The upcoming provincial and federal budgets are being called the most important in a generation with the opportunity of addressing long standing systemic inequality and injustices. Alex Hemingway is an economist and public finance policy analyst at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives BC Office. He joins us to talk about what British Columbians are hoping to see in these budgets.
On April 1. BC Supreme Court granted an injunction to logging company Teal-Jones Group to remove Fairy Creek/Ada’itsx forest defenders. This clears the path for the destruction of one of the last intact old-growth areas on Vancouver Island, on the territory of the Pacheedaht First Nations. We speak with two people from the Sierra Club, senior forest and climate campaigner Jens Wieting and forest relations coordinator Ma̱k’wa̱la – Dakota Smith.
According to a recent study, more than one and a half million child laborers were working in cocoa growing areas of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana in 2019. In a landmark human rights case, eight young men from Mali are bringing a class action suit against big chocolate companies. They managed to escape after being trafficked as children and forced to harvest cocoa in Cote D’Ivoire. We speak with lawyer and executive director of International Rights Advocates Terry Collingsworth.
According to a recent study, outbreaks of infectious diseases are more likely in areas that have been stripped of their forest cover or land that is used for monoculture plantations. The study, published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science, suggests epidemics are likely to increase as biodiversity declines. We speak with Claire Lajaunie, researcher with the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in France.
Vancouver City Council is at risk of slipping into divisive politics which will hinder a solution for South False Creek residents who fear eviction from their homes. Plus the push to host the 2030 Olympics, plans for the post Covid economic recovery and policy overload for City staff. We talk with our City Beat reporter, Ian Mass.
Music streaming services like Spotify are great for people who love to listen to music but have robbed musicians of much of their income. Musicians say the paltry payout rates are unfair and make it hard to make a living through their work. The Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) launched a campaign called Justice at Spotify last fall, and they organized worldwide protests outside Spotify’s offices this month. We speak with musician and UMAW organizer Zack Nestel-Patt.
If you were asked to name the countries that have produced vaccines against Covid-19, you probably wouldn’t think of Cuba. Yet Cuba is currently the only Latin American country developing Covid-19 vaccine candidates. The Soberana 1 and 2 vaccines have shown strong immune response against the virus during clinical studies. Conner Gorry is Senior Editor of MEDICC Review and has been reporting on the Cuban health system from Havana for nearly 20 years. She spoke with me from Minneapolis.
In March, Vancouver City Council unanimously passed a motion to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, UNDRIP, in Vancouver. To find out what this means for the three host nations, Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-waututh, urban Indigenous people and the City of Vancouver, we speak with Alexander Dirksen, co-vice chair of the City’s Urban Indigenous Peoples’ Advisory Committee.
Statistics show that the lower your income, the less likely you are to have employer-paid sick days. Given that the jobs where women workers predominate don’t pay well, it’s clear that the introduction of paid sick leave would increase gender equality across the board. This March, the BC Employment Standards Coalition is calling on the provincial government to include the right to paid sick days in the Employment Standards Act. We talk with Kaitlyn Matulewicz, executive director of the Worker So...
Nearly 6,000 workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama are sending in their ballots in a certification drive that will make history if it succeeds. Ballots must reach the National Labor Relations Board regional office in Alabama by March 29 to be counted. Jonathan Rosenblum is the author of Beyond $15: Immigrant Workers, Faith Activists, and the Revival of the Labor Movement. He also works as a community organizer for Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant. We spoke with Jonathan Ro...
Activists across Canada say that it’s long past time that the federal government addressed environmental racism in this country. Nova Scotia MP Lenore Zann has brought forward a private member’s bill to develop a strategy to combat this form of structural racism. Bill C-230 is going to second reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday March 23. Dr. Ingrid Waldron is associate professor in the School of Nursing at Dalhousie University and co-producer of the 2019 film There's Something in the Wate...
Phase 3 of the vaccine rollout in British Columbia is expected to start in April and includes everyone over 60. But neither the province nor the feds have prioritized disabled individuals and their essential caregivers in its vaccine distribution plan. In contrast to other countries which clearly indicate that people with certain types of disabilities are high priority, Canada has yet to give this guidance. Yona Lunsky is a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toront...
Vancouver has been developing a neighbourhood to house 20,000 people in South Vancouver for the last 30 years. Unfortunately, despite promising the best in amenities, the City faces rising costs with little money to pay for what was promised. Ian Mass brings us his City Beat report on this and other city issues.
Most of us can’t go to Tofino yet this year, with public health restrictions on non-essential travel. But if you’ve been longing to connect with the spirit of wild West Coast experiences, you can connect through film this weekend, March 12-14. The first-ever Tofino Adventure Film Festival is hosted by the folks at Clayoquot Action. We spoke today with festival curator, Keegan McColl.
While President Biden has made positive moves on the domestic front, activists are sounding the alarm about the direction of his foreign policy with the naming of Senator Robert Menendez to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Menendez has repeatedly attacked the United Nations and the International Court of Justice and supported unconditional military aid to right-wing governments. We speak about Biden’s foreign policy with Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and coordinator of Middle...
