Redeye

In September, Cuban citizens at home and abroad cast their ballots in a referendum on the country’s new Families Code. The Code passed by 67%, expanding legal rights for women, children and LGBTQ+ people. The new code has been described as one of the most progressive piece of social policy in the world. Owen Schalk is a writer based in Winnipeg. He was in Cuba this spring and he joins today to talk about the new Families Code.

This week Vancouver City Council considered the final report of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Task Force. The report was developed in a partnership with Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation, and Tsleil-Waututh Nation and the City of Vancouver. The task force states that the calls to action are the first of their kind in Canada and will lead to Vancouver becoming both a national and world leader in implementing a clear strategy towards UNDRIP and reconciliation with nations whose lands and waters the city occupies. We speak with task force co-chair Christine Boyle.force co-chair Christine Boyle.Read the report: https://council.vancouver.ca/20221025/documents/p1.pdf

In 2001, Dr. Norma Dunning applied to the Nunavut Beneficiary program, seeking legal recognition of her status as an Inuk woman. In the application process, she was faced with a question she could not answer, "What was your disc number?” Her new book Kinauvit: What’s Your Name is the result of two decades of research into the Eskimo Identification System and its impact on Inuit lives. It’s also a personal account of her search for her grandmother. We speak with Dr. Norma Dunning.

A new report by Independent Jewish Voices documents in detail the reprisals, harassment and intimidation faced by Canadians who engage in scholarship and activism in the area of Palestinian human rights. The report discusses how this chilling effect blunts and shapes the discourse around Palestinian rights and criticism of Israeli policy. We speak with report co-author, Sheryl Nestel.

Municipal elections on October 15 changed the political landscape all over the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. Redeye collective member Ian Mass joins us with his City Beat report to talk about the surprises and some of the challenges facing these new municipal governments.

On September 14, Marjorie Griffin Cohen gave the 2022 Gideon Rosenbluth Memorial Lecture at an event organized by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives BC office. Her talk was titled Handle With Care: Growth through the care economy benefits people and the climate. In it, she looks at the blind spots in economic thinking that devalue the care economy and in doing so, miss opportunities for expanding the economy in a way that meets people’s needs and address the climate crisis.

A massive electricity plant in Northeast England that has transitioned from coal to wood pellets claims it is creating green energy. But a protest movement in the UK, and environmentalists in BC say this is greenwashing. Now an investigation team has revealed that DRAX intends to supplement its use of wood waste and sawdust with whole trees, logged in primary forests. We speak with Ben Parfitt of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

On October 4, a parliamentary committee released a new report on facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence. The committee stopped short of recommending a ban on the use of facial recognition technology by police, a move that the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group says is critical to prevent mass surveillance of Canadians. We speak with Tim McSorley, national coordinator for ICLMG.

Of all of the processes that are reshaping cities today, gentrification is probably one of the most misunderstood. In her new book, Gentrification is Inevitable and Other Lies, Leslie Kern addresses seven of the myths about gentrification and exposes the ideologies that make it seem like a natural and desirable process. Leslie Kern is associate professor of geography and environment and women's and gender studies at Mount Allison University, in Sackville, New Brunswick. She joins us to talk about how and why gentrification happens and how to resist it.

Two years ago the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute and others started a campaign to oppose Israeli military recruitment in Canada. A parliamentary petition calling on the Minister of Justice to investigate this recruitment got more than 7500 signatures but died on the order paper. In response to a follow-up petition, the Liberal government last month reiterated the illegality of foreign recruitment but declined to take action. This has prompted two individuals to initiate a private prosecution. Last week, a justice of the peace determined that their case against Sar-El Canada could be heard. We speak with Yves Engler of the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute.

Coastal Gaslink is poised to drill under Wedzin Kwa – The Morice River on the territory of the Wet’suwet’en. Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and their allies have fought back for years against developments that threaten their land and waters. At this critical time, they are calling for solidarity and support. We speak with Jennifer Wickham.

In his City Beat report, Ian Mass covers the municipal races in the four Lower Mainland cities that could elect progressive councils: Surrey, Burnaby, New Westminster and Vancouver. He also attended two mayoral debates in Vancouver, one on Chinatown and one on housing and real estate issues.

Private surgeries and medical imaging are big business in BC. A new report says that government policies have created a market for these clinics by signing contracts with them to deliver publicly funded services worth almost 400 million dollars over 6 years. Health policy researcher Andrew Longhurst says the provincial government needs to stop subsidizing for-profit clinics and wean BC off its growing reliance on corporate health-care delivery. We speak with Andrew Longhurst.

Tsqelmucwilc is the story of the children who survived the Kamloops Indian Residential School. It is based on the 1988 book Resistance and Renewal, a groundbreaking history of the school - and the first book on residential schools ever published in Canada. The new book has contributions by Garry Gottfriedson, Randy Fred and the KIRS Survivors. We speak with author Celia Haig-Brown.

An organization that advocates for BC’s children and youth says municipal governments need to take more responsibility for supporting the youngest residents of their cities. To this end, First Call has developed a toolkit for voters wanting for raise issues in the upcoming municipal elections taking place across British Columbia on October 15. We speak with Adrienne Montani, executive director of First Call.

In 2019, the Canadian government voted in favour of a resolution on Palestinian self-determination at the United Nations General Assembly. This was a reversal of its vote for the previous 8 years. Despite this symbolic shift, Canada has continued to vote against almost every other resolution which aims to support Palestinian human rights. A report published by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East reveals a stark disjuncture between Canada’s overall stance on Israel and the advice of its foreign affairs experts. We speak with the report author, Michael Buekert.

In the new feature film Unarchived, co-directors Hayley Gray and Elad Tzadok highlight community archives across British Columbia. Their film reveals just some of what has been erased from the official record and challenges larger institutions to re-examine narratives that don’t reflect the totality of our shared experience. Unarchived has its world premiere Sept 30 at VIFF. We speak with Hayley Gray and Elad Tzadok.

Vancouver municipal voters will go to the polls on October 15. Electors will have to sort through 137 candidates to decide who the mayor will be, as well as city councillors, school trustees and park commissioners. To break it down a bit for us, we talk with Redeye collective member Ian Mass with his City Beat report.

In the lead-up to Vancouver’s upcoming municipal election on October 15, Women Transforming Cities has launched the Hot Pink Paper Campaign with eight policy asks for candidates in the election. These policy asks are based on months of community input from women, gender-diverse residents, and front-line organizations. Campaign lead Mahtab Laghaei joins us to talk about what they want to see candidates support.

Carmen Rodriguez is an internationally acclaimed Chilean-Canadian author, educator and journalist. Her 2021 novel, Atacama, is set against the backdrop of Chile in the first half of the twentieth century and Europe during the Spanish Civil War. It is both a sweeping historical novel and gripping tale of personal drama. Carmen Rodriguez joined us in November last year to talk about the book.