Only 11,000 people live on the 171,000 square miles that comprise Nunavik, the northernmost, frigid cold section of Québec . Only the Internet could make a young artist — who writes songs in English, French, and the Inuit language of Inuk — break out from beyond these borders.

Not all music enthusiasts may understand the Inuk lyrics that compose the songs written and sung by Elisapie Isaac, a world-folk musician from Salluit, Nunavik, but the 25,000 sales she has already made with her new album, “There will be Stars” in Québec alone, translates into every language.

“There will be Stars,” a trilingual album that switches from English, French, to Inuk words, was released in Canada since 2010 and is anticipated to make its appearance in New York in the near future.

“I was just a little girl when I first wrote songs,” Isaac said when describing her start in music.  Later when she was 19, she collaborated with Alain Auger in the musical project Taima.  Three years later she had the album Taima under her belt.

“It’s modern music,” she said.

She described her melodies as very simple and different because of its language.  “I guess you would find it in the folk pop section,” she added.  In comparison to her first album which had a masculine approach, There will be Stars has a more feminine feeling about it according to Isaac.

When writing, Isaac doesn’t like to draw inspiration from others; however, she enjoys the work of fellow musicians like Fleet Foxes and Bob Dylan.  Her music is set apart because her lyrics are based upon personal experiences.

“I’m not a big story teller.  I’m an emotional song writer.  It’s something very deep,” she said.  In total, her soundtracks are 80 percent her own words and the remainder are collaboration pieces.  Isaac’s personal favorites include “Turning my Back” and “Butterfly”.  The melodies are very soothing and laid back.

Isaac’s itinerary with music has included over 100 shows so far this year including work in France, a continuation of her touring in Québec, a folk and jazz fest in West Canada, and the beginning of her work in New York City.

Obstacles down the road like moving out of her isolated community into a bigger city like Montreal have definitely affected Isaac, but issues such as these are not holding her back from achieving goals like touring in the United States and working on a new album.

“Making music is not only about making music.  It’s about fighting for your songs and yourself,” Isaac said.  “It’s constantly nerve-racking, but I’ve learned to be strong.”

Another thing that feeds Isaac’s desire to move forward within the music industry is the support and feedback that she receives from her fans.  Isaac spoke highly of one particular diehard fan who regularly attends paid and free shows.

“I thought I was going to be scared of him and that he was going to be weird, but the last time he saw one of our shows he said that it had been a very powerful one with a lot of energy,” as Isaac had described.

The open interest that fans have expressed in her music is namely one of the most rewarding things that Isaac has taken away from her work with music.

Throughout July Isaac will be performing in Orilla, Ontario, but fans should visit her homepage at elisapie.com and follow Isaac’s touring schedule on Facebook and Twitter for more updates.

facebook.com/elisapieisaac — #elisapie

The teen pop sensation Justin Bieber was reportedly being investigated for assault in British Columbia, Canada, this weekend, following a 12-year-old’s claim that Bieber hit him on Friday during a game of laser tag.

The New York Daily News is saying that Bieber, 16, was only defending himself, and that his accuser was taunting him with gay slurs.

According to published reports Bieber showed up at Planet Lazer with two body guards and proceeded to play a round of laser tag with about a dozen other kids. The owner of the facility told the Canadian news site that the singer was kicked out of the building after after punching a 12-year-old boy and the boy complained to the staff.

TMZ reported that the 12-year-old repeatedly went after Bieber, harassing him and specifically targeting him. When Bieber asked him to lay off and play by the rules, the boy said, “What are you going to do about it faggot?” He reportedly continued to taunt Bieber, saying “You’re a faggot,” again and sticking his hand out, which the singer pushed away. Did he just defend himself or what?

According to MTV News, Royal Canadian Mounted Police confirmed Sunday (October 17) that an investigation was underway regarding an incident at a “Richmond entertainment facility” just before 5:30 p.m. on Friday. The father of a 12-year-old boy told authorities that his son was assaulted by another young male at the facility. The tween didn’t need medical attention and walked away with “minimal injuries.”

