Canadian history, as many of us learned it in high school, leaves out or distorts the histories of many Canadians who do not fit into the prescribed narrative of this country. Students are often left questioning how they can study a past that does not reflect their present. A new book, Transforming the Canadian History Classroom: Imagining a New "We", calls for an approach that places students at the centre of the history classroom. We speak with author Dr. Samantha Cutrara.
Feb 04, 2021•19 min
In May last year, the Alberta government cancelled blanket environmental protections that had been in place since the 1970s, paving the way for foreign mining companies to operate open-pit coalmines in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains. We talk with Toby Malloy of the National Farmers Union.
Feb 02, 2021•13 min
The 4,300 unionized employees who work at the publicly-owned Hastings Park at the Pacific National Exhibition have been left out of Canada's economic recovery plan and are subsequently out of work. Vancouver City Council finally paid some attention to this issue last week. Also, in this week’s City Beat report, Ian Mass talks about housing for renters, VSB property, the Port of Vancouver and a nasty fight at Surrey Council.
Jan 31, 2021•17 min
As the world struggles with the second wave of the pandemic and vaccines are being rolled out, we are starting to hear calls for an app that could store a record of a Covid-19 vaccination. Françoise Baylis is a philosopher with a special interest in medical ethics. She tells us some of her concerns with how a vaccination record for Covid-19 could be used.
Jan 30, 2021•19 min
In 2017 the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons started an international movement to develop a treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. On January 22, the treaty was endorsed by 122 countries at the United Nations. Canada was not a signatory but there is a petition to Parliament to change that. Dr. Nancy Covington is with the Canadian affiliate of the International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War. Sign the petition: https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Sign/e-3...
Jan 28, 2021•14 min
On Jan 18, Nunavut Independent Television made history when it launched Canada’s first all-Inuit Inuktut TV channel. Uvagut TV is the first Indigenous–language channel in Canada. Lucy Tulugarjuk is chair and executive director of Nunavut Independent Television. She’s also director of the Inuit-language children’s film, Tia and Piujuq. Lucy Tulugarjuk speaks with us two days after Uvagut TV goes on the air.
Jan 26, 2021•14 min
There are a complex web of laws and jurisdictional issues that affect our coasts and oceans. The question is how we can use these laws to better protect our water and marine life. West Coast Environmental Law has put together a guide to these marine protection laws. We speak with lawyer Stephanie Hewson about that guide.
Jan 25, 2021•15 min
The Vancouver School Boards owns billions of dollars worth of property around Vancouver, including the land that the Kingsgate Mall is located on. Some VSB trustees are considering selling off land to private developers to meet funding priorities. OneCity school board trustee Jennifer Reddy is opposed to what she calls the privatization of public land. She explains her concerns.
Jan 24, 2021•15 min
As the climate emergency advances, we need to push for a just transition for everyone. Workers in extractive industries, and the communities that depend on them, deserve solid plans to address the negative effects of the fossil fuel wind-down. Marc Lee and Seth Klein take a look at possible models in a recent post on the CCPA blog, policynote.ca. We talk with senior economist Marc Lee.
Jan 22, 2021•17 min
Six years ago, the BC Civil Liberties Association made a complaint against the RCMP after it discovered that it spied on the activities of people opposed to Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline project. The final report of the Complaints Commission for the RCMP came out in mid-December. We talk with Jessica Magonet of the BCCLA about what the report said and why it took so long to come out.
Jan 20, 2021•11 min
The MST Corporation is a partnership between the Musqueam Indian Band and the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nation and it’s the developer of a big parcel of land in the Cambie corridor. Ian Mass joins us in a new edition of City Beat to tell us more about MST and to discuss other civic issues from land acknowledgements in Surrey to inappropriate tweets in Vancouver.
Jan 18, 2021•15 min
The global pandemic has deepened the divide between the wealthy and those struggling to make ends meet. This crisis of inequality has fostered new calls for a wealth tax. Two Ontario doctors say that healing economic inequity will lead to better health for everyone. Drs. Danyaal Raza and Edward Xie published the recent commentary, Let’s turn wealth into health with a 1% tax on the rich on healthydebate.ca. We speak with Dr. Edward Xie.
Jan 17, 2021•17 min
The National Trust manages historic properties and areas of countryside in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In September, the Trust commissioned a report on connections between their properties and colonialism, including links with historic slavery. The report attracted the attention of a group of Conservative MPs who are attempting to discredit the work of the historians who produced it. We speak with Professor Corinne Fowler of the University of Leicester about the work and the attacks on ...
Jan 14, 2021•17 min
British Columbia's energy minister says he has received a report on the status of the Site C dam project and will present its findings to cabinet soon. Bruce Ralston says the report by former deputy finance minister Peter Milburn is "helpful," but he wouldn't discuss its findings until they are reviewed by the cabinet and Premier John Horgan. We talk with Rita Wong, long-time activist and opponent of the Site C dam.
Jan 12, 2021•11 min
The newly released book Great Anarchists aims to bring radical ideas to a wider, non-academic audience. The book presents a series of vignettes on ten individuals who helped to lay the foundations of the anarchist tradition. We speak with co-author Ruth Kinna of Loughborough University in the UK.
