The Decibel

Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring society, has been at the heart of an ongoing battle with the federal government. While working as a social worker in B.C., Blackstock noticed that the child welfare program for First Nations kids living on-reserve received less funding than for kids living off reserve. She, along with the Assembly of First Nations, filed a human rights complaint in 2007. In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal agreed that federal underfunding of child welfare services on-reserve was discriminatory and led to thousands of children being unnecessarily taken into care.The tribunal ordered Ottawa to pay up to $40,000 to those affected by this discrimination. But the government has challenged the CHRT order on several occasions – including most recently last week. Cindy Blackstock is on the show to talk about what this most recent development means and where the fight for compensation goes from here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We’ve already warmed the climate by 1.1 C and we’re starting to see the effects with more frequent extreme weather events. On Monday, political leaders from around the globe will address the world to talk about how they plan to tackle the immense challenge of climate change.Dr. Sarah Burch is a climate change researcher and an associate professor at the University of Waterloo. She is on the show today to discuss what to watch out for from COP26 and why – despite the complexity of the problem – she hasn’t lost hope that we can still save the world from the worst effects of climate change. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

China’s President Xi Jinping is unlikely to attend COP26, leaving some to wonder how countries will be able to agree on bold moves to lessen climate change without the leader of the world’s highest carbon-emitting country at the table. Over the next two weeks, leaders from more than 190 countries will meet in Glasgow to talk about the state of climate change and how to transition to a low-carbon economy.The Globe’s Asia correspondent James Griffiths explains why Xi Jinping isn’t expected to attend, what it means for the success of COP26 and what exactly China’s plans are for reducing emissions. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Only nine people in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new cabinet remained in their old jobs. The massive shakeup in the team included putting a climate activist in charge of Environment and Climate Change Canada, a rising star in Foreign Affairs and the first woman of colour at the head of a problem-plagued Defence ministry.But what do all these moves mean? And why should voters care about the promotions and demotions that were handed out? Parliamentary reporter Marieke Walsh is back on The Decibel to break it all down. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Over the last year, almost a dozen senior Canadian military leaders have been accused of either enabling or perpetrating sexual misconduct, prompting an independent review by a former Supreme Court justice, and many calls for change within the Canadian Armed Forces.But Megan MacKenzie, a professor and the Simons Chair in International Law and Human Security at Simon Fraser University who researches the intersection of gender and culture in the military, says the kind of cultural change needed in the military goes beyond senior leadership. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The largest childhood mass vaccination campaign since polio could soon be underway in Canada. Health Canada recently received a submission from Pfizer/BioNtech to approve COVID-19 vaccines for kids aged 5-11. On Oct. 22 the drugmaker also released data from a clinical trial that showed their vaccine was 90.7% effective for that age group. Following shortly behind, Moderna announced on Oct. 25 that their vaccine generated a strong immune response in kids aged 6-11. While this is all hopeful news, not all parents are ready to get their kids inoculated.Health reporter Carly Weeks explains why some parents remain hesitant about the COVID-19 vaccine for kids, what needs to be done to combat that hesitancy and how the logistical preparation and educational work needs to start ASAP in order to avoid another chaotic vaccination rollout in Canada. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The first sign that there was fighting at the highest levels of power at Rogers Communications Inc. appeared in late September. That’s when it was announced that the company’s CFO, Anthony Staffieri, was leaving. Soon afterward, The Globe reported that his departure was connected to an attempt he made to oust Rogers’ CEO, Joe Natale, with the help of then-chair of the board, Edward Rogers.In the weeks since then, there has been a lot of fallout as the rift in the company – and within the Rogers family itself – has deepened. The Globe’s telecoms reporter Alexandra Posadzki has been breaking news on this file for nearly a month now and is on the show to explain the cast of characters involved in this corporate drama and what it means for one of Canada’s biggest telecoms companies and the family that runs it. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, created a whole new market – and it felt like a whole new world to journalist and author Ethan Lou. He wrote Once a Bitcoin Miner: Scandal and Turmoil in the Cryptocurrency Wild West. After he started investing in Bitcoin while in university, he ended up making enough money to quit his job as a journalist at Reuters in his mid-twenties.Ethan tells us about his own adventure in the fast-paced cryptocurrency culture of Calgary in the late 2010s, and how Wild West frontier myths help explain the draw of cryptocurrency, despite the downsides that come with the ups and downs of the market. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dave Chappelle’s latest Netflix comedy special, The Closer, has been getting a lot of criticism since its release on October 5th. That’s because a number of jokes in the standup are about trans people and are being called transphobic. This prompted some Netflix employees to stage a walkout on Wednesday in protest of the special but also because the company continues to stand by the content and the comedian.Imara Jones is a journalist and founder and CEO of TransLash Media. She explains why The Closer is so enraging, why Netflix’s defence of Chappelle may come at a cost to the company and why she thinks the content in the special could cause real-life harm to trans people. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On Monday, Albertans headed to the ballot box to cast their votes on a number of things: municipal leaders, the merits of daylight savings and whether the country should get rid of the mention of equalization from the Constitution Act of 1982. But there’s a problem with that last one: Alberta alone can’t actually make any changes to the country’s Constitution.So what was the point of this referendum? Globe columnist and reporter Kelly Cryderman thinks this was more about politics than policy and says that this vote couldn’t have happened at a worst time for people, like Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, who want to see Ottawa renegotiate the equalization program. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.