Since Bieber, and the boy in question, are both minors, no details of the incident will ever be officially released, according to Canadian authorities. So…will this be one of those celebrity myths…?

Bieber is set to perform at a concert in Vancouver on Tuesday.

It’s been a long time coming, but in the past year or so, Rush, one of the most influential rock bands in history, has finally gotten their due. From their hilarious appearance on the Colbert Report, to their amazing documentary, to the Canadian trio’s “it’s about fucking time” article in Rolling Stone magazine, one could say that Rush FINALLY have hit the mainstream.

Well, if you still doubted the influence of this amazing, underrated, oft mocked band, let this news be further proof of their popularity. Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock will feature Rush’s classic album, 2112, in the game’s all-new, story based Quest Mode.

“The music, the story and the journey of 2112 lends itself perfectly to the quest in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock,” said Geddy Lee of Rush. And guitarist Alex Lifeson added, “I love the idea of Guitar Hero, they have combined two great things- music and fun. I think it’s a great way to introduce people of all ages to music of various styles by all kinds of different bands, while providing a launching pad for kids who want to get into playing music.”

Within the narrative-driven journey, Rush and Guitar Hero fans alike will experience 2112 in a totally new and authentic way, while traversing the exclusive three-part 2112 Rush-inspired venue and playing their way through the 20 minute, seven part suite. Additionally, each song transition will feature band members narrating liner notes from the 2112 album, which might just be the coolest shit, ever.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, hits stores this September.
More info can be found at: GuitarHero.com

I woke up this morning to alerts on my cell phone, my calendar and my fridge, all saying the same thing: “Al Jazeera! Al Jazeera! Al Jazeera!”

That’s right, Al Jazeera English (AJE) is now available in Canada on three of the country’s largest cable providers. The channel also plans to open a bureau in Toronto as early as next month, after a nearly four year-long fight to get the channel on the air.

Last summer, the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission, Canada’s broadcast regulator, let the country’s people have a major say in whether Al Jazeera English would be allowed to broadcast in the country. An overwhelming 98 per cent of responses were in favor of allowing the channel to broadcast here, so AJE was given license last summer.

The channel faces much opposition, primarily from the Canadian Jewish Congress and B’nai Brith (another Jewish group), because of some of the accusations made against Al Jazeera English’s sister station, Al Jazeera Arabic. That channel has been accused of airing some anti-American and anti-Semitic programming, however Al Jazeera English is managed by Tony Burman, the ex-Editor-in-Chief of CBC News, Canada’s public broadcaster. He has personally met with opposition groups in Canada, in an attempt to ease suspicions.

To mark the channel’s inclusion in Canada’s media landscape, Al Jazeera English will be adding a Canadian spin to many of its programs in the upcoming weeks, including, according to the CBC:

• A look at what Canada’s departure from Afghanistan in 2011 will mean for NATO.
• In-depth features on Canada’s oilsands, including reports from Alberta on life at Fort McMurray.
• An examination of Canada’s controversial climate change policy.
• A report from Winnipeg on the hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for residential school survivors

Al Jazeera English began broadcasting in 2006. It is based out of Qatar with headquarters in Washington DC, London and Kuala Lumpur. It prides itself in covering issues that Western media tend to ignore, including Asian, African and South American issues.

TORONTO — The food is unhygienic, the water is dirty and there’s one toilet for more than 250 people. One man has died because of the unsanitary conditions in which he, his family, and his friends were forced to live.

In early October 2009, a rickety wooden boat carrying more than 250 Tamil men, women, and children was intercepted off the coast of Indonesia. It has been more than four months and the 254 men, women, and children, seeking to avoid persecution from their own government, are still trapped on-board that 30-metre boat, still docked in Merak, Indonesia, about three hours from Jakarta.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has been denied access to the boat by Indonesian officials, even though, according to Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for Relief of Tamils (CanadianHART), more than 100 of those on board are recognized refugees.

