Good morning. Today we’re introducing a new year-long photojournalism project from The Globe and Mail called Underexposed, which is dedicated to sharing overlooked Canadian stories. We also have news on credit card debt and walking pneumonia. But first:
Today’s headlines
- Military readies evacuation plans for Canadians to flee Lebanon
- Alberta’s mass dismissal of AIMCo leaders came after clash over leadership, spending concerns
- An ArriveCan contractor who worked at the defence ministry posed a “high risk” of sharing sensitive military information, internal documents reveal
- Canada Post workers are on strike ahead of the busy holiday season
An outdoor gym has grown up over the last few years in an unlikely spot: under a highway overpass near Montreal’s old port.ROGER LEMOYNE/The Globe and Mail
Photojournalism
A lens on Canadians
For Underexposed, The Globe asked photojournalists from across the country to chronicle the day-to-day lives of Canadians who are too often overlooked. The stories come from cities and from rural communities, from every province and territory, from an array of cultures and economic classes and political views.
As our editor-in-chief writes: “Photography is unique in its ability to create empathy between subject and viewer. At its best, the medium allows us to share complex and nuanced struggles and celebrate joys with people who, on the surface, may seem like strangers – even when they’re our neighbours.”
Keep an eye out for new instalments of the series throughout the coming year. As a whole, we hope it will help us understand the Canadian experience – to delight, surprise and inform our readers while showcasing some of the best photojournalism of our time.
What stories in your community are overlooked? Share your ideas for The Globe’s photo pop-up bureau.
For the first installment, photographer Roger LeMoyne shares his images of a fitness community located below a Montreal overpass. He spoke to us about meeting the eclectic group of fitness fanatics who are putting their differences aside in the shared pursuit of physical prowess. Check it out.
De la Commune’s popularity has skyrocketed, though few people using the gym know where the equipment came from.ROGER LEMOYNE/The Globe and Mail
How did you come across the gym, and why did you feel compelled to photograph it?
Roger: There’s a bike path that runs along the canal in Montreal. Right under that overpass where the gym is. I was just cycling on the bike path and came by one day in the evening, not this summer but the summer before. There were a bunch of guys working out and there was something really unusual about the place and how they were working out. Because it’s outdoors and not a private gym or a paid gym.
The guys tend to go bare chested and there’s definitely that exhibition quality of that gym that just kind of invites photography. It draws all kinds of people but the calisthenics is the real eye-catchy stuff.
A few years ago, the city installed some exercise bars and an artificial mat as in many parks and public spaces. Soon a calisthenics community sprang up.ROGER LEMOYNE/The Globe and Mail
Your background is in documenting human conflict, why did you turn your lens to local life?
Well, the first part of my career, as a photographer I was really all about not being in Canada. In fact, I photographed very little in Canada, I wasn’t that interested. My interest was really the developing world and all the different things that happen in the global south. When I had kids, for a number of reasons, my focus would shift on a number of things.
What is local can be equally meaningful and, certainly from the photographer point of view, just as challenging or more so. More of a real challenge to see your own world with fresh eyes and not always be using the extraordinary. Of course, daily life in Afghanistan is just their daily life. But to our eyes, it’s kind of extraordinary. That was actually a mental barrier that I had to break through and start to recognize my own worlds. I think having children helps you do that. “Dare to be mundane” was the kind of catch phrase with myself and a friend of mine.
The location attracts an intriguing mix of people and appeals to extremely fit exhibitionists who train in minimal clothing.ROGER LEMOYNE/The Globe and Mail
What do you hope readers take away from seeing these pictures?
The way this sort of community formed it’s a community and yet it’s so informal, which is one of the fascinating things about this gym. There’s no membership, there’s no schedule. It’s just there thanks to your contributions and what the city did as well. It’s people from very different backgrounds. There’s Quebecois, but a lot of the people are immigrants. It’s right next to Griffintown, which is a new technology hub in Montreal. So it’s a very diverse, generally younger group of people. So it does reflect the new Canada in a way that I found intriguing too. But that’s the beauty of these things that created a loose, almost utopian community where people could come and steal this stuff. But nobody has.
It’s just very enticing to me. I hope if there’s anything for people to take away, it’s that communities can be created in different ways.
A young man trains in boxing. Behind him we see the iconic FARINE FIVE ROSES sign, a Montreal landmark notable for it's bilingual or "franglais" content.ROGER LEMOYNE/The Globe and Mail
Did you learn anything that took you by surprise?
I mean, the thing that really surprised me was finding the person who’s actually behind it. That was this very informal process that really started with one guy and now other people are contributing. He didn’t seek anything for it. And most people don’t even know that it’s him. They’ve never seen him, they’ve never met him. He goes there to train sometimes but he probably doesn’t tell people who he is.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Chart
Credit card debt tests the claim that America’s economy is strong
A surge in credit-card debt is just one sign of financial pain among households.The Globe and Mail
Rising consumer debt levels expose the disconnect between rosy American economic portraits and strain at the household level. The same Canadian situation also bears watching. A surge in credit card debt is playing out in much the same way – except in Canada economic growth and the job market have already stalled.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: Over 10,000 foreign student acceptance letters may be fake, says immigration chief
Abroad: Russia open to any Ukraine peace talks if Donald Trump starts them, envoy says
Explained: What is walking pneumonia? As cases rise in Canada, the symptoms to look out for
Oil and gas: Taiwan is eager to buy Canadian natural gas as part of the island’s effort to diversify supply, a senior government official says
Turmoil and gags: Satire publication The Onion buys Alex Jones’s Infowars at auction with help from Sandy Hook families