Needs No Introduction: Recent Episodes
rabble.ca
A series of speeches and lectures from the finest minds of our time. Fresh ideas from speakers of note.
In 2018, the Tommy Douglas Institute at George Brown College in Toronto welcomed then Senator and former head of the Truth and Reconciliation of Canada, the Honourable Murray Sinclair as its keynote speaker.
Through his poignant address about the impacts of Canada’s colonial history and the residential school system on the lives of Indigenous Peoples and the meaning of reconciliation, we experienced first-hand the brilliance, integrity, kindness and humour of this truly remarkable individual.
The Honourable Murray Sinclair passed away on the morning of November 4, 2024.
In his memory, we bring you his 2018 keynote address on Community, Education, Change: Indigenous Ways of Knowing.
Reflecting on reconciliation, Sinclair said:
“Reconciliation is a process which is building. It's not a spectator sport. It involves everybody. And everybody is implicated in it .. No neutrality exists here. .. And understanding it is part of the educational process. And understanding the implications it has for you is part of the challenge that we also need to face. And all of that has to do with knowledge. All of that has to do with dialogue as well, and developing consensus and agreement about where we're going to go as a country… We have to talk about what kind of relationship we're going to have going forward. . And that means we have to think differently. We have to think better. ”
rabble had previously shared this keynote address here.
About today’s speaker:
The Honourable Murray Sinclair served the justice system in Manitoba for over 25 years. He was the first Indigenous Judge appointed in Manitoba and Canada’s second.
Sinclair was Co-Chair of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in Manitoba and Chief Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). As head of the TRC, he participated in hundreds of hearings across Canada, culminating in the issuance of the TRC’s final report in 2015 and its 94 Calls to Action. He also oversaw an active multi-million dollar fundraising program to support various TRC events and activities.
Over the years, Sinclair has been invited to speak throughout Canada, the United States and internationally, including the Cambridge Lectures for members of the Judiciary of various Commonwealth Courts in England.
He served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Manitoba. In 2021, Sinclair was appointed 15th Chancellor of Queen’s University, later becoming Chancellor Emeritus and Special Advisor to the Principal on Reconciliation of Queen's University in 2024.
Sinclair has received numerous awards and honours, including the National Aboriginal Achievement Award, The Mahatma Gandhi Prize for Peace, the Mandela Award, the Manitoba Bar Association’s Equality Award and its Distinguished Service Award, Canada’s World Peace Prize, and the Meritorius Service Cross. He has also received honorary doctorates and degrees from universities across Canada.
Sinclair was appointed to the Canadian Senate on April 2, 2016 where he served as a Senator for five years.In 2022 Murray Sinclair was appointed a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Manitoba in 2024.
Most recently Sinclair published his memoir, Who We Are: Four Questions for a Life and a Nation
The Honourable Murray Sinclair passed away peacefully and surrounded by his loved ones on November 4th, 2024.
In lieu of flowers, his family requests that donations be made to the Murray Sinclair Memorial Fund at the Winnipeg Foundation.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: The Honourable Murray Sinclair / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Original Editing and Recording by: Victoria Fenner and Emily Parr
Host: Resh Budhu.
In episode four, Palestinian storyteller Sarah Abu-Sharar joins us for our third annual Mouth Open Story Jump Out episode. Through Palestinian folktales and stories of her father, she reflects on the meaning and power of stories within Palestinian resilience, recuperation and resistance.
Reflection on her journey into storytelling, Abu-Sharar says:
“When I started storytelling, it had to be for Palestine because it was reclaiming my identity. It was a way of saying, the Occupation might have deprived me of my land, of my culture, but I will resist by telling our stories.”
About today’s guest:
Sarah Abu-Sharar comes from a long line of storytellers on her paternal side. She tells stories to both adults and children. Abu-Sharar has told stories both nationally and internationally at festivals in Canada, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Tunisia, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. Because Abu-Sharar grew up in several countries she tells stories from all over the world with the focus on Palestinian and Croatian stories where her roots lie. Her favourite stories are ones that promote social change. She has also used stories in a therapeutic way with children in refugee camps and refugee children in Toronto, as part of their therapy. She works at the Parent Child Mother Goose Program using traditional storytelling to encourage parent child bonding. Abu-Sharar belongs to a collective called "Musical Story Studio" where stories and music are combined. She tells stories so that she may go deep inside of the tales and find herself in far away magical places that she remembers, from long, long ago.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Sarah Abu-Sharar / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
In episode three, researcher Dr. Rahul Kumar and political economist Dr. Tanner Mirrlees discuss the rise of education technology and artificial intelligence across colleges and universities, how they impact and disrupt teaching and learning, and how public post secondary education has become an incredibly lucrative business for privately owned EdTech corporations.
Reflecting on the impacts of EdTech companies on education, Mirrlees says:
“The very same business model that these corporations have developed and advanced in all facets of social life are now being advanced throughout the context of public education. Whereby platform capitalism is becoming the classroom. Surveillance capitalism is becoming the classroom. Data is being aggregated about all of the users of these services, teachers, learners, administrators, everyone.”
Describing the interminable cycle of EdTech and AI, Kumar says:
“Imagine a triangle where we have pedagogy, privacy and privatization. … pedagogy, we need to teach these things. Oh my goodness, we need graduates to be well versed in it. And that becomes the entry point. Well, you buy this piece of software, which is the private part. And it is going to lead to providing solutions. Meanwhile the tool is being used for surveillance, which allows for better improvements … which leads to that idea of more technology begets more technology.”
About today’s guests:
Rahul Kumar is an assistant professor at the Department of Educational Studies at Brock University. His current scholarship contributes to the discourse of AI’s role in higher education and K-12 system. He is an active contributor to several prestigious journals and a recipient of several internal and external grants for his research work. Prior to his academic post, Kumar worked in the IT industry and brings his theoretical and practical knowledge to understanding, promoting, and critiquing technology within education.
Tanner Mirrlees is a political economist of the communication, media and tech industries, and teaches in the Communication and Digital Media Studies program at Ontario Tech University. Mirrlees is the author or co-author of numerous publications, including Work in the Digital Media and Entertainment Industries: A Critical Introduction (Routledge, 2024), Global Entertainment Media: Between Cultural Imperialism and Cultural Globalization (Routledge, 2013), Hearts and Mines: The US Empire's Cultural Industry (UBC Press, 2016), and EdTech Inc.: Selling, Automating and Globalizing Higher Education in the Digital Age (Routledge, 2019). Mirrlees is also the co-editor of Media Imperialism: Continuity and Change (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019), Media, Technology, and the Culture of Militarism (Democratic Communiqué, 2014), and The Television Reader (Oxford University Press, 2012).
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute
Image: Tanner Mirrlees, Rahul Kumar / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
Episode two welcomes research director of the Yellowhead Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University, Eva Jewell and director of education, outreach and public programming at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, Kaila Johnston. As we enter National Truth and Reconciliation Week, we discuss Canada’s progress on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action and the meaning of reconciliation and reclamation in this settler-colonial state.
Reflecting on Canada’s progress on reconciliation, Johnston says:
“It's been the low hanging fruit or the easy Calls to Action that have been addressed to date … A lot of the work that I have seen is through grassroots organizations and others who've been working away at the Calls to Action.”
Speaking about two key aspects of reconciliation, Jewell says:
“The first is for Canadians. They have to reconcile with themselves and with what their country has done … And then there's the work that we have to do as Indigenous Peoples … and that is reclaiming, recreating our world through our language practices, our cultural practices, our political practices, repopulating our political systems that were destroyed by Residential Schools.”
About today’s guests:
Dr. Eva Jewell is Anishinaabe from Deshkan Ziibiing (Chippewas of the Thames First Nation) in southwestern Ontario, with paternal lineage from Oneida Nation of the Thames. Her research is in areas of care, cultural reclamation, and accountability in reconciliation. Dr. Jewell is an assistant professor in the sociology department at Toronto Metropolitan University and research director at Yellowhead Institute.Follow Yellowhead Institute's work on yellowheadinstitute.org.
As the director of education, outreach, and public programming, Kaila Johnston oversees matters related to the support of educators, development of resources, establishment of outreach initiatives, as well as public engagement on residential schools and their legacy. Prior to joining the NCTR, Kaila worked with the TRC as a statement gatherer and coordinator to support statement gathering activities. She holds a BA (Hons.) in Criminal Justice from the University of Winnipeg and a MSc in International Crimes and Criminology from Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. Follow the NCTR at:
https://www.facebook.com/nctr.ca
https://x.com/nctr_um
https://www.instagram.com/nctr_um/
https://ca.linkedin.com/company/nctr-um
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute
Image: Eva Jewell, Kaila Johnston / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
In our season seven premiere, we welcome the managing director of the C40 Centre for City Climate Policy and Economy and former mayor of Toronto, David MIller. We discuss the crucial role of cities in “fixing” the climate crisis, what we can learn in building sustainable and equitable urban communities and explore the question of just how prepared Canadian cities are to meet the challenges of this crisis.
Reflecting on the key role of cities in dealing with the climate crisis, Miller says:
“The international community said, okay, climate change is a problem. And then they took 21 years to come to an agreement. Twenty-one years! … A mayor would be thrown out if she waited 21 years to act on anything. It's just inconceivable. So the nature of city governments lends themselves to action. And because they have responsibilities that significantly impact on whether we're going to have low-impact cities from a planetary perspective, whether we're going to have cities that emphasize equality or produce inequality. Their actions are really important.”
About today’s guest:
David Miller is the managing director of the C40 Centre for City Climate Policy and Economy. He is the author of “Solved: how the great cities of the world are fixing the climate crisis” (University of Toronto Press) and host of Cities 1.5 podcast.
Miller was Mayor of Toronto from 2003 to 2010 and served as Chair of C40 Cities from 2008 until 2010. Under his leadership, Toronto became widely admired internationally for its environmental leadership, economic strength and social integration. He is a leading advocate for the creation of sustainable urban economies.
Miller has held a variety of public and private positions and served as Future of Cities Global Fellow at Polytechnic Institute of New York University from 2011 to 2014. He has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Waterloo in Environmental Studies, an Honorary Doctor of Laws from York University and is currently executive in residence at the University of Victoria. David Miller is a Harvard trained economist and professionally is a lawyer. He and his wife, lawyer Jill Arthur, are the parents of two children.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Image: David Miller / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy)
Courage My Friends podcast organizing committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
For our fourth episode, Scholasticide and solidarity: The mind and memory of Gaza, we welcome University of Toronto professor, researcher and host of the Liberation Pedagogy Podcast, Dr. Chandni Desai and Mount Royal University professor, author and policy analyst with Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, Dr. Muhannad Ayyash.
Discussing the months-long Israeli military onslaught waged on Palestinians, we focus on the destruction of Gaza’s educational systems, educators and students, the role of scholasticide within genocide and the global solidarity mobilizing across university and college campuses to counter it.
Reflecting on scholasticide and the meaning of education for the Palestinian people Desai says:
“Scholasticide is the systemic destruction of the Palestinian education system, which has been ongoing since the 1948 Nakba…But in this genocide ..we are seeing a complete annihilation of the education system in Gaza…When a people have lost everything, including the land …education has become a really important pillar, not just in terms of preserving a national identity across fragmented borders and fragmented geographies, but also as a central pillar of knowledge that gets passed on in various ways that contribute to the cause for liberation. ”
Speaking on the rise of global pro-Palestinian solidarity, including on university campuses, Ayyash says:
“One of the reasons that the Palestinian struggle speaks to so many people around the world, why we see so many people going on their streets in all corners of the globe, speaking up for Palestine .. [i]t's precisely because the Palestinian struggle makes clear… a yearning for a liberation from the age of colonial modernity that has brought far too much death and destruction for too many around the world …In this moment, the Palestinian struggle is becoming a political consciousness. .. a way for people to make sense of their own systems of oppression.. that oppress and repress their own aspirations for freedom in their own context..”
About the guests:
Dr. Muhannad Ayyash was born and raised in Silwan, Al-Quds, before immigrating to Canada where he is professor of Sociology at Mount Royal University. He is also a policy analyst at Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network. He is the author of A Hermeneutics of Violence, has co-edited two books, and is the author of multiple journal articles, book chapters, and opinion pieces.
Dr. Chandni Desai is an assistant professor in the Critical Studies of Equity and Solidarity at the University of Toronto. Her areas of research, teaching and supervision include: comparative settler colonialisms, Palestine studies, the politics of the Middle East, state violence (carceral politics, militarism and war), cultures of resistance and revolution, political economy, third world internationalism, solidarity, memory, oral history, anti-racism and feminism. She is working on her first book Revolutionary Circuits of Liberation: The Radical Tradition of Palestinian Resistance Culture and Internationalism. Desai also hosts the Liberation Pedagogy Podcast.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Chandni Desai, Muhannad Ayyash / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
The season’s third episode takes us back to George Brown College’s 32nd annual Labour Fair in Toronto, ‘Corporate Power vs. Labour Power: It’s Our Work!!’
Professor Benjamin McCarthy facilitates a discussion featuring Lauren Ravon, executive director of Oxfam Canada and Jared Ong, organizer and case worker with the Workers’ Action Centre. Together, they discuss how this new age of corporate-driven inequality impacts workers on the ground and the hope that lies within working peoples’ solidarity.
Reflecting on how government should be investing in work, Ravon says:
“ …When we think of what the government can invest in, when we talk about a Green Transition, the care economy is a great one. We have an aging population. Care services provide huge value to communities and also just create happier and healthier communities and they're low emissions. One of our alternatives is saying tax windfall profits, tax the super wealthy and invest in the care economy. This is also a sector that employs mostly women and racialized folks. You're creating employment opportunities. They're seen as less desirable jobs, not because they're inherently less interesting jobs than working in mining ... It's because they're not well paid. But we really see investments in the care economy as actually one of the solutions to the inequality crisis today and the climate crisis.”
On the necessity of being politically engaged, Ong says:
“..when we talk about how we organize, sometimes people say we have the power to vote. But I would say voting is just one piece that people do every four years or less that actually changes the government. We can do things in between to actually make changes happen. I used to have hair, and then I became an activist and look at me. So sometimes I think, you know, all that work and why did I do it? But people have been winning. When I first started out, people were like $15 minimum wage, it's never going to happen. And today, a couple of years later, people are like $15, hell no, that's not enough ... So I do tangibly feel on the street that things are changing.”
About the guests:
Lauren Ravon, executive director of Oxfam Canada, is a committed feminist and social justice advocate with more than 15 years of international development experience. Ravon has been with Oxfam Canada since 2011, holding a number of roles – including director of Policy and Campaigns – and working tirelessly to put women’s rights at the heart of the global Oxfam confederation. Before joining Oxfam, Ravon worked at the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights & Democracy), where she was program manager for the Americas and oversaw the Centre’s office and human rights programming in Haiti. She has also worked on programs to tackle gender-based violence and promote sexual and reproductive rights with Planned Parenthood Global and the International Rescue Committee. Lauren sits on the board of directors of the Humanitarian Coalition.
Jared Ong is an organizer and case worker with the Workers Action Centre. He empowers workers with the tools and community to stand up against bad bosses and protect themselves at work. But he also knows that systemic changes must happen Ontario-wide to raise the bar for all our workers because our minimum labour standards are not enough.
Panel Moderator, Benjamin McCarthy is a faculty with the School of Labour at George Brown College and an organizer with the College Annual Labour Fair.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Lauren Ravon, Jared Ong / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
The season’s second episode focuses on George Brown College’s 32nd annual Labour Fair in Toronto and the opening keynote discussion with president of OPSEU/SEFPO JP Hornick on this year’s theme ‘Corporate Power vs. Labour Power: It’s Our Work!!’
Opening a week of labour focused events, and speaking to George Brown College students and faculty, our conversation focuses on labour power and union organizing in this era of corporate driven inequality, privatization and the erosion of the rights of working peoples.
According to Hornick::
“So everybody remember a year ago with CUPE, the education workers, OSBCU had organized themselves to the point where the government was like, ‘We are going to preemptively remove your right to strike.’ In other words, remove your Charter Right to withdraw your labour, because we're scared of what you're asking for. They did the same thing with Bill 124, where they imposed a three year moratorium on your ability to actually argue for a wage increase that was commensurate with inflation … Now, these attacks on workers happen constantly right. Whether you're a migrant worker, whether you're an international student, whether you're unorganized or organized. But what we are seeing right now, is that workers are fed up ... I think that we've hit a tipping point culturally, where people can see it in their neighbors, in their kids, in their friends, that the impact of income inequality, that corporate greed, that corrupt governments, actually are as bad as we thought. And it's adding up. So workers are kind of pushing back and saying enough! And then all of labour jumps in … Because we know that a fight with this government, a fight for what's happening right now, is not a fight for someone else, it's a fight for all of us together.”
About JP Hornick:
Prior to being elected president of OPSEU/SEFPO (Ontario Public Service Employees Union), JP Hornick was chief steward for more than a decade within the College Faculty Division, representing instructors at Ontario’s 24 public colleges. They chaired the College Faculty bargaining teams in 2017 and 2021-22.
JP grew up in a family of public service workers – educators, correctional workers and many more. They are a labour educator and previously served as the coordinator of the School of Labour at George Brown College. They have served as chair, treasurer and director on several community boards and has been on the front lines of activism to advance issues of equity, women’s rights, 2SLGBTQIA+ rights, anti-racism and decolonization.
JP was elected OPSEU/SEFPO president in April 2022 on a platform that includes strengthening union democracy, building bargaining power, ensuring financial responsibility, fostering an inclusive union culture, and deepening connections to the labour movement and community.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Image: JP Hornick / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
We launch our sixth season with Tamara Lorincz, environmental and feminist peace activist and Linda Thyer, founding member of Doctors for Planetary Health - West Coast and a discussion on the interconnected impacts of war and occupation on both people and planet, the costs of Canadian militarism and our involvement in NATO and the possibilities for global cooperation, peace, and climate justice in times of conflict.
Reflecting on the twin impacts of conflict on climate in Gaza and Ukraine, Lorincz says:
“The Middle Eastern region has suffered from drought and from excessive heat. This genocide in Gaza is just horrendous for the people and it's exacerbating the climate emergency as well. These fossil fuel powered weapon systems that Israel is using, not just fighter jets, but attack helicopters and tanks.And the fact that Canada took over two and a half months for us finally to support a ceasefire, but we've been continuing to send weapons … we're prolonging the genocide and we are contributing to a climate emergency. Canada is doing the same thing in Eastern Europe by continuing to send arms to Ukraine. We're prolonging a conflict instead of calling for a ceasefire …We are contributing to human suffering, to a lot of death and destruction and contributing to the environmental harms.”
Thyer says of our military spending:
“Canadian military spending around $36 billion per year recently. So this is a massive amount of money, could certainly be much better … used to mitigate climate problems, used in new technology ... And could be used to help recoveries internationally as well as locally from these extreme weather events that we're seeing. In some of these war zones, people are being conscripted against their will to fighting. In Canada, our conscription is through our taxes that we are paying for this militarism, for the harms that are being done to the planet and to other people through our taxes every year.”
About today’s guests:
Tamara Lorincz is a PhD candidate in Global Governance at the Balsillie School for International Affairs at Wilfrid Laurier University. She has a Masters in International Politics & Security Studies from the University of Bradford and a Law degree and MBA specializing in environmental law and management from Dalhousie University. Her research is on the climate and environmental impacts of the military. She’s a member of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom-Canada. Tamara is also on the advisory committee of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, and the No to NATO Network. She’s a long-time environmentalist, feminist and peace activist and a mother with two teenage boys.
Linda Thyer is a mother of 3 youth, practicing family and sport medicine on traditional Coast Salish territories. She is a founding member of Doctors for Planetary Health - West Coast and active member of several community and medical organizations working towards peace and a healthy living home. She is grateful for the many healing and nourishing gifts of Mother Earth and works towards restoring health and peace for all.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Image: Tamara Lorincz, Linda Thyer / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (Street Voices)
For our sixth episode, Lauren Ravon, executive director of Oxfam Canada and Michéle Biss, national director of the National Right to Housing Network, discuss Oxfam's latest report, Inequality, Inc.on the growing power of corporate monopolies, the unprecedented rise in global inequality and the urgent need for public action.
Speaking to Oxfam’s latest report on global inequality, Ravon says:
“This has been a decade so far that has been full of pain for most people around the world. The decade of a pandemic, of rampant inflation, food prices going up, war, climate chaos, climate emergencies … But this is also the decade where the wealth of the five richest men doubled. 5 billion people became poorer. So this report that Oxfam released Inequality Inc., is really painting this picture of a decade of division where you have huge wealth concentration in very, very few hands and more and more people on the planet struggling to get by. And this is not a coincidence that wealth is ballooning on one end and people are seeing the bottom fall out on the other end. Inequality is by design. It's not an accident. It's not inevitable. The super, super rich and their corporations are funneling wealth towards the top and robbing the rest of humanity of the very resources they need to survive.”
Biss reflects on the role of communities in pushing back against corporate power and inequality:
“I think about this context as well in terms of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals agenda, right? We have a goal of no poverty by 2030. And as the Oxfam report said, 230 years away from no poverty, right? It's a long way to go. And it can really seem overwhelming in the face of this vast inequality.But if we want to get involved, if we want to push our governments to make better choices around regulation, around taxation, around investment in our social safety net and away from the private sector, a lot of that takes community engagement..And remembering that economic, social, and cultural rights, the right to housing, the right to food, the right to health, those aren't just words, they're actual human rights ..And so finding ways within communities, within the national context to exercise those rights is going to be really key to being able to turn the tide.”
Read the latest Oxfam 2024 Report, Inequality, Inc.
About today’s guests:
Lauren Ravon, executive director of Oxfam Canada, is a committed feminist and social justice advocate with more than 15 years of international development experience. Ravon has been with Oxfam Canada since 2011, holding a number of roles – including director of Policy and Campaigns – and working tirelessly to put women’s rights at the heart of the global Oxfam confederation. Before joining Oxfam, Ravon worked at the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights & Democracy), where she was program manager for the Americas and oversaw the Centre’s office and human rights programming in Haiti. She has also worked on programs to tackle gender-based violence and promote sexual and reproductive rights with Planned Parenthood Global and the International Rescue Committee. Lauren sits on the board of directors of the Humanitarian Coalition.
Michèle Biss is the national director of the National Right to Housing Network. As an expert in economic and social rights, she has presented at several United Nations treaty body reviews and at Canadian parliamentary committees. Prior to her work at the NRHN, Michèle was the policy director and human rights lawyer at Canada Without Poverty. In 2016, she graduated from the Advanced Course on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights at Åbo Akademi University in Finland. She has extensive professional experience working for marginalized groups, particularly women, persons with disabilities, newcomers, and Indigenous persons through casework, research, and community legal education. In her local Ottawa community, she sits on the board of directors of Ottawa Community Legal Services. She is a human rights lawyer and was called to the Ontario bar in 2014.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Images: Lauren Ravon, Michéle Biss / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends podcast organizing committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
Crushing fatigue, hot flashes (or should we say hot flushes), burning, itching, mood swings, heart palpitations, brain fog, anxiety, loss of self. What’s happening to me? Who can I talk to? How do I work? Sound familiar?
After a bit of an extended pause, we begin the new year with the Menopause Foundation of Canada’s latest report: Menopause and Work in Canada.
Foundation co-founders Janet Ko and Trish Barbato discuss the complex issues impacting a quarter of Canada’s working population as they embark on an important milestone in the prime of every woman’s life; yet one that is still subject to the heavy silences surrounding women’s health, in policy, in healthcare and in the workplace.
Reflecting on women’s experiences as well as her own, Barbato says:
“[I]t's almost shocking to think that every woman is going to go through this and yet it's so misunderstood and not understood and feared … When I think about all of the stories that we've heard and even my own experience, we don't connect the dots and certainly a supervisor, male or female, may not connect the dots on how the symptoms are showing up at a workplace … brain fog, anxiety, all of these things are going to have an impact … think of my experience of going through really horrific, extreme symptoms while at work and just not being able to perform. I think I was probably way worse on myself than maybe I let on to my colleagues where I hid a lot of my symptoms and managed them as best as I could.”
According to Ko, we need to dispel the negativity and silences around menopause:
“Menopause is overwhelmingly viewed as negative in our society. And because of that, there's a lot of silence associated with it, stigma and shame … most women do not want to be associated with that negative image of the menopausal woman. And then there's this notion that there's nothing you can do about it, so why bother having the conversation? And we know that our healthcare providers received almost zero education on something that's going to happen to half of the population. So we're at this really exciting place in time where we're changing that conversation and it's a great opportunity for women to really focus on themselves and their health. There's preventative care, there's lifestyle changes, and there's safe and effective treatments that are available. Women should not suffer through this period of time. Menopause is natural, suffering is not.”
Read the Menopause Foundation of Canada’s latest report Menopause and Work in Canada
You can also find out about the Menopause Works Here Campaign and check out the Menopause Inclusive Playbook for Employers
About today’s guests:
Janet Ko is president and co-founder of The Menopause Foundation of Canada, a national non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to breaking the silence and the stigma of menopause. Janet had looked forward to menopause as an exciting second act in life. Instead, she was blindsided by a host of symptoms that she did not understand were part of the menopause transition. She realized that women – like her – were struggling to find answers and to get help. Together with co-founder Trish Barbato and a medical advisory board of the country’s top menopause specialists, she launched the Menopause Foundation of Canada. Ko has held numerous senior leadership positions in the pharmaceutical, global life sciences and senior living sectors. She has served on the management teams of leading Canadian companies as senior vice president, Communications and has led marketing and organizational development functions throughout her career. Ko is dedicated to helping women thrive through their menopausal years and is a passionate speaker and menopause advocate. She is honoured to be one of the top 25 Women of Influence Award recipients for 2023.
Trish Barbato is the co-founder of the Menopause Foundation of Canada. She has been a vocal advocate for the rights of menopausal women for the last decade. The Menopause Foundation of Canada released its landmark report “The Silence and the Stigma: Menopause in Canada” in 2022 and recently released its groundbreaking report “Menopause and Work in Canada”. Barbato has spoken internationally and is working with leaders in the Middle East Northern Africa (MENA) region to support a community-based initiative for mature women. Barbato is currently president and CEO of Arthritis Society Canada and has held progressive leadership positions in healthcare for the last 20 years. Barbato is a chartered professional accountant, published author, award-winning innovator, and recipient of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Award for her volunteer work.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Images: Janet Ko, Trish Barbato / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends podcast organizing committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
In our fourth episode Dalia Al-Awqati, head of humanitarian affairs for Save the Children Canada and Lauren Ravon, executive director of Oxfam Canada discuss the humanitarian crisis taking place in the Gaza Strip.
How do we understand the devastating toll of death, displacement and destruction upon the largely civilian Palestinian population, almost half of them children? What of the impossible choices facing aid workers and colleagues on the ground as they are caught within the turmoil of Gaza? Why are humanitarian pauses not enough? And why is a ceasefire the only answer?
Describing the crisis facing the children of Gaza, Al-Awqati says:
“In the first three weeks of the conflict, more children were killed than the annual total of children killed in conflict zones across the world since 2019. That alone gives you a scale of how horrific this has been, and particularly for children. We see and we hear from our staff, and we see through the news, through social media as well, the impact that this is having, in terms of mental health, but also in terms of people's ability to access their basic needs. We know that children are not able to access clean drinking water. This is a population, 80 per cent of which already depended on humanitarian aid prior to this latest escalation. There's 1,350 children that are missing in Gaza. Many of them feared to be under the rubble.”
According to Ravon, the only answer is a ceasefire:
“Oxfam and Save the Children and many other organizations around the world are calling for a ceasefire rather than a humanitarian pause or humanitarian corridors because the reality is that in these circumstances, in the way this attack is being carried out, there is no way to keep civilians safe. No corridor, no pause will guarantee safety, because people are deprived of resources. So even if you had a pause where you're safe from immediate bombing, that doesn't answer all the other immediate needs that people are facing … Depriving civilians of the means for survival is a violation of human rights; and a ceasefire is the only way to ensure that the physical violence stops and that humanitarian aid can enter in.”
About today’s guests:
Dalia Al-Awqati, head of humanitarian affairs for Save the Children Canada. Al-Awqati is the head of Humanitarian Affairs for Save the Children Canada. She has over twenty years of experience in the non-profit sector, with a specialization in emergency response and management in complex crises. Prior to joining Save the Children Canada, Al-Awqati has worked with various international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) including the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Mercy Corps, and Danish Refugee Council (DRC). As an emergency responder, Dalia has responded to crises in Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Libya, South Sudan, and Syria, amongst others. Al-Awqati grew up in the Middle East. She is a native Arabic speaker of Iraqi and Palestinian origins.
Lauren Ravon, executive director of Oxfam Canada, is a committed feminist and social justice advocate with more than 15 years of international development experience. Ravon has been with Oxfam Canada since 2011, holding a number of roles – including director of Policy and Campaigns – and working tirelessly to put women’s rights at the heart of the global Oxfam confederation. Before joining Oxfam, Ravon worked at the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights & Democracy), where she was program manager for the Americas and oversaw the Centre’s office and human rights programming in Haiti. She has also worked on programs to tackle gender-based violence and promote sexual and reproductive rights with Planned Parenthood Global and the International Rescue Committee. Lauren sits on the board of directors of the Humanitarian Coalition.
You can donate to the Humanitarian Coalition by visiting their Donation page.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Images: Dalia Al-Awqati, Lauren Ravon / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends podcast organizing committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
It’s Halloween again and for the Courage My Friends podcast series, this means it’s a time for stories. Returning with our annual ‘mouth open, story jump out’ episode, storytellers Kesha Christie of Talkin’ Tales, Njoki Mbũrũ recent recipient of the Community Foundations of Canada Transformational Storytelling Fellowship and Rani Sanderson, storytelling workshop facilitator with StoryCentre Canada, share in stories and conversation about the power of storytelling for community work, transformation and social change.
Christie reflects on the power of stories:
“When we share stories openly and honestly, we hear the heart of the other person. We're able to understand each other. It's the way that we pass down our beliefs and traditions. And it's also a way for us to question the society around us. It gives us a different view.”
Reflecting on transformative storytelling, Mbũrũ says:
“If storytelling continues to be extractive and commodified, then it becomes a product. And transformative storytelling is not about producing a series that is a hit show. It's not just about a product that is sellable. Transformative storytelling is really about honoring the dignity, the consent, the self determination and the sovereignty of whoever is giving a story.”
Sanderson talks about how stories build connection:
“Stories breed stories ... Somebody tells a story and then somebody else tells a story and then somebody else tells a story … Oh, that reminds me of this. That reminds me of this thing. And suddenly you have a whole room of people talking where maybe nobody, especially younger people [who] were a bit reticent to speak about some issues, some topic, just something. And during the pandemic, a lot of that was just about being isolated and lonely.”
About today’s guests:
Kesha Christie is an accomplished storyteller who uses African and Caribbean folktales to connect people and cultures. Her engaging performances and insightful commentary have earned her a reputation as a respected voice in the storytelling community, and she has performed at a variety of venues and events across Canada. Kesha also runs her own platforms, including the “Walk Good” podcast and “Talkin’ Tales” YouTube channel, where she shares her passion for storytelling and its ability to bring people together. She is deeply committed to preserving and promoting African and Caribbean cultural traditions, and her work continues to inspire audiences of all ages. To learn more about Kesha and her work, visit www.talkintales.ca
Rani Sanderson has a background in film studies and production, later obtaining her Masters of Environmental Studies, where she concentrated on community-engaged arts and environmental education. For the past 15 years she has been facilitating workshops, with a focus on digital storytelling. In 2015 she was invited to head up StoryCentre Canada, (building on the work of American partners) where she develops and implements digital storytelling workshops for non-profit organizations across the country.StoryCenter founded and pioneered the Digital Storytelling methodology of participatory media creation in 1992, and has since taught hundreds of workshops around the world with a variety of communities and organizations.
Njoki Mbũrũ is a storyteller, poet, and immigrant from Kenya who is currently living on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Building on her completion of the LEVEL Youth Public Policy Program through the Vancouver Foundation in 2020, she has continued to advocate for policies, projects, and partnerships that uplift the leadership and voices of Indigenous and Black people and communities. Between November 2022 to August 2023, Njoki completed a storytelling fellowship with the Community Foundations of Canada; an experience which has now propelled her to deepen her exploration of the relationships between public policy, emerging technologies, and philanthropy. As a guiding framework for her relationships and imagination work, she is guided by the question: "What else is possible?"
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Kesha Christie, Njoki Mbũrũ, Rani Sanderson / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends podcast organizing committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
Our second episode quite literally puts the lens on climate as we spotlight the 24th annual Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival (PIF), running from October 12th-22nd at Toronto’s Paradise Theatre.
PIF executive director Katherine Bruce speaks with us about the continued and growing importance of Canada's largest and longest running environmental film festival and this year’s program of shorts, speakers and feature-length films.
Filmmaker Deirdre Leowinata discusses her film Keepers of the Land and its themes of reclamation and reconciliation.
We are also joined by Liz Marshall and Alfonso Salinas on the premiere of their powerful feature-length film, s-yéwyáw: Awaken.
Speaking about this year’s Planet in Focus Film Festival, Bruce says:
“This year's program represents something that's broadened our definition of environment enormously over the last probably eight years, to include social justice, climate justice is racial justice … We really decided this year to create a tighter program with as many panels and speakers, filmmakers present as possible … People long for connection when they've seen these films that we present. They come away with questions. They come away with concerns. They come away with a desire to be involved, to be engaged with the issues … And that's what I think is so beneficial about always offering an audience an avenue, but also a space – a space to gather.”
On her festival short, Keepers of the Land, Leowinata says:
“I hope that it'll get people really excited about what's happening in Canada. Because this is just one Indigenous community in Canada, and there are so many other communities who are doing work like the Kitasoo Xai'xais Nation, and who are really moving the needle in terms of Indigenous-led Conservation, and that's what our film is about. ”
Reflecting on S-YéwYáw AWAKEN, Salinas says:
“We've gone on this journey where we've learned so much about each other and what happened on the film, on and off the film, it was a lot of healing. And now we get to share that story with the world, which I think is the most important thing. ”
The 24th annual Planet in Focus International Film Festival, running until October 22nd in Toronto at the Paradise Theatre (1006 Bloor St West).
Check out s-yéwyáw: Awaken for future viewing dates and locations.
About today’s guests:
A part of the Planet in Focus team from 2010-2012, executive director Katherine Bruce was delighted to return to the festival in 2016. She has worked extensively in the arts sector as a producer in film, theatre and visual arts including the UK-based Cape Farewell – The cultural response to climate change as Development Director for Carbon 14: Climate is Culture in partnership with ROM Contemporary Culture. She also serves on the steering committee of CREW Toronto (Community Resilience to Extreme Weather), the advisory committee for Youth Unstoppable and on the board of the international Green Film Network.
Deirdre Leowinata was born in Jakarta, Indonesia to an Irish father and a Chinese-Indonesian mother. After spending much of her childhood in an international community in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she moved to Ottawa where she did her bachelor of science in evolution, ecology, and behaviour, focusing on the impacts of climate change on butterfly ecology and physiology. Compelled by a growing need for science communication, she moved to Toronto in 2013 to complete a post-graduate program in environmental visual communication through the Royal Ontario Museum and Fleming College. Since then Deirdre has led multimedia communications and reporting for local and international organizations of various sizes. A cinematographer, writer, and director and working in music videos, shorts, and feature-length films, she continues to facilitate impactful multimedia stories that address our relationships with the natural world.
Kwamanchi, Alfonso Salinas is a shíshálh Nation member and the traditional wellness coordinator for the Nation. In his role, he creates programs to practice shíshálh traditions and opportunities for those who want to pass down their gifts. Alfonso received his drum from his grandfather in 2009 to become a song carrier. A graduate of the Indigenous filmmaker program at Capilano University, Alfonso worked for the shíshálh communications department and produced the “Voices of shíshálh” TV series. Later, he became a guide in Stanley Park teaching visitors the history and traditions of Coast Salish people. Alfonso continues to document important events for the Nation today.
Working with diverse teams and communities, global funders and influencers, Canadian filmmaker Liz Marshall has written, directed, produced and filmed multiple impactful documentary projects around the globe since the 1990s. Motivated by the transformative language of film and television, her award-winning work is exhibited and reviewed widely. Feature length and broadcast titles include: s-yéwyáw / Awaken (2023) Meat the Future (2020) Midian Farm (2018) The Ghosts in Our Machine (2013) and Water on the Table (2010).
