It has been a year of reckoning for Canada. Reckoning with another year of COVID-19 and all that came with it, and reckoning with our racist past and present.

Now, almost two years into the pandemic, we’ve seen breakthroughs in vaccinations, various lockdown measures put in place and removed, a rise in the anti-vaxx movement and anti-Asian racism and violence, amongst others.

After eight women in Atlanta were murdered in March, authors wrote stories about the impacts this event and ongoing racism had and continues to have on Asian communities. Fifteen professors came together for one article to address #StopAsianHate, another author wrote about how mental health check-ins aren’t enough and we were told in fighting racism, we need to share the burden of responsibility.

These instances saw our communities come together through pain to support and uplift each other despite all that was going on.

Not two months later, horrific news broke as the bodies of 215 Indigenous children were found at former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Since then, hundreds of more have been found, and likely will still continue to be found. Authors wrote pieces addressing why many Canadians don’t seem to care about the lasting effects of residential schools and how Canada will recognize genocide, but not its own.

While there was plenty of darkness there was also light. We learned about pandemic puppies, lip-syncing and death metal and answered some Curious Kids questions about the sky, what blind people see in their dreams and how languages are formed.

Since joining the Culture + Society desk last March, I’ve helped us publish over 220 stories from authors across this country and abroad. As we head into 2022, I would love to hear from you, your ideas, what stories you’d like to read and who you want to be telling them.