Jessica Chandrashekar, a York University graduate student, arrived in Indonesia on Jan. 21 with CanadianHART in a planned attempt to board the ship and document the conditions by taking photos and conducting interviews with the detained. She, and two Australians with similar missions, were arrested by the Indonesian government and held for 11 hours. She did not have permission to board the ship and was repeatedly interrogated, The Excalibur, York University’s campus newspaper, reports.

Chandrashekar did not reply after several requests for an interview. However, she told The Excalibur that she was denied basic rights while under detention by the Indonesian police. "[The police] took me to the police station in Merak and held me there for quite some time. [They] questioned and interrogated me and took away my passport and cell phone and would not let us call an embassy."

According to a spokesman for the Indonesian police, Chandrashekar and her Australian counterparts tried to give documents to those on board, which is strictly illegal. Chandrashekar returned to Canada on Jan. 30, and is now banned from visiting Indonesia for six months.

In early February, Indonesian officials reported that the identities of the Tamils on-board would soon be verified and their futures would be determined. But the people on-board say they’ll only step onto Indonesian soil if they are guaranteed to be sent off of it. The Indonesian government says that’s something they cannot promise without verifying identities and documents first, but the Tamils on-board remain uncompromising.

Spokespeople for various human rights organizations say that all of the paperwork and questioning can be done while the Tamils stay on the boat, as many are afraid that they will be jailed as soon as they disembark, just as other asylum seekers were almost a year ago.

Those asylum seekers, who are currently confined to a tiny jail for 24 hours a day with less than one metre squared per person, are now on a hunger strike. They hope it will spur the authorities to provide them with a resettlement deal that will relieve them from their dirty cells and place them in a suburb in Canada or Australia.

The Tamils on-board the boat also want to be resettled to Australia or Canada. Canada would be a fitting home because, as many living in downtown Toronto know from the plethora of protests that occurred just last year, it has a large population of Tamils.

Aadish Srivastharan, a young activist who participated heavily in protests in Toronto during the war in Sri Lanka, says he’s now shifted his focus to those trapped in Indonesia, in what he calls "inhumane conditions." Srivastharan wants to go to Indonesia, but after being told of what happened to Chandrashekar, he looks a little worried.

"I didn’t know that. She got arrested? See, that’s ridiculous. How do you get arrested for trying to bring food to your brothers and sisters? It’s not right," he says, his voice trailing off at the end of the statement. Srivastharan looks off into space, trying to imagine what his countrymen and women are going through. "I understand that some people are against letting them off the boat because some are believed to be terrorists working with the [Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam]. I don’t know, maybe they are being too stubborn. Maybe, they should get off the boat and see what happens. They can’t stay on it forever."

Rights groups and the global Tamil diaspora hopes the Indonesian government will not send the Tamils back to Sri Lanka. There they will likely be branded as traitors, jailed, persecuted and charged with illegal migration, as many others trying to flee the country have been.

According to the Indonesian government in early February, the problem should have, by now, been solved. But, the government’s definition of solved likely differs from that of the Tamils’, who want safety and security promptly, as politics and paperwork are never prompt.

Srivastharan is, however, optimistic. "It’ll be over soon. They are barely surviving. They’ll have to get off if they want to live. But what kind of life will they live?"

This article was featured in the March edition of the Ryerson Free Press and Arthur.

Former governor Mitt Romney was attacked by a passenger on an Air Canada flight Monday morning.

The former 2008 Republican presidential hopeful had been in Vancouver since Friday for the Winter Olympics, was attacked as he was leaving Vancouver with his wife, Ann According to Eric Fehrnstrom , Romney’s spokesman, Romney, 62, reportedly asked the passenger sitting in front of his wife to raise his seat during takeoff after the passenger had reclined his seat. The man allegedly became violent and took a swing at the former 2008 presidential hopeful.

A Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail, first reported the story, saying that Romney was "physically threatened" by a passenger.

"Gov. Romney did not retaliate, but instead allowed the airline crew to respond to the incident," Fehrnstrom said in a statement.

Romney was not injured. The pilot returned to the gate, and the suspect was removed from the plane by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The same plane took off a short time later and later landed safety in Los Angeles.

Romney was the head of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and was an honored guest at the 2010 games.

TORONTO — The opening ceremony for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic games was at times breathtaking, and at other times, just weird.

Let’s be nice and go over the breathtaking first. Sarah McLachlan and k.d. Lang sang wonderfully. The actual lighting of the Olympic cauldron was inspired, as three Canadian heroes got to participate instead of the traditional one, including Rick Hansen, who IS a national icon.

Oh, and when those cartoon whales swam across the floor and began to spout water, that was neat.

But a lot of this ceremony, which was so heavily anticipated after Beijing’s opener, did not represent Canadian culture. That wasn’t Canada.

I can’t comment on whether the Aboriginal peoples of this country were done justice during the ceremony last night, but I do find it strange that we so glamorously portray their culture on a world stage, even when they are treated so poorly at home. That can’t be fair.

Don’t get me wrong. Aboriginal culture is beautiful and interesting, but Canada is definitely not a land of ice, snow and people dancing beneath giant trees and totem poles. We’ve a rich multicultural society that inhabits a a few vibrant cosmopolitan centres and cities in between, many of whom have successfully intertwined their ancestral cultural values with Canada’s light cultural values. That’s what Canada is; a mosaic. That’s what we should’ve seen last night.

And the clich©s! The mounties, the icy, barren landscape, Nelly Furtado in a tight dress. It was all embarassingly there. We perpetuated many stereotypes last night. Especially when VANOC’s speaker spoke after Jacques Rogge. He almost put me to sleep, just like those kind, timid and shy Canadians tend to do.

Oh, and that terrifying Coca-Cola bear that emerged from the ground, that wasn’t a clich©, but it was creepy.

And then finally, at the last moment, when The Great One and his fellow all-star Canadians were all set to light the flame, technology bitch slapped us. We waited and waited. Even Gretzky looked pissed for a second.

Then finally, the cauldron emerged, in all its glory, and was lit by three Canadian heroes. Then Gretzky ran outside to light the outdoor flame, and received the wonderful treatment Canada allots to all of its national icons. He rode on the back of a truck while it rained on his face. Nice.

But world, don’t take that image of Canada home with you. It isn’t what life is like here. We don’t all live in the Arctic circle among the Orcas and the ice floes.

But we do rule the Winter Olympics. So look out.

Haiti. Just mentioning the country’s name makes people stop, listen, and hope that what they hear is, for a change, good news. But there isn’t much in Haiti. People are dying preventable deaths. Children are dying from broken bones. There is a lack of food, water and shelter for the Haitians.

The relief effort in Haiti is sweeping, but it isn’t organized. The clogged airport and the shattered roads make it tough for aid organizations to get to where they need to be. Infrastructure isn’t being built quickly enough because there isn’t enough tools.

There is no system to account for all the food, water and medical supplies that come into Haiti. Everything isn’t being fairly distributed.

But it all will come together. This is, after all, a natural disaster that has affected three million. There’s no quick fix.

If you’re frustrated that your donated money is being stalled, don’t worry. Haiti’s future is bleak and hopeful all at once. And our money can help make it better.

Remember to donate what you can tonight to Hope For Haiti Now or Canada for Haiti.

I’m as realistic as any other fair-minded person, especially on the topic of climate change, and unlike some I did not believe Copenhagen would be the backdrop upon which a herculean climate change document would be drafted. Change comes in small steps and since Kyoto failed with a bang, I knew Copenhagen would act as just the first stage in our ultimate goal to reduce emissions worldwide.

