rabble radio

It's Islamic History Month in Canada; and this week on the show, we're joined by Sadaf Ahsan and Sarah Sahagian to discuss Muslim representation in Canadian pop culture. In this conversation, the two explore common trends and stereotypes surrounding Muslim characters in the media, discuss the figures who are offering more nuanced and multifaceted representations, and share some of their favourite books, musicians, television shows and films that showcase Muslim talent. About our guest Sadaf Ahsan is the senior editor at 3 Magazine, co-host of Frequency Podcasts' The Reheat, columnist at The Globe & Mail, contributing editor at RepresentASIAN Project, and a Humber College journalism professor. Her work has appeared in The Walrus, CBC, The Cut and more. She previously worked at The Juggernaut, Canadian Press, The Discourse, NOW Magazine, and the National Post. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

The New Democratic Party of Canada will select its next leader at the Winnipeg Convention in March next year. As of now, there are five officially approved candidates seeking the leadership of Canada's NDP. They are: Rob Ashton, Tanille Johnston, Avi Lewis, Heather McPherson and Tony McQuail. This week on rabble radio, rabble editor Nick Seebruch and publisher Sarah Sahagian sit down to discuss the federal NDP leadership race. The two weigh in on the "insiders" and "outsiders" of the race, the concept of political "purity tests" and the importance of English-French bilingualism for a federal leader. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on rabble radio, we share a clip from a recent episode of the Courage My Friends series featuring co-executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, Karen Cocq, advocacy and media relations coordinator at The Refugee Centre in Montreal, Alina Murad and President of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, Aisling Bondy. The three join Courage My Friends series host Resh Budhu to discuss Prime Minister Mark Carney's new border security acts, Bill C-2 and its questionable make-over with the recently tabled Bill C-12 and how they effectively rewrite Canada's approach to refugee rights and protections. If passed, what will these acts mean for those seeking asylum—and for Canada as a whole? About our guests and the Courage My Friends series Aisling Bondy is the current president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL), a national organization comprised of several hundred lawyers who practice in refugee law. She is the founder of Bondy Immigration Law and is a member of the Refugee Lawyers' Association, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association, the Ontario Bar Association and the Canadian Bar Association. Karen Cocq is co-executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC), a membership-based organization of migrants. MWAC is the secretariat of the cross-country Migrant Rights Network, the largest coalition of migrant led organizations in Canada. She has been active in migrant justice and workers' rights organizing for 20 years. Alina Murad is the advocacy and media relations coordinator at The Refugee Centre in Montreal. She leads policy research and advocacy initiatives addressing systemic barriers faced by refugees and asylum seekers in Canada. Follow them on Instagram @therefugeecentre and @pointofentrypodcast. Listen to the full episode here. And, if you'd like to hear more from the Courage My Friends podcast series, please subscribe to Needs No Introduction. Available on rabble.ca, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. The Courage My Friends podcast is a co-production between rabble.ca and the Tommy Douglas Institute at George Brown College. Produced by Resh Budhu of the Tommy Douglas Institute, Breanne Doyle of rabble.ca and the TDI planning committee: Chandra Budhu and Ashley Booth. For more information about the Tommy Douglas Institute and this series, visit georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on the show, Nick Seebruch sits down with Inori Roy, co-founder of Canadian Journalists for Justice in Palestine, to discuss why many journalists in Canada remain hesitant to cover Palestine. They explore how the organization is helping newsrooms report on Gaza with greater fairness and accuracy, and the broader efforts underway to promote ethical journalism across the country. To learn more about the work Canadian Journalists for Justice in Palestine does, visit cjjp.org. About our guest Inori Roy is a co-founder at Canadian Journalists for Justice in Palestine. She works as a Toronto-based feature writer and associate editor at The Local magazine. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

