Canadian Dimension leads you through the cratered battleground of market meltdowns, financial frauds and – just to mix it up – the streets of Toronto in our November/December issue. From the marble halls of Bay Street to the immigrant boroughs of North York, the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing dramatically. The city’s own Tanya Gulliver explores the consequences of these inequalities through a revealing University of Toronto project that apparently left Mayor David Miller “speechless.” The project’s visual maps of the city’s increasing areas of poverty and affluence are stark indications of race and income segregation.

This inequality is sustained by an economic system that privatizes profits and socializes losses. Sounds familiar? If you’re still bewildered and a little obsessed – like us – by the economic crisis, Dimension Publisher and Economist Cy Gonick takes us on a grizzly tour through Wall Street’s Killing Fields.

While most of our attention has been directed to falling empires and election promises, we shouldn’t forget those who’ve been struggling for real social change. Not politicians, not bankers, but those men and women who’ve sustained struggle and our hopes. A yearbook from the old-school of seasoned struggle, we profile those who’ve contributed to social change across Canada.

“There is no Canadian film industry,” David McIntosh boldly proclaims in his article on the Canadian film industry’s one-sided relationship with Hollywood “maquila” productions filmed here. Politics and celluloid come together in this scathing critique of the government’s role in stifling Canadian film and creating illusions of film industry grandeur.