My life has been blessed by five powerful Near-Death Experiences (NDEs), two that happened in my childhood, and three that occurred in my adult life, my most recent in 2003.  My first adult Near-Death Experience in a plane crash in 1979 changed the entire course of my life and my career as a medical doctor.

This is where Lucy Maud Montgomery died: the house she called Journey’s End. Montgomery spent her last decade living here, perched high above the Humber Valley in Toronto as she grew old and wrote the final sequels to Anne of Green Gables.

Capital punishment, or the execution of someone found guilty of a crime, dates back to the arrival of European explorers on Canadian shores. Historically, punishment for serious crimes included hanging, death by firing squad, and burning at the stake. But by the time the Dominion of Canada was established in 1867, one method was available for the capital crimes of murder, rape, and treason:  hanging.

We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Tony Westell.

A lifelong newsman and journalist, Anthony Westell joined the Globe and Mail in 1956, becoming a member of the editorial board, and then Ottawa Bureau Chief. He joined the Toronto Star as the national affairs columnist in 1969 and later moved to Carleton University's prestigious Journalism school to teach his profession. Eventually, he moved on to become director of the School of Journalism and Associate Dean of Arts.

We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Toronto writer and artist Helen Mclean.

A talented artist, she exhibited her paintings across Canada, she has shown in several cities and has painted portraits of authors Margaret Laurence, Michael Ondaatje, and Sarah Sheard. 

She also worked as a teacher and a journalist.

She was the author of Sketching from Memory (Oberon Press), Of All the Summers (Women's Press), and the acclaimed memoir Details From a Larger Canvas (Dundurn Press).

We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Alexis S. Troubetzkoy.

Troubetzkoy, born the scion of a Russian princely family, was an internationally published writer and archivist. Many of us at Dundurn had the privilege to work with him on his two most recent books, Arctic Obsession: The Lure of the Far North and The St. Petersbrug Connection. 

Although born in France and raised partly in the United States, Troubetzkoy called Canada home for more than 30 years with a career in education as a headmaster of private schools in Montreal and Toronto.

It is with great sadness that we learned of Tom Harpur's passing.

Mr. Harpur was the former religion editor and columnist for the Toronto Star, a Rhodes scholar, former Anglican priest, and dedicated professor.

Our bodies are ours to control, free from state interference – or so it appears. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.”

“Over the course of a century… facts, errors, and myths regarding Thomson’s life and death have become jumbled into provocative, entertaining, but ultimately untrustworthy stories.”

                Introduction, The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson

The renowned Canadian landscape painter Tom Thomson likely died on July 8, 1917. We don’t know for sure.

Just like we don’t exactly know how he died.

I accidentally wrote a book. Not the kind of accident where you break a favourite lead-crystal glass by dropping it on granite tile, or brain a fellow golfer by slicing your tee shot onto an adjoining fairway. More like that accident where you set off looking for a western route to the Indies and discover a whole new continent. Or you design an adhesive to stick porcelain tile to a metallic spaceship and end up with a Post-It note.