Marie-Danielle Smith is an Ottawa-based writer for Maclean’s, hunting whimsy and wonkery on Parliament Hill. She has filed from faraway cities such as Tokyo, Beijing, Brussels and Winnipeg. She peddles pun-ditry.
A feisty group of covered bridge advocates in tiny St. Martins, N.B., worry their timber-planked crossing won’t outlast a powerful lobby for steel and concrete interests in Fredericton
Marie-Danielle Smith: There were no handshakes to parse or walks down the hall, just the familiar hiccups of a video chat—and a few reminders of a return to friendlier times
Mohit Bhargava runs the kitchen for Toronto’s COVID-19 Voluntary Isolation Centre. ’People who are quarantined for 14 days, it’s like they’re actually having a punishment,’ he says, ’So let’s look at the food as a reward.’
Comedian Mike Ward mocked a disabled boy. Nine years after the boy’s family filed a complaint, the case tests the rights of artistic expression versus discrimination.
Marie-Danielle Smith: As a sense of calm returned our minds and eyes could wander to the details—a soldier making the sign of the cross, the masked faces, a warm pair of mittens
She serves as executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, whose litigation against Canada has secured hundreds of thousands of services for First Nations youth
Former Sergeant-at-arms Kevin Vickers talks to Marie-Danielle Smith about the difficult balance between security and openness, and the dangers of building walls