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Katherine Bruce, Deirdre Leowinata, Alfonso Salinas, Liz Marshall / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends podcast organizing committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
In the launch of our fifth season, we are pleased to welcome back author, public intellectual and director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Vijay Prashad. Taking us through the recent economic summits of BRICS and the G20, as well as the cascade coups in West Africa, Prashad delves into the rapid and stunning changes taking place in the world today, where they came from and what this could mean for a changing world order. Is it multipolarity or is it something else?
In speaking of the origins of the BRICS bloc of economically emerging nations, Prashad says:
“You know, it's interesting because it's almost as if people in the West were blindsided by the appearance of this thing called BRICS and recently, of course, the term Global South … there's a straight line between the anti-colonial struggles of the 19th century and these developments now … And so the BRICS isn't some invention of the Goldman Sachs economists. It didn't come out of nowhere. It's part of a long history by these countries to fight for economic sovereignty, political democracy on the world stage in one sense or the other, and then some kind of economic parity.”
Prashad also reflects on the history of coups in the Global South and those now taking place in West Africa:
“In many parts of the Third World, especially during the period of the debt crisis and subsequent to that. .. there was a sense that nothing is going to change. You know, people resigned themselves to a kind of futility ...There is a sense of resignation to decay. We are not going to be able to develop. We're not going to be able to advance ... These coups, two of them in Mali, two of them in Burkina Faso, one in Niger, one in Gabon, these coups ... represent the frustration of their populations. And that's a reality. That's hard to take away. And that's why millions of people across the Sahel have been coming out to defend these coups.”
Tune in to my conversation with Vijay Prashed on summits, coups and an empowered Global South that says, “we are not afraid of the West anymore.”
About today’s guest:
Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Vijay Prashad is an historian, journalist, researcher, activist and a prolific writer. He has over 30 books to his name, including: The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World; The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South; Red Star Over the Third World; and Washington Bullets: A History of CIA, Coups, and Assassinations. He is the chief correspondent for Globetrotter, a columnist for Frontline News and chief editor of Leftword Books.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Vijay Prsahd / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
For our season finale of Courage My Friends, we return to this year’s George Brown College Labour Fair, The other P3s: pandemic, privatization, precarity,,, and planet!!
In the panel on ‘Food Industries: Feeding Ourselves on a Precarious Planet’, moderator Lori Stahlbrand is joined by guests: Joshna Maharaj, a chef, social gastronomy activist, educator and host of the Hot Plate podcast; Chris Ramsaroop, an organizer, educator and activist with Justice for Migrant Workers; and Charlotte Big Canoe, partner and membership director at The Full Plate. The four discuss food justice, social gastronomy and the rights of workers from farms and factories to fine-dining and food agencies in these times.
Maharaj explains:
“Social gastronomy is a practice about the power of the kitchen to change lives. Now that is a giant thing to say. But essentially what we're talking about is a growing movement of chefs who are finding really meaningful ways to use our craft to support and nurture communities. It's using our celebrity, our purchasing power and our influence to build a more just and sustainable food system … But also it's about taking the idea of hospitality beyond restaurants, to institutions, to community spaces, and to public policy.”
Ramsroop likens the current migrant worker system to that of indentureship:
“People who come to work in Canada are on a Tied Work Permit … They have no labour and social mobility. And once they try to exert their rights or if they get injured and sick, in most cases they're sent home and they will not be so-called, named or able to return back to Canada… [Under] ‘agricultural exceptionalism’ or ‘corporate exceptionalism’ … we create something as a crisis, you get rid of all the rules and regulations and you say that the industry can … .ramp up production, bring people to come to work and face no accountability when things hit the fan … We tried to warn people to say, look, you cannot have workers coming to work in Canada under very precarious conditions, people are going to die. Nobody listened. Nobody took the initiatives or steps to protect workers. And lo and behold, we saw what happened during the pandemic and farm workers.”
Reflecting on her organization and supporting food industry workers, Big Canoe says:
“So what we want to focus on at The Full Plate is thinking about those little things that might make a difference for you in this role and might make it so that you feel you can stay in hospitality a little bit longer … Often you get to a point where your body can't take it anymore. You're mentally drained. You just want to do something else and kind of exit. And that's a really hard place to be in because it makes it so that people don't value this industry and ..we want people to love it. Because for a restaurant setting, people come to you on their best days. They come to you to celebrate … milestone moments in their life. And they also come in on some of their worst days and they want a little bit of a lift up...It's not just a set of hands bringing food to a table … For the people there to stay in that industry and continue to provide hospitality to others, we have to also give the hospitality back to those folks.”
About our guests:
Joshna Maharaj is a chef, a two-time TEDx speaker and activist who wants to help everyone have a better relationship with their food. She believes strongly in the power of chefs and social gastronomy to bring values of hospitality, sustainability, & social justice to the table. Maharaj works with hospitals & schools in Canada to build new models for institutional food service. Her first bookTake Back the Tray (May 2020) captures the lessons and experience from her work in changing institutional food systems around the globe. She is an enthusiastic instructor of both culinary and academic students, constantly finding ways to make food stories come alive. Maharaj hosts Kitchen Helpdesk, a weekly call-in food show on CBC Radio, and she co-hosts a food and drink podcast called HotPlate, currently in its fourth season.
Charlotte Big Canoe is the partner and membership director at The Full Plate, a Toronto based non-profit that provides access to services and supports to hospitality workers in need. The Full Plate was founded in early 2020 by a group of women in the hospitality industry, and has grown to include access to produce boxes or grocery gift cards, wellness programs for hospitality workers, and training focused on inclusive environments in restaurant spaces. Big Canoe is of mixed heritage, with her father's family from the Chippewas of Georgina Island, and her mother's family being Irish settlers. Big Canoe has worked in various roles in the hospitality industry over the past 14 years, with a focus on wine and spirits education.
Chris Ramsaroop is an organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers, a grassroots activist collective that has been organizing with migrant workers for nearly 20 years and whose work is based on building long term trust and relationships with migrant workers and includes: engaging in direct actions, working with workers to resist at work, launching precedent setting legal cases, and organizing numerous collective actions. Ramsaroop is an instructor in the Caribbean Studies Program at the University of Toronto and a clinic instructor at the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law. Ramsaroop is working to complete his PhD at OISE/University of Toronto. Chris is also currently assistant professor at New College, University of Toronto, Community Engaged Learning.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Images: Joshna Maharaj, Chris Ramsaroop / Used with permission. Charlotte Big Canoe / https://thefullplate.ca/about.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Injila Rajab Khan and Danesh Hanbury (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends podcast organizing committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
In our sixth episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, series 4; Ana Guerra Marin, communities director and just transition lead, and lead Indigenous researcher, Dara Wawaite-Chabot discuss the mission of worker-founded Iron & Earth to create pathways for workers from traditional (carbon-based) energy jobs to jobs within renewable energy sectors and how green transition meets climate justice when it comes to the needs of workers, Indigenous communities and the country.
According to Guerra Marin:
“Iron Earth started in the oil sands in Alberta, where some workers were concerned about one of the many boom and busts of the industry cycle. They were also concerned about what they were seeing with the environment … [O]ur mission and vision … right now is to empower fossil fuel workers and Indigenous workers to build and implement the climate solutions required to transition. It's not just the workers. The workers, their family. When a refinery shuts down in a town that affects commerce, education, churches, it affects everything … So we are currently in the process of doing that internal work. Our audience right now is workers, their communities and Indigenous peoples across nations and urban centers.”
Wawatie-Chabot explains:
“I work from an Indigenous perspective, given that I'm Algonquin Anishnaabe. I have grown up on the land with my family and I have that relationship with my communities that I'm from … To do any of this work in a just way requires acknowledging the history that Canada has socially, historically, economically, with Indigenous peoples across this land. So what that means for me, is that these relationships are our primary focus.We don't just meet with Indigenous people, we meet with politicians, educators, community leaders, different organizers and frontline activists so that we can assess the needs of everyone living in so-called Canada. The principles around this are really just to highlight the holistic nature of the work that we do. And ensuring a future for all really does mean for all. It's not exclusive.”
About the speakers:
Ana Guerra Marin, communities director and just transition lead, started her career in Colombia, listening to and empowering oil, gas and mining workers at various work sites through forming partnerships and understanding worker issues. As Marin delved into the extractive industries, she became more aware of how important it is to address the environmental and socio-economic impacts she was witnessing, and how urgent it is to create long-lasting solutions rooted in community-based initiatives that focus on the most vulnerable persons.
This started a 15-year career focused on helping communities achieve self-determination through social and environmental justice in Latin America and Canada. As a white, cisgender, immigrant woman with invisible disabilities, Marin recognizes her position in the world and challenges societal ideas by creating transformative change through a praxis informed by intersectional and Black feminism, womanism, critical race theory, Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge, decolonization, and critical consciousness.
Dara Wawaite-Chabot, Indigenous lead researcher, is a single parent who studies political science full-time at the University of Ottawa and works part-time for Iron & Earth. They support their small family by creating art and working remote contracts fighting for environmental justice in so-called Canada.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Image: Ana Guerra Marin and Dara Wawaite-Chabot / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Injila Rajab Khan and Danesh Hanbury (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends podcast organizing committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Special Thanks fo Joel Ornoy, Iron and Earth
Host: Resh Budhu.
In our fifth episode of this season of Courage My Friends, we revisit the George Brown College Labour Fair. This year, the theme of the fair is: The other P3s: pandemic, privatization, precarity,,, and planet!!
In this episode, we share the panel discussion on ‘Gig Workers and Precarity in the 21st Century.’ Moderator Jon Weier is joined by panelists Simran Dhunna and Jobanjeet Kaur of the Naujawan Support Network and Jennifer Scott from Gig Workers United. The groups discusses the tribulations faced by those working in precarious and gig jobs, increasingly exploitative employment structures and organizing for the rights and dignity of vulnerable workers.
Reflecting on the meaning of exploitation for precarious workers, especially international students and immigrant workers, Kaur says:
“Exploitation involves taking from workers that is rightfully ours. Wage theft, sexual harassment, inadequate job training, threats of deportation are all the forms of exploitation because they rob us of our earnings, safety and dignity.Sometimes people just take it as we are not being paid and it's just exploitation of our money or something. No, it's also the exploitation for the dignity of a worker. Because we go there professionally, work and put in the hours and everything, and it's like they take our dignity away when they refuse to pay us.”
Speaking to the situation facing gig workers in Ontario, Scott says:
“Gig workers are misclassified workers. And so that means that we don't have basic workers' rights and protections … because apps, you know, our bosses, are disrupting employment standards and putting downward pressure on wages, on employment standards, on working conditions, not just for gig workers, but for all workers in the delivery and logistics sector … Bill-88 was something that apps like Uber and other bad bosses lobbied quite aggressively for … because it creates a standalone piece of legislation with separate and lesser protections, which really reinforces the narrative that apps use, that gig workers are not real workers.”
When it comes to organizing workers, Dhunna says:
“There's the legal realm and then there's the realm in the streets. We don't rely on lawsuits or kind of the legal system to build our power, but it is a reality. It is a tool and a weapon that is used by employers just as they have done with Bill-88, and with other legal mechanisms to silence workers. And it's not something that's going to intimidate workers, of course. We're thankful for some of the support that's come from other labour organizations and publications like Briar Patch, because this is kind of the way we've begun to connect with groups … that are waging similar struggles across the country.”
About our guests:
Simran Dhunna is currently studying medicine at Queen’s University. She is a member of Naujawan Support Network.
Jobanjeet Kaur is a former international student who immigrated from Panjab in 2018. She was an active organizer in the Alpha College protests, and is now a member of Naujawan Support Network.
Jennifer Scott is a gig worker and the President of Gig Workers United CUPW. She began delivering on apps in 2017 as a bicycle courier. She was a member in the Justice for Foodora Couriers CUPW campaign where workers won the right to unionize with 90% of workers voting YES to their union.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Images: Simran Dhunna, Jobanjeet Kaur, Jennifer Scott / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Injila Rajab Khan and Danesh Hanbury (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends podcast organizing committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
Our latest episode of Courage My Friends takes its inspiration from friend and guest William Woolrich as he begins his search for a living kidney donor. He and Candice Coghlan, education and outreach coordinator for the University Health Network Ajmera Transplant Centre and host of the Living Transplant podcast, discuss the search for and ultimate gift of living organ donations.
Speaking to how non-related or anonymous donors can help shorten the organ transplant waiting list, Coghlan says:
“So these are people who have no connection to the recipient at all. They don't know them, but they decide to step forward out of the goodness of their heart, and they donate either a portion of their liver or a kidney to anyone who is in need, who would be a compatible match to them. ..For kidneys also, they can donate into the Paired Exchange Program.. that happens through the Canadian Blood Services; where if someone has a donor who is a healthy, great candidate, but they're not compatible with their recipient, they can go into this "chain" we call it, and they can swap kidneys… There's an algorithm that happens about three times a year that matches people across the country with donors. And so these anonymous donors can also donate into that pool. Which means not only is someone getting a kidney, but it's taking someone off that wait-list as well.”
As Woolrich begins his search for a living kidney transplant, he reflects on the meaning of living organ donations:
“[Even] if you aren't a match for me, you might be matched for someone. And, you know, I can't describe the gift that you would be giving to someone that you may not ever meet. ..you have managed to save their life. I mean, how many of us can say that, that we managed to save a life somehow. And this does that. So I really, really encourage people to get involved. .. Look at the resources that Candice mentioned, that you're going to post, Resh on the podcast. And really consider it. Because it does mean the world to someone. And I think that it provides that sense of altruism, a reward even to the giver as well. There is a feeling that someone can get, that I'm sure is indescribable from having saved a life.”
If you are interested in finding out more or becoming a donor for William or someone else, please visit these links:
Welcome to the Ajmera Transplant Centre (uhn.ca)
Living Donor Transplant Program Donor Health History Form (uhn.ca)
GREAT ACTIONS LEAVE A MARK | UHN
livingorgandonation@uhn.ca
And check out the Living Transplant Podcast (uhn.ca) hosted by Candice Coghlan.
About our guests:
William Woolrich has had kidney disease since he was a teenager as a result of an autoimmune disorder. More recently, he has needed to go on peritoneal dialysis and is hopeful of a transplant. He earned his Doctorate in Education in 2019 from York University. Although currently on long term disability, he is a full-time professor at George Brown College in the Social Service Worker program. He is married and the father of two.
Candice Coghlan is the education and outreach coordinator for the Centre for Living Organ Donation at UHN’s Ajmera Transplant Centre. She is also the host of the Living Transplant podcast. Coghlan not only works in the world of organ donation, but her passion also comes from her lived experience. When Coghlan was 24 years old, she was a crash start onto hemodialysis, with no prior knowledge of renal disease. She did both hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. After 15 months, Coghlan’s mother became her kidney donor, giving her a second chance at life. Since then, Coghlan has accomplished many things, including finishing her degree, getting married, travelling, and welcoming a healthy baby girl in 2021.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Image: William Woolrich and Candice Coghlan / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Injila Rajab Khan and Danesh Hanbury (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends podcast organizing committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
In our third episode, Jaime Kirkpatrick, senior program manager of Blue Green Canada, discusses the need for a Just Transition, what it should look like for labour, and how Canada is doing in its move toward a clean energy economy.
Speaking to joint climate and labour demands and the idea of a Just Transition, Kirkpatrick says:
“Blue Green and a number of allies have been advocating ...the idea of buying clean..You're keeping people employed here at home. You're keeping plants up and running … It's 100 per cent about keeping jobs, reducing the carbon, building out a future together … If everyone is struggling to get by, you are living paycheck to paycheck and if that paycheck disappears, you're in deep trouble. And that's why we talked about the care economy … the importance of good union jobs and all of these things that don't always necessarily seem to be connected, but they very much are … Change is inevitable, but justice is not.”
About the speaker:
Jamie Kirkpatrick is the senior program manager for Blue Green Canada, an organization founded in 2010 by an alliance of Canadian labour unions, environmental groups, and civil society organizations. Blue Green Canada advocates for working people and the environment by promoting solutions to environmental issues that have positive employment and economic impacts. Kirkpatrick has over 25 years of campaign, research, and leadership experience, running successful campaigns related to climate change, public transit equity, air quality, and protecting natural spaces. Prior to moving west to Saskatoon, Jamie was the chief of staff to Toronto city councillors’ Mike Layton and Shelley Carroll. Jamie is a graduate of the University of Toronto with an Honours BA focused on environmental studies and environment and resource management where he studied under the late Jack Layton.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Image: Jamie Kirkpatrick / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Injila Rajab Khan and Danesh Hanbury (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends podcast organizing committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
The second episode of this season, features a recording of the keynote address delivered by past president of the Canadian Labour Congress, Senator Hassan Yussuff at George Brown College’s 31st annual Labour Fair.
Anchoring a week of labour focused discussions and speaking to George Brown College students and faculty, the Senator focuses on this year’s theme, 'The other P3s: pandemic, privatization, precarity,,, and planet!!'
Reflecting on federal workers delivery of CERB during the pandemic, the Senator says:
“Those workers, six weeks it took them to create that program, to build it from scratch and to make sure it was working so we can get people money ... That's never happened in the history of this country ... Everybody always says, 'The public service cannot perform to the speed of the private sector.' Well, guess what? In the pandemic, it was the public service that was there looking after Canadians and meeting the needs of Canadians.. we need to recognize that because these are working men and women in our country that we need to celebrate.”
In terms of workers’ rights during and after the pandemic, the Senators asks:
“How is it that we asked workers to go to work day in and day out and that workers don't have access to paid sick days in this country? ... Many of the workers who are working in grocery stores and other places are in precarious jobs ... It speaks to the need for reform to our employment standards. How we can get those workers to be treated in a fair way and of course to have fundamental rights when they go to work. Because the dignity of work is fundamental to the kind of economy we want to build in this country."
The Senator remarks on one of the hypocrisies of the gig economy:
“Why does the corner-store person who operates a business and employs people have to contribute to EI and CPP for their employees, but yet a corporation as large as Uber, as an example, doesn't have to contribute because they say 'The people who work for us are not our employees.' How is that right? And how is it fair? How could you tell the corner-store that they have to comply with employment standards, but yet none of that applies to a large corporation such as Uber? I think it speaks volumes to the challenges we face.”
Speaking on the possibility for change, the Senator says:
“I learned a long time ago that without tension, there is no change.If you want the status quo to remain, do nothing. If you want it to change, you'll create some tensions. And it's necessary, by the way. That's how we achieve change. And the systems that are wrong and are unfair to working people in this country can be changed.”
The video recording of the Senator’s address is also featured on rabbleTV.
About the speaker:
Hassan Yussuff was appointed to the Senate of Canada to represent Ontario in June 2021 and sits as a member of the Independent Senators Group.
Senator Yussuff is one of Canada’s most experienced labour leaders. An immigrant from Guyana, he has had a long and accomplished career as a union activist, recently serving two terms as the president of the Canadian Labour Congress from 2014-2021; the first person of colour to lead Canada’s labour movement. In addition to his work in Canada, Yussuff is a prominent international activist. In 2016, he was elected for his second term as president of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas, an organization uniting 48 national organizations and representing more than 55 million workers in 21 countries. Yussuff has also served on numerous task forces and organizations, including the Government of Canada’s NAFTA Council and its Sustainable Development Advisory Council, and co-chair of the Task Force on Just Transition for Canadian Coal Power Workers and Communities.
Senator Yussuff is a member of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce, the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, and the Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs.
Introduction to Senator by George Brown College president, Gervan Fearon.
Session Moderator, Susan Heximer.
Student Vote of Thanks: Danesh Hanbury.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Image: Senator Hassan Yussuff / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Injila Rajab Khan and Danesh Hanbury (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
In the first episode of our fourth series, we welcome CLiFF (Canadian Labour International Film Festival board members, Lorene Oikawa and Derek Blackadder and George Brown College faculty and organizer with the Labour Fair, Kathryn Payne.
We discuss the importance of bringing labour education to post-secondary and wider communities through the 31st annual Labour Fair at Toronto’s George Brown College (organized by the School of Labour and the Tommy Douglas Institute) and its collaboration with the Canadian Labour International Film Festival (CLiFF). This episode sets the stage for the re-airing of major Labour Fair events on this podcast as well as on rabbleTV over the coming weeks.
Reflecting on the Labour Fair at George Brown College, Payne says:
“The Labour Fair initially was meant to make sure that working class students .. had some knowledge of the unions in their sectors so .. they could find folks who could help them out and who could represent them. And also teach them the basics of organizing. Right? I mean, the main thing that we are always teaching is that we are stronger as a collective.…Our theme this year is P3s, so Pandemic, Privatization, and Precarity. But in our conversations, both with teachers and amongst each other, we've also sort of added a fourth P, which is the Planet.”
Speaking to the importance of CLiFF in these times, Blackadder says:
“Its ongoing relevance is that it shows working people a mirror. .. it lets them look at a film that represents them in some way, shape or form.That will allow them to ..make that connection that in that bigger world, workers have a great deal more in common, than they do those things that divide us.”
Oikawa points to issues that demand attention:
“There's still that issue about workers' rights, workers' safety, having fair wages, safe workplaces for workers - ongoing, still needs scrutiny. Environmental issues… That's the brilliance of CLiFF. A number of issues will continue to be reflected in the films that we show at our labor Film Festival, but have been shown as well….There's never a point where, ‘oh, we're done. We don't need to know our history.’ We have to continue to know our history.”
About today’s guests:
Lorene Oikawa is on the board of the Canadian Labour International Film Festival and helps organize screenings in British Columbia. She started volunteering for CLiFF in its inaugural year, 15 years ago. She is past president on the board of the National Association of Japanese Canadians and a human rights activist. Lorene is a fourth generation Japanese Canadian and a descendant of survivors of the forced uprooting, dispossession, incarceration, and exile from 1942 to 1949. She is a co-editor of the book, Honouring Our People: Breaking the Silence. She was the first Asian Canadian executive vice president for the BC Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU).
Derek Blackadder spent over 30 years working for several trade unions in a variety of roles. He currently volunteers with LabourStart, writes the Webwork column for Our Times Magazine, is Co-Chair of the Northumberland (ON) Coalition for Social Justice and is a contributor to RadioLabour. He combines his commitment to the labour movement and his love of film by serving on the board of the Canadian Labour International Film Festival (CLiFF).
Kathryn Payne is a full-time educator in the School of Labour at George Brown College in Toronto. Her areas of interest include labour and working class culture, women's work, diversity and sexuality studies, colonialism, and neoliberalism. Her work for the School of Labour is multifaceted: she designs curricula, liaises with union educators, teaches General Education courses at George Brown, and helps organize the annual George Brown Labour Fair. She has also been active in the sex worker rights movement, queer activism and was one of the founding members of George Brown's Positive Space Campaign.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Image: / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Injila Rajab Khan and Danesh Hanbury (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
In this two part episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Telling Black histories: writing, recuperation and resistance, we are very pleased to welcome the 4th Poet Laureate of Toronto and the 7th Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate, George Elliott Clarke.
As we continue our conversation, Clarke reflects on past and current struggles against White western power, the meaning of decolonization and shaping effective resistance in Canada and beyond.
Clarke discusses ongoing legacies of colonialism and racist imperialism in global politics,: “As Malcolm X said, ‘"you're a bunch of hypocrites’"...At the same time as you're expressing all these nostrums and parables of your supposed virtues, you are armed to the teeth. You are armed to the teeth! You are building jails to house masses of people seeking relief from the oppression that you have engineered in their home countries… And then these oppressed peoples flee for the refuge of your democracy and your attitude is to let them drown in the Mediterranean. .. let them drown in the Atlantic.”.
For Clarke, achieving real change in Canada is very much in our hands: “We want to end police killings of unarmed Black men and Indigenous men and women and youth? Oh, we can do that, but we're gonna have to vote in place governments that will put in place very strict regiments on police forces..Whatever it is that you, the people together, collectively want in a democracy, you can have it. ..You can have an end to war. You can have more distribution of income and wealth. In a democracy you can actually vote yourselves this…So what's stopping us? Well, actually nothing is stopping us, except our own blind obedience to the way things have always been.”
Speaking to the failures of “cancel culture”, Clarke says: “The woke/cancelers have power to destroy individuals, which they can do, and they've done it. ..On the other hand, as they have also proven, they cannot destroy oppressive institutions. How nice it would be if they could, but they don't have that ability. They can destroy individuals, but not institutions. I think that's a problem.Because to go after individuals, any mob can do that. But to go after institutions, a mob isn't what you need. You need a revolutionary movement”.
About today’s guest
The 4th Poet Laureate of Toronto (2012-15) and the 7th Parliamentary/Canadian Poet Laureate (2016-17), George Elliott Clarke was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, in 1960. A professor of English at the University of Toronto, Clarke has also taught at Duke, McGill, UBC, and Harvard. His recognitions include the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Centre Fellowship (US), the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellows Prize, the Governor-General’s Award for Poetry, the National Magazine Gold Award for Poetry, the PremiulPoesis (Romania), the Eric Hoffer Book Award for Poetry (US), and International Fellow Poet of the Year, Encyclopedic Poetry School [2019] (China). His acclaimed titles include Whylah Falls (1990, translated into Chinese), Beatrice Chancy (1999, translated into Italian), Execution Poems (2001), Blues and Bliss (selected poems, 2009), I & I (2008), Illicit Sonnets (U.K., 2013), Traverse (2015), Canticles II (MMXX) (2020), and J’Accuse…! (Poem versus Silence) (2021).
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: George Elliott Clarke (Portrait by Katerina Fretwell) / Used with Permission
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (podcast announcer); Bob Luker (voice of Tommy Douglas); Kenneth Okoro, Liz Campos Rico, Tsz Wing Chau (street voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In this 2-part episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Telling Black histories: writing, recuperation and resistance, we are very pleased to welcome the 4th Poet Laureate of Toronto and the 7th Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate, George Elliott Clarke.
In Part I of our conversation, Clarke takes us on a journey through Black and Africadian history in Canada, his life and work and discusses the importance of recuperating Black and colonized histories through writing and resistance.
Reflecting on the history of Black communities in Nova Scotia, Clarke says: Africadia is built, is constructed in complete defiance, of white supremacist, racist governmental decisions including environmental racism - placing dumps beside Black communities, placing polluting factories on the doorsteps of Black communities and so on. Those people, my ancestors, decided that they were going to construct communities. Church-based, church-anchored communities all around mainland Nova Scotia, in complete defiance of the racist oppressor and the oppressor's attempt to create a Nova Scotia as a White person's paradise. As a White person's dream.
About today’s guest
The 4th Poet Laureate of Toronto (2012-15) and the 7th Parliamentary/Canadian Poet Laureate (2016-17), George Elliott Clarke was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, in 1960. A professor of English at the University of Toronto, Clarke has also taught at Duke, McGill, UBC and Harvard. His recognitions include the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Centre Fellowship (US), the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellows Prize, the Governor-General’s Award for Poetry, the National Magazine Gold Award for Poetry, the PremiulPoesis (Romania), the Eric Hoffer Book Award for Poetry (US), and International Fellow Poet of the Year, Encyclopedic Poetry School [2019] (China). His acclaimed titles include Whylah Falls (1990, translated into Chinese), Beatrice Chancy (1999, translated into Italian), Execution Poems (2001), Blues and Bliss (selected poems, 2009), I & I (2008), Illicit Sonnets (U.K., 2013), Traverse (2015), Canticles II (MMXX) (2020), and J’Accuse…! (Poem versus Silence) (2021).
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: George Elliott Clarke (Portrait by Katerina Fretwell) / Used with Permission
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (podcast announcer); Bob Luker (voice of Tommy Douglas); Kenneth Okoro, Liz Campos Rico, Tsz Wing Chau (street voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In this episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Capitalism and the mental health crisis, social worker, researcher and writer, Madeleine Ritts, researcher on mental health of Black communities, Michelle Sraha-Yeboah, and researcher and educator in labor issues, Jon Weier, discuss the current mental health crisis as an inevitable outcome of capitalism and whether good mental health is a benefit or a boon to our economic system.
According to Ritts: “...Poverty, exploitation, alienation, these are inherent features of capitalism. So the degradation of physical and mental health is inevitable as long as we continue to live under the domination of the market. And I think in our system of racialized capitalism those forces will continue to disproportionately impact racialized people.”
Speaking to impacts on Black communities, Yeboah says: “The field of psychology was born at the height of imperial expansion and colonial conquest. It was created to reinforce and serve the interests of the state. And so we see a lot of colonial rhetoric being processed through some of the methodologies and ideologies used in the field to reinforce a narrative about Black communities as being less than, as being subhuman, as misrepresenting their racial suffering. And these things have an impact today.”
Reflecting on workers, Weier says: “I think gig work, contract work has been.. breaking down the bonds that can exist at a workplace..It's very hard to build solidarity. It's very hard to build a response or resistance to neoliberalism as these traditional sites of community and solidarity are being undermined in favor of an increasingly atomized workforce.”
About today’s guests
Madeleine Ritts is a researcher and social worker based in Toronto. Her writing has appeared in Jacobin, Health Debate, Now Magazine, Aeon, and the Toronto Star. She has worked as a mental health clinician for over seven years, and has experience organizing around issues of homelessness and poverty in Ontario. Maddie worked on a community, outreach-based mental health and addictions team in downtown Toronto and recently transitioned to a position in long-term care where she provides psycho-social and palliative care support to residents and their loved ones.
Michelle Sraha-Yeboah is a doctoral candidate at York University in the Department of Social Science. Her research examines medical histories of racial and colonial violence, mental health care service use disparities and holistic wellbeing. Her work is particularly concerned with the intersections of socio-historical and political factors impacting Black Canadians’ mental health care service use patterns and treatment preferences. She attends to Black feminist theorizations of care to achieve anti-racist and decolonial mental healthcare service delivery for Africans in the Diaspora.
Jonathan Weier is a professor in The School of Labor and The School of Liberal Arts and Sciences at George Brown College. An established historian and educator, policy professional and commentator on social and labor movements, his research focuses on voluntary organizations, trade unions, political parties and other efforts by workers, social activists, and reformers to achieve progressive political, social and economic goals. Jon has been active in the labor movement and in Left politics for over 20 years and is currently a board member and the academic advisor for the Douglas Coldwell Layton Foundation.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Michelle Sraha-Yeboah, Madeleine Ritts, Jon Weier / Used with Permission
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (podcast announcer); Bob Luker (voice of Tommy Douglas); Kenneth Okoro, Liz Campos Rico, Tsz Wing Chau (street voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In the second part of this two-part episode of the Courage My Friends podcast COP15 and 30x30: Indigenous-Led Conservation and Saving the Greenbelt, manager at Springwater Provincial Park and former Chief of the Beausoleil First Nation, Jeff Monague, discusses principles of Indigenous-led conservation, the dangers facing First Nations communities from Greenbelt development and the need to shift our thinking in order to reconnect with the natural world.
Reflecting on the meaning of reconciliation, Monague says:
“We can't think about conservation if we don't live or try to live that conservation…We're not doing that enough. In Canada, the government needs to do more. If it is reconciliation that they're talking about, then they need to do more...Reconciliation won't happen if all of your partners are not included. Let's say we're going to spend $30 million on a project and then we'll give 1% of that to First Nations. That's not reconciliation.”
About today’s guest
Jeff Monague is a member of the Beausoleil First Nation on Christian Island and currently resides near Coldwater, Ont. Presently, he is the manager at Springwater Provincial Park. He has been an instructor of the Ojibwe Language and has taught at every level, from junior kindergarten to post secondary at Georgian College. His book Ahaw Anishinaabem for beginners of the Ojibwe Language is available on Amazon. He is a former Chief and Councillor of his community on Christian Island and has been the Treaty research director for the Anishinaabek Nation. He is also a Canadian military veteran.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Image: Jeff Monague / Used with Permission
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (podcast announcer); Bob Luker (voice of Tommy Douglas); Kenneth Okoro, Liz Campos Rico, Tsz Wing Chau (street voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In this two-part episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Tim Gray, executive director of Environmental Defence and Sandra Schwartz, national executive director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) discuss the crisis of biodiversity loss and mass extinction, Canada’s commitments under the Kunming-Montreal agreement coming out of the global COP15 gathering on biodiversity, and challenges and strategies toward meeting this very ambitious and even more necessary target.
According to Schwartz: the UN has reported recently,.. that around a million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction. And that is really within a few decades. That's more than ever before in human history. And that's largely a result of human interaction with nature. So whether that is from exploration, from mining for example, forestry, …clearly we need to act now to save the natural world, because it is sustaining us as humans.
Speaking to the recent Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, Schwartz says: [I]t was a huge win, both for people, but also for the planet. .. Target Three of the framework is requiring the protection of at least 30% of land and ocean is protected globally by 2030…a requirement that Indigenous rights are respected and that Indigenous territories are recognized…And, all together the goals and targets of the agreement really do present a comprehensive plan to protect and restore biodiversity. But it's ambitious. And really, from our perspective going into the conference, what we were most holding out hope for was that the Framework Agreement would be ambitious.
Reflecting on proposed development on the Ontario Greenbelt, Gray says: 70% of the lands to be removed, is in something called Dufferin's Rouge Agricultural Preserve. It was both part of the Greenbelt, but also had its own separate protective legislation, which was removed by Bill-39 at the same time that Bill-32 was going through…This was formally publicly-owned land, sold to the farm community with legal easements to keep it as farmland forever, which have now been removed and open for development. So threats both to forest and wetland systems that are associated with the National Park, contrary to Indigenous rights and Indigenous opposition, threatens the viability of farming in that area. ..And so the viability of the farm community is threatened, major river systems, federally listed species at risk, fisheries habitat, migratory birds. The list is very, very long.
In terms of the implementation of global agreements, Gray says: [O]ne of the real challenges that we face is that, even as we sign international agreements that commit to stopping loss, increasing protection, advancing restoration to address biodiversity loss is that we see, like in particular in Ontario right now, a massive race in the opposite direction with dismantling of protection regimes for woodlands, wetlands, massive encouragement of sprawl development at the expense of building denser cities with transit, etc. So it is a real challenge to see the most populist, most wealthy province with a huge amount of the the biodiversity that this country holds, literally racing in the direction of further destruction
About today’s guests
Tim Gray is the executive director of Environmental Defence. Gray has over 25 years experience developing and implementing environmental policy change efforts. These have included major shifts in land conservation, forest practices and climate change. Starting out his career as a biologist and policy analyst, Gray has spent a lot of time learning skills that move complex environmental issues toward resolution. He has worked with other change makers on the front lines of conflict and has also taken his skills inside to work on government advisory committees and in complex negotiations with industry. Gray completed an H.BSc. at Wilfrid Laurier University and a M.Sc. at the University of Toronto.
Sandra Schwartz is the national executive director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. With master’s degrees in management, and environmental studies and over 20 years of experience, she is a strong advocate for sound environmental policy and has championed progressive ideas for clean energy and tackling climate change.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Sandra Schwartz and Tim Gray / Used with Permission
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (voice of Tommy Douglas); Kenneth Okoro, Liz Campos Rico, Tsz Wing Chau (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In this episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Neil Hetherington, CEO of The Daily Bread Food Bank and Maria Rio, director of development and communication for The Stop Community Food Centre discuss the current state of food insecurity in Canada’s largest city, how we got here and what we need to end decades of hunger.
Of the growing reliance on Toronto’s food bank system, Hetherington says: “What is startling is the fact that there are over 9,000 new registrants to the Foodbank system in the Toronto area, served by Daily Bread and North York Harvest each month.. almost 10,000 people are putting up their hand and saying, "I am in a position where my income does not meet the expenses that I have and I need to rely on food charity this week or this month. …Prior to the pandemic, 15% of the people that came to the food banks were employed fully. That number has doubled to 30%. And just around 50% of food bank users have a post-secondary education. And so people have done what we told them to do growing up. Go get an education, grab a job and you'll be fine. You'll get that house with a white picket fence. And that's not the reality.”
Rio describes the current and increasing challenges facing organizations like the Stop Community Food Centre: “The Stop is also being hit by inflation. So not only are we paying more for food because there's decreased food drives and all those things. There's more people coming to our services ..it's been an exceptionally challenging time. We've had to make really difficult decisions around how do we keep serving our community, but not go into an extremely unsustainable position as an organization? We have to remain open next year. as more and more people run out of other options, such as friends or using credit cards or predatory payday loan services, they're turning to us and we're kind of left scrambling to meet the need with less volunteer help, with less energy than we had two years ago and strain on our resources because our donors are also feeling the pinch.”
Speaking to the importance of food banks, Hethrington says: “What we have set out to do over the last number of decades is remind people that food banks are not the answer to food insecurity; we've never claimed that we are. But we do make food available this week for people. .. where we do claim that we are fighting to end hunger is around our advocacy efforts and taking a leadership position?”
