Do you ever wonder what kind of materials you put on your body and where they come from?

Just like a foodie wanting to know exactly what’s on their plate and where it came from, many people would love to learn about the clothes they choose to wear and the story behind it all.

Miik is a Toronto based company that answers all those questions and aims to provide the best quality of clothing to Canadians.

Founded by Michael Gaughan and his wife Donna, the company features their clothing in more than 75 retailers across the nation.

Something new and refreshing about Miik includes the fact that all their clothing is produced and designed within Canada. This is often unheard of when it comes to clothing companies because it’s cheaper to mass produce from abroad.

“We produce a 100 per cent here in Canada. So we custom-mill our own fabrics here in Toronto as well as Montreal. And then all of our manufacturers are all in the GTA. We design and ship from here, literally everything from what we like to say ‘thread to hanger’ is done here locally in Toronto,” says Susan Cadman, president of Miik.

A little bit on the pricier side, but understandably so, Miik offer a versatile collection of wardrobes designed to last as long as possible, allowing customers to benefit in the long run through their ‘less is more’ approach.

When asked about the advantages of producing locally, Cadman says, “I can go up to the mill at any given time, I can go to the dye house and say ‘you know what, that’s not the quality we expect here at Miik’ and then we send it back. Whereas if you’re producing overseas, by the time you get it, it’s too late. You have already paid for it and you own it.”

Not only that, but the company chooses to use the most sustainable products for their clothing. From reducing their carbon imprint to using products such as bamboo for their clothing, Miik has mastered the art of fashion and ethics.

The company also offers a variety of sizes for women ranging from size 0 to size sixteen, or small to extra-large.

One of their season-to-season products includes the Lisa and Lisa2 leggings, made 90 per cent from bamboo. These versatile leggings are designed to be comfortable, with enough elasticity to tone figures and bring out the most confident yet comfortable woman.

“It’s timeless designs that you can roll over season to season, year to year and mix and match,” says Cadman. “We like to design basic pieces that you can make your own. You style it how you want to make it your own piece.”

Cadman highlights that all Miik clothing can be worn in more ways than one. Whether it’s coming to work on a Friday and going out that same night, you’ll only need one Miik outfit for both occasions. How does it work?

“A lot of our tops and dresses are back to front reversible. It just goes along with the versatility”

Cadman gave the example of the Colby dress she was wearing, saying she could wear the Emily blazer with it for work, then “lose the jacket, go to the washroom, flip it around, and then you can wear the scoop neck if you want a little sexier look.”

Miik is a growing brand staying true to its roots and branching out to all sorts of demographics of women, and now even a small collection for men too.

So if you’re worried about that pile of clothing sitting in the corner of your room, don’t be. Because Miik products are sustainable, environmentally friendly, and will keep you feeling your very best at all times.

“It’s about buying less and having more.”

Visit the Miik website to order online, and follow them on social media to keep up with their ever-growing versatility and new looks each season.

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The program included spending a day learning and interacting with hands-on technology that celebrates science, technology, engineering and math, otherwise known as STEM.

Other partners of the event included Google Canada along with Actua, which is the country’s biggest STEM outreach charity.

Jennifer Flanagan, CEO of Actua talks about the National organization and how it has grown throughout the past two decades. “We have a network of 35 university and college-based member organizations…our member organizations are now delivering in 500 communities reaching in every province and territory and engaging about 250,000 kids each year,” she says.

Flanagan also talks about the different levels of implementation of the outreach program. “At the ground level, kids have always been excited about science and technology. That has not changed. They are curious and excited to try new things and eager to learn,” she says. “I think what has changed is the recognition of how important those early experiences are.”

“So when we first started at Actua, there weren’t science camps or coding camps like there are today, so we were really sort of leading a movement to recognise how important that engagement is.”

Focusing upon underrepresented minorities, Flanagan says that Actua has four major programs specifically designed for them. “One for girls and young women, one for indigenous youth called INSTEM, and we engage over 30,000 indigenous youth across the country every year. And we have a program that engages at-risk youth and the fourth is a program across the arctic.”

Dawn Britton is the director of the outreach office for the Engineering faculty at the University of Toronto. She explains how the university partnered with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) two years ago to teach teachers and students how to code.

“For the past year and a half, we’ve seen 700 teachers and sort of worked with them to get excited and continue to bring technology into their classroom,” she says.

Britton also focuses upon the importance of females and indigenous Canadians within STEM, “Just over 40 per cent of our first year students are female. Of course there’s a lot to celebrate there but that also acknowledges that there’s a lot more work that needs to be done.”

She goes on to say, “The one thing that we have started to see is that there’s people, men and women, all backgrounds increasingly interested in technology and the STEM field.”

The University of Toronto has been a member of Actua Canada for almost 20 years. Britton explains that the partnership with TDSB only encouraged the institution to reach out to Actua and ask if they would like to get involved in bringing coding into classrooms.

