Redeye

The rapid pace of growth in Vancouver means many of the city’s small restaurants, grocery stores and other neighbourhood spaces are being lost to redevelopment. Bill Yuen is the Executive Director of Heritage Vancouver. talks about this aspect of a community’s intangible cultural heritage.

As the war in the Ukraine rages on, Canada is under increased pressure to re-arm. The Trudeau government response is a plan to buy 88 new fighter jets for an overall price tag of $76 billion. In response to that plan, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Canada has released a report titled Soaring: The Harms and Risks of Fighter Jets and Why Canada Must Not Buy a New Fleet. We speak with Tamara Lorincz, author of the report.

On March 12, Saudi Arabia executed 81 people, the largest mass execution in the recent history of the country. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the killings and said UN monitoring indicates some of those executed were sentenced to death after trials that did not meet fair trial guarantees, and for crimes that did not meet the most serious crimes threshold, as required under international law. We speak with Ariel Gold of CODEPINK.

Anyone travelling on West Broadway between Main and Arbutus knows the area is a huge construction zone. The new Broadway Skytrain development, set to be finished by 2025, has created a planning process that will radically change the character of Kitsilano, Fairview and Mt. Pleasant. Ian Mass joins us to discuss this developing Broadway plan, along with a bunch of other issues, in his regular City Beat report.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its latest report on Feb 28. The report says that human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting the lives of billions of people around the world. We’ve contacted Jens Wieting of Sierra Club BC to get a Canadian perspective on the report.

As the Russian war on Ukraine rages on, Canadian immigration minister Sean Fraser has responded with a new visa program for people fleeing that war. The program will cut red tape and allow Ukrainians to live in Canada for up to two years, with fewer restrictions and conditions to come here. While the program has been welcomed by refugee advocates, it raises questions about Canada’s response to people fleeing other war zones. We speak with long-time Vancouver immigration lawyer Zool Suleman.

In January, a subcommittee of the Halifax Board of the Police Commissioners released a report, which is Canada’s most detailed blueprint to defund, disarm, and dismantle the police. It lays out a plan for how to redirect funding from police to other organizations and pursue police accountability. The subcommittee was chaired by Dr. El Jones, poet, journalist, activist and assistant professor of political and Canadian studies at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax.

This will be a critical year for wild salmon as all BC federal licenses for fish farms expiring this June. British Columbia is now the only jurisdiction on the west coast of North America still allowing salmon farms. The federal government promised in 2019 to remove all open-pen salmon farms from BC waters by 2025. We speak with Dan Lewis, executive director of Clayoquot Action.

Diet for a Small Planet was the first major cookbook to address the environmental impact of meat production. Author Frances Moore Lappé advocated for a vegetarian lifestyle out of concerns over animal-based industries and products. She also argued that world hunger is not caused by a lack of food but by ineffective food policy. Frances Moore Lappé joins us to discuss the new 50th anniversary edition of the book.

First Nations in BC are working proactively towards re-establishing sovereignty over their territories in British Columbia. Asserting sovereignty over mining activities is a critical part of that work. A recent report by the BC First Nations Energy and Mining Council aims to provide First Nations with tools to guide the development and implementation of new ways for mining to occur on their lands. Tahltan elder Allen Edzerza was the project lead in the process that resulted in the report Indigenous Sovereignty: Implementing Consent for Mining on Indigenous Lands.

In his newly released book Becoming Vancouver, Daniel Francis follows the evolution of the city, tracing decades of transformation, immigration and economic development. Daniel Francis speaks with Ian Mass, our City Beat producer.

Noam Chomsky has been an anti-war, anti-capitalist activist for over 60 years and continues to call liberal elites to account for propping up unjust systems that have brought us to the brink of climate catastrophe and nuclear annihilation. Chomsky spoke at a recent webinar organized by Canada-China Focus, a new pan-Canadian, anti-racist project promoting critical conversations and policy initiatives on Canada-China relations. Chomsky says Canada is at a crossroads on China, and we must work together or perish together.

Tens of thousands of Canadians are asking the federal government to pause any further construction on the TMX pipeline. The Canadian government bought the project from Kinder Morgan in 2018. The last update in 2020 revealed that the expansion cost had ballooned to $12.6B, and now Trans Mountain Corporation says it will cost $21.4B, four times the original estimate. We speak with Eugene Kung, staff lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law.

Criminology Temitope Oriola says that the truckers convoy is a fascinating study in the sociology of law enforcement. Oriola is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Alberta and joint Editor-in-Chief of African Security journal. His research interests include policing, terrorism, social movements and political violence. His recent article in The Conversation talks about what the convoy reveal about the ties between politics, police and the law.

At the end of November last year, people in Honduras voted overwhelmingly for the platform of democratic socialism put forward by Xiomara Castro. Her Libre Party was formed in the aftermath of the coup that deposed Castro’s husband, Manuel Zelaya. We talk with writer Owen Schalk about the 2009 couple and Canada’s role in Honduras during the reign of terror that followed.

The BC government has released a report on oil and gas royalties from a public consultation in November. The report showed that 77% of survey respondents wanted the government to make environmental protection its top priority in its new royalty regime. We talk with Peter McCartney, Climate Campaigner at the Wilderness Committee.

After emerging from years of brutal dictatorship, the Haitian people dreamed of a democracy that would serve the poor and bring an end to impunity. Between 1991 and 2004, Haitians elected a succession of governments committed to realizing this dream. The pro-democracy movement’s efforts were ultimately derailed by powerful local elites and their allies in the international community, including Canada. Haiti Betrayed was written, directed and produced by Elaine Briere.

Eighteen months ago, Vancouver City Council was enthusiastic about the idea of 100 tiny homes for the homeless. This week they heard that 10 shelter beds is all that is possible and the City will have to foot the bill. Ian Mass joins me with his City Beat report to talk about this, a debate on financial support for a challenge to Quebec’s Bill 21 and more.

British Columbia is ahead of most North American jurisdictions with its composting and recycling programs. However, the Lower Mainland still burns at least 25% of its waste, with a plan to expand that amount. Sue Maxwell is a sustainability consultant with Ecoinspire Planning Services. She joins us to talk about the problems with this waste-to-energy expansion.

Cleaning and food service workers at Simon Fraser University say their working conditions are difficult and their pay lags behind counterparts elsewhere. Contract Worker Justice @SFU is a coalition of workers, students, faculty, and community members at SFU. They are calling on Simon Fraser University to hire these workers directly and to improve their pay and working conditions. John Calvert is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at SFU and he has been involved in the coalition since its founding.