the number of birds killed—but only for a single season, and without explaining how the data was gathered.
By the PCs own admission, interest in killing this native species is waning, so why is the Ontario government still allowing hunters to kill 15 of them a day without any science to back up such a hunt?
On Monday the RCMP released bombshell information about the danger Canadian Sikhs face at the hands of the Indian government, which the Mounties described as “criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the Government of India, and consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals living in Canada.”
Brampton’s large Sikh community has been on edge for more than a year as members who support religious and cultural autonomy in India now face the possibility of being targeted, just like community advocate Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down outside a Surrey, B.C. Gurdwara last year. American evidence suggests the Indian government ordered his killing.
Premier Doug Ford has proposed to dig a tunnel beneath Highway 401 to help solve the GTA’s congestion woes. It’s a plan that would cost tens of billions; would do nothing to solve congestion issues, according to experts; and most concerning, highlights the PC government's disconnect from the climate reality facing a world that needs to reduce its reliance on single occupancy vehicles.
Heading into the final week of Food Banks Mississauga’s annual Thanksgiving drive the organization reported ahead of the holiday weekend that it was at 72 percent of this year’s $800,000 target. With 8 percent of Mississauga’s population now using the food bank system, the challenge to draw donations reflects the reality that more residents are struggling to help, as many are now forced to become clients.
Hurricane Milton has unleashed devastation across parts of Florida, just days after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc across six states, marking one of the deadliest hurricane seasons in recent history.
More than 4 million Canadians visit Florida each year and they account for almost $100 billion in economic activity there; for those who invest in real estate, concerns mount about the safety and viability of these properties in the face of climate-driven natural disasters.
Brown's claims about the benefits of placing individuals involuntarily into treatment programs to address opioid addiction and mental health problems were challenged for the lack of details. The approach’s effectiveness is unproven, he has failed to address the potential strain on emergency services, while long wait times for existing voluntary treatments in Peel left councillors wondering how Brown would manage his plan.
The latest agreement between the City of Mississauga and the development consortium behind Lakeview Village indicates only 5 percent of the housing units beyond the 8,050 approved prior to the Province’s zoning order that doubled the scale of the development to 16,000, will be deemed fully affordable. The latest agreement leaves the 10 percent commitment that was previously promised by the developers — a number that already falls dramatically short from the 30 percent recommended by the Region of Peel to address the worsening housing crisis — unclear.
Caledon is at a critical juncture—community members gathered with town council on October 7th to discuss proposed policy changes aimed at safeguarding vital resources like clean air and water, and habitat.
While some view these recommendations as a positive step, others urge for even stronger protections amid concerns about proposed new mega blasting quarries that would destroy more greenspace.
Renters in apartment buildings across Brampton describe alarming conditions inside: pictures of caved in ceilings, mold on walls, broken doors and other shocking signs of neglect.
Slum landlords, meanwhile, know they can increase rent above guidelines as tenants have few options in a city whose housing stock continues to fail its residents and where bylaw enforcement is an afterthought.
