People First Radio

A group of Ontario school boards have filed a lawsuit against the operators of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Tik Tok. The boards claim that social media products, which they say are designed for compulsive use, have impacted the way children think, behave, and learn. They say that they are bearing the brunt of what they […]

When Nisha Patel went through her medical records, including psychiatric records from visits to hospital and her university health clinic, the feeling spurred her to make art. “It really started this this anger within me,” she said. “These were all very personal experiences for me. But for the system, they were just yet another form […]

In conversation with Rory Kumala, CEO of the Vancouver Island Construction Association, on the organization’s Tailgate Toolkit program, which is designed to provide education and training on issues regarding substance use, mental health, and pain management. In addition to providing resources for workers, Kumala says addressing these issues with employers is part of the path […]

Gurleen Kaur of The University of Alberta speaks about her experience with psychosis. “Often people will read in textbooks, or papers…that psychosis is this break in reality,” she said. ” It doesn’t quite capture what it means to me, based on my experience.” Kaur said psychosis can cause her to see faces, which in the […]

Looking at how our brains are depicted onscreen with Heather and Sarah Taylor. The Canadian sisters work in the film industry, and explore depictions of mental illness, disability, and a variety of other topics on their podcast Braaains. Heather Taylor says often times shows can treat mental illness like a “problem of the week”. “I […]

David Dorson is the pen name of someone who spent a few years in prison in Ontario. he writes a column about his experiences on the website of Law 360 Canada. He spoke with People First Radio about his experiences.

Lee Chapelle has helped hundreds of inmates navigate their way through the Canadian corrections system. The founder of Canadian Prison Consulting, he also spent much of his young adulthood behind bars, beginning at age 16. Now Chapelle works with clients to address the issues that led to their charges and incarceration, and to prepare them […]

Would you exercise more for a dollar a day? Marc Mitchell of Western University was working in cardiac rehab, he noticed it was difficult for people to stick with a routine of regular exercise. That got him interested in ways to motivate people to get moving. “Folks who in some cases, literally died, like flatlined, […]

Finland, with a population of around 5.5 million, has just over 1000 people who are considered to be experiencing long term homelessness. That number has been steadily decreasing for decades, thanks to investment in social and affordable housing. The country’s largest non profit housing provider is a group called The Y Foundation, founded in 1985. […]

Journalist Meagan Gillmore reflects on the question “why do I have to constantly prove my disability?” Gillmore explored the subject in a recent column in The Walrus. “I do remember still to this day, very much feeling like, ‘oh yeah, I have a disability and this is part of my life,’ but I’ve always kind […]

Pacifica Housing CEO Carolina Ibarra joined People First Radio to talk a number of issues related to supportive housing, including new announcements in Nanaimo, The Nanaimo Acute Response Table, difficulties with data around supportive housing, and units in need of maintenance. “The way that we view and deal with supportive housing has to change because […]

For the first time in more than a decade, child poverty rates have gone up in British Columbia, according to a report from First Call Child and Youth Advocacy Society. Their 2023 BC Child Poverty Report Card offers insight on data from 2021, breaking down child poverty rates by family type, race, and region, and […]

Heather Nelson-Smith, CAO of Port Hardy, shares the details on the community’s new situation table. Situation tables are a method communities in British Columbia are using to try and connect individuals at risk of harm to services that could help them. At weekly meetings, members from different community organizations collaborate on how, when, and who […]

Dr. Alex Nataros, a family physician in Port Hardy, shares his experiences both personal and professional with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In a recent column, Nataros described ADHD as “Perhaps the most over-diagnosed and simultaneously under-diagnosed condition.” He elaborated on those comments on People First Radio. “We’ve all got our phones and devic...

Campbell River’s Sue Moen wanted to better understand what things are like for those experiencing homelessness in the community. She asked a group of people she knew in that situation if she could join them for a night. They agreed, and Moen took her truck down to spend a night on the streets of Campbell […]

In conversation with Michelle Gamage of The Tyee, who shares insights into her recent reporting on a condition known anecdotally as ‘street feet’. Occurring when people are unable to wash and dry their feet, it bears some similarity to trench foot experienced by soldiers during the first world war.

In conversation with Stephen Gaetz, president and CEO of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, and a professor at Toronto’s York University. Gaetz says that in Canada and the U.S., there are more people coming into homelessness than there are exiting it. He was recently part of a webinar on homelessness prevention.  

Greg Dorval has been housed for around a year after being unhoused for around the same amount of time. He’s recently set up a tent outside the courthouse in Guelph On. as a form of civil protest in solidarity with those currently experiencing homelessness in the community.

Kathy Wagner shares her experiences finding hope and healing through her son Tristan’s addiction, recovery relapse, and death. She’s told her story in the memoir Here With You.  

The University of Toronto’s Katherine Tamminen says that we don’t know much about the mental health of young people involved in high level sport. “There is a lack of research on the mental health of elite youth athletes compared to adult athletes who are at those elite levels,” she said. Tamminen says it’s important that […]

The Best Place On Earth, that was British Columbia’s slogan for a while. It even showed up on license plates leading up to the Vancouver Olympics. Around the same time, Danya Fast was embarking on a project that would span the next fifteen years of her life. Her goal was to hear from young people […]

A Vancouver lawyer has concerns that changes to residential tenancy regulation in B.C. could erode the dignity of people living in supportive housing. The province is amending residential tenancy regulation to exempt supportive housing units from sections of the residential tenancy act that prohibit blanket guest policies and wellness checks. Danielle Sabelli is a lawyer […]

Legislation that sought to ban public drug use in a number of spaces in British Columbia is currently in limbo following a decision from B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson. The Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act was passed in the legislature late last year and if not for the court decision in […]

Nanaimo’s Unitarian Shelter is coming under new management. It was announced this week that Nanaimo Family Life Association would be taking over the Shelter on Townsite road as of this summer. Deborah Hollins is the executive director for Nanaimo Family Life Association, and she joined People First Radio to speak about the change.

“When I went to law school, when I started practicing law, nobody talked to us about trauma. We focused solely on legal issues,” said Myrna McCallum, a lawyer in North Vancouver and host of the podcast The Trauma Informed Lawyer. “I had to learn how to be a human being and be in relationships with […]