The annual summit is a giant diplomatic spectacle, but in the Trump era, it’s more relevant than ever

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The Best of Maclean's
 

Next Week, Canada’s Headed Into a Key Moment

 

The G7 gathering in Kananaskis early next week is already making me tense. Donald Trump has been so wildly unpredictable over the last few months—and bizarrely hostile toward America’s allies—I shudder at the prospect of how he’ll behave in a group of world leaders secluded in the mountains to talk policy. 

A photo of a sign that says ''Kananaskis Country:'' in front of blue-tinged mountains

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be there. So will Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. I wish the best of luck to Prime Minister Mark Carney, the host of this awkward, high-stakes gathering. If Trump has turned world politics into an excruciating reality television series, the G7 has the potential to be cringe-inducing must-watch TV.

Will anything of substance happen next week? Ella Kokotsis, the director of accountability for the G7 Research Group at the University of Toronto, says yes. Kokotis is a G7 superfan. She has attended most summits since 1994 and helped launch a research team dedicated to tracking G7 results. In an essay for Maclean’s, she argues that there’s more to next week’s conclave than political theatre. She even thinks it’s a key moment for Canada. “Against a backdrop of annexation threats and growing authoritarianism, in Kananaskis, Canada has an opportunity to cut through the noise and take steps to build the future Canadians want to see.”

Visit macleans.ca for more coverage of everything that matters in Canada, and subscribe to the magazine here.

—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief, Maclean’s

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Editor’s Picks

A woman in a a tan blazer and bright blue dress photographed on a path between trees

EDUCATION

How Universities Can Address False Claims to Indigeneity

In recent years, case after case of fraud has surfaced in Canadian academia, exposing people who’ve falsely claimed Indigenous identity to advance their careers. Now, McGill has launched one of the first university policies in Canada to verify Indigenous citizenship, led by anthropology professor Celeste Pedri-Spade. Addressing these dynamics of identity is uncomfortable, Pedri-Spade writes in this essay for Maclean’s, but reconciliation demands no less. 

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A van on a long highway

THE TRUMP EFFECT

Canadian Snowbirds Are Giving Up on the U.S.

There’s an old joke that says Canadians have been coming to vacation in Phoenix since the invention of air conditioning. Realtor Laurie Lavine, who’s a dual Canadian and American citizen, has spent 15 years helping Canadian retirees settle in the sunny Arizona city. Now he’s seeing a reverse trend. “In the years I’ve been in Phoenix,” he writes in this essay for Maclean’s, “the market has only ever surged as more and more snowbirds came shopping for a winter roost.” But this year, he’s busier than ever—helping them leave. 

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Celine Song standing on a New York City doorstep, holding a script and speaking to Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans

CULTURE PICK

Materialists

Canadian filmmaker Celine Song became one of Hollywood’s hottest commodities with the release of her first feature, Past Lives, which earned a Best Picture Oscar nomination and depicted a Korean-Canadian woman caught between her lost childhood love and her American husband. Her thematic follow-up, Materialists, features Dakota Johnson as a math-savvy New York matchmaker torn between (handsome, wealthy, polished, perfect) Pedro Pascal and (also handsome, but poor, messy, imperfect) Chris Evans. Song eloquently explores the choices we make in life and love, although in the case of this film, there seems to be no wrong answer.

Out Tomorrow
 
A dining room

DOMESTIC DINING

The Country’s Fanciest Cafeteria

Montreal’s Le Fou Fou, a deluxe dining hall in Montreal, is not exactly a food court, not exactly a restaurant, but a choose-your-own culinary fever dream featuring a who’s who of the city’s culinary talent. Twelve restaurants and three bars fill the 900-seat communal space inside Royalmount, the city’s newest mall, and the space also features a rotating schedule of dance parties and DJ nights after dark. From our June issue, here’s a bucket list of homegrown restaurants, chefs and dishes to experience this summer. 

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The cover of the Maclean's June 2025 issue, featuring the headline ''20 Reasons to Eat Canadian''

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