Redeye

This week, the BC Conservative MLA for Vancouver Quilchena reposted a National Post article about the former residential school site in Kamloops, adding a comment that the number of confirmed child burials at the site is zero. The article is about James Heller who pushed the Law Society of B.C. to change its training material to say there were "potentially" burial sites at the former residential school in Kamloops —  instead of more definitive language. Brodie is only one of a number of BC Conservative candidates who has questioned the history of residential school abuse. To discuss these comments and their impact on truth and reconciliation, we speak with Sean Carleton, professor of history and Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba.

As Donald Trump threatens Canada with an economic war, the country’s political and business class agree that we have to tear down the barriers to trade across provinces. They claim removing these barriers would reduce prices by 15 percent and add 200 billion dollars to Canada’s GDP. Stuart Trew says business lobbyists and right-wing think tanks are exploiting Trump’s threats to push their deregulation agenda. Stuart Trew is a senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives where he directs the Trade and Investment Research Project.

A new report by The Samara Centre for Democracy evaluates abusive content on Twitter during the last Alberta provincial election. The platform, owned by Elon Musk, is now known as X. The study was part of a multi-year initiative that measures abusive content received by Canadian political candidates on social media. It raises big questions about the democratic threats that Canadians face in digital environments. Lorraine Chisholm speaks with Beatrice Wayne, research director at The Samara Centre for Democracy.

Donald Trump’s tariff threats and insistence that Canada become the 51st state have put the issue of national sovereignty firmly on the agenda. It seems obvious that one of the clearest routes to protect Canada now and in the future is to reduce our economic dependence on the United States. One idea that’s been floated is a plan to build an oil pipeline from Alberta to Atlantic Canada. We speak with Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, senior researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, who says what Canada needs is an east-west electricity grid.

In January, the Supreme Court of Canada announced that it would hear a challenge to Quebec’s secularism law that prohibits certain public sector workers from wearing religious symbols while performing their duties. Those challenging the law argue that the law imposes discriminatory treatment, mainly on Muslim women. They hope this case will give the Court the opportunity to set parameters around the use of the notwithstanding clause. We speak with Natasha Bakht, professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa.

The National Farmers Union says the government should use the 30-day pause on tariffs to protect Canadian farmers from the effects of U.S. tariffs on exports and retaliatory tariffs by Canada on imports. They say farmers are vulnerable because they produce for international and domestic markets - and they use imported equipment and inputs. We speak with Matthew Wiens, board member with the National Farmers Union. He farms with his family, and two other families, at Ploughshares Community Farm, near Beausejour, Manitoba.

A series of anti-trans measures and unscientific definitions of gender are amongst the flurry of executive orders issued by the U.S. president. In addition, Trump signed an executive order intended to bar transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports.  Here in Canada, trans people and especially trans youth are facing mounting efforts by conservatives to dismantle the rights and progress they have achieved, and putting them at risk of harm. Travers is a professor of sociology at SFU, and the author of The Trans Generation: How Trans Kids (and Their Parents) Are Creating a Gender Revolution. They speak with Lorraine Chisholm.

Metro Vancouver has a climate goal of being carbon neutral by 2050. Now that goal is under attack from some members of the Metro Vancouver board. The Dogwood Institute says right-wing populists are trying to scrap climate action from the budget at an upcoming special meeting on February 21. We speak with Ashley Zarbatany, Fossil Gas Campaigner with the Dogwood Institute in Victoria.

The trade war between the U.S. and Canada began with steep tariffs on Canadian goods, followed by retaliatory measures from Canada, and then Trump’s decision to delay the tariffs by 30 days. The delay came after Trudeau promised a so-called Fentanyl Czar and stepped up border security. Canadian political scientists  Daniel Drache and Marc Froese say Trump’s tariff threats show the brute power of an imperial presidency. We speak with Marc Froese, professor of political science, and founding director of the International Studies Program at Burman University in Alberta.

The BC Civil Liberties Association along with three individual plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit against the City of Vancouver to challenge the city’s daytime ban on outdoor sheltering. They say this ban is cruel, dehumanizing, and deadly. They will be arguing that it violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Lorraine Chisholm speaks about the case with BCCLA Executive Director Liza Hughes.

