Unpacking the News

It's a land of big skies and brutal winters. A place of rugged individualism. A province where former Premier Ralph Klein once drunkenly leaned out the window of his government limo to throw crumpled bills at the homeless. So how does Alberta's unique culture inform the way that the NDP govern? How can a nominally socially democratic party support big oil? And can Rachel Notley's government actual...

In this conversation Joel French, executive director of non-partisan advocacy group Public Interest Alberta, discusses Premier Rachel Notley's realpolitik approach to Kinder Morgan, considers levels of enthusiasm for federal NDP leadership candidates in the province and reflects on the successes, failures and contradictions of Alberta's first NDP government .

The Alberta NDP's historic 2015 victory was a direct result of a severely dysfunctional right wing political culture in the province. Despite a combined 51% of the vote, the Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties won just 30 of the 86 seats in Edmonton’s legislature. But a merger of the two parties this summer has led to rapprochement and an ongoing leadership campaign to head the United Co...

Tóta Tánon Ohkwá:ri, a children’s TV show produced entirely in Kanien’kehá:ka, has been broadcasting on public access television on the Mohawk Nation territory of Kahnawà:ke for more than a decade. The show, which includes live-action puppetry and animation, tells the story of Bear, a boy who learns about his community's traditions through the guidance of his Grandmother. There's also talking corn...

On this 'Just for Laughs' Bonus Episode: Canadian-American comic DeAnne Smith has been challenging audiences with her smart, cutting stand-up on TV and at festivals around the world since launching her comedy career in Montreal more than a decade ago. Now she’s back, and performing a run of critically-acclaimed shows at this year’s edition of 'Just For Laughs'. In this conversation we talk about A...

Christy Clark, outgoing Premier of an obscenely corrupt 15-year Liberal political dynasty in British Columbia, is headed to the opposition benches as the province prepares to welcome the first ecosocialist government in North American political history. What is it about B.C.’s unique political culture that led to this moment? And what can we expect from this Green-NDP government? Ricochet editor a...

Reaction to the reported $10.5 million settlement the Trudeau government will be paying to Omar Khadr indicates that Canadian racism runs deeper than the lazy xenophobia of a Kellie Leitch campaign. In the first of a two-part conversation, Ricochet editor and co-founder Derrick O'Keefe joins Unpacking the News to talk about the political and media fallout over the settlement. And, as the candidate...

Last month, in a victory for the Algonquins of Barriere Lake, Quebec’s Superior Court rejected an appeal from Copper One Inc. against a government decision to deny the mining company a deforestation permit on provincial wildlife reserve La Vérendrye, located on unceded Indigenous territory. But is the ruling against Big Mining only a temporary reprieve for the community? In this conversation, jour...

In this conversation, Ricochet columnist Andrew Mitrovica suggests that the new Tory Boss is a lot like the old Tory Boss and that, with Andrew Scheer’s elevation to the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, we can expect to see a continuation of Harper-era policies including soft bigotry and dog-whistle identity politics. Plus, excerpts and analysis on recent pieces from Supriya Dwivedi...

The conversation surrounding Hal Niedviecki's editorial and subsequent termination as editor of 'Write' magazine has highlighted the insularity of Canadian journalism from the broader social changes sweeping society. Beyond all the noisy pundit rhetoric about free speech, are mainstream voices in media, journalism and CanLit prepared to discuss the deeper issues of history and identity at play in...

Despite making up just 4% of the country’s population as a whole, Aboriginal and Indigenous people represent nearly a quarter of the population of the federal prison system. As the number of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples in jail continues to increase, failure to address the issue is apparent at the highest levels of government. Meanwhile, grassroots rehabilitation programs are becoming a...

Since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, Rojava has been embarking on a radical experiment in socialism and direct democracy. A coalition of 4 million Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians and Turkmen groups are fighting to create a new society of secularism and gender equality on the frontlines of the conflict against ISIS. Leftist volunteers from around the world, including dozens of Canadians, ha...

