Redeye

Following recent court decisions around Indigenous rights and Aboriginal title in BC, public discourse is full of conflicting assertions. Premier David Eby has criticized the court and called their decisions overreaching and unhelpful. RAVEN works to support Indigenous Nations upholding their rights in court. It published an article to clarify some of the confusion, comparing what they are hearing...

In his new book If You Want to Win, You’ve Got to Fight, transportation activist Carter Lavin shares strategies about how to create the change we want to see in our communities. Whether it’s more protected bike lanes, improved bus service, or safer streets for pedestrians, Carter provides a comprehensive toolbox of campaign tactics and advocacy tips. He is co-founder of the TransBay Coalition and...

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 2021, Betty Baxter was inducted into the Volleyball BC Hall of Fame.   But as a lesbian athlete and coach, the journey to that recognition was far from smooth. Baxter competed in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and helped found Canadian Women & Sport. She was the first woman coach of a national team, and was then fired from that job because of her sexual orientation. She went on to...

On December 2, the OneBC party released its documentary Making a Killing: Reconciliation, genocide and plunder in Canada. Since then, the writer and producer of the film Tim Thielmann, has been fired along with two other senior staff.  MLA Dallas Brodie has herself been removed as interim party leader.  But the documentary lives on, with Dallas Brodie voicing Thielmann’s script and inter...

The Hungry Stories Project is a team of scholars, dietitians and artists who are fighting for the elimination of food insecurity by sharing what it takes to collectively care for each other’s food needs.  They are producing resources to understand food insecurity, and they say that we need to look at root causes. Dr. Jennifer Black is a member of the Hungry Stories Project  and Associate...

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg was built to educate Canadians about stories of global injustice. Yet in the more than 10 years since it opened, it has not meaningfully acknowledged the dispossession of Palestinians in 1948 that resulted from the founding of Israel. But now the CMHR has announced an exhibit titled Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present to launch next year. Jon...

Bruce McIvor has written a new book that should become essential reading for Canadians who want to advance reconciliation. Indigenous Rights in One Minute gives clear and concise answers to questions like who qualifies as Métis and what the Doctrine of Discovery is.  Bruce McIvor is the founder and senior partner at First Peoples Law and an adjunct professor at the University of British Colum...

At the end of her mother’s life, writer and academic Julietta Singh returns to Winnipeg to say goodbye to her childhood home. As she digs into the history of the house, she uncovers 140 years of forgotten matriarchs and political rebels she never knew. Singh has teamed up with acclaimed filmmaker Chase Joynt and the National Film Board to create a documentary that interweaves Indigenous, Deaf, Jap...

In Canada, the policies affecting disabled people do not always follow a consistent approach. Alfiya Battalova says our narratives around disability shape our policies – and some key laws reveal a profound tension in Canada’s approach to disability rights and social responsibility. Alfiya Battalova is Assistant Professor in Justice Studies at Royal Roads University. We spoke with her in December.

The practice of people self-identifying as Indigenous has come into sharp focus after a number of high-profile cases of “pretendians” claiming to be Indigenous without evidence. However, far less attention has been given to Indigenous people being wrongly labelled as pretendians.  In a recent article for Policy Options, Debbie Martin argues that the rush for Indigenous identity policies at un...

The deputy mayor of Tirana, Albania says she realized one day that her city had been planned with one user in mind - an adult male who needed to get to the office as quickly as possible. She says everything about Tirana’s streets, public spaces and transport systems were designed to make his life easy. Anuela Ristani is one of the women in local government that we get to meet in Women Changing Cit...

Judy Darcy’s memoir, Leading From the Heart, chronicles her battles as a feminist, a union leader and a politician from the 1960’s until today. Judy joined Ian Mass in November to talk about those both personal and political battles.

The War on Cars podcast delivers news and commentary on the latest developments in the worldwide fight to undo the damage caused by cars. Sarah Goodyear is a journalist and author, Doug Gordon is a TV producer, writer and safe streets advocate. Sarah and Doug are authors along with Aaron Naparstek of Life After Cars, a book that offers an overview of the societal and environmental costs of the aut...

In the aftermath of October 7, 2023, Canada saw a rise in anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab and antisemitism that affects many areas of life and work for Canadians. So begins a report produced by the Islamophobia Research Hub at York University. The incidents documented in the report portray a climate of repression, violence and censorship across the country and throughout multiple aspects of life in...

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....

International students have long been seen as a source of extra income by Canadian universities, who charge them much higher tuition fees for the same education as domestic students. In their new book, Not Your Cash Cow, Not Your Scapegoat, the Racialization of Asian International Students Collective studied the experiences of over 145 international students from China, India and South Korea at fi...

A program in BC schools that helps kids navigate gender and sexuality has become a prime target of conservative politicians.  In an article called SOGI 123: What It Is, What It Isn't, and Why the Truth Matters, author Wilbur Turner lays out the facts behind BC’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity framework. Wilbur Turner joins us in this episode.

One of the consequences of the war on Iran is that it has provided the oil industry with the opportunity to engage in rampant profiteering. In the first month of the war, the Canadian oil industry made after-tax profits in excess of $6 billion dollars. If oil prices stay this high for a year, it’s on track to make $90 billion in profits. Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood says that the current windfall coul...

Namesake has its West Coast premiere at the Doxa Festival this month. The film documents an ongoing conversation between the Tla’amin Nation and the city commonly known as Powell River over a proposal to reclaim the city’s name, which is derived from a recent colonial official. We speak with Dr. Evan Adams, co-director of Namesake.

Last week Mayor Sim and the ABC Council passed a motion to identify a potential ownership group for a major-league baseball team in Vancouver. Details leaked out this week about who that is and what they want. Ian Mass joins us with the details of this and much more in this week’s City Beat report.

Body cameras and increased security in grocery stores are a corporate response to concerns about retail theft. But at the same time, profits in the grocery sector are on the rise, food prices are going up, and food insecurity is widespread. We speak with Alissa Overend, who teaches and researches in the areas of health, food and intersectional equity.

In her latest film, There Are No Words, award-winning documentary filmmaker Min Sook Lee turns the camera towards her family. The film documents Lee’s search for memories of her mother, Song Ji Lee, who died by suicide when Lee was twelve years old. There Are No Words was produced by the National Film Board. It has its Western Canada premiere at DOXA on May 3.

This week, Vancouver City Council heard directly from sex trade advocates about service cutbacks, a questionable unity agreement crafted by the three progressive parties, lifeguards, community centre renewals, baseball and lots more. Ian Mass joins us today with his City Beat report.

African American sculptor Selma Burke chronicled many of the events of the last century in her art: lynchings, the Harlem Renaissance, the Holocaust, and the assassination of Martin Luther King. Two Calgary playwrights have created an award winning play based on her life. The manuscript is now a book, Selma Burke: Carving a Sculptor's life.   We speak with one of the authors, Caroline Ru...