In the last election campaign, the NDP said they would ensure affordable before and after school care across BC and create a long-term capital plan to add thousands of affordable child care spaces. They didn’t commit to raising the wages of workers, or transitioning existing child care to $10 a day. We speak with Sharon Gregson of the $10aDay Child Care Campaign about why it’s essential for the provincial government to adopt these two priorities, and their campaign to raise these issues.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim chose a day-long summit last month organized by the pro-business coalition Save Our Streets to make a major announcement about housing. He said that he intends to reject any new supportive housing projects proposed in the city of Vancouver and pledged to address what he called the hyper concentration of services in the Downtown Eastside. Peter Waldkirch is with the organization Abundant Housing Vancouver. He joins me today to talk about Ken Sim’s recent pronouncements and what they mean for the housing crisis in Vancouver.

A new book published this month provides an in-depth look into the devastating policies of the Ford government across a wide range of public policy issues: from health care to labour and Indigenous lands. Against the People was co-authored by Brian Evans and Carlo Fanelli. Ryan Kelpin is one of more than 20 contributors to the book. He joins us to talk about Doug Ford’s radical restructuring of municipal governments.

Solidarity Is the Political Version of Love: Lessons from Jewish Anti-Zionist Organizing was published last year by Haymarket Books. The two authors, Rebecca Vilkomerson and Rabbi Alissa Wise, were both staff leaders of Jewish Voice for Peace from 2010 to 2020. In the book, they ask what the politics of solidarity look like in practice, and how left-wing organizations can grow—in numbers and power—while remaining accountable to the broader movements of which they are a part.  Rebecca and Alissa were in Vancouver on January 26.  We bring you excerpts from that evening.

Last week, Amazon announced that it will lay off all its workers at seven warehouses, fulfillment centres and sorting stations in Quebec. Almost 2000 workers will lose their jobs, 1,700 of which are permanent positions. After a two-year effort, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Laval had unionized with the Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux last May. Amazon claims that its decision to close the Quebec operations was not because of the worker’s successful unionization. The union disagrees. We talk with Adam Donald King, assistant professor in the Labour Studies Program at the University of Manitoba.

Next week Vancouver City Council will get updates on childcare, seniors’ services and a healthy water plan as well as some interesting potential new developments. But the big story is Mayor Ken Sim’s stunning announcements about the Downtown Eastside and they don't appear on any agenda. Redeye collective member Ian Mass joins us with his City Beat report for February 1.

In a recent project based in Scarborough, Ontario,  Black youth are teaching their communities about their rights, justice and the law using hip hop. The organization RISE offered a Legal Art-ivism program where participants learned about the law, and then developed musical and artistic performances that shared that knowledge using forms that were accessible and engaging to their peers.  Sociologist and PhD Candidate Anna Lippman from York University spent time researching the program and its outcomes for the Black youth involved.

Vancouver currently bans apartment buildings on 75% of its residential land. The city says that its current infrastructure wouldn’t be able to accommodate high-density housing — and that upgrading the infrastructure to allow for apartment buildings would be way too expensive. But this is just another rationale for NIMBYism, according to Danny Oleksiuk of The Sightline Institute and Alex Hemingway of CCPA-BC. We speak with Danny Oleksiuk.

The Vancouver Police Department spent the last year exploring the use of body-worn cameras. In November, the VPD asked Council to approve expanding the program to all frontline members. Meanwhile, the RCMP is spending millions of dollars to bring in the use of body-worn cameras across the country. Chris Schneider says body-worn cameras are unlikely to increase public trust and police accountability. Schneider is a professor of sociology at Brandon University and the author of Policing and Social Media: Social Control in an Era of Digital Media.

A new interpretive letter on the Canada Health Act says primary health care services provided by qualified non-physican practitioners must be covered by provincial and territorial plans. However, the letter left the whole area of virtual care unresolved. Dr. Danyaal Raza is a family physician with Unity Health Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital, and an Assistant Professor with the University of Toronto. He joins us to speak about the letter.