Reflection on Canada’s failed commitments to end hunger, Rio says: “Canada first signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights at the UN, where they ratified the right to food, right to adequate food, clothing, and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.
And to know that we've been talking about this issue for so long, we've had so many consultations at all levels of government…we've known for a really long time that social assistance rates are abysmally low. That it's a lot of newcomers who are experiencing these barriers. Racialized people, people with disabilities and an intersection of all those identities. We've known that for more than the 40 years that The Stop has been around, or food banks have been around.”
About today’s guests
Neil Hetherington joined The Daily Bread Food Bank as CEO in January 2018. Beginning his career in project management at Tridel Construction, in September 2000, he made a career change by joining Habitat for Humanity Toronto, at the time as the youngest CEO of a Habitat affiliate in the world. Neil’s non-profit experience includes 16 years as CEO of Habitat for Humanity in Toronto, and then New York City, and two years as CEO of Dixon Hall, a multi-service agency serving thousands of people in Toronto. Neil holds credentials from the University of Western Ontario – Huron College, Seneca College, Harvard Business School, and the University of Virginia – Darden Business School and obtained his MBA from the University of Western Ontario’s Ivey Business School in 2013. He is an active pilot and sailor. He enjoys furniture making and in his spare time plays tennis terribly, snowboards poorly and bikes slowly.
Maria Rio has over a decade of fundraising and non-profit experience. As a woman, a racialized person, an immigrant, and a member of the LGBTQ2+ community and from her early experience as a refugee, Maria’s experience shaped a passion for human rights that fuels her drive to give back and make a difference in the lives of people of various marginalized and often intersectional and underrepresented groups. Her op eds have been featured in publications such as the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ magazine. She was a finalist for the national 2022 Charity Village Best Individual Fundraiser Award, and has a deep passion for non-profit work. Maria also sits on the Board of Living Wage Canada and is often asked to speak on issues related to poverty, innovative stewardship, building relationships, and Community Centric Fundraising.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Image: Neil Hetherington and Maria Rio / Used with Permission
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (voice of Tommy Douglas); Kenneth Okoro, Liz Campos Rico, Tsz Wing Chau (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In this episode of the Courage My Friends podcast we welcome Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario Schools Boards Council of Unions. Just days after CUPE education workers voted to ratify a new four-year contract that includes a hard fought for $1 flat-rate hourly wage increase and two days repayment for a fraught political protest, we reflect on the momentous and contentious labor action taken on by Ontario's education workers.
Reflecting on how essential these education workers are to our schools, Walton says: "From the minute that a child or a member of the public steps into a school; you are stepping into a space that is impacted by the work performed by CUPE members … the cleanliness of the school, the safety of the school. Being buzzed in the door in our elementary schools. The supports that students need in order to be successful and to thrive are all performed by education workers."
Walton describes Bill 28 and its use of the notwithstanding clause: “Bill 28 was actually a two-headed beast ... Not only did it impose a contract which would've provided poverty wages, attacked our sick-leave- …. It also put in place the notwithstanding clause. But also taking the notwithstanding clause one step further: we wouldn't be able to take them to court, but they also put in pieces where we wouldn't be able to take them to the human rights tribunal. We wouldn't be able to arbitrate it. Really removing any sort of legal avenue that a worker may have and really interfering with the charter rights of workers."
Of the unprecedented coming together of public and private sector, Walton says: "I have been a worker for my entire adult life. Started working at 13. And I've been a union activist for 20 years and you know, I remember reading about union activism. I remember reading about labor history ... And I always kind of pictured ‘what did that feel like?’ ... How did you know you were in that moment, when you were in that moment. ..Those became very real. And one of the comments that I made that day is, 'Workers are like a family. We may not always agree, but when you attack one of us, you attack all of us.' And I really hope that it becomes a catalyst for solidarity moving forward.”
About today’s guest
Laura Walton is an educational assistant from Belleville, Ontario. First elected to the role in 2019, she is the president of CUPE’s 55,000-worker strong Ontario School Boards Council of Unions (OSBCU).
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Image: Laura Walton / Used with Permission
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (voice of Tommy Douglas); Kenneth Okoro, Liz Campos Rico, Tsz Wing Chau (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In this episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Emmay Mah, executive director of the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) discusses the many intersections between the climate crisis and the housing crisis and the potential fallout from Ontario’s proposed housing Bill 23: More Homes Built Faster.
According to Mah: “We need to acknowledge that we are experiencing a deep, acute housing crisis. And this is also an environmental crisis.”
Reflecting on the Ford Government’s proposed Bill-23: The Better Homes Built Faster Act, Mah says:
“The title of the Bill .. is incredibly misleading. It is both bad for addressing the housing crisis and bad from a climate perspective, and there are no two ways around that. ..Basically what this bill proposes to do is it's going to gut about 10 existing provincial laws, which will ultimately strip local governments of their ability to build and protect affordable housing and achieve their climate goals and basically protect the environment and plan communities within municipalities.”
In refuting the tension between development and conservation, Mah says:
“It is in all our interest to build green affordable housing. It is also in our interests to preserve natural land and resources and food growing areas. So these things should not be pitted against one another. And I think that it is a falsehood that is purposely being constructed to serve these development interests. And so we really need to push back against this. This is incredibly shortsighted.”
For Mah, communities are themselves modeling the change we need to see:
“Community members often have the deepest perspective on what solutions will work locally, and understandably so. They bring a lot of knowledge and wisdom and lived experience to working on solutions. So I want to strongly encourage folks that have the impetus to really, really move forward with solutions they know are going to work with their communities. And organizations like TEA should be supporting them and so should local government.”
About today’s guest
Emmay Mah joined the Toronto Environmental Alliance as executive director in 2019. For the last 20 years, Emmay has worked in the non-profit sector locally and internationally, developing and managing programs focused on child rights, health, and the environment. She is passionate about building local movements to achieve healthy, equitable and climate-friendly cities.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Image: Emmay Mah / Used with Permission
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (voice of Tommy Douglas); Kenneth Okoro, Liz Campos Rico, Tsz Wing Chau (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In part two of this special two-part episode of the Courage My Friends podcast ‘Mouth Open, Story Jump Out: The Power and Purpose of Storytelling in These Times,’ we continue our conversation with storyteller, actor, playwright and filmmaker, Rhoma Spencer; storyteller and teacher, Lynn Torrie; and storyteller, teacher and founder of Queers in Your Ears, Rico Rodriguez.
Speaking to the origins of Carnival and the meaning of stories for the formerly colonized and enslaved, Spencer reflects: “Stories [are] indeed a part of resistance. These are stories that my mother talked about. Some she would've experienced and some that would've been passed on to her..These are stories that was told to me. Carnival as manifested through the post-emancipated African was a form of resistance. When we were emancipated in 1834, we took to the streets to celebrate our emancipation, and we did so by mimicking our colonizer.”
According to Torrie, stories are a vehicle to deal with even the most sensitive of subjects: “What I find is sensitive topics like addiction, people have strong opinions about them. And sometimes when you approach them directly, people shut down, it's hard to listen; either because they've been personally touched by the issue or because they have strong opinions about how the issue should be dealt with … Sometimes if you approach something in the context of a story, it's easier to listen to than if you speak to the issue directly. A story gives people room to listen to the feelings and perspectives of the characters involved rather than getting stuck on one side or the other of an issue.”
Reflecting on the need to be included in stories and storytelling communities, Rodriguez says: “When we grew up as queers, we're sitting around the table and the stories that are being told are stories that are gonna shape our lives sometimes, even if they're fairy tales, personal stories. Stories that are told at Thanksgiving or big family events or family reunions. Stories are being told around the table, they're not queer affirming … And I think that’s what led me to tell more of my personal stories, especially with Queers in Your Ears, is that I wanted to create that dinner table for queers where they came and listened and they got affirmed.”
About the storytellers
Rico Rodriguez is a storyteller and a teacher who specializes in Latinx tales and writing and telling personal and fictional stories that are infused with equity and social change themes. He founded “Queers in Your Ears” a 2SLGBTQI storytelling event. Rico has facilitated workshops on the art of storytelling in educational settings and community and health promotion agencies. He has told in schools, theatres, libraries, festivals, pubs and conferences as well as on CBC Radio in Canada and on National Public Radio in the U.S. His story credits include: Do The Best You Can In the Place Where You Are And Be Kind, Your Value Does Not Decrease Based On Someone's Inability To See Your Worth, When A Flower Doesn't Bloom, You Do Not Fix The Flower, You Fix The Environment In Which The Flower Can Grow.
Rhoma Spencer is an actor, playwright, docu/filmmaker, director and comedian. When not doing all of the above she can be seen at her Sweethand Delights turning a random pot of gastronomic pleasures. Critically acclaimed by the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and NOW Magazine, her works include: Biomyth Mono Digiplay and Login Password Logout ( Aluna Theatre, Caminos Festiva, 2021). Her film, My Execution will be Televised recently won the Impact Award at the Caribbean Tales International Film Festival and her film, A Pile of Dirt will premiere at the Regent Park Film Festival in December. Rhoma can be seen in the award-winning Canadian film, Scarborough.
Lynn Torrie is a Toronto storyteller with a passion for traditional folk tales and Canadian history. Her original adaptations have been performed at the Toronto Storytelling Festival, The Word on the Street, StoryFusion Cabaret, the Ottawa Signature Series and Guelph’s Tea ’n Tales. She is a member of the York storytelling Guild and a regular host at both Storytelling Toronto’s Storytent and 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling. She designed and taught over 100 workshops to teachers and educational assistants with the Toronto District School Board and is currently the project co-ordinator for Storytellers of Canada’s workshop series and teaches “The Art of Storytelling” at Toronto Metropolitan University, Continuing Education. Since COVID 19, Lynn has travelled the virtual world, hosting, teaching and telling on Zoom.
Teagan de Laronde is Métis and a citizen of Red Sky Métis Independent Nation. A graduate of the University of Toronto Teagan was president of the Indigenous Studies Student Union, co-founder/VP for 'BIPOC in Politics', and serves on various committees focused on Truth and Reconciliation including the Victoria College (Re)Conciliation; The Truth is not Fully yet Told". She is currently a project manager with UofT’s Department of Religion on the "Relations on the Land" project. In August 2022, she worked with the City of Toronto and Indigenous partners to Decolonize Museums. Teagan works as a First Story Storyteller, a community-based project that researches, preserves, and shares Indigenous history and perspectives within what is now known as ‘Toronto.’ An avid jigger (dancer) and beader, Teagan’s work can be viewed at @birchbeadwork on Instagram.
Richardo Keens-Douglas M.B.E is an award winning actor, playwright, author, storyteller and proud Grenadian-Canadian. From drama, dance, and comedy, to musical theatre, storytelling, and directing, Richardo also hosted national radio storytelling show Cloud 9 and Sunday Arts Entertainment on CBC television in Canada and was the host of the television hit Who Wants to be A Millionaire Caribbean. He has appeared on a variety of stages in North America and the Caribbean, including Stratford, Canadian Stage, Factory Theatre, TWP, and Theatre Fountainhead in Canada. His play The Nutmeg Princess won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Musical of 1999. In 2003, Richardo was inducted into the Caribbean Hall of Fame for Excellence in Theatre.
Dan Yashinsky is a storyteller, writer, and community animator. His books include Suddenly They Heard Footsteps - Storytelling for the Twenty-first Century, and Swimming with Chaucer - A Storyteller's Logbook. In 1999 he received the Jane Jacobs Prize for his work with storytelling in the community. His pandemic project was to record 16 folktales with his donkey Eysele. You can see them on Youtube by searching for The Storyteller's Ass. Info: www.tellery.com.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Rico Rodriguez, Rhoma Spencer, Lynn Torrie, Teagan de Laronde, Richardo Keens-Douglas, Dan Yashinsky (photo by Jacob Zavitz), / Used with Permission
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (voice of Tommy Douglas); Kenneth Okoro, Liz Campos Rico, Tsz Wing Chau (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Special Thanks to: Debra Baptiste (Executive Director, Storytelling Toronto), Audrey Rochette (Director, Indigenous Initiatives, George Brown College)
Host: Resh Budhu
In the fourth, two-part, episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, series III, we are joined by six Canadian storytellers
In this special, and very storied, two-part episode of the Courage My Friends podcast Mouth Open, Story Jump Out: The Power and Purpose of Storytelling in These Times, we are very pleased to welcome six Canadian storytellers.
In part one, we begin our conversation with First Story storyteller, Teagan de Laronde; actor, author, and storyteller. Richardo Keens-Douglas; and community animator, author and co-founder of Storytelling Toronto, Dan Yashinsky.
Within her story within a story, storyteller, de Laronde says: “In Toronto, like many places, there are many stories of the land; in the land, based on the land. I think one of the biggest misconceptions about Toronto is that there are no Indigenous stories. We tend to see urban places as non-Indigenous spaces.Toronto though is a city, is an urban space because of Indigenous design. It was a meeting place, a council ground, a shared space, and it still is.”
Before launching into the story of La Diablesse, storyteller Keens-Douglas describes storytelling as: “connecting through the soul. Storytelling for me is a passing on. It's a sharing of yourself. It's a sharing of where you came from. It's a sharing of a history. It's a sharing of knowledge. And when I connect with my audience, when I tell my stories, I want them to go through the process with me.”
Prefacing the story of the tortoise and the leopard, Yashinsky says,“Stories have a way of crossing borders. They don't really respect political frontiers. They slip through all the barricades and they end up being subversive because of that. They're deep and they're personal. and they live by word of mouth. And every attempt to control them has failed. So I've always thought about that, storytellers are the enemies of all champions of control.”
About the storytellers
Teagan de Laronde is Métis and a citizen of Red Sky Métis Independent Nation. A graduate of the University of Toronto Teagan was president of the Indigenous Studies Student Union, co-founder/VP for 'BIPOC in Politics', and serves on various committees focused on Truth and Reconciliation including the Victoria College (Re)Conciliation; The Truth is not Fully yet Told". She is currently a project manager with UofT’s Department of Religion on the "Relations on the Land" project. In August 2022, she worked with the City of Toronto and Indigenous partners to Decolonize Museums. Teagan works as a First Story Storyteller, a community-based project that researches, preserves, and shares Indigenous history and perspectives within what is now known as ‘Toronto.’ An avid jigger (dancer) and beader, Teagan’s work can be viewed at @birchbeadwork on Instagram.
Richardo Keens-Douglas M.B.E is an award winning actor, playwright, author, storyteller and proud Grenadian-Canadian. From drama, dance, and comedy, to musical theatre, storytelling, and directing, Richardo also hosted national radio storytelling show Cloud 9 and Sunday Arts Entertainment on CBC television in Canada and was the host of the television hit Who Wants to be A Millionaire Caribbean. He has appeared on a variety of stages in North America and the Caribbean, including Stratford, Canadian Stage, Factory Theatre, TWP, and Theatre Fountainhead in Canada. His play The Nutmeg Princess won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Musical of 1999. In 2003, Richardo was inducted into the Caribbean Hall of Fame for Excellence in Theatre.
Dan Yashinsky is a storyteller, writer, and community animator. His books include Suddenly They Heard Footsteps - Storytelling for the Twenty-first Century, and Swimming with Chaucer - A Storyteller's Logbook. In 1999 he received the Jane Jacobs Prize for his work with storytelling in the community. His pandemic project was to record 16 folktales with his donkey Eysele. You can see them on Youtube by searching for The Storyteller's Ass. Info: www.tellery.com.
Rico Rodriguez is a storyteller and a teacher who specializes in Latinx tales and writing and telling personal and fictional stories that are infused with equity and social change themes. He founded “Queers in Your Ears” a 2SLGBTQI storytelling event. Rico has facilitated workshops on the art of storytelling in educational settings and community and health promotion agencies. He has told in schools, theatres, libraries, festivals, pubs and conferences as well as on CBC radio in Canada and on National Public Radio in the U.S. His story credits include: "Do The Best You Can In the Place Where You Are And Be Kind", "Your Value Does Not Decrease Based On Someone's Inability To See Your Worth", "When A Flower Doesn't Bloom, You Do Not Fix The Flower, You Fix The Environment In Which The Flower Can Grow"
Rhoma Spencer is an actor, playwright, docu/filmmaker, director and comedian. When not doing all of the above she can be seen at her Sweethand Delights turning a random pot of gastronomic pleasures. Critically acclaimed by the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and NOW Magazine, her works include: Biomyth Mono Digiplay and Login Password Logout ( Aluna Theatre, Caminos Festiva, 2021). Her film, My Execution will be Televised recently won the Impact Award at the Caribbean Tales International Film Festival and her film, A Pile of Dirt will premiere at the Regent Park Film Festival in December. Rhoma can be seen in the award-winning Canadian film, Scarborough.
Lynn Torrie is a Toronto storyteller with a passion for traditional folk tales and Canadian history. Her original adaptations have been performed at the Toronto Storytelling Festival, The Word on the Street, StoryFusion Cabaret, the Ottawa Signature Series and Guelph’s Tea ’n Tales. She is a member of the York storytelling Guild and a regular host at both Storytelling Toronto’s Storytent and 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling. She designed and taught over 100 workshops to teachers and educational assistants with the Toronto District School Board and is currently the project co-ordinator for Storytellers of Canada’s workshop series and teaches “The Art of Storytelling” at Toronto Metropolitan University, Continuing Education. Since COVID 19, Lynn has travelled the virtual world, hosting, teaching and telling on Zoom.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Teagan de Laronde, Richardo Keens-Douglas, Dan Yashinsky (photo by Jacob Zavitz), Rico Rodriguez, Rhoma Spencer, Lynn Torrie / Used with Permission
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (voice of Tommy Douglas); Kenneth Okoro, Liz Campos Rico, Tsz Wing Chau (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In the third episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Series III, Dania Majid, director of the Tenant Duty Council Program at the Advocacy Center for Tenants Ontario (ACTO); John Ecker, director of Research and Evaluation at the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness; and Haydar Shouly, senior manager of Shelters and Shelter Programs with Dixon Hall discuss the current crisis of housing insecurity and homelessness facing our most vulnerable communities.
Ecker describes some of the ingredients of the housing crisis: “In Toronto we're seeing an emergency shelter system that's stretched to the limit, which is turning people away because there aren't enough beds available. ..We're seeing a significant increase in the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness or homelessness lasting six months or longer in Toronto…About half of people accessing emergency shelters can be defined as chronically homeless. We're also seeing a burnt out workforce that is leaving the homeless system for other opportunities.
We're seeing a social housing wait-list that continues to grow due to the lack of housing stock that is being created. Rising rental costs, which is even pushing people out of not just the housing market, but the rental market as well. There's a lack of rental control measures put in place by the provincial government, allowing landlords to increase rent without that typical government oversight on units that were built after 2018.”
Reflecting on how the pandemic impacted Toronto shelters, Shouly recalls: “So I remember early 2020, probably February, March 2020 when we started to feel the heat of this pandemic. We had 91 people at Heyworth House, a hundred people at 351 Lake Shore. And we were talking about 2 to 3 feet apart. And that was just not feasible anymore. It was a disaster to keep people in that kind of environment. So collectively as a sector, and the city obviously led that, we moved clients from the traditional shelters and respites to hotels. The city secured a number of hotels to create that kind of social distancing that we were talking about in early 2020. It was really difficult. It was complicated to try to make that move. To transport people to a hotel. And trying to use the city's transport vehicles or taxis... It was a really challenging kind of reality. But with that action, I think we managed to keep the numbers of positive cases low and we managed to create social distancing in those programs. But I think moving people from where they were in congregate settings into more isolated rooms in hotel programs, we actually created new sets of challenges..”
Speaking to the financialization of the housing market, Majid says, “Companies like Blackstone, and they're definitely not the only one, they do see housing as an investment vehicle, and that's their primary lens on housing.
So what we've seen these types of companies doing is what I call "home hoardership"; they are just accumulating homes just for the sake of accumulating these homes.
It deprives people like first time home-owners and renters from accessing these homes. And it's driving the cost of the housing up. What we're seeing in Canada has been happening in the United States for a lot longer and it's a little bit more terrifying when you start putting the pieces together and it's technically already here.
About today’s guests:
Dania Majid is a staff lawyer and director of the Tenant Duty Counsel Program at the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, a legal aid clinic in Ontario. Prior to joining ACTO, Dania was a legal analyst with the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, and a lawyer with the Human Rights Legal Support Centre and Neighbourhood Legal Services. She is also the founder and executive member of the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association and the Toronto Palestine Film Festival and sits on the steering committee of the Hearing Palestine program at the University of Toronto. Dania is also the lead author of ACLA’s 2022 report “Anti-Palestinian Racism: Naming, Framing and Manifestations.”
John Ecker, PhD is the Director of Research and Evaluation at the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. In this role, he has been fortunate to collaborate with a number of community partners on their research and evaluation activities. He attained his Ph.D. in Community Psychology from the University of Ottawa where he received advanced training in qualitative and quantitative analyses, as well as program evaluation theory and practice. His research interests are varied and include homelessness, housing, Housing First, community integration, and LGBTQ2S studies. In his spare time, John is an avid tennis player/fan and has a love of pop culture.
Haydar Shouly, is Senior Manager of Shelters and Shelter Programs with Dixon Hall in Toronto. Haydar spent more than 18 years in the Community Development, Housing & Homelessness sector with stints in Youth Homelessness Supports, Housing Advocacy, Food Security and Newcomer Settlement sectors. Most recently, he has been working and advocating to enhance the well-being of marginalized and vulnerable populations in our community. In the past 14 years, Haydar’s work at Dixon Hall has been focussed on building strategic responses to homelessness in the City of Toronto, primarily in partnership with the Shelter, Support and Housing Administration (SSHA) Division.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Dania Majid, John Ecker, Haydar Shouly / Used with Permission
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (voice of Tommy Douglas); Kenneth Okoro, Liz Campos Rico, Tsz Wing Chau (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In the second episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Series III, Jhoey Dulaca (caregiver and organizer with the Migrant Workers’ Alliance for Change), Ethel Tungohan (Canada Research Chair in Canadian Migration Policy, Impacts and Activism) and Chris Ramsaroop (activist and organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers) discuss temporary foreign workers in Canada, the multiple and barriers they face and the struggle for recognition, rights and belonging.
Speaking to the situation facing foreign migrant workers, Dulaca says, “In the beginning it was a dream. It's not what happens in reality. The promise of Canada is when you get in, you are allowed to apply for permanent residence. That's the selling point, why I came here… They allow you to come here, but they won't allow you to have permanent status. And with permanent status, you are exercising your rights.”
Dulaca continued: “A lot of these people are tied to their employers. When I was working as a caregiver, I was tied to my employer and I couldn't do anything. If I was being abused, I couldn't just go and look for [other] work. Just like the farm workers, they're tied to their employers and the system is made for them to shut up. First and foremost migrants come here to support their family. ..That's what makes it hard for workers to stand up for their rights.”
As Tungohan says, the situation facing these workers is structured into the system itself: “The thing about Canada that I find very perplexing is that it's always been constructed as a liberal immigrant receiving state. And to a certain extent that's true, but only for certain groups of people. So the easiest way to think about Canadian immigration policies is that there's citizen-track immigration and non-citizen- track immigration. And I would argue that temporary labor migrants tend to fall [in] the latter group.”
On speaking to the need for organized resistance, Ramsaroop says: “It's about the role of power and asymmetrical power imbalances..There are no industry specific regulations. And coupled with this constant threat of deportation and permanent loss of work, this is why workers are .. working at heights without protections, being sprayed with pesticides and chemicals, working at a peace-rate system which has numerous and multiple forms of injuries on their bodies.So it is critically important to see this as structural violence .. This is an entire system that's been built to meet the needs of the employers, not thinking about the needs of workers. And this is why trying to build power across the industry and across all forms of temporary work is necessary and essential to change the power imbalance that exists.”
About today’s guests:
Ethel Tungohan is the Canada Research Chair in Canadian Migration Policy, Impacts and Activism, and associate professor of Politics and Social Science at York University. She has also been appointed as a Broadbent Institute fellow. Previously, she was the Grant Notley Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alberta’s Department of Political Science.
Her research looks at migrant labor, specifically assessing migrant activism. Her forthcoming book, “From the Politics of Everyday Resistance to the Politics from Below,” won the 2014 National Women’s Studies Association First Book Prize. Her work has been published in academic journals such as the International Feminist Journal of Politics, Politics, Groups, and Identities, and Canadian Ethnic Studies. She is also one of the editors of “Filipinos in Canada: Disturbing Invisibility,” which was published by the University of Toronto Press in 2012. Dr. Tungohan specializes in socially engaged research and is actively involved in grassroots migrant organizations such as Gabriela-Ontario and Migrante-Canada.
Joelyn Dulaca is a careworker organizer with Migrant Workers Alliance for a Change which is a coalition of migrant careworkers, healthcare workers, farmworkers and international students. A former careworker herself, who had to work away from her children to chase the Canadian dream; she had experienced the struggles of working as a live-in caregiver and is now dedicated to organize caregivers to fight for better immigration, labour laws and permanent status for all.
Chris Ramsaroop is an organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers, a grassroots activist collective that has been organizing with migrant workers for nearly 20 years and whose work is based on building long term trust and relationships with migrant workers and includes: engaging in direct actions, working with workers to resist at work, launching precedent setting legal cases, and organizing numerous collective actions.
Chris is an instructor in the Caribbean Studies Program at the University of Toronto and a clinic instructor at the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law. Ramsaroop is working to complete his PhD at OISE/University of Toronto. Chris is also currently assistant professor at New College, University of Toronto, Community Engaged Learning.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Ethel Tungohan, Jhoey Dulaca, Chris Ramsaroop / Used with Permission
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (voice of Tommy Douglas); Kenneth Okoro, Liz Campos Rico, Tsz Wing Chau (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In the second episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Series III, Jhoey Dulaca (caregiver and organizer with the Migrant Workers’ Alliance for Change), Ethel Tungohan (Canada Research Chair in Canadian Migration Policy, Impacts and Activism) and Chris Ramsaroop (activist and organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers) discuss temporary foreign workers in Canada, the multiple and barriers they face and the struggle for recognition, rights and belonging.
Speaking to the situation facing foreign migrant workers, Dulaca says, “In the beginning it was a dream. It's not what happens in reality. The promise of Canada is when you get in, you are allowed to apply for permanent residence. That's the selling point, why I came here… They allow you to come here, but they won't allow you to have permanent status. And with permanent status, you are exercising your rights.”
Dulaca continued: “A lot of these people are tied to their employers. When I was working as a caregiver, I was tied to my employer and I couldn't do anything. If I was being abused, I couldn't just go and look for [other] work. Just like the farm workers, they're tied to their employers and the system is made for them to shut up. First and foremost migrants come here to support their family. ..That's what makes it hard for workers to stand up for their rights.”
As Tungohan says, the situation facing these workers is structured into the system itself: “The thing about Canada that I find very perplexing is that it's always been constructed as a liberal immigrant receiving state. And to a certain extent that's true, but only for certain groups of people. So the easiest way to think about Canadian immigration policies is that there's citizen-track immigration and non-citizen- track immigration. And I would argue that temporary labor migrants tend to fall [in] the latter group.”
On speaking to the need for organized resistance, Ramsaroop says: “It's about the role of power and asymmetrical power imbalances..There are no industry specific regulations. And coupled with this constant threat of deportation and permanent loss of work, this is why workers are .. working at heights without protections, being sprayed with pesticides and chemicals, working at a peace-rate system which has numerous and multiple forms of injuries on their bodies.So it is critically important to see this as structural violence .. This is an entire system that's been built to meet the needs of the employers, not thinking about the needs of workers. And this is why trying to build power across the industry and across all forms of temporary work is necessary and essential to change the power imbalance that exists.”
About today’s guests:
Ethel Tungohan is the Canada Research Chair in Canadian Migration Policy, Impacts and Activism, and associate professor of Politics and Social Science at York University. She has also been appointed as a Broadbent Institute fellow. Previously, she was the Grant Notley Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alberta’s Department of Political Science.
Her research looks at migrant labor, specifically assessing migrant activism. Her forthcoming book, “From the Politics of Everyday Resistance to the Politics from Below,” won the 2014 National Women’s Studies Association First Book Prize. Her work has been published in academic journals such as the International Feminist Journal of Politics, Politics, Groups, and Identities, and Canadian Ethnic Studies. She is also one of the editors of “Filipinos in Canada: Disturbing Invisibility,” which was published by the University of Toronto Press in 2012. Dr. Tungohan specializes in socially engaged research and is actively involved in grassroots migrant organizations such as Gabriela-Ontario and Migrante-Canada.
Joelyn Dulaca is a careworker organizer with Migrant Workers Alliance for a Change which is a coalition of migrant careworkers, healthcare workers, farmworkers and international students. A former careworker herself, who had to work away from her children to chase the Canadian dream; she had experienced the struggles of working as a live-in caregiver and is now dedicated to organize caregivers to fight for better immigration, labour laws and permanent status for all.
Chris Ramsaroop is an organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers, a grassroots activist collective that has been organizing with migrant workers for nearly 20 years and whose work is based on building long term trust and relationships with migrant workers and includes: engaging in direct actions, working with workers to resist at work, launching precedent setting legal cases, and organizing numerous collective actions.
Chris is an instructor in the Caribbean Studies Program at the University of Toronto and a clinic instructor at the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law. Ramsaroop is working to complete his PhD at OISE/University of Toronto. Chris is also currently assistant professor at New College, University of Toronto, Community Engaged Learning.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Ethel Tungohan, Jhoey Dulaca, Chris Ramsaroop / Used with Permission
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (voice of Tommy Douglas); Kenneth Okoro, Liz Campos Rico, Tsz Wing Chau (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In the launch of our third season, JP Hornick, President of OPSEU/SEFPO and Dr. Naheed Dosani, Palliative Care Physician and Health Justice Activist, discuss the current crisis facing public healthcare in Ontario and the alarming turn toward the privatization of our healthcare systems by those prioritizing profit over patients.
In speaking to the ways in which the healthcare crisis is both the result and rationale for erosion and greater privatization, JP Hornick says: “...you've got a kind of perfect storm that COVID maximized a crisis that was already existing. Decreased funding, unanticipated service costs, then you throw in on top of that supply-chain issues, particularly around PPE, but also, tools and resources. And then you've got an ongoing problem with recruitment and retention of staff. These are the new realities that hospitals have to tackle at the same time, trying to care for patients. And they're not allowed to carry deficits. So in the absence of additional funding, it means that the choices that hospitals regularly resort to are service cuts in order to try and balance budgets.But all this comes back to a very simple thing. It is a failure to adequately fund healthcare, both before and during the pandemic. And then the deterioration of the public system that results is used as an excuse in itself for increased privatization.”
According to Dosani: “...often conversations like this can get tucked away in the category of health policy. This is about much more. This is about our way of life. This is about our way of being. This is really an attack on the common good that is so core and foundational to what it means to be Canadian…Public healthcare is a national treasure that makes us unique on the world stage. That really allows us to say to each other, I care about you.
And I care about you so much that I will pay into a collective pool with you to care for you. Even if I don't get sick, I care for you. And that doesn't just emanate in the healthcare world and the healthcare sphere that affects the way we treat each other. We care for each other. We communicate with each other…And that is worth saving. That is worth protecting.”
About today’s guest:
Prior to being elected president of OPSEU/SEFPO (Ontario Public Service Employees Union), JP Hornick was chief steward for more than a decade within the College Faculty Division, representing instructors at Ontario’s 24 public colleges. She chaired the College Faculty bargaining teams in 2017 and 2021-22.
JP grew up in a family of public service workers – educators, correctional workers and many more. She is a labour educator and previously served as the coordinator of the School of Labour at George Brown College. She has served as chair, treasurer and director on several community boards and has been on the front lines of activism to advance issues of equity, women’s rights, LGBTTIQQ2S rights, anti-racism and decolonization.
JP was elected OPSEU/SEFPO President in April 2022 on a platform that includes strengthening union democracy, building bargaining power, ensuring financial responsibility, fostering an inclusive union culture, and deepening connections to the labour movement and community.
As a palliative care physician and health justice activist, Dr. Naheed Dosani is dedicated to advancing equitable access to healthcare for people experiencing structural vulnerabilities like poverty and homelessness. He founded the Palliative Education and Care for the Homeless (PEACH) Program at the Inner City Health Associates, serves as the Health Equity Lead at Kensington Health in downtown Toronto and provides palliative care at St. Michael’s Hospital at Unity Health Toronto. He is also an assistant professor with the department of family and community medicine at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Dosani is the recipient of numerous awards including the Meritorious Service Cross for Humanitarianism from Canada’s Governor General (2018), a humanitarian award from the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians (2019) and the Early Career Leader award from the Canadian Medical Association (2020). In 2022 he received an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Laws) from Ontario Tech University.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: JP Hornick and Naheed Dosani / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Kenneth Okoro, Liz Campos Rico, Tsz Wing Chau.
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
In the launch of our third season, JP Hornick, President of OPSEU/SEFPO and Dr. Naheed Dosani, Palliative Care Physician and Health Justice Activist, discuss the current crisis facing public healthcare in Ontario and the alarming turn toward the privatization of our healthcare systems by those prioritizing profit over patients.
In speaking to the ways in which the healthcare crisis is both the result and rationale for erosion and greater privatization, JP Hornick says: “...you've got a kind of perfect storm that COVID maximized a crisis that was already existing. Decreased funding, unanticipated service costs, then you throw in on top of that supply-chain issues, particularly around PPE, but also, tools and resources. And then you've got an ongoing problem with recruitment and retention of staff. These are the new realities that hospitals have to tackle at the same time, trying to care for patients. And they're not allowed to carry deficits. So in the absence of additional funding, it means that the choices that hospitals regularly resort to are service cuts in order to try and balance budgets.But all this comes back to a very simple thing. It is a failure to adequately fund healthcare, both before and during the pandemic. And then the deterioration of the public system that results is used as an excuse in itself for increased privatization.”
According to Dosani: “...often conversations like this can get tucked away in the category of health policy. This is about much more. This is about our way of life. This is about our way of being. This is really an attack on the common good that is so core and foundational to what it means to be Canadian…Public healthcare is a national treasure that makes us unique on the world stage. That really allows us to say to each other, I care about you.
And I care about you so much that I will pay into a collective pool with you to care for you. Even if I don't get sick, I care for you. And that doesn't just emanate in the healthcare world and the healthcare sphere that affects the way we treat each other. We care for each other. We communicate with each other…And that is worth saving. That is worth protecting.”
About today’s guest:
Prior to being elected president of OPSEU/SEFPO (Ontario Public Service Employees Union), JP Hornick was chief steward for more than a decade within the College Faculty Division, representing instructors at Ontario’s 24 public colleges. She chaired the College Faculty bargaining teams in 2017 and 2021-22.
JP grew up in a family of public service workers – educators, correctional workers and many more. She is a labour educator and previously served as the coordinator of the School of Labour at George Brown College. She has served as chair, treasurer and director on several community boards and has been on the front lines of activism to advance issues of equity, women’s rights, LGBTTIQQ2S rights, anti-racism and decolonization.
JP was elected OPSEU/SEFPO President in April 2022 on a platform that includes strengthening union democracy, building bargaining power, ensuring financial responsibility, fostering an inclusive union culture, and deepening connections to the labour movement and community.
As a palliative care physician and health justice activist, Dr. Naheed Dosani is dedicated to advancing equitable access to healthcare for people experiencing structural vulnerabilities like poverty and homelessness. He founded the Palliative Education and Care for the Homeless (PEACH) Program at the Inner City Health Associates, serves as the Health Equity Lead at Kensington Health in downtown Toronto and provides palliative care at St. Michael’s Hospital at Unity Health Toronto. He is also an assistant professor with the department of family and community medicine at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Dosani is the recipient of numerous awards including the Meritorious Service Cross for Humanitarianism from Canada’s Governor General (2018), a humanitarian award from the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians (2019) and the Early Career Leader award from the Canadian Medical Association (2020). In 2022 he received an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Laws) from Ontario Tech University.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: JP Hornick and Naheed Dosani / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Kenneth Okoro, Liz Campos Rico, Tsz Wing Chau.
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.
In the final episode of our summer series, climate justice organizer and activist Aliya Hirji and National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students, Mari Dolcetti-Koros, discuss the global climate crisis, its impacts on our younger populations and the ways in which youth are organizing and taking leadership in securing a truly just and sustainable world for us all.
