The Tragic Story Behind Canada’s Iconic “Stay Alert… Stay Safe” PSAs

“Thirty years after Alison’s murder, the campaign — particularly the ’90s-era PSAs — remains iconic for a generation of Canadian children. Though many programs were spearheaded by self-anointed experts, ‘Stay Alert… Stay Safe’ was the brainchild of a talented team of advertisers, helmed by a parent with a mission. ‘It gave meaning to Alison’s life,’ Parrott says today of this work. ‘It’s the way I’ve continued to be her mother.'”

 

Rob Csernyik – BuzzFeed Canada – August 2016

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I Went To A Summer Camp For Adults And It Was Weird

“I briefly considered bringing a rolling suitcase so I could accommodate the entire packing list: running shoes, sandals, bug spray, sunscreen, multiple hot-weather tank tops plus a few fleece sweaters for cold nights, a Wonder Woman costume, a Woodstock costume, heart-shaped sunglasses. I stopped short at one of the suggested items — ‘tribal tattoos’ — because I’m not a fucking idiot. It felt like a lot to carry in a backpack, but I was more concerned about being teased for bringing luggage into the woods. I was heading to Camp No Counselors, a three-day summer camp for adults with locations across North America, complete with activities, dance parties, and open bars.”

 

Scaachi Koul – BuzzFeed Canada – August 2016

I Went To A Conference Full of Conservatives Who Hated My Guts — And Told Me So

“On June 2, Canadian far-right website the Rebel hosted its annual live conference in Toronto. I could write my own opening line about it, but coincidentally, the day’s emcee, Rebel contributor David Menzies, did it for me. Assuming the role of the least generous and most liberal reporter, he mockingly bellowed, ‘The event occurred at a venue called Canada Christian College, which, as its name implies, is not inclusive to non-Canadians, non-Christians, and non-collegiates. A woman was spotted in the fourth row wearing a white hat from a distance that seemed to resemble a hood of a Ku Klux Klan.'”

 

Scaachi Koul – BuzzFeed Canada – June 2018

How White Canadians Made Me Ashamed Of Myself

“I used to think Canada was just Anishinaabe and white. I was young and left my little world only on rare occasions. It’s strange to think about it now, but I believed that beyond our dusty gravel roads there was nothing but white people, white communities, and white cities. I knew there were Indigenous people in Winnipeg, of course — it’s home to the largest urban Indigenous population in Canada — but I was stuck in the childish belief that we were mostly confined to small plots of land known as reserves. I had no contact with them and they had no contact with me, and I thought that’s how it was supposed to be.”

 

Kyle Edwards – BuzzFeed Canada – August 2017

Above The Law

“Six provinces have agencies that investigate the police when they cause harm: Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Manitoba. In the rest of Canada, either police don’t get investigated at all, inquiries are carried out by their colleagues, or the work is done by an outside police force. But as Kempa said, ‘[when] you have police investigating themselves without the authority to compel evidence, you can connect the dots about how weak that would be, even if the investigators have the very best of intentions.'”

Bruce Livesey – BuzzFeed Canada – September 2017