rabble radio

February is one of the worst months to be homeless in Canada. Temperatures plunge and it seems like winter will never end. It's a harsh reality for thousands of people in Canada. That's why community radio stations across Canada have chosen February as the time for their Homeless Marathon. Today, fourteen campus and community radio stations across the country will be devoting their airwaves to the...

When he's not at work at the  Urban Worker Project , Andrew Cash is a musician. On January 26th, he spoke to rabble podcast exec producer Victoria Fenner in Barrie, Ontario, between sound checks just before a tribute concert to the late Gordon Downey Jr. of the Tragically Hip. The concert was in support of the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund . Andrew Cash is also a former member of parliament...

This past weekend, January 20 and 21, 2018, was the anniversary of the first Women's March which was held last year to coincide with inauguration day in the United States. Marches were held all over North America, including many here in Canada, large and small. Sandy Cove, a tiny village on the Fundy Shore in Nova Scotia had 32 marchers. And though that sounds small, it's half the village populati...

It's been a year since the historic women's marches happened across North America and in many other parts of the world. The marches were organized to coincide with the timing of the inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the United States. Things have turned out even worse than we thought for women in the United States over the past year. This weekend there will be women's marches again. If...

This week's protests at Tim Hortons in various parts of Ontario have fuelled the debate about minimum wage — worker justice on one hand, employer profits on the other. The argument by some vocal business owners in the fast food sector is that they just can't be profitable if they have to pay their workers a higher minimum wage. Yet, there are places in Canada where employers pay higher than the mi...

The new year has started, but there's still time to make new year's resolutions. We know there are a lot of you out there who have followed rabble's progress ever since we went on the net in 2001. And even more of you who have discovered  rabble.ca  over the years. Today, we're bringing you reflections from some of our rabble staff about what they want to see rabble do over the next year. It's a b...

Last December, we were looking ahead to the year to come with some fear and trepidation. We were still in shock after Donald Trump's win in the U.S. What were we in for? Well, now we know. To say it's been a challenging year is the understatement of the still-new century. And though it looks like Peace on Earth is a concept which seems more elusive than ever, there are lots of people out there wor...

People just want to be treated with respect. That's one of the strongest messages that Meagan Gillmore says she's taking away with her as her internship as rabble.ca's labour reporter ends. Work isn't just a way to make money, she says. It's about finding one's place in the world and in our communities. In this conversation with rabble podcast executive producer Victoria Fenner, she talks about th...

For an artist, precarious work isn't a new trend. Artists have always worked from contract to contract, gig to gig, cobbling together a sustainable life (or trying to) from a wide variety of sources. What is new in recent years is that it's not just artists who are living a financially precarious life. Our guest today on rabble radio is the co-organizer of a festival called  Precarious  in Peterbo...

David Kattenburg is a name you might have heard over the past few months on places like CBC and the Globe and Mail. He's in the news because he's challenged the Liquor Control Board of Ontario about two wines on their shelves, labeled as products of Israel. When Dave saw the listing, he knew they were not products of Israel. The wines come from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. He kno...

Community college students in Ontario weren't even halfway through their first semester when they got the news that they were going to be taking a break from their studies. Approximately 12,000 college faculty from 24 colleges across Ontario have been on strike since October 16, 2017. Braden Alexander is a former rabble podcast intern and volunteer. After taking a four year degree at University of...

Christopher Torres, former National Organizing Director for United We Dream speaks to rabble radio.  The status of 800,000 young people who were born in the US to undocumented migrants remains very much in limbo. We've heard a lot about DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. To recap —  Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)   is an American immigration policy brough...

What does it mean to belong? That's a question that the  Community Foundations of Canada  has been asking over the past three years. Community foundations are one of the fastest growing ways to help people donate money to their communities. Instead of each person having to figure out what the community needs are, and where they can direct their donations, they can go to their local community found...

Gerry Caplan  is well known to our rabble readers who have been active on the progressive left for many decades. There are many dimensions to Gerry's life work. He was a key figure in the New Democratic Party for many years as a party strategist and even took a run at a seat himself at one point. He's an author, and a commentator on the state of the media. He's also an authority on genocide, espec...

The title of today's show, Pushing Up the Sidewalk, was inspired by rabble blogger Lizanne Foster. Lizanne's blog on rabble is called  Education in the age of climate change.  She's a high school teacher in B.C. who shares some of her thoughts about working creatively in a regimented education system. Three educators from three levels of education — secondary school, college and university — talk...

This summer, as much of the country celebrated Canada 150, there has been much needed discussion about the place of Indigenous people within that context. There has been growing recognition that the 'founding of Canada' narrative is not accurate and shows disrespect for the real founders of this country — Canada's Indigenous people. Complicating the equation even more, there are many people in thi...

The world is changed when we all work together. But how do we do that? There are lot of different ways, with one thing in common. We need to organize. Social movements happen on different levels — local, regional, national and international. There are many differences between organizing campaigns which involve thousands than ones which reach the small local level. But there are a lot of commonalit...

From May 8 to 12, delegates from across the country gathered in Toronto, Ontario for the  Canadian Labour Congress   convention ; Canada's largest labour convention. This year's theme was  Together for a Fair Future . rabble.ca  reported from the convention floor where we set up a booth, and gathered video, photographs and stories. On this rabble radio, a selection of highlights of the weekend's p...

Every province has its own style of electioneering, but B.C. is in a class of its own. Today's program is a look at the issues as we head up to B.C. E-day. The election is on May 9.  We put this show together on Wednesday, May 3. We've got seven days now until e-day, and we know that things can turn on a dime. The interviews you will hear were recorded at the end of last week on April 28. The peop...

On March 8, 2017, one of rabble.ca's bloggers, Penney Kome wrote an article that resonated with the women who produce rabble radio. It was called " If you want to learn how to survive the gig economy, ask a woman ". Precarious work is something we cover a lot on rabble.ca. That's because precarious work isn't going away. There is always a lot to say as our workplaces become less defined and less s...

In consideration of recent events, cities across Canada have examined ways to signal that they are open to refugees and migrants. Some municipalities, like Montreal and London, Ontario have passed motions in their city councils proclaiming that their city is now a Sanctuary City. Cities that have already voted on these motions have heard stories of continued police checks, lack of proper funding f...

What a week it's been. Looking back to last Friday, Inauguration Day, a lot of us were sharing the same sense of gloom and foreboding, wondering what the next four years are going to be like and fearing the worst. And then came Saturday … a day of resistance, defiance, hope and a resolve that the worst is not going to happen. Because it's not Donald Trump's Universe. The future belongs to people w...

What a year it was. Coming off of the maddening, disappointing and very scary U.S. election, it's too easy to look back and wish that we could have just fast forwarded from December 31, 2015 right to January 1, 2017. But that's not the whole story. In many ways it was also a really good year. Admittedly, we have to work a little harder to lift our spirits in this holiday season than in other years...

It used to be the case that media and democracy were synonymous. Democracies weren't worthy of the name unless they had free and independent media that spoke truth to power. That was in the good old days. The changes in the political winds these days means that there are more pressures than ever on the kind of media outlets to do their job preserving and strengthening democracy. Today's program co...

What does it take to build stronger communities? A lot of it is about participation — when we work together for the common good, the places where we live become stronger. We know our neighbours, we help each other. In healthy communities, people are engaged with each other. But what does that mean? Today's program is about engagement, connecting and making a difference in the places we live. How d...