People First Radio

Excerpts from Nanaimo’s event to mark International Overdose Awareness Day, held in Maffeo Sutton Park August 31 2022. Speakers include Sarah Lovegrove, MP Lisa Marie Barron, MLA Sheila Malcolmson, Lenae Silva, and Aimee Chalifoux.

After 25 years at the negotiating table, the Wei Wai Kum First Nation and the province of British Columbia have reached an incremental agreement to transfer more than 2200 hectares of territorial land to Wei Wai Kum. The land is west of Campbell River, and the provincial government calls the agreement an early benefit as […]

The mental health of psychologists has long been a taboo topic according to a group of researchers including Stephen Lewis, a professor at the University of Guelph. Lewis was part of a team that recently published a study into the mental health of more than two thousand psychology faculty and graduate students. The study found […]

In a community where most of the land is privately owned, how can people ensure the ecosystem is preserved for future generations? That’s the question facing the Gabriola Land and Trails Trust. Their answer is to take a community oriented approach to protecting the natural landscape. The land trust’s Nature Stewards program is asking folks […]

Community safety programs are sprouting  in many cities and towns across Canada. In Winnipeg’s Osborne Village, the SABE Peace Walkers look to take an indigenous led, relationship based de-escalation approach to provide incidental support and safe walks to the community. All of the SABE Peace Walkers are provincially licensed in security, and trained in crisis […]

Dave LaBerge, Manager of Community Safety with the City of Nanaimo, speaks about the rollout of the city’s new Community Safety Officer program.  

Nous sommes en plein été et bien sûr, en été, la chaleur s’installe. Peut-être avez-vous remarqué que vous avez la mèche courte quand le thermomètre monte. Ça pourrait être le cas si vous êtes un joueur de baseball dans la ligue majeure. Joël Guérette, de l’Université de Québec en Outaouais, a récemment trouvé que quand il […]

The Nanaimo 7-10 Club Society has been providing meals to the hungry since 1985. Since last August however, they’ve been without a building, as their old location on Prideaux Street was demolished to make way for supportive housing. They’ve switched to a bag lunch to go format, and are still looking for a new home […]

Designed for vulnerable youth, Take a Hike! is an alternative education program that sees students spend 4 days a week in the classroom and one day out in nature. Students also have constant access to a full time registered clinical counsellor. There are Take a Hike programs in many BC communities, including Nanaimo, where around […]

Shea Smith co founded The Homeless Idea Podcast, which is described as “a view into the everyday events, and insights of a Homeless individual in today’s society from a first hand perspective.” Smith spoke with People First Radio about the podcast, his journey, and his perspective on some of the systems surrounding homelessness.     […]

Some healthcare professionals are noticing a link between climate change and our mental health, especially in younger populations. So much so that there’s a new lexicon emerging, with conditions like eco-anxiety and ecological grief falling under the umbrella term of “Psychoterratic Syndromes” Natania Abebe is a registered nurse who practices in Ottawa.  Earlier this year […]

How can someone get help when they might not even recognize they’re in trouble? It’s a question that’s been on the mind of Ottawa Comic artist Von Allan. Earlier this year, Allan learned that his best friend since childhood, Dave Foohey had died. Police had found Dave dead inside his home, and estimated he had […]

Lisa Brinkman, Manager of Community Planning with the City of Nanaimo, discusses the city’s affordable housing strategy.  First broadcast July 2022.

If you’re an organization looking to address homelessness, it makes sense to to take into account the perspectives of people who’ve experienced homelessness. This can be easier said than done. Issues can arise when people with lived experience aren’t being compensated the same as salaried employees when attending meetings and conferences, for example. These experiences […]

One day riding the metro in Montreal, Annie Archambault overheard people complaining that someone on the street wouldn’t take a sandwich they’d offered. As you’ll hear her explain, the experience galvanized the community worker, who has experienced homelessness herself. It led her to speak out on a new TikTok account, surleborddelaligne. Now with tens of […]

Mental illness still dominates most conversations about transgender Canadians. That’s according to the profile of the new Canada Research chair in Transgender Creativity and Mental Health, Lucas Crawford. Crawford is a professor at the University of Alberta’s Augustana campus, and spoke with People First Radio about what he hopes to accomplish during his tenure as […]

The media round-table session from an event facilitated by the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition’s “Getting to Tomorrow” project.  It was held at the Dorchester hotel in Nanaimo on June 16th, and was focused on how the city can respond to the toxic drug poisoning crisis. Those present included Ann Livingston, Amber McGrath, Shane Calder, Sarah […]

Losing your job is stressful, to say the least. It can be accompanied by a sense of grief, uncertainty, and psychological distress. There’s one group of people for whom unpredictable job loss is not only possible, but necessary for a well functioning democratic society. Yet as Zim Nwokora explains, there’s not a ton of sympathy […]

Chances are you know what it means when musicians get together to jam. But do you know what a game jam is? It happens when a group of people get together to design their own video games in a very short space of time, think 72 hours. Sandra Danilovic believes that when people make games […]

Dr. Najmeh Khalili-Mahani spends a lot of time staring at screens, which makes sense, since a big part of her work focuses on digital health. Khalili-Mahani is  a biomedical engineer and neuroscientist. She Works for the engAGE Centre for Research in Aging at Concordia University and for the McGill Centre for Integrative Neuroscience. She speaks […]

Whether it’s a date, a meal, or a ride, you can find just about anything you want through your smartphone these days. Even a therapist. Dr. Lauri Goldkind is an associate professor of social work in the graduate school of social service at Fordham University in New York. She’s been researching new apps that connect […]

Housing co-ops, come for the affordability, stay for the community. That’s what Thom Armstrong says is the experience of many of the people living in housing co-ops in the province of British Columbia. Armstrong is the CEO of the co-operative housing federation of BC, as well as the community land trust foundation of BC. First […]

Brigitte Watson lives in Pointe-Claire QC.  When a forest in her community was at risk of being cut down as part of new developments, Watson decided to take action. The only potential issue was anxiety that made it difficult for her to go far from home by herself. Watson speaks about the experience of going […]

Marnie Wedlake discusses “Taken Away by the Green Butterfly: A Critical Autobiographical Narrative Study of Shock Therapy”, which recounts her experience receiving Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the 1990s. Wedlake is a registered psychotherapist and faculty member in the department of Health Studies at Western University in London Ontario. First Broadcast June 02, 2022.

June is time to buddy up. That’s because this month, the Centre for Suicide Prevention is running its third annual buddy up campaign. It’s focused on men’s suicide prevention. Akash Asif is the external relations director for the Centre for Suicide Prevention. As he explains, there are a number of ways men can help reduce […]