Futureproofing Canada

Black Canadians and the justice system, a Policy Options podcast. Black people are dramatically over-represented in Canada’s prison system, making up 8.6 of the federal prison population, despite the fact they make up only 3 percent of the population. What is more, between 2003 and 2013, the incarceration rate among Black people increased by nearly 90 percent. Anthony Morgan says the targeted policing of Black people in Canada isn’t only happening through the justice system. It’s also taking place in our education, child welfare and health care systems. Morgan is a lawyer at Falconers LLP. His practice focuses on state accountability litigation. He is also an advocate and commentator on Canadian multiculturalism, racism and critical race theory. Read Anthony Morgan’s Policy Options articles Doing justice by Black Canadians (part of our ongoing feature series Widening the Lens on Criminal Justice Reform) and Where are Black Canadians in the cannabis debate? Download for free. New episodes every second Tuesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP.

Immigration detention and newcomer communities, a Policy Options podcast. According to the Canada Border Services Agency, about 7,000 men, women and children are detained through Canada’s immigration detention system every year. Stephanie J. Silverman joined the podcast to discuss how the system traumatizes newcomer and mostly racialized communities, criminalizes migration and requires extensive reform. Silverman is the outgoing Bora Laskin National Fellow in Human Rights Research, and teaches ethics, society, and law at the University of Toronto’s Trinity College. She is also a partner at Thinking Forward, a human rights consultancy, and the Canada country adviser for the International Detention Coalition. For more about reforming Canada's justice system, read the Policy Options feature series Widening the Lens on Criminal Justice Reform. Download for free. New episodes every second Tuesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP.

Mitigating harm for sexual assault complainants, a Policy Options podcast. Over 90 percent of sexual assaults in Canada go unreported. According to law professor Elaine Craig, when sexual assault survivors do end up in court, the trials cause them further harm. Craig joined the podcast to discuss how sexual assault trials could be reformed to make the process less traumatic for those testifying. Elaine Craig is the author of Putting Trials on Trial: Sexual Assault and the Failure of the Legal Profession (2018). She is an associate professor in the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University. Download for free. New episodes every second Tuesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP.

Do female ministers affect women's civic engagement?, a Policy Options podcast. In governments around the world, women’s presence in cabinet is having a substantial impact on political office and policy-making, but what does it mean for women’s political involvement? Sarah Liu joined the podcast to discuss her study Do Government Positions Held by Women Matter? A Cross-National Examination of Female Ministers’ Impacts on Women’s Political Participation. Liu is an assistant professor in the School of Geography, Politics, and Sociology at Newcastle University, England. Download for free. New episodes every second Tuesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP.

Will AI just wind up automating inequality?, a Policy Options podcast. Proponents of automation say the developments will create a more efficient and advanced society, but there are concerns that the changes will not affect all citizens equally. According to Virginia Eubanks, the automation of social and welfare services in the United States is creating a "digital poorhouse,” deepening class divides and diverting poor and working-class people from accessing public resources. Eubanks joined the podcast to discuss her new book Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor. She is an associate professor of political science at the University at Albany, SUNY. Download for free. New episodes every second Tuesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP. Read the Policy Options feature series on the Ethical and Social Dimensions of AI.

Budget 2018 analysis live from the lockup, a Policy Options podcast. What were the highlights of the 2018 federal budget? Policy Options Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Ditchburn, IRPP Research Director Colin Busby and Jennifer Robson, assistant professor of political management at Carleton University's Kroeger College weigh in. Download for free. New episodes every second Tuesday

Gerald Stanley and the castle narrative, a Policy Options podcast. A complex narrative has emerged in defence of Gerald Stanley, who was recently acquitted of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Colten Boushie, a 22 year-old Cree man, in Saskatchewan. According to this narrative, the incident had nothing to do with race, but was rather a matter of a farmer protecting his land and family – defending "his castle." Gina Starblanket joined the podcast to explain how this perspective is intimately tied to the history of displacement and settlement on the Prairies, and throughout Canada. Starblanket is a professor in the native studies and women’s and gender studies departments at the University of Manitoba. She is Cree/Saulteaux and a member of the Star Blanket Cree Nation in Treaty 4 territory in Saskatchewan. Download for free. New episodes every second Tuesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP. Read Gina Starblanket’s op-ed "How the death of Colten Boushie became recast as the story of a knight protecting his castle. " Read the Policy Options article “The real ‘justice’ denied to Boushie.“

A snapshot of precarious work in Canada today, a Policy Options podcast. The nature of work in Canada is changing. With the onset of the so-called "fourth industrial revolution” careers are becoming a patchwork of impermanent contracts and “gigs,” which often do not come with the benefits associated with long-term employment. Canada’s social architecture, including employment insurance, may no longer be responding adequately to the nonstandard work so many Canadians are being forced to accept. In this podcast you can listen to the panel discussion recently hosted by Policy Options on the implications of precarious work for Canadians and decision-makers. Francis Fong of Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, Sunil Johal of the University of Toronto’s Mowat Centre and Wendy Vuyk of the Ontario Centre for Workforce Innovation joined Policy Options Editor-in -Chief Jennifer Ditchburn to broach this key policy issue. Download for free. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP. Read Francis Fong’s Policy Options article on precarious work at http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/january-2018/we-dont-know-the-extent-of-precarious-work/ Check out the Policy Options special feature "Inclusive Growth in an Age of Disruption" at http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/october-2017/inclusive-growth-in-an-age-of-disruption/

The role of online bots in electoral politics, a Policy Options podcast. Online bots scan social media sites and then send out automatic messages to users. Political parties use them to get their messages out. So they have the power to shape public opinion, and they can even have an impact on elections. Fenwick McKelvey from Concordia University and Elizabeth Dubois from University of Ottawa recently wrote about bots for Policy Options. They found that the risks of this kind of digital campaign could soon outweigh the benefits. McKelvey sat down with journalist and McGill University law student Ryan Hicks at our Montreal studio to talk about why political parties should commit to using bots responsibly. Download for free. New episodes every second Tuesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP.

Put The Peace Back Into UN Peacekeeping Operations, a Policy Options podcast. Canada is rethinking the way it contributes to United Nations peacekeeping missions around the world. The federal government promised boots on the ground more than a year ago, and it has yet to deliver. But is that really where Canada should focus its efforts? Our host, journalist and McGill University law student Ryan Hicks, spoke to Lou Pingeot, co-ordinator of McGill’s Centre for International Peace and Security Studies. She and Vincent Pouliot are the authors of the recent Policy Options article Replacer la paix au cœur des opérations de l’ONU. Download for free. New episodes every second Tuesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP.