Redeye

The National Farmers Union says Canadians are upset about higher grocery bills, but farmers’ incomes have not kept up with inflation. The NFU points out that revenues for retail grocery companies have increased despite a decrease in the volume of food purchased by Canadians. We speak with James Hannay, policy analyst at the NFU.

For years, landowners near the Metro Vancouver incinerator in Burnaby have reported substantial deposits accumulating on their properties, requiring annual cleaning. Finally, independent testing has revealed dangerous levels of dioxins, furans, and heavy metals in this dust. We speak with Sue Maxwell, chair of Zero Waste BC.

Bob Joseph started a conversation on the Indian Act with his book, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, which became a national bestseller. And now, he’s followed up with an essential sequel, turning the focus to the alternatives. His new book, 21 Things You Need to Know About Indigenous Self-Government has just been launched. We speak with Bob Joseph.

Changes in law that bring about more equality have complex roots, but they almost always start with someone who takes a stand. A new book examines ten of the legal cases that advanced women’s rights in Canada. The stories it tells of the women who challenged the law remind us that advances in equality are hard-won and should never be taken for granted. The book is titled Women Who Woke Up The Law. We speak with author Karin Wells.

A new report, co-authored by Lorne Foster and Lesley Jacobs, examines consumer racial profiling of Indigenous people in Canada. The report says it is likely that racial profiling in retail environments is the most frequent form of racism experienced by Indigenous communities. The Heiltsuk Nation released the report as part of its filings for a BC Human Rights Tribunal complaint that will be heard in October. We speak with Lesley Jacobs.

This past summer Uber drivers in Victoria joined UFCW 1518 to become the first platform workers in Canada to formally unionize.   And Amazon warehouse workers in Delta won union certification with Unifor Local 114, becoming the second Amazon facility in Canada to unionize and only the third in North America.  We talk with Véronique Sioufi about what enabled these organizing victories, and what barriers this kind of worker organizing faces. Véronique Sioufi is racial equity researcher and policy analyst at the  B.C. Society for Policy Solutions.

The new book, When Genocide Wasn’t News, is a comprehensive critique of the Canadian media cover-up of the genocide in Gaza featuring essays by journalists, activists, Palestinians and more. We speak with one of the co-authors, Jason Toney, director of media advocacy at Canadians For Justice and Peace in the Middle East.

In his first City Beat of Redeye’s new season, Ian Mass looks at what’s happening in Stanley Park from the upcoming Harry Potter extravaganza to transportation challenges for the 18 million annual visitors to the park. Also on the agenda,  truck traffic to the Port, plans for more billboards, and a safe Fraser River bike route.

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. <from Feb 2025>

Most liars care enough about the truth to try to conceal it. But simply not caring either way is a different vice, one that American philosopher Harry Frankfurt defined as bullshitting. An example would be President Trump claiming the U.S. has a trade deficit with Canada without having any idea whether that’s true or false. Tim Kenyon examines the motivations behind Trump’s relentless bullshitting in an article published Feb 25. Tim Kenyon is a professor in the humanities department at Brock University and he joins us today on the podcast. <from Mar 2025>

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. <from Feb 2025>

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. <from Feb 2025>

A new interpretive letter on the Canada Health Act says primary health care services provided by qualified non-physician 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. <from Jan 2025>

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. <from Feb 2025>

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. <from Feb 2025>

On March 22, Independent Jewish Voices Vancouver hosted two Israeli war resisters as part of a nationwide Refuseniks tour. , Einat Gerlitz and Tal Mitnick  have been sharing their stories across Canada, shedding light on their public decision to refuse military service in protest of the occupation and the genocide in Gaza. They were joined by physician and author Dr. Gabor Maté. In this episode, we bring you excerpts from last Saturday night’s event at the Peretz Centre in Vancouver. <from Mar 2025>

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. <from Feb 2025>

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. <from Feb 2025>

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. <from Feb 2025>

In October, 800 senior leaders and industry experts from the aviation and energy industries met in Houston, Texas to discuss how to decarbonize the aviation industry. The current plan is to switch the fuel supplies of the global jet fleet to agricultural feedstocks. Darrin Qualman of the National Farmers Union was at the conference to speak about the grave dangers that will pose to the planet’s farmland base. Darrin Qualman is NFU Director of Climate Crisis Policy and Action. <from Oct 2024>