In speaking to the need for youth leadership, Hirji says:
“I think I hear a lot from world leaders, the phrase like “young people are leaders of the future”, but the truth is that we are the leaders of right now. There's so much on every scale - local, national, international - so much of this climate action and this ambition and real progressive ideas that are coming from young people. I think young people have an insane amount of optimism and passion and drive that you may not see from other generations. … I think that our optimism and our outlook on life is really unique. And because we have so much of our lives ahead of us, well, hopefully ahead of us, that's going to be affected by the climate crisis, I think that we take it very seriously and that we are incredibly motivated to do something about this. And given that young people are going to be incredibly affected by the climate crisis, .. people of color, marginalized communities - I think that leadership needs to be held by the most affected people…”
Connecting a just transition to student debt, Dolcetti-Koros says,
“I think it's really important to acknowledge that the reality of the exorbitant cost of tuition in Canada right now, and the student debt crisis, which is in the billions of dollars just in federal debt, is very much tied to a form of classism. And when we’re imagining and building a world beyond capitalism, we really need to take stock and evaluate and I would say democratize the access to knowledge and evaluate different forms of knowledges that have been subjugated; particularly Indigenous knowledges. I think a lot of folks are doing this work. A lot of scholars are doing this work. And there are lots of avenues or bridges to explore when thinking about how we evaluate our education system and how we can imagine a different, better, stronger one that is a pillar of a just and livable future.”
About today’s guest:
Aliya Hirji is a 17-year-old Indian-Canadian woman and climate justice activist in pursuit of a socially inclusive response to the climate crisis. She often works in the climate divestment movement, challenging individuals, governments, banks, and more to divest from fossil fuels. She is very passionate about ensuring the climate justice movement is anti-racist, anti-patriarchal and anti-colonial. In 2021, Aliya was recognized by Corporate Knights as one of Canada's Top 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leaders. She is about to start a dual arts degree with Sciences PO and UBC, where she wants to study Politics and Environmental Sustainability. Aliya is also working with Banking on a Better Future.
Marie Dolcetti-Koros is the National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students, back with the Federation after completing a first term as National Treasurer. Marie studied Contemporary Philosophy and Political Science in Halifax, starting in the student movement with the King's Students Union. One of her first experiences of student organizing was taking over the lobby of the main administrative building on campus with Divest Dal. Marie finds energy and strength in knowing that young people are an integral part of shaping a just and livable future. She firmly believes that education is a public good and that free and accessible education for all is possible.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute
Images: Aliya Hirji (photographer, Joshua Best) and Marie Dolcetti-Koros / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Chandra Budhu (Podcast Announcer), Nayocka Allen, Nicolas Echeverri Parra, Doreen Kajumba (Street Voices); Bob Luker (Tommy Douglas quote)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Resh Budhu, Breanne Doyle (for rabble.ca), Chandra Budhu and Ashley Booth.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
For the first segment of this special two-part episode, climate justice activist and originator of Land Back, Bryanna Brown discusses the critical need for Indigenous rights and ways of knowing and youth leadership to combat a climate crisis rooted in systems of colonial oppression and capitalist greed.
Making the connection between climate and colonialism, Bryanna Brown says:
“One quote that Indigenous Climate Action uses that I really like is: ‘Colonialism caused climate change; Indigenous Rights are the solution.’ We are left out from so many spaces and so many decision making processes and tables throughout history. Because our culture is to protect the land. I think Indigenous Peoples are very important to be investing in, in terms of being able to come up with solutions, not false solutions, actual solutions to the climate crisis. But because of the colonial violence that we continue to experience and because it is a culture of honoring profit over people; it’s really, really hard to get a say when your values are rooted in protecting the land and protecting something of non-market value. And it’s not just the responsibility of Black, Indigenous, People of the Global Majority to do that; allies are really, really, really important. There’s so many things that we need to deconstruct or decolonize, or just eliminate entirely from our practices and systems and policies to be able to get to a place of having ways to come together to find solutions.”
Reflecting on the power of Land Back, Brown says:
"I was really, really impressed by how it had gained so many different definitions, but very similar definitions across organizations … And I think it’s extremely important that it is about the collective energy of Indigenous Peoples and our allies, Black and Indigenous Peoples and People of Color who are protecting the land throughout the world. I was really surprised that it was a global movement. And something that I really noticed was the solidarity that began to grow amongst so many people because of it. And for me, it was really about consent and Free Prior and Informed Consent over our land and our body.”
About today’s guest:
Brown is Inuk and Mi’kmaq from Nunatsiavut, Labrador. She is the originator of the Land Back movement and advocates for the sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples, as well as Black and People of Colour communities and land ownership and reclamation as a means of environmental protection and self-determination. Bryanna is a traditional storyteller, knowledge-keeper and public speaker. She is on the National Steering Committee and Climate Policy Advisory Council of Indigenous Climate Action and is currently working with the Keepers of the Circle and the Climate Emergency Unit with the David Suzuki Foundation to establish a Just Transition campaign in Newfoundland and Labrador. She consults on anti-human trafficking and advocates for the rights of women, Indigenous Peoples Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and environmental injustice in relation to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and persons with disabilities.
The Courage My Friends podcast series is a co-production between The Tommy Douglas Institute (at George Brown College), rabble.ca, with the support of the Douglas Coldwell Layton Foundation.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute
Image: Bryanna Brown / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Chandra Budhu (Podcast Announcer), Nayocka Allen, Nicolas Echeverri Parra, Doreen Kajumba (Street Voices); Bob Luker (Tommy Douglas quote)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Resh Budhu, Breanne Doyle (for rabble.ca), Chandra Budhu and Ashley Booth.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In the sixth episode, Linda McQuaig and Ian Thomson discuss the rising fortunes of the billionaire class amid shrinking incomes and opportunities for the vast majority before and during the pandemic.
In speaking about the impacts of billionaires on our democratic systems, McQuaig says, “this accumulation of wealth in the hands of billionaires... It’s not just that it’s tremendously unfair, which of course it is, it’s that it gives them so much political power that they get to effectively control the world… The wealthy corporate elite now has so much power that it can effectively block any kind of collective action. And that’s exactly what they’re doing. The reason that there isn’t progress on climate change isn’t that the public is resistant. The public would actually like there to be action on climate change. It’s the immensely powerful interests in the fossil fuel industries that are single-handedly blocking that.... it’s not just unfair they have all that money; it’s detrimental to the survival of the human race… So when I talk about a wealth tax, I’m not just talking about it so we can get money from them. I’m talking about a wealth tax that will curb their political power, economic and political power. So they can’t control things and prevent us from taking the collective action we need to take.”
According to Thomson, and the most recent Oxfam International report Inequality Kills “Whether it’s from the climate disasters that are taking lives. Whether it’s the vaccine inequality that means that COVID-19 is taking more lives - these are deaths that could be easily prevented if we had a more equitable vaccine distribution. And people are also being pushed to the brink of extreme hunger and actually are dying of starvation. These are the sorts of real-life impacts of this extreme wealth inequality, largely in the lowest income countries, but also lower income people in all countries are suffering from. And when you take the numbers, you just see that actually people are dying every four minutes due to inequality. The numbers are so staggering that it is hard to wrap your head around what kind of suffering this is bringing about.”
About today’s guests:
Award-winning journalist and activist Linda McQuaig is also the author of best-selling books, including: Shooting the Hippo: Death by Deficit and Other Canadian Myths; It’s the Crude, Dude: War, Big Oil and the Fight for the Planet; The Trouble with Billionaires (co-authored with Neil Brooks) and most recently The Sport and Prey of Capitalists: How the Rich Are Stealing Canada’s Public Wealth. A long-time and powerful voice of dissent against economic injustice and extremes of wealth, Linda has been described as “an indispensable public intellectual” and “an irritant to Canada’s 1%” one of whom, Conrad Black, even suggested that she be “horse-Whipped”.
Ian Thomson leads Oxfam Canada’s work on government relations, corporate engagement and feminist policy influencing in Canada and internationally. Prior to joining Oxfam, he coordinated the human rights and natural resources program of a national ecumenical coalition and chaired the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability. He is a board member of MiningWatch Canada and the Maquila Solidarity Network, and holds engineering degrees from Queen’s University and the University of Toronto.
The Courage My Friends podcast series is a co-production between The Tommy Douglas Institute (at George Brown College), rabble.ca, with the support of the Douglas Coldwell Layton Foundation.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Linda McQuaig and Ian Thomson / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Chandra Budhu (Podcast Announcer), Nayocka Allen, Nicolas Echeverri Parra,
Doreen Kajumba (Street Voices); Bob Luker (Tommy Douglas quote)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Resh Budhu, Breanne Doyle (for rabble.ca), Chandra Budhu and Ashley Booth.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In the fifth episode, historian, researcher, celebrated writer and executive director of Tri-Continental Institute for Social Research, Vijay Prashad discusses the standard of double standards that have long plagued the relationship between the power-holding centres of the Global North and the world’s majority of the Global South.
Vijay Prashad describes the Tri-Continental Institute for Social Research as: “associated with this project of internationalism. And our agenda as a research institute is essentially to amplify the voices of movements. To bridge the gap between movements and intellectual activity and to create a kind of intellectualism that develops its confidence, its clarity from the lessons learnt by people in struggle. .. We see ourselves rooted in a very long tradition that goes back to early scholarship in the 19th century ... Dadabhai Naoroji who in the 19th century contested British colonial claims about a mission civilization in Britain ... We see ourselves in the tradition of the Pan-African scholars; people of course like WEB DuBois, later Walter Rodney, CLR James, and so on. People who tried to make the argument very strongly about not only how the histories of parts of the world were set aside, not only that; but even the kind of values that begin to dominate in the stories we tell ourselves. Values that essentially shaped the world through the eyes of the West.”
In speaking of the Global North’s attitude toward the Global South amid converging crises, Prashad says, “To my mind, the callous attitude towards the pandemic is equivalent to the callous attitude towards arms-sales is equivalent to the callous attitude to climate change is equivalent to the callous attitude towards austerity. It’s all one and the same. And it comes from this sense of superiority and this sense of being somehow immune from the challenges of the world.”
About today’s guest:
Executive Director of Tri-Continental Institute for Social Research, Vijay Prashad is an historian, journalist, researcher, activist,, and a prolific writer. He has over 30 books to his name,
including: The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World; The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South; Red Star Over the Third World; and Washington Bullets: A History of CIA, Coups, and Assassinations. He is the chief correspondent for Globetrotter, a columnist for Frontline News and chief editor of Leftword Books.
Check out Tri-Continental publications discussed in this interview:
CoronaShock and Patriarchy
A Plan to Save the Planet
The Courage My Friends podcast series is a co-production between The Tommy Douglas Institute (at George Brown College), rabble.ca, with the support of the Douglas Coldwell Layton Foundation.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Vijay Prashad / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Chandra Budhu (Podcast Announcer), Nayocka Allen, Nicolas Echeverri Parra, Doreen Kajumba (Street Voices); Bob Luker (Tommy Douglas quote).
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Resh Budhu, Breanne Doyle (for rabble.ca), Chandra Budhu and Ashley Booth.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu
In the fourth episode, we discuss the upcoming report from the Douglas Coldwell Layton Foundation on Mental Health and Wellness in the Workplace with project leads Jon Weier and Tom Parkin.
In speaking to the necessity of this report, Jon Weier says “..this is really a systemic issue. Mental health impacts or mental distress is something that affects many, many workers. We specifically are looking at how this is related to the workplace and to the idea of work. But of course, as you and others have pointed out on this podcast and in other places, mental health distress over a number of issues is really becoming almost a defining factor of our age. And I think as a result, this kind of research and this kind of examination and understanding of the impacts of our society more broadly on mental health is a really, really important direction to be going right now in this research.”
“It's not just that people struggle with mental health effects because of the workplace though, the research is clearly there. But people who are not working, people who are struggling with paying the bills, people who are raised in households where they don't have enough food. People who live in households where there's just a lack of income. The research over and over again showed that these were neighborhoods that had higher levels of depression, anxiety, mental health distress, than in more affluent neighborhoods. So if we're going to say, yes unions should be involved in this; the kind of unionism probably the three of us believe in, isn't just about the union’s own members, but about a broader social agenda,” says Tom Parkin.
About today’s guests:
Jonathan Weier is a professor in The School of Labor and The School of Liberal Arts and Sciences at George Brown College. An established historian and educator, policy professional and commentator on social and labor movements, his research focuses on voluntary organizations, trade unions, political parties and other efforts by workers, social activists, and reformers to achieve progressive political, social and economic goals. Jon has been active in the labor movement and in Left politics for over 20 years and is currently a board member and the academic advisor for the Douglas Coldwell Layton Foundation.
Tom Parkin is Principle with Impact Strategies and former Managing Director of Ontario’s Worker's Health and Safety Center. A frequent political columnist and media commentator, Tom has contributed to print, radio and television news media across Canada.
The report on Mental Health and Wellness in the Workplace will be released by the Douglas Coldwell Layton Foundation
The Courage My Friends podcast is a co-production between The Tommy Douglas Institute (at George Brown College), rabble.ca, with the support of the Douglas Coldwell Layton Foundation
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Jon Weier and Tom Parkin / Used with permission.
Excerpt from “Home” by Warsan Shire
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Chandra Budhu (General Intro./Outro.), Nayocka Allen, Nicolas Echeverri Parra, Doreen Kajumba (Street Voices); Bob Luker (Tommy Douglas quote)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Resh Budhu, Breanne Doyle (for rabble.ca), Chandra Budhu and Ashley Booth
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In the third episode, we speak with Loly Rico of the FCJ Refugee Centre and Rachel Bryce, from the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers about the multiple issues facing those fleeing poverty, destabilization, the borderless crises of conflict and climate change and the responsibility of Canada to provide asylum.
“Refugee is defined as someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin due to a well-founded fear of being persecuted on five grounds. Those grounds are: race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. But as you so rightly point out, climate is not one of those,” says Rachel Bryce.
“I think that Canada being a signatory country is violating the Refugee Convention. Because the convention says that anyone who shows up at your borders, you must provide access for protection. And with the Safe Third Country Agreement, they don't provide that. They just limited the access for protection to too many people,” says Loly Rico.
About today’s guest:
Loly Rico is executive director of the FCJ Refugee Center in Toronto, which she co-founded with her husband, human rights activist Francisco Rico-Martinez, who sadly passed away last year. From her own experience as both a refugee to Canada from El Salvador through her work, including as past president of OCASI, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants and the Canadian Council for Refugees, she is a steadfast and powerful voice on anti-trafficking and refugee rights and status.
Rachel Bryce is the co-chair of the Climate Migration Working Group for the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers or CARL. She has worked at landings, LLP, a leading immigration refugee and human rights law firm in Toronto since January, 2021. And before that in the international migration law unit of the UN migration agency in Geneva, Switzerland, as well as the International Development law organization in the Hague, the Netherlands. She holds a Juris Doctorate, Masters of Global Affairs joint degree from the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. CARL Climate Migration Report
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Loly Rico and Rachel Bryce / Used with permission.
Excerpt from “Home” by Warsan Shire
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Chandra Budhu (General Intro./Outro.), Nayocka Allen, Nicolas Echeverri Parra, Doreen Kajumba (Street Voices); Bob Luker (Tommy Douglas quote)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Resh Budhu, Breanne Doyle (for rabble.ca), Chandra Budhu and Ashley Booth.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
In the second episode, we speak with Ashlee Cunsolo, a leading voice on climate change and ecological grief, about the growing issue of ecological grief, how it is being experienced and the power that can come from mourning.
“For so many people all over the world and particularly Indigenous Peoples all over the world, this connection to the environment, this grieving over the loss of more than humans - whether they're plants or animals or ecosystems - that kinship with other beings and then grieving other beings is certainly not new,” Cunsolo says.
Cunsolo continues: “If we are facing ‘code red for humanity’ - if we are facing 1 million species at a risk of extinction and decline; that is an era of loss and damage. And that is an era of grief. And we're going to be called to grief-work. And we're going to have to do this together. And do it hopefully in a way that doesn't cause more harm, but actually might bring us together for big ethical and political changes. And for really uniting people to create a different future.”
About today’s guest:
Ashlee Cunsolo is the founding Dean of the School of Arctic and Sub-Arctic Studies of the Labrador Institute of Memorial University, a former Canada Research Chair, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada College of New Artists, Scholars, and Scientists. She is a leading voice internationally on climate change, mental health and ecological grief, a regular contributor to media and policy and editor of Mourning Nature: Hope at the Heart of Ecological Grief and Loss. She is a mother, daughter, sister, aunt, and partner, living and learning as a guest on the homelands of the Innu and Inuit in Labrador, Canada.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Image: Ashlee Cunsolo / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Chandra Budhu (General Intro./Outro.), Nayocka Allen, Nicolas Echeverri Parra, Doreen Kajumba (Street Voices); Bob Luker (Tommy Douglas quote)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Resh Budhu, Breanne Doyle (for rabble.ca), Chandra Budhu and Ashley Booth.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
The Tommy Douglas Institute and rabble.ca, with the support of the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation, proudly present the Courage My Friends podcast.
In the first episode of this year’s Courage My Friends podcast series, we welcome author, public intellectual and celebrated scholar of the Critical Pedagogy Movement, Henry Giroux.
Does education have a moral and political purpose? What do we mean by critical pedagogy - and why is it so vital in these times?
Our guest, Henry Giroux, joins host Resh Budhu to talk about education, critical pedagogy and the future of learning in a post-pandemic world.
“We need to understand that education is so vital and so crucial in respect to whether or not a democracy can succeed or not, that we've got to do everything we can to protect the institutions that constitute themselves as schools and public schooling,” Giroux says.
“We [also] need to take the question of the imagination seriously. How do we not just talk about what kids need to work; why can't we talk about what they need to learn in order to be inspired? What does it mean to instill in them a sense of civic consciousness in which a notion of joy is creating those conditions in which they can work with others, and feel for others, and have compassion for others?”
About today’s guest:
Henry A. Giroux currently holds the McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest in the English and Cultural Studies Department and is the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy.
His most recent books include: The Terror of the Unforeseen (Los Angeles Review of books, 2019), On Critical Pedagogy, 2nd edition (Bloomsbury, 2020); Race, Politics, and Pandemic Pedagogy: Education in a Time of Crisis (Bloomsbury 2021); Pedagogy of Resistance: Against Manufactured Ignorance (Bloomsbury 2022) and his forthcoming Insurrections: Education in the Age of Counter-revolutionary politics.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute.
Image: Henry Giroux / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased
Intro Voices: Chandra Budhu (General Intro./Outro.), Nayocka Allen, Nicolas Echeverri Parra, Doreen Kajumba (Street Voices); Bob Luker (Tommy Douglas quote)
Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Resh Budhu, Breanne Doyle (for rabble.ca), Chandra Budhu and Ashley Booth.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca
Host: Resh Budhu
On September 10, rabble.ca and the Canadian Foreign Policy Policy Institute hosted a debate with Green party leadership hopefuls. Listen to it here.
The COVID crisis is showing us more consequences of putting profits before people. Hear a panel discussion from the Canadian Labour Congress about the problem and some possible solutions.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza speaks to Canadians at a webinar by the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute on August 20, 2020.
An audio replay of a webinar from the Canadian Labour Congress exploring the effects of the COVID pandemic on women, and what a feminist recovery could look like.
The Canadian Labour Congress held a webinar on June 10 to talk about what the union movement is doing to fight anti-Black racism and what they need to do in the future. An encore presentation.
A panel discussion hosted by Feminists Deliver on May 28 during Asian Heritage Month, exploring Asian identity in Canada.
An international panel talks about the pandemic and farm workers from a global perspective. A replay of a webinar held on July 3, 2020.
A replay of a webinar by Feminists Deliver on June 8, 2020, featuring a panel of Black women activists talking about a wide range of subjects relating to anti-Black racism in Canada.
Jim Stanford's talk at the rabble members' council meeting was so good, we wanted you all to hear it. He talks about the problems with work even before the pandemic, and looks to the future.
In case you missed it -- a replay of rabble's June 18 webinar from our "Off the Hill" series focusing on the federal role in justice reform.
Two friends and colleagues explore East Asian and Black racism during COVID-19 and what mutual solidarity and care between the two communities could look like at this moment, and in future.
rabble's latest webinar focused on strategies for the way forward during COVID-19. Listen to our panelists share their perspectives.
A podcast version of rabble.ca's May 5 webinar featuring moderator Libby Davies, parliamentary reporter Karl Nerenberg and guests.
A look back at rabble's roots and at new directions for the future as they looked almost a decade ago. A replay of rabble's 10th birthday discussion at the Gladstone Hotel in 2011.
Martin Lukacs' new book is launched in Vancouver featuring a stellar panel of activists discussing the Trudeau legacy.
Campus and community radio people are committed to diversity. But there is always room for improvement. Journalist and human rights advocate Amira Elghawaby spoke to them at their national conference.
Maude Barlow speaks at the Tommy Douglas Institute at George Brown College on May 23, 2019.
Svend Robinson says that the upcoming federal election is our last chance to reverse climate change. A talk from Vancouver on April 24, 2019 about the links between capitalism and climate change.
John Clarke, recently retired co-founder of Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, traveled to Alberta to help strategize against the UCP agenda. Listen to a talk he gave on March 27, 2019.
From his southwestern Ontario speaking tour, Brent Patterson talks about why it it's important to engage with the current political moment and keep being hopeful.
The author of "Hope and Despair: My Struggle to Free My Husband, Maher Arar" shares the podium with her daughter, poet Barâa Arar.
Professor Michel Chossudovsky links the 9/11 attacks to more recent wars, theorizing that it's all part of a larger plan. Recorded on June 8, 2018 by Global Research News Hour.
In the era of hate speech and fake news, do we need more limits on free speech? A panel discussion hosted by Simon Fraser University's Institute for the Humanities.
Four panellists explore what reconciliation means in our institutions of higher learning. Recorded at the 2018 Tommy Douglas Institute at George Brown College in Toronto on May 28, 2018.
The Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission speaks about what reconciliation means in a keynote address at this year's Tommy Douglas Institute at George Brown College in Toronto.
Four powerful women writers -- Chelene Knight, Lauren McKeon, Judy Rebick and Elizabeth Renzetti -- talk about using creative non-fiction to make their voices heard.
From the Press Progress Summit 2017, an exploration of how to build Canada’s progressive future at the most local of political levels – our cities and towns.
Gordon Laxer talks about NAFTA, the tar sands, and why a clause called The Proportionality Rule has always been bad for Canada. From a talk recorded in Vancouver on Tues. February 13, 2018.
Six-minute answers to the question, "Can society fix itself?" A collection of ideas from solutions-focused B.C. media-makers.
The full talk by Amy Goodman, host of 'Democracy Now', speaking at a special rabble.ca fundraising event on October 1.
Climate Change isn't just about economics and science. It's about our entire way of life. This panel from the 5th Annual Tommy Douglas Institute explores the connections.
Now that the Americans are on the brink of reopening NAFTA, a spirited debate about the idea of free trade, from the Press Progress Summit in April 2017.
A talk by eco-feminist, scholar and author about undoing the power structures which are destroying our world. From the 5th Annual Tommy Douglas Institute on May 31, 2017.
A keynote address by Indigenous activist Clayton Thomas-Müller from the 5th annual Tommy Douglas Institute, exploring connections between Indigenous rights, climate change and social movements.
Civil rights activist, educator, and author Angela Davis spoke at the 2017 Canadian Labour Congress Convention. Listen to her keynote address here.
A panel at the 2017 Progress Summit discusses progressive political movements. They discuss social democracy in Canadian and international contexts and which systems work best for Canada.
Will a guaranteed basic income release people from the poverty trap or keep them in it? A spirited debate exploring the issues from both sides and all points between.
Featured Speaker for the 2017 Broadbent Institute Progress Summit Felicia Wong discusses how the rules of American liberalism can be rewritten to find the best way forward for American progressives.
From Octopus Books in Ottawa, we bring you an evening with award-winning author George Elliott Clarke. He is joined by essayist, poet and playwright charles c. smith.
George Elliott Clarke was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia in 1960 near the Black Loyalist Community of Three Mile Plains. One of Canada's foremost Black voices on the literary scene, he coined the term "Africanadian" to describe the Black culture of Atlantic Canada. He is currently Professor of English at the University of Toronto.
charles c. smith, poet, essayist, playwright and Artistic Director of the multidisciplinary wind in the leaves collective. Among his many accomplishments, he was also the founder of the Black Perspectives Cultural Program at Regent Park in Toronto. He also received an award from Black Theatre Canada for his play Last Days for the Desperate, and has written and edited 12 books.
The moderator for the evening is Anishnaabe author and journalist Waubgeshig Rice.
Thanks to Octopus Books for making this interview available to rabble. Octopus has a great series of readings, and we'll be bringing some more of them to you on Needs No Introduction. If you're in Ottawa, it's a good night out, full of interesting ideas, people and books. You can find more details about upcoming speakers by going to www.octopusbooks.ca
Edited by Braden Alexander
Like this podcast? rabble is reader and listener supported journalism.
One aspect of corporate power that is being exercised more and more these days is the Slap Suit. When powerful people and corporations don't like what's being said, they try to shut down the discussion with lawsuits. Even when those lawsuits are groundless, the cost has the potential to shut down media organizations, especially those which are not able to afford costly libel insurance.
Today's program is all about this method of stifling dissent, and what can be done to limit the use and efficacy of slap suits to shut down citizens' voices.
"Protecting the Right to Protest: Free Speech versus Corporate Power." It was recorded at Media Democracy Days 2016 in November in Vancouver.
Speakers:
1.) Robert Hackett (introductions), is a professor at the Simon Fraser University School of Communication where he specializes in media reform, peace journalism, and the textual analysis of news.
2.) Josh Paterson is the Executive Director of the British Colombia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA). As a part of the BCCLA, Paterson has covered issues ranging from Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women to the right-to-die debate.
3.) Linda Solomon Wood is the CEO of the Observer Media Group and is also Editor-in-Chief of the National Observer. The National Observer focuses on investigative reporting and daily news about climate, energy, the environment, and current political affairs.
4.) Alan Dutton is a member of the Canadian Anti-Racism Education and Research Society. Dutton previously served on provincial committees developing anti-racism strategies and participated in federal organisations presenting workshops and research on racism.
5.) Michael Vonn is the Policy Director at the British Colombian Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA). Vonn has been published in a number of journals, including the Birckjbeck Law Review, Surveilance and Society, the Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law, and Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law.
Thanks to CJSF at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby for letting us use their recordings. And to Tania Ehret, rabble.ca's liaison with Media Democracy Days. And to Braden Alexander for editing and scripting this for rabble.ca.
Since 2001, The Media Democracy Project has provided a space for diverse communities to come together and discuss the relationship between media and democracy. In partnership with Simon Fraser University's School of Communication, Media Democracy Days is their annual conference where speakers of all backgrounds present workshops and give presentations on media, art, politics, representation, and much more.
This year's keynote speaker was Indigenous comedian and storyteller Ryan McMahon. The keynote touches on upholding and preserving Indigenous stories, understanding Indigenous identity in the face of colonialism, all tinged with a comedic flair that keeps listeners engaged and entertained.
Thanks to radio station CJSF for sharing this recording; to Media Democracy Days; to Tania Ehret, rabble.ca's liaison with Media Democracy Days; and to Braden Alexander who edited and scripted this episode for Needs No Introduction.
Like this podcast? rabble is reader-supported journalism.
Unless you're an expert on the Israeli occupation of Palestine, it's hard to figure out what's going on when we hear about it on the news.
Today's two speakers provide some useful background which is helpful to understand the past, present and possible futures of that conflict. We have two presentations today -- one from Beit Zatoun in Toronto at an event called “Should we be Talking about Fascism?” with speaker Greg Albo, and an address by Dr. Philip Leech-Ngo of University of Ottawa. Both talks were recorded earlier this month.
1.) Dr. Philip Leech-Ngo is Gordon F. Henderson Post-doctoral Fellow, Human Rights Research and Education Centre at the University of Ottawa. He has taught at both graduate and undergraduate levels at Liverpool, Plymouth and Exeter Universities. He has written two books - 'The State of Palestine: a critical analysis' and 'Popular Uprisings in the Middle East'. This talk was recorded at University of Ottawa in November 2016.
2.) Greg Albo, is a professor of political economy at the Department of Political Science, York University, Toronto. He is currently co-editor of the Socialist Register. He is also on the editorial boards of Studies in Political Economy; Relay; Capitalism, Nature, Socialism; Canadian Dimension, The Bullet; and Historical Materialism (England).
Thanks to Kvesche Be for recording the talk by Greg Albo in Toronto; and to Octopus Books in Ottawa for their help obtaining the lecture by Dr. Leech-Ngo.
The Illegal is a novel by Canadian author Lawrence Hill. It's about a man named Keita Ali. Keita is a runner. That's all he ever wanted to do. His dream was to bring his family out of poverty by becoming a world class athlete. He does achieve part of his dream, but also ends up being literally on the run after he winds up in a country with a zeal for deporting refugees. He and his family all end up running for their lives.
He talks about his novel with author and journalist Waubgeshig Rice at an event held on November 24, 2015 at Octopus Books in Ottawa.
As described by Octopus Books, "The Illegal casts a satirical eye on people who have turned their backs on undocumented refugees struggling to survive in a nation that does not want them. Hill's depiction of life on the borderlands of society urges us to consider the plight of the unseen and the forgotten who live among us."
If you would like a copy of your own, it's one of our thank you gifts during our rabble.ca fall fundraising campaign. For a contribution of $15 a month or more, you can get your own copy by clicking here.
Thanks to Octopus Books for making this interview available to rabble. Octopus has a great series of fall readings, and we'll be bringing some more of them to you on Needs No Introduction. If you're in Ottawa, it's a good night out, full of interesting ideas, people and books. You can find more details about the authors in this fall's roster by going to www.octopusbooks.ca
Like this podcast? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.
Today we're bringing you an excerpt from a panel of speakers recorded at the World Social Forum in Montreal in early August. It was called "Indigenous Peoples' Struggles and Resistance: Building Solidarity for Land, Self Determination and Justice."
What you'll hear is a variety of perspectives on one common theme: the need to protect the earth from the ravages of corporate greed and environmental devastation, and the right of Indigenous people to control their lands, their territories and their way of life.
Speakers (in order they appear in the podcast):
- Tom Goldtooth - Environmental, climate, and economic justice activist, speaker, film producer, and Indigenous rights leader from Minnesota.
- Joseph Wawatie, a traditional Algonquin from Barriere Lake in western Quebec. In 2012, he was arrested for protesting logging on his traditional territory -- land which remains unceded territory. He speaks of his traditional life in the bush, and the challenges his nation faces.
- Jacob Wawatie, Algonquin elder and native studies educator at University of Ottawa. He's also founder of Kokomville Academy, an organization which seeks to integrate Indigenous and settler approaches towards nature, development, and overall ways of life.
- Romeo Saganash, MP and NDP Critic for Intergovernmental Indigenous Affairs. He has tabled a private members bill -- Bill C262 -- to ensure that the laws of Canada respect the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Brown is a book by Kamal Al-Solaylee (So-LYE-lee), Canada Reads finalist, professor and journalist.
"Brown is not white. Brown is not black. Brown is an experience, a state of mind. Historically speaking, issues of race and skin colour have been interpreted along black and white lines, leaving out millions of people whose stories of migration and racial experiences have shaped our modern world. It fills in the narrative gap by taking a global look at the many social, political, economic and personal implications of being a brown-skinned person in the world now. To be brown is to be on the cusp of whiteness and on the edge of blackness," from publicity by publisher Harper Collins.
The Octopus Books presentation was done in interview format in the spring of 2016, sponsored by Harper Collins Canada. The interview was done by Adrian Harewood of the CBC, whom you will hear first.
Thanks to Octopus Books for sending the talk to us to broadcast.
KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE, an assistant professor and undergraduate program director at the School of Journalism at Ryerson University, was previously a distinguished writer at Canada's national newspaper The Globe and Mail. Al-Solaylee also worked at Report on Business magazine and has written features and reviews for the Toronto Star, National Post, The Walrus, Toronto Life, Chatelaine, EYE WEEKLY, Literary Review of Canada and ELLE Canada. Al-Solaylee holds a PhD from the University of Nottingham and has taught at the University of Waterloo and York University. Al-Solaylee lives in Toronto.
Almost half a century ago, a pulp and paper company dumped tons of mercury into the English Wabigoon River system in Northwestern Ontario.
The health and livelihood of people of the Grassy Narrows Reserve between Kenora and Winnipeg is still being harmed these many years later. The mercury is still buried in the sediment of lakes and rivers, and the effects of the poison continues to harm the health of people in the community.
A delegation from the Grassy Narrow Reserve north of Kenora travelled to Toronto this week to call on Ontario Premier Wynne to finally clean up the toxic, dangerous mess.
Three days of events began on May 31. It was held at Ryerson University, and featured elders from the community; activist and journalist Avi Lewis; and Grassy Narrows Youth performing their original song, "Home to Me."
- READ: Grassy Narrows First Nation demands Wynne clean up mercury in waterways
Order of speakers:
Opening: Andrea Chrisjon
Chief Simon Fobister Sr: Simon Fobister Sr. has been Chief of Grassy Narrows for most of the last decade and during the 1980s. He has been a strong advocate for mercury justice, and for control over Grassy Narrows' forests and community affairs. He brings a depth of knowledge and first hand experience as a leader in a community that has been hit hard by mercury poison and has emerged as a leading voice for environmental justice and Indigenous rights. He is the father of 5 sons and many grandchildren. He is a hunter/trapper and knows the land very well and is also a very gentle man.
Judy Da Silva: Judy da Silva is a member of the Grassy Narrows First Nations Community and internationally recognized environmental activist. In 2013, she received Michael Sattler Peace Prize from the German Mennonite Peace Committee to honour her efforts to halt and reverse the environmental destruction of the Grassy Narrows traditional territory. She also went to the United Nations in Geneva this year to make a presentation to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, presenting the case that Canada had failed to protect their community's right to safe drinking water.
Youth performance: Song: Home to Me
Youth singer (Darwin) speaks
Avi Lewis: Avi Lewis is one of Canada's most eloquent and controversial media personalities. He is the director of the feature documentaries This Changes Everything (2015) and The Take (2004). He has also been a local news reporter, music journalist, debate show host, documentary filmmaker, public speaker, and activist. In all of these roles, he has created space to bring more radical voices and ideas to the mainstream for over 25 years.
Voices of Experience is a panel put together by Ryerson University's Equity, Diversity and Accessibility Office, Career Centre and Student Life organization. The speakers have all overcome the challenges of immigration, racism, sexism and all the intersections crossed in between. They delve deeply into personal perspectives of industry leaders with a critical lense on diversity.
Hosted by Jen Gonzalez, Director of Student Life at Ryerson.
And:
Sandeep Tatla, chief Diversity Officer for the Ontario College of Trades. Sandeep speaks to her experience as a lawyer brokering race and inclusion disputes in the workplace, as well as the influence of family life as an immigrant.
George De La Rosa, CEO of Luminus Financial, who speaks to his experience as a young CEO challenging a predominantly old, white and heterosexual hierarchy of the banking system and rising to the top.
Kathy Cheng, President of WS & Company, one of Canada’s only existing apparel lines made and sold in Canada.
Karlene Williams Clarke works at the 519 as Manager of Direct Services. The 519 is a place which, among other things, provides transitional support for those seeking refuge from persecution due to sexual orientation. Karlene herself is among those who have sought refugee status in this country, as she is no longer safe in her home country of Jamaica.
This panel was presented by Ryerson's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office, Career Centre and Student Life.
rabble thanks Student Life, the Career Centre and the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office for making this available for broadcast.
If you would like to see video of this panel, you can go to RYECAST.RYERSON.CA for a high quality stream, and see all of this and other panels, speakers and discussions.
With production assistance for rabble by Kvesche Be.
Did you know .. the new iPhones sold on the first weekend of its launch in fall 2104 had 25 per cent more computing power than all of the computers on earth in 1995? Staggering.
That statistic comes to us via Robert McChesney, one of the two speakers on today's program. And what's even more staggering is what those phones, and the companies that make them are doing to us. Those are just a couple examples of the compelling ideas in this talk.
This program is shocking, depressing and hopeful, all at the same time. Keep listening. It's one of the best talks about our collective present and future that we've heard in a long time.
Who Will Win the Digital Revolution was a fundraiser for Open Media, Media Democracy Days with media sponsorship by rabble.ca. It was held on Sunday March 6, 2016 at the Vancouver Public Library, which is on the unceded and occupied Coast Salish territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people.
This podcast is an edited version of that talk.
Speakers are leading thinkers on media reform, Robert McChesney and John Nichols, talking about their new book People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy.
