The Decibel

Lee Maracle’s career inspired a generation of Indigenous writers to write about their own experience. The author, poet and activist died last week at 71 years old.Maracle’s friend, the playwright, author and frequent Globe columnist Drew Hayden Taylor, remembers Maracle and her legacy.You can listen to Maracle’s Margaret Laurence Lecture from the Writers’ Trust of Canada here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A recent Ontario Court of Appeal ruling found that the Crown violated two treaties signed in 1850. The agreements cover a vast part of Northern Ontario, and were originally about sharing the wealth of the land. But the government has been paying the Anishinaabe descendants of that land just $4 per person per year.Sara Mainville is an Anishinaabe lawyer and partner at Olthuis Kleer Townshend in Toronto. She explains to guest host Willow Fiddler how over 100 years later these agreements are still being interpreted literally by governments in Canada, and why treaty agreements should be handled differently. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Humans make a lot of noise – in our streets, in the skies and in our seas. All this anthropogenic clamour is not just annoying, it can be detrimental to the health of both humans and animals. But scientists have never really had a chance to study just how much noise we produce and what would happen if we stopped producing it … until the COVID-19 global pandemic sent most of the world into a lockdown in early 2020.This temporary silencing of a lot of human activity was a silver lining to the pandemic as it provided scientists with conditions to conduct experiments and learn about the natural world. Today on the show we speak to three Canadian researchers who all listened and learned during the Great Quieting of early 2020.Thanks to Dr. Nicola Koper, Dr. William Minarik and Dr. David Barclay. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Retired Corporal Robin Rickards did three tours of duty with the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan, and he kept in touch with Afghans who worked in support roles that he met there. Since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan this August after the US and coalition forces withdrew, he’s been fielding calls for help fleeing the country.One interpreter Rickards worked with, Abdul Jamy Kohistany, did make it to Canada with his immediate family, but had to leave other family members behind in Afghanistan. Rickards tells us about how Kohistany is settling in Thunder Bay, why he considers him and other Afghans veterans, and why veterans are still working to bring others to safety. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The price of Canadian dairy products might be jumping early next year and that’s because of the Canadian Dairy Commission. Recently, they announced an unprecedented 8.4% increase for the price farmers are paid for milk, and a 12.4% increase for the price of butter. And those price hikes might well be passed along to you at the supermarket.Sylvain Charlebois is a professor of food distribution and policy and the director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. He explains how the cost of dairy gets set every year, why Canada still has a supply-management system for dairy and whether or not it’s actually beneficial to farmers and Canadians. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There are only a few days left at the 26th annual Conference of the Parties, and negotiators from over 200 countries are still working on trying to hammer out agreements to help reduce global emissions.There has already been a long list of promises made at this summit, but are any of them cause for optimism? Are they building momentum to put pressure on governments to actually implement policies to fulfill them? Or are they all a bunch of ‘blah, blah, blah,’ as climate activist Greta Thunberg puts it?The Globe’s climate change columnist Adam Radwanski joined The Decibel from COP26 in Glasgow to talk about how history will judge this iteration of the world’s attempts to stunt climate change. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Stealthing – the act of someone deliberately removing or not wearing a condom after their partner insists on one – is currently being addressed by the Supreme Court of Canada. The case being reviewed by the Justices will affect the interpretation of consent.Justice writer Sean Fine breaks down the case before the highest court and the two approaches being debated over how to determine what constitutes sexual assault. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It’s an enticing promise that’s being sold: Come to Canada as an international student and find prosperity. And it’s being heavily sold to young people in India’s Punjab province, where some Canadian post-secondary institutions aren’t just recruiting but have become household names in villages on the other side of the world.The problem is that life in Canada for these students is often bumpy and many feel they lack the supports they need when it comes to housing, employment and mental health services. Meanwhile, colleges and universities are profiting off of increasingly higher enrolment numbers of international students. The Globe’s national race and ethnicity reporter, Dakshana Bascaramurty, shares what she has learned about Canada’s international student program. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Over 100 countries – including Canada – made a pledge this week at COP26 to end and reverse deforestation by 2030. It’s a commendable goal that could help meet global climate targets, but Canada also has work to do domestically.Protecting some of the oldest and rarest trees from logging in British Columbia is an ongoing battle. On Tuesday, B.C.’s government proposed to suspend logging in one-third of the province’s old growth forests. How fast that will happen remains a question. The Globe’s B.C. legislative reporter, Justine Hunter has been covering the tensions around harvesting old growth forests for decades. She explains what B.C. is planning to do and how it fits into the big picture goals of saving the trees. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As the global economy revs back up after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer demand is up. Supply chains are bogged down. So prices are spiking and the inflation rate is getting higher – and concern is rising with it.Economics columnist David Parkinson is on The Decibel to unpack what’s happening with inflation and why he thinks that with some time and some patience it’ll settle back down. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.