Needs No Introduction

In this episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Capitalism and the mental health crisis , social worker, researcher and writer, Madeleine Ritts, researcher on mental health of Black communities, Michelle Sraha-Yeboah, and researcher and educator in labor issues, Jon Weier, discuss the current mental health crisis as an inevitable outcome of capitalism and whether good mental health is a benefit...

In the second part of this two-part episode of the Courage My Friends podcast COP15 and 30x30: Indigenous-Led Conservation and Saving the Greenbelt, manager at Springwater Provincial Park and former Chief of the Beausoleil First Nation, Jeff Monague, discusses principles of Indigenous-led conservation, the dangers facing First Nations communities from Greenbelt development and the need to shift ou...

In this two-part episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Tim Gray, executive director of Environmental Defence and Sandra Schwartz, national executive director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) discuss the crisis of biodiversity loss and mass extinction, Canada's commitments under the Kunming-Montreal agreement coming out of the global COP15 gathering on biodiversity, and cha...

In this episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Neil Hetherington, CEO of The Daily Bread Food Bank and Maria Rio, director of development and communication for The Stop Community Food Centre discuss the current state of food insecurity in Canada's largest city, how we got here and what we need to end decades of hunger. Of the growing reliance on Toronto's food bank system, Hetherington says: "...

In this episode of the Courage My Friends podcast we welcome Laura Walton, president of CUPE's Ontario Schools Boards Council of Unions. Just days after CUPE education workers voted to ratify a new four-year contract that includes a hard fought for $1 flat-rate hourly wage increase and two days repayment for a fraught political protest,  we reflect on the momentous and contentious labor action tak...

In this episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Emmay Mah, executive director of the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) discusses the many intersections between the climate crisis and the housing crisis and the potential fallout from Ontario's proposed housing Bill 23: More Homes Built Faster . According to Mah: "We need to acknowledge that we are experiencing a deep, acute housing crisis. An...

In part two of this special two-part episode of the Courage My Friends podcast 'Mouth Open, Story Jump Out: The Power and Purpose of Storytelling in These Times,' we continue our conversation with storyteller, actor, playwright and filmmaker, Rhoma Spencer; storyteller and teacher, Lynn Torrie; and storyteller, teacher and founder of Queers in Your Ears , Rico Rodriguez. Speaking to the origins of...

In the fourth, two-part, episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, series III, we are joined by six Canadian storytellers In this special, and very storied, two-part episode of the Courage My Friends podcast Mouth Open, Story Jump Out: The Power and Purpose of Storytelling in These Times , we are very pleased to welcome six Canadian storytellers. In part one, we begin our conversation with First...

In the third episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Series III, Dania Majid, director of the Tenant Duty Council Program at the Advocacy Center for Tenants Ontario (ACTO); John Ecker, director of Research and Evaluation at the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness; and Haydar Shouly, senior manager of Shelters and Shelter Programs with Dixon Hall discuss the current crisis of housing insecurity...

In the second episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Series III, Jhoey Dulaca (caregiver and organizer with the Migrant Workers' Alliance for Change), Ethel Tungohan (Canada Research Chair in Canadian Migration Policy, Impacts and Activism) and Chris Ramsaroop (activist and organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers) discuss temporary foreign workers in Canada, the multiple and barriers they...

In the launch of our third season, JP Hornick, President of OPSEU/SEFPO and Dr. Naheed Dosani, Palliative Care Physician and Health Justice Activist, discuss the current crisis facing public healthcare in Ontario and the alarming turn toward the privatization of our healthcare systems by those prioritizing profit over patients. In speaking to the ways in which the healthcare crisis is both the res...

In the final episode of our summer series, climate justice organizer and activist Aliya Hirji and National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students, Mari Dolcetti-Koros, discuss the global climate crisis, its impacts on our younger populations and the ways in which youth are organizing and taking leadership in securing a truly just and sustainable world for us all. In speaking to the nee...

For the first segment of this special two-part episode, climate justice activist and originator of  Land Back, Bryanna Brown discusses the critical need for Indigenous rights and ways of  knowing and youth leadership to combat a climate crisis rooted in systems of colonial  oppression and capitalist greed.   Making the connection between climate and colonialism, Bryanna Brown says:  "One quote tha...

In the sixth episode, Linda McQuaig and Ian Thomson discuss the rising fortunes of the billionaire class amid shrinking incomes and opportunities for the vast majority before and during the pandemic. In speaking about the impacts of billionaires on our democratic systems, McQuaig says, "this accumulation of wealth in the hands of billionaires... It's not just that it's tremendously unfair, which o...

In the fifth episode, historian, researcher, celebrated writer and executive director of Tri- Continental Institute for Social Research, Vijay Prashad discusses the standard of double standards that have long plagued the relationship between the power-holding centres of the Global North and the world's majority of the Global South. Vijay Prashad describes the Tri-Continental Institute for Social R...

In the fourth episode, we discuss the upcoming report from the Douglas Coldwell Layton  Foundation on Mental Health and Wellness in the Workplace with project leads Jon Weier and  Tom Parkin. In speaking to the necessity of this report, Jon Weier says "..this is really a systemic issue.  Mental health impacts or mental distress is something that affects many, many workers. We  specifically are loo...

In the third episode, we speak with Loly Rico of the FCJ Refugee Centre and Rachel Bryce, from the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers about the multiple issues facing those fleeing poverty, destabilization, the borderless crises of conflict and climate change and the responsibility of Canada to provide asylum.  "Refugee is defined as someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their count...

In the second episode, we speak with Ashlee Cunsolo, a leading voice on climate change and ecological grief , about the growing issue of ecological grief, how it is being experienced and the power that can come from mourning. "For so many people all over the world and particularly Indigenous Peoples all over the world, this connection to the environment, this grieving over the loss of more than hu...

The Tommy Douglas Institute and rabble.ca , with the support of the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation, proudly present the Courage My Friends podcast.  In the first episode of this year's Courage My Friends podcast series, we welcome author, public intellectual and celebrated scholar of the Critical Pedagogy Movement, Henry Giroux. Does education have a moral and political purpose? What do we mean by cr...

On September 10, rabble.ca and the Canadian Foreign Policy Policy Institute hosted a debate with Green party leadership hopefuls. Listen to it here.

The COVID crisis is showing us more consequences of putting profits before people. Hear a panel discussion from the Canadian Labour Congress about the problem and some possible solutions.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza speaks to Canadians at a webinar by the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute on August 20, 2020.

An audio replay of a webinar from the Canadian Labour Congress exploring the effects of the COVID pandemic on women, and what a feminist recovery could look like.

The Canadian Labour Congress held a webinar on June 10 to talk about what the union movement is doing to fight anti-Black racism and what they need to do in the future. An encore presentation.

A panel discussion hosted by Feminists Deliver on May 28 during Asian Heritage Month, exploring Asian identity in Canada.