The speakers are introduced by Josh Tabish, the campaigns director of Open Media.
Thanks to Joshua Robinson for recording and editing this program.
The media has a powerful ability to shape the way we view our world. In the midst of elections, international conflicts and refugee crises, Islamophobia has permeated the news cycle.
Last week, April 5, 2016, rabble put together a panel discussion called Combatting Islamophobia in Media.
On today's program, we're bringing you highlights from the event, held at the Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House on unceded Musqueam territory, also known as Vancouver.
The evening provided a critical ear on media representation. Together, the panelists engaged in an important dialogue about the value of diversity, storytelling and truth sharing from the hands of marginalized communities within the media.
Panelists:
Urooba Jamal: In the past year, Urooba has run for political office as the youngest candidate in Vancouver's municipal elections, has given a TEDx talk on student activism and has helped to co-found a leftist, alternative student press, The Talon, at the University of British Columbia. A recent graduate, she is currently interning at Leftward Books, a Marxist publishing press in India.
Itrath Syed: PhD candidate at School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. Research focus: analysis of discursive regimes that given Muslim subjectivities in the post 9/11 world. Strath also teaches Women's Studies at Langara College and Asian Studies at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
Sunera Thobani: Associate Professor at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, University of British Columbia. Research focuses on critical race, postcolonial and feminist theory, globalization and violence, citizenship, migration, Muslim women, the War on Terror, and media.
Emcee Ayesha Kahn: fourth year student at Kwantlen University, she has also studied at Harvard University where her studies in Archaeology and History focused on Slave Trades, the African Diaspora and Slave Roots Tourism throughout Ghana, West Africa. She is the Secretary of the Ottawa-based Board of Directors for Human Concern International and director of Anti-Oppression at Kwanten Public Interest Research Group.
Thanks to collaborators on this event: Media Democracy Days, Langara College Women Studies Program and BC Civil Liberties Association.
There's racism in music. It's a tough discussion. And to move forward as a supportive, empathetic community of music creators, producers, listeners and critics .. and those of us in the media too .. we need to have a better understanding of the systemic issues that are unique to Canada's multicultural landscape.
Today we bring you a compelling panel discussion called Music: Racism, Power and Privilege 101. It was held at Music Gallery in Toronto on November 24, 2015.
The panel discussion included Alaska B of Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, a Canadian experimental music and performance art collective; Damian Abraham of the punk band Fucked Up, Simone Schmidt of Fiver and The Highest Order, cellist Cris Derkson, journalist Max Mohenu, and media and culture sociologist Kim de Laat. It's moderated by April Aliermo of Hooded Fang and Phèdre.
Thanks to chartattack.com for allowing us to use and edit their video stream, and to rpn associate producer Kvesche Be for helping put this program together.
If you want to see the presentation as well as listen, you can see it on rabbletv here.
The Ottawa River has played a vital role in the history of the Algonquin Nation. The Ottawa River flows through unceded Algonquin territory and there is an outstanding land claim which been under negotiation for a long time. Most recently, the proposed development of lands at Chaudiere Falls in Ottawa just west of downtown has amplified the frustrations of the people of the Algonquin Nation that their land claim is far from settled.
Peter Di Gangi has been working with on research, policy work and advocacy with Aboriginal communities since the late 1970s. In this lecture he delves into the history of the human history of the Ottawa River Watershed and what needs to be done in the future to reconcile the acts of the past.
It was recorded December 8, 2015 at Octopus Books in Ottawa, unceded Algonquin territory by Greg MacDougall of www.equitableeducation.ca. Thanks to Greg for sending this to us to repodcast for our rabble.ca listeners.
An address by Dr. Sara Roy of Harvard University, talking about her extensive experience in Gaza. This lecture looks at the unprecedented dynamics that have emerged in Gaza in the aftermath of last summer's devastating war and its future implications. Dr. Roy will also explore how we can move beyond fear and militarism to envision something different: a world where dissent is mandatory and our capacity to witness is restored.
She was invited to be guest speaker at this year's James Graff Memorial Lecture. This annual lecture series was established in memory of University of Toronto philosophy professor, husband, father, and tireless peace advocate Dr. James Graff, founder of NECEF Sabeel, Canada’s oldest Middle East peace education NGO. Dr. Roy's talk is an event hosted by Necef Sabeel.
Dr. Sara Roy (Ed.D. Harvard University) is a senior research scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies specializing in the Palestinian economy, Palestinian Islamism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She is the daughter of two holocaust survivors.
Dr. Roy began her research in the Gaza Strip and West Bank in 1985 with a focus on the economic, social and political development of the Gaza Strip and on U.S. foreign assistance to the region. Since then she has written extensively on the Palestinian economy, particularly in Gaza, and on Gaza’s de- development, a concept she defined.
Dr. Roy also has authored over 100 publications dealing with Palestinian issues and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has lectured widely in the United States, Europe, The Middle East, and Australia among other international venues.
If you missed the Big Event, you can join us by listening to this podcast.
"Back when the rabble podcast network first began there was no iTunes, no iPhones, and few people knew what a podcast was -- now, people talk on their daily commute and at work about the latest podcasts they're listening to," said Victoria Fenner, rabble podcast network executive producer and the event's moderator. rabble.ca is the only podcasting network in the country and, when it was founded in 2006, was one of the first organizations to venture into the medium with a clear vision of how podcasting can serve as important tool for citizen journalists to add their voice to the public dialogue. "Thankfully now we're living in the golden age of podcasting," Fenner concluded.
"We believe podcasts are the most democratic medium to come along since, well, the Internet itself," said Kim Elliott, rabble.ca publisher. At present, the rpn's extensive collection of Canadian podcasts offer an alternative take on politics, entertainment, society, stories, community and life in general. Each podcast is hosted on a platform created by rabble.ca, Canada's leading online news service for the progressive left. Most podcasts are produced by individuals with little more than a laptop, a microphone, and opinions or ideas they want to share. "We want to mark the anniversary of the rabble podcast network with a free public event worthy of its 10-year history," added Elliott.
Our Toronto celebration happened on Thursday September 10 at the Centre for Social Innovation's Annex. Thanks to Unifor Local 79M and the Canadian Media Guild for their sponsorship.
Listen to our panellists:
Victoria Fenner – (moderator/host) - is the Executive Producer of the rabble podcast network (rpn). She has worked for over 30 years in community radio, technical, and production roles at the CBC, audio artistry, and podcast production. She has worked all over Canada and is the former President of the Community Radio Fund of Canada, a national organization set up to fund community radio stations. She has produced documentaries for Earth Chronicles' signature production "The Green Planet Monitor," one of the first rabble.ca environmental podcasts. She also teaches people how to podcast.
Nora Young - is the host of the CBC Radio show Spark examining tech, trends, and fresh ideas. She was also the founding host of the CBC Radio show Definitely not the Opera. Nora is a journalist, author, and speaker exploring how new technology shapes the way we understand ourselves and the world around us. Her book, The Virtual Self, explores the very real impact of the virtual information we generate about ourselves -- on our individual lives, our communities, and the broader world.
Meagan Perry - Editor-in-chief of rabble.ca and former RPN Executive Producer.
Wayne MacPhail is the Director of Emerging Media at rabble.ca. He has been a print journalist and online content creator since the early '80s. He was the Managing Editor of Hamilton Magazine and was a reporter and editor at The Hamilton Spectator up until he founded and led Southam InfoLab for newspaper chain Southam Inc. Wayne has created content for most of the major online networks in Canada and is a published playwright, author, and media expert having taught online journalism at numerous Ontario colleges and universities. He is also the owner of w8nc an emerging media consulting company that encourages its clients to tell great stories in new ways.
Rick Harp is an 18-plus-year veteran of journalism in print, radio, television and online media in Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton. He is currently editor-in-chief at MEDIA INDIGENA, an interactive, multimedia magazine dedicated to Indigenous news, views and creative expression.
Please support our coverage of democratic movements and become a supporter of rabble.ca.
Earlier today, September 15, 2015, a group of prominent Canadians launched a manifesto outlining a bold climate and economic vision. We at rabble.ca are happy to have livestreamed the press conference to announce the Leap Manifesto: A Call for a Canada Based on Caring for the Earth and One Another. It has been translated into eight languages, including Cree and Inuktitut. The aim is to gather tens of thousands of signatures and build pressure on the next federal government to transition Canada off fossil fuels while also making it a more livable, fair and just society.
The Leap Manifesto has been signed by musicians, directors, actors, authors, national and community leaders and dozens of organizations.
On today's press conference we'll hear from an impressive list of notable Canadians. It was hosted by Naomi Klein, who was joined by: Seth Klein, David Suzuki, Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Tantoo Cardinal, Yolen Bollo Kamar, Sarah Harmer, Paul Moist, Maude Barlow, Bishop Mark MacDonald, Ashley Callingbull, Clayton Ruby, Stephen Lewis, Joseph Boydon, George Elliot Clarke, Keith Stewart
Mexico is the first tourist destination of choice for many Canadians. But that reputation as a sunny place to go forget about your troubles is not well deserved. Mexico is also a place where human rights abuses continue. New communications technology has resulted in traditional methods of political repression co-existing with newer high-tech forms of surveillance and policing.
But this juxtaposition of the new and old also permeates counter-movements. For example, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, Indigenous communities are using community media, new technologies and grassroots infrastructure to organize resistance and build community.
In this episode, we hear from two organizers from Oaxaco, Loreto Bravo and Peter Bloom. They were in Toronto on May 1 for the Union for Democratic Communications Conference.
Loreto Bravo is a feminist hacker and anthropologist. She currently coordinates Palabra Radio, a collective based in Oaxaca, Mexico that uses community FM radio and technological appropriation as tools of struggle, with a focus on women's and Indigenous peoples' rights and liberation.
Peter Bloom is a community digital defence and autonomy advocate and scholar who lives in Oaxaca, Mexico. Peter is the general coordinator and founder of Rhizomatica, a collective that works to increase access to telecommunications through the use of new technologies and spectrum access advocacy. Rhizomatica is best known for starting the first community-based cellular networks in the world.
Please support our coverage of democratic movements and become a supporter of rabble.ca.
Our federal government still says that the tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous women isn't high on their radar and they don't seem to be budging on the issue.
But it is high on the radar of many many other people and organizations, including the United Nations. Today's episode excerpts an event focusing on the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, or CEDAW for short. On June 13, 2015 a panel discussion was held in Toronto to spotlight how Indigenous women activists are changing the discourse around women's rights in Canada and abroad. The topic of missing and murdered Indigenous women featured prominently in the discussion.
Cherry Smiley is an artist and Indigenous feminist activist, working for years as a front-line anti-violence worker in a transition house for battered women and their children and rape crisis centre. She is also Campaign Coordinator for Campaign of Solidarity with Aboriginal Women, a project of The Feminist Alliance for International Action.
Dr. Dawn Lavell-Harvard is Interim President of the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC). She has also worked to advance the rights of Aboriginal women as the President of the Ontario Native Women's Association for 11 years.
Their lectures were part of an event called CEDAW and Indigenous Women's Activism, which took place in Toronto on June 13, 2015.
Women have been historically underrepresented and misrepresented in mainstream media. The arrival of the Internet, and blogging in particular, gave women and girls an unprecedented way of telling their own stories using their own voices directly to their audience.
However, online spaces have had a tendency to reproduce the same systems of oppression that exist in the real world. Women who speak out, especially on feminism, are vulnerable to bullying, trolling and silencing.
In order to address this specific issue, rabble.ca partnered with Women Transforming Cities to develop the #Fierce Voices events in Vancouver. The goal of these events was to help young self-identifying women and their allies build skills to engage with media and develop their own voices.
The final #Fierce Voices event took place on May 23 at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. This excerpt features keynote speakers from that event: Romila Barryman, creator of media publication Textbook, and Anne Theriault, of The Belle Jar Blog. It's followed by a question-and-answer session with further discussion on how to be an outspoken woman on the Internet.
This event was cosponsored by rabble.ca
Please note there is coarse language in this podcast. Listener discretion is advised.
Freelance journalists face incredibly tough conditions in war zones around the world with limited resources and little in the way of safety nets. What they do have is a passion for the story.
"People's Journalism: Reporting Under Fire" is a panel discussion that took place in Toronto on March 14. The discussion focuses on the role of freelancing in war zones and commemorates the life of one such freelancer: Ali Mustafa.
Mustafa was a Toronto-based freelance photojournalist, activist and writer. He died along with seven others on March 9, 2014 in Aleppo, Syria in an aerial bombing. The panellists knew Mustafa personally.
Panelists were: independent journalist, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, of Democracy Now; Jihan Hafiz, who has reported for Al Jazeera America; and documentary filmmaker, Reed Lindsay. Their discussion is grounded in their relationship to Mustafa and the life he led as a freelance photojournalist in Palestine, Egypt and Syria.
This lecture was organized by the Ali Mustafa Collective who came together after his death to celebrate Mustafa's legacy. The panel was moderated by community organizer, Datejie Green.
For over 30 years, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund has been imposing their austerity agenda on countries around the world as a condition for economic assistance. Greece has been in the news most recently, but it's been going on for several decades now. Here in Canada, that same austerity agenda has also wreaked havoc on our country and its citizens.
Under the austerity agenda, social programs are cut, unions are attacked and working conditions get more and more precarious because eroding wages and working conditions is good for corporations. It's all about sacrificing the public good for corporate profits.
Unite Against Austerity is a campaign which brings people together to talk about the effects of austerity and support organizing efforts to increase public dialogue which will lead to change.
As part of the campaign, a panel discussion was held in Toronto on April 25, 2015 at the Steelworkers Hall. The panel addresses the questions: What are the austerity policies that you are dealing with in your community? And, what is their legacy. The panel featured speakers from labour, first nations, migrant worker and anti-poverty organizations.
Speakers:
Crystal Sinclair, a Cree woman from Manitoba and Activist and Organizer with Idle No More Toronto. She has a degree in social work and has been a social worker in Toronto for the past 15 years.
Jennie Miller, a member of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union who sits on the executive of both the Greater Toronto Area Council and the Provincial Francophone Committee.
Chris Ramsaroop, an organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers and a member of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.
John Clark of the Ontario Coaltion Against Poverty.
Avi Lewis, one of Canada's most eloquent and controversial media personalities who has been creating space for more radical voices in mainstream media for 25 years.
Unite Against Austerity, a panel discussion held in Toronto as part of a campaign of the same name with the following goals:
To make the austerity agenda the primary lens through which Canadians understand the country's political landscape and make political decisions
To support the expansion of alliances and strategic action in anti-austerity work in Canada
For more info, go to http://www.uniteagainstausterity.ca/
Thanks to Shaghayegh Tajvidi for recording this for Needs No Introduction.
On April 18 in Toronto, American cognitive linguist and author of Don’t Think of an Elephant George Lakoff spoke to a crowd in Toronto about how conservative values have come to dominate public discourse. Accomplishing this, he said, has been as much about the construction of metaphors as it has been about policies. Conservatives in the US and Canada have crafted a worldview and adjusted politics to fit with the framework; progressives have yet to figure this out. When the progressive response is primarily criticism, said Lakoff, the debate is still framed in conservative terms. Progressives won’t reclaim politics until they shift the conversation.
Around the world, and in Canada, progressives are fighting simply to hang on to hard-fought wins, while struggling to communicate progressive values in a political sphere largely dominated by successful conservative messages.
Why are conservatives so successful in communicating their messages? What do progressives need to do to communicate their values to large populations?
It's a big year for Canadian politics and electorally the stakes have never been higher.
Over the course of an hour, Lakoff discussed the effect of political metaphors on individual identity, how progressive views can be communicated in a political sphere dominated by conservative messages, and how these lessons can be applied to the upcoming federal election.
Sponsored by rabble.ca and our partnersCanadian Dimension Magazine.
Classes are ending. College and University students are putting away the books. It's been a difficult year as students, faculty and administration of several university campuses have had to deal with issues related to sexual violence on campus. St. Mary's University and Dalhousie University are this past school year's examples, but we've seen other incidents at other campuses too in the past few years.
Add that to this winter's arrest of Jian Ghomeshi, CBC's former host of Q on sexually related violence, and we're hearing a heightened level of discussion about the issue to an extent that we've never heard before. And while hearing about these incidents is horrifying and disturbing, the fact that we're now talking about these issues is a good thing.
When Sue Montgomery, along with fellow journalist Antonia Zerbisias, created the BeenRapedNeverReported Hashtag, even they were surprised by how quickly it took off. Many people, she said, don’t realize how widespread and normalized sexual assault is even in a country like Canada. “We don’t talk about it enough.”
Yet the popularity of the Hashtag suggested that silence is coming to an end. Within 24 hours of its creation, the conversation had spread around the world, prompting thousands of people to share their own experiences. By making the conversation public, Montgomery hopes that women will stop blaming themselves for being sexually assaulted and feel empowered to seek help.
Montgomery was speaking as part of the Sexual Assault Awareness Week at Carleton University on February 26, 2015. In her presentation, Montgomery talked about her own experience as a survivor of sexual violence and the need for more support for survivors, the role of media in responsibly covering sexual assault, and the importance of these conversations in helping victims of sexual assault recover from their experiences.
Because the phenomenon is so widespread, said Montgomery, addressing it will never be accomplished without the participation of all Canadians. “It can’t be just one gender that does this, it has to be everyone…Basically it comes down to respect.”
Michael Harris and Donald Gutstein are authors of two critically acclaimed political books.
Michael Harris is the author of Party of One: Stephen Harper and Canada's Radical Makeover.
In Party of One, investigative journalist Michael Harris closely examines the majority government of a prime minister essentially unchecked by the opposition and empowered by the general election victory of May 2011. Harris looks at Harper's policies, instincts, and the often breathtaking gap between his stated political principles and his practices. Harris argues that Harper is more than a master of controlling information: he is a profoundly anti-democratic figure. Against the backdrop of a Conservative commitment to transparency and accountability, Harris exposes the ultra-secrecy, non-compliance, and dismissiveness of this prime minister. And with the Conservative majority in Parliament, the law is simple: what one man, the PM, says, goes.
Donald Gutstein has written Harperism: How Stephen Harper and his Think Tank Colleagues have Transformed Canada.
Margaret Thatcher transformed British political life forever. So did Ronald Reagan in the United States. Now Canada has experienced a similar, dramatic shift to a new kind of politics, which author Donald Gutstein terms Harperism. The success of Harperism is no accident. Donald Gutstein documents the links between the politicians, think tanks, journalists, academics, and researchers who nurture and promote each other's neoliberal ideas. They do so using funds provided by ultra-rich U.S. donors, by Canadian billionaires like Peter Munk, and by many big corporations -- all of whom stand to gain from the ideas and policies the Harperites develop and push.
This book casts new light on the last 10 years of Canadian politics. It documents the challenges that Harperism -- with or without Stephen Harper -- will continue to offer to the many Canadians who do not share this pro-market world view.
Both books take a hard look at the Harper regime and some of the tactics by the Conservative government to ensure their re-election, and promote their neoliberal views on how Canada should work.
Both authors appeared at a dynamic evening talk on March 24, 2015 at the Centretown United Church in Ottawa. It was called The Inconvenient Truth about Harper's Canada. It was co-sponsored by Octopus Books, the Council of Canadians, Public Service Alliance of Canada, the National Union of Public and General Employees, and rabble.ca.
The panel was moderated by Kathleen Monk, a prominent media commentator who regularly appears on CBC The National's The Insiders program.
On March 4, the Aboriginal Law and Feminist Law Students Associations at the University of Toronto organized a panel event titled "Violence Against Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirits: What's the State of Law and the Role of Advocacy?" to discuss the socio-historical causes of violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited people in Canada and what role, if any, the federal government plays in addressing the problem.
The panel was moderated by Audrey Huntley of No More Silence and featured: Christa Big Canoe, Legal Advocacy Director of Aboriginal Legal Services Toronto; Pam Palmater, Mi'kmaw Lawyer and Associate Professor at Ryerson University; and Mary Eberts, Litigation Counsel, Native Women's Association of Canada and Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.
The panel discussed the broad issues relating to violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited people as well as practicable solutions to the problem. Part of the problem, they said, is a federal government and security apparatus that consciously refuses to consider the lives of Indigenous women important enough to act. The disrespect shown by the government, they said -- disrespect manifested in the government's ignoring expert recommendations to stop violence, and the Prime Minister's statement that the issue is not a priority -- is offensive to every Canadian, and it is up to every Canadian to take action in an effort led by the Indigenous women who live this experience every day.
"In May of 2011, Stephen Harper finally won his majority government. Not long after that, I got an email from an old friend telling me that rabble.ca, which had been a leading voice among Canada's alternative media for a decade, was planning to hire its first-ever parliamentary reporter. Might I be interested? It seemed like an intriguing idea. Making some effort to chronicle and analyze what Prime Minister Harper and his colleagues would do, now that they did not have to make the compromises necessary in a minority, would be a fascinating challenge -- in, perhaps, a Grand Guignolesque sort of way. " - Karl Nerenberg.
The very same year that Stephen Harper won his first majority government, rabble.ca hired Karl Nerenberg to be our first ever Parliamentary reporter.
Karl has seen a lot in his years on Parliament Hill. On February 18, a Panel discussion was held in Ottawa to mark the release of his new book, Harper vs. Canada: Five Ways of Looking at the Conservative Regime. Read an excerpt from the book here.
The Panel consisted of Karl Nerenberg, rabble's parliamentary reporter and author of Harper vs Canada; Maude Barlow, author, activist and National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians; and Mark Bourrie, academic, author and journalist whose latest book Kill The Messengers: Stephen Harper's Assault on Your Right to Know looks at the Harper government's control over information. The event was moderated by Stuart Trew.
The panel highlighted plenty of reasons to be worried, from the drastic reforms to international trade agreements and immigration policy to cuts in public spending, increase in state surveillance and the seemingly inexorable remaking of Canada in Harperps image. There is a risk, they said, that we're on the cusp of losing our country. But the panel stopped short of despair. It's essential to reject fear, they said, and remain committed to a future in which Harper, having tried to create a vision of Canada unacceptable to the majority of Canadians, will no longer be the leader of it.
"Stephen Harper will be gone one day," they said. "And he is not taking us with him."
On Saturday March 14, 2015, people gathered together in communities across Canada for an emergency Day of Action to stop the government's "secret police" law Bill C-51.
From Antigonish, Bancroft and Barrie, to Winnipeg, West Kootenays and Yellowknife, Days of Action were organized in over 50 communities across the country.
In Toronto, over 2,000 people gathered on a cold drizzly day. They gathered at Nathan Philips Square, and then marched to the U.S. Embassy and the Toronto CSIS headquarters. For those of you who couldn't be there, here is a recap of the speeches, music and poetry.
Speakers:
Pauline Shirt - Elder
Vanessa Gray, Young indigenous activist of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation
Suraia Sahar, Anti Racism activists who have been organizing against islamophobia
Riaz Siani Mulji: Anti Racism activists who have been organizing against islamophobia
Maryem Hassan Tollar, Juno Award winning Singer
Peggy Nash, NDP MP
Andrew Cash, NDP MP
Rathika Sitsabaeisan NDP MP
Elizabeth May, Green Party Leader
Marie Claire Walker, Canadian Labour Council
Sid Ryan, Ontario Federation of Labour
Nasim Asgari: Spoken word artist
Judy Rebick, Canadian journalist, political activist and feminist
Apologies to Paul Copeland, Human Rights lawyer who couldn't be included because of audio technical difficulties.
"So the reason why I'm talking about Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls today is because Canada is killing our people, and if Canadians don't stand up and stand beside us and stand in partnership with us, more people are going to die." - Dr. Pam Palmater.
Dr. Pam Palmater is a Mi'kmaw lawyer from Eel River Bar First Nation and holds the position of Chair in Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University. Pam was one of the spokespeople, organizers and educators for Idle No More movement and a well-known social justice advocate.
The talk was titled "The Law's Role in Canada's Disgrace: Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women & Girls" and was part of the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law Shirley E. Greenberg Chair for Women and the Legal Profession Speaker Series.
Recorded on Tuesday, February 24, 2015 in Ottawa, unceded Algonquin territory, by Greg Macdougall.
You can also watch video recordings of a 12-minute interview and 73-minute talk with Pam Palmater discussing root causes/historical context, the current situation and public discourse, and furthering the urgent call for both a national inquiry and an emergency action plan on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada.
Malcolm X was assassinated at Harlem's Audubon Ballroom on February 21, 1965. Fifty years after his death, the complex figure Malcolm X -- or, as he called himself after 1949, el Hajj Malik el Shabazz -- continues to inspire.
On February 21, the Halifax North Memorial Public Library -- a location chosen in part for its role as the location of the 1968 meeting that lead to the creation of the Black United Front, an organization that advocated for the Black community in Nova Scotia -- held a panel to mark the anniversary of Malcolm X's death. Titled "50 Years Since Malcolm X's Assassination: The Legacy Endures; The Struggle Continues!" the panel discussed Malcolm X's own life as a deeply religious individual, a revolutionary internationalist and a leader in the Black liberation struggle as well as his impact on a generation of Black activists, artists, revolutionaries and intellectuals.
Moderated by Dr. Rhonda Britton, pastor the Cornwallis Street Baptist Church, the Panel consisted of Dr. Afua Cooper (JRJ Chair of Black Canadian Studies, Dalhousie University); El Jones (Halifax's Poet Laureate, prison rights activist and PhD candidate, Dalhousie University); Dr. John Munro (Assistant Professor of History, Saint Mary's University); Dr. Isaac Saney (Transition Year Program Director, Dalhousie University & Adjunct Professor of History, Saint Mary's University).
Photo: Ed Ford, World Telegram/Wikimedia Commons
In 2012, the Attawapiskat reserve in Northern Ontario was deemed to be experiencing a housing crisis and put under third-party management. In the months that followed, the Federal Court reserved the decision, pointing out that the government's imposition of a third-party manager failed to address the systemic issues that had led to the crisis in the first place. While the ruling was deemed a victory for the community, the situation highlighted the complex and challenging reality facing Indigenous people in Canada.
From higher rates of unemployment and rates of children in foster care to allegations of racism in health care, the discrimination experienced by Indigenous people in Canada is impossible to deny. Yet this discrimination goes beyond individual attitudes to the structures of society itself, including the structures meant to ensure an equal standing for all. On January 22, Halifax's Central Library hosted a panel discussion exploring Indigenous perspectives on law and rights and how the legal system in Canada affects and often undermines the standing of Indigenous people.
The panel consisted of Karen Drake (Metis), a professor of law at Lakehead Universitywhose research focuses on the intersection between liberalism and Aboriginal rights; Naoimi Metallic (Mi'gmaq), a Halifax-based lawyer who works in Aboriginal law as well as human and constitutional rights; Sherry Pictou (Mi'gmaq), a PhD Candidate at Dalhousie University, focusing on social action in Indigenous and global contexts.
They discussed the complexities and complications of Aboriginal title, the ways in which not only discriminatory laws, but also the lack of sufficient legal structures, exacerbate the poverty and social problems experienced by those living on reserves, and the effect of neo-liberalization and privatization on not only Indigenous and treaty rights but also civil liberties.
FRIDAY OCTOBER 3rd, 2014 FROM 8:30AM TO 5:00PM
House of Commons Room 237-C, Center Block
This forum brought together parliamentarians, experts and the public, to continue dialogue on renewable energy and clean technology in Canada, and how it can be harnessed to create green jobs, foster sustainable growth and protect our environment.
Hosted by: Peter Julian, Official Opposition, House Leader, Anne Minh-Thu Quach, Official Opposition Deputy Critic for Industry, François Choquette, Official Opposition Deputy Critic for Environment.
Media sponsor: rabble.ca
The forum consisted of four panels of experts, each centered on different dimensions of clean energy and industry. The four panels were: Renewable Energies, Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Industries & Urban Centers, and finally, International models. The forum was open to MPs, the public, civil society organizations, and the media.
This episode of Needs No Introduction is an edited version of a portion of the proceedings.
You can also listen to the entire conference proceedings by going to these links:
https://soundcloud.com/rabbleca/international-models-national-forum-on-c...
https://soundcloud.com/rabbleca/clean-energy-forum-5mp3
https://soundcloud.com/rabbleca/romeo-saganash-national-forum-clean-ener...
https://soundcloud.com/rabbleca/renewable-energies-national-forum-clean-...
https://soundcloud.com/rabbleca/energy-efficiency-national-forum-clean-e...
https://soundcloud.com/rabbleca/national-forum-clean-energy-forum-2014-t...
When posts in a Facebook group joking about having "hate-sex" and chloroforming women were made public, the anonymous members of "Class of DDS 2015 Gentlemen" were instantly infamous. As calls for a response from Dalhousie grew, however, the university equivocated, mired in a controversy for which it seemed to have no response. As of January 12, the 13 students, though suspended from clinical duties, will return to study in courses taught separately from their classmates.
In a year rife with well-publicized cases of misogyny -- including a frosh week "rape chant" at another Halifax university -- it was clear that even in institutions of higher learning, education on how to address gendered violence and harassment is sorely needed. As the controversy over the Dalhousie Dentistry students continues, difficult questions arise: how do we address the complicated causes of gendered violence, and what role do universities play in instituting this change?
On January 9, the Centre for Ethics in Public Affairs responded to the developing crisis, convening a Panel in Halifax titled "Sexualized Violence On Our Campuses." Moderated by Dr. Susan Sherwin, research professor Emerita in Philosophy, Gender and Women's Studies at Dalhousie University, the Panel consisted of: Dr. Jayne Wark Professor Art History and Critical Studies, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design; Dr. Jody Clarke, Academic Dean, Atlantic School of Theology; Dr. Francoise Baylis, Professor, Canada Research Chair in Bioethics and Philosophy, Dalhousie University and one of five authors of a statement demanding an independent inquiry into sexualized violence on campus; Dr. Rylan Higgins Professor, Anthropology, Saint Mary's University; Dr. Marnina Gonick Canada Research Chair in Gender, Mount Saint Vincent University.
Drawing on questions from the capacity crowd at Halifax's Central Library, the panel discussed the underlying causes of misogyny and "the colonization of our sexuality by malignant, profit-driven forces," its effect on the socialization and sexuality of young women and men and the responsibility individuals and institutions alike have in addressing cases of gendered violence.
This year, 2014, has seen the return of the debate on gender equality to the public consciousness. Yet some fear that when popular campaigns proclaim that "feminism is for everybody," the ubiquity of the term undermines its anti-oppressive potential. As the ongoing issues around feminist politics enter into the collective consciousness, have we lost sight of what feminism is for? How does the feminist movement maintain momentum while resisting being co-opted by those that would use the movement to meet ends that are indifferent and even hostile to feminism?
This past October, these issues were discussed at the Women's Forum in Ottawa. Now in its third year, the forum focused on articulating "the feminist agenda." Asking how we can express a feminist vision of our individual and collective existence, the forum explored diverse understandings of gender inequality to provide ideas on how to move forward.
In this panel, the issues discussed were as diverse as the speakers themselves. Moderated by Kate MacIntruff, Senior Researcher for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and director of the Centre's initiative on gender equality and public policy, the panel was composed four speakers: Marcelle Perron, Vice President, Women's Committee of the Quebec Federation of Labour; Sharon Gregson, Spokeswoman for the Coalition of Childcare Advocates of BC, $10/day Child Care Plan; Sonia Lawrence, Director of the Institute for Feminist Legal Studies at Osgoode Hall and Erica Violet Lee, blogger and activist who has worked internationally as a youth organizer with the movement since initially garnering attention speaking at the first Idle No More teach-in in 2012.
Ranging from affordable child care and the consequences of austerity to building an intersectional, critical feminism, the panel focused on how to build coalitions, finding, as Sonia Lawrence suggests, the aspects of the feminist agenda we can agree on and pursuing those.
Ellen Gabriel was first introduced to the Canadian public in 1990, when she was chosen by the People of the longhouse and her community of Kanehsatà:ke to be their spokesperson during their resistance to the proposed expansion of a private nine-hole golf course near the town of Oka, Quebec. During the ensuing standoff between the Mohawk people and the Canadian army, Gabriel not only participated in negotiations to protect the sacred grove of pines, but also spoke out about the presence and leadership of women behind the barricades.
Since then, she has worked to raise consciousness among politicians and the public alike of the history, culture and identity of Indigenous peoples. Although her national activities have been far-reaching, ranging from presentations to Parliamentary and Senate committees and the Quebec National Assembly to presentations and conferences and post-secondary institutions, the real breadth of her efforts extends to the international sphere. Gabriel has been active in the UN, participating in the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples and advocating for Indigenous cultures and languages at the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In 2004, Gabriel was elected president of the Quebec Native Women’s Association, a position she held until 2010. She continues to be an advocate for gender equity, Indigenous governing structures and the revitalization of Indigenous languages, culture, traditions, as well as the importance of this revitalization in overcoming colonial oppression.
Last August, rabble.ca took part in a groundbreaking gathering of activists from across the country. The Peoples' Social Forum was four days of talks, discussion groups, arts events, demonstrations... all to call attention to some of the most pressing problems facing our country. And to figure out how to solve them.
Even though it took place in the summer, we're still putting together programs based on the material I gathered. Even though it was a few months ago, the issues are still the same. Still pressing, and still needing to be solved.
Today's Needs No Introduction focuses on independent media. Sponsored by rabble.ca, it was a panel called Media and Movements. It was moderated by Judy Rebick, one of the founders of rabble.ca. You'll also hear Jorge Barrera from the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, James Patterson (Canadian Dimension Magazine), Cathy Edwards (CACTUS - Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations ), Steff Pinch (rabble.ca), Diane Lamoureux, Monique Moisan (Revue À bâbord!) and Sharmeen Khan (Upping the Anti, Media Coop).
Women throughout the world have always played their part in struggles against colonialism, imperialism and other forms of oppression.
However, there are hardly any academic books on Arab political prisoners, fewer still on the Palestinians who have been detained in their thousands for their political activism and resistance.
Nahla Abdo's Captive Revolution seeks to break the silence on Palestinian women political detainees, providing a vital contribution to research on women, revolutions, national liberation and anti-colonial resistance. Based on the stories of the women themselves, Abdo draws on a wealth of oral history and primary research in order to analyze Palestinian women's anti-colonial struggle, their agency and their
treatment as political detainees.
Nahla Abdo is an Arab feminist activist and Professor of Sociology at Carleton University in Ottawa.
The book launch for Captive Revolution was on Monday, November 3, 2014 in Toronto. Introducing Nahla Abdo is David McNally, Alan Sears and Himani Bannerji.
We all know Harper has transformed Canada, but how did it happen? Donald Gutstein has been following Canada's backroom political dealings for decades. In this podcast he discusses his new book: Harperism - How Stephen Harper and his think tank Colleauges have transformed Canada"
What is Harperism? We've seen the effects of Harperism across our country. Today's discussion is a definition .. or several definitions .. of how Harper and his ideas have changed our society.
Today we present a discussion from the book launch - “Harperism - How Stephen Harper and his Think Tank Colleagues Have Transformed Canada”. The launch was held at Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre Campus just a few days ago, October 8, 2014.
The book was written by Donald Gutstein.
In his own words, “I’ve studied the media and right-wing think tanks for two decades. My concerns are to understand how and why the Right is winning the war of ideas and to encourage the Left to get on the battlefield. Conservatives have successfully framed most issues. Progressives need to create their own frames, not just respond to conservative frames, which is a losing strategy.”
He is joined in this discussion by Louise Mandell, a specialist in aboriginal law for four decades; Adrienne Montani, child and youth advocate; and Gwen Barlee, environmental and health advocate.
Van Jones says he came here to speak to the Good Jobs Summit because "you've got a crazy dude up here, and it's not Rob Ford."
He has harsh criticism for our Prime Minister, saying Stephen Harper is more interested in looking good than doing good. Listen to hear the other things he says about Stephen Harper, the global economy and how to shift the power from the corporations and governments to the people.
Van Jones is an American environmental advocate, civil rights activist, attorney, CNN commentator and best selling author. Also an adviser to President Barack Obama in 2009 on Green Jobs, his views on the environment, jobs and the economy are much sought after in the public sphere.
He was the keynote speaker this weekend, October 3-5 at The Good Jobs Summit in Toronto. Sponsored by Unifor, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the CAW-Ryerson Social Justice Chair.
The goal of the gathering was s to spark a national conversation about the quality of work in Canada and creating good jobs.
The iconic Maple Leaf Gardens was the stage last weekend for the Good Jobs Summit.
The Good Jobs Summit was a national dialogue between workers, students, governments, employers and community organizations, with the goal of finding solutions and new approaches to jobs and the economy.
