With dignity, a quiet voice, and shaking hands, Mary Kelly shared her story in Chapel.  It was a story of immeasurable trauma and lasting scars.  It was a story of loss and suffering.  But it was also a story of truth and reconciliation. Mary Kelly is from the Ojibways of Onigaming.  She is a citizen […]

Hurricane Haddie has arrived at the Castle.  She’s 15 lbs. of fluff, able to produce 7,400 newton metres of torque – the same as a Tesla Roadster.  My March Break was spent house training, leash training, and puppy wrangling.  It also involved coaxing “big brother” Hugo out of the corner of the living room after […]

We had a good giggle in Chapel last week, watching a video of the Czech Olympic skier Ester Ledecka’s gold medal-winning race. The look of absolute incredulity and mild confusion on her face when she saw her winning time appear on the clock was something to behold. No one was more shocked by her victory […]

Mental health does not equal happiness.  Those were not the words I expected to hear from Dr. Stan Kutcher, Chair in Adolescent Mental Health and the Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Mental Health Policy and Training at Dalhousie University.  Dr. Kutcher spent the day at Trafalgar Castle last week, working with […]

Blame it on Disney. Or on the miniature-sized bejeweled crowns, sparkly gowns, and tiny glass slippers that magically find their way into the dress-up chests and tickle trunks of little girls.  Or simply call it inevitable. Whatever the reason, there’s no denying the allure of princesses for many young girls. Even for some grown women, […]

We celebrated a wonderful event in my family recently.  It was the wedding of my nephew, Aidan and his now bride, Paan-Mei, or Penny, as she is known.  Penny is originally from Thailand and met Aidan when they were both studying in Toronto.  He proposed to her this fall while on a trip to visit […]

It’s hard not to feel cynical these days. Every time we turn on the evening news or browse social media, it seems as if yet another accusation of sexual harassment is being revealed. The sheer number and frequency of the accusations and the diversity of the aggressors, from producers to actors to comedians to politicians […]

“Dear Dr. Foster,” the email began. “These past few weeks, the grade six class has been learning about what it means to be a Canadian in Social Studies.  As a part of this unit we visited the Ajax Welcome Centre to further our knowledge about immigration.” Understanding.  Like all good schools, we believe in taking […]

Albert Edward Foster, or Bert as he was known, was my grandfather.  He was born in England, immigrated to America, married, and had a family in Cleveland, Ohio.  In 1940, telling Evelyn, his wife (and my grandmother) that he was going north on a fishing trip, he drove to Toronto and enlisted in the Canadian […]

In 2010, Olivia, my then 15-year-old daughter was interviewed for an article in Maclean’s magazine that examined how a post-feminist generation of adolescent girls understood the meaning and value of feminism.  Like many other girls at that age, Olivia saw feminists as irrelevant to her life’s circumstances – a dying breed no longer required in […]