The backlash in Quebec to Andrew Potter’s infamous Maclean’s column has generated a backlash of its own in English Canada. The pearl-clutching has come primarily from Canada's journalist class, who spent the week loudly accusing Quebecers of being overly sensitive to criticism. Of course, things look a lot different from inside the province. In his recent article at Ricochet, Trevor Hanna writes t...

Is our sesquicentennial year an ideal time to grapple with the contradictions at the core of Canadian national identity? Ricochet columnist Toula Drimonis weighs in on Québécois cynicism regarding this year's 150th birthday celebrations.

Jonathan Montpetit is a CBC reporter whose online series regarding Québec's neo-nationalist movement is required reading. On this episode of Unpacking the News, he discusses his investigative reporting inside the province’s far right, and where these organizations fit in on the international spectrum of white power, fascism and neo-nationalism. You can find his work here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/ca...

With a projected production level of 890,000 barrels per day, the Kinder Morgan pipeline will have the same climate impact as adding more than 30 million new cars to Canada's roads. Meanwhile, as a signatory to the Paris Climate Agreement the country has agreed to major cuts in CO2 emissions. These cuts are now enshrined in international law. By attempting to reconcile these two realities, Justin...

Andrew Mitrovica is tired of America. He’s tired of America’s wars, its guns and of the routine convulsions of violence that cause death and destruction for innocents both domestically and around the world. He’s also exhausted by this year’s Presidential contest, the politically rancid battle for power between the neoliberal establishment candidacy of Democrat Hilary Clinton and the insurgent camp...

As winter descends on North Dakota, thousands of Native Americans from tribes around the U.S., as well as Canadian First Nations and other allies, continue to protest the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The project, which will run through sacred sites and under the water supply of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, could also affect the water supply of as many as 25 million people in...

The Treaty 8 Justice for the Peace Caravan of Fort St. John, British Columbia arrived at the Federal Court of Appeals in Montreal last month completing a journey of more than 4200 kilometres. In this conversation, poet and social worker Helen Knott of Prophet River First Nations expands on her recent piece at Ricochet Media, explaining the grassroots opposition to the proposed Site C dam and what...

Lawyer, activist and former Green Party of Canada Justice Critic Dimitri Lascaris calls his party’s recently passed resolution on the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement common sense. In this conversation, he explains why, in the face of intense opposition from party leader Elizabeth May, the Greens’ BDS resolution has put it on the right side of history.

In a recently published piece at Ricochet, Andrew Mitrovica writes that over-the-top coverage of spending by civil servants and government ministers shows misplaced journalistic priorities. In this conversation, he explains why he believes that Canada’s corporate media ignore the big scandals in favour of tabloid outrage.

This summer, downtown Montreal hosted the 13th annual World Social Forum with social movements, advocacy campaigns and NGOs from around the world meeting for 6 days of networking, teach-ins and solidarity-building events. But in the lead up to the event, hundreds of global activists were denied visas by the Canadian government leading to lower-than-anticipated attendance at the Forum. The 2016 WSF...

A recent report from the right-wing Fraser Institute unwittingly makes the case against its own findings on public funding of private education in Canada. In this conversation, Joel French, executive director of advocacy group Public Interest Alberta, expands on his recent article at Ricochet critiquing the study’s conclusions. To find out more about Public Interest Alberta and their advocacy work...

Founded in 2014 as a national public interest media outlet, Ricochet stands today as Canada's only bilingual, crowd-funded news source. On this episode, two of the co-founders, Gabrielle Brassard-Lecours and Ethan Cox from the French and English editions, discuss the experience of founding a new media outlet, talk about the project's origins in the 2012 Quebec Student Strike and reflect on Ricoche...

Since 2012’s student strike, police in the city of Montreal have been using a bylaw called P-6 to shut down peaceful protests and mass arrest participants. Critics have long argued that the bylaw was unconstitutional, and last month a Quebec Superior Court judge came to the same conclusion in a landmark ruling striking down controversial provisions of the bylaw. Julien Villeneuve, aka Anarchopanda...