The Summit featured a number of high-profile speakers, workshops and panel discussions, exploring questions of:
- How can we turn low-income, precarious jobs into good jobs?
- Where will the new good jobs come from?
- How can young workers and students succeed in Canada's difficult labour market?
It was co-sponsored by Unifor, Canada's largest private sector union; the Canadian Federation of Students; Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and The Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy.
Featured speakers in the Friday night debate were: Trish Hennessy - Director - Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Ontario (Moderator) / Jim Stanford, Economist, Unifor / Todd Hirsch, Chief Economist, ATB Financial / Preet Bannerjee, Personal Finance Columnist, Globe and Mail / Kaylie Tiessen, Economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Ontario
Van Jones is an American environmental advocate, civil rights activist, attorney, CNN commentator and best-selling author. Also an adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009 on Green Jobs, he is in demand as a speaker on his views on the environment, jobs and the economy.
He is the keynote speaker this weekend, October 3-5 at The Good Jobs Summit in Toronto.
"We think that Van Jones will make an incredible contribution to the conversation that we need to have here in Canada about how we create quality employment opportunities, particularly for young workers and students," said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. "We know that the economy is churning out an increasing number of part-time, temporary and precarious jobs, which many cannot even afford to live on -- we need to have a serious conversation about solutions."
The Summit is sponsored by Canada's newest labour union Unifor, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the CAW-Ryerson Social Justice Chair, with the goal of sparking a national conversation about the quality of work in Canada and creating good jobs -- particularly for students and young workers. Ryerson's Centre for Labour Management Relations will host the event. Invitations are going out to other organizations and industry groups to participate -- with the objective of hosting a dialogue between government, industry, students, academics, post-secondary institutions, NGOs and unions.
"Creating good jobs is a non-partisan issue and one that all Canadians should care about. To design a good job takes no more effort than it does to design a bad job and because of that, there really are no more excuses for why bad jobs should continue to exist," said Dr. Maurice Mazerolle, Director of the Centre for Labour Management Relations.
The Good Jobs Summit, which is expected to draw at least 1,000 people, will take place at Mattamy Athletic Centre at the Gardens (formerly Maple Leaf Gardens), October 3-5. Regional activities and events will also be organized across Canada -- locations and format to be determined.
In this episode of Needs No Introduction, Claudio D'Andrea spoke to Van Jones in advance of his appearance this weekend. They started by talking about last weekend's Climate March and what was accomplished.
It was supposed to be a debate between Toronto mayoral candidates John Tory and Olivia Chow.
It ended up being an opportunity for Olivia Chow to present her platform without opposition.
At approximately 2 p.m., three hours before the debate was set to begin, the organizers of the debate received a call from the Tory campaign advising the "because of competing campaign priorities in the new phase of the campaign," John Tory would not be attending the debate.
The event was co-sponsored by the Ryerson Students' Union and TTCriders: A Voice for Transit Riders.
Said Jessica Bell, Executive Director of TTC Riders: "TTC Riders are furious about John Tory's decision to cancel attendance at the debate last minute. It is disrespectful to riders."
"This is a sad day for student engagement in municipal elections", said Jesse Root, VP - Education of the Ryerson Students Union, adding that this is the second time the Tory campaign has cancelled an appearance with Ryerson students.
But, the show went on, giving Olivia Chow an opportunity to present her transit plan unopposed. Her address is followed by a selection of questions from the standing-room-only audience.
Chief Derek Nepinak was one of the youngest people to be elected Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. He is quickly becoming one of the strongest voices in the struggle for Aboriginal rights in Canada.
Born in Winnipeg, Chief Derek Nepinak, spent his first few years living in the home of his grandparents on the Pine Creek First Nation where he was able to live and observe the ways of his people; hunting, fishing, gardening, smoking fish, tanning moose hides and other traditional activities.
Many years later, he interrrupted his studies for his Masters in Aboriginal Governance at University of Winnipeg to return home where he became the Chief of the Pine Creek First Nation in 2009. Two years later, he became Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.
He holds a first-class honours degree from the University of Alberta, a law degree from the University of Saskatchewan and has completed the intensive program aboriginal lands, resources and governance at Osgoode Hall law school.
Just before his appearance at the People's Social Forum, he made headlines by urging people to boycott Sun News. "The pro-Conservative anti-First Nations slant being falsely sold to Canadians as 'news' is robbing many people who read the tabloid paper from being properly informed about what is actually happening in this country."
rabble readers and listeners and anyone who follows and supports progressive politics in Canada know the work and writing of Linda McQuaig.
A journalist and best-selling author, McQuaig has developed a reputation for challenging the establishment. As a reporter for The Globe and Mail, she won a National Newspaper Award in 1989 for a series of articles which sparked a public inquiry into the activities of Ontario political lobbyist Patti Starr, and eventually led to Starr's imprisonment. As a Senior Writer for Maclean's magazine, McQuaig (along with business writer Ian Austen) probed the early business dealings of Conrad Black, uncovering how Black used political connections to avoid prosecution. An irate Black suggested on CBC radio that McQuaig should be horsewhipped. In 1991, she was awarded an Atkinson Fellowship for Journalism in Public Policy to study the social welfare systems in Europe and North America. McQuaig has been a rare voice in the mainstream media challenging the prevailing economic and political dogma -- as a columnist in the financial pages of the National Post in the late 1990s, and since 2002, as an op-ed columnist in the Toronto Star.
She has also taken on the status quo in a series of controversial books -- including seven national best-sellers -- such as Shooting the Hippo (short-listed for the Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction), The Cult of Impotence and It's the Crude, Dude: War, Big Oil and the Fight for the Planet; The Trouble with Billionaires; and The Wealthy Barber's Wife.
She spoke to guests at rabble.ca's event Celebrating Indie Media and Activism at the Peoples' Social Forum in Ottawa on August 21, 2014.
Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author and one of the most influential voices on our political and cultural environment, nationally and globally.
Her new book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate is due to be released this month.
She spoke to the gathering at the Peoples' Social Forum on August 21, 2014 in Ottawa.
rabble.ca and the B.C. office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives co-hosted a standing-room only event at the Round House in Vancouver on August 12, 2014 to talk about some important questions as we approach the federal election in 2015. It was called Living Consciously: Reinventing Democracy to Save Canada.
The evening's discussion focused on the issue of "agency": if our traditional institutions are failing us, who is going to lead the necessary struggles? What form would they take? If, as Murray Dobbin argues, "silo" approaches to politics no longer work, how do we create a broad-based social movement model? What is to be done?
Moderator: Duncan Cameron - rabble.ca president / Paola Qualizza (Groundswell)
Panel Discussion with Murray Dobbin, Iglika Ivanova (CCPA-BC), Fiona Rayher (Gen Why Media), Anjali Appadurai(climate justice activist) and Paola Qualizza (Groundswell) talking about how to "live consciously" and transform Canada,
With a federal election only a year way, we are facing crises in democracy, inequality, climate change, and peak oil. However, our collective institutions are at their weakest points just as we need to them to at their strongest and most imaginative.
Our democracy, including political parties, is increasingly unable to deliver what it once promised let alone what we want. Universities are increasingly corporatized, jettisoning traditional ethics for corporate loot to pay their bills; regulations developed over decades to protect us are either being eliminated or simply unenforced by governments whose job it was to ensure our safety. The media, which once, nominally at least, entertained the notion of political debate about society's direction, have been hijacked by corporatist ideology and are thus rendered incapable of seeking the truth let alone telling it.
The notion that we can behave as if it is business as usual will not wash. And while there are organizations out there that are actually addressing the crises, we must as engage people support them to a much greater extent than we do now.
rabble.ca and the BC office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives co-hosted a standing-room only event at the Round House in Vancouver on August 12, 2014 to talk about these questions. It was called Living Consciously: Reinventing Democracy to Save Canada.
The evening's discussion focused on the issue of "agency": if our traditional institutions are failing us, who is going to lead the necessary struggles? What form would they take? If, as Murray Dobbin argues, "silo" approaches to politics no longer work, how do we create a broad-based social movement model? What is to be done?
Moderator: Duncan Cameron - rabble.ca president
Murray Dobbin - (journalist, broadcaster, author and social activist and past board member with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)
Anjali Appadurarai (climate justice activist)
Damion Gillis (documentary film maker)
Iglika Ivanova (CCPA-BC)
On July 29, 2014, a group of people from Grassy Narrows spoke at a public forum about the current conditions on their reserve. Several generations have now been affected as a result of the mercury which settled at the bottom of the river in the 1960s and '70s. And now, Grassy Narrows is also faced with a threat by the Ontario government to clear-cut on their territory.
The people of Grassy Narrows are demanding that the government apologize and take responsibility for the mercury pollution on their reserve; to compensate the survivors of mercury poisoning and make sure they have quality health care; to clean up the river; and to not allow clear-cutting on their land, which the provincial government is threatening to do.
Lending his support to the voices of the people of Grassy Narrows at the Public Forum was Stephen Lewis. Best known now for his international work around HIV/AIDS, he was an member of Provincial Parliament and also leader of the Ontario NDP when the issue first came to the legislature back in the 1970s. An MPP from 1963 to 1978, and leader of the NDP Party from 1970-78, he is now best known for his international work related to HIV/AIDS. He is currently a distinguished visiting professor at Ryerson, and also Board Chair of the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
Welcome by Emcee Wanda Nanibush
Opening - Grassy Narrows Women's Drum Group
Elder Steve Fobister Sr. -- an elder, a hunter and trapper and has been instrumental in demanding justice for Grassy Narrows.
Chief Roger Fobister Sr. -- Chief of Grassy Narrows, Chief Fobister was instrumental in the fight for Indigenous control of Indigenous education. He has also been involved in negotiating Indigenous self government at the community level, and also the fight that Grassy Narrows has faced for many years.
Stephen Lewis
Several high-profile rapes in India have made headlines around the world and have drawn attention to the need for change in laws and attitudes on the subcontinent. Much of the call for change is coming from Indian women themselves.
Poonam Kathuria is an Indian woman who has been working for change from her home base in Gujarat, India. She is the founder and director of SWATI - the Society for Women's Action and Training Initiatives, a major feminist advocacy, education and research organization. SWATI works for change at the state and national levels on issues related to violence against women, adolescent and women's health, right to information and governance.
She is involved in policy formulation, has written widely for newspapers and magazines and has published numerous research reports. A holistic and cross-sector approach to responding to the complex nature of development challenges has been central to her work. She is recognized for her innovative ideas, strategic thinking and conceptual skills in bridging the divide between practitioners and academia.
In this talk, she speaks of the changes in rape laws in India over the past 20 years, and highlights the need for yet more change. She spoke at the 17th Annual Dame Nita Barrow Lecture, organized by the Centre for Women's Studies in Education and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. The event took place in Toronto last week, July 22, 2014.
Recording by: Steff Pinch.
Please help rabble.ca stop Harper's election fraud plan. Become a monthly supporter.
Here at rabble, we had a very busy month of June. Not only was it (and still is) our donor drive, we've been having launch parties all over the country for our new book The Best of rabble 2014 - The Year of Living Consciously, edited by Meagan Perry and Michael Stewart.
June 17 was the Ottawa launch, at the Parliament Pub across from Parliament Hill.
For those of you who couldn't be there, here are some of the sounds and the voices. It was hosted by rabble.ca editor-in-chief Meagan Perry. Together with fabulous music by our own Parliamentary correspondent, Karl Nerenberg and friends, it was a great time.
Speaker list:
Kim Elliott - Publisher - rabble.ca; Meagan Perry - Editor-in-Chief - rabble.ca welcome; Nathan Cullen - MP - Skeena Bulkley Valley - NDP Finance Critic; Meagan Perry introduces Hassan Yussuff - President - Canadian Labour Congress; Larry Brown - National Secretary Treasurer - National Union of Public and General Employees, also rabble board member; Toby Sanger - rabble.ca writer and contributor to The Best of rabble; Karl Nerenberg - rabble Parliamentary correspondent - (French followed by English); Musical reprise "This Little Light of Mine" ; All music performed by Karl Nerenberg (keyboard), Ish Theilheimer (voice and fiddle) and Dan Quinlan (percussion).
Please support our coverage of democratic movements and become a monthly supporter of rabble.ca.
rabble.ca launched a book this month. Called "The Year of Living Consciously," it features some of the best writing which has appeared on rabble.ca over the past year.
The Best of rabble.ca 2014 Edition is an anthology of analysis and commentary on the top issues and social justice movements that matter to progressives. With sections on Canadian politics, Indigenous solidarity and labour, the Best of rabble.ca delivers an eloquent overview of the top progressive stories that you've come to expect from rabble.ca.
We've been doing launches in different parts of the country and we thought we'd bring one of them to you. What you're about to hear is the Vancouver launch, which took place on June 14, at the Heartwood Cafe. Local contributors to the book came together sharing the stories of what led them to write the pieces selected, and provide updates to their pieces. The result was a moving discussion on some of the major challenges facing progressives in Canada today.
The evening was moderated by rabble.ca blogs coordinator, Michael Stewart.
Vancouver East Member of Parliament, Libby Davies, provided opening remarks.
Speakers:
- Michelle Reid - Co-publisher of Sad Mag
- Emma Pullman - Freelance writer, researcher and activist
- Joyce Arthur - rabble columnist
- Meghan Murphy - Writer and Founder of Feminist Current, West Coast Editor of rabble.ca
- Tania Ehret - Activist and Arts & Culture Contributing Editor to rabble.ca
- Lucia Lorenzi - Feminist writer and PhD candidate in literature at UBC
- Roger Annis - Writer and Activist with Vancouver Ecosocialist Network
Perhaps the best way to get the book is to receive it as our "thanks," knowing that you made our community-based media site stronger. If you support rabble at $5/month you receive a free subscription to This! Magazine as our "thank-you" gift. We can keep bringing you the best of progressive news, analysis and commentary because of our supporters. You can become a supporter right now.
A continuation of a talk by Dr. Vandana Shiva featured on the last episode of Needs No Introduction.
Born in Dehradun India in the foothills of the Himalaya, Shiva got her training at the University of Western Ontario in Canada as a physicist. In 1982, she shifted her focus to inter-disciplinary research in science, technology and environmental policy and moved back to India. Dr. Shiva is the founder of Navdanya, a participatory research initiative dedicated to the preservation of native crop species, the rejuvenation of indigenous culture and knowledge, and to support and direction for environmental activism. She is the author of more than 20 books including Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis; Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply; Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace; and Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Development.
She is the recipient of numerous awards and accolades including the 1993 Right Livelihood Award (Alternative Nobel Prize) and the 2010 Sydney Peace Prize.
Her talk was recorded by Michael Welch of the Global Research Hour at CKUW Radio in Winnipeg.
Thanks to Michael and CKUW for this recording and show notes.
"We know that the industrial model of farming is destroying the planet," says antiglobalization author, environmentalist and eco feminist Dr. Vandana Shiva in this first of a two-part speech in Winnipeg on March 29, 2014.
Dr. Shiva is well known internationally as an anti-globalization author, environmentalist and ecofeminist. Born in Dehradun, India in the foothills of the Himalayas, she is a world-renowned speaker on issues that threaten our environment and food supply.
She spoke at the North Centennial Community Centre in Winnipeg at the invitation of a local collective called Powerhouse Producers, in association with the Women's and Gender Studies Association and the University of Winnipeg's Women's Centre. Her speech followed a Feast of Forgotten Foods, consisting of organic and local foods from local farmers. Preceding the talk was the announcement of Bill C-18, now before the Canadian House of Commons, the Agricultural Growth Act which critics say undermines traditional farming practices by ensuring the intellectual property rights over new generations of seeds to the companies that develop them.
Her talk was recorded by Michael Welch of the Global Research Hour at CKUW Radio in Winnipeg.
Sponsored by rabble.ca and IRIS, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives hosted a vibrant dialogue on taxes during the Canadian Labour Congress Montreal convention.
Called "Tax is Not a Four Letter Word," a crowd gathered on the evening of May 8 at the Convention Center to hear the exciting lineup of speakers. The evening was chaired by CCPA President Larry Browne, who introduced the evening's special guest speaker, Alex Himelfarb, former Privy Council Clerk, and author of "Tax is Not a Four Letter Word."
Alex Himelfarb's talk was followed by four discussants, and a vibrant question and answer period.
The first discussant was the CCPA's Trish Hennessy, who picks up on why we need to change the conversation on taxes.
She is followed by IRIS's Eve-Lyne Couturier, who explains the fallacy of the latest conservative attack on "wage taxes."
CUPE economist Toby Sanger weighs in stepping back and shedding light on some bigger picture questions.
Jarrah Hodge is a feminist blogger from Vancouver. She started her award-winning blog Gender Focus in 2009 and and tweets about feminism/gender, geekery, politics, and labour issues. In this edition of Needs No Introduction, she is speaking from the Women's Forum 2013: Fighting the Inequality Agenda, held in Ottawa on October 29, 2013. At this event, 22 feminist activists under 40, from across the country, shared a message for social change. They spoke to the challenges that young women are facing, and most importantly how they are fighting back.
Jarrah Hodge's presentation is called "The News Media's Troubled Relationship with Canadian Women."
Jarrah's blog can be found at http://gender-focus.com
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is a prolific author who connects the personal with the political. Her work has taken her around the world. One of her best known works recounts her experiences in Nicaragua between 1982 and 1991. It's called Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra war.
She spoke with me about the history of liberation movements, her work with the UN Indigenous Rights working group, pipelines and the state of activism today. Ortiz spoke in Vancouver on March 8, 2014, International Women's Day. Her books can be found at www.reddirtsite.com
Alternative Radio host David Barsamian has been a voice of dissent heard across the airwaves around the world for over 28 years. Barsamian injects humour, poetry and outrage while addressing bleak topics like U.S. news propaganda, hypocrisy and climate refugees. He was at SFU Harbour Centre in Vancouver B.C. on March 28, 2014 for the Counter Culture Speaker Series, David Barsamian: Media, Capitalism, and Climate Change organized by Media Democracy Days. Find out more about Alternative Radio by going to www.alternativeradio.org
Last month B.C Ferries announced they would cut ferry services in British Columbia and discontinue the Discovery Coast Ferry located on the central coast. The Ferry services three routes along BC's northern coast. The cuts will have major consequences for coastal communities, many are First Nations who live and work in the Great Bear Rainforest. Tourism on B.C’s central coast is essential to the region and the cuts will have detrimental effects on those living and working in remote regions of British Columbia. Those living in the most remote locations will will be hit the hardest. British Columbians have reacted with protests across the region and are campaigning against the cuts and the continuing hike in ticket fares.
Petrus Rykes is the Chair of Save the Discovery Ferry campaign, and Vice-President of West Chilcotin Tourism Association. He is also a partner in the Anahim Lake Eagle’s Nest Resort.
To find out more about the campaign go to savethediscoverycoastferry.ca
Ellen Besso is a life coach counsellor and author who helps women find new direction in their lives. Besso recently published An Indian Sojourn: One woman's spiritual experience of travel and volunteering a book detailing her travels with her partner in India and her work as a volunteer with Tibetan refugees in Dharamsala. Besso's volunteer work overseas came home with her.
When the government of Canada accepted 1000 Tibetan refugees, she along with others in the community of Gibsons became their sponsors. I spoke to Ellen Besso by skype from her home in Gibson's B.C. You can find An Indian Sojourn at ellenbesso.com and at Amazon.ca.
A new project in east Vancouver aims to collect and remember one neighbourhood's black history. The project starts with an online map and leads to videos that detail the black history of a number of iconic intersections.
It's called Black Strathcona: One Community, Six Decades, Ten stories.
The project was conceived by filmmaker Gordon McLennan over ten years ago and was brought to fruition with the help of author, historian and poet Wayde Compton, and local artist Esther Rausenberg. The project launch happened on February 22, 2014 across the street from Hogan's Alley.
The year 2014 has been proclaimed the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People by the United Nations.
In fall 2013, the Palestine Awareness Coalition posted four maps on Vancouver`s TransLink buses and SkyTrain stations entitled Disappearing Palestine.
Dr. Hani Faris, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia, President of the independent American think tank Trans Arab Research Institute (TARI), & internationally recognized expert on the Palestine-Israel conflict lectured on the historical context of the maps at the event Historical Context of the Palestinian Maps: Fact and Fiction, on January 24 2014 in Vancouver, B.C.
Income-splitting, along with the government's zero dollar spending on child care, and detaxation is an attack on women's equality in Canada. Kathleen Lahey made that argument at the inaugural Women's Forum in Ottawa, Ontario in 2012.
Lahey is a specialist in feminist legal studies, teaching law and sexuality, and taxation and tax policy at Queen's University.
On December 20 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada in an unprecedented ruling, struck down three provisions in Canada's prostitution laws.
The Supreme Court of Canada found that bans on street soliciting, brothels and people living off the avails of prostitution create severe dangers for vulnerable women
A month after the ruling, a panel of experts gathered at the University of Toronto to talk about the change, what it would mean for sex workers in Canada, and what the future would hold. The panel also discussed the legal issues versus the reality on the street.
There were six speakers on the panel, each with a distinct point of view on this issue.
The City of Vancouver, B.C. is having a food revolution.
For the past three years urban farms and gardens have expanded across the city to strengthen local food production.
Michael Abelman is a long time farmer and food activist and one of the founders of Sole Food street farms. Sole Food is doing something a little different from other urban farming ventures. Not only do they have a network of farms throughout the city that supply fresh food to residents,they are providing employment to 25 people who are dealing with drug addiction and mental illness. Abelman is an author, farmer and activist who lives, farms and teaches at Foxglove farm located on Saltspring Island. Abelman spoke with Tanya Hill at Ripe, a Farmers Market festival in Vancouver, B.C. in October 2013.
The United States is on its way to a revolution, according to Chris Hedges. The Pulitzer prize-winning reporter has written and reported around the globe. For his latest project, he traveled to some of America’s most economically depressed areas with co-author Joe Sacco, then wrote about what he found. The book is called Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.
The author, educator, journalist and activist to spoke in Ottawa this month at the Southminster United Church. The lecture was hosted by Octopus Books. Here’s what Chris Hedges had to say about his latest journey.
This episode features a panel discussion which looks at undercover issues in the B.C. election and what our province's independent media outlets can offer to counter the more limited coverage in the mainstream media.
The panel was presented as part of the CounterCulture Speaker Series run by the Media Democracy Project, the SFU School of Communication, and the SFU Institute for the Humanities and took place at SFU’s Vancouver campus on May 3, 2013. Panelists include Gwen Barlee (Wilderness Committee), Bob Hackett (Simon Fraser University and Newswatch Canada), Jarrah Hodge (Gender Focus), and Andrew MacLeod (The Tyee). The panel is moderated by Derrick O’Keefe, editor of rabble.ca.
This talk, by Richard Wilkinson, was recorded at at a three-day conference on Labour Rights and Their Impact on Democracy, Economic Equality and Social Justice, which was held in Toronto from March 26 -28, 2013.
Wilkinson is one of the world’s most respected researchers on social inequalities, and is the author of Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone. His keynote talk brings in extensive data that shows how economic inequality harms our lives and societies and discusses how societies with more equal distribution of incomes have better health, fewer social problems, and are more productive than ones which have a greater gap between the rich and the poor.
Wilkinson is Professor Emeritus of Social Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, Honorary Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London, and Visiting Professor at University of York. He’s also co-founder of The Equality Trust, which works to reduce income inequality in order to improve the quality of life in the UK.
The conference was hosted by The Canadian Foundation for Labour Rights and was sponsored by the National Union of Public and General Employees, United Food and Commercial Workers Union and the Canadian Teachers' Federation.
rabble.ca editor Derrick O'Keefe and Jahanzeb Hussain of W2 Media Mornings interview journalist Robert Fisk about Stephen Harper's foreign policy, the Arab Spring, and the wars in Syria, Mali and Afghanistan. Fisk is currently completing a cross-Canada speaking tour organized by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME).
Barack Obama recently declared January National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Recognized as a modern day version of slavery, human trafficking is an issue that impacts the most poor and vulnerable globally. For women, trafficking most often means prostitution.
On January 14, Lila Shahani, of the National Anti-Poverty Commission and the Human Development & Poverty Reduction Cabinet Cluster of the Philippine Government, spoke about human trafficking in a Philippine, Canadian and Global Context.
For more on Lila's work on trafficking and the Philippines, you can read her paper: "Situating Human Trafficking in the Philippines: Global, National and Personal Contexts"
The talk was held at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver B.C. and was recorded by Krystle Alarcon.
On this episode of Needs No Introduction, Derrick O'Keefe interviews activist and author, Judy Rebick and Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs about #IdleNoMore, which began as a series of actions back in October in response to Bill C 45.
The grassroots movement has since swept the nation, as First Nations peoples and allies rally against the Harper government's lack of action on commitments made to the First Nations.
Jeff Perera is a community and youth engagement manager for the White Ribbon Campaign. The campaign is the world’s largest effort to engage men and boys in working towards a new vision of masculinity and ending gender-based violence. He has delivered talks from Vancouver to Taiwan and has started the site Higher Unlearning for men and young men to explore how gender impacts everyday life.
At the December 6 event Speak UP! Perera spoke about how the silence of men contributes to a culture of violence against women.
Mike Layton is the Toronto City counsellor for Ward 19, Downtown Toronto. Before being elected in 2010 to serve as one of the Toronto’s youngest counsellors he worked for political change from the other side of the table, as an environmental leader and community organizer. As the deputy out reach director for Environmental Defense he championed a number of successful initiatives including the green economy act. As the son of former NDP leader and city councillor Jack Layton, he has been involved in fundraising from a very young age, with projects such as the White Ribbon Campaign.
At Speak UP! an event at the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto, Mike Layton spoke about his involvement organizing against gender based violence, in his ward and with the White Ribbon Campaign.
Intro/extro music: halo by Karim Rizkallah
Steph Guthrie is a communications professional and community organizer based in Toronto. She is the founder and executive director of Women in Toronto Politics where she coordinates events to promote discussion in Toronto politics on and off council floor. This past summer she led a spontaneous effort to hold the maker of a misogynistic game against feminist pop culture critic Anita Sar-kee-si-an accountable. Most recently she organized take back the night block parties in areas of Toronto affected by a string of sexual assaults.
She spoke at Speak UP! an event organized at the Centre for Social Innovation in memory of the Montreal Massacre. Guthrie explained how online misogyny can be fought using social and legal tools.
Deb Singh is an activist feminist warrior and a settler on Turtle Island. She uses the tools of anti-oppression to transform hate into a tool for learning and healing. Sing is a survivor and an activist, counsellor with the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre: Multicultural Women Against Rape.
She spoke at Speak UP! an event in memory of the Montreal Massacre at the Centre for Social Innovation about how language complicates society's views on violence. She talks about the importance of focusing on women's experiences above all and how journalists have covered the recent string of sexual assaults in Toronto earlier this year.
Imagine Ori Dagan
Tony Loeffen speaks with rabble contributor, Murray Dobbin about an article he wrote calling for Canada to nationalize the oil industry.
This interview originally aired on a show called Election Fallout on Opposition Radio.
From October 26-29 1000 youth from across the country participated in a historic climate justice conference in Ottawa. Powershift worked to train a generation of climate justice activists to usher in a clean energy revolution.
Clayton Thomas-Muller is an indigenous and environmental justice activist. He has been organizing grassroots efforts for the last ten years and currently works with the Indigenous Environmental Network.
He spoke at the opening of Powershift 2012 about the political context of the conference.
From October 26-29 1000 youth from across the country participated in a historic climate justice conference in Ottawa. Powershift worked to train a generation of climate justice activists to usher in a clean energy revolution.
Keira-Dawn Kolson is a Tso'Tine-Gwich'in youth from the North West Territories. She is a multi-discplinary artist and motivational speaker, singer-songwriter, leader, dreamer and educator. Her community has faced pipelines, water shortages, changing climate and a dwindling supply of their traditionally hunted caribou.
Kolson addressed the opening of PowerShift 2012 on how "resource development" has impacted her community.
From October 26 to 29, 1000 youth from across the country participated in a historic climate and economic justice conference in Ottawa. Powershift aimed to train a generation of climate justice activists to usher in a clean energy revolution.
Joshua Kahn Russell is an organizer working to bridge climate justice and racial justice. He is a non-violent direct action trainer with the Rukus Society and serves communities affected by fossil extraction. He is the co-author of Organizing Cools the Planet: Tools and Reflections to Navigate the Climate Crisis and is currently the U.S. actions coordinator with 350.org.
Kahn Russell spoke at Powershift's opening night at the Museum of Civilization on October 26 in Gatineau. He connected the importance of evaluation to maximizing the effectiveness of campaign to "play to win". He is introduced here by Bridgette DePape.
From October 26 to 29, 1000 youth from across the country participated in a historic climate and economic justice conference in Ottawa. Powershift aimed to train a generation of climate justice activists to usher in a clean energy revolution.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois is a prominent Quebec student activist and former spokesperson of CLASSE, a coalition of student associations against the tuition fee hikes put forward by the Charest government last winter.
Nadeau-Dubois spoke about the connections between the environmental movement and the crisis in capitalism. He spoke in French at Powershift's opening night in Gatineau, at the Museum of Civilization.
Melina Laboucan-Massimo spoke at the Powershift kick-off about how climate change and the tar sands have affected her First Nation's community and their traditions.
Sheila North Wilson is a former CBC journalist and indigenous advocate working with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.
She spoke about her own experiences with violence at the Women's Forum in Ottawa on October 18.
A year-long study into hate-based attacks against Muslims shows that incidents of violence are on the rise. In this podcast, Dr. Barbara Perry tells interviewer Amira Elghawaby about her study and what it found.
'Human Rights Fatigue.' It's the feeling that people are weary of hearing stories of victimization in the media. Monia Mazigh knows all about it. The Canadian academic and politician's husband Maher Arar was held without charge and tortured for almost a year by the government of Syria.
The whole time, Mazigh fought to have his story heard, and get him home to Canada. In this lecture, she discusses her latest novel, Miroirs et Mirages, and why she believes the solution is to mix in everyday stories with tragedy.
Chris Hedges says America is experiencing a coup d'etat in slow motion.
The American liberal class has allowed an unregulated, unfettered capitalism to create an empire of consumption. At the same time, the anonymity of the corporate state has corrupted the very fabric of social institutions.
With American investigative journalism all but dead and legislation in place severely curbing civil liberties, Hedges says it is time to think about how to resist. He believes United States citizens can take their cue from the ongoing student protests in Quebec. Have a listen.
Janine Brodie knows we live in a world unsettled by multiple and overlapping crises of the political, economic, social and environmental.
But this pervasive uncertainty has not dampened popular demands for social justice and equity. In fact, they have intensified. However, according to Brodie, the assault on social knowledge has obscured the traditional role academia plays in "speaking truth to power." Have a listen.
What is wrong with civilization, and how can we fix it? It's no small question, but Don Tapscott has a few theories.
He says, that unless organizations like Wall Street change to meet the digital age, they are doomed to repeat the failures that led to the collapse of global capitalism in 2008.
In this lecture, he explains how the first generation to have "grown up digital" are, potentially, a solution. Have a listen.
According to Governor General David Johnston, it’s the best time in history to be a scholar, as knowledge becomes ever more accessible to world citizens. But providing access to knowledge is still a challenge, and that’s something he wants Canadian academics to change.
On the opening day of Canada’s largest annual gathering of scholars, the 2012 Congress of the Humanities, he laid out a five-part plan for the way Canadian scholars could lead the charge to build a smarter, more caring nation. Have a listen.
Three-time Juno Award nominee and Métis musician Jani Lauzon believes in the power of story. In this podcast, she gives a talk on storytelling and embodied knowledge at the Democratic Dialogue Via The Arts Symposium held at the University of Ottawa. In the process, she shares tidbits of wisdom from her past mentors and winds up telling a story of her own.
Muna Mire interviews Kim Crosby -- an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, community activist and queer survivor of sexual assault.
Their conversation is centred around the process of opening up the space of Slutwalk for racialized women and transpeople. Is there privilege in calling yourself a slut? Can women of colour and transpeople afford to name themselves sluts in protest? Listen to hear more.
Celebrated professors and authors Cornel West and Frances Fox talk about the future of the Occupy movement, and their opinions on a changing America during the 2012 Left Forum, held at Pace University, in New York City in March.
Speaking as the keynote for the Left Forum at Pace University on March 17, 2012, Michael Moore, the filmmaker responsible for such documentaries as Bowling for Columbine and Capitalism: a love story, talked hopefully about fundamental changes he sees taking place in America.
The podcast was recorded by Kim Elliott.
The aboriginal law conference in Vancouver B.C. brought together Bruce Granville Miller, who has written about oral tradition in the courtroom, Sophie McCall, an associate professor of English at SFU who has written about aboriginal storytelling and Darlene Johnston, a professor of law at UBC who has been recognized by the Indigenous Bar Association.
They discussed how to go about respecting aboriginal culture in the courtroom.
Winona LaDuke, the the executive director of Honor the Earth and the White Earth Land Recovery Project, was in Winnipeg on Feb. 24, 2012 to talk at the Growing Local conference.
During her lecture she talked about the importance of sustainability, indigenous knowledge and independence.
Pat Mooney is the author and co-author of several books on the politics of biotechnology and biodiversity, and the award-winning director of the ETC Group. This week he spoke about whether we should trust the system that broke our planet to fix it.
-
The 2014 Health Accord will set out the national plan for our health care system and play a key role in determining the direction for health care in Canada. The Federal government has already revealed plans to cut federal health transfers.
-
On January 16-17, 2012 Premier Christy Clark hosted premiers from across the country to discuss health care and fiscal arrangements with the federal government related to the 2014 Health Accord.
-
The Council of Canadians and the BC Health Coalition joined together to hold this townhall meeting. Following are the opening remarks by three researchers and advocates for health care, who say now is the time for Canadians to speak out to protect our public health care system.
-
Rachel Tutte, the co-chair of the BC Health Coalition, introduced the series of three lectures:
-
Mike Luff, NUPGE Director of Communications, dispells the notion that health care is not affordable or sustainable - "a triumph of economics", and outlines the principles for building a new accord.
-
Diana Gibson, Parkland Institute researcher, takes on the Conservative discourse that demonizes taxes, government, and public services. She "channels" US conservative lobbyist Grover Norquist whose goals was "get government small enough to drown it in a bathtub" - and whose methods appear to be closely followed by the Harper government.
Maude Barlow, chairperson of the Council of Canadians, reminds listeners of the times before public health care, pointing out that there has been no greater threat to public services than what we are in now. Quoting her favorite Occupy sigh, "If you won't let me dream, I won't let you sleep", she calls on Canadians to speak out for public health care, and what makes Canada... Canadian.
In this lecture, Columbia University professor Saskia Sassen discusses the concept of the diminishing importance of national borders and the increasing dominance of something she calls the "transversal bordered space"; a result of the increasing interaction between government and private entities.
An interview with Annemieke Farenhorst, the University of Manitoba professor who has just been named the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council Chair for Women in Science and Engineering (prairie region). Farenhorst talks about the lack of women in classrooms, faculty and the professional world, and how we can begin to address this problem.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, Liberal MP Hedy Fry and NDP MP Libby Davies take part in the Media Policies for a Democratic Future panel at Media Democracy Day 2011. Moderated by Vancouver City Councillor Andrea Reimer, the panel tackled issues such as sexism in the media, mainstream versus independent media and the value of public media.
During her keynote at 2011's Media Democracy Day Judy Rebick discussed the origin of rabble.ca -- which she co-founded in 2001 -- and how technology has changed the face of activism over the past 10 years.
On the eve of Buy Nothing Day, Joseph Heath, author and professor of philosophy, was in Winnipeg, Manitoba to talk about consumerism.
Before his talk Heath gave an interview to rabble, during which he talked about the Occupy movement, the political spectrum in Canada and anti-consumerism.
On Nov. 8, 2011 Greg Macdougall got the opportunity to sit down with Joan Kuyek, author of Community Organizing: a Holistic Approach. He talked to her about her new book, how it related to other books she has published, and how her experiences in the '60s and '70s have influenced her outlook on 21st-century activism.
The inspirational ballad, No Wall Too Tall, by folk singer and social change advocate, Raffi, calls for reform of the financial system. This song and many others are available for free download or streaming at the website of the organization Centre for Child Honouring.
People say it’s hopeless, money rules the world
It rules with an iron hand, and we’re helpless in its hold
People say you’re crazy, you can’t break that wall
It’s too old, too big, too strong, it’s never going to fall
I say – think of the Iron Curtain, remember Berlin,
Remember apartheid, look at the state they’re in
There’s no wall too tall
No wall too tall to fall
No wall, no wall too tall
Money vendors crowd the temple, survival crowds the heart
It seems there’s no other way, you’re doomed before you start
But we know a greater power in the hearts of the young and old
Love for all the children, the compassion in our world
And I say : No wall too tall
No wall too tall to fall
No wall, no wall too tall
sound the call, blow the bugle, walls come a tumblin down
in the face of the power of love, the rules start spinning around
No wall too tall
No wall too tall to fall
No wall, no wall too tall
No wall too tall
No wall too tall to fall
No wall, no wall too tall
Music by Raffi, words by Raffi, Gary S. Ross
© 2007 Homeland Publishing
Norway's ambassador to Canada, Her Excellency Else Berit Eikeland, recently spoke in Winnipeg on the subject of Arctic policy, detailing Norway's recent treaty with Russia and our possibly outdated view of the post-Cold War Super Power.
Did you know that some researchers are predicting that the Arctic could be seasonally ice-free as early as 2013?
In this talk, University of Manitoba-based Arctic climate researcher David Barber takes listeners through some of the changes he's observed in Canada's High North during his 30-year career.
Inspired by Jack Layton's letter to Canadians, Raffi, West Coast singer, song-writer and founder of Centre for Child Honouring, turned it into a song:
"Layton's last words gave Canada a historic moment. His message of love, hope, and optimism transcend politics -- these are enduring values for young and old to embrace."
Listen to the song here and read Beyond Protest, Raffi's blog on rabble.ca.
Panel from the event: "Represent?! Exploring Ethno-Cultural Diversity in Ottawa's Media." The official Ottawa English-language project launch of United Nations Association in Canada (UNA-Canada)'s Multimedia & Multiculturalism (M&M) project.
Moderated by Chelby Marie Daigle, M&M Ottawa project coordinator
Panelists: Manjit Basi, Host of Trailblazers with Rogers Community Television; Aliaa Dakroury, Communications Professor at the University of Ottawa; Ian Keteku, 2010 World Poetry Slam Champion; Vanessa Lee, CTV Ottawa Reporter
Panel recorded by Greg Macdougall and produced by Ellie Gordon-Moershel
This talk was from a session titled Equity in Times of Economic Crisis and was part of the 2011 Congress of the Humanities. David Perley is a sociologist, educater and PhD candidate. He specializes in aboriginal education, race relations and the analysis of social problems. David lectures at the Mi'Kmaq-Maliseet Institute at the University of New Brunswick, St. Thomas University, and the University of Maine.
This talk was recorded on June 2, 2011 by Milena Stanoeva and produced by Ellie Gordon-Moershel.
The Femme Monologues is a graphic memoir series, written by Marusya Bociurkiw with graphics by Terri Roberton, that appears monthly in Xtra! Toronto and in Capital Xtra! (Ottawa).
The series presents short vignettes from a queer/femme/feminist archive, covering such topics as feminist publishing, women's dances, the new queer cinema and the re-emergence of butch/femme culture in the 1990s. It features a wide-eyed femme discovering lesbianism, vegetarian food, women's music and butches for the first time.
The first story, "On Becoming A Dissident Writer" (Part 1 appeared June 1, Part 2 is in the Pride Day issue), takes us back to the 1970s, and the funky era of feminist culture, when women's newspapers, record companies, publishers, and hey, even garages sprung up for the first time in Canada. It's about the very first time our femme heroine got published, in a feminist newspaper and the ripple effect that had on her family... and on her own identity.
This provocative talk was recorded at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences on May 31, 2011 in Fredricton, New Brunswick and began with the question: "How do we bring Indigenous knowledge into the academy, while encouraging its production?" The responses may surprise you. Speakers, including: Malinda Smith, Shanne McCaffrey, Kiera Ladner, Dwayne Donald, D'Arcy Vermette, Andrea Bear Nicholas, addressed the ways in which the academy itself continued to play a part in colonization as well as the ways in which 'indigenizing the academy' may not, in fact, be beneficial for aboriginal peoples and preserving aboriginal cultures.
This talk challenges the very foundations of academic institutions as the speakers refuse to mince words; telling truths that most intellectuals and leaders would probably prefer to ignore or leave buried.
'Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenizing the Academy' is certainly one of the most important and riveting conversations on Indigenous issues and academic institutions and is one episode of Needs no Introduction that is not to be missed.
This episode of Needs no Introduction was recorded by Ryan Saxby Hill and produced by Meghan Murphy.
Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow featured a workshop and plenary speakers from across Canada, the United States and around the world that shared the latest on community health innovations in the following themes:
- Improving health outcomes for individuals, families, and communities
- Advancing health equity
- Increasing sustainability of the health system
- Building our case and our movement: increasing access to community-governed primary health care
Samita Mukhopadhyay is an activist, a writer, and executive editor of Feministing, recent winner of the 2011 Hillman Prize for Blog Journalism. She recently published a book entitled: Outdated: Why Dating Is Ruining Your Love Life.
Samhita will be speaking at Women's Worlds 2011, a global conference to advance women's equality through research, exchange, leadership and action. The 30th anniversary of Women's Worlds will be held in Ottawa-Gatineau July 3-7. Meghan Murphy spoke with Samhita recently about her background, the state of feminism today, and her hopes for the conference.
Women's World 2011 is a global conference to advance women's equality through research, exchange, leadership and action. The 30th anniversary will be held in Ottawa-Gatineau from July 3-7th. Nicole Schwab, co-founder of The Gender Equality Project, a Swiss Foundation committed to creating a world where women and men are equally valued and respected in all aspects of economic, political and social life. Nicole is now launching a Gender Equality label (HR) for Fortune 500 corporations and will be speaking at the conference. Meghan Murphy spoke with her about the project, the glass ceiling, and how we can work towards getting more women into leadership positions globally.
Women's World 2011 is a global conference to advance women's equality through research, exchange, leadership and action. The 30th anniversary will be held in Ottawa-Gatineau from July 3-7th. Juno award winner performer and musician Alida Kinnie Starr will be one of the performers at the upcoming conference. Ellie Gordon-Moershel interviewed her recently about her recent evolutions in music, exploration and representations of identities and what she hopes to see at the upcoming conference.
On Thursday, April 28, activist Jaggi Singh was tried at Toronto's Old City Hall for statements he had made to the media about taking down the G20 "security fence." He had said to the press: "I'm here today to stand with people who question the legitimacy of this fence and support those who want to take down the fence -- to take down those fences and walls that separate us."
Singh was charged with "counselling to commit mischief over $5,000" and stated in court: "There is nothing that I can admit to in the conspiracy charges, because there really was no conspiracy. If it was a conspiracy, it was a conspiracy of thousands of people to resist the G20, which of course is not a conspiracy, it's organizing." On April 28, Singh pleaded guilty to urging people to take down the $5-million G20 summit fence erected in downtown Toronto last June. As part of Singh's plea agreement, the counts of conspiracy against him will be dropped, he will not cooperate with the Crown or police or apologize for his actions and the plea can't be used against his co-accused in legal proceedings. Many considered the case to be based on the criminalization of dissent.
This interview was done by Carmelle Wolfson in the halls of the Old City Hall courthouse in Toronto directly following Jaggi Singh's guilty plea.
For more information on the trial please see: http://rabble.ca/news/2011/04/jaggi-singh-trial-inside-courtroom
Barbara Marshall spoke at The Medicalization of Sex conference in Vancouver, B.C. on April 29, 2011. The paper and talk she presented was called: 'Sexualizing the Third Age: Medicalization and the Reconstruction of Sexual Life Courses.' This paper takes the medicalization of late‐life sexuality as a starting point for exploring some contemporary ways in which sexuality and gender are constructed and negotiated in aging bodies. She looks at the ways in which the pharmaceutical industry, the medical establishment, and the media play a role in revising standards of sexual functionality, encouraging compulsory sexuality, and reconstructing sexual life courses in ways that have forged new expectations around sexuality in mid‐ and later‐life (the 'third age'). The 'third age' is represented in popular and cultural discourse by a rejection of that which is 'old'. Sexual function and sexual activity are linked to health and vitality, and 'sexiness' becomes an important means of distinguishing oneself as 'not old'.
This talk was recorded and produced by Meghan Murphy.
On April 18 2011, rabble.ca turned 10! Bearing Witness, Creating Hope, a celebratory event was held at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, featuring a panel discussion moderated by rabble founder Judy Rebick. Tune in to hear some wonderful perspectives and stories from rabble News and Features Editor, Cathryn Atkinson; Mark Surmon, rabble co-founder and current president of the Mozilla Foundation; Olivia Nuamah, director of the Atkinson Foundation; and Ben Powess, an aboriginal rights activist and frequent rabble.ca contributor. Join us to take a look back at how rabble as grown and evolved and to hear some perspectives on the current state of Canadian left politics and the upcoming federal election.
Noam Chomsky was called, by the New York Times: "Arguably the most important intellectual alive today" and, for a man so closely aligned with anarchism, the fact that he is cited more than any other living scholar is quite incredible. While Chomsky revolutionized the field of linguistics, he is now most well known for his work on corporate power, political economy, hierarchy, capitalism, and the media. A prolific author, he has penned numerous works, including: Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media , Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance, and Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy.
Part of the Hart House debates, Chomsky spoke at the University of Toronto on April 7, 2011 about class warfare, the State-Corporate Complex, the way in which corporate power is married to to state power and, how these factors represent a great threat to our freedom and survival.
EVE (formerly Exploited Voices now Educating) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization composed of former sex-industry women dedicated to naming prostitution "violence against women" and seeing its abolition through political action, advocacy and awareness-raising that focuses on ending the demand for paid sexual access to women and children's bodies. EVE operates under a sex-positive feminist model, acknowledging that prostitution is born out of sexism, classism, racism, poverty and other forms of systemic oppression. They invite women with personal experience in the sex industry or with sex-trafficking to connect with them.
This talk was held on March 10, 2011 at the Vancouver Public Library in Vancouver, B.C. and was recorded by Laura Wood and produced by Ellie Gordon-Moershel.
This episode of Needs No Introduction is the first in a three-part series on prostitution and features a talk by Gunilla Ekberg. In the midst of heated debate around prostitution laws in Canada, this talk, entitled "Prostitution and Women's Equality: Imagining More for Women," was organized in an effort to debunk myths about the legalization of prostitution and explore alternatives. Gunilla Ekberg is a radical feminist, a lawyer and a human-rights consultant. She has spent much of her life fighting against prostitution, and and worked for 6 years as Special Advisor to the Swedish government on human trafficking. Ekberg advocates for what is referred to as the Nordic model (sometimes also known as the Swedish model), a unique approach to prostitution which includes de-criminalizing sex-workers, criminalizing their pimps and buyers, and funding strategies for workers trying to leave the industry. This talk was held on March 10, 2011 at the Vancouver Public Library in Vancouver, B.C. and was recorded by Laura Wood and produced by Meghan Murphy.
This past Saturday, the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and Osgoode Hall Law School of York University hosted a conference titled "Canada 2020: The future of public interest law." The keynote speech was by prominent immigration lawyer and human rights advocate Barbara Jackman. Jackman has been involved in nearly all of the Supreme Court cases related to non-citizen issues. She references the following milestone cases in her talk:
In 1985 Singh vs. Canada results in a decision that, indeed,non-citizens are entitled to protection under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In addition, the Immigrant and Refugee Board was created. Baker vs. Canada in 1999: the court found that non-citizens who were applying for permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds are entitled to administrative due process with respect to their applications -- and that reviewers of these cases have to take into account the best interests of children. In 2002, Suresh vs. Canada: the Supreme Court found that in all but the most exceptional circumstances deportation to face torture is unconstitutional. Lastly, Charkaoui vs. Canada of 2007 saw the landmark decision of the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of procedures for determining the reasonableness of a security certificate and for reviewing detention under a certificate. A security certificate is a method in which the government can detain and deport non-citizens living in Canada. Those who are issued these certificates are suspected of violating human rights, having membership with organized crime, or a perceived threat to national security.
While there is cause to celebrate achieved gains in human rights for non-citizens, Barbara Jackman reminds her audience that many of these steps forward have been tainted with some disturbing manipulations.
Once a "very conservative republican," David Korten holds an MBA and PhD From Stanford Business School and worked for five and a half years as a faculty member of the Harvard University Graduate School of Business. After spending a number of years working in the global South, believing that all these low-income countries needed was to adopt America's capitalist system in order to resolve poverty, his perspective changed and he began to recognize the way in which our current economic system functions (and thrives) based on inequality, environmental destruction and social conflict.
Realizing that our global economy was based on the premise that individual greed is the path to collective prosperity and that this concept was completely flawed, David Korten came full circle and became an advocate for an economic system that is life-centred and community-based.
He has since authored several books, including: When Corporations Rule the World and The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community. His newest book and the title of this talk is called Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth, which argues for an end to the corrupt, phantom-wealth Wall Street money system. It must be replaced by a Main Street money system that favours life values over financial values, roots power in people and community, and supports local resilience and self-organization. This talk took place on October 29, 2010 at the Bronson Centre in Ottawa.
On Feb. 4, journalist Firoze Manji walked in on Egyptian theorist Samir Amin and Mamdou Habashi, a well known Egyptian activist talking politics, and joined right in. Here's the recording he made.
Hello and welcome to Needs No Introduction on rabble.ca.
What you're about to hear is an impromptu conversation between Egyptian theorist Samir Amin, Pambazuka editor Firoze Manji and Egyptian activist Mamdouh Habashi. Amin is probably best known for developing the theory of Eurocentrism. Habashi is a well-known Egyptian left-wing activist. And Manji's publication Pambazuka is produced by a pan-african network of over 2,600 volunteers and organizations.
The three men met on Feb. 4 at the World Social Forum in Dakar, Senegal. A few hours before, Mamdouh had arrived straight from Tahir Square in Cairo. This was not a planned interview - Manji began recording as he saw where the discussion was going. Although the sound quality reflects the spontaneity of the recording, this is rare opportunity to hear these three in discussion, with analysis fresh from the events unfolding in Egypt. We hope you'll enjoy this first collaboration between rabble.ca and Pambazuka News.
This podcast presents the fourth and last panel recorded at the “Walking the Talk: Human Rights Abroad” conference held September 27th at the House of Commons. For this portion of the event, discussion focused on how to take action towards corporate accountability through new legislation – namely, NDP International Trade Critic Peter Julian’s proposed Bill C-354. Julian himself moderated the panel, which featured Nick Milanovic of Carleton University’s Department of Law, Terry Collingsworth, a labour and human rights attorney in Washington DC, and Mark Rowlinson of the United Steelworkers’ Canadian National Office legal department. After hearing from these speakers, the discussion grew to include Liberal MP John McKay and Bill C-300 on corporate accountability for mining, oil and gas corporations in developing countries (based on the original Private Member's Bill C-565, proposed by now-retired NDP MP Alexa McDonough). This recording includes the majority of a question and answer period which followed the panel discussion.
Speakers:Nick Milanovic, Adjunct Research Professor, Department of Law at Carleton University
Terry Collingsworth, Managing Partner of Conrad & Scherer (Washington DC office)
Mark Rowlinson, Counsel, United Steelworkers' Canadian National Office legal department
*For more information about Bill C-354, visit http://peterjulian.ndp.ca/Bill_C-354*
On September 27th, NDP International Trade critic Peter Julian hosted a conference in Ottawa to assess the impacts of Canada’s industries abroad. Over the course of the day, four panels took place. Each one explored a different aspect of the issue, from the voices of affected communities themselves, to legislative solutions such as Julian’s proposed Bill C-354 to amend the Federal Courts Act in the interest of international human and environmental rights. The third of these panels looked at Canadian legal responses to rights abuses abroad. It was moderated by Ian Thomson, Chair of the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA).
Panelists:Mark Arnold, Partner in the Toronto law firm, Gardiner Miller Arnold LLP
Dermod Travis, Executive Director, Canada Tibet Committee
Cory Wanless, Lawyer with Klippensteins, Barristers & Solicitors
This podcast brings you a recording of the second panel from MP Peter Julian’s “Walking the Talk: Human Rights Abroad” conference held September 27th at the House of Commons. The event was held to examine violations of human and environmental rights at the hands of Canadian corporations abroad, and to explore legislative solutions such as MP Peter Julian’s Bill C-354 to amend the Federal Courts Act in the interest of international human rights. Whereas the conference’s first discussion explored stories from impacted communities around the world, the panel that followed looked at popular sector responses and strategies in North America to the abuses committed abroad by Canadian extractive industries. It was moderated by Laura Avalos, President of the Salvadorian Canadian Association of Ottawa and National Capital Region.
Panelists:
Grahame Russell, Co-Director of Rights Action, author of Code Z59.5: There is Only One People HereSakura Saunders, Editor and Co-Founder of ProtestBarrick.net
Jamie Moffett, Documentary Filmmaker, Return to El Salvador
Billy Diamond, former Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees died September 30. In this podcast, recorded at the 2010 Congress of the Humanities, he tells his life story.
On September 27th, Peter Julian, NDP Critic on International Trade and MP for Burnaby- New Westminster, hosted a conference entitled “Walking the Talk: Human Rights Abroad.” Activists, lawyers and politicians alike gathered at the House of Commons for a day-long series of panels exploring international violations of human and environmental rights at the hands of Canadian corporations. The conference was intended to show the importance of Peter Julian’s Private Member’s Bill: C-354 – an act to amend the Federal Courts Act in the interest of promoting and protecting human rights on an international level. The first panel of the day featured the voices and experiences of those in other parts of the world.
Introductory Statements:
Mark Rowlinson, United Steelworkers' Canadian National Office legal department
Peter Julian, MP, Burnaby-New Westminster
Rick Arnold, Common Frontiers
Panelists:
Tenzin Lobsang Wangkhang, National Director of Students for a Free Tibet
Jose Luis Abarca Montejo, Mexican Network of Persons Affected by Mining
Denis Tougas, Entraide missionnaire
Bodia Macharia, Friends of the Congo
An interview with Jose Luis Abarca Montejo is included in the recording, following his portion of the panel.
On May 28th, the Whitehorse Chapter of the Council of Canadians, along with sponsor PSAC (Public Service Alliance of Canada) North, held a panel discussion to examine the impact of trade agreements and industry on the access of local communities to clean water sources. Bill Slater -- an environmental consultant in Whitehorse -- was one of its featured speakers. He has worked with the Yukon First Nations, federal governments, private companies and NGOs on projects dealing with water management, mining and infrastructure development throughout the territory. Slater's portion of the panel brought a local context to the discussion, looking at how governments regulate water -- especially for industrial purposes -- and whether this reflects a "commons" or "commodity" approach to water issues.
On May 28th, the Whitehorse Chapter of the Council of Canadians, along with sponsor PSAC (Public Service Alliance of Canada) North, held a panel discussion to examine the impact of trade agreements and industry on the access of local communities to clean water sources. The key speaker was Maude Barlow, international water activist, Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, and author of 16 books including "Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water."
From Shipyards Park in Whitehorse, Yukon, Barlow discussed the concept of water as a commons versus a commodity.
In 1935, one of the biggest labour battles of the depression took place, when thousands of unemployed men from B.C.’s relief camps embarked on the On to Ottawa Trek for union wages and better working and living conditions. They made it as far as Regina on the tops of railway freight cars, but were stopped there by the RCMP and a riot ensued.
Up until recently, even the On to Ottawa Historical Society wasn’t aware of any surviving members of the trek. Then they were contacted by the family of 92-year-old Al Dugas, who was 17 when he joined in the protest. David Yorke, one of the society’s directors, interviewed Dugas about his memories of the historic event.
For more information about the trek, visit www.ontoottawa.ca
Al Dugas: I ran away from home. I was 16. And I just shoveled into it I guess, somehow. It was just there. My dad said, if you’re working for anybody else you wouldn’t earn your salt. So I took off, and proved him wrong.
Yorke: It was pretty hard to find work then I guess.
Al Dugas: There was none existing at all....anybody with a job in those days was a big shot.
Bob Dugas: 1934…before your 17th Birthday.
Al Dugas: Yeah, it was May…I never begged. I went from door to door asking for jobs. Like I said, I could cut grass, split wood, wash windows, floors, anything for something to eat. And a lot of the times I got something to eat, sometimes I got nothing, but it worked. But I never did ask for something for nothing you know.
Yorke: Were you in the relief camps?
Al Dugas: Oh yes several of them—Squamish, Merritt, Hope.
Yorke: What were things like in the relief camps?
Al Dugas: Oh, they were good, especially for the hungry—there was lots to eat.
There was one we had a bad storm, Camp 213 out of Hope, it was 13 miles out of Hope. We were hungry and we got word out that we had no food so they sent an airplane across and dropped food. We never got a bite of it; it went down in amongst the trees and was never seen again.
Yorke: There was a strike in the camps?
Al Dugas: The On to Ottawa Trek, yes…it was a protest against the relief camps. Like I said, you are talking 2,000 unemployed, leaving Vancouver on box cars, and another 3,000 waiting in Winnipeg and Toronto.
Al Dugas: (singing) Hold the fort for we are coming, union men are strong(*)—it was getting to be pretty big…concerned to have that many men in Ottawa...
Yorke: How far did the trek get?
Al Dugas: Regina. And then R.B. Bennett was the Prime Minister. He said “Keep everybody in Regina. If this is peaceful, send five delegates down and I will deal with them. And in the meantime you will be fed in Regina.” So we took him for his word, and when they got there he said, “Now you gave me enough time to round up all the police, so go back and tell them that we will give ‘em bullets instead of bread.” And that is what blew it…started the riot.
Yorke: Were you there in Regina yourself?
Al Dugas: In Market Square, yeah.
Bob Dugas: You saw stuff happening behind the crowds…vehicles moving in.
Al Dugas: That meeting was in Market Square. When we were there a flat deck truck was there with the speakers and Jerry Winters was at the mike, and outside these closed moving vans and Allied Vans were lining up one behind the other all the way around the square and all of a sudden the whistle blew and the doors open and the horses ran out and they started swinging their batons.
Bob Dugas: The police were on horses? The police or army?
Al Dugas: The police, RCMP…they started swinging the batons on everybody’s head.
Yorke: When the police came in, what were the police trying to do?
Al Dugas: Hammer our heads… they just came in and started swinging.
Yorke: What was the reaction of the crowd?
Al Dugas: Panic, running around, trying to get out of the way. It was bedlam for awhile. There was a guy called Alan McKay, he was from Toronto I think, he had a stick in his hand and he says, “they are firing blanks.” Pinnnngggg…the bullet went right through the stick and through the bank window. We were down on our knees…crawling through the alley.
Well, what happened at the Exhibition Ground (in Regina) is they lined up five machine guns on top of boxcars pointing at the doors of the stadium and we were rounded up and put in there and after nothing to eat or drink for a day. This Red Walsh, he had more guts than Dick Tracy, he just came to the door and he said, “That’s it, we’re coming out! And if you fire on us, the streets of Regina will run with blood.” And he said, ”You’re in charge of that. And we are coming out.” And we walked out. It took guts...
- The song, Hold the Fort, became the anthem of the trekkers.
On June 29, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid hosted its Pride in Our Politics Cabaret in Toronto. One of the event's speakers was Haneen Maikey - a Jerusalem-based activist and the director of al-Qaws, a grassroots organization that works with LGBTQ Palestinians throughout Israel and the Palestinian occupied territories.
Kasari Govender is Legal Director of the West Coast Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF). She spoke with Peter Driftmier of Simon Fraser University's CJSF-FM about the discussion of maternal health issues at the G8 and G20 summits, and its implications for women's rights.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
June 2nd marked the launch of a new book by Peter Stevens - a teacher of media studies at Sheridan who has written for the Globe and Mail, The Beaver, and The New Internationalist, to name a few publications. His book, "The News," is part of the "About Canada" series put out by Fernwood Books.
This lecture was recorded by Tariq Jeeroburkhan.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
This last lecture from the Congress was delivered on June 2nd by Chief Billy Diamond, who became chief of the Waskaganish First Nation in 1970. Diamond signed the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement with the Canadian Government in 1975 and oversaw the creation of Air Creebec, Cree Construction Company Ltd, and Cree Yamaha Motors. Sharing memories of his own family life, Diamond gave a keynote address on family issues and experience in the North.
This lecture was recorded by Kim Elliott.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
Robert Smith is a Master's student at Concordia. His June 1st presentation shared the ongoing research of his work-in-progress: an investigation into the qualitative nature of eco-theological awareness in Quebec, to result in a full-length documentary film on the state of the movement in the region.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
Florian Olsen is a PhD candidate with the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. The lecture he gave on June 2nd was entitled, "Those About to Die Salute You: Sacrifice, The War in Iraq, and the Crisis of American Imperial Society." He argued that the Iraq War has caused division and resentment in American society between lower-middle class citizens more likely to experience the conflict through military service, and the more privileged, whose lives are not as directly impacted by it.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
"The Neo-Liberal Superhero Soldier" was the title of a lecture by Lori Crowe, of York University, on June 2nd at the Congress. Crowe argued that Hollywood superhero movies reproduce and promote militarism through their weaponry, fashion and narratives that emphasize neo-liberal values.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year’s Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with “connected understanding” as its overriding theme.
Jared Wesley is a lecturer in Political Science at the University of Manitoba. His lecture was an analysis of the recent Manitoba NDP leadership selection process, with critiques of the procedure of delegate voting as well as strategies used by individual candidates.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
In 2010, Canada is playing an important role at the Social Summit on the Environment in Bolivia and the G8/20 meetings in Ontario. In this roundtable hosted by Judy Rebick, CAW Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy (Ryerson University), participants discuss the shape of the global movement for economic and environmental justice, focusing on the influence of Indigenous movements, and on the opportunities the G8 and G20 meetings hold for reshaping social movements. Sonja Killoran-McKibbon, of Toronto Bolivia Solidarity, was the panel's second speaker.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
In 2010, Canada is playing an important role at the Social Summit on the Environment in Bolivia and the G8/20 meetings in Ontario. In this roundtable hosted by Judy Rebick, CAW Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy (Ryerson University), participants discuss the shape of the global movement for economic and environmental justice, focusing on the influence of Indigenous movements, and on the opportunities the G8 and G20 meetings hold for reshaping social movements. The panel's third and final speaker was rabble.ca blogger Fred Wilson, of the Energy and Paperworks Union and the Council of Canadians.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
JP Lewis is a doctoral Political Science student at Carleton University. His lecture explains the strategem behind his numerically-based ranking of Canadian premiers from 1980 to present. Lewis's explains the in-depth ranking system -- with everything taken into consideration from political party to personal legacy -- and, of course, which premiers came out on top of the analysis.
This lecture was recorded by Tariq Jeeroburkhan.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
In 2010, Canada is playing an important role at the Social Summit on the Environment in Bolivia and the G8/20 meetings in Ontario. In this roundtable hosted by Judy Rebick, CAW Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy (Ryerson University), participants discuss the shape of the global movement for economic and environmental justice, focusing on the influence of Indigenous movements, and on the opportunities the G8 and G20 meetings hold for reshaping social movements. Ben Powless, a rabble.ca blogger and member of the Indigenous Environmental Network, was the panel's first speaker.
This lecture was recorded by Kim Elliott
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol has been hailed as the grand compromise of the North-South divide over climate change mitigation; however, its efficacy in this regard remains poorly understood. As Beth Jean Evans argues in her lecture, an examination of distributive and procedural issues characterizing the CDM shows that significant trade-offs exist between Northern and Southern interests and suggests that the interests of the South are often sacrificed. According to Evans, there is a need for increased attention to and accommodation of Southern interests in the CDM specifically, and global climate change efforts more broadly.
This lecture was recorded by Tariq Jeeroburkhan.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
Leigh Brownhill is a writer, editor and researcher at York University whose work focuses on social movements, feminism and the political economies of food and energy. On May 31st, Brownhill gave a lecture assessing food sovereignty movements in Kenya and Canada according to their ability not only to alleviate poverty and hunger, but also to encourge a carbon-neutral existence through environmentally-sound farming practices.
This lecture was recorded by Tariq Jeeroburkhan.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
Alejandra Roncallo is an instructor of Politics and Public Administration at York University's Glendon College. Her lecture at the Congress on May 31st asserted the "fourth moment of a new world order", and explained the uniqueness of present-day life in the context of monumental social and political factors -- from Obama, to the environment, to a shift in capitalist accumulation.
This lecture was recorded by Tariq Jeeroburkhan.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
Jonathan Reinarz, of the University of Birmingham in the UK, spoke on May 29th about medical education during the 1930s and 1940s, as experienced by medical consultants who worked in provincial England during that time.
This lecture was recorded by Yuxi Chen.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
Ed Broadbent is a social democratic politician and political scientist. His lecture, "The Rise and Fall of Economic Social Rights," reviews the connection between human rights (i.e. civil and political rights) and social and economic rights, arguing that the two sets were never meant to be treated separately. Broadbent suggests we have reached a new low since the rise of economic and social rights -- what he deems "a new barbarism" in Canada's approach to human rights and equality.
This lecture was recorded by Kim Elliott
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
Hugues Théorêt is a historian and independent researcher. His lecture, "Irma Levasseur: Femme Médecin Tombée Dans L'Oubli" explores the accomplishments of the first French-Canadian woman allowed to practice medicine in Canada. As Théorêt asserts, however, Levasseur has received considerably less recognition than she deserves for her many contributions to the field (including co-founding Montreal's Hôpital Ste-Justine).
This lecture was recorded by Yuxi Chen.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
Paul Ugor is a professor of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta. Originally from Obudu, in South-South Nigeria, his work explores the connections between present-day Nigeria's socioeconomic conditions and its youth culture. Ugor argues that through Nollywood cinema, today's young Africans are constructing and expressing a shared identity impacted by the growing influences of globalization and postmodernity as well as an almost imaginary set of inherited traditions.
This lecture was recorded by Sven Carlsson.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
Tabitha Marshall is a military historian specializing in the areas of health and medicine. Her May 29th lecture, "Shrapnel and Sirocco: The No.15 Canadian General Hospital in Northern Africa," provides insight into the work done by the hospital during World War II. In particular, she references the diary and letters of Colonel J.R.D. Farmer, its Commanding Officer.
This lecture was recorded by Yuxi Chen.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
Jackie Duffin is History of Medicine Chair at Queen's University. Meryn Stuart is Director of Nursing History Research at the University of Ottawa. On May 29th at the Congress, they spoke about the challenges historically faced by women in the medical profession. Their lecture, “Feminization of Canadian Medicine: Voices from the Second Wave,” looked at the achievements of individual women in the field, based on first-hand accounts.
This lecture was recorded by Yuxi Chen.
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme.
Alessandra Capperdoni is a professor of English at Simon Fraser University. Her research focuses on the relationships between literature, modernity, gender, and theories of spatiality. Her May 29th lecture on "Space, Culture and the Ecocritical Imagination" explored the complex relation to space that can be observed in post-colonial speaking and writing, with the life and work of assassinated Nigerian leader Ken Saro-Wiwa as an example.
This lecture was recorded by Sven Carlsson.
Resistance Across Borders was held March 2nd in Toronto, as an opportunity to encourage understanding about Canada's involvement in war, as well as the implications of international conflict on security and borders. The event was organized by the Council of Canadians and CODEPINK, with rabble.ca as media sponsor. Its keynote speaker was Colonel Ann Wright, who was banned from entering Canada after leaving the US Army in 2003 because of her disagreement with the war in Iraq. The MC for Resistance Across Borders was Andrea Peloso, coordinator for CODEPINK in Toronto.
Speakers:
Stuart Trew, Trade Campaigner for the Council of Canadians
Patrick Hart, Iraq War Resister
Col. Ann Wright
Questions: Col. Ann Wright hears audience comments
Graciela Flores, No One Is Illegal
This edition of the podcast features the second part of the Diversity of Tactics panel held Feb. 20 at downtown Vancouver’s W2 Community Media Arts Centre, to discuss and reflect on the effectiveness of varied protest methods in light of those used during the Olympics.
Put on by rabble.ca and Working TV, the event featured StopWar.ca activist and writer Derrick O’Keefe and No One Is Illegal activist and writer Harsha Walia. The panel was moderated by Charlie Smith, editor for The Georgia Straight, and was followed by a Q&A and audience discussion on the criticisms and benefits of a diversity of protest tactics.
Methods of protest vary, and there has been much discussion between Canadians lately about certain methods employed by demonstrators at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. After media denounced the destruction of property, including the smashing of a Hudson Bay Company window, some activists have suggested that such strategies could harm the greater cause. Others believe that by criticizing diversity of tactics, the movement’s solidarity is undermined.
On Saturday, Feb. 20, at the W2 Community Media Arts Centre in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, rabble.ca and Working TV co-hosted a public discussion on the topic. StopWar.ca activist and writer, Derrick O’Keefe questioned a diversity of tactics. No One is Illegal activist and writer Harsha Walia expressed its benefits.
Please stay tuned for audio from the second half of the event, which consisted of a Q&A with O’Keefe and Walia, followed by audience discussion.
Click here for Part 2 of the discussion.
While the state of the economy has left a lot of people questioning the security of their pensions, the Canadian Labour Congress sees it to be an opportunity for progressive pension reform.
Its "Retirement Security for All" campaign is calling for increased public pensions and workplace pension protection. At CUPE's national pension trustee training session, the CLC's national representative, Joel Harden, described the agenda for action.
On January 23rd, Canadians gathered in cities across the country to protest Stephen Harper's prorogation of Parliament. This week, we bring you voices from the rallies in Ottawa, Whitehorse and Toronto.
Speakers: Elizabeth May; Chris Guinchard in Ottawa; Jennifer Ellis in Whitehorse; Singers in Whitehorse; Jack Layton; Two Clowns in Ottawa; Jonathan Allen, Organizer in Toronto; Louise Pritchard in Ottawa; Larry Gray in Whitehorse; Angus in Whitehorse; Michael Ignatieff; Trevor Strong of the Arrogant Worms; Maude Barlow.
"Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament" on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=260348091419&ref=ts
This week we're bringing you more from the Blue Summit on water issues.
Steven Shrybman practices international trade and public interest law in Ottawa, and he's on the Board of Directors of the Council of Canadians. He frequently speaks and has written extensively on the impact of international trade law on various aspects of Canadian policy. He has also been involved in drafting and promoting conventions on cultural diversity and access to water as a human right. In his presentation on the "next ten years" of public water on November 29th, Shrybman gave his audience seven convincing reasons why it isn't necessarily all doom and gloom ahead.
Over a weekend at the end of November, more than 300 participants came together in Ottawa for the Blue Summit. The event -- organized by the Council of Canadians and CUPE -- marked the 10th anniversary of "Water Watch", and highlighted Canada's place in the growing dilemma over freshwater preservation and ownership.
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow is the loudest voice of the water justice movement. As part of a panel discussion at the summit, moderator Morna Ballantyne asked her how governments are responding to the demand that water be recognized as a universal right. Following Barlow's response, additional opinions and plans of action were offered by other delegates.
John Amaechi (United Kingdom), Retired NBA superstar and Amnesty International Human Rights Ambassador and Brian Dooley (UK), Amnesty International, London spoke on Human Rights and Sports at the International Human Rights Conference associated to the World Out Games, held in Copenhagen in August 2009.
Major human rights breakthroughs have been made in the area of sport; Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali and Martina Navratilova are iconic athletes and human rights figures. Sport can demolish stereotypes and promote diversity but it can also harbour bigotry and discrimination.
Some countries are allowed to send only male athletes to the Olympic Games; homophobia and racism remain unaddressed at the highest levels of major sports.
This workshop explored the power of sport to both perpetuate and overcome discrimination and share examples of effective human rights activism in sport.
Watch a video clip from the workshop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp4jaLCdL5M
Last September, cultural producers from around the world came together in the Toronto Declaration, to protest the Toronto International Film Festival's highlighting of Tel Aviv, as part of a Brand Israel marketing campaign. In the face of a disinformation campaign that tried to label Declaration signatories anti-semitic, a Celebration of Solidarity Event took place on September 14th, at Ryerson University - around the corner from major film festival venues. The event included solidarity statements from members of the film industry, and a discussion of why the Toronto Declaration came about.
Speakers included Mazen Mazri, Elle Flanders, Joslyn Barnes, Elia Suleiman and John Greyson.
The discussion was moderated by Judy Rebick.
The event begins with audio from Amy Goodman and Naomi Klein, from a Democracy Now interview recorded in New York earlier in the day. This video can be viewed at: http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/14/no_celebration_of_occupation_1_500
List of testimonials shared the Celebration of Solidarity event:
Ken Loach is an English film and television director known for his influential and thought-provoking films that explore issues of class, labour rights and politics. This year, he successfully persuaded the Edinburgh Film Festival to refuse funding from the Israeli Embassy to comply with the global movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions.
