Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
A new queer film about to debut in Toronto focuses on the positive representation of younger people who are confident in their sexuality.
"Erin's Guide to Kissing Girls," a film focusing on the story of a young, queer middle schooler, debuts Friday.
The Canadian movie is director Julianna Notten's first feature-length film, and is breaking barriers in media by showing a much younger queer person than is typically portrayed, who is confident in her sexuality.
It will be featured at the Toronto Carlton Cinema starting Friday.
The film follows Erin through middle school as she falls in love with the new girl and navigates her friendships and her sexuality.
Notten said the film is a love letter to themselves.
"When I was 13, 14, I didn't even know that my sexuality was an option," Notten told CTV's Your Morning on Thursday. "So this film is sort of addressing all of these big feelings that I was having at 13, like being in fights with my friends for the first time, having crushes, navigating puberty… but telling it through a queer lens in a way that my younger self didn't get to experience back then."
Notten's inspiration for the movie focused on younger characters came from seeing less representation in other films. They said most of the queer stories seen in popular media follow older characters.
"It just felt like a shame to me that young people didn't get to see themselves represented," they said. "Especially with kids feeling more confident to come out at younger and younger ages."
Notten said most of the movies focused on characters coming out to people are "rooted in tragedy."
"That's why it was so important to have a character whose problems did not start and end with her attraction to other girls," Notten said.
Originally, the film was set to start production during the spring of 2020, but it was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It was a bit of a conundrum," Elliot Stocking, who plays Erin in the movie, told CTV's Your Morning on Thursday. " I got a call that said, 'OK, so we're pretty sure we want you for the film (but) you're not going to sign anything yet… Because there's this pandemic thing that might be a problem.'"
When Stocking finally did get the call confirming that they were chosen to be a part of "Erin's Guide to Kissing Girls," they jumped over the couch to hug their dad.
"A bit of shock, but a lot of excitement," Stocking said of the moment.
To hear more behind-the-scenes details of "Erin's Guide to Kissing Girls," click the video at the top of this article.
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
A 4.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded west of Vancouver Island early Friday morning.
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.