Labour reporter Gabriela Calugay-Casuga sits down with Gauri Sreenivasan of the Canadian Council for Refugees to discuss the current state of Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program and the issues surrounding the closed work permit system. Sreenivasan last joined us on rabble radio in July to talk about the Lush Cosmetics x Canadian Council for Refugees 'Neighbours' campaign. Tune into that episode here. About our guest Gauri Sreenivasan (she/elle) is co-executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, a leading voice for the rights, protection, sponsorship, settlement, and well-being of refugees and migrants, in Canada and globally. She has over 30 years of experience in policy and advocacy, working in leadership roles across civil society, Parliament Hill, and with academia and researchers to build alliances for change on Turtle Island and around the world. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on rabble radio, we feature a segment from our most recent Off the Hill political panel. This month, our theme was 'Off the Hill: Parliament's back in session.' Our panel featured Ontario Federation of Labour president Laura Walton; former Ontario NDP MPP and former federal NDP candidate Joel Harden; researcher and activist Chuka Ejeckam; and rabble's own parliamentary reporter Karl Nerenberg. About our guests Laura Walton is the president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, the largest provincial labour federation in Canada, which represents 54 unions and one million workers in Ontario. Chuka Ejeckam is a writer and policy researcher. His work focuses on inequity and inequality, drug policy, structural racism, and labour. He is also a columnist for rabble. Joel Harden is a lifelong community organizer who represented Ottawa Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2018 to 2025 as a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party. During his time at Queen's Park, Harden served as the party's Critic for Transit and Active Transportation, where he championed accessible, affordable, and sustainable public transit solutions across the province. Karl Nerenberg is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and filmmaker, working in both English and French languages. He is rabble's senior parliamentary reporter. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

Hello! I'm Breanne Doyle, the host of rabble radio, rabble.ca's weekly podcast. rabble radio is your go-to source for the latest news in Canadian politics, environment, activism and feminism. Through interviews with social activists, political analysts, labour leaders and environmental defenders, we dive in deeper to the stories that matter to you. Tune into rabble radio every Friday morning on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and select campus and college radio stations across Canada. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode!

This week on rabble radio, we continue our ongoing discussion on the state of public education in Ontario. Over the past few weeks, we've heard from various education union leaders about the growing pressures facing students and workers alike—pressures made worse by Ontario Premier Doug Ford's education agenda. One major concern raised again and again: Bill 33. Tabled in May and still making its way through the legislature, the so-called Supporting Children and Students Act would give the Minister of Education sweeping new powers to supervise school boards and mandate police presence in schools. Today, rabble editor Nick Seebruch sits down with David Mastin, president of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) to talk about why smaller class sizes are critical to student success and why having police in classrooms is not the answer. About our guest David Mastin was elected ETFO president in 2025, after representing ETFO members since 2002. He was elected to the provincial executive in 2013, as vice-president in 2019, and first vice-president in 2021. With public education, equity, and workers' rights under threat, he knows our greatest strength lies in unity, action, and hope. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week, we continue our conversation about the evolving landscape of education in Canada—this time, in post-secondary education. Labour reporter Gabriela Calugay-Casuga sits down with David Robinson, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, to discuss the importance of academic freedom and why a strong, well-funded public post-secondary system is essential—not just for Canada's economy, but for the well-being of its society as a whole. About our guest David Robinson is the executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) and has served as a senior consultant on higher education, copyright and international trade issues to EI for the past several years. Prior to joining CAUT, David was the senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Canada's leading progressive think-tank. He has also been a lecturer at Simon Fraser University and at Carleton University. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

With a new political season underway, Amy Robichaud (CEO at Mothers Matter Canada) and rabble publisher Sarah Sahagian look at how Carney's government might impact mothers and families this fall. From shifts in funding for women and gender equality to the vital role of both formal and informal supports, they break down what to watch for and advocate for in the months ahead. About our guest Amy Robichaud is the CEO at Mothers Matter Canada, Amy served as executive director of Dress for Success Vancouver, director of engagement at the Minerva Foundation for BC Women, and as a development and governance consultant to organizations such as the RBC Foundation, the Global Centre for Pluralism, and the Canadian Mental Health Association. Mothers Matter Canada — previously known as the Mothers Matter Centre and the Home Instruction Program for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) Canada — is a not-for-profit, registered charity incorporated in October 2001. We are a virtual, national consortium of organizations dedicated to serving socially isolated and low economic status mothers and their families. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.