Udi Aloni is an American-Israeli filmmaker, writer and visual artist whose films and social justice work have often presented a critical perspective of Israel.
Howard Zinn is an award-winning Jewish American historian and author of A People's History of the United States.
Alice Walker is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple, and a long-time activist for civil rights and peace.
Joy Kogawa is a Canadian poet and novelist, as well as a Member of the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada.
Rachel Zolf is a Canadian poet and literary editor.
Viggo Mortenson, is an American actor, poet and musician.
Velcrow Ripper is a Canadian documentary filmmaker whose films examine the intersection of spirituality and politics.
Haidar Eid is a member of the Steering Committee for the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, and a professor of Cultural Studies at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza.
Video excerpts from the event can be found at:
http://rabble.ca/rabbletv/program-guide/2009/09/features/udi-aloni-testi...
http://rabble.ca/rabbletv/program-guide/2009/09/features/canadian-jewish...
http://rabble.ca/rabbletv/program-guide/2009/09/features/filmmaker-john-...
The full text of the Toronto Declaration can be found here: http://torontodeclaration.blogspot.com/
This week, we bring you the other half of our two-part focus on the Regina Manifesto - a founding document of social democracy in Canada.
The Regina Manifesto helped shape the foundation of Canadian social democracy. It was written in 1933 against the backdrop of the Great Depression, representing hope for Canadians in its call for a new, socialized economy, "owned, controlled and operated by the people."
On October 17th in Saskatoon, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives held an event to examine the importance of the manifesto today - 76 years after it was written. The forum was called "The Future of Social Democracy in Canada: The Relevance of the Regina Manifesto in the 21st Century", and featured Murray Dobbin as one of its speakers. A long-time author, broadcaster and journalist, Dobbin observed that the manifesto is so in tune with modern concerns, it could almost have been written today.
View the full text of the Regina Manifesto here:
http://www.connexions.org/CxLibrary/Docs/CX5373-ReginaManifesto.htm
The Regina Manifesto helped shape the foundation of Canadian social democracy. It was written in 1933 against the backdrop of the Great Depression, representing hope for Canadians in its call for a new, socialized economy, "owned, controlled and operated by the people."
On October 17th in Saskatoon, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives presented a forum called "The Future of Social Democracy in Canada: The Relevance of the Regina Manifesto in the 21st Century." Armine Yalnizyan, the CCPA's senior economist, was one of its speakers. She observed that even though many of the changes called for by the Manifesto have since become established aspects of Canadian life - like a national bank, labour standards and universal healthcare - its message remains just as relevant as it was 76 years ago.
View the full text of the Regina Manifesto here:
http://www.connexions.org/CxLibrary/Docs/CX5373-ReginaManifesto.htm
Reverend Doctor Denise Yarbrough is the Interreligious Officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, New York, and a teacher of Interfaith Studies at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.
In July of last year, she was part of a delegation that traveled to Israel and the Palestine under the sponsorship of Interfaith Peace Builders and the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
There, she spent much time in the West Bank and in Palestinian sections of Israel itself, speaking with both Palestinian and Israeli human rights and peace activists.
Tariq Jeeroburkhan recently caught up with Reverend Yarbrough by telephone to hear her opinions on the historical role played by Protestant Christian denominations in the founding of the State of Israel, and the influence of Christian Zionism in ensuring its continued existence and development.
Jack Layton's reputation speaks for itself. For more than two decades he has been dedicated to public service - as a councillor, scholar, president of the federation of Canadian municipalities, chair of the Toronto board of Health, and the city's Member of Parliament and deputy mayor.
Since 2003, he has lead the New Democratic Party of Canada and in 2008, successfully increased the federal caucus by almost 25% - just 6 seats less than at the party's peak during the 1980s.
On October 9th, Jack Layton gave a speech at this year's CUPE National Convention in Montreal.
In it, he praised the work of public sector employees and their families, and emphasized the importance of strong public services in overcoming economic recession.
Ken Georgetti is one of Canada's most recognized defenders of labour rights. He was first elected 10 years ago as president of the Canadian Labour Congress, after a quarter century of union activism in British Columbia.
This included a 13-year stint as the youngest-ever president of the BC Federation of Labour, during which time its membership doubled. Both provincially and federally, Georgetti has been an avid leader and activist, and has advocated what he calls "intelligent militancy" and unity between the 55 affiliated unions within the CLC.
Goergetti's focus is not merely on issues close to home, however; under his leadership, the Congress has been at the forefront of campaigns to fight corporate globalization, forced labour and sweatshops.
He is Vice-President of the International Trade Union Confederation and an executive member of the Trade Union Advisory Committee for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Georgetti was the first labour leader to receive the Order of British Columbia in 1998, and the tenth to be made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2000.
On October 8th at the 2009 CUPE National Convention in Montreal, Ken Georgetti took the stage. In his speech, he called upon governments to recognize the value of economic policies that support the people upon whose shoulders the economy rests.
Since 2003, Vancouver East has been home to North America's first legal supervised injection site for drug users lacking access to health services.
The program is called "Insite," and provides a safe location for men and women to inject drugs and to receive needed health attention - everything from immediate care for disease and infection, to addiction counselling and mental health treatment.
Libby Davies is an NDP Member of Parliament representing Vancouver East and is her party's federal spokesperson for Housing and Homelessness and Multiculturalism.
A longtime supporter of drug policy reform - specifically to end criminalization of users - she has been instrumental to Insite's success since its inception. This contributed to her recognition at the 2007 International Drug Policy Reform Conference for her "outstanding drug policy reform work."
On September 7th, 2007, Kenyan parliamentary candidate Flora Igoki Terah was abducted and tortured by a group of men.
The attack took place with the intention of silencing her election bid against a minister in President Mwai Kibaki's government, and was carried out with impunity. Terah's physical recovery took weeks and resulted in the loss of her place in the December election, but the hardest blow came the following year when her 19-year-old only son was murdered, his death brushed aside by the authorities.
Flora Terah's case is not an isolated incident - 153 cases of electoral violence against women candidates were reported to Nairobi's Education Centre for Women in Democracy leading up to the 2007 elections.
For Terah, this injustice has given her all the more reason to hold onto her political aspirations. She has since founded Terah Against Terror - an organization for victims of electoral violence, and works with the Centre for Multiparty Democracy to strengthen the democratic process in Kenya.
Her book, "They Never Killed My Spirit" - an account of her experiences - was published last year. Flora Terah plans to run for parliament again in the 2012 Kenyan elections.
Amnesty International hosted Flora Terah in Ottawa on September 23rd, 2009. The recording was taken from that evening, and includes the event's closing question and answer session.
On September 26th, the Yukon NDP Leadership Convention was held in Whitehorse. The event's special guest-speaker was Jim Sinclair - President of the BC Federation of Labour, which represents 500,000 workers throughout the province. For more than 25 years, Jim Sinclair has been an articulate member of the labour movement. After working for the Nelson Daily News, he became part of the fishing industry and, in the 1990s, was elected second Vice President of the United Fisherman and Allied Workers' Union/Canadian Auto Workers' Union - a position he held for eight years. He was elected President of the BC Federation of Labour in 1999, and since then has also come to sit on the Board of Directors for Working Enterprises Ltd., the Working Opportunity Fund, and BC Citizens for Public Power.
For the past 30 years, Gloria Mills has been a driving force in the trade union movement. After moving from Trinidad to Britain in her late teens, she became a regional organiser for the National Union of Public Employees in London in 1985, beginning her life's work as a campaigner for workers' rights. In 2005, Mills was appointed president of the Trade Union Congress - the first black woman to hold the position. During her year-long term, she became a prominent advocate of diversity issues and equal opportunities in the workplace. Today, she is national secretary for Unision, the biggest trade union in the UK, and is honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
During a visit to Canada last October, Mills was interviewed by the RPN's Meagan Perry. She provided insight into her life and work, as well as the philosophies which enabled her to become such a strong part of the trade union movement.
On September 8th, the Canadian Centre for International Cooperation's Americas Policy Group hosted a panel discussion at the University of Ottawa to explore concerns raised by the Harper government's proposed Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. The meeting highlighted the importance of conducting a Human Rights Impact Assessment before ratifying the agreement, as was recommended by the House of Commons' international trade committee. In addition, it examined the influence of transnational corporations on the rights of Colombians, and the potential harm to be caused by the Canadian government in endorsing such corporations in a country with significant existing human and labour rights abuses.
Speakers: Dora Lucy Arias, Colombian human rights lawyer from the Jose Alvear Restrepo Lawyers' Collective; Gauri Sreenivasan, trade analyst with the Canadian Centre for International Cooperation.
The panel was moderated by Fiona Meyer-Cook of the CCIC Americas Policy Group. Philippe Tremblay of Lawyers Without Borders provided interpretation. The recording includes questions asked following Dora Lucy Arias's presentation, along with the longer question and answer period which closed the event.
On August 26th, Ottawa's Glebe neighbourhood was the location of an enthusiastic panel discussion regarding the Canadian government's abuse of the civil rights of some of its citizens in the name of security and counter-terrorism precaution. The panel, organized by Octopus Books, was an opportunity for the sharing and consideration of the experiences and activism of its speakers and all in attendance.
Speakers:
Abdullah Almalki - Canadian citizen who was detained, interrogated and tortured in Syria
Yavar Hameed - Human rights lawyer, counsel for Abousfian Abdelrazik
Maureen Webb - Human rights lawyer, co-chair of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group and author of "Illusions of Security: Global Surveillance and Democracy in the Post 9/11 World."
The panel was followed by a question and answer period. Introductions and closing statements were made by the panel's moderator, Bill Skidmore, who teaches human rights at Carleton University.
On May 27th, the fourth and final equity issues panel was conducted at the 2009 Congress of the Humanities. The sessions marked the 25th anniversary of Rosalie Abella's Royal Commission on Equality in Employment, and sought to explore the status of equity today, and the progress made by those committed to the equity agenda in Canadian universities. The last panel, "25 Years After: A Retrospective on the Abella Commission and Employment Equity," looked specifically at the successes and failures of employment equity initiatives over the last two and a half decades in order to determine just how much of the rhetoric has been supported by practice.
Speakers: Judy Rebick, Ryerson University; Shelagh Day, Poverty and Human Rights Centre of Vancouver; Isabella Bakker, York University; Joanne St. Lewis, University of Ottawa.
The panel was followed by a question and answer period and closing statements were made by Malinda Smith (Vice-president Equity Issues, Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences).
On May 28th at the Congress of the Humanities, Judy Rebick discussed some of the themes explored in her recent book, "Transforming Power: From the Personal to the Political." Her lecture examined the social and political potential of what has become a new, interactive movement driven by technology - a movement Rebick asserts has the capacity to revolutionize our understanding of power and to engage an ever more connected public.
The lecture was followed by a question and answer period. (Please note that audience members did not have a microphone, so audio quality varies.)
On June 26th, The International Development Research Centre hosted a lecture by Neil Turok, Director of the Perimetre Institute for Theoretical Physics, and founder of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Capetown, South Africa. Turok showcased the AIMS model and stressed the importance of investing in the math and science skills of the continent's younger generation -- what he asserts are crucial tools in driving economies and addressing challenges such as disease and natural resource management.
The event was followed by a brief question and answer period.
"Seeding Change: Linking Youth for Food Sovereignty in Honduras and Canada" took place on July 2nd in Ottawa. The event was hosted by USC Canada, which has been working to improve food security in Honduras since 1998. Three young organic farmers - two from Ottawa and one from Honduras - shared photos of their experiences and, with the help of an intimate audience, discussed the challenges and benefits of regaining control over what we eat and where it comes from.
Speakers: Sergio Ramirez, ecology student and coordinator of a youth agricultural research team (CIAL) in Honduras
David Burnford, co-founder of the Riverglen Biodynamic Farm in Ottawa; Geoff Cross, facilitator of the OPIRG community garden at the University of Ottawa.
Speakers were introduced by Sarah Mohan, Public Engagement and Fundraising Program Officer for USC Canada.
Susie Walsh, Executive Director of USC Canada, directed the question and answer session and delivered the event's closing statements.
The Federation Equity Issues Portfolio conducted the third of its four-part equity panel series on May 26th. It featured Joyce Green, Makere Stewart-Harawira and Rauna Kuokkanen, who examined the status of indigenous peoples in Canadian universities, and the status of scholarship on indigenous people. Held as part of the 2009 Congress of the Humanities, the panels serve to explore what has been gained and what stands to be achieved for equity-seeking groups in the Canadian Academy.
Speakers: Joyce Green, University of Regina; Makere Stewart-Harawira, University of Alberta; Rauna Kuokkanen, University of Toronto.
The panel was followed by a question and answer period and closing statements were made by Malinda Smith (Vice-president Equity Issues, Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences).
On May 25th, the second installment of a four-part equity panel series was conducted by the Federation Equity Issues Portfolio at the 2009 Congress of the Humanities. The panels served to examine the status of equity-seeking groups in today's Canadian Academy, 25 years after Rosalie Silberman Abella issued the Report of the Royal Commission on Equality in Employment.
Speakers: Anthony Stewart, Dalhousie University; Aruna Srivastava, University of Calgary; Darren Lund, University of Calgary.
The panel was followed by a question and answer period.
Five speakers from across Canada made up the first of a four-part panel series held at the Congress of the Humanities to explore the status of equity-seeking groups in today's Canadian Academy.
Speakers: Marjorie Griffin Cohen, Simon Fraser University; James Deaville, Carleton University; Ashok Mathur, Thompson River University; Carl James, York University; Dolana Mogadime, Brock University.
The panel was followed by a question and answer period.
At the 2009 Congress of the Humanities, Carleton University's International Policy Forum presented a panel discussion to promote the launch of "Afghanistan and Canada: Is there an Alternative to the War?".
Speakers:
Lucia Kowaluk - co-editor of the book, grassroots community organizer and former coordinator of Montreal's Urban Ecology Centre
Steve Staples - co-editor of the book, Director of the Rideau Institute, defence and public-policy researcher
Stephen Cornish - contributor to the book, Policy & Advocacy Advisor for CARE Canada
Introduction by Loren Hunter - Director of the International Policy Forum, Carleton University
From Black Rose Books:
For over six years, thousands upon thousands of troops have been in Afghanistan fighting a seemingly endless war. Billions of dollars of foreign aid have been poured into the country. Thousands of military and civilian causalities are the tragic human cost. International observers report that corruption is rampant, and the opium trade flourishes. A new Taliban insurgency is active.
Washington has lined-up its junior partners to hold down Afghanistan, especially since 9/11 while the Americans devote their main energies to keeping Iraq from falling apart.
In Canada, meanwhile, an unprecedented public concern has emerged, shown with every opinion poll which shows a majority of Canadians want to end Canada's currently defined military involvement in Afghanistan. In Quebec, the public demand for immediate withdrawal is highest and very visible.
Afghanistan and Canada brings together some of the most articulate and expert persons on this hot public issue. The contents lucidly review the facts about what is going on in this war-torn country. The changes brought about in both Canadian foreign policy and defense policy by the current Conservative government are critically examined. The impact of a massively increased military budget of billions of dollars and the corporate contracts changing Canada's domestic and international priorities are analyzed. The massively advertised military recruitment campaign and the changed role of the Canadian armed forces are shown to have a distorting effect on society. These and related issues are brought to light in this cogently edited anthology.
Contributors to this major book include these distinguished persons: Michael Neuman, Murray Dobbin, D'Abord Solidaires, John W.Warnock, Tariq Ali, Echec a la Guerre, Stephen Cornish, Linda McQuaig, Ira Basen, Ligue des droits et libertes, Richard Preston, Cheshmak Farhoumand-Sims, Asad Ismi, Rose Marie Whalley, John Foster, A.Walter Dorn, Pierre Beaudet, Claude Castonguay, Richard Preston, Peggy Mason, Lucia Kowaluk and Steven Staples.
On May 5, 2009, Ryerson University was host to a free screening of Us Now, a UK documentary about how the web enables people of all ages to participate in their communities. The event was organized by Volunteer Toronto.
02:36 The event began with words from Toronto Mayor David Miller on shift toward open governance in the City of Toronto (see Toronto.ca/open), and on Twitter. Mayor Miller is introduced by Andy Strote, President of the Board of Directors, Volunteer Toronto.
15:40 Following the film screening, author Don Tapscott shared his observations about the film, society and technology, and the global shifts in the economy and institutions, as we know them.
This was followed by panel disucussion on the role of technology in community engagement with Toronto's social innovation and non-profit organizations, moderated by Volunteer Toronto's Celina Agaton.
Allyson Hewitt, Director of Social Entrepreneurship, MaRS Discovery District; Christine Cooper, Executive Director, Family Assoc. for Mental Health Everywhere (FAME); Mark Surman, Executive Director, Mozilla Foundation; Mark Kuznicki, Principal, Remarkk and Co-organizer of ChangeCamp
38:08 Marco Campana, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)
Conversation continues, including questions and comments from the audience.
SaveourNet.ca partnered with Telecommunities Canada, rabble.ca and The Tyee for Ottawa's Open Internet Town Hall, with support from NUPGE.
Speakers: Michael Geist - law professor at the University of Ottawa where he is Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law; Charlie Angus - NDP MP, Heritage and Culture; Rocky Gaudrault - CEO, Teksavvy Solutions Inc.
Introduction by Steve Anderson - Co-founder, SaveOurNet.ca
Discussion Facilitator: Marita Moll - TeleCommunities Canada
Special guests:
Jacob Glick - Canada Policy Counsel, Google Canada, * Mike Gifford - founder of Open Concept Consulting Inc * Leslie Regan Shade - Communications Professor, Concordia University * Graham Cox - Canadian Federation of Students
David Fewer - Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC)
Ottawa's Open Internet Town Hall was designed to give local citizens the chance to shape Canada's broadband future. As Canada falls behind other OECD countries on Internet speed, cost, and openness, SaveourNet.ca will host a lively discussion guided by panelists representing web innovators, social change leaders, and public policy gurus.
We will gather citizen testimony that SaveOurNet.ca's Steve Anderson will use to guide his presentation to the CRTC at the July 6 "Traffic Management" hearing. We will also record the town hall meetings and present video testimonials to the CRTC and share them online. Information gathered at the town hall meeting will also help us develop the "Open Internet Declaration" which we will put before MPs and policy makers.
We want to engage the public in discussion on what the future of the Internet should look like by addressing the following questions:
- How can we ensure Internet services for everyone in Canada?
- How do we expand consumer choice and lower costs for Internet services?
- How can the Internet be a catalyst for economic growth, jobs, and prosperity?
- How do we preserve the Internet's level playing field so everyone can access the content, applications, and services of their choice?
- What roles should the federal government, local governments, private industry, and everyday citizens play to build a better Internet?
- What can and should citizens do right now?
For more information about the campaign, visit http://saveournet.ca/
Note that audience members did not have a mic, so audio quality varies in question period.
Teamsters Canada held its 10th convention from June 8-11 at the Château Laurier in Ottawa.
Globe and Mail columnist and CTV commentator, Jane Taber, addressed the convention on the importance of union engagement with media and new media, and also shared some insight into the experience of reporting from the Hill.
Teamsters Canada held its 10th convention from June 8-11 at the Château Laurier in Ottawa.
Jimmy Hoffa Jr, the General president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, addressed the assembly on issues including the new Obama regime, the economic crisis, organizing across borders, and the Columbia Free Trade Agreement. Hoffa is introduced by Teamsters Canada President, Robert Bouvier.
To learn more about the Teamsters, visit http://www.teamsters-canada.org/
The Future of the Internet: Access, Openness, and Inclusion
A Town Hall Discussion. Open Internet Town Hall Meeting (TORONTO) Monday June 8, 2009, 7:00pm – The Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen St. West)
Speakers include: Mark Surman – Executive Director, Mozilla Foundation; Steve Anderson – Co-founder, SaveOurNet.ca; Rocky Gaudrault – CEO, Teksavvy Solutions Inc; Raymi the Minx of http://raymitheminx.com/ & Sass of http://zucket.com/; Derek Blackadder – National Representative with CUPE.
Special Guests: * Olivia Chow – MP * Jesse Brown – Search Engine * David Skinner – Communications Professor, York University * Kim Elliott – rabble.ca * Mark Kuznicki – remarkk consultant
John Agnew, the president of the American Association of Geographers. He was speaking to the Canadian Association of Geographers at the 2009 Congress of the Humanities.
Thanks for listening to Needs No Introduction on the rabble podcast network. Tune in again for more fresh ideas from speakers of note.
Alex Marland, Associate Professor at Memorial University, presenting at a 2009 Congress of the Humanities roundtable.
Are Canada's political parties selling their image, or changing their image to suit you? Marland looks at the last two elections to answer that question.
The title of the session was The State of Political Marketing in Canada.
What made Obama's campaign marketing work so well? Dr. Jeffrey MacLeod presents research at the 2009 Congress of the Humanities.
This month is rabble.ca's eighth birthday, and to celebrate we convened a panel to talk about the media. It was called What's Wrong With Canada's Newspapers, and featured Linda McQuaig, Peter C. Neuman, and Wayne MacPhail.
This is Linda McQuaig's address.
On March 9, 2009, John Ging, UN Director of Operations in Gaza, addressed a Code Pink delegation in Gaza City. Code Pink visited Gaza at the invitation of UNRWA - the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, UNRWA,was established by United Nations General Assembly by a resolution made in December 1949 to carry out direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees. In the absence of a solution to the Palestine refugee problem, the General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA's mandate, most recently extending it until 30 June 2011.
On March 9, 2009,John Ging, UN Director of Operations in Gaza, addressed a Code Pink delegation in Gaza City. Code Pink visited Gaza at the invitation of UNRWA - the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, UNRWA,was established by United Nations General Assembly by a resolution made in December 1949 to carry out direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees. In the absence of a solution to the Palestine refugee problem, the General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA's mandate, most recently extending it until 30 June 2011.
Jeff Halper is an Israeli human rights activist, anthropology professor, coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize nominee.
Halper toured Canada this winter, talking about how Canadians can participate in peaceful resistance against the Israeli siege of Gaza and the occupation in the West Bank.
Jeff Halper spoke January 19th in Ottawa to the Middle East Discussion Group on Parliament Hill.
This is part two of a two part podcast, including audience discussion and questions & answers.
Jeff Halper is an Israeli human rights activist, anthropology professor, coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize nominee.
Halper toured Canada this winter, talking about how Canadians can participate in peaceful resistance against the Israeli siege of Gaza and the occupation in the West Bank.
Jeff Halper spoke January 19th in Ottawa to the Middle East Discussion Group on Parliament Hill.
This is part one of a two part podcast, including audience discussion and questions & answers.
On March 9, 2009, Mr. Husam El-Nounou and Mr. Hassan Ziada, of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme addressed members of Code Pink in Gaza City. They discussed the psychological effects of the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza, both on the general population, and on youth in particular. They also spoke to the need for Israelis to address their own psychological wounds as part of the path to peace.
http://www.gcmhp.net/
The Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) is a Palestinian non-governmental, non-profit organization established in 1990 to provide comprehensive community mental health services - therapy, training and research - to the population of the Gaza Strip.
Since that time, the Gaza Strip - one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with two thirds of the population being refugees and 50% being younger than 16 years - has witnessed extreme forms of violence and suffering, due to Israeli occupation and military operations. This made the extent of mental health problems in the Gaza reach unprecedented levels. To find further information, please link:
http://www.gcmhp.net/File_files/Crisis Intervention
Today, after 15 years, GCMHP remains the leading organization in Palestine in providing psycho-social programs, adopting a comprehensive, community based approach for working with children, women, and victims of human rights violations.
http://www.gcmhp.net/
You're listening to a special edition of Needs No Introduction, Fresh ideas from speakers of note.
British MP George Galloway was refused entry into Canada this week, Conservative Minister of Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney learned he had taken aid that included food, money, and basic toiletries to the people of Gaza. Galloway was coming to Canada to speak about that trip following Israel's bombardment of Gaza earlier this year.
Canada Border Services Agency barred his entry into the country, so Galloway could not be here in person. Instead the MP spoke via internet to packed houses across Canada. And at rabble.ca alone 36 000 viewers tuned in to hear his speech live. At the end of his address, he took questions by phone. Here now is the address by George Galloway.
Don Tapscott is the author of Wikinomics, a book on the way online collaboration is shaping the economy and society. He is one of the leading authorities on business strategy with an emphasis on business technology and how it changes government, society, and organizations.
At the end of February, he spoke after the presentation of Us Now, a UK film about how the internet inspires community participation and collaboration. Here is his address as recorded by Volunteer Toronto and Taking it Global.
Deena Ladd was instrumental in organizing the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and continues to do so, teaching training workshops and continuing to fight discrimination for low-wage, home based, and immigrant workers.
Here's some of what she had to say at the Good Jobs Coalition conference "Good Jobs for All" in Toronto last month.
The Executive Director of the Blue Green Alliance believes that with a focus on jobs that help the environment, we can help the economy and keep our planet running well. Foster spoke last month at Toronto's good jobs for all conference.
Elena Durazo has been a labour activist for much of her adult life. She advocates for workers across the spectrum, and is the executive Secretary-Treasurer for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labour.
In November, she spoke to the Good Jobs for All Conference.
OnOctober 23rd, Media Democracy Day, rabble.ca celebrated the relaunch of our website.
The evening included a panel discussion moderated by Duncan Cameron. Speakers: Maude Barlow, Jessica Yee, Murray Dobbin, and Anne Lagace-Dowson.
Susan Nathan, the author of The Other Side Of Israel speaks about the lives of Arab-Israelis.
Changes in government and changes in economics mean changes for unions too - Fletcher speaks about his bookSolidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labour and a New Path to Social Justice.
Jim Stanford, CAW economist, speaking at the C.A.W. convention on June 12, 2008 in Toronto.
He spoke about his latest book, Economics is for Everyone: A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism, published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Fernwood Press.
Michael Lebowitz is a founding member of the Socialist Studies Society and a Professor Emeritus of Economics at Simon Fraser University.
He delivers his speech “Socialism for the 21st Century” at the Humanities Congress 2008 held at the University of British Columbia.
He compares the past of Socialism to the current applications in Venezuela and its applicability in the North America.
Dr. Henri Morgentaler accepts the Canadian Labour Congress Award for Outstanding Service to Humanity.
President of the The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), John Sweeney addresses the Canadian Labour Congress.
In this lecture, the author of Green Sisters: A Religious Ecology, Sarah McFarland Taylor, speaks about the growing environmental movement. Women in monastic and apostolic communities are seeing the effects of environmental problems on women.
One Nation Under Google examines how technology (everything from the wireless gadgets we think we need to the mechanics of corporate industries), and the ideology of progress, affects democratic participation and citizenship in the modern day. Darin Barney is Canada Research Chair in Technology and Citizenship at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.
On November 29, the Canadian-Palestinian Educational Exchange (CEPAL) in commemoration of the eleventh annual United Nations International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People featured keynote speaker, Dr. Norman Finkelstein discusses roots of conflict and prospects for peace in Israel and Palestine.
This is the first of a three part podcast.
This fall, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, launched Conflict, Crisis and Accountability: Racial profiling and law enforcement in Canada. Featured here is the first of two panels of speakers discussing racial profiling in the Canadian context: Dr. Monia Mazigh, Faisal Kutty, Council on American-Islamic Relations, and Dr. Carol Tator, York University. Don't miss the second panel featured in the next episode!
And Charles C. Smith featured in the book lounge!
This fall, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, launched Conflict, Crisis and Accountability: Racial profiling and law enforcement in Canada. This podcast features the second of two panels of speakers discussing racial profiling in the Canadian context: Karl Flecker, Canadian Labour Congress, Filsan Fadal, youth activist, and Jana Kooren, Educational Co-ordinator, ACLU Minnesota.
Don't miss listening to Charles C. Smith featured in the book lounge! LISTEN HERE
On April 27, 2007, Vandana Shiva, Maude Barlow, and Starhawk were featured at the Water and Women of Action conference in Toronto, hosted by the Transformative Learning Centre and OISE. rabble.ca first presents Vandana, who speaks of the importance of viewing water as sacred.
Part One of the readings at PEN Canada's annual fall gala benefit held on Friday, October 20 at the University of Toronto. It featured Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.
Also appearing will be Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Tehran) along with acclaimed Canadian writers Miriam Toews, Wayson Choy and MG Vassanji. The host is writer and actor Ann-Marie McDonald.
The PEN Canada/Paul Kidd Courage Prize was presented to Vancouver Sun journalist Kim Bolan.
IMPERIAL BLUES: Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine. A Public Lecture by TARIQ ALI.
Tariq Ali spoke in Toronto on October 15th on the topic of "Imperial Blues" Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine", and on the subject of his new book: "Pirates of the Carribean - an Axis of Hope".
The event was organized by CUPE 3903 ... and recorded for rabble.ca by Kim Elliott.
TARIQ ALI was born in Lahore (then British India) in 1943. He was educated in Pakistan and later at Oxford. His opposition to the military dictatorship in Pakistan prevented his return to his native country and forced him to become an unwilling exile in Britain. A leading figure of the European left during the 60's and 70's, Ali debated Henry Kissinger and others in one of the first TV debates organized by CBS. He edited two seminal radical magazines of the periodThe Black Dwarf and The Red Mole, which combined politics and culture and whose contributors included John Lennon and Mick Jagger.
Tariq Ali has written over a dozen books on history and politics, including Can Pakistan Survive?, The Nehrus and the Ghandhis: An Indian Dynasty, and Streetfighting Years: An Autobiography of the Sixties.
His non-fiction work Clash of Fundamentalisms, critical of Bush and Bin Laden and hailed by Howard Zinn as "lucid, eloquent, literary and painfully honest", was published by Verso in 2002 and has been translated into over a dozen languages. This was followed by Bush in Babylon and Rough Music. He is a longstanding editor of New Left Review and writes regularly for The Guardian and the London Review of Books.
His Latest book is PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AXIS OF HOPE. Since 1998, the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela has brought Hugo Chavez to world attention as the foremost challenger of the neoliberal agenda and American foreign policy. While Chavez's radical social-democratic reforms have brought him worldwide acclaim among the poor, he has attracted intense hostility from traditional Venezuelan elites and mainstream Western governments and media, who regard him as a barbarian interloper, disrupting the smooth progress of the Washington consensus and daring to show Latin America that one can change the world by taking power.
Drawing on a wealth of first-hand experience of Venezuela and several meetings with Chavez himself, the book traces the history of the revolutionary process. He shows how Chavez's views have polarized Latin America and put the continent on the map again, examining the hostility directed against his administration, and tracing the rise of Telesur, Venezuela'span-Latin American counterweight to the pervasive influence of media conglomerates. Ali discusses the enormous influence of Fidel Castro on both Chavez and Evo Morales, the newly-elected President of Bolivia. He explores the differences between the Cuban and Venezuelan revolutionary processes, and outlines the options available to Latin America at this critical time in its history.
Interweaving personal experience and sharp political analysis Tariq Ali details the populist, revolutionary stirrings in Latin America.
Read more about Tariq Ali at http://www.tariqali.org
Veteran White House bureau chief, Helen Thomas, speaks out against the Bush government and the press at the Media Giraffe Conference in Amherst, Mass.
Learn more about the Media Giraffe here: http://www.mediagiraffe.org/artman/publish/article_487.shtml
This is the second in a three-part series of talks from the Social Change Institute, held at Hollyhock on Cortes Island in early May.
This time out, Van Jones, an environmentalist, social justice advocate and social entrepreneur who Judy Rebick believes might become a greater leader than Martin Luther King. Van Jones, 37, is the founder and National Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Headquartered in Oakland, CA, EBC is a national organization that challenges human rights abuses in the U.S. criminal justice system.
Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simmons of the Bioneers (www.bioneers.org) address the Social Change Institute conference
Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons - The Bioneers Story
Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons are respectively the founder and co-executive directors of Bioneers.
One year after Kenny founded the organic biodiversity seed company Seeds of Change, where he and Nina served as CEO and President until 1994, he founded the Bioneers conference to highlight practical solutions for restoring the Earth and human communities. Together they have co-produced Bioneers for the past sixteen years. Kenny is an award-winning journalist, author, filmmaker and radio producer. Nina is also an leader in community-based marketing.
The two were named ?Utne Visionaries? in 1996, and in 2006 received the Global Green Award for Community Environmental Leadership from Green Cross International, founded by Mikhael Gorbachev, for their work with Bioneers.
For more information about Hollyhock, visit http://sci.hollyhockleadership.org
Dr. Michael Geist is a professor of law at the University of Ottawa, where he holds a Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law, and is a leading authority on internet-related legal issues in Canada. Dr. Geist is a member of Canada's National Task Force on Spam and is a syndicated columnist for the Toronto Star and Ottawa Citizen. Dr. Geist is also the editor of In The Public Interest: The Future of Canadian Copyright Law (2005, Irwin Law).
The Hart House Lecture Series was inaugurated in 2001, with the aim of initiating discussion about identity and society. Organized by students, the Lecture brings issues raised by students to a national audience.
Thanks to Dray Perenic of Hart House and CIUT for their help in producing and recording the lecture.
Flora MacDonald has been active in Canadian politics since the 1970s. She served as an MP and Cabinet Minister, and in 1979 she became the first woman to be appointed Secretary of State for External Affairs.
Since leaving politics in 1989, Flora has been involved in a range of human rights and environmental activities around the globe, and is currently working in Afghanistan and India.
She has received numerous honours in her life, including the Order of Canada, the Pearson Peace Medal, India's Padma Shri Award, and the EVE award from Equal Voice. Equal Voice is a national multi-partisan advocacy organization committed to promoting the election of more women to every level of government, and to raising awareness about the under-representation of women in Canadian politics. Equal Voice has chapters in every province, as well as youth chapters.
The Canadian Club of Toronto was founded in 1897, and is one of the premier public affairs forums in North America. Over its 109 year history, many distinguished leaders and newsmakers have visited the Club's podium, including Winston Churchill, most Canadian Prime Minsters, Sheila Fraser and the UN's Louise Arbour, to name a few.
Dr. Arne Kislenko in an Associate Professor of History at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, and an Adjunct Professor in International Relations at the University of Toronto's Munk Centre. Dr. Kislenko has experience in foreign affairs and Canadian Intelligence.
He was recently named Ontario's Best Lecturer by TV Ontario's Big Ideas competition.
http://www.ryerson.ca/mgroup/arteries/kislenko.html http://www.tvo.org/bi/arneQA.html
Dr. Charles Burton is Associate Professor of Political Science at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. He has worked at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, and has been a consultant at the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs.
He has also written several books about China and the Koreas.
http://www.brocku.ca/politicalscience/people/Charles_Burton.html
The Future of the Forum session was recorded by Kim Elliott at the 5th annual World Social Forum, held in Caracas in February 2006.
Speakers included Marco Berlinguer, John Holloway, François Houtart, Francine Mestrum, Thomas Ponniah, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Teivo Teivainen, Virginia Vargas and Hilary Wainwright.
The session was organized by the Network Institute for Global Democratization
For more commentary on the future of the World Social Forum, see:
http://www.yachana.org/research/dollarsandsense.pdf
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060306/blanding/2
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br
Robert Fisk is Middle East correspondent for The Independent. he spoke about his new book, The Great War For Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East (Harper Collins), his experiences as a foreign correspondent, and the role of journalists in contemporary conflicts. http://www.independent.co.uk/ note: the question and answer segment of the lecture was not recorded by request of the lecturer.
Jeff Halper is the Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House demolitions (ICAHD) and a Professor of Anthropology at Ben Gurion University. He has lived in Israel since 1973.
Jeff has researched and written extensively on Israeli society and he has been active in the Israeli peace movement for many years. As the Coordinator of ICAHD, he has forged a new mode of Israeli peace activity based on non-violent direct action and civil disobedience to the Israeli Occupation authorities and in close cooperation with Palestinian organizations. (courtesy www.jewishpeacefellowship.org)
A Call for Morally Responsible Investment: A Non-Violent Response to the Israeli Occupation is an international conference for CROs (Church Related Organizations) and NGOs (Non-governmental organizations) presented by Canadian Friends of Sabeel (http://www.sabeel.ca) and numerous co-sponsors dedicated to a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A campaigner for peace and economic justice, Walden Bello is professor of sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines.
He is also executive director of the Bangkok-based research and advocacy organization, Focus on the Global South.
Professor Bello is the author of many books including, Dilemmas of Domination: the Unmaking of the American Empire and The Future in the Balance: Essays on Globalization and Resistance.
For more information: Focus on the Global South: http://www.focusweb.org/
Political Science at York U: http://www.arts.yorku.ca/politics/index.html