Redeye

Paloma Housing Co-op was founded in 1983 by a group of people in Vancouver. This year marks the coop’s 40th anniversary and there’s a film to celebrate that milestone. It’s called In It Together: Stories from Paloma Housing Coop. We speak with producer Pat McClain, an original member of the coop, and director Ben Walsh, who is currently the president of the board.

In Alberta, Danielle Smith's government is putting nine questions to a province-wide referendum in October. These include proposals to restrict social services for some immigrants. In a recent article, Esri Ari and Bronwyn Bragg say that these questions fuel an ‘us versus them’ divide in Alberta. We speak with Esri Ari.

In 2019, BC premier John Horgan and his government passed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act or DRIPA. Now current premier David Eby says DRIPA poses “legal liabilities” for the government and was intending to introduce a bill to pause sections of the Act but withdrew it when it became clear that the government didn’t have enough votes to make it pass. Terry Teegee is Regional...

Paueru Gai is the Japanese name for the Powell Street neighbourhood in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. It was a place of early settlement for Japanese Canadians and of their forced removal during the years of internment in World War II. It’s also been a site of regeneration for the community since 1977 when the first Powell Street Festival took place. Emiko Morita was the executive director of the...

The BC government is currently reviewing the effectiveness of Bill 48 brought in two years ago. It established precedent-setting protections for platform workers. Platform workers are predominantly racialized, migrant and new immigrant workers. BC Policy Solutions advocates for closing the worker protection gap between gig workers and other employees. We speak with Véronique Sioufi.

If you have never been homeless, you probably have a lot of misconceptions about what it means to live on the street. Street Medicine 101 is a series of short videos that aims to dispel them. It features Dr Jill Wiwcharuk, known to her patients as Street Doctor Jill. She is a Victoria-based family and ER physician, specializing in addictions, inner city family medicine and emergency medicine. We s...

At the end of March, the BC government quietly eliminated its Climate Action Secretariat. This is the long-running agency that produced and implemented climate policy across government ministries. The Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions says that although the Secretariat is gone, the cuts as a “reconfiguration.” To find out what’s going on with BC’s climate policy, we’ve contacted Sven Biggs,...

Next week, Vancouver City Council will be talking about the 2025 homeless count, a big money ask from the Park Board to deal with the poor condition of our recreation facilities and parks, and lots more. Ian Mass joins us with his City Beat report.

In March, public health care advocates across the country took part in rallies and news conferences in response to Alberta’s new two-tier health care law, which allows doctors to practice in both the public and the private system. In early February, we spoke with researcher Andrew Longhurst about the threat that Bill 11 poses to universal access to health care. In a follow-up to that conversation,...

Oakridge looks like it is getting another massive development, there’s a new affordable mortgage model for the Heather Lands, more festivals are turning to the city as they struggle to survive and lots more. Redeye Collective member Ian Mass joins us with his City Beat report.

Every member of a former panel the BC government appointed to identify old-growth for potential protection in 2021 says they're concerned about continued logging in those same forests. The five panellists voiced their concerns in a document sent to Premier David Eby and other officials last week. To find out more about the progress - or lack of it - on protecting old-growth in the province, we spe...

As Israel and the US carry out devastating attacks on Iran, the Canadian oil industry and some politicians are seeing it as an opportunity to expand fossil fuel production.  Nick Gottlieb argues the fossil fuel industry is replaying its 2022 playbook, when they used Russia’s war in Ukraine to effectively destroy the Western climate movement. Nick Gottlieb is a climate writer and author of the...

On March 4, the provincial government announced that it was making amendments to the Residential Tenancy Act to provide new tools to address health and safety issues in supportive housing. Christine Boyle, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, said that the changes to the Act came in response to calls from operators of supportive housing. However, tenant advocates say this is the latest itera...

On February 28, the United States and Israel launched a war of aggression against Iran including attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Iran. Analysts say that the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran are neither preemptive nor lawful and represent a further erosion of the international legal order. In the face of the US and Israeli attacks, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is being ca...

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...

More and more websites that position themselves as news outlets are serving up what observers call AI slop.  Last month, a Surrey-based site published false information about mayoral candidate William Azaroff, and an AI-generated picture of a real murder victim. Zak Vescera is a staff reporter for the Investigative Journalism Foundation. He tells us what he found out about the content and own...

An informal coalition of organizations in the Downtown Eastside and Chinatown are sounding the alarm about what they call the massive human rights implications of the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026. The World Cup is set to come to Vancouver, first through the 2026 FIFA Congress in April, and then for seven matches at BC Place scheduled between June 11-July 7, 2026.  Laura Macintyre is a staff l...

A coalition of health and environmental groups are celebrating a court victory that protects the federal government’s ability to regulate plastic pollution.  In its ruling, the Federal Court of Appeal affirmed that the government acted lawfully when it designated plastic manufactured items as ‘toxic’ under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. We’re joined by Dr. Sharon Dodd, a family ph...

In one of the biggest BDS victories in Canada to date, Scotiabank no longer holds any shares in the Israeli weapons maker Elbit Systems, according to its latest financial statements released in February. The coalition No Arms in the Arts was centrally involved in the divestment campaign.  We speak with Michael DeForge, an author and a cartoonist and an organizer with No Arms in the Arts.

The Vancouver organization, Women Transforming Cities, aims to reshape who cities are built by and for, so that everyone can participate, and thrive.  WTC works to build the civic skills and power of those who have been historically excluded from local government processes. On Monday, March 9, they are offering a new workshop to honour the roots of IWD through the lens of The Feminist Killjoy...

In City Beat today, the fallout from accusations that Vancouver city councillors are dealing drugs, plus yet more money for the FIFA World Cup, a 30-year plan for Vancouver’s growth, the fate of car-free day festivals and more. Redeye Collective member Ian Mass joins us with all the details.

On February 16, a group of Palestinian footballers and Palestinian clubs joined with others to file a complaint with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. They are accusing the Presidents of FIFA, and Union of European Football Associations, UEFA, of aiding in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied Palestinian territory. We speak about the reasons for th...

True North tells the story of the 1969 protest against racism at Sir George Williams University, now Concordia. Following the occupation of the university, 97 students were arrested or faced deportation. The film includes recent interviews with activists who were involved in the uprising. In making the documentary, director Michèle Stephenson draws on her Haitian and Panamanian heritage, and exper...

The mass school shooting in Tumbler Ridge has had a devastating impact on Canadians across the country. Amidst the collective grief for those who lost children and community members, government and school leaders face pressure to act quickly to keep students safe. But the best way to do that is not necessarily clear. Beyhan Farhadi researches surveillance technology in Canadian schools. She is con...

The Hope Dialogue Radio Show and Podcast is created in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and explores the topics, issues and complex circumstances challenging low-income neighbourhoods like Downtown Eastside.  Their new season starts March 2 at noon on Vancouver Cooperative Radio.  The show is the brainchild of The Central City Foundation. We speak with president and CEO Jennifer Johnstone.