I live in Canada so I’m so very disappointed in what our Prime Minister is doing there. In short, he’s done everything by something. And that’s a travesty because we really suck when it comes to climate change. He opted to not deliver an address at the plenary session and has repeatedly suggested that developing countries hammer out a pact to reduce emissions before Canada.

That’s unfair. The developed world went through its industrial revolution with little regard for the environment, as it was not seen as a factor in those days. Now, as countries like India and China revolutionize, developed countries like Canada are demanding that they take action first? While of course those two powerhouses must act to reduce their emissions in some way, they cannot be expected to take the lead or draft a binding agreement now, just as the world is taking notice of their strides and unloading a great deal of respect on their leaders (see: White House Inaugural State Dinner). In the end, climate change is a political game.

Leaders must lead and as leaders of the world the developed nations must draft a BINDING agreement first. Copenhagen produced a non-binding agreement to limit global warming to 3.6 degrees Farenheit. While neither the United States, South Africa, India, Brazil or China, all signatories of the pact, stated how this goal would be acheived, it is a goal set and one that the UN has taken “note” of but not approved. It even includes developing nations.

Of course this non-binding pact is hardly better than a verbal agreement, and is far from “unprecedented” as President Obama stated. However, while it isn’t groundbreaking, it is a start, and Obama was correct in stating that it’s a big deal that major economies (the U.S., India and China) have agreed that climate change needs to be addressed.

Other developing countries have lambasted the deal, which does include a clause to commit $100 billion by 2020 to developing nations affected by global warming. The major downfall of the agreement is its lack of specific pollution reductions, which is one of the main ways to keep temperature rise to a minimum. A 3.6 degree cap on temperature rise won’t be honored if pollution reductions aren’t drafted and agreed upon in a BINDING agreement.

However in that agreement, the United States or some other developed country, will have to take the lead, unlike Harper suggests. And that is step two.

TORONTO — Here is the third edition of the Terra Podcast, where Blast’s world news reporter Sachin Seth visits a food bank and learns about the people who work and are served there.

Many Food Banks around North America are in dire straits. Since the recession set in, many are finding it harder and harder to secure donations from those hit hard by the global economic downturn.

In major cities like Toronto, food banks have seen close to a 30 per cent increase in clients, but no major increase in donations. Those in need of food are turned away near closing time because supplies run out.

William Shane, a board member at Fort York Food Bank, one of the largest in Toronto, says he’s seen an almost 200 per cent increase in food hampers requested in just five years. The majority of that increase has come since 2007 – the beginning of the recession.

Fort York is by no means a spacious food bank. It’s one of the largest in Toronto in terms of population served, however not in terms of space. Still, Shane tells me it costs more than $90,000 just to keep the lights and heat running. That money comes primarily from donations, save for a small stipend from their mother company that amounts to just a few thousand per year.

Almost one third of Toronto’s entire population visits a food bank every year, an astonishingly large number for a developed North American metropolis. But if you look around, numbers in other major cities across Canada and the U.S. aren’t far off.

I went to Fort York with many questions in an effort to find out how the food bank copes with such large demand. But instead of coming away with answers, I quickly fell in love with the men and women who work there. Their pasts, in some cases heartbreaking, and their ambition, in some cases inspiring.

This is the story of three of the selfless women I met who turned their lives around to give back to the community.

This is the story of Trudy, Janice and Liz.

According to the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) AlJazeera English is, most likely, on its way to major broadcast networks in the Great White North.

Many however have quite the negative view of AlJazeera, especially the Arabic network. They’ve been accused of giving a “voice to terrorists” and have, in the past, aired some seriously anti-Semitic programming.

But AlJazeera English is the station that’s on its way to Canada, not AlJazeera Arabic. AJE was established just three years ago and even though it is, like Aljazeera Arabic, owned by the Qatari government, it operates independently from its big sister station.

I watch AlJazeera English regularly on Livestation. It’s a quality all-day news channel that reports on issues much like CNN does, but from a differing, more localized and internal perspective.