Nicole, a Google representative who has also partnered for the outreach program talks about the importance of learning to code. The focus is on “trying to give STEM programming to kids that don’t get it. So they’re either underrepresented in STEM education or underrepresented in STEM careers. So it’s a lot of focusing on girls, focusing on at-risk youth,” she says.

When it comes to the different kinds of workshops, she says that all of them are mainly hands-on and easy to understand.

Readers can learn more and get involved through Actua Canada and their various camps. They can also check out the website of the University of Toronto for more engineering outreach programs.

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As a result of his incident, Itzikowitz was confined to a wheelchair for six of the past 10 months. Although he is able to walk again, his experiences opened him up to a world of new ideas and awareness.

Itzikowitz is the co-founder of The Forward Movement, a campaign that aims to create accessibility awareness and “remove barriers – both physical and cultural – to make Ontario more accessible and inclusive for everyone.”

“I wanted to launch a campaign spreading awareness about the importance of bringing down barriers and making Toronto accessible for everyone,” he goes on to say.

The Forward Movement breaks barriers through the use of the Dynamic Symbol of Access, which was originally designed by an American organization. The symbol has already been adopted in places such as: New York, Pheonix, Ariz, Conneticut, Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo, B.C. along with all iPhone keyboards. The Forward Movement has launched to make Ontario more accessible.

The adoption of the new symbol displays movement, which in turn diversifies the way that society views accessibility.

“The new symbol articulates a different message of disability, it focuses on different ability,” says Itzikowitz. “Symbols dictate the way we interpret and interact with things, and I wanted to spread a message of promoting the possibility of independence, not perpetuating dependence.”

Efforts in the province have also been made to endorse the campaign. Along with a petition to mandate the Dynamic Symbol of Access throughout the province, the movement is also advocated through MPP Bill Walker in Toronto, who has “publically committed to tabling our proposed amendments at Queen’s Park.”

The movement is also preparing to present their foundation to the Minister of Accessibility, Tracy MacCharles. Not only that, but Itzikowitz says that tax payers would not have to pay any additional costs because “all old signage would be grandfathered in.”

The current Symbol of Access allows people to be informed of areas which are accessible and lack barriers. “A radical change of the symbol would create a large period of confusion, not allowing its purpose to be served. We believe the DSA is an improvement, while still close enough to the original that the message will not be lost,” claims Itzikowitz.

Ontario aims to be barrier free and accessible to all by 2025. “We are far from reaching this goal,” says Itzikowitz. “In our ideal world, there would be no need for a symbol of access, as everything would be accessible to everyone. It is the view of some, that limited accessibility is a form of segregation.”

Stickers of the Dynamic Symbol can be obtained for distribution at www.theforwardmovement.ca. You can also follow them on social media for events and up-to-date information.

Facebook: @theforwardmovement.ca

Instagram: @theforwardmovement.ca

Twitter: @theforwardmove

Email: hello@theforwardmovement.ca

The post The Forward Movement – Defeating Ableism through symbolism appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

For this occasion, the Toronto-based company is world premiering its opera, Oksana G. featuring its lead soprano Natalya Gennadi.

Gennadi is the youngest singer with a breakout role and brings her own experiences to the opera. The Ukrainian-Canadian singer graduated from the University of Ottawa in Music then completed her master’s degree in Opera Performance in 2013 from the University of Toronto.

Oksana G. follows the life of a young woman who is unwillingly drawn into sex trafficking through a recruiter who falls in love with her.

“This is a very realistic portrayal of a young woman, a young girl. So on this level you can relate,” says Gennadi. “She is a completely average girl from an average family. She’s loved, she wants to go to university, she’s just looking for a summer job and then it goes downhill from that point.”

Gennadi also says that she has been fortunate enough to have never experienced anything like that, however it has been an existing topic of conversation throughout her youth. “I calculated and I’m about 4 or 5 years younger than Oksana would be now, so I grew up in that era, in that atmosphere. So that’s definitely very relatable,” she says.

Growing up in the 1990s in Ukraine, which is also the when the opera is set, women were very vulnerable to sex trafficking. “The economic situation in Ukraine was quite dire and people were desperate. And they were looking for ways to earn money. They were very naïve and they fell victims to these kinds of situations.”

“I think it’s the message that is very important. Because it’s not only about the Ukrainian 90s and as I’m researching for this opera, I can see that there is still a huge problem,” Gennadi explains. “Girls are being lured into sex trafficking, even in Canada.”

According to Statistics Canada, “Between 2009 and 2014, there were 396 victims of police-reported human trafficking.” The majority of the victims (93 per cent) were women.

The opera hits home to many on a personal level and reads like a novel, describes Gennadi. “We heard lots of stories. it was not alarming, it was a real job and did not require any special skills, so people were into it. And then we heard ‘oh she never came back…’” she says.

“It doesn’t matter, nobody is safe,” says Gennadi. Oksana G. runs from May 24 to 30, 2017 at the Imperial Oil Opera Theatre of the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, 227 Front St. E. Tickets can be purchased at www.tapestryopera.com.

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