death

Someone holds a ziploc bag full of ashes labelled "gran" overlooking the sea.

Society

The Dearly Departed Are Getting Creative with Death

July 4, 2025July 4, 2025 - by Ellen Himelfarb

Goodbye, cremation and caskets; hello, human composting and aquamation

A photo of writer Scott Oake with his son Bruce

Memoir

I Lost My Son to Addiction. No, Privilege Didn’t Protect Him

January 25, 2025January 27, 2025 - by Scott Oake

He had a loving family, financial support, and the best treatment. He fell victim to an overdose anyway

Sun shines through a window onto a table cluttered with boxes, dishes and plants as well as chair and other other boxes

Society

What Should You Do with Your Stuff before You Die?

May 22, 2024May 22, 2024 - by Christina Myers

The practice of “death cleaning,” or minimizing your belongings in your twilight years, is more appealing than ever

A photo of the mausoleum and chapel at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, cast in a ray of light with dark clouds behind it

Society

Death Care Has Turned into a Gold Rush

March 8, 2024March 8, 2024 - by Inori Roy

How did a cemetery group amass $1.2 billion in assets—and so much power?

A photo of the back of a lonely woman in a hospital gown sitting on a bed while looking out of the window of her hospital room.

Health

The Lobby Group That Owns the Conversation around Assisted Deaths

January 12, 2024January 12, 2024 - by Miranda Schreiber

Dying with Dignity Canada played a huge part in the legalization of MAID. Few have the resources to oppose them

A child in a yellow raincoat stands in a field full of puddles beside a lake. Rain outlines the invisible silhouette of an adult putting their hand on top of the child’s head.

July/August 2023 / Society

Notes from Grief Camp

August 9, 2023August 9, 2023 - by Mitchell Consky

Every summer, more than a hundred kids spend a weekend at Camp Erin swimming and canoeing. They also learn to deal with death

Health / November 2022

The Death Dilemma: Are Hospitals Overtreating Patients Nearing the End?

October 4, 2022January 23, 2025 - by Blair Bigham

An ER physician on the heavy costs of keeping patients alive when death is inevitable

A gothic woman with a veil and dark eye makeup in front of a background that fades from dark pink to black.

Society

Gothic Revival: Embracing Dark Times

May 26, 2022May 31, 2022 - by Sadaf Ahsan

Why a 1970s subculture that championed rebellion is back—and more morbid than ever

Podcasts

Students of Death: Episode 16 of The Deep Dive

May 5, 2022June 5, 2022 - by The Walrus Staff

What makes teenagers sign up for a degree program about dealing with death?

Illustration of a school desk featuring a butterfly landing on an apple shaped like a skull. Below the apple is lined paper covered in school supplies intertwined with leaves, flowers and a caterpillar.

Education / May 2022

Death 101: Life Lessons from the Country’s Only Degree Devoted to the End

April 18, 2022May 9, 2022 - by David Swick

Some first-year arts students are asked to write papers about Plato or Jane Austen; thanatology students need an existential sensibility

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The Dearly Departed Are Getting Creative with Death

The Lobby Group That Owns the Conversation around Assisted Deaths

Gothic Revival: Embracing Dark Times

Death 101: Life Lessons from the Country’s Only Degree Devoted to the End

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Fund Canadian journalism to help you make informed decisions. Fund The Walrus.

Fund Canadian journalism to help you make informed decisions. Fund The Walrus.