Unmaking Saskatchewan

Sara and John are back to discuss the federal NDP's election of Avi Lewis as leader and how the Saskatchewan NDP responded by fixing their aim on irrelevancy and slamming down the throttle.  (Thank you to our loyal and beloved listeners for your patience this year! We're getting back into the swing of making the show and we're so glad to have you with us.) References: https://www.thewrit.ca/p/how-...

We're back with a new cohost. In this episode Sara and John break down the results of the federal election in Saskatchewan. We answer the question of whether there was a Liberal surge (spoiler: no), examine the NDP collapse across the province, and consider the party's past attempts at rebuilding and whether it could be viable in the future (also no).  (Note: we had some audio issues! We appreciat...

Scott Moe became leader of the Saskatchewan Party (and premier of the province) in 2018, after a hotly contested (and often unpleasant) leadership race. Considered "centre right" and someone who was likely to keep close to the party's status quo, Moe has instead marched the party (and the province) steadily rightward.  Read more: https://breachmedia.ca/corporate-landlords-financiers-ceos-are-top-d...

In 1999 Brad wall was elected for the first time as a Sask Party MLA. Within 8 years, Wall would be premier. A free market capitalist and charismatic salesman, over the next decade Wall would weave a new narrative for saskatchewan to understand itself, changing the province's political culture forever. 

In the 1990s Saskatchewan was in almost as dire a position as it had been during the Great Depression. The province was on the verge of bankruptcy, people were leaving in droves, the PC party was collapsing under the weight of the fraud scandal, the Liberals were in freefall, and the NDP, led by Roy Romanow, was slashing services to the bone. The collapse of the PCs and Liberals, coupled with the...

In 1982 Saskatchewan elected the second Conservative government in the province's history. By the time the dust settled nine years later the province is $12 billion in debt, 12 members of the Devine government are convicted of fraud, and the Progressive Conservatives cease to exist as a political force in Saskatchewan ever again. Sara talks with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Saskatch...

Evangelical Christians have impacted the social and political fabric of Saskatchewan for over a century, from fur-trade era missionaries to the temperance movement to the anti-trans "parent's rights" legislation. At the same time, the movement in Canada has tended towards moderation in comparison to their counterparts in the U.S. This episode examines the history of evangelicals in Saskatchewan an...

The evangelical movement is becoming increasingly salient in Saskatchewan politics, most recently with the passage of the anti-trans "parents' rights" legislation passed in fall 2023, legislation that had substantial backing from evangelical churches and organizations. Sara talks with Dallas Verity, a Regina resident who was raised in the church and worked as a youth pastor before leaving the chur...

The Sask United Party was registered as a political party in Saskatchewan in November 2022 and since then they've espoused a deeply fascist politic. SUP leader, Nadine Wilson, left the Sask Party caucus in September 2021 after lying about being vaccinated. The party ran its first candidate, oil executive and Evangelical Christian Jon Hromek, in the Lumsden Morse byelection in August 2023. On this...

More like GONE Gormley. On November 24th conservative hack and area goblin John Gormley will go off the airwaves for good after a quarter century of bloviating from the Rawlco studio. Jeremy Davis joins Sara to talk about Gormley’s legacy. Rest in piss, John!

In 1944 the CCF was elected on a platform of implementing medicare. It would take 18 years for that promise to be realized...but the dream realized was a shadow of what had been proposed. How did we get here, what was the vision, and what did we lose? Find us on Patreon at patreon.com/unmakingsaskatchewan.

Hoshins? Check. Kaizens? Check. The support of actual healthcare professionals? No check. Lean management has been with the Saskatchewan health care system for over a decade and if we know one thing for sure, it's that health care workers hate it. This episode hears from University of Victoria professor Justin Leifso about how and why the government of Saskatchewan decided to try to run the health...

For better or for worse, Tommy Douglas is the figure most closely associated with Medicare in Canada. But long before the CCF was first elected in 1944, Saskatchewan people were organizing and strategizing to ensure their communities had access to doctors, nurses, hospitals, and infectious disease treatment. This episode looks at the evolution of public healthcare in the province between 1872 and...

On November 29, 1990, the body of Neil Christopher Stonechild, a 17-year-old Saulteaux high school student, was found frozen in a field on the outskirts of Saskatoon. Despite his family's suspicions of foul play, less than a week after he was found, the Saskatoon Police closed the investigation into his death. It would take another 10 years - and two more freezing deaths - before Neil's death was...

Saskatchewan has a long history of incarcerating physically and intellectually disabled people. Megan Linton of Invisible Institutions comes on the show to talk about the history and present of disability confinement in the province. Find Megan on Twitter at @invinstitutions and find Unmaking Saskatchewan on Patreon at patreon.com/unmakingsaskatchewan

Guest Julie Yu calls it "the story everyone knows, but no one knows anything about." Chinese restaurants are a small-town Saskatchewan staple, especially along the rail lines. But who are the people behind them and what was life like for the first Chinese restaurateurs who made their home on the prairies? You can support the show (and find transcripts for episodes) on Patreon at patreon.com/unmaki...

On July 17, 2022, Colby Tootoosis was attacked and beaten by settlers as he returned a trailer to a friend. The assault, which was caught on camera and happened not far from where settler farmer Gerald Stanley shot and killed Colten Boushie in August 2016, laid bare the juxtaposition between how colonial law is applied to Indigenous people and how it is applied to settlers. aLEX talks with Colby’s...

(Warning: This episode contains strong language) Colter Wall is one of Saskatchewan's most popular musicians. But what is Brad Wall's son actually singing about? Jeremy Davis joins Alex to talk about pan-hickism, murder ballads, and whether Swift Current is a small town, as Colter often claims (spoiler: it's not). You can support the show (and find transcripts for episodes) on Patreon at patreon.c...

In the first half of the 20th century, an Indian Agent named William Morris Graham decided to set in motion one of the largest human experiments in so-called Canada. Graham moved Indigenous graduates from residential schools onto the Peepeekisis First Nation, arranged their marriages, and set them to work farming. Graham's control over their lives was absolute, and it has ramifications to this day...

Although the train plays little part in the lives of most Saskatchewan residents today, there was a time when the rail line had almost unlimited power over the province's development. In this episode we'll talk about the legacy of the CP Rail. You can support the show (and find transcripts for episodes) on Patreon at patreon.com/unmakingsaskatchewan Support the Sask Dispatch: https://actionnetwork...

Episode 4: Saskatchewan frames itself as a man's land - it's one of only three provinces that have never had a woman premier, and its capital city elected its first female mayor in 2020 - but the province couldn't exist without the free labour of women. This episode looks at women in the province. You can support the show (and find transcripts for episodes) on Patreon at patreon.com/unmakingsaskat...

This episode is an interview about Land Back and Indigenous sovereignty with Mike Gouldehawke, a Cree and Métis writer whose family is from kistahpinanihk (City of Prince Albert) and nêwo-nâkîwin (Mont Nebo) in Treaty 6 territory in Saskatchewan. Mike currently lives in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Səl̓ílwətaʔ and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territories (Vancouver, British Columbia). You can support the show (and find transcr...

In Saskatchewan, governments and corporations have long used hunger as a strategy to save money, make money, and acquire land and resources. People are hungry in Saskatchewan today, because people have always been hungry in Saskatchewan. You can support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/unmakingsaskatchewan

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Saskatchewan was sold to settlers as empty space for men to carve up and own. We still live with the consequences of that lie today. Host Alex Birrell is a settler, sometimes journalist, writer, and anti-capitalist from southern Saskatchewan. Transcripts for episodes can be found at unmakingsaskatchewan.medium.com