CNN’s coverage of American politics is hard to match. It’s comprehensive and seen from all angles. It’s quality. Why? Well it operates from the area on which it reports, the U.S. Atlanta, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and New York City. Everything is covered. Here.

So, naturally, a news channel operating out of the Middle East would give the world a more authentic idea of what is going on there than, say, CNN, whose headquarters are a long way from the Mid-East.

You wouldn’t rely on the BBC for American political news, so why are we forced to watch CNN to learn about the Middle East? After all, CNN’s global sister stations aren’t available to us here in the U.S. and Canada.

The current vast news landscape is made up largely of Middle Eastern issues. AlJazeera’s main headquarters are right smack-dab in the middle of the Middle East: Doha, Qatar, just off the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia. They also have broadcast stations in Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington D.C. They air at least one 30-minute news show from each base everyday.

In addition to the four headquarters, AJE has 69 bureaus set up all over the world, many of which are in the southern hemisphere. They also employ 1,200 staff of more than 45 ethnicities.

That doesn’t sound too oppressive to me. These stats make them the most diverse news network in the world.

If you watch the channel you’ll know their anchors, reporters and weathermen come in all colors. As a person of color, that’s a nice thing to see on TV. Finally.

Many of their staff is also women.

I admit I’ve never watched AlJazeera Arabic, aside from all the terrorist videos that have become infamous in the West. I’ve heard the negative criticism and the allegations of anti-Americanism toward the AJA. I’ve also seen some of the proof.

But that doesn’t mean AJE isn’t a quality, unbiased organization. It operates independently from AJA and caters, purposefully, toward a Western audience.

You only have to watch programs like “Witness” and “People & Power” to understand the quality of AlJazeera English. Seriously, download LiveStation and watch those programs. They are phenomenal examples of how AJE brings attention to important issues that get either get lost in Western mainstream media filters or go undetected on news radar.

About 80 per cent of AJE’s stories relate to the Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, about twice as much as the BBC and CNN.

AJE’s reporting of not only Middle Eastern issues but also those issues that affect the forgotten areas of Latin America, Africa and Asia are without a doubt superior to those few pieces produced and released by CNN and the BBC.

The rest of the world needs a voice. AlJazeera English is it. So please come on down to Canada.

This past February 19 was the International Day of Pink, a day where people all over the world stood up to bullying, prejudice, discrimination and homophobia.

The day started a few years ago, at a Nova Scotia high school, when a teen wore a pink shirt to school. A few of his schoolmates, who assumed his choice of clothing branded him as a homosexual, ridiculed the child.

Soon after the teen’s fellow peers decided to stand up to this prejudice, and all wore pink shirts to school, in a stand against the bullies.

The day is of much importance to students especially, since many gay teens are the subject of prejudice and discrimination in both high school and university.

Outside of high school and university, there is a lot of prejudice against gays in Canadian society. For example, a big story right now is Health Canada’s strict rules that make it near impossible for gay men to donate organs.

And now, since the rules were imposed, organ donations have dropped. Health Canada claims there is no evidence that the decline is in direct relation to the rules against gay men, which many protesters refer to as the “homophobic rule.”

The rules were imposed in December of 2007, quietly, when Health Canada, without any announcements, decided that any man who had had sex once with another man in the last five years would be banned from donating organs. The board already has a rule in place that prevents a man who has had sex with another man, even only once since 1979, from donating blood.

Gary Levy, the director of Canada’s largest organ transplant program at the Toronto University Health Network said that the drop in organ donations caused deaths in Canada, up to “150″ he said.

He also said that he worked with the federal government trying to prevent the ruling, specifically telling them that it did nothing to ensure safety.

The organs aren’t officially banned, since men who haven’t had sex with another man in five years are free to donate. But that means all sexually active gay men, regardless of their HIV status, are not allowed to donate. That is certainly discrimination, especially if the director of the largest organ transplant program in Canada says these rules to nothing to ensure safety or increase it.

