Redeye

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.

Earle Peach is the director of three Vancouver-based choral groups including the High and Lows Choir and Solidarity Notes Labour Choir. He also plays a bunch of instruments and performs with musical groups. In his 2021 book, Questions to the Moon, Peach says songwriting is his strongest self-identification. The book is a collection of stories and lyrics, published by Lazara Press.

In June 2021, NSCAD University in Halifax announced that it was going to set up an institute to study Canadian slavery. The initiative was spearheaded by Dr. Charmaine Nelson, the first Black tenured professor of art history in Canada. The Institute for the Study of Canadian Slavery will be a hub for the study of the art, visual cultures, and histories of Canadian slavery and its legacies. We talked with Dr. Charmaine Nelson last year.

In 2017, El Salvador became the first country in the world to pass a comprehensive law banning on metals mining nationwide. The vote was the result of a 12-year struggle by small farmers and their allies to protect the waters of the Lempa River from the impact of gold mining. Robin Broad and John Cavanagh tell this incredible story in their 2021 book The Water Defenders: How Ordinary People Saved A Country From Corporate Greed. We spoke with John Cavanagh shortly after the book was published.

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. The 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 spoke with author Dr. Samantha Cutrara in February 2021.

The National Trust manages historic properties and areas of countryside in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In September 2020, 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 attempted to discredit the work of the historians who produced it. In January 2021, we spoke with Professor Corinne Fowler of the University of Leicester about the work and the attacks on it.

A long tradition of the amateur detective exists in the mystery genre. The latest sleuth is Annick Boudreau, a clinical psychologist created by a Vancouver comedian, playwright, and novelist who based the character of Annick Boudreau, in part, on his own therapist. We speak with Charles Demers about the book, Primary Obsessions.