Redeye

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.

Next week, Vancouver City Council will debate whether to spend $4M for yet another plan for South False Creek, $3M to continue cutting diseased Hemlock trees in Stanley Park, a motion to install water meters on all Vancouver buildings, Green Party Councillor Adrienne Carr’s resignation and lots more. Redeye collective member, Ian Mass joins us with his City Beat report.

The new accord developed between the NDP and the Greens includes a special committee that will look at a proportional representation voting system for BC. The cooperation deal opens up a new opportunity for a fairer voting system in the province, according to Gisela Ruckert of Fair Vote Canada.

In 2016, Newfoundland filmmaker Justin Simms became the father of a son. Later that year, Donald Trump won his first term as president, fuelled by the rise of white supremacy and a particularly toxic form of masculinity. Simms was daunted by the prospect of being a father to a little white boy, born into middle-class privilege, and started to ask himself what he could do as a father to help him become a caring adult. He spent the next eight years making the documentary Sons, which premieres this month online at nfb.ca. We speak with Justin Simms from his home in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

After Holborn Properties bought the Dunsmuir Hotel in downtown Vancouver, it allowed the property to deteriorate for nearly 20 years, and evicted all the tenants in 2013. Since then, it has sat empty. Now water damage has caused irreversible interior and structural decay such that Vancouver City Council was called into a special meeting a week before Christmas to deal with a potential imminent collapse of the hotel. Nathan Crompton joins us to talk about the Dunsmuir Hotel and the relationship between developers and City Hall.

Ending Jan 11, Writers Talking - a series of eight conversations from our archives.In 2017,  El Salvador became the first country in the world to pass a comprehensive law banning metal 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 new book The Water Defenders: How Ordinary People Saved A Country From Corporate Greed. We speak with John Cavanagh.

From now until January 11, Writers Talking - a series of eight conversations from our archives.Travers spent five years talking with trans kids and their parents. Their 2018 book, The Trans Generation, offers a rare look into what it is like to grow up as a transgender child. Travers is a Professor of Sociology at Simon Fraser University.

From now until January 11, Writers Talking - a series of eight conversations from our archives.We Interrupt This Program tells the story of how Indigenous people are using media tactics to rewrite Canada’s national narratives from an Indigenous perspective.  Authors Miranda Brady and John Kelly talked with Lorraine Chisholm in 2018.

From now until January 11, Writers Talking - a series of eight conversations from our archives.Carmen Rodriguez is an internationally acclaimed Chilean-Canadian author, educator and journalist. Her 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 2021 to talk about the book.

From now until January 11, Writers Talking - a series of eight conversations from our archives.Judging by the constant stream of news reports of standoffs and confrontations, it’s apparent that Canada’s reconciliation project has gone off the rails.  In Standoff, lawyer and historian Bruce McIvor examines why reconciliation is failing and what needs to be done to fix it. McIvor is a member of the Manitoba Metis Federation and a partner at First People’s Law. We spoke in December 2021.

From now until January 11, Writers Talking - a series of eight conversations from our archives.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. In January 2022, Frances Moore Lappé joined Lorraine Chisholm to discuss the new 50th anniversary edition of the book.

From now until January 11, Writers Talking - a series of eight conversations from our archives.In one of our most popular podcasts recorded in August 2021, Earle Peach talks with us about writing songs and shares some of his music. 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 but he says he identifies most strongly as a songwriter. Questions to the Moon is published by Lazara Press.

From now until January 11, Writers Talking - a series of eight conversations from our archives.In his first book, The Skin We’re In, journalist and activist Desmond Cole challenged the complacency of people who believe Canada is a post-racial nation. He chronicled one year in the struggle against racism in this country. In March 2020, Desmond Cole joined Lorraine Chisholm in the Coop Radio studios for a lively and engaging conversation about the realities that Black people face every day in Canada.

Bottled water is the world’s most-consumed packaged beverage, but movements to protect water quality and to ensure the right to water are fighting back hard against its commercial exploitation. Now, the water bottling giant BlueTriton has announced it will close Canada’s largest water bottling plant and its entire operations in Ontario after sustained opposition by Water Watch and its allies. We speak with professor Daniel Jaffee, of Portland State University. Jaffee is the author of Unbottled: The Fight against Plastic Water and for Water Justice.https://theconversation.com/bluetritons-exit-from-ontario-shows-the-effectiveness-of-bottled-water-opposition-movements-243863

Environmental racism is a systemic issue in Canada. There's a long history of marginalized communities suffering at the hands of industry, all authorized by the Crown. In June this year, the Environmental Justice Act received Royal Assent and became law in Canada. But there are doubts that the meaningful consultation committed to in the Act will result in anything substantial. A new report explores why environmental racism exists, how it’s woven into the fabric of the country, and some critical points on how to meaningfully address it. We speak with the report’s author, Levin Chamberlain.

The collapse of the Mount Polley tailings dam in 2014 was one of the worst mining disasters in Canada. The dam failure sent hundreds of tonnes of toxic materials, including arsenic, lead, copper and nickel, into Quesnel Lake. More than a decade later, Imperial Metals Corp has been charged in BC Supreme Court with 15 violations of the federal Fisheries Act. We speak with Jamie Kneen, Canada program co-lead for Mining Watch Canada.

Every year in Metro Vancouver, car crashes kill 100 people and injure many more. Vision Zero Vancouver wants to see the number of deaths and life-altering injuries reduced to zero. They say the problem is not bad drivers, careless pedestrians or reckless cyclists - it’s a system problem, and the designers of our transportation system bear the biggest responsibility for safety. One of their current campaigns is to ban right turns on red. We speak with Nathan Hawkins.

Non-disclosure agreements were originally a mechanism for protecting trade secrets. But they are now increasingly used as a matter of default in settlement agreements for all kinds of civil disputes, including those related to sexual misconduct, harassment and discrimination. We speak with Julie Macfarlane of Can't Buy My Silence, a campaign to end the misuse of NDAs.

Hogan’s Alley was home to Vancouver’s largest Black and African diaspora community for many years. From 1931 to 1971, the City pressured residents to leave Hogan’s Alley. The final blow was the construction of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts in 1972. The Hogan’s Alley Society is committed to daylighting the presence of Black history in Vancouver. We speak with Djaka Blais, executive director of the Hogan’s Alley Society.