Redeye

Almost 100 years ago, the Canada, Manitoba and Ontario allowed massive flooding of the Lac Seul First Nation reserve for a hydroelectric project. The Supreme Court of Canada has found that Canada did not seek Lac Seul First Nation’s consent to flood the lands, nor did it expropriate them under the Indian Act. In addition, the Lac Seul First Nation were never adequately compensated for their loss. We speak with Chief Clifford Bull of the Lac Seul First Nation.

In its last set of meetings before a summer break, Vancouver City Council adopted an equity framework that identifies three sources of systemic inequity in the city: colonialism, White supremacy and ableism. Ian Mass tells how council intends to implement its new equity framework in this week’s City Beat report.

Anti-government protests erupted in various Cuban cities the weekend of July 11. People were protesting the dire economic conditions on the island, amid a surge in Covid cases. There were protests in six of Cuba’s fourteen provinces, including the major cities, but the largest protests were in Miami, Florida. CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin says the protests in Cuba can only be understood in the context of the U.S. embargo. Medea Benjamin is the author of several books on Cuba, including No Free Lunch: Food and Revolution in Cuba Today.

In May, the federal government added plastic manufactured items to the toxic substances list of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Campaigners to ban single-use plastic say this is an important first step in reducing the amount of plastic garbage in the environment. Laura Yates is Oceans & Plastics Campaigner with Greenpeace.

Self-driving cars, scooters and bikes of every description, car-share schemes and air taxis… all these modes of transport may be part of our transportation future. And while boosters of each of these modes of transport describe them in glowing terms, understanding the precise costs and benefits is more of a challenge. Todd Litman’s recent book, New Mobilities, examines the questions we need to ask as we plan for these emerging transportation technologies.

On June 17, the digital publication The Narwhal hosted an online event to look at meaningful solutions to the crisis of old-growth logging. Sarah Cox is BC investigative reporter for the Narwhal. She interviews Garry Merkel, a registered professional forester from the Tahltan Nation and co-chair of BC’s old-growth strategic review panel. We’d like to thank The Narwhal for permission to broadcast this interview.

The Wilderness Committee has released a report reflecting the concerns and priorities of leaders in Northern BC. “Northern Vision and Voices: What the region needs to thrive in a changing world” was written by Megan Gordon after six months of interviews in the North. The report says it’s time for British Columbia to invest in building strong communities across the region. We talk with Peter McCartney, climate campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.

On June 29, the BC Supreme Court ruled that the B.C. government had breached the treaty rights of the Blueberry River First Nations. In her ruling, Justice Burke said that the province has allowed so much development in their territory that they can no longer meaningfully exercise their rights under Treaty 8. Lawyers for the Blueberry River First Nations have called the ruling a ‘complete vindication’ of the Nations’ position. Lisa Glowacki is co-counsel for the Nations.

There are more than 100 housing co-ops in Vancouver, the majority located on land leased from the City of Vancouver. Many of these leases are expiring over the next decade and the City and the Co-op Housing Federation have been talking about what to do for the last 5 years. Council will make a decision this week. This and more in Redeye’s regular City Beat report with Ian Mass.

Non-unionized workers in BC have no paid sick leave rights under the Employment Standards Act. Guaranteed paid sick time for all workers crept a step closer in May with the announcement of a temporary three-day paid sick policy but it’s set to run out at the end of this year. We talk with David Fairey, labour economist and co-chair of the BC Employment Standards Coalition.

On May 21, the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute hosted a webinar on the ways in which Canada enables Israeli apartheid. Yves Engler gave a presentation on Canada’s political support for the state of Israel, both now and historically. Yves Engler is a Montréal-based activist and author who has published 11 books including his latest House of Mirrors — Justin Trudeau’s Foreign Policy.

After the remains of 215 children were found on the grounds of the old Kamloops Indian Residential School, there have been expressions of shock and grief, but also calls to action. Kukdookaa Terri Brown is a Crow Clan member of the Tahltan Nation. She is former chief of her people and former president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada. She served 6 years with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada where she heard many stories of children going missing or not returning from residential schools.

The killing of four members of a Muslim family in London, Ontario on June 6 has brought white nationalist violence to the forefront yet again. Jasmin Zine is a Professor of Sociology and Muslim Studies at Laurier University. She is lead researcher with the Canadian Islamophobia Industry Research Project. She says the ingredients for this latest tragedy have long been in the making.

As of May 13, Greyhound suspended all bus service in Canada. The company’s decision leaves many Canadians stranded with no alternative to private car ownership. The National Farmer’s Union says that Greyhound’s exit paves the way for national public transit system that serves all communities across the country. Bess Legault is NFU’s Women’s President and a first generation farmer in the Peace River Valley.

Access to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide shows a stark divide between rich and poor countries. In May, people living in G7 countries were 77 times more likely to be offered a vaccine than those living in the world’s poorest countries. David Adler is a political economist who argues that it is time to end the patent stranglehold on Covid-19 vaccines and to transform the for-profit system of intellectual property that impedes the provision of all life-saving drugs.

Translink is introducing a modernization plan for HandyDart, which thousands of people living with disabilities depend on for public transportation. Redeye Collective member Ian Mass joins us today with his regular City Beat report to talk about this plan, the climate emergency policy Vancouver City Council passed last year that has hit a potential roadblock and redevelopments that show us the best and worst of planning and public participation.

Lawyer and activist Hasan Alam was one of the speakers Thursday June 10 in Vancover at a vigil for the Afzaal family in London, Ontario, murdered by a white supremacist on Sunday night. Hasan Alam was one of the co-founders of the Islamophobia Legal Assistance hotline in 2015.

NSCAD University in Halifax is going to set up an institute to study Canadian slavery. The initiative will be spearheaded by Dr. Charmaine Nelson, who was 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 talk with Dr. Charmaine Nelson today.

In a new book just published by UBC Press, editors Miu Chung Yan and Sean Lauer document how the neighbourhood house model, a century-old type of community organization, can help overcome isolation in urban neighbourhoods by creating welcoming places, drawing on a five-year study to document and contextualize the neighbourhood house network in Vancouver. We speak with Miu Chung Yan and Sean Lauer.

In February, Dr Peter Victor gave the 2021 Gideon Rosenbluth Memorial Lecture. Peter Victor is a Professor Emeritus at York University and was Gideon Rosenbluth's graduate student at UBC in the late sixties. More than 30 years later, they co-authored a research paper called Saving the Environment: How Canada Can Abolish Poverty and Unemployment Even in a No-Growth Economy. A couple of years later, based on their work together, Peter wrote his book, Managing without Growth. Slower by Design, not Disaster.