Jan 07, 2021•23 min
As B.C. expands the safe supply program for illicit drugs, researchers are calling on the province to do the same for people living with severe alcohol dependencies. BC currently has five of Canada’s managed alcohol programs – known as MAPs. We speak with Meaghan Brown is a PhD candidate at the UVic school of nursing and collaborator on the Canadian MAP Study at the University of Victoria.
Jan 04, 2021•12 min
The tragic deaths of thousands of seniors in care homes has highlighted the critical need for federal standards in the provision of long-term care. The pandemic has exposed a fragmented and under-resourced system that is heavily reliant on for-profit delivery. A new discussion paper released in November proposes foundational principles for continuing care services across the country. We speak with co-author Marcy Cohen.
Jan 01, 2021•13 min
The vaccine rollout in Canada has given us the sense that there is light at the end of the tunnel. But the pandemic continues to rage, and the picture for poorer countries that aren’t first up for vaccine distribution is much bleaker. Jason Nickerson is humanitarian affairs advisor for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières in Ottawa. He says equitable access can only be guaranteed through fundamental change to the way that lifesaving medicines and vaccines are developed and distribute...
Dec 29, 2020•21 min
In September, the Canadian government signalled its intention to develop nuclear power as part of its investment in clean technology companies. One aspect of the plan could see small modular reactors placed in remote communities currently powered by diesel. We discuss this new strategy with Susan O’Donnell of the Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick.
Dec 27, 2020•17 min
A new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives takes a look at the economic performance of coal mines located in mountain caribou habitat in northeastern British Columbia, where mining has been identified as a key driver of caribou extirpation. Economist Robyn Allan is co-author of the report, Who Benefits From Caribou Decline?
Dec 23, 2020•13 min
City councils around the Lower Mainland are wrapping up a busy year, full of unprecedented challenges and crises. Redeye’s City Beat reporter Ian Mass joins us to look back on the six biggest issues municipalities faced in 2020.
Dec 21, 2020•19 min
As countries are rolling out plans to distribute new vaccines for Covid-19, Canada has to depend on foreign corporations to produce and obtain vaccines. But that has not always been the case - Canada used to have significant capacity to develop and produce important vaccines and drugs. Health policy researcher Colleen Fuller explains how Canada lost that capacity and how it hampers our ability to create a national pharmacare program.
Dec 19, 2020•18 min
On November 18, the federal Conservatives convinced the NDP, Greens and the Bloc to support a motion declaring that the People’s Republic of China is threatening Canada’s national interest and its values, and Parliament needs to do something decisive about it. To talk about the significance of this resolution, we're joined by John Price, professor emeritus of Transpacific History at the University of Victoria and author of the book Orienting Canada: Race, Empire and the Transpacific.
Dec 16, 2020•15 min
Medea Benjamin of Code Pink for Peace condemns the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and says it’s aimed at derailing future efforts at diplomacy with Iran. She points out that, with Iran scheduled to have elections in June, incoming president Joe Biden has just four months to bring the United States back into the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. We talk with Medea Benjamin from Miami.
Dec 14, 2020•14 min
A group of dedicated volunteers has just launched a new podcast about the arts and mental health. When the team, led by music producer Earle Peach, got together a year ago to start planning, they had no idea how timely a mental health podcast would be in 2020. The first two episodes are up on their podcast. We speak with the host of the Art Heals Podcast, Elaine Joe. Find Art Heals at https://arthealspodcast.podbean.com/
Dec 11, 2020•14 min
The BC NDP say that its CleanBC plan will put the province on the path to a cleaner, better future. However, this climate strategy seems at odds with the decision by the NDP government to continue to provide subsidies to oil and gas companies in the form of tax breaks, royalty reductions and investments of public money. We talk with Kai Nagata, energy and democracy director at Dogwood.
Dec 09, 2020•17 min
Over 16,000 petitions were delivered to Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino’s office in November calling for changes to student work permit rules before Dec 31d. Covid-19 related job losses have meant that hundreds of thousands of former international students may be unable to qualify for permanent resident status. And the deadline for renewal of work permits is fast approaching. We speak with Simran Dhunna of Migrant Students United.
Dec 06, 2020•13 min
In November, the federal government tabled legislation that makes net-zero emissions by 2050 a legally-binding target. While this is being seen as a positive first step, Canada has missed every single emission-reduction target it has ever set. Anna Johnston of West Coast Environment Law says that changes are needed for the law to show true climate leadership. We spoke with her last month.
Dec 04, 2020•13 min
Canada Energy Regulator just came out with its latest long-term energy outlook. The analysis in the report shows that with even modest new climate policies, there’s no need to build the Trans Mountain and Keystone XL pipelines, undermining Prime Minister Trudeau’s position that the expansion of oil production is consistent with Canada’s climate policy. We speak with Eugene Kung of West Coast Environmental Law.
Dec 01, 2020•14 min
At a time when the Vancouver Police department is under pressure from a broad range of activist groups and the City of Vancouver to end street checks, it has formed a new neighbourhood response team in the downtown core that could lead to an expansion of this type of police activity. We talk with Meghan McDermott of the BC Civil Liberties Association about the VPD’s new unit.
Nov 27, 2020•16 min
