Redeye

The police killing of George Floyd ignited a global uprising against police violence and created a space for anti-racist voices to be heard. One idea that has gained traction as a result is that of defunding the police and investing in other programs to deliver safety and security. Sandy Hudson co-founded Black Lives Matter Toronto and is vice-chair of the Black Legal Action Centre. She’s currently a UCLA law student. Sandy Hudson joins us to talk about what defunding the police could look like.

In 2016, 200,000 Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent were rendered stateless overnight in an attempt to expel Black people from the Dominican Republic. Documentary filmmaker Michèle Stephenson returned to her country of birth the following year and tells their story in her new film Stateless. The film is available online all week until Friday June 26 as part of the DOXA film festival. We speak with Michèle Stephenson from her home in New York.

The new invasive species the Asian giant hornet has been characterized in the media as the Asian murder hornet. Christianne Wilhelmson and Gillian Der of the Georgia Strait Alliance say terms like this are deeply unscientific and serve to promote racist stereotypes about Asians. We spoke with them on June 1.

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a marked rise in harassment of people who are Asian and Asian Canadian. These attacks range from verbal assaults to physical assaults. Often we’ve seen bystanders intervene to show solidarity and defend the people being targeted. Asian Americans Advocating Justice and Hollaback have partnered to offer online training in how to safely and effectively intervene. We speak with Emily May of Hollaback.

The UN Security Council currently has five temporary seats available. Canada, Ireland, and Norway are vying for two of those seats with the final vote to be held on June 17th. On May 19th, an open letter was published, calling for a “no” vote for Canada to join the Security Council. We talk with Yves Engler, one of the signatories of the letter.

Early signs suggest that race matters, when it comes to COVID-19. In Chicago, black residents are 30 per cent of the population, but make up more than 70 per cent of COVID-19-related deaths. And yet Canada doesn't collect race-based data. In a recent article on Policy Options, physician Aimée-Angélique Bouka and academic Yolande Bouka argue that Canada should be collecting better health data that looks closely at the intersecting issues of race and immigration.

Over 5500 academics have signed a letter calling for the democratization of work in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The letter says that human beings should be seen as one resource among many. Simon Black is one of the co-signers of the letter. He is a writer, activist and academic and currently assistant professor at the Centre for Labour Studio at Brock University.

The Healthcare for All National Coalition is calling on all levels of government to ensure healthcare access for everyone in Canada. Their open letter to the federal government was endorsed by more than 200 organizations, including the Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Labour Congress. Janet Cleveland is a researcher on the rights and health of refugees and non-status migrants at McGill University. She joins us again to talk about why this issue is so important.

The Covid-19 crisis has disproportionately impacted communities already vulnerable because of poverty, racism and other forms of inequality. The Vancouver Just Recovery Coalition formed to advocate for a progressive, equality-focused recovery when the pandemic is finally over. We speak with Kimberley Wong and Matthew Wong, co-chairs of the Coalition.

The Migrant Workers Centre in Vancouver has launched a campaign calling on the federal government to grant an amnesty to the thousands of undocumented workers in Canada. They say the Covid-19 crisis has exposed the extent to which the Canadian economy depends on migrant workers and it’s essential to regularize their status immediately. Natalie Drolet is staff lawyer and executive director of the Migrant Worker Centre. We spoke with her on May 5.

On April 2nd, Mel Watkins died at age 87. Mel Watkins was a political economist at the University of Toronto, as well as an activist and writer. In the late 1960s, he was founder and co-leader, with James Laxer, of The Waffle, a left-wing political formation within the NDP that advocated for an “independent, socialist Canada.” Jim Stanford is author of a collection of essays on Mel Watkins’ Staple Theory of Economic Growth. Jim Stanford was formerly an economist with Unifor, and is currently director of the Centre for Future Work. He joins us to pay tribute to his friend and mentor.

It’s a familiar story these days. Land defenders and activists blockade a road to try to prevent a pipeline or an oil terminal being built. Resource corporations go to court to get an injunction, then the RCMP move in and make arrests. Solidarity actions erupt, resulting in more injunctions and more arrests. Irina Ceric and Shiri Pasternak say that the decision to grant injunctions has become a political one as much as a legal one. Irina Ceric is a lawyer and criminology instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. She joins us in our studios.

Sharon McIvor’s grandmother was a member of the Lower Nicola Band who married a non-Indigenous man. Under Canada’s Indian Act, status was decided on the basis of male lineage and so their daughter was ineligible for registration as an Indian. Sharon McIvor launched a landmark case to gain equality and won a sweeping legal victory in 2007. The Canadian government continued to drag its feet. Sharon McIvor took the case to the United Nations in 2011. Canada finally ended sex-based discrimination in the Act on August 15.

Ian Mass joins us with our regular City Beat. In this episode, he talks about Vancouver’s big new culture plan, Kennedy Stewart’s about to take control of the tent city at Oppenheimer Park, and a cynical move by the Maple Ridge mayor to turn 200 layoffs at the Hammond lumber mill into a real estate opportunity.

The day after Yves Engler went to a press conference to ask Marc Garneau a question about arms sales to the Saudis, two RCMP officers showed up at his Montreal home to talk with him. We speak with Yves Engler about his recent attempts to raise foreign policy criticism at public events and the RCMP’s response to his actions.

In 1884, the Canadian government banned the Haida potlatch. But Haida elders kept the knowledge of the ceremony alive until the ban was lifted. In 1969, a potlatch was held to honour the raising of the first totem pole in 80 years, carved by Robert Davidson. Sara Florence Davidson co-wrote Potlatch as Pedagogy with her father to show how Haida traditions can be brought into present-day classrooms. She joins us in our studio to talk about the process of writing the book – and tells the story of how her father came to carve that first pole at the age of 22.

Salakshana, Jeeti, and Kira Pooni suffered years of sexual assault after their older cousin moved into their Williams Lake home almost four decades ago. Baljit Sangra’s new film Because We Are Girls accompanies the Pooni sisters in the final three years of their long fight to bring their abuser to justice. Because We Are Girls has its world premiere May 1 at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto. It opens the DOXA film festival in Vancouver on May 3. We talk with Baljit Sangra from Toronto.

Following the Christchurch massacre, many Canadians are questioning the commitment of some Canadian politicians to an inclusive, multicultural society. In particular, Jason Kenney of the Alberta United Conservative Party and Andrew Scheer of the federal Conservative Party have been called out for their weak response to the Christchurch killings and the far right in Canada. Bashir Mohamed is an independent journalist based in Edmonton who has been tracking the connections between Kenney, Scheer and the far right.