The federal government’s new Bill 22 repeals some of the offences that currently carry mandatory minimums, but it leaves quite a number still in place. Meghan McDermott says that any imposition of sentencing requirements on judges leads to problems with systemic racism within the justice system. Meghan McDermott is with the BC Civil Liberties Association.
Migrant rights advocates estimate that 1.6M people in Canada don't have permanent resident status and at least 500,000 people are undocumented. Both groups could have problems getting the vaccine. Last week, the Migrant Rights Network sent a letter signed by more than 250 organizations calling on the prime ministers and provincial and territorial leaders to make sure that vaccines are available for everyone in Canada, regardless of immigration status. We speak with Dr. Danyaal Raza of Canadian D...
Six months after mass worldwide protests in support of racial justice, support continues to grow for a divestment from policing and prisons. Choosing Real Safety was collaboratively developed and authored by the Abolition Coalition and its allies. Over 250 organizations and over 3,000 individuals have signed on to support the declaration. We speak with Kit Rothschild, Violence Prevention Coordinator at PACE society.
A letter signed by Naomi Klein, David Suzuki and Noam Chomsky, as well as a hundred other academics, activists and artists was delivered to Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau’s office on Feb 25. It called on the federal government to stop propping up a repressive and corrupt dictatorship in Haiti, pointing out that for the past two years, Haitians have demonstrated their overwhelming opposition to Jovenel Moïse with massive protests and general strikes calling for his departure from office. W...
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers says we should re-imagine Canada Post and use its existing network to connect Canadians as part of a green and just recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic. We talk with Kate Holowatiuk about the vision they have developed - Delivering Community Power.
A new study has found that air pollution from fossil fuels was responsible for more than 8.7 million deaths globally in 2018. This death toll exceeds the combined total of people who die globally each year from smoking tobacco plus those who die of malaria. The study was published in the journal Environmental Research earlier this month. We talk with Eloise Marais, Associate Professor in Physical Geography at University College, London and one of the authors of the study.
Vancouver City Council approved rezoning applications for two new housing projects spearheaded by local Indigenous societies, despite neighbourhood opposition. Council also looked at how they could support reconciliation, bring in paid sick leave and protect West End residents from homophobic street preachers. All this, and more, in today’s City Beat with Ian Mass.
Ben Parfitt says the BC government doesn’t have a good handle on how much water the major industries in the province use. He argues that we need to get that information before we can implement effective policies to encourage conservation and sound management of our water. Ben Parfitt is a resource policy analyst with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
The BC government says that fracking and the natural gas industry will not only be economically beneficial for the province but also consistent with the province’s climate action plan. Peter McCartney disagrees. McCartney is climate campaigner for the Wilderness Committee and author of the just released report Planet on Fire: Let’s End Fracking in BC.
Following the unanimous passage of an NDP motion, the Canadian government has designated the Proud Boys as a terrorist entity. The move came swiftly on the heels the Trump-led white nationalist insurrection at the US Capitol. While this might seem like a big win, many progressive and anti-racist organizations are asking if putting white supremacists on the terrorist list is the right approach. We speak with BCCLA board member and lawyer Hasan Alam.
Hassan Diab’s ordeal began over 12 years ago when France requested his extradition in relation to the bombing of a Paris synagogue in 1980. Hassan was extradited to France in 2014 where he spent 3 years in solitary confinement. Finally French authorities dropped all charges against Hassan Diab, citing lack of evidence, and Diab returned to Canada. Now a French court has said it wants to proceed to trial in his case. Tim McSorley of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group says the Cana...
A new program recently introduced by the Vancouver Police Department authorizes officers to remove people if they have allegedly violated the provincial Trespass Act. The VPD’s Trespass Prevention Program allows them to do this even if there wasn’t a call to 911. We talk with Meenakshi Mannoe, criminalization and policing campaigner at Pivot Legal Society.
The Saudi-led bombing and blockade of Yemen has led to the death of 250,000 people and created the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. On Jan 25, people around the world protested against their governments’ support for the war. In Canada, peace and labour activists blocked trucks at Paddock Transport International, a Hamilton company involved in shipping Canadian-made, light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia. We talk about Canada’s role in the crisis in Yemen with Simon Black, assistant pr...
Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are large investment companies that own, and in most cases operate, rental apartment buildings. Housing activists say REITs result in the loss of affordable rental units and drive gentrification, in order to make the highest profit for their investors. On February 9, Vancouver city councillor Jean Swanson is bringing a motion to the council meeting that is designed to protect affordable rental housing in Vancouver. We talk with Sara Sagaii of the Vancouver T...
Canadian supermarkets throw out tons of unsold food every day. A common misunderstanding is that this food is rotten and useless. The truth is that most food thrown out is edible. Greenpeace is calling on supermarkets to reform their practices. They would like to see the big chains commit to a zero edible food waste target. We talk with Ann Foo, a volunteer with Go Zero Food Waste.