Standing Against Queer Discrimination, a grassroots anti-prejudice organization has taken a real issue with this ruling.

Health Canada issued a statement saying that the measures were taken to “reassure the public.”

SAQD takes particular issue with this statement, taking it as referring to gay men as a dangerous societal group.

Ridiculous rule.

TORONTO — Obama’s coming up to Ottawa tomorrow and Canadians are in a frenzy. Thousands of people are making their way to the nation’s capital, with the knowledge that catching even a fleeting glance of the 44th president will be nearly impossible.

But who cares? People want the atmosphere, knowing they are in the same city as Obama, or “the kid” as I now call him.

The kid will touch ground around 10:30 a.m. tomorrow morning, then head straight to Parliament Hill for a few day meetings and lunch with our ridiculously incompetent leader, Stephen Harper. Who? It’s OK if you don’t know his name. He doesn’t do much worth talking about. He can rock a sweater vest like nobody’s business though.

The trip from the airport to the Hill isn’t far, and people will surely be lined up along all possible routes (since the actual route is being kept secret) hoping to catch a glimpse of the kid sitting in his huge limo. But they won’t be able to, since it’s outfitted with five-inch thick glass.

Ottawa police tell residents to expect surprise road closing and changes to parking and bus schedules. Road barriers go up around 7:30 a.m.

Obama will only be in Canada for a few hours, but Canadians are honored that his first international trip is up north. Canadians will boast for years to come that Obama came to Canada before any other country in the world.

Oh and by the way, Obama will also meet with Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, a.k.a our next prime minister. He will discuss, with both Ignatieff and Harper, U.S.-Canada trade relations, the economy and the environment.

Already, 2008 is shaping up to be a banner year for Canadian indie rockers The Stills, and their third album, “Oceans Will Rise,” hasn’t even hit shelves yet. In July, the Montreal quintet was tapped to open for Paul McCartney at Quebec City’s 400th Anniversary Concert and received positive reviews for the performance (“The group rocked for its life during the high-profile gig,” proclaimed the Montreal Gazette.)

When “Oceans” is released on August 19th, there’s a good chance The Stills’ summertime good fortune will continue. It’s their strongest record to date, coming on the heels of 2003′s “Logic Will Break Your Heart” and 2006′s “Without Feathers.”

The band’s official site describes them as a “rock band with an ‘80s sound,” but traces of early ‘90s grunge influences are also scattered throughout.

The album kicks things off with “Don’t Talk Down,” which, after brazenly borrowing an opening riff from The Smiths’ “A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours,” redeems itself by segueing into a bouncy, memorable ditty.

Singers Tim Fletcher and Dave Hamelin have stated that the title “Oceans Will Rise” refers to the fragility of humans as compared to the vast strength of nature. But the album seems to at least challenge, if not defy, that very notion, with several tracks packing a fairly powerful wallop. Take the grandiose first single “Being Here,” for example, which is back-to-basics rock ‘n’ roll, with Springsteen-esque guitar riffs and vocals encircling the repetitive, yet impossibly catchy chorus. Likewise, the surging “Hands on Fire” is structured like a wave, starting small before crashing down with a tsunami of a chorus.

Lyrically, however, “Oceans Will Rise” is a different story, as apocalyptic themes abound. “Dinosaurs” opens with the phrase “The clouds are thunder and lightning / The oceans level will rise / The earth will shake / Your windows will break.” The confessional “Everything I Build” takes things down a notch, with the mournful refrain, “I watched from the hill as it burned to the ground / I can still the smoke from my train out of town.”

Drummer Julian Blais provides highlights on a number of tracks, most notably on the aptly-titled “Snakecharming the Masses,” which mesmerizes the listener with a tribal beat. Rounding out the lineup are keyboardist Liam O’Neil and bassist Olivier Corbeil.

It might be hard to top the being the opening act for Sir Paul, but with “Oceans Will Rise,” The Stills will likely continue riding a wave of success.